Writing Unique Island Mysteries

Questions and Answers

with Wendy Howell Mills

 Island Intrigue

 Question: Where is Island Intrigue set?

Answer: Island Intrigue is set on a fictional seacoast island off the coast of anywhere USA. The whole process was a lot of fun, especially since my island is fictional this time and I could really let myself go. Basically, I took several islands I love, stuck 'em all in the blender with all their zany people and traditions, and voila, the result is Comico Island. It's not your run-of-the-mill island by any means, but I think you'll want to come back and visit again and again.

 Question: Is Island Intrigue part of the Callie McKinley series?

Answer: Island Intrigue is a departure from my Callie McKinley series, but don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Callie. I think my readers will find that they like Sabrina very much and hopefully Callie will be back soon.

 Question: Your main character is a hypochondriac and an awful cook, but doesn't know it. Where did you get the inspiration for your character?

Answer: I won't mention any names, but a member of my family might have some of Sabrina's characteristics.  She's constantly convinced she has some obscure disease and scouring medical books to back up her diagnosis. For the sake of family unity, I won't talk about the cooking. Really.

Having said that, however, Sabrina has a lot of issues that are definitely NOT shared by my mother. We find out during the course of the book that Sabrina has a very good reason to be paranoid about her health, and she's dealing with the death of her mother which has had a profound effect on her. Sabrina says at one point, 'Sane people are boring.’ At that point she has decided that if she’s losing her mind she’s going to try to enjoy the experience. She sees that she can either go quietly mad in Cincinnati, or she can do something drastic to shake up her life a bit.

 Question: How does your main character Sabrina Dunsweeney end up on Comico Island?

Answer: The double tragedy of her breast cancer scare and the death of her mother is the impetus that propels Sabrina to Comcio Island-- she looks at her life and realizes that she hasn't been happy in a very long time, that she has been living her life the way other people think she should. She says darn it, I want to do something for me for once in my life. So she picks the most isolated island she can find from the comfort of her Cincinnati home, and she makes arrangements to go there for a month to see if she can figure out what has gone wrong with her life. Of course, because this is a mystery, she gets involved in a murder, but I think the overriding theme of the book is being true to yourself.

 Question: Comico Island, the island in the book, is fictional. In your previous books you have written about a real place. Why the departure?

Answer:  Creating a fictional island gives me some latitude that I did not have with the Outer Banks books. Besides, creating an entire island is just plain fun. I’ve drawn a big map of the island with all the roads and shops and houses labeled. I can do whatever I want to, without the worries of offending someone. And though Island Intrigue is set on a fictional island, the issues facing a small, isolated island are very real, including rising property taxes, unchecked development and obnoxious tourists. Even though Comico Island is fictional, anyone who lives on an island, or loves one, will find the island and its inhabitants true to what you know.

 General Questions

 Question: When did you start writing?

Answer: I've been in love with books for as long as I can remember. At some point, I remember thinking: "Hey, I can do this!" I wrote my first book when I was twelve, a science fiction tale called Visitors from Meana. Since then, I'm always writing on some book or another. I'm not happy unless I'm writing.

 Question: You live on an island, you write about an island... what attracts you to islands?

Answer: I love writing about the hidden, eclectic life of islanders. There's something inside that makes us want to live here, isolated from the rest of the world. And that kind of secrecy lends itself to mysteries of the most complex, juiciest kind.

 Question: Why do you write?

Answer: Writing for me is a compulsion. I couldn't stop if you smashed my computer, took all my notebooks and made me promise under threat of death to never pick up another pen or pencil. I'd be writing in magic marker on the walls.

 Question: Why do you write mysteries?

Answer: There's just something so satisfying when all the pieces fall into place and the solution, inevitable but not predictable, becomes clear. It satisfies my sense of order. Good triumphs over evil, all the loose ends are tied up and hopefully the character has grown some as well. What more could you want?

 Questions: How has having a child affected your writing?

Answer:  Zachary has certainly made my writing schedule more challenging, but of course he's worth every minute of it! I've learned to type with one hand while fending off reaching little fingers. He loves it when I read passages of the story out loud to him.

 Question: What does you family think of your writing?

Answer: Both my aunt and mom write, so of course they understand my madness. My husband Eddie has been very supportive. He doesn't know what to think of me sometimes; writers can be very strange creatures, especially when we are in the throes of a creative fugue. But he recognizes that writing has been making me happy since I was a little kid.

 Question: How many books did you write before you got one published?

Answer: I wrote my first book when I was twelve and had completed several novels by the time I graduated form Old Dominion University in Virginia. Those novels will never see the light of day. They were that bad! Writing is a learning process, just like anything else. You can't expect to be a professional water skier your first time out on the water, and you can't expect to write a professional novel your first try. I don't think I will ever stop trying to improve my writing. That's part of the fun of the process.

Question: What was the first piece that you got published?

Answer: Mind you, I had written several books before I wrote CALLIE AND THE DEALER AND A DOG NAMED JAKE, but this was the first one published. I was 27, and the day I found out was one of the best days of my life. It was a lifelong dream come true. Even with my third book, ISLAND INTRIGUE, I still feel that unforgettable sense of delirious anticipation I experienced with the first book. 

Question: What tips would you have for aspiring authors?

Answer: Keep at it. It's not always easy, but it's always rewarding.

The Outer Banks Mystery Series

Question: How did you pick Callie McKinley as a main character?

Answer: I was working as a restaurant manager so it seemed natural to make her a restaurant manager as well. Because of this, people assume that Callie is me, which isn't true! She and I share the same opinions about some things, like people who drive twenty-five miles an hour on the Bypass, or who order hot tea in a restaurant, but she's her own person, with her own set of demons and worries that motivates her reactions to situations.

 I've really enjoyed writing about Callie and her friends. In some ways, Callie gets to have all the fun I wish I could have had. Not so much in finding dead bodies everywhere, but in that she gets to say to people exactly what she's thinking.   

 Question: Why did you choose to set your first series on the Outer Banks?

Answer: They say that everyone living on the Outer Banks is running from something or to something. In my case, it's a little bit of both. I grew up in southern Virginia, in a little town called Yorktown. It was a great place to grow up, small, quiet, and very, very ordinary. When my husband and I graduated from college, we decided to move to the Outer Banks, just for the summer, you understand, before we went out into the "real" world to pursue "real" jobs. What I found in the Outer Banks was a profound sense of coming home. The people are a little zany, the weather more than a little crazy; but there was a certain something that appealed to my soul. It may be the dichotomy of hectic energy or tourists and locals alike versus the soul-healing quietness of the sunrise over the ocean. It may be that I just liked seeing the ocean every day, and feeling the sand beneath my feet. Whatever it is, I ran to it gratefully, not realizing that I was at the same time running away from ever living an ordinary life.

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