Getting to Know HL Carpenter

The Write Way Café welcomes HL Carpenter, a mother-daughter duo sharing the joys of writing together. 

Hello, HiDee! Many thanks to you and Lynn for sharing your blog space with us! We're happy to be here.

When did you first have the thought you'd like to write a book?
     As far as deciding to write a book, the process was more a gradual development than a single defining moment. We liken the evolution to a discussion we had with a friend who decided to sell real estate. She had thought, she said, that the occupation was an easy way to make a living and well suited to her personality. Then she discovered the work was hard, much harder than she'd believed. (Don't you hate when that happens?) But she was right that selling real estate was well suited to her personality, so she persevered and eventually built a healthy book of business. For us, the road to writing fiction novels followed a similar route.

What was your path to getting The Ghost in The Gardens written and published? What type of research did you do?
     We researched rare plants, botanical gardens, botany, horticulture, gardening, poison, and the language of flowers, and we enjoyed every minute that we spent learning obscure facts and reams of trivia that never showed up in the final draft, and that we'll likely never need to know.
     Despite the fun of research, writing The Ghost in The Gardens was less a walk in the park than a trek along a mountain-goat-narrow, winding, treacherous path between snow and ice-capped mountains in the middle of a blizzard. Then again, so is every book when we are knee-deep in the work.

Where did the idea for The Ghost in The Gardens come from?
     From an article about a small botanical garden and a woman who spent her entire working career cataloging the plants in that single garden. Her dedication was inspiring, and we were awed by the variety of plant life in such a small area and how difficult finding a particular plant is.

Why did you pick botanical gardens as the setting for The Ghost in The Gardens?
     We are nature lovers, so setting The Ghost in The Gardens outdoors was a natural expression of the environment we're partial to. In addition to observing the wildlife in Carpenter Country, where we live and work, we also like to visit botanical gardens and parks and learn about plants and flowers.

Are your main characters completely imaginary or do they have some basis in real people? Do they reflect aspects of yourself?
     While writing, we don’t intentionally mimic our behavior or that of family and friends. Nonetheless, because we try to make our characters believable and relatable, to some extent our book-people contain bits of us and also some aspects of the people we know or have known. Chrys, the hero of The Ghost in The Gardens, might share a few traits with us…but we're not telling which ones!

Did you face any blocks while writing The Ghost in The Gardens, and if so, how did you handle them? If not, what's your secret?
     Now that the work is done, we don't recall any special bumps in that trek along the mountain-goat-narrow, winding, treacherous path between snow and ice-capped mountains in the middle of a blizzard. :)
     That’s the beauty of writing together. If one of us has a block or can’t figure out what a character should do next, she yells, “Help!” and the person without the block continues the story. When she’s finished adding her part, the character is heading off in a new direction and the block is gone.

What surprises have you encountered while writing The Ghost in The Gardens and after?
     We're always surprised by how much we wish we could continue the story, and by the multitude of other story ideas that each story generates. For example, we wrote a short story that's included as a bonus at the end of The Ghost in The Gardens. The story is called The Adventures of Flower Girl and was inspired by a book written by one of the characters in The Ghost in The Gardens. Such fun!

What did you learn? For instance, what did you learn about yourself, your process, the writing world; about ghosts, botanical gardens, and rare orchids?
     We re-learned a lesson we've learned with prior books, and that is how little is actually known about the world in which we live. The amount of knowledge accumulated over human existence is amazing. The amount of knowledge as yet undiscovered is astounding. Whole worlds of which we are unaware surround us.

Tell us about your writing space and how or why it works for you.
     Our writing studios are light and airy. Our desks face windows, so when we glance up from our computers we have a view of Carpenter Country, a magical place that, like our stories, is unreal but not untrue.
     At this time of year, the view takes wing, as Carpenter Country is busy with birds. Bluebirds nest in a nearby birdhouse. Flocks of worm-hunting robins, a pair of grosbeaks headed to more northerly climes, gray catbirds, indigo buntings, cardinals, wrens, sparrows, doves, blue jays, crows, hawks, house finches, and mockingbirds visit our burbling fountain for a drink and a bath. The other day, a hen turkey strutted across the grass. All the color, singing, arguing, splashing, and flitting add joy to our work day.

What are some of your favorite books and why?
     Specific titles elude us, though a recent good read was The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. In terms of genre, we read suspense, fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction. All we require is a great story set in an interesting location with amazing characters. That's not too much to ask, right? :)

What are you working on now?
     We are in a bit of a writing lull as we begin introducing The Ghost in The Gardens to the world.
     In terms of writing work-in-process, we're nearly done with the first draft of a themed collection of short stories and we're in the revision stage of a collection of contemporary satire. We have a futuristic novella ready for re-release, and a couple of completed cozies for adult readers that we’re thinking of publishing as a series, along with novellas featuring the same characters. Oh, and we have an idea for a non-fiction book for writers.

Would you like to try your hand at writing a different genre? Which one and why?
     We currently write in multiple fiction genres, including allegory, mystery, satire, and fantasy. We've also done nonfiction articles and newsletters. Noir fiction might be interesting, though all that darkness could be tough to write.

If you were not a writer, what would your dream job be?
     Queen of the world, complete with magic wand for bopping bad folks upside the head.

What aspect of writing gives you the most trouble?
     Letting go. Every story has a time when The End truly means The End. And yet…well, we could make this one improvement. And wouldn't this word sound better than the word we used? And did we wrap up ALL the loose ends? Wait! Did we forget the hero was wearing glasses? Perhaps we should add a comma to this sentence…

Who is your favorite hero/heroine?
     If you're asking about fictional folk, in our work or that of other authors, we don't have a specific individual. We do prefer (and prefer to write about) strong, practical, intelligent heroes who tackle whatever is thrown at them with grace and wit.

Thanks again for the opportunity! We've enjoyed spending time with you in The Write Way Café!


Coming June 17, 2018 - The Ghost in the Gardens

Until the first spooky visit, ten year old Chrysantha Howe doesn't think about ghosts. She thinks about plants.

All.   The.   Time.

She has her future planned out, and that future includes plants. Chrys is going to be a plant scientist like her uncle and her favorite teacher, and she's determined to find the very rare Coralroot orchid.

The ghost is not in the plan.

But when her teacher disappears and the police suspect her uncle was involved, Chrys has to figure out what the ghost is trying to tell her—before it's too late.
Pre-order links:

Amazon     Mirror World (ebook)    Mirror World (paperback print)


Mother/daughter author duo HL Carpenter write family-friendly fiction from their studios in Carpenter Country, a magical place that, like their stories, is unreal but not untrue. When they’re not writing, they enjoy exploring the Land of What-If and practicing the fine art of Curiosity. Visit HLCarpenter.com to enjoy gift reads and excerpts and to find out what’s happening in Carpenter Country.

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