Saundra Mitchell

At Writer Musings, Tabitha Olson interviewed Saundra Mitchell about her novel Shadowed Summer, "a southern gothic ghost story, about a girl who accidentally calls up an unsettled spirit, then spends the summer putting things right again."

Part of the Q & A:

What was the inspiration behind your idea?

I actually set out to write a paranormal romance. I wanted to write a book like Annette Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss. But once I got started, my girl didn't want to fall in love with my ghost, and my ghost didn't want to fall in love with my girl. I had to sort them out on the page. The final book doesn't look at all like what I intended!

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Your knowledge of southern customs, language, and habits is deep. Have you lived there, or did that come from research?

Well, southern Indiana thinks it's the south (even though it's not, really,) so some of it comes from living where I live. And much of it comes from my best friend Wendi, who was born, raised and lives in Georgia now- and my many visits down to meet her. One day, I'll set a book in Georgia so I can call grocery carts "buggies"!

But the rest is research. I like to read linguistic surveys, which teaches me a lot about common phrases and words in an area. And I'm not shy about asking the experts- I called the Louisiana Sheriff's Department to find out the colors of the cars and uniforms, and who would respond to certain kinds of calls.

I bothered the Louisiana Native Plant Society to make sure Iris didn't pick flowers that don't exist there. I feel like the setting is a character in the book, so I...[read on]

Visit Saundra Mitchell's website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue