Writers Who Run: An Interview with Wendy N. Wagner
By Malissa Rodenburg
I have to admit, it took me far too long to get to writing this latest column. I interviewed Portland-based horror writer and trail runner Wendy N. Wagner back in the beginning of January. But as I sat down to write this, her words felt fresh in my mind. Not just the words of her novel “Girl in the Creek,” but also the refreshingly upbeat words exchanged over our video call.
The context of those words–Wendy on the page vs. Wendy in conversation–couldn’t be more different. Because while Wendy can most accurately be described as chipper and instantly disarming, “Girl in the Creek” is creepy, dark, and delightful in its own way. Shortly after we spoke, the book was nominated for a prestigious Bram Stoker Award.
“Girl in the Creek” is a mindbending mystery following journalist Erin Harper as she attempts to uncover why people are going missing in the fictional Pacific Northwest town of Faraday. In fact, it’s where her own brother vanished years before. But what seems like a backwoods crime thriller on the surface, twists and turns, ultimately leading to a monstrous conclusion so fitting to the setting that I wish I could spoil more…but I won’t.
A lot of the book’s action hinges on action familiar to Wendy, and probably a lot of you reading this blog. Wendy’s characters traipse through the woods with the sure-footedness of experienced hikers and trail runners. However, that outdoor knowledge and athletic ability only helps them some with the forces they face.
Despite the insane trials she puts her characters through, Wendy doesn’t live in a dark or negative space. She puts the poison on the page. As a runner and a writer, she chooses to focus on the “upward spiral,” as she calls it, not dwelling on setbacks that are inherent to both pursuits. And as a writing coach, she helps others find their way into their own upward spiral with a style she learned from her running coach, Dana Katz.
“[Dana] just always had such practical, easy to implement advice,” says Wendy. “I just felt like what she did for me as a runner would be great to do for other writers.”
Keep reading to learn more about Wendy, including her penchant for long distance, how she infuses fear into her writing, and what she’s reading.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You’re a hiker and a runner, two activities that are really present in the plot of “Girl in the Creek.” How did your experience in nature influence the development of this book?
As a quick side note, one of the biggest notes I got from my editor working on this book was, ‘maybe there could be a tiny bit less hiking.’ So it’s kind of hilarious.
How much did you end up cutting?
There were a couple of scenes that just were a lot of like slightly spooky in the woods, but we trimmed that down to focus a little bit more on character and plot development. You only need to fall down so many ravines, or slip on a trail, or have to go scrambling over rocks so much in one book.
I did enjoy those scene setting moments. I felt like I was in it. I’m in the woods and I feel like something is going to happen.
That was definitely the goal for the book to really capture that moment when you're like, out in the woods, and for some reason you get that off feeling, and you have to make that decision: Do I keep going? Do I turn around? What's my safest choice? I think if you are a hiker, you've probably been in that kind of situation. I know tons of people who are trail runners who’ve had weird experiences where they had to make that judgment call.
And most of the time I feel fantastic out [in the woods]. I think it’s dreamy and I would spend every day out there if I could. But it was fun to play up the scary aspect. Like when you sit around a campfire and you start exchanging scary stories and you’re just one upping each other. That was what was happening in my brain.
Can you tell me a bit about your creative process?
When I started out as a writer, I was much more organized. Like I’m going to write an outline and I’m going to know what’s going to happen in my book before I start writing. And that was very helpful because I first started writing tie-in fiction, so I had to work with other people very intensely and get all my outlines approved. And I think I maybe burnt out that part of my brain.
Now, I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m going to write a great book and it’s going to be about this one image I had when I was out on a hike or this dream I had and that’s my book.’ But then I have to do a lot of experimental writing and research and poking around until I actually find some characters that go with that story and figure out a plot and things like that. It’s not a very efficient process, but I have a good time.
I’m not really familiar with what it takes to write horror. Can you talk about what that secret sauce is to making fear come alive on the page?
It's a little tricky. I think for me, a lot of the special sauce comes through in revision. As I’m writing, the more exciting a scene is, the more it appears in my head. It’s like a little movie. When I’m writing it out, it will read like a movie script where it’s like, ‘she ran to the left. The monster attacked her from behind.’ So you’ll have these long passages in the book which are like people in the woods and it’s eloquent and immersive and then you get to something exciting and it’s terribly flat. I guess I was having so much fun, I forgot to make it fun for readers.
So going through and revising and trying to re-immerse myself into that, but stay focused on the reader experience and slow down in those moments. I think nothing is more important in writing horror than that sensory information that the main point of view character is absorbing about the space and the sensory experience they are having inside themselves because so much of being frightened is this physiological experience.
I notice you don’t just write novels, but also short stories and essays. Are you somebody that prefers “distance projects” – to stick with running terms and comparisons – or does it help to throw in these “sprints” once in a while? What about your running?
It's kind of hilarious that you would ask that, because people ask all the time, ‘Do you prefer writing short stories? Or do you prefer writing novels?’ I really like writing novels, because for a big part of it is, I just really love writing so much. And if I don't get to write in a day, then my day feels hollowed out, and after too many of those days have gone by, then I'm really depressed. So I really like just coming up with one world, one that I can just dive into and just stay in for a long time. And I really, really like that a lot.
And, yeah, I'm hoping to do an ultra this summer, so I think they go together really well.
What are you working on now?
I've been researching for a while on a novel, and I'm just starting to actually write it. It’s sort of a psychological thriller set on the Oregon coast. I've written two other books that were set on the Oregon coast. That's where I grew up, so I'm delighted to be writing in that setting again, but this has been like on the north coast, which is my favorite place to go visit. I'm really excited to have more excuses to go out there. We have a state park that was a military fort with all these creepy old concrete bunkers and [gun] batteries that you can go visit. And it's extremely, extremely creepy. And that's where this book will be set.
Speed Work:
In one word, what would you say “Girl in the Creek” is about?
Disappearance.
Where is your favorite place to run in Portland?
Forest Park.
Where is your favorite place to run anywhere in the world?
Mount Hood National Forest.
If you could go for a run with any of your characters, who would you run with?
Probably Hari, even though he’s not a very good runner, which is good because our paces would be better matched, but he’s just so fun and kind and supportive, and I think we’d have a great time.
What are you reading right now?
I’m reading a book called “2666” by Roberto Bolaño. It’s like a 900-word tome that is kind of a literary mystery and a little bit weird fiction about a wide variety of people who are brought in connection to some cases of missing and murdered women in a city in Mexico. This is inspired by real events in the ‘90s, but I don’t know how it’s going to end or what’s going to happen. It’s very interesting and very different and a really good read.
Learn something new? Find a new book you can’t wait to crack the spine of? Consider buying the columnist a coffee.
Writers Who Run is a monthly column by Seattle-based reader, runner, writer, and bookseller Malissa Rodenburg.