Author Q&A: Kelley Armstrong

Happy publication day to A Stranger in Town - the latest in Kelley Armstrong's Rockton series. I jumped in partway through the series but I'm totally into it now. I just started reading the newest on Sunday and can't wait to get back to it. Before I share my review later this week, I want to share a Q&A I was lucky enough to do with Armstrong. Thank you to her and to Raincoast Books for arranging this opportunity. I hope you enjoy!

Books Etc.: I’m a newer fan of the Rockton series so I apologize in advance for the very basic first question I have: how did the series come about? What came first – the town or the people?
Kelley Armstrong: The town. I was talking to my agent at the time, and she mentioned hearing that enough people go missing every year to populate a small town. That got me thinking, “What if there was an actual town where people went to disappear?” I figured out the logistics of the town and then started populating it.

BE: What’s it like writing in different genres? Do you find many differences between them all when writing? And do you try to switch it up with each new book?
KA: I need variety as a reader, so I also need it as a writer. They all definitely have a different tone and feel, which keeps things fresh. I do try to alternate them on my writing schedule to shake it up creatively.

BE: Casey and the Rockton crew encounter a lot of wild animals – have you had experience with foxes, wolves, or bears?
KA: While I’ve encountered all of them, my encounters are never as dramatic, thankfully! For example, A Stranger in Town has a grizzly standoff. I based the “mother and two juveniles” on a family we saw along the roadside in the Yukon, where the juveniles were the size of black bears. We’ve had grizzlies in our yard there, but they leave as soon as they hear us.

BE: What kind of research did you do on the different types of groups found in the Rockton series?
KA: You mean the different settlement types? (Note: yep, that's what I meant! I forgot the word "settlement" *face palm*) Lots of research on people who go off-grid somewhere like the Yukon. Why do they do it? How do they live? Research on isolated communities around the world for the First Settlement, research on communes for the Second Settlement. The hostiles are trickier, because I wanted to steer well clear of stereotypes. Even the language is loaded and could trigger in those stereotypes if I referred to them as savage or primitive or tribal. They are average people who went into the forest and something happened. Avoiding spoilers, I’ll only say that I did a lot of research on what could happen under the scenario I envisioned.

BE: What are some of the best and worst things you’ve done for research?
KA: For the Rockton series, the on-site research is the best—just getting out there and experiencing it. Also the excuse—I’m not just driving up to Dawson for a few days for vacation, I’m doing research. As for the worst, I can’t recall anything where I hated the whole experience, but had to do it for research. Now, when it comes to non-experiential research, my least favorite part is when I expect an easy answer to a question, end up spending hours chasing it, and later decide to edit out that section!