Interview with 'Spine Chillers: The Scarecrow' Nancy Gray #horror #midgrade

Nancy Gray has published a number of works including her young adult fantasy series Blood Rain. Her short story “Chosen” appeared in Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal Author Quest: a Penguin Special from Grosset & Dunlap. Her work also appears in various anthologies.

Nancy Gray has been writing for over ten years. Gray lives in South Carolina with her husband and two daughters. She enjoys books, video games, anime, manga, and horror.

Her latest book is the mid-grade horror, Spine Chillers: The Scarecrow.

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Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? When did you come up with the idea to write your book?

Thank you for the opportunity to be here!

I guess we should start with what inspired me to write my novel. There are several things that inspired the Spine Chillers series, particularly the first book, The Scarecrow. The setting of the story developed from a role playing game that I ran for my friends in college. We were playing as a bunch of children fighting against the closet monster. Silly though it is for a bunch of college kids to imagine being children again, it was one of the most fun games we ever played together. It evoked feelings of childhood fears and dreams. The school I created for the setting was based on my actual elementary school and middle school.

When I first started writing Spine Chillers: The Scarecrow, it was going to be a novel for adults inspired by the Steven King story IT. Even though traditional horror is where I got my start, the story seemed too dark. I started losing steam on that idea, and so I did what I always do when I no longer feel inspired to write. I started to read a book. The book I read was called Weird Carolinas. It talked a great deal about local legends and folk tales that took place in South Carolina and North Carolina. I planned a few short stories based on those folktales. Reading that book made me reflect on my origins a bit and helped me think about what made me want to write the story in the first place.

It made me remember that during elementary school my best friend and I would read Scary Stories to tell in the Dark to scare each other at recess. When I got older, I began to read Goosebumps books and watched television shows like Goosebumps, Amazing Stories, and Are you Afraid of the Dark. Upon reflecting on this, I decided that if those stories were special to me, I wanted to make something that would evoke that feeling in other children as well.

In Spine Chillers: The Scarecrow the villain of this story is loosely based on German folklore about a creature called the night raven, combined with a more traditional fear of the uncanny valley caused by the idea of a scarecrow. There are many unexpected turns that happen throughout the story based on these ideas, and I believe it makes a much better middle-grade horror book than a book that was too similar to IT.

Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

I wouldn’t say writing this book was hard because writing this series was more of a pleasure than a chore, but there was a lot of work involved. I have a little bit of advice that works for me, but keep in mind the journey of being a writer is different for everyone. Even so, I have a few points that might be relevant.

One of the things that I do to prepare for any book, this one included, is coming up with a detailed setting and writing down all the specifics in a notebook or a word file. I come up with backgrounds for the main characters and the minor characters as well. I think this step is very important because it gives the characters a feeling of almost being real to me. In this way they have motivations for their actions, and I can create a setting for them to interact within as seamlessly as possible.

I tend to write a loose outline for my story, because it’s very important to make sure the outline is flexible. Even though it might sound strange, sometimes if my characters are fleshed out enough, they do something I don’t expect. When that happens, generally this is a good thing, and you should let them follow the path they set for themselves and write the story around it.

Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

Even though I’ve had some connection with traditional publishers, I chose to self-publish this series for a very particular reason. R.L. Stine is one of the writer’s I respect most, but I don’t want to feel that I’m competing with him for room on a book shelf in a store. I feel like there’s room for a variety of stories involving horror from different perspectives for that audience. Since I think fantasy is flooding the middle grade market right now, those that want more horror fiction will be searching for it online.

Also, self-publishing gives me more freedom with what I write. I’ve been able to oversee the entire process from who to hire to design the cover down to writing every detail about the protagonists and the villains. I’m glad that it is so easy to get a publication out in this way to make it available to middle schoolers who aren’t necessarily into fantasy but would like something fun to read that gives them a chill.

Q: Is there anything that surprised you about getting your first book published?

One of the things that surprised me was how well everything came together. There’s something to be said about actually holding your own book in your hands for the first time. There are some things that self-published writers need to keep in mind, though.

There is a lot of work involved. You need to keep your website updated or hire someone if that isn’t really your forte. You need someone to proof your work extensively, an editor is preferable, but if you can’t get an editor someone who is very skilled at proof-reading will be essential. You also need test readers to tell you if there are any discrepancies in the work and to make observations you might not expect. Honestly, once you gain a following, your readers will know your work better than you do.

Q: What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

I’m working on publishing more of the Spine Chillers series. The next one of the series, Spine Chillers: Big Bad Wolf, should be coming out in the middle of September. Here’s a preview of the upcoming book.

Jane is ecstatic when she gets the role of Red Riding Hood in her school play, but she didn’t realize that they’d be using the stuffed wolf prop as the Big Bad Wolf. That tattered old prop has always scared her and lately she has been having strange dreams about it that make it seem like it’s something more.

Jane will have to get help to save herself from the hungry spirit that has haunted her people and her nightmares before it consumes her, or worse, before it escapes the prison of the last creature it took to satiate its horrible appetite.

After Big Bad Wolf, I’m hoping to have the next two books of the series Spine Chillers: The Beast of Black Pond and Spine Chillers: Empty Eyes come out in October. The setting of those two books takes place around Halloween, so releasing them in October just seemed to be the right time. The last one in the series at this time is Spine Chillers: The Firefly to be published around the middle of November.

Q: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

Well there is a twist ending that I think will surprise the audience. However, that’s not something I can discuss here because I don’t want to spoil it for my readers.

Other than twists in the plot, I think what will surprise them the most is that I try to treat my audience base with a great deal of respect. I don’t write as though I’m writing to children because I believe children, especially those that are in middle school, are capable of more than we give them credit for and can handle stories that are dark. They are old enough to comprehend that there is a darker side to reality. Even though my books aren’t graphically violent, they don’t play down the disturbing elements of the plot.

Q: Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

The message that I want to get across is that in this scary world where bad things happen, if you stand up to your fears and band together you can make the world a better place for everyone. One of the things that really made me want to write this series is that the world has become such a dangerous place.

Middle school is a very hard time when you’re in between two worlds, elementary school and high school. Oftentimes, it’s difficult to find your place and even the transition can be frightening. That, along with dealing with issues like separation from family, violence, frequent news reports of ill intent directed at children, and even the day-to-day activity of going to school can be a scary experience. What I want these stories to do is to give my readers a way to feel a safe scare. I want the readers to be scared by the story but emboldened by the actions of courageous children that face their fears and learn to cope with the knowledge that things are sometimes darker than they seem.

Q: Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?

Thank you again for having me! I appreciate the opportunity to share how I feel about writing and about my work. I hope that my readers enjoy the Spine Chillers series and that it does what the title suggests, sending a good chill down their spine in the comfort of their own homes. I’d also like to say thank you to all my readers and all of the people who have supported me. As I always say at the end of my blog, which I believe might be my best advice, keep reading!

About the Book:

Title: SPINE CHILLERS: THE SCARECROW
Author: Nancy Gray
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 113
Genre: Mid-Grade Horror

BOOK BLURB:

Eleven year old Sophie arrives at her Aunt and Uncle’s farm to horrible news: her cousin, Hunt, has gone missing. When Sophie starts searching for clues to where her cousin went, strange things happen. The scarecrow wanders around the cornfields at night and murders of crows lash out at other animals for no reason at all.

An ancient spirit wants revenge. Sophie will have to be brave and clever in order to save her cousin…and herself!