Q&A with USA Today Bestselling Author Ann Charles
- 17 hours ago
- 6 min read
By Ann Charles
USA Today Bestselling Author Q: Where do you find the inspiration for each one of your books including your latest, Time Reaping in Deadwood?
I’ve always found real life to be stranger than fiction, so I enjoy the everyday tales of life coming from friends, family, strangers in the grocery store checkout line, and posts on social media. I also love to watch movies and series for inspiration. Usually, something I see along the way will spark an idea for an entertaining plot thread within one of my on-going series.
For my latest book, Time Reaping in Deadwood, I had fun learning about tarot reading. I included elements of it as a humorous thread throughout the book that also added to the suspense for what was to come for Violet Parker, the main character in this series.
Q: Is it difficult to combine more than one element when writing a book?
Mixing genres comes naturally for me. In my early days of writing, I tried to stick with mostly one element. First it was romance. Then it was mystery. But I struggled to put it on the page. After I decided to let the story flow and see what came out, I realized that my struggles had been because I’d been trying too hard to fit into one genre. So, I let the story roll out and ended up with a tale that blended several elements and didn’t fit easily into one genre. Then I had a new problem—how to sell this mixed-genre story in a world with pre-set, somewhat rigid categories in the publishing industry. Lucky for me, at this time the entertainment industry was changing, and mixed genre movies and stories were starting to become popular. It was then a matter of finding readers who enjoyed the type of elements in my mixed genre stories, which took some time, but that’s another story.
Q: Your books are well-known and loved for the humor, action, and adventure packed scenes. Were you always this talented or did you have to work to get to where your writing is today?
I had to work and work and work, and I’m still trying to improve with every book I write. Over the years, I’ve studied some of my favorite books, breaking them down into scene and sequel, studying how the transitions were crafted, making notes on body language, analyzing dialogue and character growth. I worked to understand the purpose of themes and premises, figuring out how to better incorporate them into my stories. I experimented with various tropes and plotted out series arcs, keeping in mind how a binge reader would feel as they cruised through not just one story, but multiple books.
One of the struggles with writing a longer series is holding a reader’s attention. This is something I study in other long-running series, considering different ways to keep the humor fresh as I move from one book to the next. In order to be successful, I think I have to keep studying and experimenting with new techniques. Not only will this benefit the reader, but it will keep me from growing bored with telling the story.
Q: Who are the main characters in TimeReaping in Deadwood?
Violet Parker is the main and only point-of-view (POV) character in the Deadwood Mystery series, so we only ever see the story unfold through her eyes. This first person technique is nothing new in the publishing world, but for years I only wrote in third person. Violet’s series is the first and only where I write from a single POV. There is a challenge in this style of storytelling that I enjoy, and while it can be limiting on some levels, it also can really raise the suspense in a scene. I think telling the story in this way also helps the readers feel like they know Violet better due to a deeper POV.
Other than Violet, there is a cast of secondary characters that includes her quirky friends, her aunt, her kids, and boyfriend. There are some great villains readers love to hate, and some really creepy supernatural characters that add some great scares, too. To help readers keep track of everyone, after the first few books I began including a cast of characters at the front of the books and list in which books the characters star.
Q: What themes will readers find inside of TimeReaping in Deadwood?
There are a lot of tricky devils in this story who give Violet plenty of heartburn, and there is no such thing as coincidence for her and her friends. She’s growing stronger mentally in this book, learning when to fight and when to run.
While the last book in the series (Book 12: Never Say Sever in Deadwood) had a lot of physical action, this book follows with more character growth blended with humor. I think it’s important with a long series to keep track of how characters are changing in addition to moving the plot and subplots forward book after book. Q: How many books are in The Deadwood Mystery Series? How many do you plan for the whole series?
Currently, there are 13 books in the series. I’ll be working on the 14th book next year, and there will be more books after that. I used to say that I’d write 12 books and see how things were going at that point. Well, 13 books later, the series is still going strong, so onward we go. At this time, I don’t have a set number of books for how long this series will last. I'm traveling along a series arc, but I’m allowing the storyteller in my head to move at her own pace. As it is often said, it’s all about the journey, not the final destination.
Q: As an indie writer, do you set-up deadlines to complete each one of your books?
There are so many roles as an indie writer that have nothing to do with actually writing the books. For example, I have to spend a significant amount of time promoting each book and coming up with next ways of marketing my stories. I also have to spend time doing bookkeeping every month to stay on top of the financial parts of the business so that I can keep the tax folks happy. There is new software to learn to keep up with the publishing trends, and don’t forget all of the time it takes to keep up on social media creating new content. Each book requires energy to market, and continuing to keep my backlist of books selling takes even more brain power. So, if I don’t set a deadline to complete a book and push hard to hit that deadline, it is really easy to not write day after day and not create any new content for readers. No new stories means an author is no longer relevant and makes it hard to stay up higher in the rankings because the algorithm on major retailers likes popular books. Whew!
Deadlines are motivating and challenging, especially after I announce when a book will be released to readers. I don’t like letting them down.
Q: For those who do not know about the book publishing world, how does one become a USA Today bestselling author?
An author has to actually sell a lot of books to readers in a short time in order to make the list. With all of the books being released every week by so many authors, it’s not easy to hit any list these days, especially as an indie author with a limited marketing budget. It is really the readers who have the power to help authors make it onto bestselling lists, and I’m grateful to the fans of my stories and characters who have helped me not only land on this list and other bestselling lists, but also win so many writing awards.
Q: What other books are you currently working on at the moment?
I’m working with my husband, Sam Lucky, on the 5th book in the Deadwood Undertaker series, which is a blend of historical fiction, humor, supernatural, and mystery. We hope to have this book out in early 2024. Q: Where can fans find you and your books online?
You can go to my website (www.AnnCharles.com) to find links for all my ebooks, print books, and audiobooks on various retailers. You can also find links there to my pages/groups on social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.). If you check out the blog section of my website, I have posts that share my past interviews and podcasts, as well as my previous newsletters. Connect With Ann www.anncharles.com
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