Interview Billie Williams

by

Roberta Olsen Major

Roberta: Death by Candlelight sounds like a mystery in the grand old tradition of Agatha Christie. Is it a "cozy" mystery, or does it push things to the edge in a more contemporary fashion?

Billie: Death by Candlelight is indeed a mystery, but it deals with contemporary issues, too. The thread that runs through DbyC is dysfunctional families. They have always been part of society, but we only recently have labeled and set up means and methods to deal with the family members who are affected by them. In DbyC we have the Ord families; one family torn apart by drug, alcohol and spousal abuse; the other torn apart by sibling rivalry, greed, and a matriarchal domineering woman. The traps the victims find themselves in, the manner in which they deal with them, and the outcomes weave a tangled thread throughout the book and the lives they touch.

Roberta: What led you to write a book with death featured so prominently in the title?

Billie: Death has such a final message in it and in every mystery you expect someone to be dead or killed. This book is about death, about the final breath of life, but there are more ways to die than physical death. There are degrees of death. The candle burns slowly. Think of the drips of wax as the steps to death. For some, their spirit is crushed (or dies) first; for others, loss of love equals death on another plane; self-respect swallowed up in the shadow of abuse is death to the psyche. So death is more than the physical in Death by Candlelight, it signifies the layers of a person that die in many ways in day to day living.

Roberta: Is Death by Candlelight your first published work? If not, what are your others and how do they compare in genre to this one?

Billie: Death by Candlelight is my first published book length project. I have had articles, stories and poetry published in a variety of mediums.

Roberta: What is the toughest part of your job as a writer?

Billie: The hardest part of writing for me is allowing myself to write. I have a hard time telling the world and myself "I am a writer; that is my day job." So I wind up working at an outside job. I feel guilty on my days off if I spend them writing instead of doing domestic chores.

Roberta: What is the most satisfying part of writing?

Billie: In a word, the most satisfying part of writing is the writing. I have always been fascinated with words. Then too, there is the thrill of having connected, touched, and or moved another person. I love the whole process of writing. The ideas flood in, the writing, rewriting/editing, marketing. When I hear back from a reader, that has to be the best high in the world.

Roberta: Cast your book as a miniseries. What channel would it appear on--the “old fogey” channel of CBS, for example, or the “youth catering” Fox or WB? Who would play the leads? Would four hours be enough to tell the story, or would you need six?

Billie: This is a really hard question. I think Lifetime or perhaps A & E would be the best place for this novel. The protagonist Danielle Ord would take a many faceted actress like Helen Hunt, or Drew Barrymore. The perfect matriarch, Beatrice Ord, would be the Linda Hunt (the tiny actress who has more spunk than a herd of wild horses) who played in some of the old westerns or the woman who played Mrs. Pincheon in the TV sitcom Lou Grant with Mary Tyler Moore. (Sorry I can't think of her name). Randy Ord III--Patrick Swayze. Detective Sandy March--perhaps a Chuck Norris type. Organized crime lieutenant "Shorty" Delegano I think Danny De Vito would be a perfect fit. There are some new, very talented actresses and actors out there that would work too. I guess the directors/producers would know the type of people who could handle the roles better than I could predict.

Roberta: What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Billie: My advice to aspiring writers would be to write every day. Read relentlessly in all areas. Read once for pleasure, once to concentrate on the way your favorite author defines character or setting; how s/he sets up plot. The more you read the more the mechanics, the grammar etc., will fall to the background and be automatic so that you can tell the story you want to tell. Write, read, read, write, did I mention Write <G> and send your work out regularly, enter contests, stretch yourself. Be sure to read the winning entries of contests, how did they do it? Study good writing books. Write, read, send out and never ever give up. Wall paper a room with rejection letters, they mean you are out there trying, with each one you become a better writer.

Roberta: What projects are you working on now, and will there be anything new from you through Wings in 2003?

Billie: I have two other mystery/suspense novels I have finished, that are written to the end, I am editing them now. I have two others that are little more than summary outlines of chapters I plan on including. I also have a young adult novel in the editing stages. I write constantly, articles, stories, book reviews, contests and send them out hoping they will be published. I am hoping to find a home at Wings for another novel soon. I have not sent them a query yet though.