{"id":11109,"date":"2011-10-06T00:01:51","date_gmt":"2011-10-06T04:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/?p=11109"},"modified":"2011-10-05T16:24:24","modified_gmt":"2011-10-05T20:24:24","slug":"joelle-charbonneau-the-terribleminds-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/2011\/10\/06\/joelle-charbonneau-the-terribleminds-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Joelle Charbonneau: The Terribleminds Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Joelle Charbonneau is one of the nicest and hardest working authors I know. She kicks ten kinds of ass. We share an agent — the uber-super-ultra-agent, Stacia Decker — but the sad thing is, without that connection I might not have read Joelle’s delightful debut, SKATING AROUND THE LAW<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. Which would be an epic mistake on my part because it was a blast — and, for a bit of meaningless trivia, the first e-book I ever read (tied with Hilary Davidson’s also-excellent THE DAMAGE DONE<\/strong>, both of which I read at the same time). Anyway — you can find Joelle’s website here<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, and follow her on Twitter @jcharbonneau<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a blog about writing and storytelling. So, tell us a story. As short or long as you care to make it. As true or false as you see it.<\/h3>\n

Why do you tell stories?\u00a0 Because I always wanted to be a superhero and couldn\u2019t fly.\u00a0 Okay \u2013 maybe that is taking it a little too far, but I have always wanted to do and be more than can be crammed into one lifetime.\u00a0 Telling stories is a great way to walk in a really cool pair of shoes for a while.<\/p>\n

Give the audience one piece of writing or storytelling advice:<\/h3>\n

Cut the boring stuff.<\/p>\n

Of course, to do that you have to be willing to admit that some of what you have written is boring.\u00a0 Everyone has their longwinded, boring, pacing stopping moments.\u00a0 A writer has to take a step back and be willing to say that something they\u2019ve written is crap.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only way you can make a story shine.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s great about being a writer, and conversely, what sucks about it?<\/h3>\n

The whole superhero thing is the great part about being a writer.\u00a0 There are endless possibilities and as a writer I am able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and create sex-driven grandfathers and camels who wear hats without ever leaving the confines of my living room.\u00a0 Of course, that being said there are things that totally suck.\u00a0 The whole mentality of \u2018if you build it they will come\u2019 is total crap.\u00a0 Just because you write something doesn\u2019t mean anyone will ever read it.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter how great your writing is, just because it is sitting on the shelf in a bookstore doesn\u2019t guarantee that a person will plunk down cold hard cash for the opportunity to visit your imagination.\u00a0 Promotion is part of the writing business.\u00a0 It takes away from the time you would rather spend writing and the worst part is that a writer never really knows what PR actually leads to sales.\u00a0 You just have to keep throwing things against a wall and hoping something will stick.\u00a0 And even then\u2026.\u00a0 Yeah \u2013 it sucks.<\/p>\n

You did it, you triggered the alarm by mentioning the word \u201csuperhero.\u201d That means it\u2019s time for that tried-and-true question: if you were a superhero, what would your powers be?<\/h3>\n

My first instinct is to say that I would fly, but that is a totally lame super power unless it comes package with super strength or something equally useful.\u00a0 I mean, flying is great for a personal hobby, but what good are you to someone who falls off of a building or to a plane that loses an engine.\u00a0 If you try to catch the person or help the plane you end up dead.\u00a0 Dead is bad.\u00a0 So, I\u2019m scratching flying off the list.\u00a0 Since the wave of the future is computers, I plan on being Data-girl \u2013 someone whose mind can meld with and manipulate computers without a single touch of a key. \u00a0I\u2019m taking over the Matrix baby!<\/p>\n

Follow-up: if you had the chance to write the stories of one superhero, which superhero would that be?<\/h3>\n

Firestar \u2013 I grew up an X-Men fan.\u00a0 Firestar was always willing to torch some guy\u2019s ass for justice, but no one ever bothered to really deep dive into her character.\u00a0 Maybe they just thought it was enough that she was a redhead and hot, but I think she got the short end of the stick.<\/p>\n

Skating Around The Law and Skating Over The Line are your two mysteries featuring Rebecca Robbins, rink-owner and amateur detective. Can you talk about constructing those books. In particular: how do you engineer a great mystery for an audience?<\/h3>\n

I think a great mystery needs to have fast pacing, a fun puzzle and most of all it needs to play fair with the reader.\u00a0 If the main detective (amateur or otherwise) knows something about the case then the reader needs to know it, too.\u00a0 Which in my mind means that the reader has to have the puzzle pieces in front of them to solve the crime \u2013 especially if you are writing in first person.\u00a0 Pointing the finger at a bad guy the reader has barely met or never had any real information on is cheating.\u00a0 As a reader, there is nothing I hate more than investing my time in a book where the ending feels forced or comes out of left field.\u00a0 Surprise is good, but the reader needs to be able to go back through the book and find the sprinkling of clues that in hindsight points them in the right direction.\u00a0 If those clues aren\u2019t there, the mystery often falls flat.<\/p>\n

The Rebecca Robbins mysteries are both mystery and character driven.\u00a0 I want readers to be equally invested in both.\u00a0 Each book has a stand alone mystery that should engage and entertain the reader, which means you don\u2019t have to start at the beginning of the series.\u00a0 A reader can jump right into any book without feeling like they are playing catch up.\u00a0 However, it is my hope that I\u2019ve constructed the storylines to allow the characters to grow from book to book and that the readers will come back for those characters as much as they come back for the mysteries.<\/p>\n

A lot of your characters are quirky and endearing. You write them well and so it forces me to ask, what\u2019s the secret in writing great characters?<\/h3>\n

Wow.\u00a0 Thanks.\u00a0 Now I feel the need to say something profound and earthshaking about characters.\u00a0 One moment while I get a paper bag to stop my hyperventilation.<\/p>\n

Ok \u2013 the bag worked so here goes.\u00a0 I think the best characters are at the core people we can identify with.\u00a0 If you start out with the intention to write a wacky, eccentric character, you come out with a caricature instead.\u00a0 Characters aren\u2019t one dimensional.\u00a0 They need to be well-rounded.\u00a0 You have to start at the bottom, find the pieces of the character that everyone can identify with and build from there.\u00a0 In my case, I didn\u2019t start out writing Skating Around The Law saying \u201cI want Rebecca to have a lothario grandfather with a penchant for impersonating Elvis.\u201d\u00a0 My intent was to create a touchstone for Rebecca in her old home town that she fought so hard to get out of.\u00a0 I wanted her to have a caring presence in her life who supported her and at the same time wanted her to think twice before selling her deceased mother\u2019s roller rink.\u00a0 At the core, he is the grandfather we all can identify with.\u00a0 He loves his granddaughter, but he also is selfish enough to try and keep her close by.\u00a0 It just turns out that he juggles multiple girlfriends and loves mimicking The King.<\/p>\n

We need to talk about the camel. Elwood the camel is such a great character. Yet because he’s a camel, he’s built in very simple, straightforward strokes. Where\u2019d you get the idea for Elwood?<\/h3>\n

Good question and I even have an answer to it!\u00a0 When I\u2019m not writing or chasing around after my toddler I\u2019m a voice teacher.\u00a0 A few days after I started noodling the idea for Skating Around The Law, I had a lesson with a student who owns horses.\u00a0 While we were chatting, she let me know she wouldn\u2019t be able to make her next lesson because her horse had to go to the U of I.\u00a0 Being the sarcastic sort I said, \u201cWow, smart horse.\u201d\u00a0 She laughed and explained that she was taking her horse to the large animal veterinary clinic at the university.\u00a0 She then went onto say that the last time she went to the clinic there was a guy there with a camel.\u00a0 Stranger still, the guy wasn\u2019t the camel\u2019s owner.\u00a0 Turns out the camel didn\u2019t like the farmer he lived with and caused problems whenever the farmer brought him to the clinic.\u00a0 In fact, the last time the farmer brought him, the camel broke out of his carrier and went running down I57 in an eventually aborted jail break.\u00a0 The image of the camel racing down the road flanked by cornstalks and soybean plants stayed with me long after the lesson and I couldn\u2019t quite figure out why anyone in the middle of Illinois would own a camel.\u00a0 A few days later I wrote the opening to Skating Around The Law and at the end of chapter three there was a camel wearing a fedora \u2013 my explanation as to why a camel would be living in rural Illinois.<\/p>\n

Both those books are \u201ccozies.\u201d You ever want to write something totally opposite to that? Grim and gory and noir-soaked and blood-caked?<\/h3>\n

I would like to point out that my agent has labeled my books \u201cItchies\u201d\u00a0 – not quite cozy\u2026kind of like a wool sweater that keeps you warm but makes you twitch a bit while wearing it.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if that is flattering, but it sounds about right since my sense of humor is a little edgier than the typical cozy.<\/p>\n

And YES!\u00a0 I have written and will hopefully continue to write stuff that is grimmer, gorier and more disturbing that what appears in Indian Falls.\u00a0 I have no idea if those books will ever sell, but I think it is important for me to explore the darker ideas to keep my writing sharp and my imagination fresh.\u00a0 Anyone will tell you that writing comedy is tough.\u00a0 When you push too hard to get a laugh everything falls apart.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to take a step away every now and then and remind yourself that you don\u2019t need to be funny.\u00a0 You just need to write the characters and let them tell the story.\u00a0 Writing something different always helps me take that step back.\u00a0 Conversely, writing the lighter stuff makes me look forward to spending time in the shadows.<\/p>\n

As for the stuff I\u2019ve written that explores those shadows, well, I hope they will make an appearance on bookshelves.\u00a0 In this business, it is tough to say what will sell and what won\u2019t.\u00a0 As writers we just have to keep telling stories and hope that at some point someone will get a chance to read them.<\/p>\n

Favorite word?<\/h3>\n

Outstanding.<\/p>\n

And then, the follow up: Favorite curse word?<\/h3>\n

Craptastic \u2013Does that count?<\/p>\n

Favorite alcoholic beverage? (If cocktail: provide recipe. If you don\u2019t drink alcohol, fine, fine<\/em>, a non-alcoholic beverage will do.)<\/h3>\n

Sauvignon Blanc.<\/p>\n

Recommend a book, comic book, film, or game: something with great story. Go!<\/h3>\n

Murder on the Orient Express<\/strong> by Agatha Christie.\u00a0 It always reminds me of peeling an onion.\u00a0 Layer by layer you learn that everyone on the train has a secret.\u00a0 How cool is that?<\/p>\n

What skills do you bring to help the humans win the inevitable zombie war?<\/h3>\n

Just line the zombies up like an alley full of bowling pins and I\u2019ll mow them down.\u00a0 Me and my pretty blue bowling ball can do some damage.\u00a0 (I can also saut\u00e9 up a mean Zombie souffl\u00e9, but that\u2019s for after the war is won.)<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve committed crimes against humanity. They caught you. You get one last meal.<\/h3>\n

I knew those crimes would catch up to me.\u00a0 Okay, if I\u2019m going out I\u2019m going out with a bang.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking Crawfish etouffee over dirty rice and as much freshly baked cornbread as I can eat.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for you as a storyteller? What does the future hold?<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m about ready to start the second book in the Paige Marshall mystery series.\u00a0 The heroine is a classical singer turned amateur sleuth.\u00a0 One of my other professions is stage performing, so I\u2019m looking forward to once again merging those two facets of my life.\u00a0 As far as the future?\u00a0 The hell if I know.\u00a0 I\u2019ll just keep sitting my butt in the chair and getting words on the page.\u00a0 Hopefully, people will continue to read them.\u00a0 If not, you might find me racing around town in tights and a cape.\u00a0 You just never know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joelle Charbonneau is one of the nicest and hardest working authors I know. We share an agent — the uber-super-ultra-agent, Stacia Decker — but the sad thing is, without that connection I might not have read Joelle’s delightful debut, SKATING AROUND THE LAW. Which would be an epic mistake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,1],"tags":[77],"class_list":{"0":"post-11109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-guestpost","7":"category-theramble","8":"tag-interview","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pv7MR-2Tb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11109"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11118,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11109\/revisions\/11118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}