Big 4 with Bec: Andrea Cremer

Andrea Cremer spent her childhood daydreaming while roaming the forests and lakeshores of Northern Wisconsin. She now lives in Minnesota, but she thinks of her homeland as the “Canadian Shield” rather than the Midwest.

Andrea has always loved writing and has never stopped writing, but she only recently plunged into the deep end of the pool that is professional writing. When she’s not writing, Andrea teaches history at a very nice liberal arts college in St. Paul.

In the little spare time she can find, Andrea stares up at trees, rescues infant rabbits from predatory cats, and invents names for pug puppies with her husband. She has an unfortunate tendency to spill things – white carpets beware!

Q. 1 You’ve said that you were a daydreamer as a child. How important is daydreaming to your writing process now?

Absolutely essential. I’m often asked what the most difficult part of writing is for me, and, honestly, it’s not the writing – it’s getting my head out of the story. Especially when I’m in the middle of creating the first draft, I struggle with stepping out of the world I’m writing and doing every day things. So, I’ll end up pouring orange juice on my cereal, stepping in the shower and out again without having washed my hair – it’s wonderful to be that caught up in the story, but also a pain, because I don’t function like a normal person. In many ways a part of me is always daydreaming, but I think that’s pivotal to the way I write.

Q. 2 Nightshade made the New York Times bestseller list. Congratulations! How did you first hear the news and what was your reaction? What did you do to celebrate?

Thank you! I was, and am still over the moon about hitting the New York Times list. My publicist at Penguin called at the same moment that my editor did and so I was on the phone with call waiting beeping in. I screamed and laughed and cried and danced around. I called my mom and cried some more. It was wonderful! A friend of mine was visiting and she, my husband, and I went to dinner a fabulous restaurant to celebrate.

Q. 3 The Nightshade werewolves exercise self-control, yet still obviously delight in their animalism. Did you add that element of ‘civility’ to challenge the traditional werewolf stereotype of the unpredictable beast?

I’ve never been a fan of traditional werewolves, so when Calla jumped into my head and I knew she was both young woman and a wolf I thought I was in serious trouble. How could I write a werewolf tale when I don’t like werewolves? I had to do some soul-searching about the source of my ambivalence and realized that it was tied in to my childhood. I grew up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin (go any further north and you’d be in Canada!) and spent my days out in the forests with my brother and best friend, building forts and inventing imaginary worlds. The wilderness was beautiful and magical and all the animals in it – including wolves – were fascinating to me. I couldn’t come to terms with the way werewolves were portrayed as savage, slavery beasts, when I saw wolves as beautiful, graceful, and intelligent, with complex social relationships – not unlike human relationships. I created the wolf mythology of Nightshade to reflect my admiration of wolves.

Q. 4 Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

It’s hard to choose because each member of the pack is so important – they rely on and learn from each other constantly. However, because Calla was the inspiration for Nightshade, I’d have to say its her. Nightshade is about her struggle to find her own path through life, battling between her own desires and the expectations of others. Despite everything that’s happening around her, ultimately her success or failure will depend on her ability to learn who she truly is and live her life accordingly.

You can get the scoop on upcoming releases by Andrea @ the Atom Books site

Visit the gorgeous Nightshade web page here.