Happy Wednesday, Booklovers!
Join me in welcoming Nina Mansfield and her YA mystery, Swimming Alone, to this week's Coffee Chat!
How do you take your coffee, Nina?
NINA: I used to just drink it black, no sugar. Then I started adding a bit of milk. But I think I am going back to black!
Ally: Then black it is. My magic pot makes a smooth brew. :) While I do the honors, please introduce yourself to readers.
Join me in welcoming Nina Mansfield and her YA mystery, Swimming Alone, to this week's Coffee Chat!
How do you take your coffee, Nina?
NINA: I used to just drink it black, no sugar. Then I started adding a bit of milk. But I think I am going back to black!
Ally: Then black it is. My magic pot makes a smooth brew. :) While I do the honors, please introduce yourself to readers.
BIO:
Nina Mansfield is a Connecticut based writer. Her debut novel, SWIMMING ALONE, a YA Mystery, was published in 2015 by Fire & Ice YA. Her short mystery fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mysterical-E, Kings River Life Magazine, and anthologized in Fast Women and Neon Lights: Eighties-Inspired Neon Noir. Her graphic novel FAKE ID: BEYOND RECOGNITION (illustrated by Leyla Akdogan) will be published in installments online by PlumeSnake.com. Nina began her writing career as a playwright; she has written numerous plays, which have been published and produced throughout the world.
Something unique that isn't in your regular bio: "My first language is Russian."
Contact Links:
My website: http://www.ninamansfield.com
My blog: http://notevenjoking.ninamansfield.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NinaMansfieldWriter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NinaJMansfield
Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/ninamwriter/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4279557.Nina_Mansfield
Nina Mansfield is a Connecticut based writer. Her debut novel, SWIMMING ALONE, a YA Mystery, was published in 2015 by Fire & Ice YA. Her short mystery fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mysterical-E, Kings River Life Magazine, and anthologized in Fast Women and Neon Lights: Eighties-Inspired Neon Noir. Her graphic novel FAKE ID: BEYOND RECOGNITION (illustrated by Leyla Akdogan) will be published in installments online by PlumeSnake.com. Nina began her writing career as a playwright; she has written numerous plays, which have been published and produced throughout the world.
Something unique that isn't in your regular bio: "My first language is Russian."
Contact Links:
My website: http://www.ninamansfield.com
My blog: http://notevenjoking.ninamansfield.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NinaMansfieldWriter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NinaJMansfield
Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/ninamwriter/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4279557.Nina_Mansfield
INTERVIEW:
Ally: How did you select your main genre? What about it intrigues you and readers?
NINA: I’m not sure that I have a main genre! SWIMMING ALONE is a YA mystery. I’ve loved mysteries forever—started with Nancy Drew at a young age, and then discovered Agatha Christie, Lois Duncan, etc.—so I think it was natural for me to write mysteries. When I wrote the first draft of SWIMMING ALONE, I had just finished my first year teaching high school—so I think I had all of those young adult voices swirling around in my head. And because I still teach high school, I think those voices will continue to swirl for the foreseeable future. I’m currently working on another YA novel (which is sort of paranormal romance-thriller).
My short stories, however, aren’t YA, but some do feature characters in their late teens. I’m not sure why this age attracts me. Maybe it’s that young people often think they know everything, and they think they are invincible. This of course can lead to all sorts of problems, and problems lead to plots.
I also write plays that are neither YA nor mysteries. I tend to write a lot of 10-minute relationship comedies, but some of my plays are longer, and very serious in nature.
One of these days I would love to write a really dense and intricate historical mystery, because I really enjoy reading them!
Ally: Do you have a writer's cave?
NINA: My husband and I bought a 1900 Victorian last summer that really looks a bit like a haunted house. When I first stepped into the house I thought, “This is perfect for a mystery writer!” There were creaky stairs, doors that lead nowhere and stained glass windows. There’s a turret at the top of the house, and that is where I have my little writing office. And I need quiet! I have to be able to hear all the voices in my head!
Ally: How do you spend your non-writing/non-editing time?
NINA: I’m a high school drama teacher, which takes up a great deal of my time. I direct the school fall play—last year we did THE CRUCIBLE—and I advise a student directed spring play. I also produce a One Act Festival composed of student written work, which is quite fun!
I also have a three-year old daughter, who is very energetic and keeps me busy! Often I find myself in her world of make believe.
Other than that, I get to the theater whenever I can. I also enjoy gardening, yoga and cooking. One of these days, I will get back to my scrapbooking hobby too. I think it’s important for a writer to find non-writing ways of staying creative.
Ally: Does your real life show up in your writing? In what ways?
NINA: Oh yes, all the time! The town of Beach Point in SWIMMING ALONE is a fictionalized version of the oceanfront Rhode Island town where my grandparents would rent a cottage each summer. I often take real life locations, people and situations, and fictionalize them in my work. My upcoming short story “An Actor Prepares” refers back to the time I spent studying at the Moscow Art Theater in Russia, and drew upon some recent trips I took to the Bronx Zoo. The murders are always made up though!
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
NINA: My graphic novel FAKE ID: BEYOND RECOGNITION is soon to be released online in installments at PlumeSnake.com. Seventeen-year-old Minnie VanCutler suffers an identity crisis after using the wrong fake ID. Aside from waking up with the world’s worst hangover, and being chased down by Russian mobsters, Minnie must battle her over-active conscience and rescue her doppelganger from a human trafficking ring.
I also have two short mystery stories that are scheduled for publication. “Gods and Virgins in the Big Easy,” will appear in issue three of Crime Syndicate Magazine, which should be out soon. “An Actor Prepares” is scheduled to be published in When Crime Never Sleeps (Murder New York Style 4), the fourth crime fiction anthology by members of the New York Tristate Chapter of Sisters in Crime, which should be out September 2017.
Ally: And now for the short answer questions...
Ally: Thanks so much for visiting the blog. Before you go rushing off to the rest of your busy life, let's show readers your YA mystery, Swimming Alone.
NINA: I’m not sure that I have a main genre! SWIMMING ALONE is a YA mystery. I’ve loved mysteries forever—started with Nancy Drew at a young age, and then discovered Agatha Christie, Lois Duncan, etc.—so I think it was natural for me to write mysteries. When I wrote the first draft of SWIMMING ALONE, I had just finished my first year teaching high school—so I think I had all of those young adult voices swirling around in my head. And because I still teach high school, I think those voices will continue to swirl for the foreseeable future. I’m currently working on another YA novel (which is sort of paranormal romance-thriller).
My short stories, however, aren’t YA, but some do feature characters in their late teens. I’m not sure why this age attracts me. Maybe it’s that young people often think they know everything, and they think they are invincible. This of course can lead to all sorts of problems, and problems lead to plots.
I also write plays that are neither YA nor mysteries. I tend to write a lot of 10-minute relationship comedies, but some of my plays are longer, and very serious in nature.
One of these days I would love to write a really dense and intricate historical mystery, because I really enjoy reading them!
Ally: Do you have a writer's cave?
NINA: My husband and I bought a 1900 Victorian last summer that really looks a bit like a haunted house. When I first stepped into the house I thought, “This is perfect for a mystery writer!” There were creaky stairs, doors that lead nowhere and stained glass windows. There’s a turret at the top of the house, and that is where I have my little writing office. And I need quiet! I have to be able to hear all the voices in my head!
Ally: How do you spend your non-writing/non-editing time?
NINA: I’m a high school drama teacher, which takes up a great deal of my time. I direct the school fall play—last year we did THE CRUCIBLE—and I advise a student directed spring play. I also produce a One Act Festival composed of student written work, which is quite fun!
I also have a three-year old daughter, who is very energetic and keeps me busy! Often I find myself in her world of make believe.
Other than that, I get to the theater whenever I can. I also enjoy gardening, yoga and cooking. One of these days, I will get back to my scrapbooking hobby too. I think it’s important for a writer to find non-writing ways of staying creative.
Ally: Does your real life show up in your writing? In what ways?
NINA: Oh yes, all the time! The town of Beach Point in SWIMMING ALONE is a fictionalized version of the oceanfront Rhode Island town where my grandparents would rent a cottage each summer. I often take real life locations, people and situations, and fictionalize them in my work. My upcoming short story “An Actor Prepares” refers back to the time I spent studying at the Moscow Art Theater in Russia, and drew upon some recent trips I took to the Bronx Zoo. The murders are always made up though!
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
NINA: My graphic novel FAKE ID: BEYOND RECOGNITION is soon to be released online in installments at PlumeSnake.com. Seventeen-year-old Minnie VanCutler suffers an identity crisis after using the wrong fake ID. Aside from waking up with the world’s worst hangover, and being chased down by Russian mobsters, Minnie must battle her over-active conscience and rescue her doppelganger from a human trafficking ring.
I also have two short mystery stories that are scheduled for publication. “Gods and Virgins in the Big Easy,” will appear in issue three of Crime Syndicate Magazine, which should be out soon. “An Actor Prepares” is scheduled to be published in When Crime Never Sleeps (Murder New York Style 4), the fourth crime fiction anthology by members of the New York Tristate Chapter of Sisters in Crime, which should be out September 2017.
Ally: And now for the short answer questions...
- a. an item on your bucket list: Visit the Great Wall of China
- b. manicure or pedicure: Pedicure.
- c. favorite tv program: Currently, The Americans
- d. high heels or sneakers: Sneakers!
- e. favorite book boyfriend: Mr. Rochester.
Ally: Thanks so much for visiting the blog. Before you go rushing off to the rest of your busy life, let's show readers your YA mystery, Swimming Alone.
BOOK BLURB:
SWIMMING ALONE
GENRE: YA Mystery, PG rated
The Sea Side Strangler is on the loose in Beach Point, where fifteen-year-old Cathy Banks is spending the summer with her aunt (who happens to be mystery writer Roberta McCabe). Although thrilled to be away from her psychotic, divorcing parents, with no cell phone or internet access, Cathy is positive that her summer is going to be wretched. Just when she begins to make friends, and even finds a crush to drool over, her new friend Lauren vanishes. When a body surfaces in Beach Point Bay, Cathy is forced to face the question: has the Sea Side Strangler struck again?
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013Y4WE48
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/569442
Fire & Ice:
http://www.fireandiceya.com/authors/ninamansfield/swimmingalone.html
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