Good morning and welcome Chaos Theory of Writing! Today, I’m excited to introduce supernatural thriller author Alexandra Sokoloff to the RU Crew. I first heard of Alex through a friend who used her Screenwriting Tricks for Authors blog to help her learn how to plot. Then I saw Alex’s latest novel Book of Shadows featured on the International Thriller Writers web site. And the clincher, the moment I knew I had to invite Alex to blog with us, was after listening to an RWA workshop on the paranormal sub-genre, featuring Alex and bestselling novelist Heather Graham. It became very clear to me why I was seeing and hearing Alex’s name here, there, and everywhere. She knows her stuff. It’s that simple.
Leave a comment for your chance to win a copy of The Harrowing or Alex’s newest release Book of Shadows. Thank you, Alex, for your generosity!
It’s time for me to let the expert takeover. Welcome to RU, Alex!
When Tracey asked me to guest lecture here at RU, the question she lobbed at me was “How have you successfully distinguished yourself in a genre dominated by men?” (By which she meant – horror).
Hah.
I can tell you exactly. I have never, ever forgotten that the most interesting authors in this genre have ALWAYS been women.
Don’t get me wrong. I am the most avid fan of Stephen King, Ira Levin, Sheridan LeFanu, Richard Matheson, Ramsey Campbell, Peter Straub, Dan Simmons, Thomas Harris, Bram Stoker, Shakespeare – and the grandfathers of horror, the Greek tragedians (ever read or see Medea? Yike.).
But ever since I was – well, way too young to be reading this kind of thing – I have loved Shirley Jackson, Mary Shelley, Daphne DuMaurier, the Bronte sisters, Anne Rice, and the lesser known but absolutely revolutionary Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who in The Yellow Wallpaper turned post-partum depression into a descent into hell that I personally may never recover from.
There are advantages and drawbacks to being – “special”. When there are so few women writing what do, I tend to stand out. On the other hand, a male-dominated genre tends to have more of its share of not exactly female friendly critics and reviewers (recently a prominent dark genre magazine editor came under fire for running an article on 34 horror writers and directors – that had not one single interview with or mention of a female author or director).
But let’s face it – women have a lot to say about horror. We live with violence on a much more intimate and everyday level than most men do. A walk out to the parking lot from the grocery store can on any given night turn into a nightmare which a woman may not survive, or from which she will never fully recover.
I think security expert and author Gavin DeBecker (who wrote the must-read The Gift of Fear) got it exactly right when he said, “A man’s greatest fear about a woman is that she’ll laugh at him. A woman’s greatest fear about a man is that he’ll kill her.”
Women know what it’s like to be prisoners in their own homes, what it’s like to be enslaved, to be stalked, to be prostituted, what it’s like to be ultimately powerless. And they know everything there is to know about rage, even when it’s so deeply buried they don’t know that’s what it is they’re feeling.
(Actually the mystery to me is why more women AREN’T writing horror.)
So it’s that truth that I try to tap into when I write: my outrage at the truly evil things that happen in the world… and my absolute belief that human beings have the capacity to fight and overcome evil.
Now, I don’t consider myself an out-and-out horror writer. What I think I write is supernatural thrillers. Well, kind of. Maybe supernatural mysteries. Or paranormal mysteries?
Oh all right, I admit it – I have a genre identity problem. Depending on which bookstore or library you walk into, I’m shelved in horror, mystery/thriller, fiction and literature. I go to mystery, thriller, romance, horror, and even sci-fi/fantasy conferences, and have avid readers at each. Add to that the fact that as a screenwriter I would work on projects that could start out as adventure thrillers and end up as musicals, through that special process Hollywood calls “development”; and add to THAT my own personality disorder – I mean, chameleon nature – and the fact that my own publisher is careful not to call what I do “horror”… yes, I’m a bit confused.
And I admit it – it’s hard, when paranormal and urban fantasy are SO huge, not to want to just jump on the bandwagon. After all, I write about the paranormal, and about the erotic, and my books attract a lot of paranormal fans… it’s not that much of a stretch… so tempting…
But the truth is, I’m not a big fan of the wisecracking kick-ass heroine. I would so, so much rather an author get serious and scare me, especially in a psychological way. And I love a life-affirming ending, but I’d rather have honest ambiguity than a blanket Happily Ever After.
I can’t tell you how often I’ve asked my agent if I should just write a straight thriller for the next book, and he always says, “No, it’s going to take some time, but you’re doing something that almost nobody else is doing, and people will find you.”
Well, people have found me, and I keep getting book deals and royalty checks, and I am starting to understand that my agent is right – not many people at all are writing this kind of thing, and people are paying attention. I’ve been reviewed by the New York Times, nominated for Anthony (mystery), Bram Stoker (horror), and Black Quill (horror) awards and am the first and only woman so far to win an International Thriller Writers Thriller Award.
And I know from the letters I get that a lot of readers read me because I really do scare them, in a nail-biting, hair-raising kind of way - I just don’t do any of that in-your-face stuff. I won’t even read a book or see a movie that has torture or rape in it, so you know I don’t write it (I do write about characters who have been sexually abused, but that’s not something I’ll ever show).
The sensual thrill of the unknown… the chilly feeling of something unfathomable behind the door… that’s what I’m after.
So I’ve learned that I have to be true to myself and write what I most love to read – the same kind of thing that terrific writers like Tana French, Mo Hayder, Sarah Langan, Sara Gran, Elizabeth Hand, Sarah Pinborough, and Rhodi Hawk are writing. What it is, is feminist horror. Or since the Right has somehow insidiously twisted “feminism” into as dirty a word as “politically correct” – even just “feminine horror.”
That’s what galvanized me about Shelley, Jackson, DuMaurier and Gilman when I discovered them, growing up. Not just that they told ripping good scary stories, dripping with perverse sexuality and unnerving psychological insight, but that those stories were from an unmistakably and unrelentingly female point of view. About oppression and patriarchy and a kind of madness, but prophetic madness, that comes with always being the Other.
It might not be mainstream, but it’s the truth, as I see it – and live it. And writing is just too hard to try to write against your own nature.
I’m lucky enough to be a full-time writer, writing what I love. And that – is no small thing, these days.
So how about you? Do you ever walk on the dark side in your reading and/or writing? Or have you ever hesitated about writing something you were drawn to write because you thought, or someone told you, it wouldn’t sell?
Let’s talk about it!
- Alex
* * *
Thanks, Alex!
RU Crew, be sure to answer Alex’s question for a chance to win a copy of The Harrowing or her newest release Book of Shadows.
Be sure to visit again on Monday when urban fantasy writer C.J. Redwine critiques another reader’s query letter.
Alex’s Bio:
As a screenwriter, Alexandra Sokoloff has sold original mystery and thriller scripts and written novel adaptations for numerous Hollywood studios. Her debut ghost story, THE HARROWING, was nominated for both a Bram Stoker award (horror) and Anthony award (mystery) for Best First Novel. Her second supernatural thriller, THE PRICE, was called some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre by the New York Times Book Review, and her short story, The Edge of Seventeen, won the International Thriller Writers’ Thriller award for Best Short Fiction.
Alex’s third spooky thriller, THE UNSEEN, is based on real-life experiments conducted at the Rhine parapsychology lab on the Duke University campus, and her new release, BOOK OF SHADOWS, teams a cynical Boston cop and a beautiful, mysterious witch from Salem in a race to solve a Satanic killing.
Alex is also the author of SCREENWRITING TRICKS FOR AUTHORS, based on her internationally acclaimed workshops and blog. For more information about Alex, visit her web site http://alexandrasokoloff.com.
Kelsey's serving up bite-sized morsels for your noggin on her new 
Hi Alex,
Thanks for joining us today! I write historical and have read them for years. Many times, I would read the fun, light Regencies for a few weeks, then switch to the darker, the-damsel-will-do-as-I-say Medievals and paranormals. I never really analyzed this behavior until I started writing.
The idea of A Lady’s Revenge (Regency) began with one scene. The heroine in a French torture chamber. However, I jumped, skipped, and ran all around this scene, because it’s simply not done. I had never read (and I’ve read a lot of historicals) anything like this and knew it was a huge risk.
It took several revisions before I started the story in the right place–in the torture chamber. Once I did that, ALR started getting more attention.
Like you, I’ve made the bad stuff subtle, more tension-filled than in-your-face.
Alex, how has the International Thriller Writers conference changed in the last few years with more female thriller writers?
Thanks, Tracey
Posted by TraceyDevlyn | July 2, 2010, 5:23 amHi Tracey – thanks so much for having me here! Hmm, “the darker, the-damsel-will-do-as-I-say Medievals”… that’s a subgenre I hadn’t heard of.
Actually ITW – International Thriller Writers – has always been proactive about recruiting and showcasing female authors – Heather Graham, Tess Gerritsen, Sandra Brown, Allison Brennan, MJ Rose, Gayle Lynds being just a few lovely examples. Even though ITW has a lot of testosterone in its ranks, rom the start it was much more inclusive about, for example, the romantic suspense genre than a lot of other organizations. That continues to be the case. I was actually shocked when I won the Short Fiction award for what is essentially a paranormal about a 16 year old girl, but I think that’s a good example of how ITW crosses genre boundaries.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 7:23 amLOL – I make up stuff like that all the time!
I recently became a member of ITW, so I’m happy to hear they’re so open to and actively promote female suspense writers. They’ve done an awesome job of making me feel welcome.
Posted by TraceyDevlyn | July 2, 2010, 7:59 amHi, Alex. So good to see you here at RU.
Horror totally scares me. I go to the bookstore and fondle your books, sometimes even open them and read a few paragraphs, then I order them on my kindle. But have I read one….nope. Still to scared. Probably because I think you’re brilliant and know, just know, that you’re capable of scaring me to death.
I use you screenwriting tips religiously, and am currently on my last few chapters of my first YA – which is about demons and a teenage girl stuck in her senior year of high school until she earns her humanity. Some might say that’s scary.
Hope to see you at RWA and I’ll be at HCRW in October.
Petrina
Posted by Lucie J. Charles | July 2, 2010, 7:25 amPetrina! Nice to see you here. Fondling my books is almost as good as reading them. Well, maybe.
You are such a wimp. Why don’t you try The Unseen? It’s more mysterious and romantic than scary. At least for a while.
I love the sound of that YA. I’m writing a YA, too, biting my nails off that it’s going to be too dark. But I love it.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 7:35 amHi, Alex. Thank you for being here. I too thought The Gift of Fear was excellent. I passed it on to my eighteen year old niece after I read it.
I’m not big on horror (still gives me nightmares! LOL.) but I love a good thriller. Particularly ones written by women. Women seem to understand fear on a different level. It always seems more visceral to me and I love when I can get lost in a book like that.
Great post!
Posted by Adrienne Giordano | July 2, 2010, 8:12 amHi Adrienne! I really think The Gift of Fear should be mandatory reading in high school – for girls AND boys. We have much better instincts than we thing we do, and this book is all about how to trust that.
I agree about women thriller writers. Also, I can trust them (mostly) NOT to be exploitive about situations.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 8:20 amOkay…you got me. I’m a wimp. And now that it’s on record, I’m going to have to change things. So next on my TBR pile: The Unseen. Yikes! Small panic attack.
And if you’re worried that your YA is too dark, I wouldn’t. Teens love Lili St. Crow and she writes deliciously dark stuff, for adults too actually.
Petrina
Posted by Lucie J. Charles | July 2, 2010, 8:14 amPetrina, it’s just a BOOK. You can put it down.
Thanks for the tip on Lili St. Crow – I’ve been meaning to read her and now I have an even better reason.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 8:17 amOh, Alexandra, I loved this! My novel currently under sub to publishers is historical horror: the tale of Vlad the Impaler’s wife. She suffers under the violent rein of Ottoman Turks and flees to Vlad’s court, where the violence is in the name of ‘protecting’ her and their family, but causes internal dissonance. (You can see I have a genre-straddling problem myself). I think women can handle horror in a very intimate and unusual way. Your comments about internalized rage really hit home!
Posted by Savvy | July 2, 2010, 8:15 amWhat a great premise, Savvy – I’ll be looking forward to that one. Good luck with it, and let me know what happens. Have you read Dan Simmons; THE TERROR? Terrific historical horror.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 8:29 amOo, no, I have not! I will have to pick that up.
On a sidenote, I probably won’t read THE YELLOW WALLPAPER because as a mom it will just make me sad.
Posted by Savvy | July 2, 2010, 8:33 amThe Yellow Wallpaper is pretty disturbing. Still, as a woman writing horror, you don’t get a pass on this one, sorry. You can read it online, just Google it.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 8:43 amI looked around, and I see it’s a short-story collection with lots of tales of insanity. My kind of thing!
Have you read A SILVER THREAD OF MADNESS by Jessica Amanda Salmonson?
Posted by Savvy | July 2, 2010, 9:41 amHi Alex,
Your books sound wonderfully scary and I too am a wimp!.
.. Maybe this summer while I’m in between the mysteries I’m writing.
An agent told me last year that my submission, a Romantic Suspense had the makings of a good Thriller but I put it on the shelf, not sure what to do with a thriller as I’ve never read past the Tess Geritsen and Sandra Brown level of tension.
Hmmm. More incentive to read one of yours.
Thanks for the nudge.
Kathy.
ps..Petrina, fabulous one line about my favorite YA!
Posted by kathy bremner | July 2, 2010, 8:19 amKathy, I write a lot about creating suspense on my Screenwriting Tricks blog – it might give you some ideas on how to approach a thriller rewrite in a way that will work for YOUR style.
http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com/2009/12/nanowrimo-now-what-suspense-pass.html
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 8:32 amYou are all wimps. WIMPS. It’s always surprising to me how nervous people seem to be about reading my books. I swear, what I do is almost entirely “behind the door” scary, not “in your face” scary. It’s almost entirely about suspense.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 8:34 amHow cool that you’re here, Alex, because I just started reading The Harrowing. So far, it’s more psychologically scary than out-and-out scary. The beginning set-up reminded me of the movie A Scent of a Woman…but the student remains on campus when everyone leaves for vacation, rather than finding another place to stay. Sooo creepy! And the weather is almost another character.
I discovered your wonderful website a few months ago. Your story-structure tips helped me tremendously as I was revising the first draft of my latest manuscript.
Although I don’t write horror, the scenes in my villain’s point of view are disturbingly easy for me to write. They seem to fly from my fingertips and require very little revising, unlike the rest of my scenes!
Thanks for visiting RU!
Posted by Laurie London | July 2, 2010, 4:02 pmHey Laurie! Hmm, I’ve never seen Scent of a Woman – had no idea that was how it started!
So glad the blog’s being useful to you. And I love it when a character does the writing for you. I don’t care which characters do it – villains, minors, anyone who does the writing for me, that’s what I’m after.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 7:09 pmGood movie, but I really detested Al Pacino’s character. I’d say the Inciting Incidents are similar (kid away at school, everyone leaving on holiday, kid stuck there) then it deviates. When I started reading The Harrowing, I thought, oh man, this is what could’ve happened if Chris O’Donnell didn’t find that job with Al Pacino over the break. LOL
I guess I’m a little disturbed that my villain scenes are the easiest for me to write. I’d be happy if I wrote horror, but I write paranormal romance!
Posted by Laurie London | July 2, 2010, 7:27 pmFunny you should say that about Pacino’s character – that’s exactly the reason I never saw it. When it came out I heard to much about how misogynistic and unpleasant he was, and I am a huge Pacino fan, and I just didn’t want to see it at the time.
I’m thrilled to hear you have an actual villain in your romance – one reason I don’t read more romance is that there’s so often a complete lack of conflict and stakes.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 3, 2010, 4:42 amMorning Alex!
I, too am a wimp. I admit it free and clear. I saw a scary vampire movie when I was 7 – didn’t eat for three days and had vampire nightmares for over 20 years afterward. Wimp. wimp. wimp. =) But I’ll be more than happy to point out your books to people who love horror (those that mock me and my wimpiness)…lol….sounds like you really enjoy what you do!
carrie the wimp.
Posted by Carrie Spencer | July 2, 2010, 8:57 amCarrie, honestly, I don’t try to force my books on people who are sensitive. I will not myself ever read books with rape or torture scenes. I just won’t.
And I know what you mean about those early scary movies. I was terrified by an afternoon scream fest showing of THE BLOB, which is actually a really campy movie. And I was 27 before I could work up the nerve to see THE EXORCIST.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 12:06 pmOh, I could never watch the exorcist…my husband told me he saw it (waaaaaay before I met him) three times though…..with three different girls…nothing like a screaming girl hurling herself into your arms to get an 18-year-old-boys hormones a-moving eh? lol….
Thanks for posting Alexandra….I can’t wait to read the rest of the comments when I get home from work tonight, and see who else among us are pansies!
=)
carrie
Posted by Carrie Spencer | July 2, 2010, 3:28 pmYour husband’s tough, Carrie – hormones or not, I don’t know many men who could have been so impassive to the movie at 18!
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 3:38 pmAlexandra – Just popping in to say Hi. And I have read The Harrowing (it was!), but I survived! The premise was one that really interested me and I’ll be looking forward to picking up another of your books.
I feel as though I write very dark myself, though firmly in the historical romance genre. (Perhaps angsty is the more appropriate word in my case.) It’s one reason I write medieval versus Regency. It’s just a darker time period.
Posted by Blythe Gifford | July 2, 2010, 9:56 amHI Blythe – it’s true, medieval was just a savage time. (Anything before 1970, really, just sucked for women!)
I should investigate this medieval thing. The thing is, there was magic. I can get way into that.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 12:09 pmYou were right. I wasn’t sure what to expect on the first page, but then YELLOW WALLPAPER–er–sucked me right in! Fabulous story.
Posted by Savvy | July 2, 2010, 10:19 amOh, I’m glad! It’s just a must read for people like us.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 12:12 pmMorning, Alex. Thanks so much for joining us at RU.
Among our crew o’ wimps (said with lots of love, y’all), I have to admit that not only was I reading romance at a tender age, but I was reading Stephen King and Dean Koontz before most readers were far from Dick and Jane. I still remember the storyline of Koontz’s Whispers to this day. That being said, I’m a complete pansy when it comes to watching horror movies. Not sure what that says about my ability to live with the interpretations of my own imagination, but not someone else’s.
I haven’t yet read one of your books, but you can bet they’ll be on my “to buy” list the next time I’m at the bookstore.
Thanks so much!
Kelsey
Posted by Kelsey Browning | July 2, 2010, 11:05 amKelsey, me too – I was reading King and Koontz instead of anything remotely resembling YA. I love horror movies, but I’m very particular about what I will and won’t see. If there’s any doubt, I make my brother see it first.
Thanks a million for having me – this is a great group.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 12:11 pmha, here’s an odd twist… I write my tame stuff, while the hubby sits beside me watching an Alien’s marathon and I’m oblivious! … yesterday he had the Lethal Weapon marathon going and I kept getting distracted by the humor in it!
Posted by kathy bremner | July 2, 2010, 3:32 pmHey, you’re sharing time while doing the things both of you love. Sounds pretty perfect to me.
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 2, 2010, 3:39 pmAlex,
Wonderful to have you here at RU. This was for me an inspirational post just the kick I needed to get motivated back into horror. I have found that Screenwriting tricks is a resource that I can always refer to during the entire writing process.
Thank you for all the story references and authors. Great reading!
Holly
Posted by Holly | July 2, 2010, 10:37 pmHolly, that’s great news, welcome back to the dark side!
I’m so glad to hear the blog is useful. I use it myself, all the way through my own process. Otherwise I find myself forgetting the most obvious things!
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 3, 2010, 4:44 amI’ve been told that I am a romance/erotica person and I should stick to that. I want to spend more time on the paranormal side of life though. I was always taught that you should write what you read. And though I do read romance and erotica, about 75% of my reading is some form of paranormal. I want to walk on the dark side, but for some reason, I let others hold me back.
Posted by AJ Best | July 2, 2010, 10:37 pmWell, AJ, maybe this post was the Universe talking to you.
Life’s too short and writing’s too hard not to be writing what we love, don’t you think?
Posted by Alexandra Sokoloff | July 3, 2010, 4:45 amI think women make great horror writers. Stephen King’s advice is straight forward: write about what frightens you and kick it up a notch. I wrote a paranormal romance with a chivalrous vampire. My next paranormal has an edgier female vampire. Scary is good and memorable.
Posted by Mary Jo Burke | July 3, 2010, 11:51 amKathy Bremner is the winner of Alex’s The Harrowing and AJ Best wins a copy of Book of Shadows! Please drop me a quick note at Tracey@RomanceUniversity.org and we’ll coordinate on your prizes.
Thanks once again to Alex Sokoloff for her fantastic lecture and her generosity!
PS–Sorry, I posted this on the main site last week, but forgot to post here!
Posted by TraceyDevlyn | July 11, 2010, 7:55 am