Karen Leslie Interview on Process

[The following first appeared in the December 2024 newsletter of Author’s Note newsletter.]

Where are you from, what do you do, and fun fact about yourself!

I grew up in small town Pennsylvania with the freedom to play in nature unsupervised for hours and frequent visits to the library. I loved it! Somewhere between Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Velvet Room, and Charlotte’s Web, I started dreaming of writing novels. I read late into the night, during class, on the bus, under trees. I also fell in love with music and plays. Through college, though, I was encouraged to choose something…practical. 

After I graduated Penn State I worked in PR for a non-profit. My kids were my priority while they were growing up. I combined my creative passions by learning lyric writing, which was really fun, satisfying, and fast. Still, I carried my soul dream— novel writing. 

In 2010 I thought, “What am I waiting for?” and signed up for an MFA in Writing (Fiction) program (Sena Jeter Naslund-Karen Mann School of Writing). Finding incredible mentors and a community of writers—people I didn’t have to explain myself to—was pivotal for my confidence and word count! Over those years I produced a creative and critical thesis: “The Thin Places,” a collection of interconnected short stories, and “The Art of Compression: Short Stories & Songs.” 

In 2015 I moved to Nashville and started teaching part-time at a local university and juggling marketing clients. Much to my chagrin, I’d found a way to be creative and practical. After I recovered from my MFA and moving, I started several novel-length stories but hit a wall at 30,000 words every time. In 2022 I finally found The Novelry, which has helped me fine-tune my writing practice and complete drafts. In 2024 I launched the first Stories & Songs Writing Retreat in Italy with a fellow MFA graduate. My husband, Clay Mills, is our songwriting master. 

When I look back it’s been a long love affair and I’ve gotten to do a lot of amazing “writerly” things. Sometimes I wonder if I let everything take priority over the novel, or if I fought through the reality of life to hang onto the dream. As a young girl, I never imagined the journey would take so long—and still, it goes on. Maybe it’s good I didn’t know. My focus now is fine-tuning my current story, because the next one is haunting me!

Share the inspiration for your current/latest story. What inspired the plot, characters, setting, etc?

Setting always inspires stories for me, whether its a house or nature. When I was a child I used to walk through our old house wondering who lived here before me and can walls really talk? When I was brainstorming When The Trees Go Silent, I wanted a setting that’s dual-natured: both safe and unsafe. The first place that came to mind was camp. Some of my best memories are as a counselor at 4-H camp. It was freedom in nature at the next level: competitive games, line-dancing, primitive living, communal eating, romance, sneaking out to the bonfire after hours—all in the middle of the deep, dark woods. By day, camp is silly and exuberant and physical. By night, however, it is unidentified nocturnal cries, boogie men, and terror-filled runs through the dark. Outside of the ongoing inspirations—something that happened in real life, something really devastating and wrong—made me wonder: how far will someone go to protect their “safe place”?

What does your writing process look like? What consistently works well for you?

This answer is long because I think it might be the most important! 

Figuring out my writing process was key to finishing the first draft—and the second and the third… I write in the morning after breakfast with a cappuccino on stand by. My writing space is in my bedroom sitting area, which is large enough to feel like a dedicated space. Sometimes I go to a coffee shop but I’m not telling which one because it’s Nashville and parking is limited. 

I’ve found if I do any kind of work before I write my brain is scrambled and unfocused. I use a few tools like “Focus” on my MacBook Pro, an hourglass, ambient noise, and the latest book I’m reading. As a writer I’m convinced you should read what it is you want to write. I learned that from my first MFA professor, Philip F. Deaver. He said: “Read, then write!” and “You can’t edit the blank page.” He was so influential to my enthusiasm and tolerance for writing as a long game. 

If I’m stuck I’ll read a few pages of good writing in my genre, which often unlocks my words. If I’ve hit a wall I create a PDF file and listen to my story. Does it feel like all the audio books I love? Is the pace right? Do I care about the character as a listener? What is missing? What do I want next? Is it psychologically scary? But that can sometimes get me stuck in revision. So I usually only allow myself a reread of one or two previous chapters for polish and anchoring before pushing forward into the next chapter. 

I try to write an entire scene or chapter before stopping; though there’s a lot of wisdom in walking away when you know what’s coming next (hank you, Hemingway). If I’m on a later revision I look at my chaptered outline before I leave the writing desk. I don’t always stick to it but it greases the wheels. 

During the first draft I write new chapters pretty quickly, especially the first 30,000 words. I’m a “pantser,” but see the value in having a loose plan. It’s fun and kind of wonky and exciting, like steering your bike with your knees. For this second draft I acted like a surgeon and built a 30,000 word chaptered outline, deleting and combining characters and scenes. I can’t do that kind of planning until I have a first draft complete. In fact, maybe the chaptered outline is a reaction to what I’d written in my first draft? 

I met with an editor (The Novelry) to get feedback on my outline and felt like I had a solid plan to move forward. It was fun to have someone excited about my story at this stage. The only thing that bothered me was the third person limited POV I’d chosen in the first draft. I don’t know why I did it. Habit from my MFA days or maybe keeping a distance from the story. 

For me, psychological suspense requires first person POV so I decided to start over from scratch on my third draft. I just discovered it’s called “redrafting.” This draft was fast at first but it’s slowed down to a trickle as I try to hang onto all of the threads. It feels like a controlled exploration. I do feel this draft will be the one I edit and polish. Next time I’ll change POV in the first draft the minute I know I’m wrong! 

Locking into a process—or solid writing practice—is probably the sole reason I got past my perennial 30,000 word wall…