Q&A With Beth Castrodale

After finishing reading Beth Castrodale’s new release, The Inhabitants, I am happy to be doing this Q&A with her today. Beth’s other books are I Mean You No Harm, In This Ground, Marion Hatley & Gold River. In the past Beth was a newspaper reporter until her love of books led to her to the publishing world. Beth was a senior editor at Bedford/St.Martin’s and is the founding editor of Small Press Picks. Beth’s short fiction has appeared in Marathon Literary Review, Printer’s Devil Review, and the Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine. 

Q: Beth, would you like to give a brief description of each of your books starting with The Inhabitants?

A: First off, thanks so much for taking the time to interview me! 

My newest book, The Inhabitants, tells the story of a struggling artist who moves into a house built by a nineteenth-century architect whose constructions were said to influence the mind–supposedly, in beneficial ways. As she seeks revenge-by-painting against a contempt-worthy portrait subject, she begins to have strange experiences in the house, making her wonder whether it’s haunted, or whether its architect’s intentions were less than benevolent. In time, she finds herself confronting otherworldly forces that threaten to consume her.

I Mean You No Harm tells the story of Layla Shawn, who reconnects with her estranged half-sister at the funeral of their career-criminal father. On a cross-country road trip, the two women mend fences, but Layla finds herself caught in the middle of an unsettled and lethal score between her father and a man who knows more than he should about her mother’s death.

In This Ground tells the story of Ben Dirjery, an indie-rocker-turned-gravedigger who is still struggling with guilt over the death of a former bandmate, who is buried, literally, under Ben’s feet. When Ben’s daughter starts questioning a past he’s tried to bury, he begins putting to rest his guilt over his bandmate’s death and bringing music back into his life.

In Marion Hatley, a Depression-era lingerie seamstress flees her home city for the countryside, where she hopes to live and work in peace. Instead, she finds herself confronting uncomfortable secrets about herself and those closest to her.  

In Gold River, 17-year-old Kit Mabek visits the site of a legendary healing river. Her mission: to find out what happened to her desperately ill mother, Ava, who vanished during Kit’s infancy. New clues suggest that Ava was drawn to the river, in search of a cure. In time, Kit begins to unravel the mystery behind her mother’s disappearance. She also discovers unsettling powers that connect her to the town’s “original water healer,” the leader of a controversial nineteenth-century commune founded at Gold River.

(People who sign up for my e-newsletter at https://www.bethcastrodale.com/gold-river/ get a complimentary e-copy of Gold River.)

Q: What made you want to write a haunted house story with a mystery for The Inhabitants? Why was it important for you to include a metoo movement plot as part of the story?

A: Ever since I was a little girl, I loved reading and writing ghost stories. I even made handwritten and hand-illustrated books featuring haunted houses and castles. As an adult, I longed to carry on this tradition and write a paranormal novel, and I’m delighted that I’m on the verge of publishing my first book in this genre.

When I started drafting The Inhabitants, I didn’t envision it including a MeToo story line. Because the main character, Nilda, is an artist, I wanted to show her at work, and I got the idea of having her work on a commissioned portrait of a new headmaster at a private school. As I started to draft these scenes, I had a bad feeling about the headmaster, like he had some kind of dark history. Eventually, I figured out that he was a sexual predator, and that Nilda would need to uncover this truth and address it through the portrait.

Q: Where do the ideas for your stories and characters come from? Would you say the main character of Nilda in The Inhabitants has some personality traits of you or someone you know?

A: My ideas come from so many different places. In the case of my novel In This Ground, for instance, I knew I wanted the setting to be a cemetery, because I’ve always loved cemeteries, and I imagine that they’re full of stories, both dead and of those who visit or work on the grounds. In the case of The Inhabitants, I’ve always been fascinated by tales of haunted spaces, and what happens to those who enter them, intentionally or by circumstance. So, I decided to write a novel about just such a space. I decided to have Nilda, the main character of The Inhabitants, be an artist, because I thought that would make her especially receptive to the architectural features of the old house she moves into, features that the house’s architect believed could influence the mind. I didn’t consciously set out to have Nilda share personality traits with me or with anyone I know. However, I have no doubt that I drew on my own experiences and insights as I developed her character.

Q: What lessons do you hope readers learn after reading your work? What emotions do you hope readers feel once they have finished reading your work?

A: Speaking of The Inhabitants in particular, I hope the novel might encourage readers to reflect on places they’ve lived in and how these places have affected them emotionally. My own feeling is that every space we inhabit leaves some kind of mark on us–for instance, memories of happy or upsetting events there.  After readers finish the novel, I hope they’ll feel haunted by the experience (pardon the turn of phrase!). More specifically, I hope that characters, images, and story lines from the novel will stay with folks after they’ve read the final page.

Q: You were a newspaper reporter before becoming an author! I think that’s very impressive! Would you say your time as a newspaper reporter helps with your research and writing skills while working on a novel? Would you ever return to being a reporter or will you solely focus on writing books from now on?

A: Working as a reporter helped me hone my research and writing skills. At times, I still interview people who have expertise related to topics covered in my novels. For example, for my novel In This Ground, whose main character is a gravedigger, I spent a day trailing a local gravedigger to learn more about the ins and outs of the job. Newspaper writing also trained me to stay on point while writing fiction and to cut words and phrases that don’t really serve the story. Although I learned a lot from my reporting days, I don’t see myself returning to journalism. These days, I’m fortunate to be able to devote most of my work hours to fiction writing.

Q: What’s it like having your short fiction appearing in Marathon Literary Review, Printer’s Devil Review, and the Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine? It sounds like a dream come true!

A: I felt so lucky to have short stories published in these (and other) publications. Especially in my earlier days of writing fiction, before I’d published any novels, getting stories published helped boost my confidence and give me hope that I might eventually find a home for book-length works of fiction.

Q: You were a senior editor at Bedford/St. Martin’s before becoming an author. What was that experience like?

A: I learned so much from that job. Although I was working on textbooks, not novels, I got valuable experience with editing and collaborating with others. I also gained a lot of experience with public speaking and with crafting compelling marketing messages, which have been a big help with promoting my own books.

Q: If/When The Inhabitants is made into a movie or a limited series who would you want to be your dream cast for Nilda, Sidney, Clay, Toni, Graham, Alex and Helen? I could see Michael Flanagan directing it, since he did a lot of spooky shows!

A: What a fun question! For some reason, when I wrote Nilda’s parts of the book, I envisioned Catherine Keener, one of my favorite actors. She has a no-BS demeanor that is keeping with Nilda’s. When writing Toni’s parts, I envisioned Lisa Edelstein, and for Graham’s parts, I imagined Javier Bardem. With other characters, I didn’t envision any actors; these people and their appearance came entirely from my imagination. This means I’d probably have to do some casting calls to identify fitting actors for these roles! 

Q: How long does it take for you to research and write a book?

A: This really varies, depending on how much research I have to do for any given novel. Because my novel Marion Hatley featured a Depression-era lingerie seamstress who was trying to design a truly comfortable corset, I ended up doing a lot of research into the nature of corsets at that time. Because the novel also featured a World War I veteran and flashed back to his combat experiences, I examined several diaries of those who fought in this war. This is just a sampling of the research I did for Marion Hatley, and I think the whole project took about four years.

I’m guessing that The Inhabitants, I Mean You No Harm, and In This Ground each took between two and three years to research and write. In contrast, Gold River took ten years to finish, maybe more. Research was part of the reason, but the main reason was that I kept rethinking and rewriting the book, which was my first novel to see the light of day. Since then, I’ve tried to avoid a similar time sink by sketching out rough outlines for books before starting them. Also, I don’t request any beta-reader feedback until I have a complete first draft. With Gold River, I asked for feedback after completing each chapter, which sometimes sent me down revision rabbit holes.

Q: What is the plot of the next book you are currently writing now?

A: I’m working on a novel about a fourth-generation farmer who’s struggling to hold onto her land in the face of pressure from a developer, and from a cousin who would benefit from the developer’s plans. In the process, she ends up getting support from a farmhand drifter who turns out to have an agenda of her own.

The setting of this novel is based on a small farm that’s still in my family and that’s sacred ground for my cousins and me. So, this story feels very close to my heart.