An interview with author C. Lee McKenzie

I’m excited to feature my first-ever author interview on this blog! Read on for an interview with C. Lee McKenzie, a multi-published author of young adult, middle grade, and adult fiction and a fellow member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. And speaking of the IWSG:

The first Wednesday of every month is Insecure Writers Support Group day, on which we insecure writers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are C. Lee McKenzie, JQ Rose, Jennifer Lane, and Jacqui Murray. Stop by their blogs and leave them some comment love!

Each month, the IWSG provides an optional question for us to answer in our posts. This month’s optional question: Book reviews are for the readers. When you leave a book reviews do you review for the Reader or the Author? Is it about what you liked and enjoyed about your reading experience, or do you critique the author?

I’m going to take a quick paragraph or two to answer this month’s question, then I’ll turn it over to Lee.

Book reviews are for readers

Book reviews are for readers. Yes, I know that line has now appeared 3 times in this post, but it’s that important. I reviewed books for Library Journal for about 25 years, so I learned how to focus on what readers care about. I talk about story, plot and character, about setting and mood, and sometimes about genre (how the book follows–or upends–genre tropes). If I talk about the author, it will be to compare the book to other titles by that author or to compare the author’s work to other, more well-known authors so readers know where the book fits relative to other books they may have read and liked. And, in keeping with the Library Journal approach, I usually end the review with a sentence that describes the kinds of readers who might enjoy the book.

Now, the reality: I don’t often leave thorough reviews like this due to lack of time. Sometimes it’s just a sentence or two about the reading experience and why I liked the book. Sometimes I don’t leave reviews at all (I know, bad author! But the book world is small, so if I can’t say something glowing, I typically don’t say anything.)

OK, enough about that. Let’s get to the main purpose of this post: Ms. C. Lee McKenzie!

An interview with author C. Lee McKenzie

It’s my pleasure to welcome C. Lee McKenzie to my little corner of the interwebs. She’s going to tell us about herself, her writing, and her latest book, Rattlesnake, which comes out on December 8.

Welcome to the blog, Lee!

Like superheroes, every author has an origin story. What’s yours?

I’m afraid my story isn’t very interesting, but here goes. A friend of mine encouraged me to send a short story into a small local magazine. There was a $100 prize, and he was going to enter. Let me explain that this magazine was called India Currents. It focused on the shared cultural experiences of the East Indian expats in our community, and my friend was from India. The short version: We both entered. I won. He didn’t. He wasn’t happy, but I came away thinking how much fun it was to write and then be paid for it. I guess that experience hooked me, and I’ve been at it ever since.

Tell us more about your writing career. What genre(s) have you written in? Have you changed genres during your writing career? What was your path to publication? How many books have you published?

My main focus has been young adult, but I also enjoy writing middle grade stories, especially fantasies. I’ve just finished a book that I’d categorize as women’s fiction with gothic elements, and I think this will turn into a trilogy. I have written several non-fiction articles about the early fire engine companies and their part in our American history, and I’ve written some non-fiction for kids. I’ve jumped around in the genre department, but I haven’t abandoned any of them.

As to my path—It has been kind of straight from book one to book most recent. I submitted my first book, Sliding on the Edge, to a publisher and they took it. Then they asked me for another, so I wrote The Princess of Las Pulgas followed by Double Negative, Sudden Secrets, Not Guilty, and Shattered. Rattlesnake is my seventh young adult. If I add my middle grade publications, I’ll have eleven books out to the public. Good grief! And I only meant to write one.

Now let’s talk about Rattlesnake. How would you describe the ideal reader for this book?

I think anyone who likes a bit of the supernatural or has a soft spot for forbidden romance stories would like the book. I don’t think age is a factor. The category called young adult is really just for marketing, and when I read, I choose stories based on my interest, not where the book sits on the shelf. From the responses I’m getting from readers, it seems they make their selections in the same way.

What inspired you to write this book? What (or who) inspired the characters? And which came first–plot or characters?

I’ve always loved the high desert in Nevada, so I suppose that setting contributed to the inspiration for this book. I’ve always been captivated by the 1800s and the Gold Rush, too, so these two interests had a large part to play in the writing of Rattlesnake. The characters always come first, and I think Jonah arrived before the others. The aunt came last, and somewhere along the way Allie, Snake and the others populated the story. I’m never sure where my characters come from, but they pop up when I need them.

Your main character is a teenage boy. What’s the hardest thing about writing a character whose age and gender differ from yours?

This is a hard question because I don’t have any difficulty writing about teenaged boys. Maybe it’s because I reared two of them or maybe because I’ve always been curious about what makes them tick.

I’m a sucker for small towns with creepy underbellies, so the setting of Rattlesnake drew me right in. How did you decide to set a story in a small (and creepy) Nevada town? Do you have a connection to that area? Was Rattlesnake inspired by a real place?

Virginia City, Nevada was in my mind the whole time I wrote Rattlesnake. Not the current version of that town, but the one in the 1800s. The Bucket of Venom Saloon is an ill-disguised version of The Bucket of Blood Saloon that was or maybe still is famous in Virginia City. The raised wooden sidewalks, the balconied hotels, the museum and churches. All straight out of Virginia City. My setting in the book is out and out plagiarism, but with some poetic license.

One of the things I find most intimidating about writing historical fiction (which I’ve done only a little bit) is the need to be historically accurate. How much research did you need to do for Rattlesnake? And how did you go about doing it? Did you travel as part of your research?

As I said earlier, I’ve always loved the high desert, and I’ve been there a lot, so, yes, I traveled to that area. However, all of that “research” was done over the years prior to writing the story. I think I was banking the information until I needed it. When the idea for Rattlesnake came along, I had a lot stored, including pictures I’d taken and notes about the silver mining days when Virginia City was overrun with miners and justice came fast and hard. In those days no one wanted to risk the loss of a fortune to someone who didn’t stay within the law. I’ve also read books about the history of that period in the West, but again long before I wrote the book. I was doing research, but I didn’t know how I’d use it.

I’m a writer too, and I love learning about how other writers approach their work. What’s your writing process like–in general and with Rattlesnake? What’s your typical writing day look like? How long did it take you to write Rattlesnake?

I started this book several years ago, and then set it aside. I think the first draft was finished about ten years ago, but I didn’t like it very much, and I didn’t know how to fix it. Then something…who knows what…kick started the project again, and I did a massive re-write—two actually—before I was satisfied with the story.

I really don’t have a typical writing day, I’m afraid. I do a lot of writing in my head before I ever put anything down, so that’s probably my process. Then I chat a lot with the characters to get a feel for how they talk and think. Their physical appearance comes along after I get to know them.

Were any parts of this book especially fun or difficult to write?

I loved writing about Jonah and Allie when they were swept into the past. That was the most fun. I had some trouble with Snake. I didn’t like him, so I had to give him a rotten father to make him more relatable.

What’s the best writing advice you ever received?

Have fun. If you’re not having fun, then this writing business is not for you.

What’s the worst writing advice you ever received?

Write what you know. That’s just so limiting and you never learn anything by do it.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself, your work, and/or Rattlesnake?

If people read my work, they’re going to find a couple of repeated themes because they’re important to me. One is the idea of justice. I love it when there’s some fairness doled out, even if it has taken a very long time. Another theme I often include is overcoming adversity. I like when people don’t give up and accept what seems to be inevitable, but instead keep going.

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Thanks so much, Lee! It was a pleasure having you on the blog.

Here’s a book trailer for Rattlesnake:

You can buy a copy of Rattlesnake from Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, or Barnes & Noble and connect with Lee on Substack, Goodreads, Facebook, and Instagram as well as via email (cleemckenzieATgmailDOTcom) and on her website.

The Memery

Let’s wrap up this post with a look at the funny side of the writing life.

When I finish this post, I need to get back to work on my Tell-Tale WIP.

The modern version of, I don’t like to write, I like to have written. Which definitely applies to me.

Along those same lines:

And finally:

Don’t mind me, I’m just over here eating an entire chocolate pie so I can intimidate my blank Scrivener page.

Happy IWSG Day, everyone! You can find my previous IWSG posts here.