Author: jennifer-kincheloe

CHANTICLEER 10 AUTHOR INTERVIEW SERIES
with award-winning author, Jennifer Kincheloe

Jennifer Kincheloe won First Place in our Mystery & Mayhem Awards a few years back, but we still remember her contagious smile and her fabulous book, The Secret Life of Anna Blanc. Let’s get into it!

Chanti: Tell us a little about yourself: How did you start writing?

Kincheloe: I used to be a research scientist/mother of two. (Actually, I still am) About ten years ago, bemused by the boastful Christmas letters I would get every year in the mail (this was before Facebook), I decided to write a humorous, sort of spoofy Christmas letter. I spent hours on it. And when people read it, they laughed. That’s when I discovered I loved writing.

Chanti: When did you realize you that you were an author?

Kincheloe: After I wrote my Christmas letter, I decided to write a screenplay because, in my naïve mind, they were shorter than novels and therefore easier. I had just recovered from an illness and wasn’t working, so I had time to spend on it. When I started writing, I couldn’t stop. It made me high. I wrote all the time. I barely stopped to eat. I would wake up in the middle of the night and write. I took my laptop everywhere. (I still do). When I stopped to consider this, I decided I must be a writer.

And, by the way, my screenplay was terrible.

Chanti: I love that feeling when you’re in it deep and words just flow. What a high! What do you do when you’re not writing? Tells us a little about your hobbies.

Kincheloe: I like kickboxing and hiking. I love theater. I go to the Metropolitan Opera’s film series. I spend time with my family and pets.

Chanti: It sounds like you have a well-balanced life. Good for you! How do you come up with your ideas for a story?

Kincheloe: Newspaper articles. I usually base my mysteries on real crimes. The little details in the book, the world-building, typically come from historical sources. For example, I read in a wealthy woman’s diary about how her family had employed a man from China at the turn of the 20^th century. He would fill his mouth with water and spit it out in a fine spray onto the clothes he was ironing. That went right into The Woman in the Camphor Trunk.

Chanti: How do you approach your writing day?

Kincheloe: I write on my lunch break, nights and weekend. I usually write every day, even if it’s just a paragraph.

Chanti: Smart. Put something on paper – it doesn’t matter how much. It’s about the habit. I like that. What craft books have helped you the most?

Kincheloe: I loved Stephen King’s book On Writing. Story by Robert McKee. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

Chanti: What business books about writing have helped you the most?

Kincheloe: If I were to look at writing as a business, I would despair. Even the traditional publishing market is flooded and very few authors make a living. What helps me is having an engaging and profitable life apart from writing. This allows me to write for the joy of it. Most authors I know who make a living are a dozen or more books into their career. Some of our finest, most decorated authors do not make a living.

Chanti: What are you working on now? What can we look forward to seeing next from you?

Kincheloe: I’m working on the fourth book in the Anna Blanc Mystery series. It deals with mysterious fraternal orders and horrible death.

Chanti: How exciting! What is the most important thing a reader can do for an author?

Kincheloe: Email the author and tell them you loved the book and why. Recommend a book to a friend. Give books as presents. Leave reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, library webpages, wherever. Go to their book signing and say hi.

Chanti: Do you ever experience writers block? What do you do to overcome it?

Kincheloe: Yes. I overcome it by putting on my big girl panties. In the words of Gail Carriger, “Sandwich makers don’t get to have sandwich block.” I’m a writer. Thus, I write when I don’t feel like it. If I’m burned out, I spend time in nature. A fine book on creative blocks is The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.