Four Hours of Fright: Why Jenny Milchman Likes to Scare

By - August 23, 2013

Cruisin' into the 5 p.m. hour (EST), we're almost at the end of FOUR HOURS OF FRIGHT, but there are plenty of scares to still be had. 

 For example, our next guest poster, International Thriller Writers' Debut Class Author Jenny Milchman is all set to tell you why she loves to scare you!  

Don't forget to check the bottom of this post to make sure you know how to enter to win Jenny's giveaway as well as giveaways from ITW Debut Thriller Author Melissa MacGregor!

Now, let's welcome Jenny Milchman as she takes it away with her post titled, "Why I Scare People for a Living"!  It's all yours, Jenny!

 

I was on book tour in Vermont when an audience member asked, "Do you scare yourself with your own books?"

I thought it was an intriguing question, but I was unprepared for how many levels of self-descent its answer would involve. 

First I was reminded of something that Stephen King once said. King is a favorite of mine, and even though most people don't see the influence on my work, I can honestly say that the Master lives in almost every word I write.

Of Pet Semetary King wrote that he scared himself so much that when he was finished, he had to put the manuscript in a drawer for a year.

I actually have the opposite experience with my books, even though they deal with very frightening things. A spouse's suicide. Children disappearing. Monsters--real ones--in the prison of a closet.

The answer I gave the reader in Vermont was that I feel less scared when I am writing than during any other time. And since then, I've thought a lot about why this would be.

I think that I am, at heart, a scared person. There is a thin line, right? The one between the workaday, when everything is normal, milk to pick up, exercise class to make, to that moment when the phone rings or the car crashes or a knock on the door comes from someone you don't want to see. You know the line I mean.

For me that line feels very, very close. I live with the specter of it every day, some days every minute. Standing on a subway platform provokes images of the man who pushes someone onto the tracks. An elevator ride might mean a climb down the shaft when the power goes out. Watching my children cavort in the water triggers thoughts of drowning.

I know, I'm neurotic, and let's not even talk about my poor kids who have to sense on some level that Mommy is way too scared. That's what therapy is for.

Let's just accept for now that I'm nuts and look at what happens next.

After I picture the drowning, something starts to happen. Suddenly, my own two tousle-headed kids aren't there anymore. They've morphed into different children. And they're in the care of somebody else, someone who...wait, what? Okay, yeah, that's good. That's great, in fact. Who isn't their mother. Then one of them drowns. And this person has to...what? Tell the parents, of course. Or...does she cover it up? And voila, a story is born.

When I'm writing a book something wondrous happens. The world that frightens me so much is contained in one box on my desk. I can lead the people where I want them to go. I can compose and order events so that by the end the scales of justice have balanced and redemption is a possibility.

Excessive anxiety is a curse. I'm sure everyone has read the same news stories as I have, but they're better at putting them down and allowing life to proceed in an orderly way without terror and panic. But for me the curse comes with a blessing: the alchemy to transform base fears into a golden fantasy world that is even scarier than the real one is, but where everything comes out right in the end.

I hope one day I might scare you with something I write. And I hope that by the lastpage, I will have given you a little bit of comfort, too.

 

***Jenny is giving away a signed copy of her book, Cover of Snow, along with a stuffed "Weekend" dog (character from her book) to one lucky commenter on this post. So, don't forget to comment!***

 

***For Writers: All day today, in honor of TRADE THE DAY, thriller author Jenny Milchman is offering a query letter critique to five people who purchase The Trade today on StairwayPress.com . For your chance to win, Enter Promotional Code TRADE THE DAY when you purchase your copy of The Trade by Colby Marshall today on StairwayPress.com to benefit the Leukemia Lymphoma Society***

ABOUT JENNY:  Jenny Milchman is a suspense writer from New Jersey who likes to scare people. Her debut novel, Cover of Snow, was released by Ballantine in January 2013. Find out more at jennymilchman.com.

 

With An Additional Giveaway From

MELISSA MACGREGOR

***Five people who comment on this post will win a free e-copy of Melissa MacGregor's new thriller, The Curious Steambox Affair.***

ABOUT THE CURIOUS STEAMBOX AFFAIR:  The year is 1827, and Alistair Purefoy, a young physician’s assistant, moves to Edinburgh to take a position with one Dr. Hyde. His colleagues call him a monster, while Hyde himself claims to have invented a Steambox that harnesses the human soul. Undaunted by these peculiarities, Alistair proves his mettle with the infamous Doctor, but he soon finds himself occupied outside the Operating Theatre as well… 
  
When someone in his rooming house is murdered, Alistair is unnerved by the lack of interest from the police. He begins to investigate on his own, discovering a string of gruesome murders that appear to be connected, not only to each other, but also to him. Now Alistair can use all the help he can get, and with the aid of a secret society known as The Merry Gentlemen, he’s about to uncover a deadly experiment more monstrous than anything of Dr. Hyde’s imagining. Find out more at melissamacgregor.net.

 

Comment for your chance to win both Jenny's and Melissa's giveaways- leave an e-mail address so we can contact you if you win!

 

What's the scary book or movie you love to read or watch--and use to scare yourself--over and over again?