Interview With Author - Joan Hall Hovey
Name: Joan Hall Hovey
Website: www.joanhallhovey.com
Questions:
Q: Joan, your writing has been compared to that of Mary Higgins Clark and “Stephen King without the profanity” — pretty heady stuff. Tell us, how did you become a novelist?
A: Those comparisons are very flattering, and interesting too, when you consider that those authors write very different from one another. But since I happen to be a fan of both, I’ll take it. Whether merited or not.
I’ve always considered myself a storyteller. I loved making up yarns to entertain classmates. If I could frighten them so much the better. In some ways, I was shy and insecure, so maybe it was a way of gaining acceptance and approval. I also liked being the center of attention.
I started out as a short story writer, and wrote many stories for the confession magazines before deciding to pursue my dream of writing a publishable novel. So while my three children were small and I was pregnant for a fourth, I began making notes for my novel. It took a couple of years to write. But it was accepted for publication first time out, and the di was cast. There is no greater high than seeing your name on a book you’ve written. Or in hearing a read say: “Your darned book kept me up all night.”
Q: Tell us a little about your new book, CHILL WATERS. What prompted you to choose this story to write?
A: I think stories choose me rather than me choosing them. I do know I discard a good many ideas before one finally seems write and I go with it.
In Chill Waters, following the breakup of her marriage after learning of her husband’s infidelity, 45 year old Rachael Warren retreats to the old beachhouse in Jenny’s Cove, where as a young girl she lived with her grandmother. It is the one place where she had always felt safe and loved. But she is about to learn that ‘a safe place’ is mostly an illusion. And that evil can find us no matter where we go.
Jenny’s Cove is located in St. Clair, a fictional St. Andrews, a small town in New Brunswick, Canada, where I live. St. Andrews lies on the Passamoquoddy Bay, and is close to the American border. A place of charm and beauty, St. Andrews/St. Clair is a magnet for tourists and artists alike.
But the beachhouse in Jenny’s cove is isolated. Waves crashing against the rocks, and the sudden summer storms that visit Jenny’s Cove add to that sense of isolation.
I especially like writing about women who struggle against great odds and triumph, or at least change in some fundamental way. But, as in life, it’s never easy. In books, it must be even harder, damn near impossible. And in the suspense novel, there are always unseen dangers.
It is the unseen dangers that spark my imagination.
Q: If the book were to become a movie, who would you like to see playing the lead roles?
A: I honestly hadn’t thought about it. But now that I do, maybe Debra Winger. I think her combination of fire and vulnerability would make her perfect for the role of Rachael. Harrison Ford would be great as the male lead. Might as well dream big. The killer - hmmm - maybe someone unknown. But wonderful like Ed Norton.
Q: Tell us about your process. First, what conditions are best to “put you in the mood?” Or do you ignore “mood” and go by the maxim, “Place bottom on chair?”
A: I write every day. Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes and throw a good deal of it in the waste basket. But If I waited for the ‘mood’ to strike, I wouldn’t get much writing done. There’s always something else that easier, like scrubbing the floor or painting the outside of the house.
Q: What is your writing schedule?
A: I write in the mornings because that’s when I’m freshest and the line between waking and sleeping is not that far off. And before the world has yet had a chance to intrude on your musings. I write till noon or longer. Then I answer emails, do errands. Hug my wonderful husband.
Q: Do you outline your stories before you start writing, or do you just follow your characters through them?
A: I don’t outline, other than cerebrally, but I do make lots and lots of notes. Mostly I follow the characters, but I’m always conscious of where they’ve been and where they’re going. It’s so easy to get lost mid-novel if you don’t keep at least a loose map.
Q: What do you like most and least about writing fiction?
A: There’s nothing I don’t like about writing fiction. The worst part of writing isn’t writing at all, but trying to stay out of your own way so you can do what you know how to do when all cylinders are firing. Insecurities are the writers’ nemisis. Will anyone like it? Am I spending all these weeks and months on a novel no one will like? You just have to rise above the fear and do the work. And trust in the creative instinct.
Q: What do you do when you’re not writing?
A: Like all writers, I’m an avid reader, mainly suspense but not exclusively. Lately, I’ve been reading Tess Gerritsen and I really like her books. I’ve done a lot of community theatre, and enjoy narrating scipts and books in my State of the Art home recording studio. And of course, I enjoy spending time with my grandchildren who are growing up far too quickly.
Q: What advice do you have for the aspiring novelist?
A: The only way to write a book is to do it. Easier said than done, but possible. Just look at all those books on the shelves. You do it one page at a time, one chapter at a time.
You must believe in yourself. You must rise above the fear that all writers know, the fear of putting your work (yourself) out there, never knowing if it will be praised or ridiculed. It takes courage to be a writer. But the perks are that you get to play god, albeit with a small ‘g’. You play all the roles, you are producer, director, soundman, lightman — what freedom. So, although there are no guarantees in this precarious business, the possibilities are boundless.
Joan, thanks so much for sharing yourself with your readers. Best of luck on the publication of CHILL WATERS, and we’ll be looking for the next one!
Thank you. My pleasure to spend time with you.
http://www.joanhallhovey.com
Suspense novelist
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Chill Waters
Nowhere To Hide
Listen To The Shadows
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As well as penning suspense novels, Joan Hall Hovey’s articles and short stories have appeared in such diverse publications as The Reader, Atlantic Advocate, The Toronto Star, Mystery Scene, True Confessions, Home Life magazine, Seek and various other magazines and newspapers. Her short story, Dark Reunion was selected for the Anthology, Investigating Women, published by Simon & Pierre, edited by David Skene-Melvin.
Joan Hall Hovey is also a writing instructor, and a Voice Over pro, narrating books and scripts. She lives in New Brunswick, Canada.
I was born and raised in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada’s oldest incorporated city, situated on the Bay of Fundy. I married my husband, Mel, when I was 18, and we had 3 children within four years. (our son, Bill, came along 18 years later.) When the children were still small, we moved from the city to Gondola Point, (it was country then, but no more) and have lived here quite contently for many years now with our poodle, Coco, and cat, Sasha, in a modest, but comfortable home, overlooking the Kennebecasis River. Lots of lovely tall pine trees as I look out my window. People often tell me the view must be inspiring, but the truth is when I’m at my computer, my back is to it. My head is already filled with characters and scenes; I’m living in a world of the imagination.
My first story sold to True Confessions, more than 20 years ago. The second story, after being rejected numerous times, sold to Home Life magazine. It was titled God’s Special Gift, and was about my grandmother, who was an artist. Her death, as a result of a house fire, when I was 15, was an enormous loss for me. And I think the story was my way of dealing with it.
When my children grew less dependent on me, I decided to pursue my lifelong dream of writing a novel. Always an insatiable reader, with a vivid imagination and natural facility for writing, (so my teachers said) I immersed myself once more in the work of those writers who had instilled in me the desire to write — Shirley Jackson, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Dickens, and contemporary authors like Ira Levin, Phyllis Whitney, Joy Fielding, Ruth Rendell, Stephen King, and so many more fine writers. At the same time I was making notes for my own novel. Listen to the Shadows sold first time out to Zebra Books. Not that they gave me a contract right away; they said it needed to be 100 pages longer. Back to the drawing board. At last, the book was published. Nowhere to Hide came shortly on its heels. Both have since been republished and are available in most bookstores. I was thrilled when Nowhere to Hide won a recent EPPIE AWARD in Las Vegas.
Chill Waters is my most recent novel. I pleased to say it was nominated for the Bloody Dagger Award.
Of course I started out as a story listener. Both my mom and dad were great storytellers, and I needed only to hear the words: ‘I remember the time when …’ to feel that rare and exquisite pleasure in the anticipation of a new story.
The dark, scary ones were best — my father told of a man with the cloven foot who showed up at a card game…a young girl’s body found in the woods behind the school… (murder was not so common then) the town drunk found dead in the cemetery, his face as granite-white with frost as the tombstones surrounding him. Word was that something had scared him to death.
My mother had a ouija board she and her friends took quite seriously. And we had a neighbor who visited us — a fortune teller name Mrs. Fortune. It’s true. Everyone was poor in money, but not in the abundance of inner life. Not so surprising then that my background should influence the kind of stuff I find delicious to write about.
My other passion is acting in community theatre, (see photo below) with major roles in a number of plays, among them Same Time Next Year, Arsenic and Old Lace, Night must Fall and The Killing of Sister George. For my role of Agnes in The Shadow Box, I won best supporting actress at the Provincial Drama Festival. Great fun! One can learn much about the craft of writing from the well written play — structure, economy of words, pacing…
Visit Joan Hall Hovey’s website at: www.joanhallhovey.com