Ask the Author: Kathryn Orzech
Answered Questions (6)
Kathryn Orzech
I bought several novels and non-fiction books, but haven't read them yet, maybe in winter when I'm snowbound. My biggest and most memorable summer read: The Mueller Report
Kathryn Orzech
Hi Ralph, I appreciate your inquiry regarding ASYLUM.
I drew inspiration for the fictional Delito family's High Hill estate from several homes in Meriden, Connecticut. Interior features came from a downtown Victorian home (since converted to apartments). The exterior and its hilltop location were inspired by a west-side property I often drove past. Property descriptions in the novel are the result of compiling c.1900 period research, inspiration from life experience, and writer's imagination.
If you'd like to know exact locations that inspired me, I'm happy to respond privately. Send your email address via any Contact form on my website: DreamWatch.com
I regret I am unable to help with real-life photos or history of your family's estate. If I had anything, I'd give it to you.
Thank you and good luck with your historical research.
I drew inspiration for the fictional Delito family's High Hill estate from several homes in Meriden, Connecticut. Interior features came from a downtown Victorian home (since converted to apartments). The exterior and its hilltop location were inspired by a west-side property I often drove past. Property descriptions in the novel are the result of compiling c.1900 period research, inspiration from life experience, and writer's imagination.
If you'd like to know exact locations that inspired me, I'm happy to respond privately. Send your email address via any Contact form on my website: DreamWatch.com
I regret I am unable to help with real-life photos or history of your family's estate. If I had anything, I'd give it to you.
Thank you and good luck with your historical research.
Kathryn Orzech
Guilt, mostly. It nags, annoys, pesters until I write. Or I'll see, hear, read or observe something that plants a seed. If it lingers and amplifies in my mind, I'll begin to imagine, What if …
Kathryn Orzech
I'm deep into research and plotting a contemporary mystery, Counting Souls. A quiet valley town seems targeted by an enigmatic serial killer—but not one body has been found at the bloody crime scenes. Citizens are terrified. Police are frustrated. Detectives are baffled. Only two sisters see the signs in ancient writings the killer left behind.
Kathryn Orzech
Surprises are best, like when a character blurts something crazy and their dialog is sooo "them" and so not "me," or when a character does something I never imagined. I might think I have the end of the story, but my instinct says "not so fast." And I try another and another, then finally, my mouth gapes and I know I've got it. Yup, those are the days I walk around with a silly grin.
Kathryn Orzech
Maybe 30 years ago at a friend's dinner party, the conversation turned to all things spooky. One woman who worked at a mental healthcare facility, once an asylum in the 1800s, claimed to have seen a ghost in the hallway outside her upper floor office. I invited myself to a private tour the very next week and from there, my imagination took off.
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