Talking crime with author Karin Slaughter

My new book Fallen starts out with a gripping opening when Special Agent Faith Mitchell is driving home from work. She’s heading to her mother’s house to pick up her four-month-old baby daughter.

The problem is, she can’t get her mother on the phone. Everyone’s been in this situation where you can’t reach someone and you don’t know whether to panic or just laugh at yourself. But by the time Faith pulls into her mother’s driveway, she’s closer to the former.

Then she realises that her baby daughter has been locked in the shed. She sees that her mother’s gun safe is empty. Then, she sees a blood trail to the house. After that, she notices a bloody handprint on the door.

Being a good cop, Faith calls 911, grabs her shotgun and heads into the house to find her mother. That’s the first 20 pages. Hopefully, readers will keep reading to discover what happens next.

A love of reading

Growing up in Georgia in the southeastern United States, I was always reading and always kept to myself. I never felt isolated though; I just liked being alone. I think some people are good at being alone and some people aren’t, and as a child I really liked it.

I’ve always been drawn to dark stories. I enjoy reading Flannery O’Connor, Patricia Highsmith and Margaret Mitchell. These days I never miss a book by Denise Mina or Mo Hayder. I love what they’re doing. I read their books and they make me want to write even more because I feel challenged by what they’re doing – the risks they take as well as the obvious fun they have doing it. I am such a huge fan of these writers. I love reading almost as much as I love writing.

The dark side

I think writers should approach violence with a focus. For example, Flannery O’Connor used violence as a way to talk about the social condition; Patricia Highsmith used violence to show the humanity of her characters. Modern writers such as Barbara Vine, Lee Child and Mark Billingham are doing the same thing.

Violence in context says something new about the world; violence for the sake of violence is a bit dull.

Readers throughout history have always loved stories about crime. Dickens was full of crime. Crime and Punishment wouldn’t work without crime. The Great Gatsby, Water for Elephants, The Lovely Bones, Gone With the Wind – all these books have crimes in them. I think writers should write what they’re comfortable with. I’m not one of these writers who say, “You shouldn’t do that.” I am, however, a reader who says, “That’s not the kind of book that’s for me.”

Unfortunately, I’m not very disciplined at writing. I’m more of a ‘run off into the mountains and write until I collapse’ kind of author. I wish I could be more structured, but it’s been working well for me so far, so who am I to judge?

When I’m on a good run, I can do 12 to 13 hours of writing. I write in a small office at home in Atlanta, or else in a log cabin my father built for me in the mountains up near the Tennessee border. The view from the cabin is beautiful and deer run through the front yard, but I never look at the view or the deer when I’m writing. Mind you, I could sit and type in a closet and be fine. It’s just a case of cocooning myself, so that it’s just me and the story.

Private investigations

For research I’ve got a friend who’s a cop who tells me some procedural stuff and a kind doctor friend who fills me in on medical details.

Mostly, it’s a matter of me thinking up some plot point and then emailing them and asking. I think I would do this even if I weren’t writing thrillers because I just find it so interesting.

I will say that for every book or paper I read, or hour I spend doing research, I end up putting in a line or two at the most in the books.

I really wish I knew where I get my ideas from! The stories form in my mind over a period of time, and before I know it, I’m sitting down at my computer writing. Mostly, it’s a matter of thinking of a crime and then wondering how my characters will respond.

I’m also interested in seeing how the town my stories are set in will respond. It’s very important to me that the town of Grant County seems like a fourth narrator in the story. The everday things I feel and see, the emotional element of it all, will certainly be incorporated into some of my stories. We’re the sum of our experiences, and so are the characters we create.

There’s no set time it takes to write one of my books – it depends on what the book is about and how much research is involved. I would say on average the whole process takes around 10 to 12 months. Sometimes it goes more quickly, sometimes slowly. I never want to be in a position where I am rushing a story, and thankfully my publishers are very patient.

It’s hard to say which is my favourite book of the ones I’ve written. Usually it’s the one I’m going to be working on next. Readers can start my Grant County series of books with any one, not necessarily the first.

I’m very aware of how lucky I am to have success. There are so many writers out there, and so many good books, that it’s shocking any of us manage to pull away from the herd. But I’ll keep doing it so long as I’m enjoying it and my readers are too.

Karin Slaughter, 40, has written 12 books since her first novel Blindsighted. Her latest, Fallen, is also available in Nook and in Kindle. www.karinslaughter.com