“What Exactly Do I Write” by Karen White, author of “The Girl on Legare Street”

About the Book:

There was a time when Melanie’s dysfunctional family was out of sight and mind, and her only worries were her monthly sales figures, what shade of beige to paint her low-maintenance condo, and whether she was ready to make charming journalist Jack Trenholm a permanent fixture in her life. Those days are over.

After receiving a deadly premonition, Melanie’s mother, who deserted her more than thirty years ago, suddenly returns to Charleston to protect her. But all Ginnette Prioleau Middleton does is remind Melanie of how little they have in common–except for their ability to communicate with ghosts…

And now Ginnette is moving into their ancestral home on Legare Street, and she needs Melanie’s advice on restoring it and her sixth sense to talk to the dead that inhabit it. But Ginnette’s return has awakened a dark spirit–whose strength has been growing for decades–and who is ready for revenge. With Jack’s help, Melanie and her mother must find a way to work together to fight its malevolent presence and save what’s left of their family…

What Exactly DO I Write?

Way back when I started writing my first book, I was so blissfully ignorant of the whole publishing world.  My ignorance actually made the writing part that much more fun–I didn’t worry if I was breaking any ‘rules’ or following any particular genre (not to mention worry about meeting a deadline).  After all, I’d been an avid reader all my life–didn’t that mean that I knew exactly what readers wanted in a book?

Yes and no.  Recently I was invited to a writer’s chat room to discuss the pros and cons of writing the books of your heart–which, apparently, is what I was doing all those years ago when I didn’t have a clue.

After thinking for a while I realized that the pros are pretty obvious:  writing a book you really, REALLY want to write is fun.  Joyful even.  The next best thing to reading a great book.  Unfortunately, the cons aren’t as obvious.  Getting published is tough–especially today.  Editors say they’re always looking for “new and fresh”, but spend a lot of time publishing the “tried and true”.  You can’t blame them–they know those books will sell.  Books about time-travel written in first person or about an uptight realtor who sees ghosts aren’t really the tried and true.  An editor has to put her name and reputation on the line to publish a “different” kind of book that may or may not be successful.  For every runaway bestseller story, there’s at dozen failure stories.

So how have I managed to write 12 novels (13 if you include the contemporary southern gothic novel residing under my bed) in 5 different genres and still remain published?  Well, I don’t really know. But this is what I _do_ know–I write the kind of books I like to read.  And, apparently, there are a lot of people out there who like the same kind of books!

Mostly, I stay true to my voice.  Whether I’m writing an historical, a contemporary romance, a Southern women’s fiction ‘grit lit’ novel, or a paranormal/mystery/grit-lit-lite book, readers recognize them all as a “Karen White book.”  It’s what carries my readers through all my books, regardless of genre.

I always get asked why I stopped writing romance and moved into women’s fiction.  To be honest, I wasn’t aware that I had.  I never really wrote romance any more than I currently write strictly women’s fiction.  My books are pretty much the same kind of books that I started with–books about a woman at a crossroads in her life, usually with emotional baggage, throw in some mystery, some romance, some humor and drama, and always a dash of Southern family dysfunction.  So what do you call that?  I have no idea.  I think that’s why my publisher has given up and just puts “fiction” on the spine.

My most recent book, The Girl on Legare Street, is the sequel to last year’s The House on Tradd Street.  These books sort of defy genre, and are what I call “Moonlighting meets The Sixth Sense meets National Treasure” books.  I’d like to think that instead of identifying them by genre name, readers will just call them “good reads.”

A few “good reads” that I’ve read lately:  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Help, The Glass Castle, The House at Riverton, The Thirteenth Tale.  All terrific books:  insightful, beautifully written, page-turning, and entertaining.  Isn’t that what we all look for when we shell out our money and devote precious time to a book?  But if you asked me in what genre they’d be classified, I’d draw a blank.  They’re just “good reads.”  I even have an entire wall of shelves devoted to these keepers–they’re my go-to books when I need inspiration for my own writing, or just to revisit old friends.

I belong to a book club where we read a really eclectic group of books because we’re an eclectic group of ladies with members in their thirties all the way up to an octogenarian.  Every January when we sit down to choose our books for the year, we deliberately try to pull books from all genres–mystery, non-fiction, memoir, fiction etc.  And then each month we read them and rate them.  At the end of the year we’ll talk about the hits and misses and the ones that get the highest marks (and are remembered by the end of the year) are the ones we simply call “good reads.”

I take that to heart each time I start writing a new book.  I want to emotionally engage a reader and entertain her; to make her laugh, to cry, to think, and–most of all–miss the characters when the last page is turned.

So, no, I don’t really care what people call my books or what category they want to file them in.  You can find them in the “W” row (usually towards the bottom) in the general fiction section of most bookstores.  And if I’m lucky enough and you pick it up and bring it home to read, it is my fervent wish that you’ll file it on your keeper shelf where you store all of your “good reads.”

About the Author:

After playing hooky from school one day in the seventh grade to read Gone With the Wind, I knew I wanted to be a writer—or become Scarlett O’Hara. In spite of these aspirations, I grew up to pursue a degree in business and graduated cum laude with a BS in Management from Tulane University.

I have always been a voracious reader and was encouraged by my teachers to write ever since elementary school.  Writing a book was always in the back of my mind, but definitely something I’d “do later when I have time.”

One day in 1996 when my children were just babies, I decided it was time and started writing my first book.  When I had a few chapters written, I sent it in to a writer’s contest and by some miracle it won.  The finalist judge was a New York literary agent and she offered to represent me.  That first book, In the Shadow of the Moon, was sold and then published in 2000.  It was a double finalist in Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award.

I have since published ten award-winning novels, and five more books are scheduled including the sequel to The House on Tradd Street (The Girl on Legare Street, November 2009) and two more books in the series beyond that. My next Southern women’s fiction (“grit lit”) novel set in the Lowcountry, and not part of the Tradd Street series, will be published in May 2010.

While growing up, I lived in London, England and am a graduate of the American School in London.  I currently live in sunny Georgia with my husband and two children.  When not writing, I spend my time reading, singing, scrapbooking, carpooling children and avoiding cooking.

I love hearing from readers. Please email me at AuthorKarenWhite@aol.com or write to Karen White, PO Box 623, Roswell, Georgia 30077.

Tags: karen white, the girl on legare street