Interrogation Room #30: April Henry, THE GIRL WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE

We’ve got another suspect in the Interrogation Room! Today April Henry has been hauled in, accused of murdering people on paper – something she freely admits to on her website. Here’s what our detective Laura Ellen uncovered:

Suspect’s Bio:

April Henry knows how to kill you in a two-dozen different ways. She makes up for a peaceful childhood in an intact home by killing off fictional characters. There was one detour on April's path to destruction:  when she was 12 she sent a short story about a six-foot tall frog who loved peanut butter to noted children's author Roald Dahl. He liked it so much he arranged to have it published in an international children's magazine. By the time she was in her 30s, April had started writing about hit men, kidnappers, and drug dealers. She has published 15 mysteries and thrillers for adults teens, with more under contract.

Books:

The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die is April Henry’s most recent crime.

“Take her out back and finish her off.”

She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t know where she is, or why. All she knows when she comes to in a ransacked cabin is that there are two men arguing over whether or not to kill her.

And that she must run.

This nail-biting thriller involves murder, identity theft, and biological warfare. Follow Cady and Ty (her accidental savior turned companion), as they race against the clock to stay alive.

Other books for teens by April Henry:
 The Night She Disappeared
Girl, Stolen
Torched
Shock Point
And several books for adults. See her website for a list
 

Now for our interrogation!

 

Interrogation:

April, on your website you say: “I kill people, but only on paper” -- your latest book, The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die definitely fits this MO as it begins with your main character about to be finished off by two men!

Tell us about your career path. How did you begin writing thrillers and mysteries? What drew you to this genre? What is it about killing people on paper that you love so much?

I started writing around my 30th birthday. I wrote one book that got rejected by dozens of agents. The next book was picked up by an agent (and we’re still together nearly 20 years later), but just garnered nice rejection letters from editors. The third book didn’t even get very good rejection letters. My agent said she thought the fourth book would sell as a mystery. I told her I didn’t care what she called it, I just wanted to be published. 

Mystery is a very flexible genre - it can be literary or formulaic or something in between. I like reading page-turners and I like writing them, too. While I’m a nice person in real life (I have a hard time not apologizing to my sparring partners in kung fu), it’s kind of fun to imagine being a bad guy or gal.

I don’t want to give anything away (I hate spoiler reviews and interviews!) but it is obvious you had to some research for The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die. How do you go about researching? Do you just internet browse or do you go out and interview experts?

I went into the story knowing I wanted the girl to not remember anything, and knowing what had caused that. I did not know why the two men wanted to kill her, where her family was, etc. That took forever. Tons of brainstorming. I ended up doing a lot of research into how to make bioweapons (it’s a wonder the FBI did not come for me) and ultimately ran several chapters past Dr. Denene Lofland, who has worked in anti-bioterrorism with a secret security clearance. She told me my scenario was “plausible and evil.”

Plausible and evil - nice! I think :) You write for both adults and teens. Do you prefer writing one more than the other? When you sit down to write something new, how do you decide if it is going to be for adults or teens? Do you write it first and then see where it falls, or do you know before you even start plotting who the audience will be?

If my main character is a teen, then it’s a YA. An adult, an adult book. I have really come to love writing for teens. They are fresh and full of energy. They don’t hide their feelings. I get probably 20 emails a week from teens. Of course, sometimes they will tell you that your book is the best they have ever read, and you later learn it’s the only book they’ve ever read all the way through.

And what an honor to be that author who got a teen to read a book all the way through for the first time! One of your adult series you co-author with Lis Wiehl. Tell us a little about the process. Do you plot together, take turns writing, etc.

Lis is a TV reporter, and has been a federal prosecutor. Her dad was an FBI agent. We come up with plots that reflect her interesting background, then I’ll work on a first draft in consultation with her.  Then together we work to create the final draft. 

Speaking of series, you have a very intriguing new YA series coming out soon. Can you tell us about it?

I’m excited for my new Point Last Seen series. The first is due out in 2014. I got the idea after talking to a friend’s teenager. She volunteers with Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue. Like most groups, MCSO SAR looks for people who are lost in the natural areas. What makes this group unique is that it’s a teen-led group . While there are adult volunteers, they can’t be leaders.  The second thing that sets it apart is that 30-40% of what they do is crime scene evidence recovery, including recovery of human remains. Many of the volunteers are interested in future careers in law enforcement or crime scene investigation.  I have been taking classes with them and going out on training exercises.

Oh my gosh that sounds so cool -- what an awesome opp for those teens! I really look forward to reading the first book in the series. One last question before we let you go. All of your crimes are set in the Pacific Northwest. Do you do this because it is what you are familiar with and does it ever limit you in any way?

I grew up here.  I could not realistically set a book in Nashville or New Orleans or New York.  I’m not of those places.  However, I don’t think it’s limiting.

Just like the film makers who have turned Toronto into whatever city in the world they need, the Pacific Northwest offers enough variety for a thousand writers. We’ve got cities and tiny towns. You want deserts? We’ve got ‘em. Caves? Ditto. Mountains perfect for concealing shallow graves, coastlines where a body might wash up, lonely forests where no one will hear your poor character scream, even freak windstorms strong enough to flip semis on their sides.

Spoken like a true thriller writer!
Before we release you, tell us where we can find you.

I do a lot of school visits these days, so if you know of a middle school or high school that has authors come to speak, have them contact me. You can find me on my website: aprilhenrymysteries.com and I am also on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AprilHenry
and Twitter: @aprilhenrybooks

Thanks April!

 

Interrogation Room #13: Tracy Bilen, author of What She Left Behind

“Don’t even think of leaving…I will find you,” he whispered. “Guaranteed.” - What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen

Sara and her mom have a plan to finally escape Sara’s abusive father. But when her mom doesn’t show up as expected, Sara’s terrified. Her father says that she’s on a business trip, but Sara knows he’s lying. Her mom is missing—and her dad had something to do with it.

Each day that passes, Sara’s more on edge. Her friends know that something’s wrong, but she won’t endanger anyone else with her secret. And with her dad growing increasingly violent, Sara must figure out what happened to her mom before it’s too late…for them both.

This week we've hauled author Tracy Bilen into the Interrogation Room, accused of being a First Ttime Offender. Her first novel What She Left Behind, a romantic thriller, debuted May 1st from Simon Pulse.

Tracy is a high school French and Spanish teacher in Michigan where she lives with her husband and two children. Before moving to Michigan, Tracy taught at a ski school for high school students in Vermont (Spanish, not skiing!). She studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and taught English in Strasbourg, France. She enjoys cross-country skiing and walks in the woods.

Here is the transcript of Tracy's interrogation:

Laura Ellen: According to your bio, you are a high school French and Spanish teacher. How did you decide to begin writing young adult novels?

Tracy Bilen: I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but I also knew that the road wouldn’t be easy, so I entered college determined to come out with a profession I could use to support myself. Studying French and Spanish was an easy choice, since I love speaking other languages as much as I love writing. When I started writing novels, I wasn’t much beyond my teen years myself. So I started writing with a teen perspective and I never wanted to give it up.

Laura Elen: Were thrillers your intended genre? Going forward, what genres do you see yourself writing?

Tracy Bilen: My first attempt at a novel was a romance, but I’ve always loved reading thrillers…from Lois Duncan as a teen to Harlan Coben, now as an adult. And while What She Left Behind is a thriller, it’s a romance as well. I love both reading and writing romantic thrillers, so I see the genre as my writing “home.”
Laura Elen: You classify What She left Behind as a 'romantic thriller', but it has also been called a  'mystery' by others. Do you see the terms 'thriller' and 'mystery' as interchangeable?

Tracy Bilen: Here’s my take on the two terms: In a mystery, the protagonist usually has a choice about whether or not to try to solve a crime. And while his/her life may be at risk, this normally isn’t evident until near the end. While Sara does have a mystery to solve, I consider What She Left Behind to be a thriller because Sara’s life is in jeopardy from the moment she and her mom decide to run away. 

Laura Ellen: When you began writing What She Left Behind did you know it was going to be a thriller or did it just 'happen' as you got farther into the writing?

Tracy Bilen: I always knew that What She Left Behind would be a thriller, that the novel would be a race against time as Sara searched for her mom.

Laura Ellen: When you write do you plot everything out or do you just let the story take you where it needs to go?

Tracy Bilen: I’m definitely more of a “pantser”than a “plotter.” With What She Left Behind, I knew very little about where the story would go when I started it. One of my critique group partners is a definite “plotter.” About her own work she would say things like, “In chapter 9, such and such will happen.” And I would find that so funny because I could never know something that detailed starting out. That being said, I’ve found that in the manuscripts I’ve worked on since What She Left Behind, I’ve been able to do a lot more of the plotting up front (but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to tell you what will happen in chapter 9 before I write it!)

Laura Ellen: How would you advise mystery and thriller writers to ramp up the "thrill factor"? Do you have any tips for suspense writing?

Tracy Bilen: When your character is in a bad spot, keep asking yourself, how could this get any worse? And then throw your character into that worse situation (and try not to wince!) Also, try to ramp up the suspense at the end of each chapter. Make your reader feel like he/she just has to turn the page to find out what’s going to happen next.

Laura Ellen: What She Left Behind deals with two very difficult issues -- grief and abuse -- how difficult was it to inject these into your story and still keep it a fast-paced, suspenseful thriller?

Tracy Bilen: Writing these parts was not difficult because that was the way the story unfolded in my mind. That being said, I did have to go back through and crank up the suspense in certain scenes.

Laura Ellen: Was there ever a time in writing What She Left Behind that you felt it was too dark/edgy and you had to pull back?

Tracy Bilen: Yes, there was one scene in particular that I was struggling with and I wrote it the direction I thought my editor wanted it to go. But I also wrote an alternate version of the scene that I was much happier with, and as it turned out, so was my editor!

Laura Ellen: I understand you won the SCBWI-MI novel mentorship for 2009 which meant a year working on What She Left Behind one-on-one with author Shutta Crum. How did this mentorship push you from manuscript to published novel? What were some of the key lessons you learned through this experience?

Tracy Bilen: When I started the mentorship, I had about half of the novel written. In something akin to an editorial letter, Shutta gave me detailed suggestions about how and where to expand the novel. She did this five times throughout the year, and by the end, the novel was ready to make the rounds with agents. One of the things we worked the most on was characterization and character arc. These were weaknesses that I wasn’t even aware of when I began the mentorship, and I’m so grateful I had the chance to grow in this area!

Laura Ellen: Thank you for your time, Tracy. We hope to see you again soon as a repeat offender. Before you go, where can we find you if we need to ask you more questions?

Tracy Bilen: If you want to know a little more about What She Left Behind, you can watch the trailer here. You can also head over to my website at http://www.tracybilen.com

On Twitter I’m @TracyBilen and on Facebook my page is at: http://www.facebook.com/tracybilenbooks
I am also on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4672248.Tracy_Bilen

Click the 'read more' link below to win a What She Left Behind swag pack which includes 1 WSLB notebook and 5 WSLB bookmarks!

Case Files from Our Detectives: Setting as Character

Photo by T. Roger Thomas

Over the past several weeks our detectives have been discussing Case Files on Crime Scenes a.k.a. Settings. My Case File today is about using setting as a character.

While I never intended to set all my stories in Alaska, so far, I have. It isn't just because I grew up and lived there for over thirty years -- as a military wife, I have lived and visited many, many places that would make for great settings. And it isn't just because Alaska offers such a pristine setting -- although it does, with its forests, lakes, rivers, mountains, glaciers, etc.

No, I think it is the character appeal of Alaska; the unique challenges and differences that the land offers which can disrupt and aggravate, twist and exacerbate, a crime or mystery that make setting my stories in Alaska so appealing. The endless darkness in the winter, the endless daylight in the summer, the harshness of the winters, the deadly forest fires of the summer, the absolute isolation that one can be engulfed in if you stray only moments off the path -- mystery, intrigue, simplicity, rugidness, peace, severity, safety, danger -- Alaska can offer up anything you want it to and create conflict and complexity in your story just as any character would.

In my novel BLIND SPOT Alaska is less character, more setting, but its harsh winter does hide the truth about a classmate's death from my main character, Roz, for nearly six months, which adds to the immediacy of the thriller when Roz learns the truth. In my current work-in-progress (which for now is titled MURDER POINT) however, Alaska is a definite character. My main character, Kat, heads to an Alaskan campground to meet the father she's never known and discovers murder instead. I use the isolation of the campground, the contrast between Kat's lifestyle in D.C. and this new rustic lifestyle, as well as the all-day sunlight to amp up the threats, conflicts, and suspense in this story, giving Anchor Point, Alaska just as big a part in the story as any other character.

While yes, Alaska lends itself to this type of writing, any setting can be used as a character in a mystery or thriller, by simply finding ways that the setting, like any antogonist,  can disrupt and deepen the danger. Creating limitations to a setting is a quick way to do this -- maybe there is a high cliff on one side of your setting that can't be passed or floorboards that have rotted that are too dangerous to walk on -- anything that restricts what your character can do. Then you can create a situation in which your main character's only option is to head towards those limitations you have set. This immediately amps up the suspense and deepens the danger, and as your character heads there, you can use that setting you have created to hinder her every move, just as an atogonist would. Some of the most intriguing stories I've read are those where the setting takes part in the plot just as much as the characters do. But truth be told -- I do it because it can be great fun using the setting to put charcaters in as much peril as their antagonists do!
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What if a classmate went missing right after you fought with her at a party and she was later found dead? What if you couldn't remember anything after that fight? Not even how you got home? Would you tell the police the truth? Or would you lie about what you remember until you could find out what really happened that night?

16-year-old Roswell Hart finds herself in this very predicament in Laura Ellen's YA thriller, BLIND SPOT (October 2012, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)