MG KidLit ALERT!
Interview with the brave horror writer
Melissa Cole Essig
Good Day, Readers and Creatives,
We are back with another fantastic interview with another excellent writer, and one I know personally. This week, in fact, we enjoyed the Carolina Mountain Literary Festival, where we heard great authors speak, and soon, we will be off to the SCBWI Carolina's 2024 Fall Conference. It is so exciting to meet fellow writers on this journey and travel to writing gatherings together.
It literally feeds my soul!
Melissa Cole Essig has journeyed through a diverse career path, from law to arts education and now writing. Her unique background has given her a distinct perspective, blending the analytical with the creative. A passionate advocate for children’s literature, Melissa has brought her love for storytelling to life through her writing and her involvement with projects like the arts initiative at Claxton Elementary. Currently, she’s working on a novel that merges her legal experiences with her love for stories, while also contributing to the middle-grade horror genre with The Haunted States of America. Melissa’s commitment to both creativity and community shines in everything she does, and she’s excited to share her insights with fellow writers here on Teazurs Blogspot.
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Hello, Melissa, and thanks for being here.
Let's start by chatting about your work life. You’ve had an exciting career journey, from law to arts education to writing. How do you think your legal background influences your approach to storytelling and the creative process?
I actually think it’s the other way around! I spent much of my time in law school trying to imagine the stories behind the cases. Legal opinions reduce the messiness of life to “relevant facts,” and I was always much more interested in the messy parts, which probably explains why I’m not a lawyer anymore. I even wrote some short stories based on the cases we read in class. (My Contracts professor very kindly read them with enthusiasm.) When I became a law school professor, I tried to remind my students about the stories behind the cases, because those stories are about real people with real lives, and it’s way too easy to forget that when you’re up in the ether of “legal thinking.”
Now it’s all come full circle for me.
I’m working on a novel
that takes place in law school,
where life gets very messy!
The Arts project at Claxton Elementary was a huge success, bringing students together to create something beautiful. If you could collaborate with any artist (alive or historical) on a new project, who would it be, and what would you create?
True confessions time: I’m a terrible collaborator. Actually, I’m half kidding about that. I like discussing ideas with other writers, and I absolutely love offering and receiving editorial ideas. We think of writing as being so solitary, and in many ways, it is. But it’s also highly collaborative.
No human being has the perspective
to see what others will see in their words;
we all need others in our process.
So, I very much lean into that collaboration when I’m writing.
Of course, I wouldn’t turn down a chance to talk about the writing process with Zadie Smith!
As a mom, writer, and volunteer, you've been around kids and books a lot. How can parents help foster fun reading habits in their children? What could teachers do to help?
Books, books, books! My kids tolerated me lying in bed with them reading out loud for years after they were perfectly able to read to themselves. We did voices and accents, and chose series we loved together. Some of the best moments in my life. Now I take them to independent bookstores wherever we find them, and I’m always up for buying them a book of their choice. It promotes excitement about reading and, it also supports writers and independent bookstores. Win, win, win!
My biggest concern when I look at the direction public education has taken—and this is not coming from teachers, who I’m sure are as frustrated by it as I am—is this idea that kids have to “understand” the information conveyed in what they’re reading instead of reading for the sheer joy of it. It made me crazy when my kids were in elementary school that what they got to read for school was often determined by how they’d performed on a standardized test that reduced all writing to the imparting of information. What a sad world that creates.
As someone who has taught yoga, do you find that yoga and mindfulness practices influence your writing?
Of course, I’m going to say yes! Yoga and mindfulness influence everything in my life! In the specific area of writing, there’s just nothing better than shutting down all the brain chatter and letting a story tell itself to you. I also can get anxious and overwhelmed if I’m doing too much thinking about the plot and where it’s going and what I need to fit in to make that happen and whether I hit x mark, and, and, and. Taking a breath and letting the process take as long as it takes is so helpful for me. All those thoughts bopping around my mind—if they’re important, they’ll come back to me. In the meantime, I try to just follow the first draft where it goes and worry about all the structure/plot/craft issues when I’m revising and can jot down things to follow up on.
Do you have any yoga stretches to recommend to fellow writers that help the neck and back after sitting in a chair all day?
Standing up during the day and walking around is key. I tend to get hip tightness even more than shoulder issues, so getting that synovial fluid moving is important for me. I also like to stop while I’m working and just do some twists in my chair, turning to one side and the other to release my spine and let my eyes look across the room.
For shoulders, I love a basic clasping hands behind my back: You can start standing with your elbows bent, clasp hands with fingers interlaced, then gently draw in your abs, press your feet firmly into the floor, and release your shoulders so they aren’t up by your ears. Slowly straighten your arms and lift them a little from your back, feeling the stretch across the front of your chest.
It’s really nice to do a forward fold with bent knees and lift your clasped hands toward the ceiling too. Add an ear to shoulder stretch for your neck and you will be a different person!
Working with young artists must be inspiring. What’s one lesson you’ve learned from your time volunteering that has stayed with you in your writing?
My favorite volunteering memories are working one-on-one with kindergartners just figuring out how to read. Watching that process and their joy in mastering it leaves a person with a lifelong appreciation of the wonders of written language. I think about those kids, who are now teens, reading what I’ve written and finding something to connect to in it.
What's your favorite– drink? Food? Time to write? Book on writing? Book on revision? Writing class? In other words, how do you do what you do?
I’m going to start with the time to write question because what I eat and drink is too healthy to be anything but boring. I’m very much a morning writer. My mind gets too caught up in the real world by the afternoon, though sometimes I delight myself my having an urge to sit down and write late in the day ... and doing it.
I’m not a big reader of craft books (I know, I know!), though I did find Story by Robert McKee nerdishly fascinating in terms of how to structure a story and scenes within a story. I enjoy reading what great writers have to say about the process of writing—Anne Lamott, Diana Wynne-Jones, George Saunders, Stephen King, and Ray Bradbury all have books of essays that I really enjoyed—but I’m not as keen on how-to craft books. I know they’re tremendously helpful for other writers, so I’m not dismissing them. For me and my brain, though, just reading novels and short stories I admire and figuring out how the writer did what they did works much better.
You have a short story out in a new scary book - The Haunted States of America. What inspired the setting for your story? Is it based on a real location or a real tale, or did you create it purely from imagination or embellish it at all?
The Haunted States of America was a really special experience. The anthology was conceived by the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), which I highly recommend joining for any writers and/or illustrators for children and young adults who haven’t. SCBWI put out a call to all members looking for short stories that were particular to one state and one spooky myth from that state. As a proud resident of Asheville, North Carolina, I wanted to write something about this part of the state, but I didn’t expect it would be chosen for the anthology because when people think of North Carolina, they don’t usually think of this little western corner in the Blue Ridge Mountains. So I really had to sell the setting!
I chose to set the story in the Grove Park Inn because it’s such a cool, old, spooky place. I wrote the story during the pandemic, so I had to do it from memory. When I went back after the book was published, I saw a bunch of things I got wrong ... but that’s okay because it’s fiction!
I talk about how I wrote my story, “The Night I Met F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Ghost,” in a virtual event put on by Malaprop’s, Asheville’s amazing local independent bookstore, as did three other authors from the anthology. I found them all so inspiring and recommend watching it!: https://www.youtube.com/live/4BolUBSI834?feature=shared
The best scary stories tap into universal fears. What's yours? And what fear or theme did you want to explore in your story, and how did you bring it to life through your characters?
I am SO not a person who likes to be scared! I’m still scarred by seeing the movie Evil Dead my freshman year of college. I don’t think I’ve seen a horror movie or read a horror novel (at least an adult one) since. So I approached writing a horror story for middle-grade readers with a real concern of not making it too scary for more sensitive readers like me. What I tried to tap into were the things that are most important to that age group: becoming independent from one’s family, even though that’s really scary. The story starts with that moment we’ve all experienced of being a pre-teen and hating our family and ends with an appreciation of still being at an age when we can return to them and feel safe and loved. Which I guess makes middle-grade horror my sweet spot. Once you’re an adult, happy endings aren’t guaranteed!
Suspense is key in a good horror story. How did you approach building tension in your story? Was there a particular scene or moment that was especially challenging or rewarding to write?
If you ever want to challenge yourself, try writing a story that has to build and release tension in 1500 words or less! I decided to linger on the spooky part of the story and make the truly scary/dangerous part happen more quickly. It was actually hardest for me to do the latter because I like to linger in words, and I couldn’t.
I had to get her through the danger
and back to safety in just a few sentences!
What advice do you have for newbie writers who want to write scary stories? Any apps that might help or classes or ways to approach this type of writing for kids?
My advice for all writers, newbies or experienced, no matter their genre, is to read as much as you can in your chosen genre. And don’t just read for the sheer pleasure of it. Pay attention to how the writers you really admire do it, from a plot level down to individual lines. Classes are great too, for their reading lists and their opportunity to experiment and to meet other writers.
I personally would find an app distancing; while I write on a computer, I try to keep it simple.
Technology is too organized and linear,
and it takes me out of my creativity.
But I think the most important thing is to figure out what works for you, which means being kind to yourself if you try something that doesn’t work (it’s not time wasted!) or if something that once worked doesn’t work anymore or doesn’t work for this story. My process changes each time I start a new project—not intentionally but because that’s what the particular project asks of me.
I guess what I’m saying is that, as creative types, we’re all so hard on ourselves. There’s this pressure to finish what we’re working on and this pressure to figure out how to get it published and this pressure to “prove” our success through publishing or getting a agent or whatever. It’s way too easy to forget about our love of the creative process itself. That’s going to be different for everyone, and we should embrace that. The rest really isn’t as important.
Did you draw from any personal experiences or local legends (I know you did, but this is for others who don't know) when writing your story?
The Haunted States of America assignment was to draw on a local legend and local setting, so definitely I did that! But I also cheated a little bit by taking snippets of local lore and blending them together into something that I totally made up. I talk about all the specifics in that Malaprop’s virtual event ...
Have you ever had a ghostly encounter yourself that influenced your writing?
I did have an odd zombie dream once that inspired a short story called “My Zombie Apocalypse Boyfriend.” It was my first fiction publication (in a horror anthology called Fornever After, so for a person who’s not into horror, I sure have ended up publishing a lot of it!). Naturally, it was more funny than frightening, though I did get to describe some pretty gruesome moments (in a delightfully humorous way).
Did writing this short story get your creative juices going? Do any new ideas come from this book for future books?
The process of putting out The Haunted States of America took A LONG time, so it’s hard to say what I was feeling after I wrote “The Night I Met F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Ghost.” But having it accepted and becoming part of a community of the 52 authors in the book and then having Malaprop’s and the larger writing community be so supportive—that was really inspiring. This writing stuff is hard, and there’s so much rejection. We all deserve to revel in our successes, and this experience has definitely given me confidence to keep going.
I’d also love to remind your readers that there are lots of places to publish that aren’t traditional—online magazines and journals, small-press anthologies, and, of course, blogs. Even sharing your writing in workshops counts. It’s about seeing other people connect to what you’re created, and that definitely doesn’t require it being on the shelf of a bookstore.
What are some of your favorite scary stories or authors? Did any of these influence your writing for The Haunted States of America?
Hahaha! See my answers above about why I’m scared to read scary stories. Honestly, though, I did recently read Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House to see how a master tells a haunted house story. (So I guess my earlier answer about not reading any horror after my freshman year of college isn’t entirely accurate ....) The Haunting of Hill House definitely helped me figure out how to make a building sinister, which was important for the setting of my story. Jackson is really unparalleled at generating fear without showing very much at all. She taps into that creeping sense of unease that every writer reaches for at some point and that I wanted to convey in “The Night I Met F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Ghost.”
Writing scary stories for children can be tricky. How do you balance making a story thrilling and spooky while still ensuring it’s appropriate for a younger audience?
This is such a great question. For me, it was all about what I left unsaid. As adults, we fill in the gaps with our own knowledge of what’s truly horrifying. Kids are going to fill in the gaps with what they can handle. I also used humor, a strong heroine, and a first-person point of view, all very deliberately. So we meet the ghosts through my child narrator’s eyes and don’t dwell on what could happen to her, which is where horror really dwells. An adult would probably find the story a lot scarier than a young reader, at least I hope so!
Beyond the scares, what message or theme do you hope readers take away from your story in The Haunted States of America?
“The Night I Met F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Ghost” is very clearly about family, both how it can feel constraining to a young person and also how, at its best, it’s a safe place that’s waiting for you after a scary adventure. I think that translates to what kids are going through at that age. What I love about the Haunted States anthology is that each story has its own age-appropriate message; it’s a really fun read, and I’m incredibly lucky to have my story be a part of it.
Where will you be next: a conference, a book signing, a writing class? And how can my readers connect with you and support you best?
Thanks so much for asking! I’m drafting a very long adult novel now, so it’ll be a while before anyone sees that. But I’m super excited that one of my very favorite short stories will be appearing this fall in Slippery Elm, a college literary magazine (https://slipperyelm.findlay.edu). The story is called “The Liminality of a Decent Couch,” and it’s also about growing up and (I think) very funny.
There are more Haunted States events coming up too! I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble in South Asheville on October 23 with some adult horror writers promoting our Halloween reads and at the Write Local, Read Local book fair in Black Mountain, North Carolina on November 10.
I’m not as great with my online presence, but I’m working on it! I’m on Instagram @MelissaColeIsWriting (I haven’t posted a lot lately, but I promise to get back into it!) and currently have a website at melissa-cole-author.squarespace.com that’s undergoing a big upgrade. I’ll let you know when the real website reveal happens!
Is there anything else you'd like my readers to know about you or your writing? Any final advice or seasoned writer know how?
I think anyone who’s reading your blog is doing the best thing they can for themselves—connecting to other writers and thinking about writing. At the end of the day, that’s why we do this, isn’t it? Feeding our creating spirits and finding community. Thanks so much for letting me join your community, Angie!
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Oh, you are welcome, and thank you for being here!
You allowed us to peer into your writing life, your journey from lawyer to writer, and your fear of horror—even though that's what you write! I just love this interview.
Writing is often a place I go when I can't integrate the experiences of my childhood and, as I grew up, the world around me. So, when you speak of being afraid of horror, and yet that's precisely what you write about, it resonates!!!
As a fellow yoga instructor, I agree with you. Yoga, breath, and mindfulness are part of my life in everything I do, especially writing. Thank you for the examples of how you move and take breaks—great reminders!
I am so thrilled to have you on the Blog, and I'm even more excited to hang out with you in person, on writer's road trips, and at local book fairs. I'm so thankful we met through our mutual writer friend - Amanda! Who will be on the blog soon! I love supporting writers on Teazurs Blog.
Thanks for being here, and thanks for writing those scary tales.
If you would like to support Melissa, please follow her on Instagram and check out her website. Us writers and creatives can help each other grow.
Let's do this together!
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And if you would like to be on Teazurs Blog - reach out. You don't have to be a published author, either. I love hearing about the journey you're on, the classes you've loved about writing, and what your goals are. You are important no matter where you are in your process.
And I want to cheer you on!
