10 Questions with Naima Haviland Part 2
1. In which genre would you include your work (e.g. sci-fi, horror or children's)?
I write in the dark fantasy and horror genres. My vampire novels, Bloodroom and The Bad Death have steamy, romantic subplots. My anthology, Night at the Demontorium, feature stories across the spectrum of horror, from supernatural to psychological.
2. What motivated your first book?
Most of my novel ideas come from dreams and nightmares. I wake up excited to turn my tossing and turning into a story.
3. Is the local area a part of the setting? If so, what landmarks are mentioned and in which book(s)?
Bloodroom sets an edgy vampire romance in modern Charleston, South Carolina. The Bad Death is an antebellum novel steeped in the dark legends of South Carolina folklore. I use the region’s landscape, waterways, and historic buildings as settings; and because vampires are immortal, I can put my characters in different centuries. In Bloodroom, Julian is the ruling vampire of modern day Charleston. In The Bad Death, Julian is human and doesn’t even believe in vampires – a blindspot my heroine, Anika, uses to her advantage. Julian’s magnificent home is based on historic Drayton Hall.
4. What has been the biggest challenge to writing?
Banishing outside distractions! I keep to a strict writing schedule and have trained folks not to contact me during that time unless they want to be killed (as a character in my next book).
5. What are the rewards?
The ultimate reward is a great review, not because I want to be told I rock, but because I want people to escape their everyday cares and lose themselves in a fantasy. I like learning that one of my stories has done that for someone.
6. Do you believe that your experience as a woman has shaped the way you approach developing characters and storylines?
It would be easy to say that being a woman makes me focus on character development and character relationships more, but that wouldn’t be fair because some of our greatest writers who did that well were, or are, men! Charles Dickens never wrote a small character. Stephen King’s characters resonate because they’re so authentic. But women are best at writing steamy romance. Could be that we write what we know (she says with a wink).
7. Piece of advice to other aspiring writers?
Give your story time to become what it’s supposed to be. Set a schedule, keep to it, and write it and write it and write it until you know it’s done. If you plan on self publishing, hire a professional editor who won’t pull any punches and take his or her advice. There are no bad writers, just inexperienced or arrogant writers. And no bad books, just books that were published too soon.
8. What should readers expect from your work?
A strong, resourceful heroine. An antihero who finds redemption. Romantic suspense. Real blood-and guts-horror. Erotic scenes – one reviewer said reading Bloodroom spiced up her marriage! I don’t write YA or fiction for the faint of heart.
9. Are men a good part of your fan-base?
Surprisingly, yes. They don’t exactly hate the sexy scenes. But they also like the rich detail of the settings.
10. Have you appreciated a double-standard in that male authors are widely read by both sexes but female authors are read mostly by women?
I have not noticed that double standard, possibly because women read as compulsively as chain smokers light up. The inequality I see is the preference for books by well known authors vs. giving a new writer a chance.
I write in the dark fantasy and horror genres. My vampire novels, Bloodroom and The Bad Death have steamy, romantic subplots. My anthology, Night at the Demontorium, feature stories across the spectrum of horror, from supernatural to psychological.
2. What motivated your first book?
Most of my novel ideas come from dreams and nightmares. I wake up excited to turn my tossing and turning into a story.
3. Is the local area a part of the setting? If so, what landmarks are mentioned and in which book(s)?
Bloodroom sets an edgy vampire romance in modern Charleston, South Carolina. The Bad Death is an antebellum novel steeped in the dark legends of South Carolina folklore. I use the region’s landscape, waterways, and historic buildings as settings; and because vampires are immortal, I can put my characters in different centuries. In Bloodroom, Julian is the ruling vampire of modern day Charleston. In The Bad Death, Julian is human and doesn’t even believe in vampires – a blindspot my heroine, Anika, uses to her advantage. Julian’s magnificent home is based on historic Drayton Hall.
4. What has been the biggest challenge to writing?
Banishing outside distractions! I keep to a strict writing schedule and have trained folks not to contact me during that time unless they want to be killed (as a character in my next book).
5. What are the rewards?
The ultimate reward is a great review, not because I want to be told I rock, but because I want people to escape their everyday cares and lose themselves in a fantasy. I like learning that one of my stories has done that for someone.
6. Do you believe that your experience as a woman has shaped the way you approach developing characters and storylines?
It would be easy to say that being a woman makes me focus on character development and character relationships more, but that wouldn’t be fair because some of our greatest writers who did that well were, or are, men! Charles Dickens never wrote a small character. Stephen King’s characters resonate because they’re so authentic. But women are best at writing steamy romance. Could be that we write what we know (she says with a wink).
7. Piece of advice to other aspiring writers?
Give your story time to become what it’s supposed to be. Set a schedule, keep to it, and write it and write it and write it until you know it’s done. If you plan on self publishing, hire a professional editor who won’t pull any punches and take his or her advice. There are no bad writers, just inexperienced or arrogant writers. And no bad books, just books that were published too soon.
8. What should readers expect from your work?
A strong, resourceful heroine. An antihero who finds redemption. Romantic suspense. Real blood-and guts-horror. Erotic scenes – one reviewer said reading Bloodroom spiced up her marriage! I don’t write YA or fiction for the faint of heart.
9. Are men a good part of your fan-base?
Surprisingly, yes. They don’t exactly hate the sexy scenes. But they also like the rich detail of the settings.
10. Have you appreciated a double-standard in that male authors are widely read by both sexes but female authors are read mostly by women?
I have not noticed that double standard, possibly because women read as compulsively as chain smokers light up. The inequality I see is the preference for books by well known authors vs. giving a new writer a chance.
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