(This interview originally appeared in First Draft, the newsletter of the Sisters in Crime Guppies Chapter.)

If you met Karin Slaughter in person, you might have trouble believing that this petite, pretty woman, who looks so young and speaks with a soft Georgia accent, could be the author of the Grant County thriller series. From the start, Slaughter’s books have been compared to those of Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs because they feature a female medical examiner and graphic violence. Her plots take readers to dark and dangerous places, but Slaughter is equally concerned with the personal lives of her characters: Sara, a pediatrician who works part-time as M.E. in a small Georgia county; Jeffrey, chief of police, who remains Sara’s lover although their marriage has ended; and Lena, a detective with a sad past who is drawn into a destructive relationship. Now, after five books in the series, Slaughter has taken a break with Triptych, a stand-alone thriller that immediately showed up on bestseller lists in the U.S. and Europe after its publication in August.

Recently she answered questions about her work for First Draft.

Q. Tell us about your road to publication. Was Blindsighted the first book you wrote? Was it an easy sale, and did you have to do much rewriting for your agent or editor?

A. The first book I wrote dates back to about fifteen years prior to Blindsighted’s publication. Being a southerner, I was more interested in historical fiction, but of course people always died in my stories. I think the best books always have some murder or mystery at their center, whether it’s Hamlet or To Kill a Mockingbird or Silence of the Lambs.

I wouldn’t say Blindsighted was an easy sale, considering I’d worked for over a decade to get to that point. The biggest obstacle was finding an agent. I know that my agent [Victoria Sanders], for instance, gets around 500 manuscripts a month, of which she’ll accept maybe one for representation. The book I signed on with was historical fiction, and she shopped it out and no one wanted it. I asked to see the rejection letters, and I know from recent conversation that she was terrified to send them to me, authors being notoriously prickly about rejection. When I got the letters, though, all I could see was that I had a golden opportunity. Here were some of the top editors in New York giving me free feedback on my work. I talked to my agent about what they’d said, and she suggested I go back to the drawing board and work on that thriller that I’d been talking about for a while. This thriller was Blindsighted, and thankfully, she loved it. She had some editorial suggestions for the book, which I gladly did, and then sent it out to various houses, along with parts of Kisscut and A Faint Cold Fear, which I’d already worked on. Morrow acquired all three and I became a ten-year overnight success.

Q. How has your writing changed with experience? Is there anything you’ve worked especially hard to improve?

A. This all goes back to editing. I think there is a lot to be learned from a good editor, and I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the best. It is so important to get feedback on your work. I don’t mean your best friend or your dad, who of course will always tell you it’s perfect. If you don’t take criticism personally, and realize that what an editor wants is what you want—the best book you can deliver at the time—then it takes the hurt out.

My main goal is to get better with each book, so I am always looking for ways to make a story more gripping or form a character more realistically. The only person you should ever compete against is yourself. It’s the only way you’ll ever really win.

Q. What writers have you learned from and what did you learn from them?

A. I grew up on Flannery O’Connor and Margaret Mitchell. I loved the novel (to me) idea of women writing meaty stories. What I learned from them is a sort of fearlessness. I suppose I benefited from not knowing that women are supposed to stick to romance or children’s books. I wanted to write about violence and social issues and tie them all up with some sort of social statement. I think good writers do this effortlessly, so it’s always been my goal to reach that point of craftsmanship.

Q. Too many mystery series go stale after a few books, as if the writer has lost interest in the characters. Do you think writing a stand-alone, being away from Sara, Jeff, and Lena for a while, will help to keep your series fresh?

A. I got the idea for Triptych in the middle of writing A Faint Cold Fear. I knew that I wasn’t ready to write it yet—there are a lot of time changes, and I am horrible with time. I knew that writing Indelible would help me get a better grip on this, and to a certain degree it did. There are a lot of shifts in the story and at the time, I assumed Triptych would follow that same pattern. I was devoting a lot of head-time to Triptych while working on Faithless because the story was so important to me and I knew I wanted to do it right. With a book like that, you have to either succeed or fail. There is no in-between. So I wouldn’t say that I was bored at all with Jeffrey, Sara, and Lena. What I wanted was to tell the story of Triptych, and I knew it would not work in Grant County.

If I ever get bored with Grant County, then I’ll find something else. In that regard, it was good to write Triptych because I know that I’m not making a cavalier statement when I say I’ll move on. Now, I know that I can do it.

Q. Is Will Trent from Triptych coming back in another book?

A. Eventually, you will see some folks from Triptych in the Grant County series. Amanda Wagner has already shown up in Grant. She was the hostage negotiator in Indelible. I like that blending of characters. I think it makes it fun for me and the readers.

Q. Your portrayal of Lena, a competent detective at work and a victim of her boyfriend’s abuse in private, is painfully realistic. Have any female readers complained about the abuse and urged you to make Lena stronger in her personal life?

A. I had a female cop at one of my signings who complained about this very thing, and when I asked her if she knew any women cops in abusive relationships, she said, “Of course. There are tons.” I think as women we tend to not want to talk about things that make us seem weak. This only hurts us, because it creates a boundary: strong on one side, weak on the other, and never the twain shall meet. I know so many women who are totally on top of things and in charge at work, but when they get home, they just fall apart. What readers have to realize is that Lena is a work in progress. She has gone through some tremendous changes through the series. A small for-instance is her attitude toward Nan, her sister’s lover. In Blindsighted, Lena was openly homophobic. By Faithless, her ideas have started to change. I think this is the sort of thing that happens in real life. It’s very easy to be racist and homophobic when you don’t personally know any minorities or homosexuals. When you see that they are not monsters or out to steal your babies, it becomes a different story. A lot of people develop attitudes out of fear of the unknown. With Lena, her story is about conquering fear. She seems so strong, but if you pay attention, you see that she is a very scared person.

Q. You have a great sense of humor and you like cats. Can you imagine what a humorous mystery with a feline sleuth would be like as written by Karin Slaughter?

A. Obviously, the cat would end up eating a dead body.
(I’ll just put in a “You’re welcome” here for not writing cat mysteries.)

Q. What’s the best part of being a successful writer? What’s the downside, if any?

A. The best part is that dream: going into a bookstore and seeing your books on the shelf. I don’t think there’s really a downside. When I think of the problems I have now—traveling is brutal, for instance—they pale in comparison to my problems before I was published. A friend who is a successful writer gave me some great advice early on: the problems you have when you are successful beat the hell out of the problems you have when you are not. I try to look at the world this way, and always keep in mind how fortunate I am. Talent only gets you so far. The rest is down to good publishers, listening to your editors, and trying to keep your head. Success brings out your best and worst traits, and it’s your job to make sure the first negates the latter. If you’re not having fun and enjoying writing, why do it?

Q. What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

A. From a personal standpoint, I would say read. Read everything you can, even if it’s bad. You’re always learning from stories other people tell, and it’s shocking to me how many folks who want to be writers tell me that they just don’t have time to read. This is a close second to people who tell me they want to be published but don’t have time to write. Before my contract, I worked twelve-hour days at my day job and wrote when I got home at night. Sometimes, I got up early and worked then. If you want to be a writer, it’s not something you can choose to do. The work chooses you.

On a professional level, my advice would be to remember this is a business. Get stationery printed. Follow the guidelines for submission that agents have. There is a reason they do this. If my agent tells folks to send the first chapter and they send the first three, that’s already a strike against the would-be writer.

Lastly, as hard as it sounds, don’t take rejection personally. It’s really not about you. If you are a writer and your goal is to get published, then nothing will stop you. I wish you luck!

Visit the author’s website at www.karinslaughter.com.