This interview with Vicki
Delany was first published in February 2006. To find out even more about the author,
you must visit our Vicki
Delany page.
Where
were you born and raised?
Canada.
Although I lived in South Africa in my twenties.
What
was it that first got you into writing and when did you start writing?
I did a bit of writing when I was in high school. My friends and I wrote stories around our favourite TV characters and programmes. I started writing again about ten years ago. I don't really know what got me into writing - but I love to read and thought that I could give it a try myself.
Which
writers have influenced you the most?
Peter
Robinson, Minette Walters, Robert Goddard, Sara Paretsky, Pierre Berton, and I
am sure that there are many, many more who I can't think of right
now. Also Stephen King although I have not read many of his
books because I am not a horror fan, but I learned a great deal from his book “On Writing”.
Where do you stand on the nature v. nurture debate? Were
you born a writer, or were there factors in your environment that enabled you
to become a writer?
I guess I'm a nurture person,
because I can't think of any influences in particular that influenced me to
become a writer. Although I was brought up in a household in which people
read all the time.
There are a lot of courses teaching creative writing
nowadays, but do you think that good writing can be taught?
I don't believe that
talent
can be taught, but the mechanics of writing - show, don't
tell for example - can be taught. In “On Writing” Stephen
King says that you can't make a competent writer out of a poor writer, and you
can't make a great writer out of a good writer, but you can make a good writer
out of a competent writer.
Have you entered writing competitions? If so, have you
won any prizes?
I won an EPPIE for best
mainstream novel of 2001 for my electronic novel “Whiteout”.
What
kind of things do you write?
Psychological
suspense. “Scare the Light
Away”
was published by Poisoned Pen Press in March, 2005
and “Burden of Memory”
will be released in June, 2006. Although they are both classified as
mysteries, they are more about people, their backgrounds and conflicts, than
about solving the crime itself. The crime is basically just a force
that drives the protagonist towards a reconciliation with their past.
What, for
you, is the best piece of prose that you have ever written?
That is
like asking me which one of my children is my favourite. But I guess I'd
say at the end of “Burden of Memory”
when the old war-hero tells the story of what really happened
that day in Italy in 1944.
What
are you working on now?
“Child of Mine”.
It's a
psychological suspense: the killer and the motivation for it is revealed
at the very beginning. The suspense, I hope, is around how the protagonist deals
with the crime and the criminal. “Child
of Mine” is set in the same small town in northern Ontario where
“Scare the Light Away” was set - the fictional Hope River.
What is
your writing day like?
I work full time, so when I am working on a book, I come home from work, pat the dog, read my mail and write until close to bedtime, and then I read in bed for an hour or so. I don't even eat dinner. I sometimes write on the weekends, but not usually. My children are all grown up now - I was never able to keep that sort of schedule when they were younger. Then they were always demanding things like food and attention.
Where
would you like to be in 10 years time?
I'm hoping to live in my favourite place in all the world - Nelson, B.C. If I can publish a book a year, I'll be happy.
What’s
the most exciting thing about writing for you?
I just
love watching a story develop. Things really do happen that I haven't
planned and that is always a thrill. In “Burden of Memory”, I had originally had the elderly woman
killed off at the beginning - thus providing the mystery. But I decided
that I liked her so much I didn't want to see her die. At the other end
of the writing spectrum, I get a thrill when I get letters from people who
liked the book.
What’s
the most frustrating thing about writing for you?
Revising and revising again. Agonizing over the little things like where to put the chapter breaks. I always end up questioning what I've done. I don't much like doing research. My books all contain a 'backstory' that takes place in the past, so I have to research the era; I find that tedious and uncreative.
What’s the best piece of feedback that you’ve had from
your audience?
I got a
wonderful letter from an elderly lady who told me that she had been a war bride
(“Scare the Light Away” is about the daughter of a war bride) and that she
thought I had amazing insight "for one so young". Another woman
wrote to tell me that she was thrilled to find a scene in “Scare the Light Away” where the wife of an alcoholic goes to Al
Anon, because she is a member of that organization and really believes
in it.
Do you write for a particular
audience, or is your first priority to satisfy your own creativity?
Fortunately
both. The books I like to read the most are psychological suspense,
and that's what I write. I like to think that I'm writing a book
that I would want to read.
Do you
have a homepage? If so, what’s the URL?
Yes, I
do. www.vickidelany.com
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