We are delighted to welcome author Valerie Joan Connors to Omnimystery News today.
Valerie's new psychological thriller is A Better Truth (Deeds Publishing; May 2016 trade paperback and ebook formats) and we recently spent some time with her talking about the book.
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Omnimystery News: Introduce us to the lead character of A Better Truth.
Photo provided courtesy of
Valerie Joan Connors
Valerie Joan Connors: Willow St. Claire arrived in my imagination fully formed. She became an adult in the 80's, but would have felt much more at home in the 60's. The opening scene finds Willow in the bathtub, and I imagined her listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Tall and lean as her name implies, Willow longs for a slower pace, and a peaceful, tranquil life. But the demons from her past keep haunting her, and the more she tries to push the memories back, the more vivid they become.
A Better Truth is my first psychological thriller, and the idea of creating a character that was coming apart at the seams was challenging. But that's what appealed to me. I had to go into her head and access her deepest fears. At the same time, she doesn't let her fears keep her from striving for the peace of mind she's so desperate for.
OMN: Will we be seeing more of Willow in the future?
VJC: I've always wanted to create a series character and hope that I've found one in Willow. That was in the back of my mind as I wrote A Better Truth, but I wasn't fully committed to it until the book was nearly finished. So I left some doors open, hoping to leave my readers curious about what will come next, and not too irritated with me for the couple of loose ends.
OMN: How would you tweet a summary of the book?
VJC: Willow St. Clair can't always separate reality from hallucination, nightmare from memory. She prefers A Better Truth.
OMN: You mentioned that Willow came to you fully formed. What about the other characters?
VJC: For my villains, I like to have several likely candidates that develop over the course of the story, and with A Better Truth, I didn't decide for sure who the bad guy was going to be until I was nearly at the end of the story and it was time to wrap things up. I think that if I'm surprised to find out, my readers will be surprised too.
OMN: Tell us a little more about your writing process.
VJC: As I'm working through the basic plotline, I use a pen and paper, and do a lot of scribbling out. When I get a very rough outline that makes some sense, and a starting point, I put all of that into a document and go back to update it as the story changes, but I use it more as a "where I've been" than "where I'm going." What I mean is that while I do write an outline, I don't usually follow the outline. For me, too much planning takes the fun out of the journey. I like to be able to take a fork in the road if something more interesting comes along. My main character is always clear in my mind before I start writing, but who she becomes is something I learn on our journey together. I let the story develop as I write, and I add characters as the need for them arises. For me, following the characters where they lead me, and listening to them as they reveal themselves to me is where the real magic is. That's the best part of the process.
OMN: How did you go about researching the plot points of the story?
VJC: For A Better Truth, I did a lot of Internet research while writing the first draft. I needed to get a basic understanding about how DNA evidence works, and about what kinds of medical procedures could be safely performed on a pregnant teenager. After I had solidified the story, I asked a friend of mine, an author who is a retired psychiatrist, whether those scenes were plausible. She was kind enough to answer all my questions.
OMN: How true are you to the settings in the book?
VJC: All of my books to date are set in real geographic locations, and I try to be as true to the setting as possible. I spend a lot of time with Google Maps, looking for real places that fit the images in my mind. And when possible I use real restaurants, and real streets. But if I don't find a perfect fit, then I make them up. It's nice to have that option. I tend to use places I've visited, because I can visualize the scenes I'm writing, and remember what it felt like to be there.
OMN: The cover for A Better Truth is simple but very striking. How involved were you with coming up with it?
VJC: Mark Babcock, the cover designer for Deeds Publishing, does an amazing job for us. Without much more information than the synopsis, he always manages to come up with the exact right thing. The cover idea for A Better Truth came as a complete surprise, but after only a few minutes I realized how many scenes in the book it represents. Mark always asks for my input and approval, but what he puts together has always been the exact right thing. That's priceless.
OMN: Have any specific authors influenced how and what you write today?
VJC: The two authors who have influenced my writing the most are Stephen King and Ayn Rand. Before I starting writing my first book, I read all of Ayn Rand's books including The Art of Fiction and The Art of Non-Fiction. I also read Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, which I still say is the best one out there. I have a deep admiration for his storytelling, and the enormous body of work he has amassed, most of which I've read. I also appreciate that his writing advice is down to earth, and accessible.
OMN: When selecting a book to read for pleasure, what do you look for?
VJC: These days I'm reading a lot of psychological thrillers, and historical novels set during World War II. I've recently read historical novels by Kate Morton, Amor Towles, and Martha Hall Kelley. I do love series fiction, too. One of my favorites is James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcel novels. I think what I love about those stories is the friendship between the two men, no matter what happens to them. I also enjoyed Dennis Lehane's Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro series. I guess I love detective stories. And of course, the first series character I fell in love with was Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum. Those books had me laughing out loud. Stephanie is barely qualified for the work she has decided to do, but it doesn't stop her from doing it. I admire that quality in a character, and in a person.
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Valerie Joan Connors is the Vice-President of Programming for the Atlanta Writers Club, an organization with more than 700 active members and a 100-year history in the Atlanta area. During business hours, she's the CFO of an architecture, engineering and interior design firm. Valerie lives in Atlanta with her husband and two dogs and is working on her next novel.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at ValerieJoanConnors.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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A Better Truth by Valerie Joan Connors
A Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Deeds Publishing
When the frantic pace of her Washington, D.C. life becomes too much for her to bear, Willow St. Claire takes refuge in the North Georgia Mountains. She buys a bookstore, hoping to spend her days talking to customers about the latest releases, and her evenings in the quiet oasis of her mountain retreat. Alone in her cabin, two miles away from the nearest neighbor, Willow must learn to cope with the terror of her past, heal from the loss of her mother, and maintain a relationship with a teenaged daughter who refuses to leave D.C. where she lives with her father.
But a knock at Willow's kitchen door late one night, sets off a series of events that will shatter her newly found peace and tranquility, and threaten to trigger another breakdown. Willow has held tightly to her own version of the truth for over three decades, because for her, real truth is far too disturbing to acknowledge.
— A Better Truth by Valerie Joan Connors
