How/why did you start to write?
My writing career essentially began when I decided one year
to write a children’s story for each of my daughters for Christmas. I wrote a
story with them as the main characters, printed them out, tied them in a red
ribbon and gave them to the girls.
Thinking I might like to write for children I took a creative writing
class at the local community college. I quickly realized I wasn’t interested in
children’s writing.
But I was enjoying the course and I liked the idea of being
a writer so decided to try my hand at a few short stories and eventually a
novel. Mysteries, of course, because
that’s what I like to read.
How did you become an author?
A lot of hard work, and a lot of rejection. I did the rounds of trying to get an agent
and publisher and eventually I landed at Poisoned Pen Press which published Scare
the Light Away in 2005. The
following year, they published Burden of Memory, which was actually
written before Scare the Light Away, but they weren’t taking submissions when Burden
was first written. I am still with
Poisoned Pen Press and they have just published my eighth book with them, a
standalone gothic thriller titled More than Sorrow. I also write the Klondike Gold Rush series
for Dundurn.
What was your first published piece?
A short story titled My Seat. Which is a mystery story set on the Go Train into Toronto. My Seat was a runner-up for the Bony
Pete contest given out at Bloody Words, the Canadian mystery conference.
Where was it published?
It was first published in a book of short stories titled Bloody
Words: The Anthology, a collection of winners of the Bony Pete.
How long ago?
The anthology came out in 2003, but the story was written in
2000.
What did you do before embarking on your writing career?
Was it an asset to your writing? How?
I was a computer programmer and a systems analyst. All of
which had no effect whatsoever on my writing.
What inspires you?
Good books! I am a
firm believer, and I try to impress this on my students at the many workshops I
give, that if you want to be a writer you have to write. And you have to read.
And read a lot.
How many books have you published now? What type of books are
you writing?
I have twelve published novels so far, including a Rapid
Reads book. I write crime novels, and I define that much broader than the
standard “murder mystery”. I am best known for my Constable Molly Smith series,
a police procedural series set in the B.C. Interior (which has been optioned
for TV!) but I also write the light-hearted Klondike Gold Rush books, as well
as standalone suspense that have been called modern gothic thrillers.
Please share one of your successful author platform
building technique
I am not entirely sure what an author platform is. I often do a blog-post run-up to the release
of a new book. Once a week, for about
three months before the release of Gold Mountain, I wrote a short essay
on some interesting aspect of the Klondike Gold Rush, with lots of
pictures. I did the same about the
Loyalists (refugees from the United States after the American Revolution) in
the run-up to the release of More than Sorrow, because that book has a
backstory about the Loyalists who settled Prince Edward County, Ontario. People were interested in the stories behind
the books. My personal blog is titled One Woman Crime Wave (http://klondikeandtrafalgar.blogspot.com)
. Drop by and say hi.
Parting words
Read my books! If
you want a peek, or to learn more about me please visit my web page at www.vickidelany.com.
Vicki’s newest novel is More than Sorrow, which received a
starred review from Library Journal, calling it “a splendid Gothic Thriller.” New York Times bestselling author Susanna
Kearsley said, “Atmosphere as chilling as the subtle roll of mist across a
field.”
Once, Hannah Manning
was an internationally-renowned journalist and war correspondent. Today, she’s a woman suffering from a
traumatic brain injury. Unable to read,
unable to concentrate, full of pain, lost and confused, haunted by her
memories, Hannah goes to her sister’s small-scale vegetable farm in Prince
Edward County, Ontario to recover.
As summer settles on
the farm, she finds comfort in the soft rolling hills and neat fields as well
as friendship in the company of Hila Popalzai, an Afghan woman also traumatized
by war.
Unable to read the
printed word, Hannah retreats into the attic and boxes of mouldy letters that
have accumulated for more than two centuries.
As she learns about the original settlers of this land, Loyalist
refugees fleeing the United States in 1784, she is increasingly drawn to the
space beneath the old house. More than
carrots and potatoes, soups and jams, are down in the dark damp root cellar.
Hannah experiences
visions of a woman, emerging from the icy cold mist. Is the woman real? Or the
product of a severely damaged brain?
Which would be worse?
Then Hila disappears.
When Hannah cannot account for her time, not even to herself, old enemies begin
to circle.
In this modern Gothic
novel of heart-wrenching suspense, past and present merge into a terrifying
threat to the only thing Hannah still holds dear – her ten-year-old niece, Lily.
twitter: @vickidelany
