Interview with Elaine Bergstrom
by Jon Jordan
Elaine's Web Site

Jon:  Your writing seems to fall into many categories. And I’ve heard a lot of different terms used as well. How would you describe it?

Elaine:  What comes to mind for nearly all my books, is the term logical fantasy. I try to create one logical element and all the well-grounded normal characters deal with it. Dick Wells has to deal with Stephen Austra and the notion that some people just may be immortal. Hailey has to deal with the ghosts in her room in Leanna. Crowley opens a time portal from one normal era to another, equally normal, one. I have always loved these sorts of stories, so I chose to write them.

Jon:  Does it kind of freak you out that a search of your name on the Internet brings up over 1400 hits? I mean, there are fan sites in German and French!

Elaine:  Actually, I looked and got 3771. What search engine do you use...or did you actually take the time to subtract all the ones that were selling used copies of my books? Last time I was feeling terribly unappreciated, I went on line and looked up my name and read all 300 or so sites, which made me feel much better. So I guess my popularity is growing which gives me an idea. OK, all you fans out there, listen up! Go out and buy any copy of any of my books and give it to a friend. Harass your local booksellers to stock them. Write my publisher begging for more. You get the idea. Don’t just do it for me. Do it for all those writers you love. We need your support.

Seriously, I love the fact that people write about my books, and even more that (with the exception of that one nasty guy who leaves the rotten reviews on Amazon but no e-mail address so I can contact him) they like them. Writing is a lonely profession. We authors need reassurance from readers every now and again. Keep those sites coming, and drop me an e-mail if you feel like it.

I do find the amount of sites interesting, however, since I have become rather reclusive with regard to the fantasy community. I don’t go to conventions much anymore because I don’t have the time, and now that I have the time I don’t have the funds to invest in travel. So my popularity is not due to the self-promotion other writers do. A friend created my web site in 1998. Before that, I did nothing on the internet. Now I get most of my fan letters via e-mail, which is wonderful for responding quickly, for those who took the time to look me up.

Jon:  I understand that your book, Shattered Glass has been optioned for a movie. Any word on that?

Elaine:  Cancelled - again. The first script writer was Rafael Moreau (who did Carrie 2 and Hackers) who got too famous for indie writing. Then it moved to someone who was working on writing Sports Night. Now that same writer is on The West Wing with no time, so no renewal of option. But the producer keeps coming back, so I have hope.

Jon:  Why did you write some of the books under your Grandmother’s name, Marie Kiraly?

Elaine:  It’s a numbers thing. MINA was not only vastly different from my Austra series, it also had the potential to appeal to a much broader audience. However, the major chains buy over 80% of the print run for paperbacks and they do it based on what they sold by the author previously. So, to break out of the computerized orders, an author takes on a new name. There was much conjecture about who wrote MINA, but the usual solution is just to read the copyright line. Usually it’s the author’s real name.

Jon:  How do you go about your research? Do you prefer books or the Internet? Or maybe a mix of both?

Elaine:  The research for my historical settings is done with books as history of the sort I need is usually not found at websites. For example, for MINA I had a copy of a book called “The Wilde Side of London” from QPB which gave not only maps of 1890’s London but also wonderful vignettes of major characters, places they dined, theaters they attended. You’ll find a lot of that research makes MINA’s scenery come alive. Then I read Wilde for ideas on how people spoke. Clothes and costuming books help with the dress. I read the novels of the time, biographies, even old LIFE magazines. For BLOOD ALONE, I bought a bottle of port and listened to a lot Fado. The method works. Most people think I’ve actually been places. Other than some odd corners of North America, never much of anywhere.

Jon:  Have you learned anything really interesting doing the research?

Elaine:  Plenty. I particularly loved the seditious behavior of the liberal artists in the early 1900’s in New York. But most interesting was the little fact that the same glass artists who worked on San Denys also worked on Notre Dame some 60-70 years later. Given the life expectancy of the time, this just might mean...

Jon:  Are you still teaching the writers workshop?

Elaine:  Twice a month at Robert’s Pub on S. Howell. It’s not teaching but a read and critique group. We’ve been there for about 4 years. I also teach an introduction to novel writing for Writer’s Digest School and will assist writers privately with editing, content and direction as well. For those well along in their story, the last is probably the best way to go and I try to keep my rates as reasonable as possible.

Jon:  In The Door Through Washington Square, a major part of the story revolves around Dierdre discovering some things out about her grandmother. What sparked the idea for this?

Elaine:  There was an odd little film call “The Yellow Wallpaper” in which lovers would meet in a room and when they left they could not recall having been there. Don’t ask how I got the plot for Door from that, but it started there.

Jon:  It must have been really interesting researching Crowley. Most people have some preconceived ideas of the man. What kind of interesting things did you discover about him?

Elaine:  He was a complete narcissist and likely a true believer in reincarnation. After all, if you goof off in this life and die, you’ll just come back and maybe do better next time. I think the combination of reincarnation belief and general personality (disorder) explains the alien callousness of the man. On the other hand, he was a true adept, with real power. One of my favorite stories concerned how he decided to retreat to a mountaintop for a few months to meditate. He took no food or water. However, soon the locals realized there was someone up there and began leaving things for him so he lived pretty comfortably, as cave dwellers go. When he came back to civilization, Colin Wilson (I believe) asked him what he’d learned. He began walking behind an unsuspecting man on the street, imitating his gait and mannerisms until he had him down perfectly. Then Crowley faked a stumble and the man fell on his face. Just like Crowley to take something wonderful and cheapen it to a childish prank. So let us assume he had the power, but he had some very odd ways of showing it. In that case, opening a portal to another dimension to fix a plumbing leak just to see if he could would be quite like him.

Jon:  What made you think to include the art of stained glass making into the books? And have you ever done it?

Elaine:  Five hundred plus hours of my time (at least) are on my front door (I’m motivated but not very fast). It’s a wonderful art but too time consuming. I was working with glass before I wrote the books, but I had no experience with making glass until I did research for Blood Alone and visited three glass houses along the Ohio River where they follow procedures dating back to the Middle Ages. Chicago Art Glass up in Plymouth is a local spot. One of the managers there said my research was dead on.

As to the beginnings of the idea, it likely came from my upbringing. Old church windows shed a beautiful, subdued light. I thought that it would be a perfect place for vampires unless they have a problem with churches. My characters, being far from soulless and rather religious in their own way, have no trouble there.

Jon:  Is it important to you that the characters feel real?

Elaine:  It is. And I think it shows. Fans tell me they look for Stephen, that they expect to see him or someone like him. I can read just about anything if the characters are real. If they aren’t I usually don’t get past the first two chapters, no matter how well plotted a novel may be.

I also tend to like most of my characters, even the nasty ones. There are a few exceptions (the villain in Blood Rites is certainly one) but nearly everyone has a human side. Without it, villains just aren’t interesting.

Jon:  I know chain stores tend to over look genre writers, of all genres. Has the rise of Internet book sales helped you at all?

Elaine:  I think that places like Amazon are a greater threat to Walden and B. Dalton than they are to places like Mystery One or Stars Our Destination in Chicago. But Amazon gets huge credit from me for keeping my titles long after bookstores take them off the shelves, and for referring readers to used sources. I love the reviews, the chance to do an online interview, reader feedback, all of it. I’m not so sure it’s helped sales of new titles, but they sure haven’t hurt, and as a source for research materials, there is none better.

Jon:  What is the writing process like for you? Do have specific hours you use to write, or is it more in spurts as the muse hits you.

Elaine:  A bit of both. Right now I have no regular job (if you thought writing novels is a regular job prepare to live on the street), so I am a bit less disciplined. When I am working, I tend to get up early and write in the mornings. My ideal day job would have me starting around 10 because two or three hours is all I can manage a day anyway. With my first novels, I would just write all night, go to work and doze at my desk. I don’t have the stamina for that anymore.

Jon:  What kind of reading do you do? Who are some of your favorite authors?

Elaine:  I just finished SOUTH OF REASON by Cindy Eppes and recommend it highly to everyone. I like Laurie King, the very old and most recent Dean Koontz, James Lee Burke and Joe Lansdale. Bryce Courtney, though his work is hard to find here. Carl Hiassen. How many should I list?

Jon:  What’s your take in the rise of popularity recently with vampires in entertainment, movies, TV and books?

Elaine:  Let’s place the cause squarely where it belongs - on Buffy. How such a terrible movie could spark such a wonderful show (and spin off) is a huge credit to the writers and producers. I am totally hooked on both of them, most of my friends are, too. Oddly, though it is supposed to be geared for older teen girls and young women, most of the people I know who watch it are neither but none of my daughter’s friends in the core age group do.

In entertainment, there really hasn’t been a good vampire movie out since Interview...hopefully someone will alleviate that. I have just the book for them.

Regarding music and the like, the goth scene seems to be waning in the wake of Columbine - sad because what happened there had absolutely no tie to goth culture beyond the trench coats. I was particularly sad when Sanctuary closed here since it had such a relaxing environment in the back room. I have no idea what has replaced it.

Jon:  What’s your favorite way to spend a day?

Elaine:  Depends on the day. I can usually be found at the Commodore watching the Packers win on Sundays. I’m big on doing nothing on Saturdays but shuffling around the house or taking in a movie with my younger daughter. I watch way more TV than I ought to, but am trying to not to get addicted to any of the new fall shows (except John Doe) so when the others go off the air, I’ll be watching less.

I also do a fair amount of home remodeling. I used to joke that my requirements in a man are “has compound mitre box and knows how to use it” but now I have one of my own, so the requirements have shifted. I just redid my home office and am about to start replacing the woodwork.

I am also an international cook - Thai and Indian curries are the main interest now. I’ve considered running a personal - good cook seeks adventurous diner - but I am not sure I’d attract exactly what I’m looking for and who has the energy to start a relationship anyway.

Jon:  All the covers are beautiful. Who are some of the artists?

Elaine:  Kuniko Craft did the covers for SHATTERED GLASS and BLOOD ALONE. She has also done a great deal of work for Time-Life Books fantasy series. Her work can also be found on the Celestial Seasoning’s box. Bob McGuiness, a well known artist in the southwest, did MINA and LEANNA. I am not so certain of the others. The only mistake was for the original BLOOD RITES which was a Nancy Collins sort of rip off that I don’t think worked well.

Jon:  Do you sometimes get strange fan mail or emails?

Elaine:  Not as much as you would think, actually I can’t think of any. My fans are well-behaved and complimentary. I keep the best one (which began “you’re practically a religion in our house” on my refrigerator for when I am feeling particularly unappreciated as a writer.

Jon:  In Madeline, you use Poe as a character in the book. It’s a really cool idea to put an author into something stemming from their own work. What made you want to tell this story?

Elaine:  MADELINE started with my editor, Ginjer Buchanan over at Berkley. Her comment, “You should do this story because you do incest so well.” I originally wanted it to be a straight novel, but the light went on in my head (while I was putting on my socks one morning) and the whole story fell into place.

Jon:  What’s your favorite part of being a writer?

Elaine:  Finally, no one is yelling at me for daydreaming. And I get to live in such wonderful worlds. And who else can say, after a bad day, that they go home and kill people and get away with it.

Jon:  Your books seem to suggest that you’ve done a fair amount of traveling, would this be a correct assumption? or are you just amazing with research?

Elaine:  Amazing with research. I am a frequent visitor to New Orleans, however, and passed throug it’s civilizes cousin, Montreal. All the rest are from old Foders, maps, National Geographics and the like.

Jon:  Are you still teaching the writers workshop at redbird?

Elaine:  Redbird lists me but they are listing the workshop at Roberts. I would do a lecture type workshop if I got the interest and I’m sure Judy Bridges would work with me on using the Redbird space. She does her own workshops at Redbird and it’s a good place for writers to get their start.

Jon:  The way you write the Austra family history makes it seem as though they actually existed. Which leads me to two questions; a) have people mistaken them for a real family? b) How do you keep track of the history?

Elaine:  Someone commented on all the research I did for the Austra family tree, then paused, shook her head and reminded herself that ‘vampires don’t exist.’ As for their history, I pretty much laid out the big events of it in SHATTERED GLASS so I just refer to those chapters when I start a new book. Whenever I do an Austra novel I just fall into it, like a visit home.

Jon:  Your homepage is really nicely done. It has a lot of information on it.

Elaine:  Who puts it together for you?

A fan I met at Dracula ’97 in LA, a wonderful woman on the west coast, gave me a corner of her site and set it up for me. If other authors want to contact her, I’m sure she’d love to hear from them. You can do that through my site at www.vampireathenaeum.com.

Jon:  What are you working on now? I understand it’s a medical thriller?

Elaine:  It is. My first. Research for these is a lot harder, but I’ve gotten by thanks to contacts in DA’s office (thank you, if you read this!). It deals with spinal cord rejuvenation and cloning. I am fairly excited about how well it is falling together.

And you didn’t ask, but I’m certainly going to tell. The next Austra book, a sequel to BLOOD RITES, will be out next year.

Jon:  What’s the one thing always in your refrigerator?

Elaine:  Mold. I don’t clean it out nearly often enough. If you mean food and drink, probably cold beer.