You've been a published author for over twenty-five years. What do you think are the important things that keep the drive to write alive inside of you?
I’m really terrible at anything else, and I love working. A lot of my identity is tied up in my being a writer. It’s all I ever wanted to do, and the fact that I get to write (and am finally successful at it) still seems amazing to me.
How has growing up in Mississippi particularly influenced how and what you write about?
I’m sure it has in ways I don’t even realize. I grew up in the Mississippi Delta, which is farming country; very flat, very fertile, very poor. Now there are casinos there, which is another strange wrinkle in the area’s economy and social structure. I haven’t lived in the Delta for years, but it left its mark on me.
You seem to have steadily progressed from writing lighter mysteries to darker fair like vampires and corpse hunters. Was this a conscious shift in focus or something that happened gradually?
It was a conscious shift. I was unhappy with my career, and I wanted to write something completely different.
I'm particularly happy to know that you quote H.P. Lovecraft as a literary influence; I'm not aware of many female authors (outside the genre world) who readily do so. Who are some of your other writing influences, and can you tell us a little about why you feel kinship to them?
There have been so many, some obvious, and some less so. Edgar Allen Poe, of course, because he loved the macabre. Elizabeth Peters, who combines excellent writing with a light touch. Jane Austen, the mistress of the small things – and Barbara Pym, for the same reason. The late, great Shirley Jackson – I can only aspire to write as well as she did. There are many more. I hope I learn something from everything I read.
Many readers have come to know your writing through the Sookie Stackhouse series, now even more popular because of the television series based on them, True Blood. I think the books perfectly balance several genres (chick lit, paranormal romance, mysteries) in order to have wide appeal to a large audience. In terms of reader feedback, do you find this to be true?
Yes, I do. When I was planning the first book, I made a conscious decision to appeal to several genres, because I knew I’d have fun writing that. The very few books I’d read up until that point that DID cross genres were books I admired and enjoyed. I didn’t know there’d be such a hoard of writers coming after. It’s great!
Was Sookie a character that came to you fully formed or did you have to do some digging to find her true nature? Was she always going to be telepathic, for instance?
I had to construct her very carefully. I started off knowing that she was a young woman who dated a vampire. I built her character from that fact. Why would she do such a thing? Why would the vampire be attracted to her, too? She wasn’t always going to be telepathic. I considered a wide range of disabilities for poor Sookie, but telepathy was the most interesting.
Read Charlaine Harris' thoughts on True Blood, the TV series based on her Southern Vampire Chronicles HERE
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