Pink Raygun Interviews: Jessica Barone

Jessica Barone digs vampires. And what’s not to love? Have you ever seen an unnattractive vampire, other than Nosferatu or the creepy blue one in Salem’s Lot? Barone’s novels, The Dream Series, is a vampire trilogy that takes the reader from 17th century Paris to 20th century Vermont and even as far as 21st century Iraq. Barone recently answered some of Pink Rayguns’s questions about writing The Dream Series and what it is about vampires that makes them so alluring.

PRG: What drew you to vampires?

JB: I’ve always been interested in the supernatural. But I think that vampires as characters in literature speak to the darker side of human nature as well. My deceased grandmother used to tell some wild stories about the “old country” when I was a child, and some of them used to include vampire-like creatures. I think a combination of all this led me to the vampires. The first vampire movie I saw as a child was the old black and white Dracula, and from then on I was hooked.

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PRG: Who do you think would win in a fight between Nosferatu, Dracula and Lestat?

JB: Lestat, probably.

Pink Raygun:Which writers have been influential to you?

Jessica Barone: When I began my career as a writer, I picked up every book I could find on vampires. This was in the early nineties. Such writers as Poppy Z. Brite, P.N. Elrod and Anne Rice were at the forefront of the genre then. But I also read a lot of the classics, such as the Bronte sisters and even Shakespeare.

PRG: What sort of planning or pre-writing process to you put yourself through before you start writing the story?

JB: First I spend a lot of time thinking about the subject. What the story is going to be about, who will be involved, what characters. I try to think of the beginning and the ending first, and if these come together, I try to ask myself if the middle will fall into place. If the answer is yes, then I spend a lot of time researching the subject. A lot of non-fiction research goes into writing my fictional novels.

PRG: When you’re working on a novel, do you attack the story in a linear manner? Do you write it in non-linear chunks?

JB: Most of the time my novels are written in a linear manner. In fact, I try to do this as a rule, but sometimes there might be a specific chapter on my mind that just won’t leave me alone until I write it out.

PRG: What is your ideal writing environment?

JB: My ideal writing environment is sitting in my family room, writing on the big computer rather than the laptop. No one else is home and the radio is playing classical music. Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart and Beethoven are my favorites for when I’m writing.

PRG: What was the most challenging aspect of writing your Dream series?

JB: The most challenging aspect is probably that it was a learning process. The Dream series was my first series, and Eternal Night was my first novel. I was very young when I started writing, and I didn’t have any idea of the process it took to write a novel. It was basically a learn as you go experience. By the time the third in the series was being written, I was in college, and that presented another challenge entirely. How to write a novel and go to classes full time? I still don’t know how I did it.

PRG: The most rewarding?

JB: The most rewarding, I’d have to say, is seeing the final product. Seeing those books on the shelves, going to book signings, meeting the readers.

PRG: What was the inspiration for the Dream series, and for your new book, Dragon Slayer

JB: The inspiration for the Dream Series came to me when I was on a trip with my father, my brother, and family friends in Vermont. We stayed in Killington, in a very remote area up in the mountains. There were ghost stories told, and the wildness of the woods and weirdness of abandoned Victorian mansions was really inspiring. Inspiration for Dragon Slayer comes from a different place. I credit a Russian History instructor with that one. She opened my eyes to the long, noble, and sometimes brutal history of medieval Russia.

PRG: What is it about the Dream series that appeals to readers?

JB: I think it’s the characters. In the first novel, Eternal Night, the main character is a young girl, Julia, who is depressed and bored with her life. She falls into a group of vampires and falls in love with one of them. I think the appeal of a timeless love appeals to readers, no matter if there are vampires involved. The second and third books, The Requiem and The Legendary, are somewhat darker, and follow the vampire Jason who became a vampire at the age of 23. His quest for peace and enlightenment through the darkness take him through some interesting times and places. I think his appeal is his questioning…why am I here? I think a lot of readers identify with that.

Jessica Barone’s novels are available online. For more about Barone, visit her website.