Mystery and historical fiction author Judy Alter has been a frequent
guest at Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers, but she’s never sat down to do an
interview with us before today. Learn more about Judy and her books at her
website.
When did you realize you wanted to
write novels?
I’d written articles for years, but when I was working on a
Ph.D. (and trained to document and do anything but give in to imagination), I
realized I wanted to write novels.
Are you traditionally published,
indie published, or a hybrid author?
I have been traditionally published, published with a small
press, and am now an indie author.
Where do you write?
I write at the desk in my cottage. Can’t write anywhere
else, except for children’s homes when I’m visiting. Can’t write in coffee
shops, libraries, etc.
Is silence golden, or do you need
music to write by? What kind?
Prefer silence. If I’m working on the novel-in-progress, I
want quiet. If I’m doing publishing chores, etc., I may have TV on.
How much of your plots and
characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?
My historical fiction has always been based on the life of
one specific person. My daughter called my first mystery “highly
autobiographical,” but the more I’ve written the more I’ve gotten away from incidents
from my life and news clips, gone from real life to imagined lives.
Describe your process for naming
your character?
Naming a character is really hit and miss. Sometimes I
consult lists of ethnic names but I often just go with how it sounds to my ear.
I have learned the hard way not to begin many names with the same alphabet
letter or use names that sound alike. My biggest problem with a series is
forgetting the name of a character and changing it from book to book.
Real settings or fictional towns?
Settings for my mysteries are drawn from real life—with the
Kelly O’Connell Mysteries, the setting is an historic neighborhood close to
where I live; the Blue Plate Café is a small-town café I visited frequently while
staying with friends in East Texas. I find real settings help me with details
that make my fictional setting real to readers.
What’s the quirkiest quirk one of
your characters has?
Quirkiest character- Pigface from the current novel wins.
Here’s how Susan describes him: “The man glared at her, beady eyes blazing out
of a puffy, pale face beneath a balding head with the remaining hair pulled
back into a sparse ponytail.” He lives up to his nickname throughout the
book—and gives pigs an unfair reputation.
What’s your quirkiest quirk?
My quirkiest quirk – my daughter says it’s keeping my
cottage too warm, not using the a/c enough in the summer. I say, living in
Texas where food is heavily spiced and peppers are plentiful, it is that I
don’t like spicy food or peppers in any shape or form.
If you could have written any book
(one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?
There are several books I wish I’d written. One is Wallace
Stegner’s Angle of Repose. Another is
Elithe Hamilton Kirkland’s Love is a Wild
Assault, which a book critic friend assured me is not a very good book. But
that was when I was a new writer, and I admired the use of history. I should go
back and read it again. These days, I wish I wrote serious and complex
mysteries like those of Deborah Crombie.
Everyone at some point wishes for
a do-over. What’s yours?
I’m not sure, because I’m fairly happy with the life I have
and ecstatic about my children and grandchildren. But sometimes I wish I had
trained as a chef when I was young and strong enough. Then I read some
chef-written memoirs and realize what a hard life it is.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
My pet peeve is grammatical mistakes. I am particularly
undone by the misuse of “lay” and “lie.”
You’re stranded on a deserted
island. What are your three must-haves?
I’d have chardonnay, chocolate, and lots of mysteries to
read. Could I sneak tall, dark and handsome on there, too?
What was the worst job you’ve ever
held?
The worst job I ever had was writing advertising copy for a
company that made DIY leather kits, and I fully realize that if that’s the
worst, I’ve been darn lucky.
What’s the best book you’ve ever
read?
After a lifetime of good books, I won’t go there. Can’t
begin to think of only one candidate.
Ocean or mountains?
Choice between ocean or mountains is hard. I’m not really a
water person—boating, swimming, etc. don’t hold much appeal. But some of the
happiest moments of my life were spent sitting on a sand dune staring at Lake Michigan
(okay, not an ocean but as one of my daughters discovered to her amazement, you
still can’t see the other shore). I’m also not much for rugged mountains, but I
love the gentle mountains like the Smokies.
City girl/guy or country girl/guy?
City girl, raised in Chicago, lived in Fort Worth over 50
years. A country get-away sounds great, but I’d need company—and chocolate,
chardonnay and books. And I’d get restless after a while.
What’s on the horizon for you?
I’m 79 years old, so I don’t know how far away the horizon
is. My eleven-year-old grandson for some reason asked me recently what my last
book would be about and when I was going to write it. Thanks, Jacob! I told him
I’m not thinking in those terms. I plan to keep writing my three series, so right
now I’m working on a Blue Plate Café mystery, tentatively titled Murder at the Bus Depot. After that I’ll
go back to Kelly O’Connell in Fort Worth. And I’m not talking about it much,
because it’s liable to be years before I get it done, but another cookbook is
creeping into my computer. I’ve done three other food books, one a
cookbook/memoir. This is tentatively titled Gourmet
on a Hot Plate and is about cooking in a tiny house in a tiny kitchen.
Anything else you’d like to tell
us about yourself and/or your books?
I started writing short stories at the age of ten, sent one
to Seventeen Magazine when I was in
high school, and it came right back. I majored in English in college because I
liked to read, and I thought some man would marry me and take care of me. A
career never occurred to me, but none of that worked out very well. I kept
going to graduate school, and I kept reading. Then I got serious about writing
and somewhere along the way I fell into publishing. Published my first novel in
1984—and it still sells today. I was editor at TCU Press, a small academic
press, for ten years and director for twenty. My two worlds—writing and
publishing—went together like the proverbial hand and glove, and I loved my
life. Now, in retirement and living semi-alone (my youngest daughter and family
are yards away in the main house, but I am in the cottage), I am still writing, still loving it. I am neither rich nor famous, but that’s
not why I write. I write to know that people read my stories and like them.
It’s been a great life, and I wouldn’t trade.
Pigface and the
Perfect Dog,
An Oak Grove Mystery, Book 2
Susan Hogan thinks she’s about to meet her maker when she
confronts a rifle-carrying man, who looks like a pig, in a grocery store. Jake
investigates the body of a young college student, shot in the back and found in
an empty pasture. Aunt Jenny showers love on the new puppy a young man from the
grocery gave her, but she has to get rid of that heavy collar.
Susan is associate professor of English at Oak Grove (Texas)
University; her partner, Jake, is Chief of Campus Security. Aunt Jenny, the
maiden lady who raised Jenny, came to Oak Grove to help Susan, who was accused
of murdering a coed in The Perfect Coed, first
book in the series. How much help
Jenny was is debatable, but she made a fast friend in Judge John Jackson and
stayed in Oak Grove.
Trouble in Oak Grove begins with the open-carry protestors
in the store and leads to a shooting, breaking and entering, threats and an
attempted kidnapping, a clandestine trip to the woods late at night. Will Susan
Hogan land in trouble…or the hospital…again? Will Susan and Jake survive this
as a couple? Susan is still prickly but she learns some lessons about life,
love, and herself in this second Oak Grove Mystery
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