Behind the Scenes: Thongs, Gordon Lightfoot, and Trumpets with Julia Buckley

Julia Buckley, author of The Dark Backward (Eht Krad?) has kindly agreed to share her insight on writing, publishing, and promoting mysteries. Read on, you crazy diamond!

You are doing a fantastic job promoting your debut mystery, The Dark Backward. You have interviewed big-name authors (and me) on your blog, you've set up booksignings, you are active on Murder Must Advertise (a mystery-promoting listserv), and you sell Dark Backward-themed items on your website. What promotional effort has been your favorite, what has been your most effective, and how well is the Dark Backward Classic Thong selling?

Tee-hee. A thong. Now there’s an idea—but not for me to wear. And it’s not practical, because not enough people would see it, so it wouldn’t necessarily promote the book. The items make me no money, anyway, it’s just a link to Café Press, but it’s always an option for promotion, since the cover is so cool (not my doing, but Kevin R. Brown’s).

My favorite activity, aside from writing the books, has been doing the interviews, because they’re very fun and I really feel that I’ve “met” a lot of people, who I now look forward to meeting in person at conferences. Jess Lourey, for example.

The Dark Backward begins with the death of its protagonist, Lily Caldwell. How did you come up with such a compelling and original opening?

It was actually done out of spite. I had written the Madeline Mann mysteries FIRST, you see, and they made the rounds with my agent, and people said they loved Madeline and liked the books, but they didn’t buy them. My agent suggested that perhaps things didn’t get moving fast enough in the plot, which is of course the big debate in mystery fiction: can a writer have some exposition, or must one thrust a knife into someone’s chest on page one?

(The author of this blog completely endorses using writing as a vehicle for spite.)

So in rebellion I began a chapter with the death of my main character—a violent shooting death—in the first line. And then I brought her back to life. At first I was just channeling my disappointment, but then I really got into my own story. So I must be a consummate storyteller. (As the Adam West Batman would say, “The only possible conclusion.”) How’s that for a literary allusion? Batman.

When I see the picture of you on your blog, I think you are holding a trumpet that you are just about to play. Is it a trumpet in the picture, and if so, how good are you?

That is hilarious! I never noticed that before. Sure, let’s say I play the trumpet really well, and I travel with a jazz band when I’m not promoting books or teaching English. But alas, it wouldn’t be true. That “trumpet” is just the back of a chair; the photo was taken at The Rainforest Café in Chicago, where we had taken our boys for a treat. I chose it because I didn’t look tired or old.

However, I do have a notable jazz connection: my father-in-law, Dick Buckley, is a Chicago legend for his jazz show on WBEZ. No one knows more about jazz than this man does. Feel free to challenge me. And the sad thing is, BEZ has decided to change its programming, so Dick’s show, after many years on the air in Chicago, will be eliminated in the coming months. He has a huge cult following who are circulating a petition. Any Chicagoans can still hear his show—for the time being—on Sundays at noon.

Your first Madeline Mann mystery hits bookstores in 2007. How is she different from Lily, and how many books do you envision in the series?

Lily Caldwell is a loveable young woman, but she has a very serious mission and an unhappy past, and so the book is not really lighthearted (although it does contain humor). Madeline is much more a product of the fun me; she is independent and intelligent, but she tends to be rather unpredictable in her behavior, which she attributes totally to the “vibes” she has at any given moment. For this reason, her brothers have nicknamed her “Madman,” and so far she has not been able to prove them wrong.

There are serious themes in the Madman books, but I think I get to them through more humorous paths. Maddy isn’t meant to depress people, nor are her mysteries. They’re supposed to lift the spirits and even make readers laugh. An assortment of odd characters, including her family, sort of heighten the humorous tension.

On your website, you refer to your writing group. How did the group begin, how many of you are in it, and how often do you meet?

My town used to have an arts organization called River Oak Arts, and it sponsored evening classes for adults in things like poetry writing, short story writing, and the one I took—novel writing. All of the classes were taught by professional writers, and mine was taught by the novelist Karen Lee Osborne. The class lasted eight weeks and taught me a lot about what should and shouldn’t go into a novel. I signed up for another, more advanced class a few months later—also taught by Karen—and then some of the group members who were really serious about their writing asked if we couldn’t just meet every month even after the class was over. That was about six years ago, and we still meet.

The advantage of the writing group, for me, is that after a while, when you’re composing, you can almost hear the voices of your group members in your head, telling you to cut out that adjective or eliminate this repetitive dialogue, and it becomes a sort of writer’s conscience. It’s helped me a great deal. I think my writing is much better now than it was before I joined the group.

What do your husband and children think of your writing?

They’re supportive in that they don’t stop me from doing it. And my husband is good about reading manuscripts. He doesn’t comment very heavily, but he’s great at spotting inconsistencies and giving me honest feedback. He gives me a little smiley face in the margin for everything that amuses him, so if I get something back and it doesn’t have a smiley at a spot I thought was funny, I’ll say, “Hey, that was funny!” And he’ll just shake his head. The smileys are not given randomly.

Other than that, they (the family) just sort of go about their business. My husband’s wine store did host a signing for me, which was nice. But my children attended one signing only, where I learned that they are not old enough to go to book signings. My seven year old told me that the word “the” on my cover was not properly capitalized, and my eleven-year old raised his hand and asked why there was profanity in the book. I turned about five shades of red. Naturally he hasn’t read it, but he was told he couldn’t because it had adult language and situations. So he managed to embarrass me at my very first book signing, and since then the boys have been relegated to the home with only a bowl of water.

(Blog author's note: I find if you crush up some Valium in the water, it goes a lot farther.)

How's the Master's in Literature coming?

Slowly but surely. It’s starting to feel like I’m on the ten-year plan, but it’s actually only been two years, and I’ll have earned half of my required credits by the end of this year. I had to take a little hiatus last year for financial reasons—after we pay my sons’ school tuition and the mortgage, there’s not much left for my tuition, and my employer only gives me a small percentage of the cost. So sometimes I have to stop, cry broke, and wait until I accumulate some savings again. I’m sure it’s character-building, this living in genteel poverty while I am immersed in the language of academia.

What three pieces of advice would you offer to an author whose first book is just about to hit the bookshelves?

1. Be proud of yourself. I tend to forget this one, either because I always set a higher goal and then forget to celebrate the one I met, or because I’ll find some negative aspect of my success. My family always says this is the Hungarian soul in me, because as my father has pointed out, “We’re a very sad people.” So I have to remind myself—hey, this is an accomplishment!
2. My Dad’s classic advice: “You don’t ask, you don’t get.” Profound, yet practical, isn’t it? This was always his advice to me when he noticed my natural reluctance in all things. So I have to sort of make myself go up to a bookstore counter and ask if they might carry my book, and how well is it selling, and have they lost weight? or whatever schmoozing thing I’m supposed to say in order to make them love me. (But I still don’t really do it. Number of bookstores visited: two).
3. Put things in perspective. This book is not going to have the impact, or the staying power, of something like Gone With The Wind, but a year ago I had no book on store shelves, and now I can stroll into a store and see a beautiful acknowledgement of my work, and can enjoy the occasional e-mail that I get from strangers telling me that they liked the book. Which I guess can be called fan mail.

How do I get my hands on the next Julia Buckley opus?

Hey, Jess, just say the word and I’ll send you the whole fat manuscript in hopes that you’ll eventually write a blurb like “Julia Buckley is a revelation!” or “If you read only one book this summer, read this one!”

(I can't promise a blurb, but I'd love a galley copy when they're available!)

Otherwise, you have to wait until August of 2007, which I believe is the release date for Pity Him Afterwards (although I just found out that will not be the title.)

And finally, on your blog, you claim to enjoy Gordon Lightfoot, Abba, and the Monkees. If you had to sing one of the following songs at a karaoke bar filled with English professors, ex-boyfriends, mystery reviewers, and Hollywood producers, which would it be? "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," "Dancin' Queen," or "Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees."

Wow, that’s a toughie. The first two are great songs, but they’re totally out of my range. Gord tends to span a couple octaves rather effortlessly, while I end up hunting all over the place for the note an octave higher or lower. Not that it stops me from singing along. “Gord’s Gold” is my number one sing-along cd for chore doing or checkbook balancing. Abba, however, has been a favorite since childhood. My sister Linda and I would learn the melody and the harmony, so one of us could be Annifrida and one Agnetha and we could sing in the car and such. We are a singing family—very Von Trapp Family, if you want to know the truth. It’s because my German mother taught us to sing on family car trips, and she literally had a little choir in the back seat. My brothers sang bass and baritone, my sister and I were soprano or alto, my mom was alto. And my dad listened.

So back to your question: The Monkee’s Theme is the easiest to sing (although not my favorite song by them). So I would sing that, but I would have to ask you to sing it with me, along with two other people, so that we could link arms and do that special Monkees walk, leg over leg. It’s more difficult than it looks. We can practice at Bouchercon.

In any case, I doubt the mystery reviewers or the Hollywood producers would find much to write home about.

At karaoke, I'm the back-up dancer only, but I'll bring my go-go boots! Thanks for your time, Ms. Buckley. :) (I'm a whore with my smiley faces.)