10 Questions with Naima Haviland
1. In your novel Bloodroom, where did you come up with the concept of the blood room which vampires use to feed?
I was first inspired by the architecture of such a room. It began while leafing through coffee table books on gargoyles and gothic architecture.
2. Who has been your biggest influence as a writer?
The works of Shirley Jackson, Sarah Waters, Daphne du Maurier, and Charles Dickens have rich environments, not only external to their characters, but internal to the characters’ natures so that no character is minor, no matter how fleeting his part in the plot. I read their books and think, I want to write like that!
3. How has living in the South influenced your writing?
Southerners have great affection for and acceptance of eccentricity. The South is a place where anything can happen, and probably happen for reasons only a Southerner would understand. Often when I write, I ask myself, “How crazy can this get?” Then I write to that extreme. The added challenge and source of satisfaction for me is to write such an immersive environment that the extreme almost seems inevitable.
4. Do you outline prior to writing your story, or do you work out the plot as you write?
That outline gets tossed! I don’t know why I bother! The plot works out as I’m lying on the couch, mowing the lawn, riding my bike …any time my mine can wander, that’s when the idea strikes.
5. Why do you have a fascination with writing about dead people?
Because they’re gone forever. With death, loss is permanent. So I write about it not being permanent, about them not being gone.
6. What made you start writing?
When I found myself re-writing the plots of books I read, I started writing my own books.
7. Is there any subject that is off limits for you as a writer?
Animal Cruelty
8. What is your best quality as a writer?
Devotion. Outside my scheduled writing hours, everything I experience or observe contributes to writing. I can’t enjoy a movie, TV show, or book without examining why it was good and how I can practice that principle in my storytelling. I’m constantly tweaking obligations to gain more time to write. When I listen to music, I listen from my character’s perspective rather than my own. I’m a slow writer, but I am a writing organism.
9. If Hollywood was making a movie adaptation of Bloodroom, and the director asked you to cast the role of Julian, who would you choose?
I’d search among unknowns for a man with chiseled bone structure and cold eyes that flash with warmth at a moment’s notice.
10. If you could invite five people to a dinner party (alive or dead, real or fictional) who would you invite?
My grandfather, a brilliant man who died too soon. Hildegard of Bingen, a medieval abbess who saw visions. Jimmy Stewart, because I’ve always wanted to marry him. Fashion icon Diana Vreeland, who was a great storyteller. And Wolfgang Puck, because someone has to cook.
I was first inspired by the architecture of such a room. It began while leafing through coffee table books on gargoyles and gothic architecture.
2. Who has been your biggest influence as a writer?
The works of Shirley Jackson, Sarah Waters, Daphne du Maurier, and Charles Dickens have rich environments, not only external to their characters, but internal to the characters’ natures so that no character is minor, no matter how fleeting his part in the plot. I read their books and think, I want to write like that!
3. How has living in the South influenced your writing?
Southerners have great affection for and acceptance of eccentricity. The South is a place where anything can happen, and probably happen for reasons only a Southerner would understand. Often when I write, I ask myself, “How crazy can this get?” Then I write to that extreme. The added challenge and source of satisfaction for me is to write such an immersive environment that the extreme almost seems inevitable.
4. Do you outline prior to writing your story, or do you work out the plot as you write?
That outline gets tossed! I don’t know why I bother! The plot works out as I’m lying on the couch, mowing the lawn, riding my bike …any time my mine can wander, that’s when the idea strikes.
5. Why do you have a fascination with writing about dead people?
Because they’re gone forever. With death, loss is permanent. So I write about it not being permanent, about them not being gone.
6. What made you start writing?
When I found myself re-writing the plots of books I read, I started writing my own books.
7. Is there any subject that is off limits for you as a writer?
Animal Cruelty
8. What is your best quality as a writer?
Devotion. Outside my scheduled writing hours, everything I experience or observe contributes to writing. I can’t enjoy a movie, TV show, or book without examining why it was good and how I can practice that principle in my storytelling. I’m constantly tweaking obligations to gain more time to write. When I listen to music, I listen from my character’s perspective rather than my own. I’m a slow writer, but I am a writing organism.
9. If Hollywood was making a movie adaptation of Bloodroom, and the director asked you to cast the role of Julian, who would you choose?
I’d search among unknowns for a man with chiseled bone structure and cold eyes that flash with warmth at a moment’s notice.
10. If you could invite five people to a dinner party (alive or dead, real or fictional) who would you invite?
My grandfather, a brilliant man who died too soon. Hildegard of Bingen, a medieval abbess who saw visions. Jimmy Stewart, because I’ve always wanted to marry him. Fashion icon Diana Vreeland, who was a great storyteller. And Wolfgang Puck, because someone has to cook.
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