Abbott Kahler — Parenthetical Recluse

Presenting: a return – devoid of need to reenact via one-man traveling show and possessed of requisite contributions from parrots and dogchildren – to socialization with the New York Times best-selling author (as Karen Abbott) of SIN IN THE SECOND CITY, AMERICAN ROSE, LIAR TEMPTRESS SOLDIER SPY, and THE GHOSTS OF EDEN PARK, Abbott Kahler.

In which: we discuss her first (professional) foray into fiction with WHERE YOU END, working titles, the process of forming a blueprint via 200+-page outlines (for the upcoming THEN CAME THE DEVIL) to harness the proliferation of weird across the page, living vicariously through characters you'd better find fascinating for four+ years, milk, cookies, ferociousness, convention-defying, and knowing upon whose blood you're stepping.

ABBOTT'S BIO:

Abbott Kahler is, as Karen Abbott, the New York Time-bestselling author of SIN IN THE SECOND CITY, AMERICAN ROSE, LIAR TEMPTRESS SOLDIER SPY, and THE GHOSTS OF EDEN PARK. She has written for The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, and other publications, and has appeared on the History Channel, CBS Sunday Morning, AMC's "Making of the Mob," the Travel Channel's "Monumental Mysteries," and the Discovery Channel. Her next work of narrative non-fiction, THEN CAME THE DEVIL, and her debut novel, WHERE YOU END, will be her first books published as Abbott Kahler.

CHapters

00:00 - Introduction
01:40 - "When I was a kid... I would write fanciful stories about murderous witches and various nefarious characters... "
04:41 - "Am I going to be paralyzed by all this freedom or am I going to be liberated by all this freedom? I think it was a little bit of both."
10:10 - "It's very telling when people have a bit of mystery around them"
12:27 - "I was actually the last journalist to speak with June before she passed away... I'm speaking of her in the present tense because I feel like she's still here."
15:27 - "This is the first time I’m doing something this extensive... when the weirdness comes up, I really want the weirdness to hit...
17:42 - "I did outline the novel because I don't know any better... (but) I like the idea of starting with a character and seeing where she might take me."
19:57 - "I contemplate keeping (Karen Abbott) for nonfiction... I can’t have my nonfiction on two different shelves... the changing of the name was a personal choice that would eventually spill over into my professional life..."
22:50 - "What you choose, how you choose to tell these stories... I think that nonfiction can say just about an author as fiction does."
24:50 - "All the characters I've written about... are women whose lives I wish I had lived."
27:30 - "You need to like to communicate with your characters – whether they're figments of your imagination or whether they're dead people you're trying to bring back to some kind of life on the page – you don't have to like them, but you have to find them interesting."
30:15 - "I fought to have this accepted for seven years...”
33:30 - "The way that we're taught history... is the completely wrong approach: there were people, there was blood, there was sweat, there were tears... History is a soap opera."
35:33 - Where can people connect with you?
36:26 - Conclusion

Linkage

Abbott’s website – and story of the name change.
The weird starts on page one: THEN CAME THE DEVIL prologue.
Though we didn't get a chance to talk about it, Abbott's stunning essay, HOW SARAH GRUEN LOST HER LIFE about her friend, the author Sarah Gruen, and Gruen’s all-consuming efforts to free a wrongly-convicted man from prison, is a must read.
You should also peruse Abbott's Wicked History blog for more of her insights into the soap opera that is history.
You can reach her via email, abbottauthor(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

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