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Charlaine Harris
is the author of the bestselling Sookie Stackhouse series (also known as the
Southern Vampire Mysteries) which led to the television series True Blood. She is also the author of the Aurora
Teagarden Series, the Lily Bard (Shakespeare) series and the Harper Connelly
series. She has also written a number of
standalone novels and shorts stories as well as being the co-editor of 4
anthologies and the sole editor of one. She has
won an Agatha Award for Best Novel and an Anthony Award for Best
Paperback Original. She has also been nominated for a Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and
a Dilys Award.
Ayo Onatade: How
difficult was it to end the Sookie Stackhouse series and do you miss her?
Charlaine
Harris: I lived with Sookie for a long,
long, time. I did her justice and told her story. It cost me a pang or two,
sure. Sookie made me famous. But continuing her story after I’d reached my
creative end would have been awful. I miss the world, but I’m excited about
doing something different.
AO: Midnight
Crossroad is the first book in A Novel of Midnight, Texas trilogy, what was
the impetus for the series and what made you decide that you wanted to revisit
characters from others and older series specifically Manfred Bernardo?
CH: I decided to write about a world quite
different from Bon Temps, and tell its story in a very different way. I’d been
writing in the first person for a while, and it’s been a real stretch writing
from multiple points of view. There were people I’d written in the past that I
wanted to check in with. I wondered what they were doing now, especially
Manfred.
AO: Why did you decide to only make it a trilogy?
CH: I didn’t want to sign for any more than three
books because I had no idea how many ideas I’d have for the world of Midnight,
and I didn’t want to tie myself to a long series without first seeing how Book
One went. There may be more books. I just don’t plan to commit myself.
AO: Midnight
Crossroad whilst having supernatural elements also sees you returning a lot
more to your mystery roots. How exciting was it for you to return to your
mystery roots and are you likely to continue this once you have finished the
trilogy.
CH: It was fun to return to the mystery format,
since I was doing so much else that was new with the book. There were a lot of
mysteries in the Sookie series. I love detection. Yes, I’m sure most of my
future work will contain at least a hint of mystery.
AO: Readers are used to you writing in first
person. What made you decide to switch to third person and how
challenging did you find this?
CH: VERY
challenging. I really want to shake up my creative life.
AO: Are you able to tell us a bit of what we
might expect in the second book?
CH: I tell the story of the second book from the
viewpoint of different characters from the first book. It suited the story
better. There are deaths in the second book, too.
AO: What is the best thing about writing the new
series?
CH: No expectations!
More information about Charlaine Harris and her work can be
found on her website.
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