Literary Spotlight: Orania Papazolou, penname Jane Haddam

Orania Papazolou has written over 20 mysteries under the penname and is a regular contributor to magazines such as Ladies Home Journal, Family Circle, and Parents. She is best known for her series of books featuring Gregor Demarkian, a former FBI agent.

Q: Which writers have inspired you? Why?

A: Oh, ack. Lots of them, really. And they change as I get older. When I was very young, I liked Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie--I've always liked puzzle mysteries. I like the way they make your brain work, but with Christie I also liked the idea that you could get inside the motives of the suspects and make a book about that.

When I was a teen-ager, I like Hemingway, any Hemingway, also almost any book that took place far away from the small Connecticut town where I grew up.

When I started writing mysteries as an adult, up to now, my favorite author is definitely P.D. James, because she proved that a mystery could be a real novel, with all that implies.

Q: You have been the featured writer on St. Martin’s Press’ “Moments in Crime” blog. What is that like?

A: Well, I liked it enough so that I started a blog of my own. You can get to it at http://blog.janehaddam.com

And I'm going to be blogging at SMP again at the beginning of May. I like the ability to just talk about writing, and reading, and teaching writing and reading, and all of that. It's a very natural flow.

Q: Regarding character development you’ve been quoted as saying, “You've either got to find a way to make your continuing characters interesting without making them maudlin or overwrought, or you've got to put more emphasis on the suspects.” Can you elaborate for authors considering using a continuing character in a series? How does this apply to writing in genres other than mystery/crime?

A: Most series die because everybody, including the writer, gets sick of the detective. You sit there and go--oh, no, not another marital crisis/break up with the boyfriend/cancer scare; whatever.
There just isn't that much to say about any character, no matter how complex. You can't make it interesting for thirty books. You really can't.

That's why I like to have only a little about the detective and his circle in each book, with the major concentration being on the characters who make up the suspects. They change from book to book, so you're always looking at something new.

Q: You have taught composition in college and note that writers need to learn to listen to advice. You’ve said, “You don't know how many writers’ conferences I've taught at where at least half the audience fights all the conventions of the field.” Please elaborate.

A: Oh, well--it isn't even writing advice I was thinking of. You stand in front of the room at some of these conferences and say, "okay, NEVER send the entire book, send a letter and a synopsis" and there are people who just won't listen--no, they HAVE to send the whole book because otherwise the agent or editor won't know how marvelous it is. In reality, if you send the whole book, the agent or editor won't even read it. She'll just send it back untouched, because she'll assume that you're an amateur. After all, you're not following the rules.

Publishing is a business. Like any business, it has protocols. Everybody follows them, unless they get as big as a Stephen King or a J.K. Rowling, and can get away with anything.

You wouldn't wear a dirty t-shirt to a job interview at a law firm--why package your submissions in the equivalent of that dirty t-shirt for an editor?

Q: What has been the best writing advice you ever received and who was it from? In what way did it help?

A: It was from Warren Murphy, who wrote the Destroyer series, among other things. It was right after I'd had my first baby and was having trouble getting a book started. The book was contracted for, there was a deadline, and I was going nowhere. He said, "stop thinking and just write and write and write. Make yourself, no matter how bad it feels. You're a professional. When you go back and read it over, it really won't be half bad."

And it wasn't. That was the end of writer's block for me.

Q: Magazine articles allow you to move out of the mystery/crime genre for a time. Have you ever thought of writing a novel in a different genre and if so what would it be?

A: I don't think about writing novels so much, but I do sometimes think about writing nonfiction. I envy Asimov for being able to write book after book on all sorts of topics, Asimov on Shakespeare, Asimov on The Bible. I wish I could do something like that.

Carlotta Holton is the author of Salem Pact, Touching The Dead and Vampire Resurrection, and is a member of the National Federation of Press Women and an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association.