Karin Slaughter

0:00:04 > 0:00:06My guest today is one of the world's most popular crime writers,

0:00:06 > 0:00:10the rather aptly named Karin Slaughter.

0:00:10 > 0:00:12After finding fame with her first novel Blindsighted,

0:00:12 > 0:00:15she's gone on to sell more than 35 million copies of her books,

0:00:15 > 0:00:20including the Will Trent and Grant County series.

0:00:20 > 0:00:23Her latest book is called The Good Daughter.

0:00:23 > 0:00:25It focuses on two sisters whose family is torn apart

0:00:25 > 0:00:27after a terrifying attack on their home, which leaves

0:00:27 > 0:00:30their mother dead and both of them damaged in very different ways.

0:00:30 > 0:00:38Years later, the horrors of the past return.

0:00:56 > 0:01:00Karin Slaughter, The Good Daughter links to deadly events,

0:01:00 > 0:01:02this terrifying attack on the family, and then 28 years

0:01:02 > 0:01:05later, a shooting in a school, as seen through the eyes

0:01:05 > 0:01:07of two sisters, Sam and Charlie.

0:01:07 > 0:01:12Why was this the story you wanted to tell?

0:01:13 > 0:01:16About two years ago, I was writing notes about different characters,

0:01:16 > 0:01:18because that is what I do.

0:01:18 > 0:01:21It always starts with character for me.

0:01:21 > 0:01:24The character of Gamma came to me.

0:01:24 > 0:01:27I had this great line, or I thought it was a great line about her,

0:01:28 > 0:01:31that I used in the book.

0:01:31 > 0:01:34It said she was as pale as an envelope and just

0:01:34 > 0:01:38as likely to cause tiny cuts in inconvenient places.

0:01:38 > 0:01:41So that note was in my shower actually, I've got a waterproof

0:01:41 > 0:01:45notebook because I'm such a nerd!

0:01:45 > 0:01:47I clean my shower, but it's there in my shower.

0:01:47 > 0:01:50I thought about it for a couple of years every time

0:01:50 > 0:01:52I was in the shower, and the story started

0:01:52 > 0:01:53to gel in my head.

0:01:53 > 0:01:56I had this choice between writing a new Will Trent book or writing

0:01:56 > 0:02:00this, and I thought that Will Trent story isn't where I wanted to be

0:02:00 > 0:02:02in my head right now.

0:02:02 > 0:02:04But these characters just really kind of came to me

0:02:04 > 0:02:07and begged to be talked about.

0:02:07 > 0:02:10We should explain that Gamma is the mother of the two sisters,

0:02:10 > 0:02:14and they don't always see eye to eye, do they?

0:02:14 > 0:02:17Their relationship is quite fractious.

0:02:17 > 0:02:19I know you were the youngest of three sisters,

0:02:19 > 0:02:22I wonder how much your relationship informed the relationship we read

0:02:22 > 0:02:23about in the book.

0:02:23 > 0:02:26You know, I think with writers, it is probably the same with

0:02:26 > 0:02:28news presenters and interviewers, you know, everything in your life

0:02:28 > 0:02:32informs how you approach the work.

0:02:32 > 0:02:34Of course, being the youngest of three girls,

0:02:34 > 0:02:38I knew about sister relationships, and the thing I love is,

0:02:38 > 0:02:41when I'm around my sisters, it's like I'm 12 years old again.

0:02:41 > 0:02:43I'm thinking of things I can tattle on that they've done,

0:02:43 > 0:02:46and even if my sister comes to my house,

0:02:46 > 0:02:49she'll make lunch for me and cut the crust off my sandwich!

0:02:49 > 0:02:53We just fall back into those patterns.

0:02:53 > 0:02:55We really just still see each other as those kids.

0:02:55 > 0:02:57Sometimes I'm almost afraid she's going to hit me

0:02:57 > 0:03:00with a clothes hanger or something.

0:03:00 > 0:03:03I like writing about those relationships, because I think

0:03:03 > 0:03:07who we are as children really informs who we are as adults.

0:03:07 > 0:03:10The opening chapter of the book in particular, is very,

0:03:10 > 0:03:12very violent, and I wonder, do you set out to

0:03:12 > 0:03:17shock your readers?

0:03:17 > 0:03:20A long time ago a reader said to me why do you spend so much time

0:03:20 > 0:03:23on character development if you're just going to kill them?

0:03:23 > 0:03:25And I said, you wouldn't care, right, you wouldn't care

0:03:25 > 0:03:28if they died if you didn't care about the characters.

0:03:28 > 0:03:30Every single person in this book has to have some sort

0:03:30 > 0:03:33of resonance for the reader, and I work very carefully.

0:03:33 > 0:03:35I think that's sometimes why people think I'm more

0:03:35 > 0:03:43violent than I actually am, because they very much care

0:03:43 > 0:03:46about who this victim is, and what it does to the family,

0:03:46 > 0:03:50the community, and everyone involved in the investigation.

0:03:50 > 0:03:53And that's really important to me because I don't

0:03:53 > 0:03:56want to write about violence just for the sake of violence.

0:03:56 > 0:03:59I don't want to just be someone who wants to shock.

0:03:59 > 0:04:02I want to have it happen for a reason, and the reason

0:04:02 > 0:04:04is always to explore, what does crime do to communities?

0:04:04 > 0:04:06How does it tear people apart?

0:04:06 > 0:04:08How does it put them back together?

0:04:08 > 0:04:11It's interesting that you mentioned community because one of the things

0:04:11 > 0:04:13that struck me about the novel is the sense of place.

0:04:13 > 0:04:15It's set in this small, rural conservative community,

0:04:15 > 0:04:19Pikeville, where everybody knows each other's business.

0:04:19 > 0:04:22Is that similar to the sort of place you grew up in?

0:04:22 > 0:04:24It is.

0:04:24 > 0:04:27When I first started writing my Grant County series

0:04:27 > 0:04:30a million years ago, I chose to write about a small town

0:04:30 > 0:04:32because everybody said, "write what you know."

0:04:32 > 0:04:35And I know small towns.

0:04:35 > 0:04:38I know that insularity, and the thing is though,

0:04:38 > 0:04:43you don't really know the people.

0:04:43 > 0:04:45You think you know them but then something shocking happens

0:04:45 > 0:04:47and you really learn about who they are.

0:04:47 > 0:04:50That's the fun of writing a book like this.

0:04:50 > 0:04:52I know you said growing up you didn't think you fitted in.

0:04:52 > 0:04:54I wondered why that was?

0:04:54 > 0:04:55You know, I just didn't.

0:04:55 > 0:04:58I remember very specifically, because I found the actual lunchbox

0:04:58 > 0:05:01that I carried to school years ago, and I had taped a picture

0:05:01 > 0:05:04of Marilyn Monroe after the autopsy on to the side of my lunchbox,

0:05:04 > 0:05:06and I remember this had an immediate effect in school

0:05:06 > 0:05:11and my parents were called to the school.

0:05:11 > 0:05:15My dad was sitting there and the principal was saying,

0:05:15 > 0:05:18"This is very unusual that she's done this

0:05:18 > 0:05:22and we are a little bit worried."

0:05:22 > 0:05:24My dad said, "Look, she's weird, she's always been weird."

0:05:24 > 0:05:28You say you were weird, you were always writing

0:05:28 > 0:05:33as a child, weren't you?

0:05:33 > 0:05:36Am I right that you wrote a story if cats had thumbs,

0:05:36 > 0:05:39about a man who had lost his thumbs in a boating accident?

0:05:39 > 0:05:41How old were you when you wrote that story?

0:05:41 > 0:05:42You know, I think I was 14.

0:05:42 > 0:05:44Right.

0:05:44 > 0:05:46And I had this great teacher, an English teacher,

0:05:46 > 0:05:49who introduced me to Flannery O'Connor.

0:05:49 > 0:05:52As this little girl growing up in a small Southern town.

0:05:52 > 0:05:55There were a lot of messages we got like, always sit

0:05:55 > 0:05:58with your legs crossed, and don't be too loud,

0:05:58 > 0:06:01let the boys talk, and don't let them know how smart you are.

0:06:01 > 0:06:04Don't be interested in things that are not ladylike.

0:06:04 > 0:06:07Then I read Flannery O'Connor and I thought, wow, this

0:06:07 > 0:06:12is the pattern I want to follow, someone who speaks their mind,

0:06:12 > 0:06:15and more importantly, as a writer, who writes the way people talk.

0:06:15 > 0:06:18The colloquial language in there was very much like my family

0:06:18 > 0:06:19and everybody around me.

0:06:19 > 0:06:21It just gave me this understanding that women

0:06:21 > 0:06:26can talk about these things, and you should really tell

0:06:26 > 0:06:30the story you want to tell.

0:06:30 > 0:06:34I really took that message home with me, and this was my homage

0:06:35 > 0:06:39to O'Connor when I wrote that.

0:06:39 > 0:06:44Of course, she probably didn't imagine a man without thumbs,

0:06:44 > 0:06:46but it was my way of doing it.

0:06:46 > 0:06:48You have been writing since you were a child, as I said,

0:06:48 > 0:06:52you wanted to be a writer, but you got diverted into doing other jobs.

0:06:52 > 0:06:53Why was that?

0:06:53 > 0:06:56You know, when I graduated high school, and was going to college,

0:06:56 > 0:07:01my dad said to me, actually on my graduation day, he said,

0:07:01 > 0:07:03"You know, I'm so proud of you.

0:07:03 > 0:07:05You can do anything you want but you can't live at home."

0:07:05 > 0:07:08Financial independence was his main goal, which I think

0:07:08 > 0:07:11is a laudable thing for a parent to want their kid to be successful.

0:07:11 > 0:07:17So I was an exterminator, I painted houses.

0:07:17 > 0:07:18Hold on, an exterminator, of what?

0:07:18 > 0:07:20Of insects.

0:07:20 > 0:07:23So you did these other jobs, and then you decide to take

0:07:23 > 0:07:25the plunge and become a writer full-time?

0:07:25 > 0:07:27How did that happen?

0:07:27 > 0:07:31It didn't really happen that way.

0:07:31 > 0:07:34I never thought I could call myself an author until I was published.

0:07:34 > 0:07:38All along, even through these jobs I was writing, working on stories,

0:07:38 > 0:07:42sending stuff to agents, trying to get something in

0:07:42 > 0:07:47a magazine or something like that.

0:07:47 > 0:07:51And it took probably eight years.

0:07:51 > 0:07:54I had the goal that I wanted to be published by the time

0:07:54 > 0:07:58I was 30, and it came at 29, so I was right under that.

0:07:58 > 0:08:00It was really a struggle and trying to find my voice

0:08:00 > 0:08:03actually is what it took, just writing really bad stories

0:08:03 > 0:08:04before I could write the good ones.

0:08:04 > 0:08:07What made you decide it was thrillers and crime thrillers

0:08:07 > 0:08:10in particular that you wanted to write?

0:08:10 > 0:08:13I think really if you are a writer it kind of chooses you,

0:08:13 > 0:08:16what kind of stories you're going to tell.

0:08:16 > 0:08:18My first book I got with my agent was actually historical fiction.

0:08:18 > 0:08:22I grew up in Georgia, I was a woman, I thought I had to write

0:08:22 > 0:08:25the next Gone With The Wind.

0:08:25 > 0:08:28Even that, it had a lot of crime in it for

0:08:28 > 0:08:29a Southern historical fiction novel.

0:08:29 > 0:08:33No one wanted to publish it.

0:08:33 > 0:08:37I asked my agent, what should I do now, and she said I think you should

0:08:37 > 0:08:39write whatever you want to write.

0:08:39 > 0:08:42I stopped thinking I had to write a certain way and I really embraced

0:08:42 > 0:08:48what I loved reading which was thrillers.

0:08:48 > 0:08:51So final question, is Karin Slaughter your real name?

0:08:51 > 0:08:53It is.

0:08:53 > 0:08:57I got beaten up in school a lot for it so I think I have earned it.

0:08:57 > 0:08:59Karin Slaughter, great to talk to you, many thanks.

0:08:59 > 0:09:02Thank you.