LT: Tell us about your latest novel.
NH: POSSESSIONS is a young adult horror novel. It is the first book in a series. The next book, POSSESSIONS: THE EVIL WITHIN, comes out in June. CRUSADE, a spinoff of my dark fantasy WICKED series cowritten with Debbie Viguie, will be out next fall.
LT: Your stories all have one thing in common - a strong female lead - why do you think this is particularly important in books aimed at a youthful audience?
NH: It is so important to me to show young women as capable of taking care of themselves. We pay lip service to empowering the girls of today, but we are so cautious and super-protective of them that we undermine them, I think. We structure their lives with so many lessons and activities that they don’t have time to dream and explore. They don’t have the same freedom I did when I a teenager.
But ironically, I didn’t see very many role models of strong girls either on TV or in books–except for wonderful Nancy Drew!
I love Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for many reasons, but for this especially: when he received an award for Equality Now, he mentioned in his speech that people asked him (and I’m paraphrasing) why he features strong young women in his shows. His reply was, “Why don’t you?”
I have a degree in mass communications. I believe that if something is presented as the norm, people will adopt it. If strong women are presented as the norm, girls will embrace their strengths. I’ve seen it happen–I’m very active in Girl Scouts. Saying “of course you can do it! You’re a girl!” is a very powerful thing.
LT: You have written many books with television tie-ins, including those for Buffy and Angel. What constraints or rules do you have to follow when writing for a readership of television series fans?
NH: I just wrote an essay for CULT TV about this very thing. I have loved every show I’ve written for so much, but I have to love it from a professional distance.
Unlike fanfic writers, who can take the show in any direction they want, I have to try to emulate the tone and style as envisioned by the show’s creator. This means I have to subtract myself as fully as possible from the work.
A few times while writing Buffy, for example, I knew about things that were going to happen but I wasn’t permitted to say anything. Then fans would think I wasn’t watching the show. Or fans dislike an approach I would take, insisting that Joss wouldn’t do it that way. Yet all my outlines and books are vetted and approved by the production companies of all the shows I work on.
By the way, I have a new tie-in coming out on October 27th. It’s for the show Saving Grace,starring Holly Hunter. Another strong female lead! My book is titled: SAVING GRACE: CRY ME A RIVER.
LT: What draws you to stories about the paranormal?
NH: I have always loved the paranormal. When I was a little girl, I got a black wig for Halloween. I wrote two screenplays starring me wearing the wig. One was called THE MONSTER IN THE FURNACE. The other one was “THE MONSTER IN THE SWIMMING POOL.”
I’ve always loved fantasy and horror, from Jean Cocteau’s LA BELLE ET LA BETE to THE RING cycle. I’ve always been drawn to the idea of things beyond our ken. When I was writing POSSESSIONS, I watched a horror or fantasy movie every morning for months.
LT: Why did you chose the young adult market?
NH: The very first novel I ever sold was a young adult romance. I love kids; when I was a single college student, I rounded up all the kids in my apartment complex and took them out for Easter brunch and to the movies. My mother died two weeks before I turned ten, and my father died six weeks after I turned sixteen. I know what it is to be afraid and lonely…and to have it all work out. So that speaks to me. Besides, adults are just young adults with better rationales and some wrinkles. That’s the big secret, and I know it.
LT: Where do you find the inspiration for your projects?
NH: Music inspires me. Dreams inspire me. Watching a movie every day inspires me. I read and read, feeding my idea engine. My beautiful, headstrong, yearning daughter inspires me. I listen to her friends. They want so much. So do I. I take that longing and put it on the page. My former Buffy editor used to tell me that I always made him cry.
I take inspiration from real life and then imagine the veil just beyond it. What if my mother is watching over me? What if there really is a vampire outside my window, waiting for an invitation to come in?
LT: Is there anything in particular that you’d like to write about on a dare? A new format or type of character that you haven’t tried?
NH: My newest dare is comic books. I’m writing THE DOMINO LADY for Moonstone and I’m so excited about it. That was very daring of me, I think! I’m also starting to look at poetry; some day I would like to publish a poem.
LT: What books/authors do you love?
NH: I am always careful about naming contemporary authors for fear I’ll forget a dear friend. I love Edgar Allan Poe and Shirley Jackson. Stephen King is the King. But there are so many talented YA authors out there! I’m thrilled to be in this field.
LT: Are there any trends in the paranormal romance genre that you don’t like?
NH: Trends in paranormal romance I dislike: no, not really. I love paranormal romance and what astonishes and pleases me is the endless variety of stories in the field. I think that people outside the genre really have no idea how much skill it takes to write a romance. I’m so proud that the MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of Southern Maine, where I teach, is taking romance very seriously. We have some wonderfully talented students and it’s a joy to be with them at our residencies twice a year.
LT: Have your stories been considered for movies or television?
NH: There’s a script for WICKED being shopped around. I have an agent for PRETTY LITTLE DEVILS. Roger Corman’s wife, Julie Corman, wanted to buy a short story of mine (it appears in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF VAMPIRE ROMANCE 2) but I didn’t sell.
LT: After the numerous books you’ve written, what continues to surprise you about the art of writing?
NH: What continues to surprise me is that it gets harder instead of easier. I see more ways to do things than I used to. I try not to be more self-conscious, but I do feel as if I’m under greater scrutiny than when I was starting out. It also surprises me that I love being a writer even more than when I first started out. I just love it, difficult days and weeks and months and all. I’m so lucky to be able to do what I love for a living, and I know it.
LT: Do your students read your books? Are they surprised that you are an author?
NH: My students do read my work. Usually they have read it before I become their teacher. When they’re working, they don’t have a lot of time for outside reading :).
LT: Is there anything that you’d like to add?
NH: I’d like to say that I know I wouldn’t have a career without readers. I’m so grateful to anyone who takes a chance on one of my books. I am deeply appreciative when someone takes the time to email me or tell someone else about me. I’m a reader myself, and when I feel a connection with an author…well, maybe that’s where I get my inspiration for writing about the paranormal, because it does feel like a psychic, otherworldly experience.
©2009 Lori Titus
