Today OOM welcomes Katie Alender, author of Famous Last Words, a spine-chilling tale with Hollywood history, mystery, murder, mayhem, and a delicious romance all collided into an addictive page-turning thriller.
Kirkus Reviews raved about Famous Last Words saying, “The procedural elements are well-executed and complemented by characters that readers will truly come to care about and a romance that resonates. Alender enhances the mystery by setting it in Hollywood, a town where no one is quite who they seem to be. The result is a mystery that’s worth it for the chase…”
Katie is a masterful storyteller and we’ve asked her to share details from her writing process, her Halloween experiences growing up, and all things spooky. Take it away Katie!
How would you describe your writing process?
I love coming up with stories, but sometimes getting them down on paper is extremely hard. I’ve learned to focus on what I love about the process — creating a great story, the anticipation, working with my awesome editor, and ending up with a finished product. Over time I’ve learned to trust in my ability not only to write a book but to make it all come together even when things might seem semi-hopeless early in the process. It’s kind of like a trust fall! You have to believe that you can get there, and just keep going.
You’re great at conveying real spookiness in a story. What are your scary inspirations? Do you like horror movies?
No! I can’t watch horror movies! They’re way too scary, ha ha! It does seem a little odd that I’m a total wimp about anything spooky. I’m especially awful at watching suspenseful movies or reading mysteries — I fall for every single trick the author or filmmakers throw at me. But I’ve been thinking about this recently, and I realized that being a huge fraidy-cat is actually a really great qualification for writing horror, because I am capable of finding almost every situation terrifying. A brave person might not be able to find the scariness in walking through an old, crowded attic, but I can describe my fears in 35 ways.
As far as my scary inspiration, I will let myself daydream about a scene and think, “What would be the scariest thing that would happen right now? If I turned and looked at the window, what would be the scariest thing I could see there?"
Is there a particular memorable Halloween you experienced? And what are your plans for Halloween this year?
I’m terrible at Halloween. My costumes are epically bad. I grew up in South Florida, where it would be 80 degrees on Halloween, and I’d dress up in some huge, sweaty costume and end up wanting to go home early because I was so uncomfortable
As far as memorable goes, when I was 10 or 11 I got to help my dad volunteer at a haunted house his community service group put on. I guess you could say it was my first experience scaring people. I jumped out from behind a wall and scared a couple of girls really badly, and a few minutes later they were back with their HUGE dad, and they pointed at me and said, “HER, Dad, she’s the one who scared us!” And I totally thought I was going to get beaten up or something
This year, I don’t have plans for myself — it’s all about taking my daughter out trick-or-treating and then sneaking candy out of her bucket when she’s not looking.
OOM readers, what is your favorite Halloween memory from your childhood?
