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BlogAmy Carol Reeves has a PhD in nineteenth-century British literature. She published a few academic articles before deciding that it would be much more fun to write about Jack the Ripper. When she is not writing or teaching college classes, she enjoys running around her neighborhood with her giant labrador retriever and serial reading Jane Austen novels. She lives in Columbia, South Carolina with her husband and two children. Ripper is her debut novel.
What made you want to be a writer? Aching to have carpel tunnel? a desire to poke out ones eyeballs as words pour from your fingertips?As a child, I read everything I could get my hands on: the Nancy Drew series, the Ramona series, Alice in Wonderland. And I wrote a lot and often. By fifth grade, I had a folder filled with all of my WIPs. I have no idea what happened to this folder—it’s probably in a box somewhere next to my old retainer. In high school I read more of the classics, and I went crazy for the gothic romances of Ann Radcliffe and the Brontë sisters.
Then, in college, I had this wonderful history professor who let us turn in a historical fiction story as our final paper. I took three different courses from him, and with each story, I found myself more and more involved in the research—one took place in a convent, so I actually visited a convent to learn more about the way nuns live. These papers turned into novellas, each one longer, wilder, and more detailed than the one before. I passed them out to the other girls in my dorm and became known as the Danielle Steele of my floor.
My English professor called me into his office, and told me point blank that he thought I should be a writer. I thought, “Hmmm…maybe in the distant future,” because at that point I thought it made more sense to be an English professor—a steady, safe day job.
But in graduate school, as I plunged deeper into a study of my favorite writers, I realized even more how much I loved stories and being creative. Although I liked my dissertation research and conferences, I kept returning to writing, writing snippets of stories in my head and then putting them down on paper. It was a need for me, a nonnegotiable, almost like water. And I loved reading popular YA books. I have this vivid memory of sitting on a panel at an academic conference, and I just kept thinking about how I couldn’t wait to get back to the YA novels I had waiting at home!
Furthermore, throughout my coursework, I found myself drawn to the outrageous, quirky side stories of authors’ lives, true stories like the poet Lord Byron’s outrageous love affairs and the artist and poet, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, digging up his dead wife’s body in Highgate Cemetery. In many ways, truth IS stranger than fiction. It was during those years in graduate school, that the early ideas for Ripper really started taking root in my mind.
Tell me about one of your typical writing days...what are your routines? Favorite places to read, write. Music? millions of notes strewn all over the floor?
I typically start out the day by going on a long jog, teasing out plot problems in my head to the tune of the Rolling Stones. Then I come back to the house, sit down with the dogs at my feet, and write, write, write. I write for several hours until it’s time to teach, and then I go to campus to teach my classes. I love teaching. It gets me out of the house and connected with students. It’s really a wonderful combination—I write, and then I go to campus, and I get to talk about writing and literature with students.
How was your experience with getting published - hardest thing you’ve ever done? Very hard. My first agent tried to sell my picture book and then a middle reader book that I had worked on. The market is tough, and even though she worked hard for me, she was unable to sell either book. She represented me for about three years. Then, during my third year after graduate school, I buckled down and began writing Ripper—I had a connection with Ripper that I hadn’t had with either of my previous books. I think because it was the point where I finally used my studies of the Victorian period in my creative work. My agent at the time loved it, but she mostly represented books for younger readers. Soon I began querying new agents. My current agent, Jessica Sinsheimer, sold Ripper in about a month. I think I needed to write and revise those other books before I could write Ripper. I’m very goal-oriented and it was hard for me, and existentially depressing, to invest so much time and energy into works that I knew might never make it on the shelves. But looking back, writing and revising those books strengthened my writing skills.
How active do you think you are in the book blogging community and how has it treated you? Eaten you whole? I am just getting involved with the book blogging community, and I can’t wait to dive in further! Thus far, I am excited about the responses to Ripper that I have received from bloggers.
Where did you come up with your cover art? Or how was the process?
I love the Ripper cover. Flux did consult with me a bit for the cover. Specifically, I gave suggestions for how Abbie Sharp’s dress, collar, and hair should appear. Kevin Brown, the designer, did a marvelous job!
What is your current WIP (Work in Progress) if you have one? Oh come on spill the beans - I promise to blab about it.
Currently, my pressing project is the sequel to Ripper (tentative title is Recluse). And although, at the moment, I don’t have much time to work on it, I’m in the early stages of a new YA series. All I can say at this point is that it is a Gothic historical thriller. So stay tuned!
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FluxA paranormal mystery involving London’s most notorious killer.
In 1888, following her mother’s sudden death, seventeen-year-old Arabella Sharp goes to live with her grandmother in a posh London neighborhood. At her grandmother’s request, Abbie volunteers at Whitechapel Hospital, where she discovers a passion for helping the unfortunate women and children there.
But within days, female patients begin turning up brutally murdered at the hands of Jack the Ripper. Even more horrifying, Abbie starts having strange visions that lead her straight to the Ripper’s next massacres. As her apparent psychic connection with the twisted killer grows stronger, Abbie is drawn into a deadly mystery involving the murders, her mother’s shadowed past, and a secret brotherhood of immortals—who’ll stop at nothing to lure Abbie into its “humanitarian” aims.
January 3, 2012, Feiwel & Friends
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