Page 46 - Reader's House magazine

Continued from page 40 In That Last Carolina Summer, Karen White explores sisterhood and secrets through Phoebe Manigault’s return to Charleston, where family tensions and haunting memories resurface. The novel beautifully inter- twines themes of grief and redemp- tion against the evocative Southern backdrop, culminating in a profound and emotional journey. 46 II Reader’s House grandparents and cousins regardless of where in the world we lived. Although I never lived in the South until after I was married, I always considered myself Southern. There is something poetic about the way people talk and the way they tell their sto- ries. Even the oppressive heat of a July afternoon spent on my grandmother’s porch became a corner- stone of my childhood memories and part of what I attempt to recreate in my novels. How did your experience growing up in a house full of brothers shape the strong female characters in your books? I learned early on that my brothers would always be strong- er and taller than I was, and I was destined to be on the losing end of any snowball fight or any other feats of strength. I spent a lot of my younger years hiding from my brothers while they chased me with a large insect or reptile. That’s when I discovered the immersive world of books and the power of words that were my only weapons against my broth- ers. But it is my maternal grand- mother who raised six children while running her own business despite having only a third grade education that inspired my strong and resilient protagonists. Can you share the story behind your transition from a career in business to becoming a bestselling author? I left my job as an operations manager for a software devel- opment company when my first daughter was born and we moved to Atlanta. In between feedings and diaper changes, I rediscov- ered my love for books which had been mostly dormant since I’d finished college. I’d never STAR INTERVIEW planned to be a writer, but after binge-reading Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, I had a book hangover and couldn’t read another book. So I did what my teachers had always said I should do and wrote my first book. I entered it into a contest and ended up not only winning but also gar- nered an offer for representation by a New York literary agent who sold that book and the next nine. I kept writing and selling books and it was only after twelve or so books that I realized that perhaps this writing thing wasn’t a fluke and just maybe I was meant to be a writer after all. What was the most challenging part of writing your first novel, In the Shadow of the Moon, and how did you overcome it? Time! With two young children and a husband who traveled most days for work, I had to be really efficient at time organization. It’s true, however, that the busier a person is, the better they are at time management. As an emp- ty-nester now, I find it much hard to manage my time—something for which I blame social media. It can be entertaining and helpful, but most of the time but I find that it takes up a lot of my time. The Tradd Street series is beloved by many readers. What inspired you to create this Charleston-set mystery series? I cut my reading teeth on the Nancy Drew mystery series so it was probably inevitable that once I turned to writing, creating a female-centered series with a par- anormal bent would be a natural progression in my career. How do you balance elements of family drama, mystery, intrigue, and romance in your novels to create such compelling stories? My goal since writing my very “My family has been in the South since be- fore the Ameri- can Revolution, so my roots grow deep in this region.” first novel is to create the sort of book with the same kind of elements that I enjoy in the books I read: multi-layered stories with multiple interwoven elements. That creates multi-dimensional books that are enjoyable not just to read, but to also to write. What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are hesitant to take the leap into writing? Read, read, read--across all genres. Then, to borrow from Nike, just do it. Write. Don’t worry if you’re doing it the right way (there is no right way), and quiet all the voices in your head and just write. It won’t be perfect, but as long as you have words on the page, you can fix them later. Can you tell us about your writing process and how you develop intricate plotlines and memorable characters? I’m a terrible example to new writers! I don’t prewrite or do character sketches or write an outline. I start with my protago- nist and setting (which is always a primary character in my novels) and the protagonist’s internal and external conflicts and just start writing. I see the story unfold from my protagonist’s viewpoint and I just write it down. And, no, I rarely know the ending when I