AN INTERVIEW WITH...

JERI WESTERSON

Jeri Westerson has lived all her life in southern California, inhaling smog and enduring earthquakes. She started off life wanting to be an actress but some real world auditions in college finally disabused her of that notion. She became a successful graphic artist in Los Angeles, retired to have a baby, and then turned to her other lifelong interest, writing novels. At first, she tried to peddle her historical fiction, but when after ten years of rejections, she turned to writing medieval mysteries and finally found success, penning her “Medieval Noir” series with ex-knight turned detective, Crispin Guest. www.JeriWesterson.com  But besides writing medieval mysteries, Jeri also writes a gay romantic mystery series set in present day southern California. Writing as Haley Walsh, she created the Skyler Foxe Mysteries, starting with FOXE TAIL, with amateur sleuth and high school English teacher, Skyler Foxe. http://SkylerFoxeMysteries.com    

• What started you in writing? What kept you going?

I’ve always written stories, ever since I could pick up a crayon. I guess it was all part of my “Renaissance woman” persona. I was good at art, singing, acting, writing, and other forms of creation (including wood carving and gourmet cooking). It was a good way to escape and to be someone else or somewhere else in my imagination. It was a hobby, something to fill the gaps in my free time. I never considered writing a viable career option (and I thought that acting was?) Even when I finished my first novel when I was sixteen—a fantasy quest novel in the tradition of Tolkein—it was for my own enjoyment. I don’t think I ever shared that with another living soul. In fact, when I told my husband I was going to try my hand at being a novelist when I had a toddler at home and wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, he asked me, “Do you write novels?”

• Can you tell us a bit about the first time your fiction was published –

> How did that come about? How do you feel about that piece of work now?
I guess my first actual piece of fiction that was published was a short story in a literary magazine way back in 1997 called “Pax” about some modern day Benedictine monks. God knows where that is these days. I was paid in magazine copies…just in time because the magazine folded soon after. Not my fault! I was a newspaper reporter at the time (I started doing that after the rejections for my novels began rolling in. I was beginning to wonder about my writing skills and wanted to see if anyone would pay for my writing. They did. I wrote lots of newspaper and several magazine articles). I had a huge collection of newspaper stories published—nonfiction, but I really wanted to get my fiction published. So it was a very nice thing to see that. Of what I remember, the story was probably over the top in dramatics and I would just as soon let it drift into fond memory.     

• How have you grown as a writer? What has gotten better? What things have you dropped along the way?

When you first start writing, you have a tendency to go overboard with your prose, especially when you’ve had no guidance. Being a reporter for eight years helped me to cut it to the quick, to get to the point. That was most helpful. My writing style or voice is essentially the same from when I was sixteen, but I have more life experiences to draw from now, more experience in just plain writing, especially writing to a deadline. These are all essentials when becoming a working writer. I learned through my years as a graphic artist to not take helpful critique and rewrites personally. In the advertising world, you design to the client and in commercial fiction, you do much the same, only the client in this case is first the editor and then the reader. Just like commercial design, the art is in the creation—creating something no one else can do—but I’m also doing this for a living, so the commercial aspect is just as important.

• What is it that kick starts a project for you: a character, a situation, or…?

Readers connect with interesting, three-dimensional characters and so it all begins there. Then these guys get mixed up in a mystery, which also has to be interesting in its own way and has to be a mystery that only those characters can solve, whether in the medieval period or in present day southern California.

In my Crispin mysteries, I start out thinking about each book in terms of the religious relic involved. Each has a relic or venerated object much like in THE MALTESE FALCON; it’s something that propels the plot whether it’s an object everyone wants to get their hands on or can’t wait to get rid of. The relic informs the theme of the story.

In the Skyler Foxe mysteries, it’s a little tougher because he is an amateur sleuth, someone who falls into a murder investigation sort of accidentally rather than being hired, like Crispin. It has to be believable as to why he would get involved. So it’s about something near and dear to him; friends, ex-lovers, co-workers.  

• How long does it generally take you to complete a novel – from conception to completion?

Since I’m writing two series a year and soon to add a third I’ve had to streamline the process considerably. It used to take nine months, including a one to three month research lead, but it’s been whittled down to almost a third of that. The Crispin novels naturally take a bit longer because of the extensive and ongoing research—so I give it five months now. I’m also writing another medieval series which also takes a lot of research, what I call my “Medieval Caper” series. The first in the series is called OSWALD THE THIEF, and it’s light in tone, funny, and full of action. It’s about thieves and con men, essentially Ocean’s 11 in the Middle Ages. I’m still fine tuning that and hopefully my publisher will pick it up soon.

I don’t write more than one book at a time. It just gets too confusing with the research and getting my mind into it. So as soon as one is done I start in on the other. And in between, I have my constant promotion to do. I’m doing four blogs at the moment. My literary blog that I started ever before I got a contract called www.Getting-Medieval.com that I think of as an e-zine of history and mystery, author interviews, and other tid bits; my medieval detective has a blog www.CrispinGuest.com that I created as added value for readers to bridge the gap between book releases; there is the blog for my gay mystery series http://SkylerFoxeMysteries.blogspot.com; and I am also a contributor on a group blog of mystery authors called www.PoesDeadlyDaughters.blogspot.com. Crispin has a Facebook page that I’m always on (http://www.facebook.com/crispin.guest), I have a Twitter account (@jeriwesterson), and then there are all the appearances I must make to keep my name out in the public eye. It’s not just writing, unfortunately.   

• Who are the authors that you admire most, who inspire you, whose writing you think is most beautiful, moving, exciting?

I have lots of those, too many to mention all, but here’s a few. Arturo Perez-Reverte is one of those writers who comes up with really different plots with the wonderful prose to back it up (and you’ve also got to hand it to his translator because they are originally written in Spanish); Raymond Chandler for prose that is great fun to read aloud—as is Lewis Carroll, when it comes down to it, and I always loved to read aloud to my son. (You should hear my rendition of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.) Dorothy L. Sayers for showing you how to make your characters grow and change in a series; J.R.R. Tolkien for building an amazing and timeless world and who truly inspired me to really get down to the fun of writing, as well as J.K. Rowling for much the same thing.

• When doing a series, how “into” the world of that series do you get?
• What scares you about doing a series?
• What are the advantages/disadvantages of series characters?

For the medieval series, because it is such intimate writing about an era long gone, it was important to not only do the reading about it but to live it as much as possible. Hands on research. That meant making and wearing my own clothes of the era, because there is nothing like walking around all day in a long skirt with your head covered in a wimple and doing housework, but it was surprising how short a time it took to get used to it. I have recipes from that time period and I make the food. Some of it tastes familiar but some of it is also a very foreign flavor of another time and place. The textures, the herbs, the spices, all remind you of a time when food was prepared from what was growing seasonally and what was left preserved in your larder. And nothing was wasted. We throw out a lot just in the trimmings and peelings from our vegetables, but I assure you, they didn’t do that. Even eating an apple meant eating the whole thing, core and all.

I also have a collection of medieval weaponry and I am intimately familiar with how to use them, including my broadsword (my husband is very well behaved). Wearing mail and armor was also something I needed to do, and though I haven’t myself jousted, I have watched real jousts (yes, there is still a circuit of modern day “knights” who joust for money) and it is a stirring sight. Those are some of the ways I’ve immersed in the culture.

I think the only thing that scares me about doing a series is if my publisher dropped it, which is always a real possibility at any given moment, what with the vagaries of the economy and what not. You could get picked up by another publisher, but you get used to working with your editor especially if you are really in tune. These days, of course, an author has the option of continuing a series as self-published. But I only recommend that if the author is already established with ready-made readers.

The advantages to writing a series are many. When I first began writing for publication, I wrote historical novels, standalones. Unfortunately, the kind of books I liked to write weren’t the kind of books editors wanted to publish. I only realized much later—a decade later—that those ideas translated much better into historical mysteries. I knew I had to create a character that had depth, which could last throughout a series, who had the ability to change and grow but who also had a backstory that would make that difficult for him. It was a challenge for me to write a series at first because I had never written one. Could I? was the question. But once I got into it, I realized I was writing the biggest novel ever! If the series goes on as long as I hope it does—and that means something like fourteen more books—I can cover his entire story arc.

I suppose the disadvantages are that if you hemmed yourself in somehow in the first book, you have to live with the constraints of what you created.      

• What made you choose the medieval era as a setting for your series? What is it about that period that most appeals to you?

I was raised by rabid Anglophiles, and so I came by my interest in all things medieval honestly. I think it is a fascinating era; violent, romantic, exotic because of how long ago it was. It seems so similar to ours but it really isn’t. The whole chivalric code is fascinating to me along with the notion of the “band of brothers,” knightly men and warfare. The burgeoning of Englishness, of English as a language. I just find it endlessly interesting. 

• How do you get into the mind of a medieval person?
• What is the trickiest part of getting into that mindset?

There’s a lot of research about that what people thought and what influenced them. I think this is also where my theatre training comes in. Perhaps all authors have a little actor in them, because you literally “get into character” and do what they would do and say what they would say. Even if or especially if it’s contrary to your own beliefs, you have to go with it. In my latest Crispin novel, THE DEMON’S PARHCMENT, Crispin is dealing with Jews. In the Middle Ages, there was a lot of anti-semitism propagated by the Church itself. Crispin naturally has the same feelings about it as most people around him. And that was kind of fun to write because I’m Jewish. So it wasn’t tricky. In this instance, it was making sure nothing got too preachy and that Crispin's ultimate reactions and change of heart would be true to his time.  

• What’s the most difficult thing about writing a mystery that takes place so long ago?

Getting some things wrong. Try as I might, I miss some things. But there is always someone out there willing to point it out.

But there is also the world-building you have to do. There is a fine line between letting the reader know what the customs are or what piece of clothing they are wearing, and writing a thesis. To avoid the “info dump” is always tough. It’s tempting to just get all that stuff out of the way to get on with the story, but I find it much more effective to add touches here and there, to allow the reader to understand something by context. And if that doesn’t work, there is a glossary at the back of my books.

• Tell us your favorite joke.

No way.

• When's the last time you used profanity?

All the f**king time.

• You're president of the United States for enough time to make only one executive decision. What is it?

Oh man. That’s a toss-up between decent free medical care for one and all and a decent free college education for one and all. Can I put both in the same bill?

• What's a common and accepted practice for Americans nowadays that you think we'll look back on with regret?

Allowing ignorant, fear-mongering blowhards broadcast space and letting them influence government policy. (Don’t beat around the bush, Jeri. Tell us what you really think. J)

• What are your top three pet peeves?

Today (because I’m sure it changes daily) blocking the supermarket aisle with your shopping cart; contracts for cell phones; yogurt expiration dates: I just don’t get it.

• How often do you Google yourself?

Not too much anymore.

• What do you know now that you wished someone had told you ten years ago?

Write mysteries instead of straight historicals. It wouldn’t have taken me fourteen years to get published!

• What’s the oddest thing you’ve ever done to promote your work?

The oddest thing I wanted to do but didn’t was set up a website and webcam and call it 24 Hours with a Writer or something like that, and just show me writing and all the other things I did all day. If I were a babe that might be more interesting, but really, who wants to watch a middle-aged, overweight Jewish mother all day? Actually, there’s probably already a website like that.

• What’s the strangest fan question/request you’ve ever gotten? (And, did you comply?)

It wasn’t a question as such. It was what I call an “unfan” letter where someone took umbrage at the more or less taboo content of THE DEMON’S PARCHMENT, which, admittedly, deals with a medieval serial killer of young boys who raped, disemboweled, and killed them, and not necessarily in that order. I took this character from a real medieval serial killer with all the strange things he did. But oddly enough, I didn’t actually show any of that in my book. I just told about it. So I must be a helluva writer to have upset him and others so much. Anyway, he said he finished it and that the writing was good but he hated the premise and threw the book away! I wrote him back very calmly and suggested the next time he gets that urge to donate it to a local library instead. I also convinced him that the next book had no such objectionable material, only good old-fashioned murder. He agreed to get the next book.

• If you were exiled:
  a) what five books would you take with you?
  b) What modern day celebrity would you like to have exiled with you?

Five books? Wow. That’s a toughy. Porn, probably. J No, let’s see. A book of myths and legends because you could make up your own from all of those (I was a big fan of Greek myths and Egyptian mythology when I was a kid). The Oxford English Dictionary (cheating, cause that’s in multiple volumes) but I almost always want to know the etymology of a word; the complete works of William Shakespeare, because I’m a Shakespeare groupie; HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS because that had the most stuff going on in it and I like getting to the end and RETURN OF THE KING for the same reason. 

Would I want a modern day celebrity with me? Off the top of my head, Stephen Fry, though he probably wouldn’t want to be stuck with me, but I’d like his company because he is very clever and funny and British.

• If you had to move into a shared apartment, which two fictional characters (yours or someone else’s or characters from movies or TV) would you choose as roommates and why?

Wolverine because he just needs a little love, and also because if you couldn’t find a can opener… And Jack Tucker, because if we couldn’t make the rent he could steal it.

• Could you live with the protagonist of your medieval series?

Oh no. Not Crispin. Number one, he’d hate living with me because I don’t like following all that class structure nonsense and because of all the awful things I’ve done and will do to him. And number two, he drinks too much and I really hate that.

• What would be the most difficult thing to get used to if you lived in the Middle Ages?

Surprisingly, it wouldn’t be the class structure, even though I dissed it in the last answer. You can get pretty used to that quickly enough if you have to. I think it would be the sense of perpetual camping: always keeping a fire lit, always inhaling smoke, always being a little bit dirty, having to make everything from scratch from baking bread to making pillows, fetching your water every day, running to a privy. And then of course, in fourteenth century England, to learn and understand Middle English.

• What medieval personages would you invite to a feast at your castle?

Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, John of Gaunt, Geoffrey Chaucer, Richard III, William Marshal, William the Conqueror, the Venerable Bede. And then I would shut up, sit back, and let them talk.

• Respond to these pairings and tell why you respond the way you do:
• Series or stand-alone books—Series. I’m very much enjoying writing a series and getting the chance to let my characters grow (or grow up in the case of Jack Tucker)
• Outlines or find-your-way plotting—Writing three series a year pretty much means I have to outline because there is no time to get writer’s block.
• Lots of research or make it all up—You can never really make it all up. Even Tolkien and Rowling took their cues from history and mythology to round out their stories. Even in my gay mystery series there is always something to research, and boy is that fun!
• Neat or sloppy—I’d rather be neat but I’m pretty much a slob.
• NY or DC—New York. It’s a helluva of a town. The Bronx is up and the Battery’s down.
• Carnivore or vegetarian—Definitely carnivore. I like both my steaks and my stories bloody.