Q&A with 2012 Featured Author M.K.Graff
Marni Graff is the author of the Nora Tierney mystery series, set in the UK. “The Blue Virgin” is set in Oxford; “The Green Remains” in Cumbria. Graff is also co-author of “Writing in a Changing World,” a primer on writing groups and critique techniques. She also is the author of a weekly mystery review blog site. A member of Sisters in Crime, Graff runs the NC Writers Read program in Belhaven. She has also published poetry, and her creative nonfiction has most recently appeared in Southern Women’s Review.
Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration for my books through the choices people make in their lives and how that affects them. And since my series is set in England, I am constantly reading novels set there to keep the cadence and word syntax in my head for dialogue.
What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Aspiring writers need to read, read, and read; I feel that is the most important tool they have on so many levels. They will learn from good writers and bad. They also need to find a writing group or critique partner who understands how to give helpful feedback. This is critical, and not everyone is good at it. It helps you learn skills for your own writing as you brainstorm problems in someone else’s work. And they need to persevere and find their audience.
What are you reading right now?
I’m reading Val McDermid’s “The Retribution,” Karin Fossum’s “Bad Intentions” and Keigo Higashino’s “The Devotion of Suspect X.” I always have a print book or two in progress and another one on my iPad so that I’m reading wherever I can grab a few minutes. I have stacks of books waiting to be read and those are my guilty pleasure and my greatest delight. Starting a new book is like starting a new adventure.
What’s your favorite opening line from a book?
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” (“Rebecca” by Daphne Du Maurier). Right away an atmosphere is created that draws the reader in. Where/what is Manderley and why is the narrator dreaming about what must be an important place to her?
What book has inspired or affected you in some way?
“Rebecca”: from the un-named protagonist to the mystery surrounding the title character, Du Maurier created intrigue, suspense and one helluva good story in a wonderful setting that almost became a character in itself. By never giving her character a name besides nicknames and titles, the heroine becomes an Everywoman that this story could happen to, as she battles the memory of her husband’s dead first wife. There is psychological drama and pure menace on so many levels.