Q&A with J.T. Ellison

 

 

 

J.T. Ellison is the author of the new novel Last Seen. Her many other books include A Very Bad Thing. She lives in Nashville. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Last Seen, and how did you create your character Halley?

 

A: I had a crazy dream two summers ago, incredibly detailed, about a writer attending a retreat in a town called Brockville. I wrote it all down and went about my life.

 

A year later, I was doing a proposal for a new contract and needed a second book idea. This dream had never left me, so I dug out the write-up and started twisting a story into being. It needed to be darker than my dream.

 

I used the idea of the writers’ retreat and Brockville, but the writer had gone missing years earlier, and her sister was looking for her. When I realized WHY the sister was looking, the whole story came together.

 

Halley is at a precipice in her life and work when she discovers she’s been lied to her whole life about her mother’s death. She was told it was a car accident, when in truth, her mother was murdered. When she finds out who was accused and jailed for the crime, it messes with her head, believe me.

 

I did all this with my very ill kitten, Jameson, in my lap. She passed the next day, and I will forever know she gave me this story.

 

Q: I’m so sorry about Jameson…

What do you think the novel says about memory and trauma?

 

A: I don’t have a great memory. I remember important things, but a lot has been lost to time. And there’s so much from my childhood that I don’t remember—people, situations, family stories. And some things I do recall with utter certainty I’ve been told aren’t real.

 

Using the dislocation of my own ambiguous memories allowed me to get right inside Halley’s head. It’s hard to believe something wholeheartedly only to find out it’s not true. But to learn your mother’s death was not what you thought? Insanely scary.

 

Also, I grew up in an isolated area, and I’ve always wanted to explore the concept of evil in isolation and its impact on individuals and communities.

 

Whether enforced seclusion can cause a kind of desperate madness, or if evil people find one another and retreat to isolated areas where they’re less likely to be caught doing their dastardly deeds. The latter, of course, is utterly terrifying.

 

And then when I was plotting, I watched the movie Into the Wild, and I knew immediately what I was doing. What if one doesn’t cause the other, but they both exist—and a charismatic entrepreneur could capitalize on the very darkness we all fear?

The story grew from there, marrying with the origins of my dream, and became the story it is today: What would happen if a writer went missing in an idyllic, artistic, biophilic town called Brockville that was founded by a charismatic loner who can talk his way into and out of anything? There would be secrets, diabolical secrets, that come back to haunt everyone involved.

 

Q: The writer Lisa Gardner said of the book, “My favorite kind of thriller–dark family secrets, high-stakes mystery, and a shocked daughter who will stop at nothing to determine the truth.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I am in awe of this blurb. Lisa is a hero of mine; I absolutely love her work. She is the one I turn to when I forget how to write—which happens a lot. A few chapters of one of her books, and I get my voice back.

 

So this meant a lot to me, both professionally and personally. Plus, she sums up the story nicely, I think. Much better than I could!

 

Q: The story is told from more than one perspective—why did you choose to structure it that way?

 

A: Most of my books have large casts and multiple points of view. But Last Seen needed a more insular approach. We see the majority of the story through Halley’s eyes, with a few chapters from her missing sister’s POV, and several from an unnamed monster character who is dark, creepy, and happy to butt in and tell the reader what they’re missing. His self-congratulatory mockery and actions are, I hope, terrifying.

 

An aside, in the audio, the astounding Scott Brick narrates that character, and I can’t imagine anyone nailing my monster better.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: A new suspense novel called You Know Why, where a young family on vacation is rocked when the father disappears from the airport just before they board their connection.

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Yes! I’ve been live writing the entire process of Last Seen, from concept to publication, on my blog, The Creative Edge, on Substack. The series is starting to wrap up now that we’re closer to publication, but if you’re interested in the nuts and bolts behind creating this story, you can find it under “22 Steps.” https://jtellison.substack.com/t/22-steps

 

Thanks for having me!!!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with J.T. Ellison.