We chat with author T. Marie Vandelly about An Evil Premise, which is a mind-bending, thrilling metanovel about possession, insanity, and the lengths a writer will go to find inspiration.
Hi, Teri! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Sure! I live on a small island off the Chesapeake Bay and am extremely fortunate to spend most days doing what I love, which is either writing, biking, kayaking, or taking long walks with my husband. Though I originally set out to be a writer, I got sidetracked by a career that actually paid me to work. I had hoped to write in my spare time but soon found that I had very little of it. It wasn’t until about ten years ago, at the age of fifty, that my life took a change for the better, and I was finally able to pursue my dream of writing fulltime.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
From a very early age, I loved to read and makeup stories of my own. I was fascinated by how an author could silently construct an entire world around you with a few sentences, populate it with the most interesting people you could ever hope to meet, make you love or hate them with all your heart, and then kill them off one by one.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.
- The one that made you want to become an author: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Beloved by Toni Morrison.
Your latest novel, An Evil Premise, is out August 12th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Author possessed by horror novel
What can readers expect?
A fast-paced psychological horror/thriller that will get under your skin and wreak havoc on your central nervous system.
Where did the inspiration for An Evil Premise come from?
I wanted to write a story about demonic possession but was afraid I might get possessed in the process. Lol. But what a great premise for a novel. An Evil Premise, in fact. Trick was, I still had to write it. And though I made it through without actually getting possessed (that I know of), the average reader might not be so lucky. I hoped to write it in such a way that the person reading the story might fear they were becoming a part of it.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I wouldn’t say I enjoyed researching grimoires, but I did find the subject matter fascinating. Most of my knowledge came from The Evil Dead movies, so I thought I better fact check a few things. I didn’t want the novel within the novel to be a traditional book of the dead but didn’t want to stray too far from how they are known to operate. Turns out, I had lots of wiggle room.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
When writing a story concerning the paranormal, it’s easy to blame plot holes on supernatural events. Some things just can’t be explained. It’s magic! That’s just how monsters are! Who knows why they do the things they do. Don’t read too much into it. But that’s not fair to the reader. They deserve answers. My editor kept questioning me about one such thread I had left dangling. I had no idea how to fix it without a major rewrite. But thanks to her resolve, an answer finally presented itself. I couldn’t believe how simple the solution was. And how it ended up tying the entire story together.
What’s next for you?
I’m very excited to say that I have almost completed work on my next novel. Still in keeping with the horror/thriller genre, but with a gothic twist. It’s kind of a modern take on Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. That is, if Manderley had been a beach cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the family dynamic was even more dysfunctional than that of the de Winters, and the secret that had washed up on the beach was something monstrously evil and bloodthirsty.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?
Even though my stack of new releases has gotten a little dusty, and is currently teetering out of control, I was determined to get up to speed on the recent Pulitzer Prize winners. Demon Copperhead made me fall in love with Barbara Kingsolver all over again, and James by Percival Everett left me breathless. I don’t know how I skipped over Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips, but that’s up next. Right after I read Stephen King’s new book in the Mr. Mercedes universe, Never Flinch.
