Q & A

Q.  Standing Still has some dark underpinnings—kidnapping,extortion, domestic abuse, mental illness. Do  you have any personal experiences that inspired the plot?

A.   My original inspiration was the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. The horror of it lingered in my subconscious even after Elizabeth was found, and I couldn’t help wondering about all the ways it might have happened differently. So that was all floating around in the obsessed part of my brain. And in the foreground, was my desire to write a story about a fearful woman in a frightening situation, because like my main character, Claire (and an estimated 6 million other adults in the U.S.)  I’ve suffered from panic disorder most of my life, as have members of my family.  Growing up in the “The House of Fear”gave me lots of fodder to develop Claire’s psyche. (And I think, honestly, part of me wanted to pretend to be brave the way she did.) People with panic disorder have had only Tony Soprano as a media role model---I figured it could change that!

Q.  The character of Sam—Claire’s husband-- works for the pharmaceutical industry, in public relations.  Both those industries are brutally portrayed in your book.  Do you have a bone to pick?  

A.  Not really.  I became well-known a couple years ago as an Anti-Viagra pundit, but no, I’m not out toget the pharmaceutical industry. Part of the decision was practical--- I wanted Claire to be helped by something other than her bottle of Xanax. I didn’t want drugs to be the hero.  I must come clean though—I personally despise several public relations executives so  that may have infused my story!   

Q. The book is dedicated to a doctor. Is it your therapist?

A. Yes, a cognitive therapist.  That’s the work that helped me manage my panic—and I believe in it wholeheartedly—not just for fictional characters.

Q. Tell us about the setting---why did you choose to not be specific about where the story takes place? 

A.  A kidnapped child is every mother’s worst nightmare—and every time I tried to “set” the novel somewhere with detail and information, it lost some of that quality of universality.   So I pared it down to the bare essentials.  If you look closely, there are clues to where it’s set.

Q. Why first person for a book so mysterious and tense?

A.  The story was so psychological, and so inside Claire’s head, that I never considered anything except first person. The taut style came from Claire’s protected, defended persona.  The flashbacks offer a little relief—theyfeel kind of ‘third person-y’ in contrast.

Q. Your blog details some of your struggles with the editorial process—how long did it take you to write?

A.   Close to three years.  I’m a slow learner, I guess!  Seriously,though, the book needed to stay lean and visceral but we had to find exactly the right level.  It was a dance between information and mystery. And my editor also wanted Claire leavened with color and humor—more like my own personality.

 Q. Do you have any other novels stuck in your desk drawer?

 A.  I'd better, after  3  agents and 12 years of rejection!