Ask the Author: Sally Whitney
Answered Questions (6)
Sally Whitney
I don't have any real mysteries in my life, but I do have a good ghost story that I'll probably use in a novel some day. My grandfather had been to church on a cold Sunday night in the early 1900s and was driving his horse and buggy back to his farm in the dark. He was moving along slowly when suddenly he heard the sound of another buggy rushing up behind him like a bat out of hell. The horse's hooves were pounding and rocks were flying from the dirt road. He knew there was nobody behind him, but suddenly the other buggy barreled past him. He hardly had time to look at the driver before the horse and buggy flew ahead of him and disappeared. He swore till he died that it was a ghost.
Sally Whitney
After her husband left for a three-day business trip, she began preparing supper by going into the walk-in pantry and making sure the door was closed behind her so her 18-month-old son, who was sitting on the kitchen floor, couldn't follow her in. When she tried to open the door, she realized the inside latch was painted shut and wouldn't turn.
Sally Whitney
This summer I'm hoping to get to some books that have been waiting patiently by my bedside for months. Not that I anticipate my schedule slowing down any, but a girl can always hope. Since I write novels that take place in small North Carolina towns, I'm eager to see how Ron Rash tells the stories of N.C. mountain residents. His novels Above the Waterfall and The Risen are at the top of my stack of books. I also want to read My Sunshine Away, a Louisiana mystery by M.O. Walsh. And I'm especially looking forward to Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo. It's been out for a while, but since I prefer reading paperback books, I've been waiting for that version to be available.
Sally Whitney
Read, read, read. Write, write, write. And never ever give up.
Sally Whitney
My stories usually start as an idea, an observation, or a question. Surface and Shadow started with observations of small mill towns and an idea about an outsider who wants to learn a mill town’s secrets. Once I put the outsider in the town, ideas for what would happen to her there and how she would be changed by the experience began to flow.
Sally Whitney
Dixie Clay Holliver and Ted Ingersoll from The Tilted World by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly. Although there're many memorable couples in literary history, these two people popped into my mind the first time I read this question. I like Dixie Clay and Ted because they're natural enemies--she's a bootlegger and he's a federal revenuer--but circumstances and a shared bigness of heart bring them together.
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