Interview with Crime Writer Kristen Bird – S. 9, Ep. 9

This episode of the Crime Cafe features my interview with crime writer Kristen Bird. Check out our discussion of her latest novel Watch it Burn, along with the book she’s giving away I Love it When You Lie. Remember to leave a comment here to enter the giveaway! 🙂 Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two eBooks for sale: the nine book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy inks for both on my website, debbimack.com under the Crime Cafe link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. Check us out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/crimecafe Debbi: But first, let me put in a good word for Blubrry podcasting. I’m a Blubrry affiliate, but that’s not the only reason I’m telling you this. I’ve been using Blubrry Podcasting as my hosting service for my podcast for years and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made. They give great customer service, you’re in complete control of your own podcast, you can run it from your own website, and it just takes a lot of the work out of podcasting for me. I find for that reason that it’s a company that I can get behind 100% and say, “You should try this.” Try Blubrry. It doesn’t require a long-term contract, and it’s just a great company, period. It also has free technical support by email, video, and phone, so you can get a human being there. Isn’t that nice? If you want to podcast, try out Blubrry. No long-term contract, excellent distribution, and great technical support, too, by email, video, and on the phone. I’ve included affiliate links on this blog. Download a copy of the transcript here. Debbi: Hi, everyone. My guest today earned a Bachelor's degree in Music and Mass Media before getting a Masters in Literature. Along with being an author, she teaches high school English (yay!), and writes with a cup of coffee in hand. Do you do that one-handed? Kristen: Write? Debbi: Well, I'll tell you, I do love my coffee. Kristen: Yes, me too. Debbi: Oh yeah. Oh boy. I can't live without. In her free time, she likes to visit parks with her three daughters and watch quirky films with her husband. Oh boy. We have things to talk about because I love quirky films. Her most recent novel and the one she's giving away is I Love It When You Lie. I even have a copy here on my Kobo. You can see the cover maybe if you're watching, and her next release will be her third novel, Watch It Burn. I've read her excerpt and it's really something. From Houston, Texas, I'm pleased to have with me Kristen Bird. Hi, Kristen. How you doing today? Kristen: Good. Thank you so much for having me today. Debbi: It's a pleasure to have you. Yeah, believe me. I read your excerpt and wow! Kristen: Oh, thank you. Debbi: Oh, you're welcome. Readers learn so much about your protagonist in that first chapter. This is after a prologue that's already intriguing, and then a little excerpt from like a newspaper or something. Kristen: Right. Debbi: You know, that first chapter and then you end it with a nice hook. Kristen: Oh, thanks. Debbi: I will not say what. What's interesting is that you're weaving in the character's backstory without it reading like exposition. What's your technique for doing that? Kristen: I think my technique is lots of failure at not doing that, and so some of the earliest comments from my agent who liked the story of the first book that I sent her also said, you're doing way too much telling. Can you please make this more vivid for us? Can you please show it to us? And so with the second book, before I even sent it to her for editing notes, I really tried to ask myself with every chapter, how can I paint a picture of this, rather than just tell everyone what's happening? So I think that maybe just having that question in the back of my mind was really important.