[Note from Steve:  I met Eileen at BooksNJ a few weekends ago.  I immediately knew that readers of this blog, avid readers and writers alike, would like to get to know her and her opus.  Her latest book is DARK MUSIC —I was immediately attracted to the musical subtheme.  So, without further ado, let’s meet E. F. Watkins.]

Steve:  First, tell us something about yourself.

E. F.:  I write paranormal mystery and suspense stories using the E. F. Watkins author’s name.  My opus is comprised of:  DANCE WITH THE DRAGON (2003), RIDE A DANCING HORSE (2004, as “Eileen” Watkins), BLACK FLOWERS (2004), PARAGON (2005), DANU’S CHILDREN (2009), ONE BLOOD (2010), and DARK MUSIC (2013).  DANCE WITH THE DRAGON won Best Horror Novel 2004, from EPIC (Electronically Public Internet Connection).  BLACK FLOWERS was a 2005 EPIC Finalist in the Thriller category and 2006 Indie Book Awards Finalist in the Thriller category.  ONE BLOOD was an EPIC Finalist in the Paranormal category.  You can visit me at my website.

 

E. F. on Writing:

Steve:  Why, how, and when did you start writing?

E. F.:  I actually started trying to “write books” as soon as I learned to print, but as you can imagine I didn’t get very far! Growing up as an only child, I always made up my own stories. I wrote my first short story in high school and a revised version of it won a contest my freshman year in college. My sophomore year, I wrote a “fan fiction” novella based on the TV soap DARK SHADOWS that went over pretty well with my friends. My first year out of college, I wrote a very early version of the book that eventually became ONE BLOOD, and I’ve been writing (and rewriting) my novels every since.

Steve:  Did you publish the first book you wrote?

E. F.:  I guess you could say that (see above), but only after many in-depth revisions, and five other books coming out in the meantime! The first book that did get published, DANCE WITH THE DRAGON, actually was conceived as a sequel to ONE BLOOD. At the time, thrillers were doing better than more romantic vampire stories, and DRAGON has a somewhat more action-oriented plot, so maybe that’s why it was the first one to break through with a publisher.

Steve:  What is your biggest problem with the writing process? How do you tackle it?

E.F.:  My biggest overall problem is how to find enough time to write, because I have a full-time job, I do volunteer PR work for a couple of organizations, and now that I have seven books out, marketing also takes a lot of my time. In terms of the actual writing process, I’d say I have challenges with expressing characters’ emotions without slipping into clichés. In other words, I’m wary of getting too clichéd (hearts pounding, faces flushing, eyes brimming), so I tend to underwrite my emotional scenes. My critique group has been helping me to find a middle ground that I hope isn’t either too remote or too melodramatic.

Steve:  Do you feel writing is something you need to do or want to do?

E. F.:  Both.  I definitely need it, and I get very cranky when I go for too long without finding time to work on my fiction. It may be hard work, but it’s more satisfying to me than most other kinds of hard work!

Steve:  Have your personal experiences (or situations) influenced you creatively? If so, how?

E. F.:  In terms of my themes, I seem to have a suspicion of authoritarian groups! I’ve written about a couple of cults and an evil corporation, all of which threaten their members into conformity. Maybe that comes from being an “outie” as a teenager or from going to a series of strict religious schools? At any rate, I’m a great believer in the freedom to be who you are and think for yourself.

Steve:  How much of your creative ability do you think is innate and how much is learned?

E.F.:   The desire to write definitely was innate, and maybe the (warped) imagination, too. I learned good, basic skills in school, but very little about plotting, creating characters, building suspense, writing action, etc. I taught myself those things by reading good novels and books on writing, going to workshops, etc. I’d read a terrific scene by someone else and decide I needed to learn how to do what s/he did…and I set out to teach myself. All of which took awhile!

Steve:  What is the last book you read? What are you reading now?

E. F.:  I just finished AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie, and I’ve just started A DANGEROUS TALENT by Charlotte and Aaron Elkins. Both are mysteries I picked up at the Malice Domestic Conference in May. I always have to have a novel to read on my night table.

Steve:  Whose writing inspires you the most and why?

E. F.: Early on, I identified strongly with Ira Levin, because I loved the way he blended the everyday and the paranormal in ROSEMARY’S BABY and THE STEPFORD WIVES. His books are subtle, with very little “onstage” violence, but psychologically very scary. I always liked Dean Koontz a bit better than Stephen King, because I found his characters more relatable. In terms of thrillers, I’m also a fan the Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child team. And now that I’m moving more into mysteries, I’m inspired by Barbara Michaels (real name, Barbara Mertz), because she’s so good at working elements such as ghosts and psychic phenomena into the traditional mystery format.

Steve:  Do you have a favorite genre?

E. F.:  I read things similar to what I write, and lately I’ve been gravitating more toward mystery, whether paranormal or not. I also like weird thrillers. I’m not much into police or detective stories—I like amateur sleuths, or those with an odd specialty that helps them solve the crime.

Steve:  Should writers read in their genre?  Should they be avid readers?

E. F.:  I think a writer must be an avid reader, and should read both within and outside her/his genre. You have to know what other people in your genre are publishing, so you can do your own thing but also stay commercial. And you need to read outside it so you’re exposed to fresh ideas in terms of subject matter and writing style. I also read a fair amount of nonfiction, including psychology, New Age and spiritual books. These influence my approach to character motivations and the paranormal, maybe in ways that have not been done to death already.

Steve:  How do you find your plots?

E. F.:  When I get a plot idea I like, I stick with it! Most of my books in print now evolved from concepts I wrote and rewrote many times, over decades. Each probably expresses some burning idea I really wanted to get onto paper. I’m intrigued by a certain locale, then maybe a certain type of person…and when I bring them together, a story develops. Maybe my overall, underlying theme is abuse of power—people who exploit others just because they can—and I guess whenever I see the potential of expressing that in some new way, I run with it.

Steve:  Are your characters based on real people?

E. F.:  Sometimes superficially, but I make an effort to develop them into separate individuals. In my latest book, DARK MUSIC, I intentionally based the heroine, Quinn, on a younger version of myself—first time I’ve done that—but I gave her psychic abilities and a situation different from anything I’ve ever faced, so she became her own person. I gave her a lot of my quirks and tastes, but she’s also different in many ways; her friends and co-workers also  are different from mine. If you try to depict some real person, always sticking closely to what she would do or say, it can hamper your creativity, I think.

Steve:  How do you name your characters?

E. F.:  I’ll have a concept of what that person is like, then pull out baby-naming books and similar sources and try combinations of first and last names until something feels right. I chiefly make an effort not to have characters with very similar first or last names in the same book. Recently I struggled over naming a rather flamboyant villain—I wanted his name to sound kind of fake and stagey, but also distinctive. He’s campy but also scary! It took me a while to come up with something that hit the right note.

Steve:  Which comes first, plot or characters?

E. F.:  One feeds off the other, but maybe the characters pop into my head first—the main characters and how they’re going to relate or conflict. Then I come up with the best scenario to pit them against each other, and maybe ultimately, if there’s a romance involved, bring them back together. For example, in DANCE WITH THE DRAGON, I had in mind a hero and heroine who made a formidable team, and I had to put them up against a really nasty villain who would tax their skills to the limit.

Steve:  Any comments about writing dialog?

E. F.:  I generally enjoy it. I hear the conversations clearly in my mind and see the expressions and gestures as if in a movie or TV show. I try to keep it very natural. My biggest challenge is making sure my characters sound a bit different from each other, especially if they all happen to be about the same educational level and background. If you put in verbal tics, you have to keep them subtle or they can get distracting.

Steve:  How do you handle POV (point of view)?

E. F.:  I hate to read head-hopping! I’m a firm believer that you should stay in one POV per scene, and only change after a page break or a new chapter. In most of my books, I’ve done multiple, third-person viewpoints and I always make it clear whose head you’re in for every scene. In DARK MUSIC, I’m writing first-person from the heroine’s POV, which simplifies things. Of course, in that case the reader finds out everything as Quinn does, and can’t know anything she doesn’t know. But that works fine for a mystery.

Steve:  Do you find background material for (research) your books?  If so, how?

E. F.:  I love researching on the Internet, because these days you can find out the most obscure things! I’m old enough to remember hunting through library card catalogs, often without finding anything helpful. I don’t just research facts—if I’m talking about someone who’s living through an unusual, traumatic situation, I’ll try to find articles about people who’ve endured similar things. And if I’m writing about a locale I know only slightly, I’ll go spend more time there, taking notes and pictures, to not only get the facts right but to capture the flavor of the place. For ONE BLOOD, I really researched the town, campus and people of Princeton in the late 1990s, and one reviewer from a Princeton publication said he couldn’t believe I hadn’t gone to school there. That made me feel I’d done my job right.

Steve:  What reference works do you use most?

E. F.:  I rely a lot less these days than I used to on reference books, because so much is on the Web, but I still buy some obscure things on folklore and the paranormal. For PARAGON, I collected books on Greek mythology and for DANU’S CHILDREN on Celtic mythology, but even those kind of esoteric things are easily found online these days. For my next Quinn Matthews mystery, I searched the Internet for nasty voodoo-type spells, then mixed the elements to write my own ritual for a villain. That was fun!

 

E. F. on the Writing Business:

Steve:  Do you use an agent?

E. F.:  So far, I have not needed an agent because I work with a print-on-demand publisher that offers a very straightforward contract. They get paperback and electronic rights, I get a good royalty, so there’s not much to be negotiated.

Steve:  Do you self-publish or traditionally publish?

E. F.:  Amber Quill Press is a large cyber-publisher of fiction. They charge no fees, accept what they feel is worthy and pay quarterly royalties. There are no charges for editing, cover art, etc., so it’s a traditional model in that sense.

Steve:  What are your most effective marketing techniques?

E. F.:  I have some background in public relations, so I send out a release every time I have a new book coming out or an important appearance somewhere. I do guest blogs and solicit reviews, I do appearances at libraries, bookstores and conferences, and I also sell at public book events and even street fairs. For the latter, I often team up with members of a local writer’s group such as Sisters in Crime or the New Jersey Author’s Network. It’s hard for me to tell how effective my online promotion is, but when I meet people in person I can gauge immediately whether the book’s appearance, and what I’m saying about it, appeals to them or not. That really helps me learn more about my market.

Steve:  Do you release trade paperbacks or eBooks?

E. F.:  Amber Quill offers both, something I really like about the company. All of my books are available through Amazon in trade paperback and Kindle.

Steve:  What do you think of publishing services like Amazon, Smashwords, etc?

E. F.:  I don’t know very much about them, and they may be helpful for people who already have some publishing experience. But I think there’s a danger in self-publishing, because many people think they don’t need editing, but they do—everyone needs objective input to make their book better! So, there’s a danger today of the market being flooded with books that are not as good as they might be with more professional help.  [Note from Steve: I second this, especially because I’m also a reviewer.  There are different types of editing, of course, but I’ve seen disasters in all types, even neglecting to apply a simple spell-checker to the book.]

Steve:  So, there you have it.  I thank you, Eileen, for your candid answers.  I hope all of you, readers and writers alike, visit your website or Amazon to read more about your books.  Remember, readers, when you’re reading them and hear your floorboards creaking—it’s only fiction!

In libris libertas….

[Are you an author who wants to be interviewed?  Contact me and we’ll decide if it works.  My time and blog space are limited, but it’s a great opportunity to generate some internet buzz about you and your books.  You don’t have to be an indie author, but that’s obviously not a negative either.  Do you want to interview me?  Same deal.  A contact form is provided at this website.]

 

 

 

 

 

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