Meet JoAnna Senger author of Betrothal, Betrayal, and Blood
Around the age of four, I fell in
love with the letters of the alphabet. Following the philosophy of the day, my
parents would not teach me to read but spent dutiful hours reading to me. The
letter “y” and the “w” with all its syllables sounded so exotic. I would hear my parents spell out words (y-e-s
spells “yes”), but I didn’t know which of the squiggles in my books was a “y”
or a “w.” Fascinating and frustrating.
Then…school! I remember being so surprised at the
appearance of a “y.” What a
disappointing letter! It was squat and
had an appendage hanging down below the line.
I thought it should look more like a “b” or a “d.” As time went on, I
got used to its appearance and forgave the “y” for laying down on the job, so
to speak. I learned all my letters. Letters began to make words, words became
stories, and then teachers were asking me to write!
Was I a big girl or what?!
Since those grade school days, I have
written skits, essays, stories, policies and procedures, legal documents,
books, anything else assigned to me, and other stuff just for fun.
Writing is so self-indulgent that I
often wonder why everyone doesn’t spend their free time with a pen in hand (or
a keyboard at their fingers). Don’t like
someone? Bump them off. Someone is a pompous jerk? Hold them up to ridicule. Spouse is an affront to the human race? Take a lover…between the pages.
Finally, serious fiction called to
me. At least, I was serious about
writing it, primarily mysteries and horror.
Distinct genres in the bookstores, they are just slants on real life as
far as I am concerned. Mysteries have
entertained me all my reading life, so I try to return the favor. The analyst in me loves the precision of mystery
plot development, clues appearing all along the way but in a manner to elude or
mislead the reader. The clues have to be
there, the author must play fair.
Without the clues, the book becomes crime detection, another entertaining
genre but not a mystery. I particularly
like mysteries in which the reader figures out “who dun it” but the characters
don’t, plodding on in dull ignorance of the carnage all around them.
Like garlic, horror is a strong
flavor best introduced slowly until the reader is saturated with its odor. Of all the literary genres, horror has the
most difficulty in achieving respectability, yet its power is the least
diminished over time. Only the romance
is as enduring. The fear of darkness,
the sinking despair of betrayal, the panic of confinement and torture, the
irresistible urge to open the locked door, these are all horror literary devices
and still effective when done skillfully.
I prefer horror which
is just one step outside of daily life, a small but jarring detail only
slightly out of place, like a piece of glass in your ice cream cone. Oh well, remove it and keep on eating. Licking.
Enjoying all that creamy coldness until you find another piece of glass,
and this one cuts. You look around and
everyone in the ice cream parlor is looking at you, and all of them are
bleeding from the mouth. And smiling.
You get the idea.
Regardless of what we write or how
we write it, those words on paper are our ticket to the grand show: the
unbroken human story-telling tradition that began on cave walls, got chiseled
into stone tablets, engraved and painted on pyramid chambers, copied
laboriously by armies of scribes and monks, and now flies through the ether according
to physical principles that most of us poorly understand if we understand them
at all.
Why do we do it? Paid or not, published or not, successful or
not, we just want to tell a story. It’s
the story that matters, not the method or the language or even the writer.
And
we all know it.
I
asked what inspired her to write Betrothal, Betrayal, and Blood.
Here is her answer:
I
was inspired to write Betrothal, Betrayal, and Blood by a setting: the Central
California Coast, one of the least known regions of the best known state.
Depending on who's talking, the Central California Coast starts just north of
Ventura, California and continues north up to Santa Cruz, a few hundred
miles. This beautiful coastline includes the cities of Santa Barbara and
San Luis Obispo, both little more than small towns by California big-city
standards. It has been my pleasure to drive this region many times, and I
know it well. For two years, I lived in the Santa Barbara area.
Insular regions with
long-established families and education institutions turn inward, finding
sufficient opportunities and cultural expression in their immediate
locale. The movie "Sideways" took place in the region's
vineyards, rapidly gaining national prominence. Certain kinds of
eccentricities are widely tolerated, and ranks can close quickly against
outsiders who "wouldn't understand."
That's the setting, now
for the characters. Writing a paragraph for each character including
physical appearance and personal history works well for me, even if I don't
explicitly use the detail in the narrative. Typically, a given character
has a central aspect, a dominant trait, and I add other attributes, like
decorating a Christmas tree.
As for the plot, I
outline in a general way, generally ignore the outline, and wait to see what
happens.
JoAnna Senger
Currently volunteers in
the City of Surprise Prosecutor’s Office.
Previously volunteered in the City of Surprise Victim Assistance
Program, Police Department.
Comments
TBPB
(This person was unable to post, so I did it for him.)
or
to me at jasenger@aol.com.
Hope this helps!