Welcome to the Coffee Chat!
Every week we gather for book talk and to meet a new author. Today's guest is Lynn Slaughter, a writer of YA mysteries.
Nice to have you, Lynn. How do you take your coffee?
LS: I’m a coffee-holic, especially when I’m writing, and I drink it black with nothing added.
Ally: You're in good company here! Please give readers a look at your background, while I pour.
Every week we gather for book talk and to meet a new author. Today's guest is Lynn Slaughter, a writer of YA mysteries.
Nice to have you, Lynn. How do you take your coffee?
LS: I’m a coffee-holic, especially when I’m writing, and I drink it black with nothing added.
Ally: You're in good company here! Please give readers a look at your background, while I pour.
Bio:
I’ve always loved reading young adult novels, and now I really enjoy writing them. A former professional dancer and dance educator, I earned my MFA in Popular Writing from Seton Hill University and am the author of WHILE I DANCED, a 2015 EPIC finalist in the Young Readers’ category, as well as IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU. Currently, I live in Louisville, Kentucky where I teach part-time at nearby Indiana University Southeast. I readily admit to being addicted to chocolate, romance, and my husband’s cooking!
Something unique/unusual that isn’t in your regular bio: "I’ve sung vocals for a rock band and love writing song lyrics and creating music with my husband, a guitarist. We recently created a CD with two other musicians called “Blues and Other Moods” featuring a lot of our original music."
Author Contact links:
Web Site: http://www.lynnslaughter.com/
Twitter@lslaughter2
I’ve always loved reading young adult novels, and now I really enjoy writing them. A former professional dancer and dance educator, I earned my MFA in Popular Writing from Seton Hill University and am the author of WHILE I DANCED, a 2015 EPIC finalist in the Young Readers’ category, as well as IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU. Currently, I live in Louisville, Kentucky where I teach part-time at nearby Indiana University Southeast. I readily admit to being addicted to chocolate, romance, and my husband’s cooking!
Something unique/unusual that isn’t in your regular bio: "I’ve sung vocals for a rock band and love writing song lyrics and creating music with my husband, a guitarist. We recently created a CD with two other musicians called “Blues and Other Moods” featuring a lot of our original music."
Author Contact links:
Web Site: http://www.lynnslaughter.com/
Twitter@lslaughter2
INTERVIEW:
Ally: Let's start with your featured YA mystery, It Should Have Been You. Why will readers relate to your main character?
LS: Seventeen-year-old Clara is feisty, determined, and funny, but she’s always felt like an afterthought in her own family. Her twin Moura was a piano prodigy and the center of attention in their musical family. Moura herself looked down upon Clara as the family outlier because she preferred writing to music. It’s my feeling that many of us can identify with a character who has felt discounted and eclipsed by the family “star.”
Things go from challenging to horrific for Clara in the wake of her twin’s murder. Not only is she dealing with survivor’s guilt, made even worse because of her troubled relationship with her sister, but with widespread rumors that she may have been her sister’s killer. And then, just when she feels like she’s starting to heal five months after her sister’s death, she begins getting threatening emails sent to the inbox of the school newspaper advice column she ghostwrites. Convinced that her cyber-stalker blames her for her sister’s death and plans to exact revenge, she bravely undertakes her own investigation.
So, I hope readers will care about a young proactive heroine trying to save her own life while dealing with survivor’s guilt and grief.
Clara’s also someone I think readers will care about because she herself is a caring, person. She not only wants justice for her own family, but to help other students with their problems through her advice column. She cares deeply about issues such as teen dating violence and tries hard to help a reader involved in an abusive relationship.
And of course, at a time when she’s not sure she can trust anyone, she falls in love with a new boy at school who has secrets of his own. I hope that readers will identify with the intensity of their sweet though challenging romance.
Ally: How do you choose and name your characters?
LS: In terms of choosing characters to write about, Clara was actually inspired by an adult student I had many years ago who shared with me that when she was a teenager, her identical twin had been murdered. The crime remained unsolved. In fact, for a long time, the FBI had my student under surveillance because they feared she might be in danger from the killer.
Her tragic experience stuck with me and eventually morphed into Clara’s story about a murdered twin.
I choose names that reflect who characters are and what they care about. For example, Clara’s mother was a musician who wanted her girls to become classical musicians. She named them after two notable women pianists, Clara Schumann and Moura Lympany.
Ally: Does your real life show up in you writing? In what ways?
LS: I’ve spent most of my adult life in the arts as a former professional dancer, teacher at a performing arts high school, and counselor at an intensive summer program for high school students gifted in the arts. So, it’s not surprising that my main characters are teenagers who often have a serious interest in the arts..
I think I’m also drawn to teen characters who’ve experienced a lack of support on the home front. My own mother was institutionalized with mental illness, and I was raised by an emotionally unavailable dad who opposed my interest in dance. In addition, my academically brilliant oldest sister was the undisputed star of the family.
My writing reflects those experiences. While I Danced features a single parent father who opposes his daughter’s determination to become a dancer. And Clara’s experience of being the less favored sibling in It Should Have Been You is certainly something I’m familiar with.
In addition, I’ve always been interested in social issues and wrote a nonfiction book, Teen Rape, for the educational market. My concern about teen dating violence grew out of my research for that book, as well as from my experiences counseling teens.
Ally: How did you choose the title of the book you’re featuring?
LS: The first threatening email that Clara receives includes the statement that became the title for the book: “It Should Have Been You.” Part of why this hits Clara so hard is that she’s sure a lot of people, including her own mother, wish that she’d been the twin who’d been murdered. Clara also suffers from survivor’s guilt. Even she wonders why she’d been the lucky one allowed to live, instead of her gifted sister.
Ally:. What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
LS: I don’t yet have an anticipated release date for my next project. But I’m actively working on two young adult mystery novels. Gone centers around Leisha, a musically and academically gifted African-American teen on scholarship at an exclusive New England boarding school. When her music teacher and mentor goes missing just before a major vocal competition, Leisha suspects foul play and undertakes her own investigation. Meantime, she tries to rebuff the romantic overtures of Cody, a cellist who’s appointed himself as her sidekick. She’s sure that the grandfather who raised her would disown her if she took up with a white boy, and Cody’s wealthy conservative family wouldn’t be thrilled about her either.
Whereas Leisha comes from a poor background, Samantha (Sam), the protagonist of Killing Mr. Holloway, is the daughter of a widowed heiress who impulsively announces she’s marrying Adam Holloway, a much younger man. Sam is sure he’s after her mother’s money, and she both distrusts and detests him. When he gets murdered, the evidence points to Sam as the killer, and she must prove her innocence.
Ally: We've talked a lot about your writing, but let's try a few short-answer questions about you:
Ally: Let's start with your featured YA mystery, It Should Have Been You. Why will readers relate to your main character?
LS: Seventeen-year-old Clara is feisty, determined, and funny, but she’s always felt like an afterthought in her own family. Her twin Moura was a piano prodigy and the center of attention in their musical family. Moura herself looked down upon Clara as the family outlier because she preferred writing to music. It’s my feeling that many of us can identify with a character who has felt discounted and eclipsed by the family “star.”
Things go from challenging to horrific for Clara in the wake of her twin’s murder. Not only is she dealing with survivor’s guilt, made even worse because of her troubled relationship with her sister, but with widespread rumors that she may have been her sister’s killer. And then, just when she feels like she’s starting to heal five months after her sister’s death, she begins getting threatening emails sent to the inbox of the school newspaper advice column she ghostwrites. Convinced that her cyber-stalker blames her for her sister’s death and plans to exact revenge, she bravely undertakes her own investigation.
So, I hope readers will care about a young proactive heroine trying to save her own life while dealing with survivor’s guilt and grief.
Clara’s also someone I think readers will care about because she herself is a caring, person. She not only wants justice for her own family, but to help other students with their problems through her advice column. She cares deeply about issues such as teen dating violence and tries hard to help a reader involved in an abusive relationship.
And of course, at a time when she’s not sure she can trust anyone, she falls in love with a new boy at school who has secrets of his own. I hope that readers will identify with the intensity of their sweet though challenging romance.
Ally: How do you choose and name your characters?
LS: In terms of choosing characters to write about, Clara was actually inspired by an adult student I had many years ago who shared with me that when she was a teenager, her identical twin had been murdered. The crime remained unsolved. In fact, for a long time, the FBI had my student under surveillance because they feared she might be in danger from the killer.
Her tragic experience stuck with me and eventually morphed into Clara’s story about a murdered twin.
I choose names that reflect who characters are and what they care about. For example, Clara’s mother was a musician who wanted her girls to become classical musicians. She named them after two notable women pianists, Clara Schumann and Moura Lympany.
Ally: Does your real life show up in you writing? In what ways?
LS: I’ve spent most of my adult life in the arts as a former professional dancer, teacher at a performing arts high school, and counselor at an intensive summer program for high school students gifted in the arts. So, it’s not surprising that my main characters are teenagers who often have a serious interest in the arts..
I think I’m also drawn to teen characters who’ve experienced a lack of support on the home front. My own mother was institutionalized with mental illness, and I was raised by an emotionally unavailable dad who opposed my interest in dance. In addition, my academically brilliant oldest sister was the undisputed star of the family.
My writing reflects those experiences. While I Danced features a single parent father who opposes his daughter’s determination to become a dancer. And Clara’s experience of being the less favored sibling in It Should Have Been You is certainly something I’m familiar with.
In addition, I’ve always been interested in social issues and wrote a nonfiction book, Teen Rape, for the educational market. My concern about teen dating violence grew out of my research for that book, as well as from my experiences counseling teens.
Ally: How did you choose the title of the book you’re featuring?
LS: The first threatening email that Clara receives includes the statement that became the title for the book: “It Should Have Been You.” Part of why this hits Clara so hard is that she’s sure a lot of people, including her own mother, wish that she’d been the twin who’d been murdered. Clara also suffers from survivor’s guilt. Even she wonders why she’d been the lucky one allowed to live, instead of her gifted sister.
Ally:. What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
LS: I don’t yet have an anticipated release date for my next project. But I’m actively working on two young adult mystery novels. Gone centers around Leisha, a musically and academically gifted African-American teen on scholarship at an exclusive New England boarding school. When her music teacher and mentor goes missing just before a major vocal competition, Leisha suspects foul play and undertakes her own investigation. Meantime, she tries to rebuff the romantic overtures of Cody, a cellist who’s appointed himself as her sidekick. She’s sure that the grandfather who raised her would disown her if she took up with a white boy, and Cody’s wealthy conservative family wouldn’t be thrilled about her either.
Whereas Leisha comes from a poor background, Samantha (Sam), the protagonist of Killing Mr. Holloway, is the daughter of a widowed heiress who impulsively announces she’s marrying Adam Holloway, a much younger man. Sam is sure he’s after her mother’s money, and she both distrusts and detests him. When he gets murdered, the evidence points to Sam as the killer, and she must prove her innocence.
Ally: We've talked a lot about your writing, but let's try a few short-answer questions about you:
- favorite TV show- Doc Martin
- favorite quote- “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans.” – John Lennon
- Your pets- snuggly tuxedo cat, Lucy, adopted from the Humane Society
- favorite after five drink- Chardonnay
- typical breakfast- anything my husband makes
It Should Have Been You
Genre: YA mystery
Romance rating: PG-13
What would you do if your twin—a piano prodigy—were murdered? Rumors swirl that you are the killer, and then you start receiving threatening emails.
This is exactly what happens to seventeen-year-old Clara Seibert.
Buy Links:
Amazon
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IndieBound
Books-A-Million
For eBook:
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