I had the pleasure of interviewing New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong. We talked about werewolves, angels, and juggling multiple writing projects.
LT: Tell us about your latest hardcovers for Women of the Otherworld.
KA: My last 2009 release is Frostbitten at the end of September. That returns to werewolf Elena Michaels, my first narrator. Then, in April 2010 my second charity anthology, Tales of the Otherworld will come out.
LT: Do you have a favorite character from this series?
KA: I don’t have a favourite, but some are easier to write than others. Elena is the easiest because I’ve written the most from her point of view (four novels, a novella and a couple of short stories).
LT: You also have a novella coming out in December of this year called Angelic. What is it about?
KA: That’s an Eve story. Eve Levine is one of my narrators that I don’t get to “play with” as often as I’d like. She had one novel and that’s been it. So when Subterranean Press asked if I’d like to write an original novella, on any character, I picked her. Eve is a part-time angel, a job she didn’t want. In Angelic, she’s fed up and wants out, so she tries to get fired…which doesn’t work out quite as well as she hoped.
LT: And speaking of angels, you were one of the authors for issue 5 of the Angel comic. Did you enjoy it?
KA: I did. It was a great opportunity, both to try a different format and to write about someone’s else characters, ones I love.
LT: If time allowed, do you think you could be wooed into doing comics or screenplays?
KA: I could–I really enjoy both formats–but time would definitely be the question! I’m at the happy stage of getting lots of great opportunities to do different things (comics, novellas, etc.) but I’ve reached the stage of being a little overextended and needing to cut back.
LT: Tales of the Otherworld (a collection of short fiction) is due out next year. How does short fiction allow you to expand upon your characters?
KA: It gives me a chance to tell the stories that aren’t novel length. Some, like Clay’s childhood, are too episodic to be a novel. Others, like Eve’s initial romance with Kristof are novella length. Then there are those events, like Lucas and Paige’s wedding, that readers were hoping to see in a novel, but it just didn’t fit with a plotline, and was better suited for a short story.
LT: Have you ever had a character go in the opposite direction than you intended, and if so, which character was it?
KA: I’ve had several that didn’t turn out the way I envisioned them in the plotting stage, usually minor characters. One was Zoe, the vampire thief in Broken. I’d originally pictured her as a possible romantic interest for my bachelor werewolf, Nick. Their personalities would have gone well together. Except that once she came alive on the page, she was a lesbian…which was a bit of an obstacle to my matchmaking plans!
LT: Do your family and friends read your stories? Do you ever wish that they would (or wouldn’t)?
KA: They do read it. I have to admit that I wasn’t really thrilled with my dad reading them–having your father reading your sex scenes is just…uncomfortable. I know he read the first few. After that, I convinced him he could be supportive without actually reading the books!
LT: Is there any topic, creature, or place that you’d like to write about that you haven’t yet?
KA: Plenty! I have many more ideas than I have time to write them all. I would like to bring in a shaman character, for one. It’s the only “major race” that doesn’t have a major character, but I never seem to have a place for one in a novel.
LT: Do personalities of people you know ever find their way into your stories?
KA: I do give characters traits of many people I know–melding them all together, then adding fresh characteristics, so that I never have a character who is just like someone I know in real life.
LT: What do you feel are the most important components of any good story?
KA: I’m afraid you won’t get any profound answers from me on this. To me, the most important components are the two major ones–plot and character. I want an interesting story that’s fast-paced and has enough twists to keep it unpredictable. Even more importantly, though, it needs to have fully-formed characters. If I don’t care about the characters, then it doesn’t matter how exciting the story is because I don’t particularly care what happens to them!
LT: Please give us the release dates for your latest projects.
KA: Frostbitten (Otherworld Book 10) comes out Sept 29, 2009, Tales of the Otherworld (my second Otherworld anthology for charity) comes out April 2010, and The Reckoning (the third book in the Darkest Powers Trilogy) comes out in May 2010.
LT: Is there anything that you would like to add?
KA: Just a big thank you for interviewing me!
©2009 Lori Titus
September 27th, 2009 at 1:09 am
…and a big thank you back to Kelley for granting the interview!
September 27th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Great interview, and its brilliant to see Kelley giving up her time to support smaller sites like Flashes.
I have to admit that I do really enjoy Kelley’s books (I have all of them, including the two Darkest Powers ones) - while not my usual type of reading material she manages to keep her stories moving along at a cracking pace and has characters that are easy to identify with.
I see Kelley’s stories more as supernatural thrillers than out and out horror, but it does not make them any less enjoyable or compelling.
September 27th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Very cool, Lori. I have read Kelley’s work in Angel and thought she did a bang-up job. Good to see you featuring a wide range of writer interviews from different levels of success.
September 28th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Lori you have a knack for great interview questions and what a guest! I thought it particularly neat how Ms. Armstrong lets her characters tell and lead her on who they want to be. Also thought the bit about her dad was funny.
I know what to add on to the amazon list!