Clare Dunkle

Today I’m chatting with Clare Dunkle. Be sure to sign on for the Special Brontë-themed giveaway—details at the end of the interview!

Chris: How did you become an author?

Clare: I started my career as a university librarian, with no idea of becoming an author—that wasn’t a goal I trusted myself to reach. But in 2001, I began writing fantasy stories for the sheer love of it and shared them with my teenage daughters. In the last seven years, seven of my novels have hit bookstore shelves, all in the genres of YA (young adult) fantasy or science fiction.

The first three, comprising The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy, are set in the Peak District of England during Regency times; they deal with the classic folktale races, goblins and elves. Next I wrote By These Ten Bones, a werewolf story set in the medieval Highlands of Scotland. Two science fiction stories followed: The Sky Inside and The Walls Have Eyes, both about a regular boy named Martin and his computerized dog. And this month, my new novel has come out. It’s a grim ghost story called The House of Dead Maids, a prequel to Emily Brontë’s classic novel, Wuthering Heights.

Chris: Why did you choose to write speculative fiction? What inspires you?

Clare: It never occurred to me to write fiction in any other genre. This is the genre I’ve loved from childhood, since I first pored over the beautifully illustrated D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths.

I find my inspiration in the books I loved as a teen and in folklore from around the world. I grew up reading books of myths and folktales, and I began studying them when I was in middle school. Ghost stories and systems of superstition hold a special appeal for me. They have strong parallels across countries and cultures. It is the stories that we have been telling and retelling down the millennia, and recreating spontaneously in schoolyards around the world, that fascinate me the most.

What I like is to take a particular thread from folklore and play what-if games with it. I like to find new explanations that use the folklore details in unexpected ways while still being faithful to the original sources. And I have a particular fondness for monsters.

Chris: Are there special challenges in writing speculative fiction?

Clare: I think the challenge would be writing realistic fiction. Our everyday world is such a dull place!

Chris: Have you found challenges in finding publishers? In reaching readers?

Clare: Nothing much to complain about. My path to publication is a fairy story in itself: when I submitted the unagented manuscript of my first novel to Holt BYR, I tripped over the pot of gold. I was a complete baby when it came to the industry, but my editor there, Reka Simonsen, took fantastic care of me. We’ve done five books together, including my newest one, and I hope we do many more.

It hasn’t all been smooth, though. Before going to Simon & Schuster to publish my two science fiction stories, I took it for granted that my publishing house would look after the marketing side of things. But books take a long time to get through publication. By the time The Sky Inside and The Walls Have Eyes came out, we were in middle of the economic downturn, and Simon & Schuster had changed their game plan. Everyone I knew at the house either quit or got laid off, and I considered myself very fortunate when the books turned out as well as they did. But their marketing was minimal, and I learned a lesson from that.

Chris: If you could live in a sci-fi or fantasy world not of your own making, which would it be? Why?

Clare: That’s  a tough one! I have to go for the classic: I want a set of rooms in Rivendell. Why? Because, as Bilbo realized, it would be a very comfortable life! And the perfect setting for a writer.

Chris: What would readers find surprising or interesting about you?

Clare: Lordy, I have no idea! So I polled my two daughters.

One daughter thinks it’s surprising that I didn’t go to my prom or high school graduation. Bless her heart, she’s lovely and popular—she has No Idea! In fact, I didn’t go to a single one of my three graduations. I don’t care about what’s happening today. I’m dying to get to tomorrow.

The other daughter thinks it’s interesting that I majored in Russian during the Cold War and that when I went to study at a language summer school, we students had our very own federal agent assigned to spy on us. She also thinks it’s interesting that our family lived in Germany for seven years. We visited thirteen countries while we were there, and we all learned how to get along in German. But once we got into a situation where English or German couldn’t help us, I was the designated speaker, whether it was ordering lunch in French or Spanish or buying train tickets in Italian. The rest of my family would go mute, and they would all stare hopefully at me, like a pack of golden retrievers.

Special Brontë-themed giveaway!
One Grand Prize winner will receive The House of Dead Maids, a gorgeous Brontë sisters pocket mirror, and the HarperTeen edition of Wuthering Heights! Two lucky runners-up will receive the two books. To enter, send an email to DeadMaidsBook@gmail.com with your name, email address, and shipping address (if you’re under 13, submit a parent’s name and email address). One entry per person and prizes will only be shipped to US or Canadian addresses. Entries must be received by midnight (PDT) on October 31. Winners will be selected in a random drawing on November 1 and notified via email.

The next stop on the tour is Darkly Reading.