Interview with Karin Slaughter
13.02.2009
Read German translation - Photo © Alison Rosa

Dear Karin,

You have been writing since you where in school. Was it more of an urge to express yourself or rather your explicit aim to become published one day?

I don’t know many successful authors who sat down to write their first book thinking that they were going to write a bestseller. We all hope for that, of course, but writers by nature are looking to express themselves on the page and don’t tend to look at the steps that come after. I think if you tell yourself that you are going to write a bestseller, you will never be happy with what you produce. If you say that you are going to write a book that you would love to read, then you are going to be successful by your own measure, which is must more important than the bestseller list (if not as lucrative!).

While finding a literary agent is difficult enough over here, rumor goes that it's near to impossible in the US - with agents doing speed castings and not accepting any unsolicited applications ... How did you find your first agent and how long did it take him to sell your first book?

There is a great book called the "Writer’s Market" that lists all the agents in America and tells what sorts of books they are looking for and gives submission guidelines. They do accept unsolicited submissions, but they are very specific about how to submit these queries, and if you can’t follow those simple instructions, then they tend to reject you. For instance, my agent has an almost 98% rejection rate, and most of those are writers who refuse to follow her guidelines. Writers have to look at publishing as a business. You wouldn’t send Siemens a CV written in six different fonts and colors, or tell them you like long walks on the beach and communing with nature. Why would you tell an agent the same thing? You are looking for a job, and trying to persuade an agent that you are a professional person as well as a talented writer. As the economy worsens, it has become even more important for writers to take off their prima donna hats and accept that publishers want to make money, and you have to convince them that you are a good risk. Being professional goes a long way toward that.

Your first novel, "Blindsighted", came out in 2001 and was an immediate success, not only in the US, but also internationally. What do you think were the most significant factors for this surprising success?

I wish that I could claim my brilliant talent got me there, but the truth is that I was very lucky to have good publishers who felt passionate about my work. I was also willing to tour, which a lot of authors balk over, and basically have spent the last eight years traveling wherever I was needed in order to help my publishers promote my work.

Did it come surprising to you at all? How did you react?

I was very surprised! When you’re a kid and you think about your books being published, you don’t tend to dream past your local bookstore. So, to have "Blindsighted" sell into so many foreign markets, where it was so successful, was a bit shocking. I just felt incredibly lucky, though of course, the problem with great success the first time out is that you immediately start worrying about the next one, and thinking you’ll be back at square one and live in obscurity for the rest of your life. I used to think I was a freak for feeling this, then I read an interview where Stephen King said that if he didn’t stay at number one on the list for at least a month, he started worrying about his utility bills and wondering what groceries he could cut back on. Hey, if we were stable, rational people, we wouldn’t be writers!

In the meantime you have become one of the most acclaimed international thriller authors. Do you know what your total of copies sold is - in the US and worldwide? Does this feel intimidating? Is it difficult for you to cope with success and the attention?

I think the latest tally has it around 15 million, which is an awful lot. It’s the sort of number that I can’t really grasp, so in a way it doesn’t feel real. I’m just glad that I get to do this for a living, because not many people do. Fortunately, authors aren’t "real" celebrities, so it’s not as if I get recognized at the grocery store (and that’s a good thing, because most of the time I don’t even bother to comb my hair when I go out!)

Your books have been translated into 23 languages so far. Surely you get feedback by mail or during your reading tours. Do you have any observations on how the readers in different countries react differently to your books?

It’s up to 30 languages now, which is just amazing. I get a lot of emails through my website, which is very nice, though sometimes it takes up to a year for me to get back to some of them. The fun thing is that readers are the same everywhere. It’s something that we all have in common no matter our other differences. So, we talk about books that we love and bad movie adaptations and that sort of thing.

A question every writer of gruesome murders can't avoid to be asked: How can you relate to the murderers and their motivation? If there needs to be something of the writer in every character he creates, how much violence, anger, fear, injury or brutality is in you?

I’ve never felt I have the capacity for that kind of brutality in me. Thomas Harris didn’t cannibalize someone when he was researching Hannibal Lecter. At least I hope he didn’t! Writers are very good at imagining how other people think and feel, and putting the readers in that person’s shoes. I don’t feel like I relate to the bad guys in my stories so much as understand them. I’m not one of those people who believe in evil as a concept. I think people do things for very logical reasons. They may be stupid reasons, or dastardly reasons, but there is always that thread of logic that makes you think, "yeah, I can see why you’re so awful". That thread is what compels me to write my stories. I want to know why people do things.

You credit your agent and editor for the great working relationship and point out that they have given you much advice and help with the books. What exactly did they help you with?

My agent has given me sound business advice, and we both have the same philosophy about how we should conduct ourselves in the publishing world. I don’t want to work with people who aren’t respectful of others. I’m not one of those writers who thinks you have to stick a knife into everyone and turn it until they cry for mercy. It’s so important to have a mutually beneficial relationship in these endeavors, and I feel strongly that I am in partnership with all my publishers. As for my editor, we’ve basically grown up together over these last few years. I trust her completely to tell me the truth about my work. We share the same vision for what I am trying to do and I appreciate that she can be honest with me. The biggest mistake successful writers make is that they stop listening to their editors. You can tell when that happens; they stop growing as writers.

An important point you like to make is that becoming and being a professional writer, getting published, is primarily a business. How can this awareness help aspiring authors to make their lives easier?

Well, I think perhaps the place it makes your life easiest is when you get a rejection letter from a publisher or agent. You just have to keep in mind that it’s not necessarily because they don’t like your work—it’s because they don’t think they can sell it to a degree that pays their bills. My first novel was soundly rejected, but they said it was the story, not my writing, that wasn’t working. So, I went back to my laptop and worked on another story, and that one was the one that worked. You must never let yourself get discouraged in this field, because it’s so subjective. I know a lot of authors who are enormously successful, and all of them — and I do mean all — faced incredible rejection when they first started.

Do you think about what "the market" wants, or what's currently en vogue with the publishers? To what extend do you listen to advice and change your story based on commercial and marketing considerations suggested by your agent or your publisher?

I never think about market, but I happen to be writing in a field that’s very popular right now, so it’s not something that I have to worry about. I’ve never changed a story based on commercial viability or marketing. Actually, I’ve never been asked to. My publishers and agent don’t really try to direct me in any way other than to write the best book that I can.

Obviously, any successful novel will raise the expectations that the author's next book will be at least as good if not even better. Do you feel this kind of pressure when you are writing?

I only feel pressure from myself when it’s just me and my computer. I try to be better with each story, and the fact is that there aren’t any new ways I can come up with to kill people. Things that are happening in real life are much more horrific than what happens in fiction. What I can do is write about character, and how crime or violence changes them and their community. That’s what has always interested me.

Most of your books belong to the so-called "Grant County" series. Can you summarize what constitutes and characterizes this series?

I’m writing about a small south Georgia town, but I think the idea of a small town is universal, whether it’s in the Netherlands or Bavaria or Christchurch. We all idealize small town life, and even when we live in big cities, we try to identify ourselves by a specific part of the city. New Yorkers are a classic example of this. They’re never just New Yorkers — they say they live in the Village or SoHo or the Upper West Side. That desire to be a part of a community is hardwired into our brain no matter where we live, so I think that I am giving myself a great advantage when I write about a small town. I am also paying homage to the grand southern tradition of storytelling in that I write about very flawed characters who are seeking to improve themselves and the world around them.

How do you keep track of your cast, the timelines and every bit of information you drop in the series? Do you have some kind of archive or database?

Ha, I wish! If anyone has one, I’d love it. I have a "bible" from "Blindsighted" that a copy editor created, but the rest I’ve sort of fudged around with as I’ve gone along. I’m sure that someone who is paying close attention has caught many timing issues in my books. I try to get them right, but sometimes it’s hard. As for character, it’s second nature to write about these people, so I feel very firmly planted in their heads when I am writing about them. There are also threads that I’ve left open in some of the books. For instance, my third novel, which in English is called "A Faint Cold Fear", has a smashing cliffhanger that doesn’t get followed up on until "Broken", which is the book that comes after "Genesis" and will be published in 2010.

The large cast available to you enables you to re-use any of the characters, to re-arrange them, to create sheer endless combinations and evoke countless conflicts, in a similar way as soap-operas work. Theoretically, that is, while in fact your work is far from it. How do you avoid the dangers of slipping into standard situations and clichés?

I try very hard to stay away from cliché, but sometimes, it just happens. Since I’m a big reader myself, I think that makes me aware of the traps that are out there. Many times when I am writing, my brain will go to the obvious thing that should happen next, and I’ll stop myself and try to think of a new way to do it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with sticking to a certain formula, but for my books, I try to do something new each time.

Talking about re-arranging and conflicts: Do you plan your books from scratch to end, or do you work with a basic idea and follow it to where it leads you? Or do you confront the characters with a situation and watch how they react to it, much like in a Petri dish?

I always know how a book will start before I sit down to write. Generally, I have that first "scene" in my head—the part where we find our characters in a very normal setting, then WHAM, something bad happens. I think that’s the best way to make sure readers are paying attention. As for the rest of my planning, other than knowing who the bad guy is, I never really know how the book is going to end. There are shadows in my mind that become more clear as I get closer to the dénouement, and figuring out those details and motivations is what makes me feel so passionate about story telling.

Do you know your characters intimately, before you start writing? Some authors write complete biographies and hold interviews with their characters before they start writing. Other authors start off with a most basics outline and discover the character while writing, filling in the blank spot along the way. What is your approach?

Oh, I don’t do anything as interesting as that. Basically, I just spend a lot of time thinking about people. Faith Mitchell, who is in Fractured, the most recent book that was published in the Will Trent series, was a character that came from me wondering what happened to all those girls I knew in high school who got pregnant, then disappeared off the face of the earth. Of course, pregnant teenagers now are allowed to go to school and live fairly normal lives, but when I was a teen, they were banished and never to be seen again. So, with Faith, her character evolved out of my asking that question: what happened to that pregnant fourteen year old who had a kid at fifteen and had to drop out of school? And that’s where I got a 33 year old police detective with an 18 year old son who is just entering college.

What do you feel is the most important aspect when writing about characters, what makes them feel alive, what keep readers interested in their fate?

I see my characters as real people. I don’t have conversations with them, but I’ll hear a song or see a movie and think, "Oh, Sara and Jeffrey would’ve liked that", or maybe I’ll hear some Shelby Lynne and remember that they danced to one of her songs at their wedding. Stuff like that keeps them real to me, so when I’m writing about them, I feel like I’m a voyeur in their lives rather than feeling like they are one-dimensional thoughts in my head.

Some authors maintain that fictional characters always need to act at their maximum competence or even beyond that. That heroes need to be stronger, faster, more clever, they need to love better, suffer deeper and die harder. Other authors claim that good fictional characters need to have faults, deficits, even a secret, i.e. another side to their characters which is not entirely revealed. What is your position?

I don’t like books where authors spend pages and pages trying to convince you that their character is the most brilliant person in the world. Show it to me. Have the detective figure out a puzzle or find a clue. Have them BE clever rather than just saying that they are and trusting I’ll believe you. Maybe because of my southern roots, I don’t really have time for perfect people. I like flaws and shocking secrets and twisted hopes and dreams. That’s what fiction is about — talking to the darkest part of man. That being said, in order to have the dark, you have to have the light, and I achieve this lightness by making my characters human. They make mistakes. They feel guilty about messing up their jobs. You’re never going to have Sara show up at a crime scene where a body is at the bottom of a lake and she pulls some SCUBA gear out and goes down to see the victim in situ. She’s just not that kind of superwoman.

While we're at it, you said in an other interview that plot and characters need to be equally important in a good story. Can you explain what you mean by this?

I think we’ve all read so-called literary novels where the characters just stand around staring at their navels for six hundred pages, culminating in some revelation along the lines of "my father never loved me". I’m just so bored with that kind of thing. Have them do something other than be self-absorbed. Send them on a quest, whether it’s finding a murder or digging through a family secret. Wuthering Heights. The Great Gatsby. The Handmaids Tale. These are all stories where characters are alive because they are put into situations where their very nature is tested. I want people to grow and change or revel in their badness. Why else would I be reading about them?

You call yourself a lazy person. At the same time you happen to run off into the mountains, lock yourself up in a cabin and write for 10 or 12 hours a day. Also, you have an "output" of one novel a year. So how does this relate to laziness, what could or should be any different?

I suppose I could be doing two novels a year! Perhaps we should blame my dad for me feeling lazy, because when I was a child, he was always making sure we were doing something. If we said we were bored, he would find something for us to do whether it was helping out the teacher after class or (I am not making this up) moving a pile of rocks from one side of the yard to the other. I think this is why I probably read so much—so my dad wouldn’t find something for me to do. Consequently, unless I’m doing something every minute of the day, I feel like I’m a lazy person.

How long does it take you to write an entire book, looking only at the actual time spent on the manuscript?

Boy, that’s hard to answer. I spend a great deal of time thinking about what is going to happen in my books, so that by the time I sit down to write them, I’m just taking dictation from my brain. If I had to put a number on actual time spent in front of my computer typing, I would say a couple of months, but that makes it sound much easier than it is. I am very driven to get the stories right, and if I am not there in my head, I won’t write. I’m also a long-term planner, so for instance, some of the events that occur in Skin Privilege, my latest Grant County book (which will be published in Germany this year) were planned out three or four books ago.

Do you edit and rework your books often or do you send out the manuscript the moment you're done with the last sentence?

I usually wait a week after I’ve finished the book to turn it in, because I’m always thinking of minute things to change, but pretty much when I get to that last sentence, the basic story and structure are in place and it’s ready to go. I don’t believe in doing things halfway to turn them in, nor do I think that I am going to die if it’s not absolutely perfect. That week in between helps me feel like I am doing the best I can do. And, of course, then it goes into edits and I have to look at things in an entirely new way. Fortunately, I’ve done enough of these now so that I feel confident that I know how to tell a story. Oh, no—maybe I have just jinxed myself!

You are a very enthusiastic reader yourself. What interests you most in other people's books? What keeps you hooked - and what turns you off?

I am always drawn to characters first and story second, which is why I end up reading some pretty crazy books. I really hate when an author doesn’t know where they are going in a story, because as a reader, you can tell when that happens. Usually it’s at the end, and you’ve invested hours of your time in one book and you get to the last twenty or so pages and want to scream.

And finally, what is your advice to young authors hoping to become published and successful some day?

Being published and being successful are two very different things! My advice would be to write the book you want to write and don’t worry about the market. Also, read as much as you can. I am always appalled when I hear writers say they don’t have time to read. What’s the point?

Dear Karin, thank you very much for the interview!

Interview by Andreas Wilhelm