Leslie Lutz
asked
Josh Roberts:
What was your first flash of inspiration of THE WITCHES OF WILLOW COVE?
Josh Roberts
I’ve always believed that the best spooky stories are the ones that feel like they could be happening to real people in real places, so I knew from the beginning that THE WITCHES OF WILLOW COVE would be set in a small New England town like the one I grew up in.
The first kernel of an idea for this book came while I was serving jury duty in Salem district court many years ago. During a delay in the case, the judge explained that the famous Salem witch trials actually occurred in a neighboring town, because the town lines were different back then. The idea that much of the witch history we associate with Salem belongs to another town became one of the driving elements of my story.
The other major element came from my childhood. I was a huge fan of stories about the supernatural and unexplained: ghosts, witches, vampires, werewolves, that kind of thing. Growing up, I lived in a three-story Victorian funeral home, complete with creaky floors, drafty windows, and a secret room sealed off from the rest of the house, so I spent a lot of time making up stories to spook myself and my friends. When I set out to write a story about witches in a small town with a secret history, I knew that my take on it would be: What happens when you find out you’re one of the spooky things that everyone’s afraid of?
The first kernel of an idea for this book came while I was serving jury duty in Salem district court many years ago. During a delay in the case, the judge explained that the famous Salem witch trials actually occurred in a neighboring town, because the town lines were different back then. The idea that much of the witch history we associate with Salem belongs to another town became one of the driving elements of my story.
The other major element came from my childhood. I was a huge fan of stories about the supernatural and unexplained: ghosts, witches, vampires, werewolves, that kind of thing. Growing up, I lived in a three-story Victorian funeral home, complete with creaky floors, drafty windows, and a secret room sealed off from the rest of the house, so I spent a lot of time making up stories to spook myself and my friends. When I set out to write a story about witches in a small town with a secret history, I knew that my take on it would be: What happens when you find out you’re one of the spooky things that everyone’s afraid of?
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