Alice K. Boatwright with E.C. Murray

 
 
Alice K. Boatwright is the author of the Ellie Kent mysteries, which debuted with Under an English Heaven, winner of the 2016 Mystery and Mayhem Grand Prize. The series continued with What Child Is This? and the third book, Life Ever After, will be forthcoming soon. She is also the author of award-winning literary fiction: Collateral Damage; Sea, Sky, Islands; and dozens of published short stories. As a mystery writer, Alice sees her Ellie Kent mysteries as “traditional” mysteries inspired by the Golden Age writers, such as Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Josephine Tey, but with contemporary influences, such as P.D. James. She also loves M.C. Beaton, who always makes her laugh. First Published September 2021

Will you please describe your writer’s path–from when you first realized you wanted to be a writer?
Every time I’m asked to write a biography it comes out differently, but this is what the question brings to mind today. I grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, but I was never a New Englander. Like many people drawn to New Haven because of Yale, my parents were from far different parts of the country. The people we knew were from very eclectic backgrounds and included many multi-generation households where the parents and/or grandparents had fled from Europe because of World War II. My parents were both classical musicians with very busy careers, and our house was full of music and musicians who played everything from lutes to sitars. It was the 1950s–60s, but this was not the world of Leave It to Beaver.
 
Despite enjoying the musical activities that I was involved in myself, I never once considered being a musician. What attracted me was my father’s writing, which he did at night, and I loved going to sleep to the sound of his typing. When he published his first book, I announced that I was going to do that too, and I still have his old Underwood, but, no, I don’t write on it.
 
I was an avid reader, but reading was not my favorite escape. What I loved was to play dramatic games where I could act out any part I wanted – or press into service any of a variety of “actors,” including dolls, plastic soldiers, bottles, blocks, stuffed animals, dinosaurs, and Mahjong tiles. I could turn just about anything into a cast of characters. I enjoyed this so much that I thought for a while I wanted to be an actress. However, I soon discovered that an actress can only play the parts for which she is physically suited and chosen to play, and that didn’t appeal to me at all. I wanted to run the whole show. . . so, obviously, I had to become a writer.
 
I did all the formal training - courses in college, an MFA, workshops, writers’ conferences - and all of that added bits and bobs that shaped why, what, and how I write today. I was lucky (or maybe not) that the emphasis then was only on discovering your voice and subject, as well as your style, and not on the more practical skills, such as how to market your work. For me, those came much later.  

 
I used to say that what I learned was “attitudes.” For example, I have never forgotten William H. Gass telling us that when he revised a story, he would read it very slowly, as if he were following a string that had to be strung tightly from the first word to the last; and, if there were any dips or breaks or tangles, these were the places he needed to work on. Or Jakov Lind, who thought every writer should have four unpublished novels and told us we should write eight hours a day, because that left eight hours to sleep and eight hours for paid work. (Only a man – or someone who didn’t commute – could say this! But it stuck with me.)
 
When I finished my MFA, I thought I would complete my thesis novel in a year or so, get published, become famous, and be on my way. I probably don’t need to point out that this does happen, but only very, very rarely, and it didn’t happen that way for me.
 
My fiction writing has always been the work of my heart, my private world, the hardest thing I do, and the thing that gives me the most pleasure. That said, it has almost never paid my rent. . . although my skill as a writer has. It took me a long time to recognize that the writing life I have lived was far more interesting than what I imagined when I was young and thought “success” would be an academic job, a kindly and devoted editor, recognition in New York, and a string of well-loved books one of which would become an Oscar-winning film. (Full disclosure: I would still like that!)
 
Instead, I have lived and worked as a writer in six states and three countries, traveled the world, helped raise money for scientific research, developed communications for public health in the world’s poorest regions, supported arts organizations, developed museum exhibits, run a newspaper in a psychiatric hospital, and taught writing everywhere from a major university to a bed-and-breakfast in Nepal.
 
Meanwhile, I always kept writing my stories, sending them out, and slowly, slowly, getting them published. It took many years before that thesis novel was finished and published – but then it won an award! It took even more years before a mystery I wrote, inspired by my years as an ex-pat living in England, became a popular success. Believe me, this was a big surprise. . . and a very pleasant one.
 
Today I live outside of Seattle with my husband and two cats. I am “free” to devote myself to writing fiction and pursuing other pleasures, such as making art, knitting, and baking. I enjoy being a full-time author, including all of the marketing and promotion side. I recently self-published a chapbook of three of stories in collaboration with an artist friend who did the illustrations and another who served as book designer. This was tremendous fun, so empowering, and I look forward to doing it again. Meanwhile though, I am working hard on the third Ellie Kent mystery and thinking about number four.
 
     You are a prolific short story writer. Besides length and time involved, how does writing short stories differ from writing novels? Which do you prefer writing, short stories or novels? Why?
I started out writing short stories, and it’s a form I still love. At the time, there were quite a few paying markets, so this was a reasonable place to begin my career. Of course, I also planned to write novels, and I wrote several, but I never got past the first or second draft, because I lacked the confidence to stay the course over a long and complex work. Instead, I kept writing stories and eventually edged my way toward longer forms by writing the three linked novellas that comprise Collateral Damage. Under an English Heaven, the first Ellie Kent mystery, was actually my first full-length novel, so I am still gaining experience with this form. As far as length and time go, stories are certainly shorter than books, but I tend to go back and back to discover and refine what I really meant to say, so my stories take longer to finish than you might imagine. I still write them and always will. Going back to my musical roots, I would say that writing only books would be like limiting myself to writing only symphonies. And why would I want to do that?
 
Many of your stories deal with significant political/societal issues. Why do you prefer to write about these issues in fiction rather than in essays? What can fiction do that essays cannot?
Aside from Collateral Damage, which definitely was inspired by outrage over the Vietnam War and all of its long-term effects, my work is always about “something” beyond plot, but the impetus to write comes from many different directions. That’s part of the fun. The surprise. The Ellie Kent books are definitely mysteries – and have to satisfy readers as such – but, for me, there is also subtext about the meaning of home, how marriage works, and faith. . . how do you find it, use it, or lose it. I’ve never been interested in writing essays, and I don’t read them very often either. Fiction is my metier. . . the place I go to explore life and what I think and feel about it.
 
You are an award-winning literary fiction writer. How did you happen to move from literary fiction to mysteries –in a linear path or was there overlap?
I have always loved reading mysteries – and novels, such as Jane Eyre, that have a mystery at their core – so it was natural to think of trying my hand at writing one when I began to write books. One advantage of the mystery is that it has a basic structure that gives you a solid jumping off point, whereas so-called literary fiction provides no such framework. I’m not very comfortable being labelled either a literary writer or a mystery writer. Novelist and short story writer sounds better, because no matter what I am working on, I try to bring everything I’ve got as a writer and a person to the task. For example, I hope my mysteries include a good puzzle for readers to solve, but I am equally concerned that “the novel,” in which the mystery is embedded, works too.
 
Your award winning, successful Ellie Kent mysteries, are fun both to read and to solve. They are classified as “cozy mysteries.” What is a cozy mystery? The term “cozy mystery” originally referred to a mystery solved by an amateur sleuth with emphasis on the puzzle and setting and with little-to-no blood, sex, or graphic violence. Writers such as Agatha Christie exemplified this subgenre, during the “Golden Age” (the first half of the last century in England). Since then, there has been a shift, so that the cozy mystery of today is even lighter in tone and spirit. My books are closer to the former, now referred to as “traditional” mysteries. 

 
How would you differentiate between cozy mysteries and other types of mysteries? Does the categorization matter, and if so, why?
There is a spectrum of mystery subgenres ranging from light to dark, with cozy at one end and noir at the other. In between are thrillers, police procedurals, private investigators, suspense, paranormal, traditional, and more. Writers tend to write the kind of mystery they like to read – and readers like to know what they’re in for (torture/no torture) – so the categorization is useful for everyone. It’s also important for the author as a tool, when seeking an agent or publisher or when picking key words to describe your book.
 
At some point a writer needs to outline their plots and plot threads as well as when information will be revealed. What is your process (traditional outline, white board, sticky notes, Scrivner?)
I don’t outline before I begin. I have an idea of what I want the book or story to be about, and I write the first draft as quickly as I can, like a sketch covering the canvas. Some people overwrite and have to cut. I build up my story, layer by layer, scene by scene. As I do that the characters, plot, and setting mature and open up new directions, show me new links, and point out areas that need to be fleshed out or deleted. I use a number of analytical tools along the way, such as outlining what I have written – not what I am going to write; writing about the events of the story from different characters’ points of view; writing character biographies; drawing maps; making timelines and calendars; and so on. I read my work aloud to myself over and over. If I get bored, there’s clearly something that needs to be fixed!
 
What advice do you have for writers in general, and mystery writers in particular?
Whatever type of writer you want to become, reading is the starting point for defining what you like and what you want to aim for. But, eventually, you have to dive in. There’s a poem by Marge Piercy that has the line “The real writer is the one who really writes.”  That’s the main thing. . . if you want to write, do it. Take a pencil, take paper, take 15 minutes a day, and begin. Then practice, practice, practice. There are plenty of resources to support you along the way (books, workshops, organizations, such as Sisters in Crime) . . . but the goal is the same. Write something you love as well as you possibly can. You won’t be sorry you did.

Thank you so much, Alice. http://alicekboatwright.com/