Your novel The Feeder - in a few words, what is it about?
The Feeder is essentially a tale of revenge, in which an everyday
person is thrown into the role of serial killer after the murder of a
beloved twin sister. It’s brutal, it’s bloody, and most readers
can’t help but cheer for the killer. The
Feeder is pretty much carried by a revenge-theme - something you can
at all relate to personally? I think I live vicariously
through the characters I write. The Feeder isn’t the first revenge-based
book I’ve written. My first novel, Avenging Annabelle is also a revenge
story. I’ve often wondered why a lot of the story ideas I come up with
are driven by revenge. Maybe it’s subconsciously linked to the times
people have wronged me and I’ve been forced to walk away. In fiction, I
can act out things I could never do in real life. That makes me sound like
a deeply disturbed individual, given the things some of my characters do,
but I’m normal, really I am (rubs hands together while secretly
plotting). What were your initial
inspirations for The Feeder? The original idea for
The Feeder came from a short story I wrote about a serial killer who lured
male victims by posing as a prostitute. The original was about 2000 words
in length. It was one of those off-the-cuff stories that I jotted down
just for fun. When I took a closer look at it, and the shocking brutality
of that short little piece I started to imagine what it would look like as
a novel. From there, it developed in ways I’d never imagined. One of the
characters in The Feeder is an intersex person, and you do go into
quite some detail on that - so how much research went into that aspect of
your story?
I gave the character that
little twist at the suggestion of a good friend of mine, who is an
intersex individual. She advocates for intersex awareness, and was my
primary source for research. She also steered me toward additional
information. It was fascinating research, yet heartbreaking at the same
time. I learned a lot in the process.
I saw an opportunity to
create a unique character while shedding light on some of the challenges
faced by those born with genetic anomalies. I wanted to portray intersex
individuals as the real human beings that they are instead of freaks, the
way mainstream society still largely sees them. By giving readers the
opportunity to identify with and care about this character, they
experience the wants and needs; the shame and heartbreak that he feels.
There is a lot of
misinformation about the many varieties of the intersex condition. It’s
far more common than most people realize. Most of us have met at least one
intersex individual in our lifetime and don’t even know it.
The Feeder features some very sick
and gruesome murders - now seriously, how much fun was it to dream them
up? Oh, so much fun! Maybe I’m a sicko; the jury’s
still out on that one, but it’s very therapeutic. Imagine the worst,
most despicable pieces of human filth. Then think of suitable, even ironic
ways to punish them. That’s pretty much my process. I think, out of all
of the victims, I had the most fun with Dirk Davis. So what can you tell us about the writing process as
such? I’m what they call a ‘pantser’. I write by the
seat of my pants. I outline very little and don’t always follow my
notes. I tend to write my scenes in chunks and then string them together
like beads afterward. I’ve been told that this process is ‘wrong’,
but it’s what works for me. Chronological order doesn’t always flow
well for me. I think that’s probably true for a lot of writers who have
half-finished manuscripts gathering dust on their hard drives. I don’t
believe in writer’s block. If I get stuck, I work on something else. The
result is that I work on several projects at once, but they do get
finished. What can you tell us about audience and critical
reception The Feeder so far? The Feeder is still
finding its audience. It’s stuck between genres, somewhere between
horror and thriller, but not quite qualifying as a mystery. It’s gotten
some excellent response so far, but I think it will turn out to be one of
those love-it-or-hate-it books. The most consistent criticism it’s
gotten is one I anticipated: the story hits an unexpected lull in the
middle, after a blood-and-gore splattered first half. Some readers
responded well to that part, stating that it wasn’t until then that they
really grew to empathize with the main character. Others saw it as a
let-down because they were expecting the same non-stop gruesome pace
throughout the entire book. It seems to be better received by female
readers, possibly because of the horrible things that happen to rapists
and abusers of women. I think the emasculation of victims makes some male
readers squirm in their seats, and the intersex factor has the potential
to awaken the inner homophobe in some.
Any books you're
writing on presently or are planning to write you'd like to talk about,
and will they be in the vein of The Feeder?
I’m currently working on
Fed Up, which is the sequel to The Feeder. Readers can expect plenty more
righteous slaughter of bad guys, and even some unexpected romance. The
instruments of murder are different in this one, and it takes place here
in Canada, mainly in Vancouver. I expect to have Fed Up published before
the end of 2014.
I’m working on another
novel called Phobia. It’s about an agoraphobic who finds herself torn
between her fear of the outside world and terrifying things that are
happening inside her house. This one is not a bloodbath like The
Feeder;
it’s more of a psychological thriller. Phobia is in its final stages and
will be published within the next couple of months.
How
did you get into writing in the first place, and what can you tell us
about your approach to writing as such, and your training as a writer?
I have enjoyed writing and
telling stories for as long as I can remember, and always said that
‘someday’ I would write a book. When I reached age 40, it dawned on me
that ‘someday’ would never happen unless I got off my ass and made it
happen. I started out as a freelance copy writer. I got a job with a
writing service that paid according to word count. I worked for them for
three years, writing articles on every topic imaginable. I wrote website
content, product descriptions, reviews, and even wrote a gamer’s guide
for Starcraft. When they started giving me jobs ghostwriting ebooks,
something clicked in my brain. Why was I writing books for other people
when I should be writing my own? It was then that I made the transition to
novelist. It was tough at first, because I’d become accustomed to
fluffing up my word count with superfluous words. In storytelling, the
goal is to convey a clear message without a bunch of word vomit.
I can say one thing for
freelance writing, though; it made me a better writer, and a more
confident one. It’s like boot camp for writers.
What
can you tell us about your books besides The Feeder?
My first book was a
non-fiction self-help book called The Jealousy Game. It’s based on my
own experiences in bad relationships with other women’s stories mixed
in. Hmm… maybe the root of all those punishments to the male genitalia
is becoming clearer…
My first full-length novel
was Avenging Annabelle, a thriller set in the town where I live. It’s
about a father who finds creative ways to exact revenge on his
daughter’s abductor.
You're
also the acting publisher/editor of a series of anthologies by the
collective WPaD - do talk about those for a bit, and what is the
philosophy behind them?
WPaD is the acronym for
Writers, Poets and Deviants. We are a group of writers who came together
online about four years ago. We met in a writing group on Facebook. When
we didn’t like the way the group was being run, we branched off and
formed our own. Well, to be honest, I started another group and they went
with me. We started doing short story challenges, in which we chose a
different genre each time. We started to accumulate stories and thought,
why not publish them?
The fact that I live in
Canada and most of the writers are from the US presented a problem with
the disbursement of royalties. I told the group sorry, but I couldn’t do
it. Then someone suggested we give proceeds to charity. Everyone was fine
with that; they just wanted to see their work published. It was around
this time that one of our members was diagnosed with MS. We decided to
make that our charity. We have done five anthologies to date, and are
working on our sixth.
WPaD does not own the
rights to the stories; all rights remain with the authors. The purpose of
the WPaD anthologies is to give unpublished writers a chance to have their
work published, published authors additional books for their portfolios,
and raise money for a good cause in the process.
How would you describe yourself
as a writer? I like to shock and surprise readers. I try to
write the type of story I would enjoy reading. I love good plot twists and
things that are not what they seem to be. Nothing is taboo, although I
discovered I couldn’t harm a child, even in fiction. Writers who inspire you? I
read a lot of Stephen King and Dean Koontz before I became an indie
author. These days, I love to read books by other independent authors.
There are so many gems to be discovered. In short, I am inspired by the
writers I interact with on a daily basis and the incredible books they
write. ...
and since this is a filmsite first, your favourite and least favourite
movies?
Favorite: It’s so tough
to choose, but I think I’ll go with Kill
Bill. Orgazmo by Trey Parker
and Matt Stone is a close second.
Least favorite: That
on-camera abortion known as Liz and Dick, starring Lindsay Lohan as
Elizabeth Taylor. A disgrace to the name of one of Hollywood’s greats.
Your/your book's website, Facebook, whatever
else?
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Feeling lucky ? Want to search for books by Mandy White yourself? |
The links below will take you just there!!! (commissions earned) |
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Universal link to The Feeder on Amazon: http://getbook.at/thefeeder
My website: http://mandywrite.weebly.com
Find Author Mandy White on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
authormandywhite
Follow @mandywrite
on Twitter
Anything else you are dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? The next WPaD anthology is an
apocalyptic collection entitled: Goin’ Extinct: Tales from the Edge of
Oblivion, and it is scheduled for release in July 2014. Thanks for the interview!
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