The Birth of a Novelist and a Friend
When I first arrived at The San Diego Union-Tribune in 1998, I immediately got acquainted with Caitlin Rother, a serious-minded investigative reporter who made certain public figures quake when they heard the words, “This is Caitlin Rother,” on their telephone. In the course of getting to know her, I learned that every Sunday for eight years she wrote her novel, while holding a full-time reporting job. There was no publisher on the horizon. We bonded over writing, took a class on writing the nonfiction book proposal, and the rest is history.
Almost ten years later, Caitlin’s first book, a true crime story Poisoned Love, received a tremendous boost when the E! Entertainment Network featured Caitlin and her book on a documentary “Women Who Kill.” Her first novel, Naked Addiction, comes out this month. Her first hardback work, Twisted Triangle, a nonfiction crime story comes out next spring. She has already started writing the fourth book, Killer With a Conscience, and, in her spare time, is working on another novel. There’s no stopping this woman.
1. Congratulations on publishing your first novel, Naked Addiction. I know how difficult fiction can be. What motivated you to work on this for so many years without any promise it would ever be published?
Thank you. I almost had an out-of-body experience when I first heard it was going to be published. Writing fiction has always been one of my passions, which I fed by writing short stories long before I became a journalist. I’ve always felt a certain indescribable freedom and joy from delving into my imagination and playing out the what-ifs. I also gain a deep feeling of satisfaction when I am able to articulate a truly esoteric vision, especially when I manage to do it — often after many rewrites, I might add — in an artful way. In the 17 years leading up to the publication of this book, I managed to find enough hope in the small victories — I am also a very goal-directed person — that I was able to continue to improve it. For a long time, I wanted to publish a book more than anything else in the world and every time I thought it wasn’t going to happen, I’d see another sign that maybe, just maybe, I shouldn’t give up just yet. I believe that persistence and the ability to pick myself up after each rejection were the two keys to getting published.
2. People always want to know where novelists draw their inspiration and motivation. Where do you find yours?
I find inspiration in many places. With Naked Addiction, the original inspiration came from a crime story I wrote for the Springfield Union-News. I barely remember the details now. But I do remember this: a young woman, who happened to be an old friend of my then-boyfriend, was murdered in New York City and my boyfriend took me to her wake. That true-crime story worked as a creative catalyst that led me to create the character of Tania, the first murder victim, and the plot built from there. As I continued to rethink the characters and rewrite various scenes over the years, I drew from my own feelings, experiences and spiritual discoveries that happened along the way. Also, because I’m writing in a crime genre, I also drew from my growing investigative reportorial knowledge as well as news events and trends going on in the world around me. I have a few favorite themes that seem to make their way into my fictional stories and also play a part in the non-fiction stories I choose to write about. Those include drugs, sex, suicide, mental illness, addiction and ethical conflicts. Yes, I know, all very uplifting topics.
3. How did you get interested in writing fiction?
Growing up as an only child, I told myself stories, talked to myself in the mirror as different characters, and read lots of fiction and comic books to keep myself amused. Later, I added movies into the mix. I just love stories and storytelling. I started writing fiction before I was a journalist, as a hobby, really. It became more important about two or three years into my newspaper career because it provided a creative outlet, a therapeutic one if you will, because it provided some relief from the analytical thinking and fact-finding that was draining my life energy at the newspaper. I thought that after writing as many as four stories in a day that I did not have the time to spend any more time writing at night or on weekends. But I was wrong. Writing fiction energized me, keeping me up late at night, as the plot for what ultimately became this novel unfolded on my notepad. It was like a drug. I enjoy writing nonfiction, too, but for some reason, perhaps because I worked for 20 years as a newspaper reporter, the intoxicating high it produces is not quite as strong.
4. And how does the writing process differ from when you’re writing nonfiction?
With both kinds of writing, although more for fiction, I find myself in “the zone” if I am having a good day. By the same token, it is much harder to write fiction in spurts because I lose my train of thought and I can forget where I’m going with the plot or a character’s motivation. Both forms of writing require a lot of thinking before I can even sit down at the computer. Deciding how to tell a story, what parts in what order, is always difficult. Nonfiction is more challenging in some ways because it requires so much research before I can determine the best way to present that information in a narrative form. With nonfiction, I usually know where the story ends, but with fiction, I often seem to end up somewhere different than I’d planned — regardless of any outline I might make — because the characters often take over and go in their own directions. Some of them can be pretty headstrong. That’s how I get my twists and turns. Most of them aren’t planned; they’re as much a surprise to me as they are, hopefully, to the reader.
5. It has been said that most writers have an inclination toward one genre. What are your leanings and why?
To be honest, I can’t even choose between fiction and nonfiction let alone between genres within those larger categories. For the moment, I’m focusing on true crime stories and mysteries/thrillers, but in the future I hope to branch out in other directions. I’ve always lived in a world of gray, a world where, thankfully, I have many choices. I guess I’m lucky in that way. I enjoy doing both fiction and nonfiction, and so, for as long as I am able — and I mean that from a practical, financial standpoint and what the market tells me — I’m going to try to publish both. I know I would miss one if I just focused on the other. After covering a lot of politics and government, corruption and the spin cycle of campaigns as a watchdog journalist, writing thrillers seems a bit less relevant to society at large. Commercial fiction may be geared more toward entertainment purposes, but I do try to incorporate some deeper messages. I’ve heard the opinion that journalists who write about true crime are “predators,” preying on the tragedy of families or glorifying violence, but I believe I have a higher calling. I chose the nonfiction stories that illustrate the psychological aspects of the human condition and the extremely important issues of life and death, trust, betrayal and the utter devastation a crime can cause, not just to the victim’s family but to the criminal defendant’s as well. To me, all of this is just as meaningful and relevant to society, if not more so, than some city council race. I think I can touch on these issues in my fiction as well.
6. Your background as a journalist provides a wealth of stories and the wherewithal to verify information. What are the hurdles in making the journey from newspaper writing to fiction?
It seems much easier for me to write about things that are based on truth, things I know, events I’ve experienced or witnessed, rather than stories or characters that are based on fantasy, pulled from my imagination. I guess that’s where the adage comes from, “write what you know.” The good thing about being a journalist and a fiction writer is that if I don’t know what a character would do in a certain situation, I’m well-versed in finding the right person to ask. I guess the biggest challenge for me is to let go of the “truth” and to be purely creative. Sometimes I feel like I’m scared to go deep enough because we journalists are taught to keep our own feelings out of what we write. That is one of my personal and professional goals: to encourage myself to go deeper toward a larger truth, the one that is inside me, the one that I was not allowed to express overtly as a reporter. Being a journalist is safer, frankly, because you’re quoting what other people think and feel. But with fiction, everyone knows that you must’ve come up with that idea or experience somehow or other. It can leave me feeling, well, naked.
7. In a very short amount of time you’ve written three books with a fourth one on the way. What is your time management secret?
Have no life. I’m joking, but I’m also not joking. I’ve only just realized lately that I’m a workaholic. Apparently I’m the last one to know because it was obvious to everyone else around me. I’ve had to work very hard to get where I am. Holding down a full-time job as an investigative newspaper reporter was at times very stressful and draining, both physically and emotionally. Writing fiction on the weekends and then later working on book proposals and promoting my first book was essentially a second job. Eventually, when the workload forced me to make a choice, I had already choreographed the first and possibly second years of my new career by planning ahead and setting in motion a number of contingencies. I don’t want to say I sacrificed a personal life, but I haven’t had as much of one as many other people I know. I’ve always enjoyed working. It’s fun for me. But I’m also learning that having a more balanced life will be necessary for me to continue from here on out. I’m actually working very hard to relax and slow down (yes, pun intended) because this is a marathon, not a sprint. The more concrete answer to your question is that I make lots of lists and I spin many plates at once, coordinating many tasks according to the time needed, so that I can meet all of my deadlines. I would make the analogy that coordinating the researching, writing, copyediting and then the promoting of books is like cooking a complicated meal. You have to be careful not to let anything burn or get soggy and to make sure that the food is served on time so that your guests want to come back.
8. What’s the biggest misperception about someone who writes books full-time?
Some people have told me I’m living their dream because of all the freedom I have and because I can do what I love while working for myself. Much of that is true, but there is a flip side. Yes, I can come and go as I please. I have “offices” at the bagel place and at the pool at my gym. I can take a walk on the beach or around my neighborhood and consider it part of my work day because I get some heavy thinking done during those strolls. But the truth is, this new career I’ve chosen is an extremely isolated existence. I’ve had to completely rebuild my support system and I’ve lost connections with friends I’ve had for years. I also have been under constant deadlines, many overlapping for different projects, and frankly, I am a much tougher boss and taskmaster than most bosses I’ve had. And when I tell myself not to work so hard, I run the danger of feeling guilty that I haven’t gotten enough done or fast enough. With a newspaper job, you’re often on deadline, but it’s only for a short time and then it’s over. You get a break. But when you write a book, you have a deadline hanging over your head every minute, for months at a time, until you hit the SEND button. Maybe that’s not a misperception for other people, but it’s certainly been a discovery to me.
9. Knowing what you know now about making a career switch, what would you do differently?
Nothing. My philosophy is to live life, if possible, without regrets, which means I try to think long and hard before I make a decision and once I do I deal with it. The only thing I will do differently in the future is try to pace myself better so that I don’t have to juggle so many projects at once. One of my editors told me I was crazy to do what I was doing, but I had no way of knowing how much work I would be faced with until it was on my plate in front of me. I could never have predicted some of the things that happened to me over the past year since I left the newspaper — good and bad — partly because I’m still learning about the publishing world, partly because I don’t have a crystal ball, and also because every project is different and comes with its own set of personalities and unique challenges.
10. Which job is the hardest, being a reporter or author?
Apart from the constant deadline pressure, I find that my short-term memory these days is clogged pretty damn full of details, many of which will never even get into the book. I’m also keeping track of the tasks I need to complete and problems I’m trying to work out in my head. I didn’t have that problem as much when I was a reporter until and unless the investigative stories started stacking up. I think being an author is harder in many ways, but I was definitely at the point in my life when I was ready to make the switch. I don’t think I could have become an author without spending all those years as a reporter, gathering knowledge and experience and improving my writing, speed and organizational skills. I don’t regret a minute of any of it. Onward.
For more information on Caitlin and her books, go to http://caitlinrother.com/
Posted under The Writing Life