September, 2002

A CONVERSATION WITH J. A. JANCE, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF PARTNER IN CRIME AND CHARLOTTE LOWE-BAILEY, CLUES UNLIMITED, AUGUST 18, 2002.

J.A. Jance, who prefers in her writer context to be called J.A., grew up (all the way to six feet) in Bisbee. She went to school at the University of Arizona.  She's taught at Pueblo High School as well as for five years on the Indian Reservation at Three Points.
A former hometown girl, she knows the country and town where one of her main characters, Sheriff Joanna Brady, lives very-very well.
What does Jance have in common with Brady? "Joanna and I both like Malt-O Meal and our husbands both disapprove," she says with a characteristic volley of punctuating laughter, in a telephone interview from the Hyatt Whitney Hotel in Minnesota.
She is touring to publicize her newest hardback, Partner In Crime, which pairs both her mystery-wise protagonists: Cochise County's Brady and J.P. Beaumont of Seattle. a member of the state's Special Homicide Investigation team.
 Jance, who now lives in both Tucson and Seattle, says she draws "bits and pieces" from herself to create both characters. For example: "There's an uncanny resemblance between Joanna's mother and mine," she says again with the wry chuckle. But regarding Joanna's need for normality (as evidenced in the Sheriff’s recent disapproval of Butch's desire to have his vintage model trains swooping around their soon-to-be-built family room, which Joanna wants to "be normal.”), Jance says she can "cope with chaos better." To prove the point, Jance has a husband, five children and two dogs (Agatha -for Christie and Daphne -for Daphne du Maurier, author of Rebecca).
 To digress: Jance met her husband 17 years ago at a widow/widowers retreat. “I had two, he had three. Writing books is difficult but I can tell you, blending families of teenagers is hard,” she reflects.
Back to the writing: Jance began with the Beaumont character, done in first person, simply because “it seemed right.” About nine books into the series, her publisher asked if she would develop another series. Fine, she said. That would be a way " to use her female point of view and her knowledge of the desert."
 Brady, to be distinctly different from Beaumont, is always written in third person.  It was sort of a relief for Jance. “With Beaumont, writing in first person, nothing ever happens unless he hears it or sees it,” says Jance.
As for some questions readers might have about Partner in Crime: When and when did she decide to combine the two characters?
“Two years ago, Christmas time in Palm Springs, my editor called up and said Marketing had a great idea to move me up the list by having Brady meet Beaumont. They said I would make more money. I’m not dumb so I could do that!” she says.
Also, she believed it was possible, based on reader feedback at a writing conference. “Believing what I’m writing could happen is essential. If my readers can’t believe it, I can’t,” she explains.
A reader of Partner In Crime might also wonder if Jance likes the work illustrative artist Norman Rockwell- whose art inspires her character Rochelle, AKA Latisha, a Black painter new to Bisbee.
“Yes, I do like Norman Rockwell,” says Jance. “I decided to have Latisha paint like him after I got a Christmas card from an African-American friend. It had six or seven faces of sparkly-eyed African-American children. I started saying she painted like Norman Rockwell’s because he always does skin color and people going about the business of their lives so well. And the people she painted were what she was and where she came from.”
As for what produced Jance: It wasn’t college writing classes. At the University of Arizona, she went in to talk to the then head of the Creative Writing Program when she first started college in 1964. “I was never allowed in a Creative Writing class,” she recalls. “The professor said, ‘No, you’re a girl. Boys become writers and girls become teachers and nurses.” She adds, with another laugh, “But the best revenge is living well. “ And she’s made a couple of evil characters professors of Creative Writing at UA (See Hour of the Hunter). “I’ve managed to get back my own.”
Indeed, Jance has, with Partner In Crime number nine on Publishers Weekly, Book Sense and the prestigious New York Times Best Seller (hardback fiction) lists.
“I had never cracked top ten at the Times with a hardback. I’ve lusted after that since I started,” she says. “The only sad thing is that my Dad died in May and he’s not here to see it,” Jance adds wistfully.
Still, Jance has to suck up what most mystery writers must: ‘People think, “If it’s a mystery it won’t deal with anything serious.” I she says, “I beg to differ.” As an example she refers to her condemnation of the availability of the hazardous and so-far uncontrolled chemical sodium azide, a stance that plays a prominent part in the plot of Partner In Crime.
“What sets mysteries apart is the bad guys are punished,” she says, wryly ‘ If you deal with an unpunished ending it’s usually popular fiction. If I sound irreverent maybe it’s because I’ve earned it. ”
As a writer, she has been asked to participate in mystery conferences but to teach in “real” writing workshops. “The bias against genre fiction is still really widespread,” says Jance.
Regarding those who debate the levels of legitimacy of being considered a suspense or mystery writer, Jance says, “I just don’t worry. I earn enough money to have bought my husband a Porsche.” Again, she chuckles.
Two last questions, trying to put a cap on an interview given on a Sunday that she had planned to take off: What’s the deal about using some real names and occupations of people in her novels- such as Tucson rammed earth builder Quentin Branch in Partner In Crime? Do they pay for the mention, as they would for an advertisement?
“Actually, I’ve put several real people in books because they make charitable contributions and some others I put in just because I like them. I won’t say which category Quentin is,” she says, with a burst of laughter.
And the last one: Whom does she read? “Today I just finished Fannie Flagg’s newest book and I picked up a Joanne Trollope, the second I’ve read of hers.
Hmm. Neither are mysteries. What does this mean?
 
 

A CONVERSATION WITH ALEX KAVA, AUTHOR OF THE SOUL CATCHER, SPLIT SECOND AND A PERFECT EVIL AND CHARLOTTE LOWE-BAILEY, CLUES UNLIMITED, AUGUST 3, 2002
 

Q(Charlotte Lowe-Bailey)
You wrote short stories in your childhood, in secret, on the backs of calendars. Later, as an adult in 1996, you quit your job to dedicate more time to writing. What role did writing play in your life in between, when you worked in press relations and had your own graphic arts business?
A (Alex Kava)
I did a lot of writing during that time but it was business, annual reports, college catalogs, ad copy, commercials, but not fiction.  I didn't write my first novel until I was in my 30s.
A little bit of me, because of the way I was raised, still thinks of fiction writing as frivolous, a waste of a time, as if I should be spending my time working.
 Q
Did you study writing, or belong to a writer's group? Or did you simply just decide to write again?
A
My Bachelor’s degree (Kava graduated 1982, magna cum laude from College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska) is in English and art. So, because of English, I had quite a few creative writing classes in college. But I hadn’t been doing anything since then.
Q
Then you quit your day job? How was that? I re-mortgaged my home and had to take a newspaper route. I was delivering at two and three in the morning that in downtown Omaha can be sort of frightening. It was a rough year. I had to put my dog down. My car died. And I was running out of money. Then my book got accepted.
Q
Why did you choose to write in the suspense or mystery genre?
A
The way I saw it was that if I couldn’t make money doing it I didn’t see that it would be worth it. Short stories don’t make money. I needed to make money to make a living rather than for personal satisfaction. I didn't really even read much of this genre before I wrote it. But there seems to be a high interest in serial criminals. I get the impression there are a lot of authors that have written the cozy (mystery) and squeaked by, but some still have real jobs and mysteries are a sideline. Right now it seems to be possible to write anything I want, but then I knew I needed to write something that would sell.
Early on I got interested in a story idea loosely based on a killer who was executed in Nebraska, John Joubert, and later on Michael Ryan, who was on death row in Nebraska. Those stories made me want to write suspense thrillers.
Q
When you first started sending out writing you used your real name- Sharon Kava- could you tell us when and why you switched to the more androgynous Alex Kava?
A
I wrote a manuscript in 1995, a suspense thriller that sent out as Sharon Kava. But I had a strange response. They said it was a little too violent for a romance, although it was suspenseful.  But in 1995, maybe only Patricia Cornwell was writing suspense. I got a dozen or so of those kinds of comments, as if they only thought of a woman writing romantic novels. Out of the 32 agents I sent my second book to, the three that called me back asked for Mr. Kava. Suspense thrillers are male dominated. I take it as a compliment that people don’t know if a woman or man is writing my books. The first year at Book Expo, though, it was very unnerving to be called Alex.
Q
 On your latest book jacket picture, for The Soul Catcher (August, 2002), you look like a teenage cat burglar? How old are you?
A
That’s great to know I look that young! But I was signing the advances copies of my first book (A Perfect Evil, 2000) three days before I turned 40. I had promised myself I would write a book before I was 40! The outfit was the publisher’s idea. Having come from a PR background I put up with what they want. My old picture, they said, looked like I wrote romance novels. But I’m not wearing the leather pants in Tucson- too hot!
 Q
Do you have any one in your life right now- a significant other??
A
I haven’t had a relationship with anyone for the last few years probably because of the time demands of writing.  I don’t know how people do it with children. But it would be great to have someone doing home improvements, and all that. But there just hasn’t been time.
Q
In the acknowledgments for The Soul Catcher you thank a friend for taking care of "your kids" when you're on the road? Are these actual children?
A
They’re my dogs! Scout is a West Highland Terrier and Molly is Highland Terrier and part schnouzer. I really miss them when I’m doing a book tour like this one. But I’m afraid enough of flying on my own, much less taking them with me.
Q
In your personal life are you a gypsy or a nester?
A
I’ve been living in the same house in Omaha Nebraska since 1988, so I guess I’m a nester. But now that I can afford it, I actually have been thinking of moving somewhere else.
Q
How does writing fit into your day-to-day life?
A
I started writing in longhand, and now, every once and a while, I revert back to that. It took me a long time to use the computer for my writing.
I don’t write daily. Instead I do what I call my writing marathon. I write for about three weeks at a time. I pack up the dogs, go out to my cabin, and write. Otherwise I can't focus; I have too many distractions. And I need that amount of time to get into the characters. When I’m there I get up around dawn take breaks and walks with the dogs, but there’s no television no phone, no cell phone.  Then I stay up late at night, looking over what I wrote that day.
Q
Each of your three published Maggie O'Dell mysteries involve ritualistic killings? Is there a reason for that?
A
No matter what decade you look at, serial killers- however they do the hunt or kill -it usually involves some sort of ritual. They usually take some sort of token. A trophy. Its one of the traits that serial killers share.
Q
Maggie O'Dell is an expert FBI profiler. How do you go about your research to make her believable?
A
It’s kind of a conglomeration, things I read on the Internet, books I own such as Hidden Evidence, Dead Men Tell No Tales, books that aren’t so nice on the coffee table. One thing that’s come out of being an author is that I’m offered tours of the sort of places I write about, and get to meet people who have experience in those fields. I got to take a personal tour of Quantico and got to meet three real life FBI and sat around with them, listening to them just telling stories about things that have happening to them on the job, things that happen every day and they don't see as unusual. I asked how they see such violence and learn to go home and not think about it. They just compartmentalize, like Maggie does.
The research I did for The Soul Catcher on religious cults came from a lot of different information I had accessed early on. But ultimately, Jim Jones and his cult rose to the top. Over 900 people drank poison to die with him. He was such a really strange, evil character. Reverend Everett is probably two parts Jim Jones and two parts my imagination. But for inspiration all you have to do is watch the news. I always say truth is more unbelievable than fiction.
Q
Did you plan from the beginning to create a series focusing on Maggie O’Dell?
A
Maggie wasn't ever intended to be in a series. She didn't even come into it until the 8th chapter of A Perfect Evil. When you don't set out to do a series you give your characters that you think will be temporary quirky things, like Maggie’s drunken mother and her pretty rocky marriage. Now I find I have to keep dealing with them.
Q
Your female characters are very adventurous- are you?
A
 I didn’t want to be an FBI agent or a cop, but the women who do what I write about thrill me. I only dream up what they do for a living. I’m a little queasy when it comes to the reality. I like to pretend the fiction.
Q
Their language significantly defines your characters. Agent Tully for example, is very different verbally than the adolescent Justin. How do you approach your characterizations? Do you write profiles of each one or watch them evolve as you write?
A
I do really let them evolve.  I have note cards on them, especially about their physical characteristics. But what I love about fiction is what the characters show you. Doing a series I’ve worried about them getting stagnant. But luckily I’ve written Maggie in the third person, not the first, which is easier to let evolve. I don't do a cookie cutter of people I know. The closest I came to creating a person based on someone from real life was in Split Second, in the psychology professor. He was a professor I knew, who was also a coroner. He’s no longer with us so I felt comfortable doing that. And with language, I do pay attention to how people talk. I lived next to teenage boys who actually do think the f-word is hyphenated with every other word they say.

Q
 Are you usually working against a deadline?
A
 Yes. I’m already behind deadline for book number four. I do a book a year but you don’t really get a full year to do it if you add in the couple of months it takes for editing, plus touring. At MIRA Books we go through an extensive edit. You have about six to eight months to write it and in that time you have to add in research. The public sort of demands a book a year but I really worry about burnout.
Q
How far ahead are you plotting your novels- are you looking down the line at the 6th or 7th book in your O'Dell series?
A
 The one after the fourth O’Dell will be a breakout novel. I’ve had this idea for a while. This cabin I go to is in a state park, with trees and rivers, valleys, rolling hills. And the last time was off-season in late March. I heard a helicopter overhead and you never hear that. It was because there was a robbery in Lincoln, Nebraska. The robbers drove through cornfields; they broke into a couple’s house, shot the husband stole their pickup. I was in the middle of a manhunt; to leave had to go through a police blockade. I have an idea for a story based on that experience. The story I’m interested in is these guys probably just intended to rob a bank and then what they become capable of when it gets going. Real life stuff that's too good to pass up.  I haven’t been able to stay overnight there since. I won’t be able to write it there. Book number six will be back with Maggie. I’d like to do a Maggie every other year.
Q
What do you see in store for Agents O'Dell and Tully?
A
My working title, which we’ll probably keep, is At The Stroke of Madness. It takes place in a deserted rock quarry in Connecticut. where they discover 55 rusted drums with bodies in them. Some of the bodies have already been embalmed, Maggie is called to investigate because it’s obviously a serial killer and some bodies are fresh. Parts are missing. Affected parts, imperfections are missing, and that’s what he's interested in collecting.

CL-B: Thanks Alex Kava. See you at Clues Unlimited, Thursday, August 8, for a book-signing more conversation.