Cynthia Rice
The Last Broken Girl
DOSSIER: Winning the Killer Nashville Claymore Award for THE LAST BROKEN GIRL must have been a great feeling—congratulations! What do you think readers saw in those first fifty pages that brought the prize home to Wisconsin for you?
RICE: The Claymore was the first competition I had submitted to, and it was for the first 50 pages of an unpublished work. Between the submission time and Killer Nashville, I received a contract for publication and notified Killer Nashville, who said I was still eligible. It was a great feeling to win and something I hadn’t expected even though I thought my submission was strong—there were ten finalists in the category. I had worked on the novel for three years, including use of a great developmental editor. I felt it was as ready for publication as I could make it. It was a great feeling to win.
They put on a solid conference every year in Nashville. I’ve been there twice. It’s significantly smaller and more intimate on many levels when compared to Bouchercon or Thrillerfest. I can’t make it this year but will definitely attend in the future.
DOSSIER: You recently got a copy of ALL THE SINNERS BLEED by fellow Dossier member S.A. Cosby. First, what did you think, and second, what are your thoughts on the importance of being a good reader in order to become a good writer?
RICE: ALL THE SINNERS BLEED is close to the top of my TBR pile, but I haven’t started it yet. I loved BLACKTOP WASTELAND. I usually have two books going at a time, one being an audiobook. I’m currently halfway through the audiobook by Linwood Barclay I WILL RUIN YOU, and recently finished the print version of MISSING WHITE WOMAN by Kellye Garrett, both excellent books.
I can’t imagine how a writer could succeed without being a reader first, and I think the way I read has evolved as I gain experience as a writer. While my first instinct is still to enjoy the story, it’s become second nature to analyze why the author’s techniques work (or fall short in some cases).
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Absolute silence/music playing/the 19th hole of a golf course?)
RICE: My first drafts are written in absolute silence. I’ve tried downloading the writing song lists other authors have published, or my playlists on Spotify, but I just can’t make it work for me. I find it fascinating that some writers have a theme song for each character that they play when they write that particular POV, to get in the proper mood. Cudos to those writers, but I can’t do it. Even instrumental music is too distracting. I also have to be alone in the room when I write, so my dining room table is perfect. I also have a small cottage in Door County (the thumb of Wisconsin) which is very quiet and conducive to writing.
Editing is a different story. Coffee shops, libraries, park benches —they all work. There’s always a late draft where I read the manuscript aloud, and no one wants that at the neighborhood Starbucks. There’s always another draft where I print out the manuscript and go through it. It’s different seeing it on paper.
DOSSIER: The Dossier loves the title of your novel, THE LAST BROKEN GIRL. Did you come up with that before or after you wrote the book? Or did someone else have input?
RICE: I appreciate the feedback on the title. I came up with the title while writing the book, along with three or four alternatives. I do feel it describes the protagonist, Erin Moore, whose unresolved childhood trauma continues to impact her adult life. I surveyed fellow writers in Sisters in Crime, and they liked it. I did worry about the similar titles, and whether the trend of including the word Girl or Woman in the title had run its course. I half-expected my publisher to change the title in the process, but they never suggested a change.
I struggle with titles. I’m on a near-final edit on my current work in progress, a mystery taking place in Door County, Wisconsin, and I’m not sold on my current working title.
DOSSIER: You’ve done a bit of traveling over the past year going to places like Sedona and Utah. What do you find specifically helpful about doing book research when you’re out on the open road? Do you constantly find yourself looking at things and wondering if they might fit into a story?
RICE: Most of those trips were planned as vacations and not specifically for research, such as a recent trip to Sedona for hiking or a week of golf camp in St. George, Utah, which included hiking in Zion National Park. In the end, travel is always an opportunity for book research, seeing new landscapes like the red rocks of Sedona or Zion. I don’t imagine any crime writer goes hiking without considering whether that nearby gorge or thicket of trees would work for a body dump. It’s not always something you want to discuss with your hiking companion, however.
Travel also provides a rich trove of ideas because of the people we meet, whether it’s the intense crystal saleswoman in a Sedona shop who offered to photograph my aura, or the hilariously colorful geologist in Zion, who explained how jet ejection seats were developed on top of a mesa just outside Zion. They used chimpanzees as the original (and unwilling) test pilots, and people from nearby towns would turn out to see the chimps parachute back to earth (once the bugs were worked out of the technology).
Website: Cynthia Rice | Amazon Page