Spotlight on the writing of Bad Moon

                  Spotlight on the writing of Bad Moon
                                                or
                                 (an informal interview with Anita Dawes)
 Today I have dragged Anita away from her writing desk and forced her to sit and talk to me about my favourite book  (and I suspect, hers too)
Good morning Anita, make yourself comfortable and tell us how you came to write Bad Moon?
Hello Jay, this is all a bit strange for me, I haven't done anything like this before, so I am trusting that you are right and it might just be interesting and productive.
I began to write when I couldn't stand all the voices in my head. They would not let me rest until I told their story, and once I started, I couldn't stop!
I just love the minds of the people of small town America, their philosophy and their way of thinking. 
What decided the plot of Bad Moon, was it just your imagination or did something trigger it?
 I was in a pretty bad place at that time in my life and I think that escaping into another world, even one that was not sweetness and light, helped me a lot. There was a song that caught my interest, from Credence Clearwater Revival, about  a 'Bad Moon Rising'. You could say that that was my inspiration right there.  I think song lyrics are very emotive, you can usually come up with a good story to go with them. My book turned out to be the usual story of good and evil; you cannot get away from it, not in nature or human beings. Maybe knowing that what I was writing was not real, helped me in real life. It is possible.
 Is Annie a biographical character? Did you see yourself in her at all?
 No, I don't think so. She turned out to be stronger than I could ever be.
 She seems a lot like you, somehow.
Does she? It was not intentional. My mother was the inspiration for the creation of Annie's mother, and Annie's father reminds me of one of my stepfathers. A long-suffering doormat. All of Annie's relatives remind me of crows at a funeral.
But in the book, Annie's father seems like a nice chap?
Yes, but he is weak, unable to control his wife or her relatives.
 Why did the title lose the word 'rising'? and where did the idea for Pa's grotesque carvings come from. They do sound fascinating... 
I had to change the title because there were just too many books out there with the same title. The idea for the carvings came from my imagination really, although I loved the film 'The Guardian' with Jenny Agutter. There was an interesting tree in the storyline that could have sparked something.
I always love the macabre side , like the 'Tooth Fairy' in The Silence of The Lambs. Making things out of human skin is fascinatingly disgusting, but people have been doing it for centuries. 
Despite all her good intentions, Annie has an incestuous relationship with her brother Nathan, before she falls in love with Josh. Did the thought of writing about incest bother you? 
No, there is more of that going on than most of us realise. I believe it can be a natural occurance, as the love you feel for someone - brother or no - can become so strong and overwhelming. It is possible to love more than one person too, we do it all the time.
Your next book 'Simple' is very similar to 'Bad Moon'. Is that what you intended?
 Yes, because I feel it is a part of who I am, plus I love writing them.
You have not written another story like these two, will you?
 Maybe, but it has yet to be proved to me that people are interested in reading them, although I cannot rule it out as I may not be able to stop myself!
 Well, that wasn't too gruelling, was it?If anyone has any questions or comments, we would be pleased to hear from you!

Thank you in advance!