Janice Gable Bashman steps into the closet to talk about writing…
Every writer eventually needs to find the balance between “alone” time to write and everything else. What’s your balance formula and how did you find it?
That’s hard, sometimes. I write full-time now, and although I work at home I find myself taking a break to do the laundry, run to the grocery store, or deal with other household essentials. I try to time those breaks for when I need to step away from the actual writing process. Although I’m not at my keyboard, I am thinking about my writing, and this break enables me to process my work and hit the keys at a fast clip when I return from my errands.
Writing is my job and I treat it like one. I’m dressed and on the computer early in the morning, and I work as long as possible throughout the day, expecting that towards mid-afternoon my work will be interrupted by family obligations. I also grab fifteen minutes here and fifteen minutes there to write or research whenever I can, but I try to plan ahead and leave the writing-related tasks that can be completed in a short period for those times.
But before you reached that full-time point, how did you manage that balance?
Finding that balance while holding down a day job and attending to family needs proved to be difficult. Writing time was squeezed in during lunch at work, on the weekends before my family woke or early mornings before work, and a half hour here or an hour there when I had some down time. I’d jot down ideas or entire paragraphs before bed, when stopped at a traffic light, while shopping for food, etc. As soon as I could grab a few minutes I’d write as much as I could. I’d write instead of watching TV or checking the computer.
I made writing a priority, so whenever I had a few minutes, that’s what I’d do. It’s amazing how many minutes of writing can be squeezed out of the day when we make it a priority.
Collaborating with another author, as you did for Wanted Undead or Alive: Vampire Hunters and Other Kick-Ass Enemies of Evil must have presented some challenges. Can you describe what those challenges were and tell us about the ways you surmounted them?
When co-writing a book, it’s important that the material sounds like one writer wrote it, and finding that all-important voice is the key to success. It takes a bit of trial and error (and writing and rewriting) to get there, but the end result is, if you do your job right, a voice from two writers that sounds like it’s from one.
Of course, it’s also important that you implicitly trust your writing partner to write the best material possible and complete it on time. My co-author, NEW YORK TIMES best-selling author Jonathan Maberry, and I each wrote individual chapters and reviewed and edited each others’ work. Other chapters were a collaborative effort. And, for any collaboration, it’s important that both partners are equally invested in the end result.
Can you describe the nuts and bolts—how you both made it work– of that collaboration?
I can honestly say that I didn’t find any aspect of writing the book with Jonathan difficult. It’s important to have an open line of communication with your writing partner and a willingness to view things from your partner’s perspective. Otherwise, you run into the potential to butt heads on some matters. We both came into this project with the attitude that we’re writing a book together and we’re going to do what needs to be done to write the best possible book we can. When both partners have the same goal in mind and both share an excitement for the subject matter, it makes it pretty easy to co-author a book.
What was researching for Undead or Alive like? Did you spend a lot of time in a library or a cemetery?
A cemetery….that would have been fun. Wanted Undead or Alive was research and interview intensive, so it all began with information gathering. We interviewed tons of people for the book (via phone and e-mail) —FBI profilers, authors, screenwriters, comic writers, actors, directors, producers, criminal experts, psychologists, and others—as well as luminaries like film-maker John Carpenter, author Peter Straub, and the legendary Stan Lee. The book also has over fifty illustrations from fantastic artists. Once all of that information was in hand, the writing process began, and I had to switch from the researcher/information gatherer to the writer.
Were there any people you would have liked to have interviewed but it didn’t work out for whatever reason?
Although we interviewed a ton of people for the book there were so many others we would have loved to include, but a book can only be so long, so we had to limit our choices. We were so excited when everyone we approached was willing to share their thoughts on good and evil. People like NY Times bestsellers like Charlaine Harris, L.A. Banks, Brian Lumley, Rachel Caine and others. Although Jonathan and I wrote the book, we couldn’t have done it without the people we interviewed who so graciously gave of their time and their insight to make the book the success that it is.
Of all the things you could have done with yourself, why write?
I write because it’s something I have to do. Writing takes me to new places, teaches me new things, and exposes me to situations that I might not otherwise encounter. It gives me a means to express myself and a way to connect with all the many readers who I might not otherwise have an opportunity to connect with.
Okay, but WHY do you have to do it? What makes being an author so important? Were you a kid who said “I must write” or did it come later?
I always wanted to write, but it took me a very long time to actually do so. One of my favorite memories is of going to the library on Saturday mornings, checking out a huge stack of books, coming home and spreading them across the floor, deciding what order to read them, and then digging in to those pages that magically transformed me to another world. Along with my love of reading came my desire to write. I’d hold a pencil in my hand and imagine what it could create (as an extension of me). Imagined the power it held. Thought of all the authors I read. I was enamored with their abilities to create wonderful stories from words, from their imaginations. To me, that was the ultimate achievement. It was something I only dreamed of doing, something I aspired to accomplish.
Although I wrote character sketches and short stories while in school, I didn’t write much until about five years ago. And I haven’t stopped since. My published credits include many articles, short stories, and a non-fiction book.
What are you working on right now?
I just finished writing a young adult paranormal thriller that draws on some of the concepts of Wanted Undead or Alive and gives them a modern spin. I also will begin working on a graphic novel and a requested novella. I’m managing editor of The Big Thrill, the International Thriller Writers’ newsletter and ezine, so that’s an ongoing job. I have several short stories coming out in anthologies later this year along with three interviews in the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market and a lead cover story in The Writer.
I see the young adult paranormal label in bookstores now, and it’s selling well. Is it really horror with a new name or different?
That’s a difficult question to tackle since the definitions for both are somewhat fluid and ever-changing as the genres evolve. Young adult paranormal fiction often contains elements from other genres, including horror, and horror can contain young adult paranormal elements. So, there’s a huge cross-over in genres and in the sub-genres.
For example, in young adult paranormal romance, humans and other types of beings— ghosts, vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, etc.—fall in love. Some of these creatures have evolved from monsters into sympathetic characters, e.g. the vampires in Stephanie Meyer’s The Twilight Series. At times, these same creatures are the heroes. In horror, creatures tend to be scary and a threat to the heroes. But not always. So what defines horror? What defines the young adult paranormal genre? That is the ongoing question.
Janice Gable Bashman is co-author (w/NEW YORK TIMES bestseller Jonathan Maberry) of WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE(Citadel Press 2010), nominated for a 2010 Bram Stoker Award, and Managing Editor of the BIG THRILL (International Thriller Writers’ newsletter and ezine). Her short fiction has been published in various anthologies. She has written for NOVEL & SHORT STORY WRITER’S MARKET, THE WRITER, WILD RIVER REVIEW, and many other publications. She is an active member of the International Thriller Writers, the Horror Writers Association, and Mystery Writers of America.
Great interview. Thank you.