Copyright 2006 - 2007 Susan Sleeman
Christian Suspense
To Die For
Interview with Melanie Wells by Karri Comption
A native of the Texas panhandle, Wells is a licensed psychotherapist, business owner, musician and author of the critically-acclaimed Dylan Foster psychological thrillers.She attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, on a musical scholarship as a violinist. After graduating with a degree in English, she went on to obtain graduate degrees in counseling psychology from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio and biblical studies from Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas. She has taught at the graduate level of both universities.
Since 1992, Wells has been in private practice as a counselor. She is the founder and director of LifeWorks Counseling Associates, a collaborative community of therapists, in Dallas and is a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.
Growing up in a musical family where one's identity was determined by the art they portrayed, Wells was constantly surrounded by creativity. She began her literary career because she wanted to funnel this creativity and her everyday observations into a good book. She believes that the natural creative rhythm of music can be extended to the natural rhythm of the written word. Her own musical background and life experience as a psychologist has prolifically impacted her writing throughout the years.
Her debut psychological thriller, "When the Day of Evil Comes," released in 2005 and sold more than 25,000 copies in the first six months. "The Soul Hunter," her subsequent book, followed in 2006. Her newest book, "My Soul to Keep," releases Feb. 5, 2008, from Multnomah Books, a division of Random House.
Wells currently lives and writes in Dallas.
Q: Did you get your start in writing by creating novels, or did you write short stories or non-fiction first?
I started with novels. Always jump into the deep end before you know how to swim. That’s my motto. Kidding. I started writing on a lark, really, and eventually turned out a novel, which is sort of like giving birth to a bus. If I’d had a CLUE what I was getting myself into, I would have splashed around in the baby pool for a while or at least taken a class or two. But I have a tendency to be a “learn it the hard way” girl. Not my best trait, probably.
Q: How does being a psychotherapist help you in your writing?
I’ve spent 15 years now observing people and listening to their stories. Little signals in the body language, expressions that betray a hidden thought - things like that. And noticing their quirks, peccadilloes, flaws - all the things that make a person unique. So I think I draw characters pretty easily. And dialogue - another thing that trips up a lot of writers - comes naturally to me as well. I’ve heard more intimate conversations than most people will hear in a lifetime. And I know what’s behind the façade people are walking around wearing. I’ve handed out cases of tissues, one Kleenex at a time. And listened to people who’ve been angry at each other for 20 years duke it out verbally on my couch. All that gave me an ear for the subtleties of dialogue, I think, that would have taken years to develop without that head start.
Q: Describe how a story comes to you and the process in which you work it out.
I usually start with the opening scene only. A man comes home from work to an empty house and his wife has left him two bologna sandwiches for supper and taken the revolver. Something like that. And then I get to know the characters and follow them around and find out what happens next. I never plot it out ahead of time. Which makes for some pretty unsettling moments, especially as the deadline begins to loom near. You’re sitting there at that point going “Why BOLOGNA???” “What did she do with the revolver????” And hoping someone in the book tells you sometime soon.
Q: Why do you write about ordinary people experiencing the supernatural?
That was an accident, really. I had a dream one night while I was on a writing trip with my best friend Trish Murphy, who is a singer/songwriter in Austin. It involved a creepy pasty-white dude with a slash in his back, a ring, a necklace, some packages wrapped in white on white, and water. I got up the next morning and wrote the first chapter of what later became “When the Day of Evil Comes.” We went to Barton Springs in Austin that day and talked about the character. We named him after two ex-boyfriends we don’t like. Peter and Terry. (Take THAT, fellas!)
The chapter turned out to be sort of creepy and other-worldly, so that became the tone of the books. Quite by accident.
I’m really a normal person. No one believes me now, of course.
Q: Have you ever experienced a personal Peter Terry-type incident? If so, explain. If not, do you know anyone personally who has?
Actually, yes. Many of them. I think people either have a spiritual “radar” or they don’t. And unfortunately, I do. I can tell when there’s something wrong in the air. It’s hard to explain, but it’s just a feeling - a feeling that’s certain, not abstract in any way. Several of the scenes in my books came from my own experience. The fly scene in When the Day of Evil Comes, for example. I get tons of emails about that scene from people who experienced it the same way. And the water heater incident from The Soul Hunter. That happened to me. In the dead of winter, of course. God has a sick sense of humor sometimes…
Q: Your protagonist, Dylan Foster, is a struggling Christian who, by her own admission, doesn't often act like she knows God very well. Why did you create her with so many issues? Is it important for a main character to not have it all together?
I think she knows God pretty well, actually. I just think she’s so self-absorbed and wrapped up in her own life, she forgets about Him. Which is how I think most of us secretly live. My characters sort of write themselves, so I can’t quite explain why I gave her so many issues. She just showed up that way. But I do think it’s wonderful how people relate to her. I get lots of email about that - about how people see Dylan floundering around and feel some kinship with her. They relate to that earthy existence that keeps us from noticing how much help is available - and from Someone qualified, no less. Strange how easy it is to forget…
Q: What kinds of books can you be found reading on any given day?
I tend to read non-fiction mostly. Maybe because I write fiction. It’s like eating at a restaurant once you’ve waited tables there and you know what goes on in the kitchen. It takes the magic out of the experience. Fiction has become sort of like that for me. As I read, I’m going - wow, that’s a great trick… or no, no, no…. all the characters’ names sound alike. Didn’t anyone tell you about character markers?
It’s really quite distracting.
I love Anne Lamott, David Sedaris - irreverent, funny people like that. And biographies. I read a lot of historical biographies. Somehow it encourages me to know that John McCain finished 5th from the bottom in his class at the Naval Academy and then survived 5 ½ years chained to a wall in Hanoi.
Q: What are some of your goals/plans for the future?
Mainly, I’d like to get on top of my workload so I could go to bed at a normal hour, for once. That’s about as far ahead as I can think at the moment.
Q: When will there be a fourth novel? Please tell us about it.
No idea, really. My contract with Multnomah was for three books, which are now finished with the release of My Soul to Keep. Random House purchased Multnomah a year or so ago, so that adds another element to the mix. Essentially, it depends on how My Soul to Keep does out there. I think it’s a terrific read, so I’m hoping it will find its audience. If that happens, I think we’ll see more of Dylan Foster. There are definitely more stories there. That’s what I’m hoping for.
Read more about Melanie at: http://www.melaniewells.com
Books By Melanie
| My Soul to
Keep Click title to read excerpt or buy from CBD.com By Melanie Wells / Multnomah 
It's psychology professor Dylan Foster's favorite day of the academic year - graduation day- a day of pomp, circumstance and celebration. And after all the mortar boards are thrown, Dylan and some of her favorite friends will gather around a strawberry cake to celebrate Christine Zocci's sixth birthday. But the joyful summer afternoon goes south when a little boy is snatched from a neighborhood park, setting off a chain of events that seem to lead exactly nowhere. |
| The Soul Hunter, Day
of Evil Series #2 Click title to read excerpt or buy from CBD.com By Melanie Wells / Multnomah Publishers Inc. A bloody axe at Dylan's front door signals Peter Terry is back. He's haunting minds, invading dreams, wrecking lives, and leaving her desperate for answers. |
| When the Day of Evil
Comes, Day of Evil Series #1 Click title to read excerpt or buy from CBD.com By Melanie Wells / Multnomah Publishers Inc. Soon after a "coincidental" encounter with an eerie, sickly-looking stranger, Dylan Foster's crisply ordered world seems to become a battlefield invaded with disturbing, mysterious events. How does she separate spiritual from earthly, angel from devil---and friend from foe? Will she discover that she is in the eye of heavenly warfare---requiring God's armor? 350 pages, softcover from Multnomah. |
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