SUSAN TUTTLE
interviewed by Barbara M. Hodges 
Susan Tuttle was born and raised in Buffalo, NY, where her father had a business publishing materials for gifted and talented education. Susan worked for DOK Publishers through high school and college, writing, editing and illustrating educational manuscripts. She earned a BFA degree, magna cum laude, from Daemen College, with a dual major in acting and directing.
Susan has been writing since her first poem was published in the local Buffalo paper. She wrote poetry all through high school, then got distracted with theater in college, marriage and motherhood. It wasn't until her son was in grade school did she begin writing again, novels this time, being inspired by the movie, “The Princess Bride.”
Now she writes suspense, paranormal suspense, sci-fi and fantasy, YA fantasy, Bible studies, spiritual meditations and spiritual songs.
Tangled Webs, the sixth book she wrote and the first she deemed worthy of publication, was written after her divorce. When the manuscript was finished, Susan picked up on a whim and moved to California’s Central Coast.
There she found the most amazing writer’s community and SLO NightWriters, and brought Tangled Webs into print. She has been writing novels ever since, even winning a few contests.
Susan is also a freelance editor, and writing teacher/coach. (For details on all this, and her writing blog, see her website: www.SusanTuttleWrites.com)
Susan's Books
Write It Right:
Tangled Webs:
(You can find them on Amazon)
BMH: Tell us your favorite joke.
ST: In a very poor rural town, there was a Catholic Church and a Jewish Synagogue. The Rabbi and the priest lived next door to each other and shared a driveway. Neither could afford a car, though each needed one because their congregants lived out on farms. So they decided to share a car. They flipped a coin to see who would use the car first, and the priest won. He drove all over to the outlying farms. When it was time to turn the car over to the rabbi, it was filthy. So the priest decided to wash it. While he was hosing it down, he could see the rabbi peering out his window, getting more and more aggravated. When the priest took the keys to him, the rabbi snatched them and slammed the door in the priest’s face. Baffled, the priest went home to work on his sermon. While he was working, he heard a high-pitched metallic screech. He looked out the window and saw the rabbi at the back of the car, sawing off the tailpipe. He ran outside shouting, “What are you doing to the car?” The rabbi drew himself up and said, “If you can baptize it, I can circumcise it.”
BMH: When's the last time you used profanity?
ST: Having been married to an ex-Marine, I tend to use more profanity than I should. But I also learned a couple of swear words/phrases in Polish, courtesy of my ex-mother-in-law, so I don’t usually get too embarrassed in public.
BMH: How many hours of sleep do you get (on average)?
ST: I average about 4 to 5 hours sleep, usually in the early morning between about 5 and 10 am. I’m a quintessential night person. If it’s dark, I can’t keep my eyes closed. To sleep when it’s dark, I have to leave a light on in the room to fool myself into thinking it’s light outside, or I can’t sleep.
BMH: Describe your level of ambition.
ST: I’m a pretty ambitious person, with very lofty goals. Huge dreams. However, my innate laziness tempers all that, so in effect I’m planning on being the first person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature without writing a book. I guess it’s a good thing I write fiction, since I live basically in a fantasy world...
BMH: You're president of the United States for enough time to only make one executive decision. What is it?
ST: Only one? That’s tough. Here’s one of the many things I’d like to institute: A flat tax so everyone has to pay his/her fair share. Say, 10%, which is way less than most Americans pay now. No deductions, no tax shelters, just a straight 10% off the top. The more you earn the more you pay. The state would take 4% and the federal government 6%. Both governments would have more than enough money because everyone paid into it and no one was overburdened by it. I’d also revamp the entire political system, but that’s another story...
BMH: What's a common and accepted practice for Americans nowadays that you think we'll look back on with regret?
ST: Their apathetic, can’t-fight-city-hall mentality that keeps them from voting — or caring about it. Complacency and taking our civil liberties for granted will eventually come home to bite us.
BMH: What would you attempt to do if you knew that you could not fail?
ST: Skydive. I’m terrified of heights and the best way to get over a fear is to face it. But no way, uh-uh, not me, not without an ironclad guarantee.
BMH: Describe a few pet peeves of yours.
ST: In life? My computer guru, cover designer son who doesn’t return phone calls, or drop his life to do my bidding. In writing? I’ve been called the Adverb Police. If I had my way, I’d delete the ‘L’ and ‘Y’ keys from the keyboard. And the phrase “try and” really makes me see red. It’s grammatically incorrect and impossible to do, anyway. One either tries to do something or one does it. Oh, and let’s not forget the authors who post e-books without learning punctuation and how to format properly. Save me from non-indented paragraphs, double quote marks around internal thoughts and semi-colons inserted where a simple comma belongs. Makes me shudder.
BMH: How often do you Google yourself?
ST: Every day. I’ve set up Google Alerts to let me know when I show up. And it’s always a thrill when I do.
BMH: What do you know now that you wished someone had told you ten years ago?
ST: To invest in computer technology. And to take courses in online marketing and social media.
BMH: What childhood event shaped or scarred you the most?
ST: I was adopted at 15-1/2 months old. I lost my identity, my orphanage “family” and even had my name changed. The search for an identity, for who a person really is, is a thread that weaves through all my stories.
BMH: Would you rather...
Live without music or live without TV?
ST: Couldn’t live without either, so don’t ask me to, or I’ll have my two friends (Smith & Wesson) come visit.
BMH: Be gossiped about or never talked about at all?
ST: Gossiped about, especially if I can control the direction the gossip goes in.
BMH: Do you blog? If so, why and what do you usually blog about?
ST: Absolutely. I blog mostly about writing by taking a photo that readers send me and show how to find either characters, a setting or a story in each one. And I fill in with other writing-related stuff when the mood strikes.
BMH: Have you ever done a blog book tour? What was that like and would you do it again?
ST: Never done one, but would love to sometime after my next two books come out.
BMH: Do you enjoy doing promotion?
ST: No, it’s one of today’s necessary evils for all writers who want to sell their work. But I am learning not to kick and scream about it too much.
BMH: What’s the oddest thing you’ve ever done to promote your work?
ST: Nothing out of the ordinary yet, but there’s always tomorrow!
BMH: What’s the strangest fan question/request you’ve ever gotten?
ST: Most ask where I get ideas on how to kill my victims. My answer? It’s easy, I have an ex-husband. I never lack for ideas. (Just kidding, he’s really not that bad. I just love to hear people laugh!)
BMH: Respond to these pairings and tell why you respond the way you do:
a. Series or stand-alone books?
ST: I started out with stand-alones (there will be 5 out eventually), but am now working on two series: a paranormal detective series set here on the Central Coast, about 4 women who each have a different paranormal ability; and a 4-volume Young Adult fantasy series, where each volume takes place in a different dimension.
b. Outlines or find-your-way plotting?
ST: Oh, seat of the pants all the way. When I outline, I never follow it anyway, so I now put all that energy into the actual writing. When I’m not confined with an outline, weird and wonderful things happen that I’d miss out on otherwise.
c. Lots of research or make it all up?
ST: I make it all up, then go back and do whatever research and changes need to be made in the rewrite process. I never let reality interfere with a good story! Of course, when I set a story in a real place, I have to pay more than lip service to the reality of the place, be it Buffalo, NY (where I grew up) or here on the Central Coast. But let me tell you, it’s a blast driving around to find great places to dump bodies. You’d be amazed how many there are if you just look. As for the police procedures, I do lots of research, have attended the citizen’s academy and done ride-alongs, to make sure I get it right, or know when I don’t and why.
d. Neat or sloppy ?
ST: Give me two weeks notice to clean up before you come visit!
e. NY or DC?
ST: DC is nice, but NYC is where the action is.
f. Carnivore or vegetarian?
ST: Carnivore. Why else do I have teeth?
BMH: How have you grown as a writer?
1) What has gotten better?
ST: My writing has become tighter and more focused over the years. I’ve learned the value of starting to write sometime after the story began, and how important that first sentence and paragraph are.
2) What things have you dropped along the way?
ST: My ego. The verb “to be” and adverbs, of course. I’m also more judicial in my use of adjectives, taking the time now to choose exactly the right ones. And I work hard not to start my fiction sentences with dependent clauses, since that’s a nonfiction construct. I find it makes my writing much stronger.
3) What helped most in your growth as a writer?
ST: Two things: my son gave me the best advice I’ve ever gotten. I used to read him my stories at bedtime when he was in 7th and 8th grades. And inevitably there’s come a point when he’d sigh, look at me and say, “Too much character development, Mom. Get back to the story.” And the last few years, my critique groups have been invaluable to my growth and clarity as a writer. Every writer should be part of a good critique group. It’s vital to find one that knows how to critique, not criticize. I found mine through SLO NightWriters and I don’t know what I’d do without them.
4) What are you writing now that surprises you?
ST: My Write It Right series of exercise workbooks on how to write fiction and creative nonfiction. I never considered myself a nonfiction writer. But after teaching classes on writing for 3 years (with students who have stayed the entire 3 years!), my students urged me to publish the exercises they do in class, and so was born Write It Right: Exercises to Unlock the Writer in Everyone. The first 3 volumes (Character, Setting and Story) are available on Kindle both separately and as a group (Compendium I), and the other 10 volumes will be launched in 2013, as well as three Compendiums. I also plan to have print Compendium books available on Amazon.
BMH: What hobbies or outside interests do you have when you’re not writing?
JT: I knit one-of-a-kind original design scarves, quilt and make beaded jewelry. I’m the head of the music ministry at my church and I sing at Mass each weekend. I also write Church songs, which I am now working to have published. I’m part of the Pastoral Council and have written a Lenten mediation program and the first volume of Bible Studies based on the Synaptic Parables. My goal is to publish these in 2013, also, and begin work on the second volume of the Parables.
BMH: What titles should readers look for in the coming months?
JT: Tangled Webs, a suspense novel, is already available in print from Amazon.com and can be ordered through any bookstore. It should appear on Kindle within the next month or so. Proof of Identity and Piece By Piece, both suspense novels, and A Matter of Identity, a period suspense novel (which will have a sequel eventually), are all scheduled to appear as Kindle ebooks within the next three months, and in print shortly after that.
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