Celebrate National Library Week at the Port Jefferson Free Library: Meet Local Author Terri Ponce

       On Saturday April 20, 2013 at 2pm in the Reading Room the Port Jefferson Free Library will be hosting an extra special National Library Week Celebration Event!

When at the Public Library Association Library Conference last year, librarian Monica Williams made the acquaintance of a group of mystery writers Sisters in Crime http://www.sistersincrime.org/. Sisters in Crime an organization composed of publishers, editors, readers, and librarians who are fans of mysteries and are united by their support of women mystery authors and a. Sisters in Crime is an American Library Association “Library Champion” and offers a “We Love Libraries” award which is a $1,000 grant that is to be used towards the purchase of books. In August 2012 Monica Williams entered the Port Jefferson Free Library as a possible candidate for the award. Word came in January that the Port Jefferson Free Library was the winner. Sisters in Crime has a Long Island Chapter and six authors will be visiting the Library on April 20. Each author will be discussing her own works. All are invited to attend this event. There is no sign up required. We hope you will be able to stay after the presentation and award presentation for author signings. Light refreshments will be served.

Several members of the Long Island Chapter of Sisters in Crime kindly consented to be interviewed via email. Questions were sent  and the authors sent back their replies. This is the first in a series of author interviews. Sisters in Crime author Terri Ponce discusses her work an future plans. Unfortunately Terri will not be able to join us on Saturday, but for more information about her work please visit her website: http://terriponce.com/

MW: Where are you from originally? If not a LI native, how did you end up on Long Island?
Queens! My husband and I moved here when we married. We’ve never left the area. Moved around a few times, but never, ever left the area.   
 
MW: How did you get interested in mysteries?
I love the puzzle aspect of mysteries. The whole suspense angle that comes into play. I want to be grabbed from page one when I read, and mysteries do that for me. I don’t have to wait pages and pages for something to happen. With mysteries, trouble starts right on page one where the protagonist’s life is thrown upside down. And from there, the suspense escalates and the mystery involves all kinds of threads. As a reader, I thrill to see how those threads unravel and then come together. But not always perfectly. For me, that’s what adds to the excitement of a great mystery read.

MW: What was the first mystery you ever read? What mysteries did you read before becoming a mystery writer?
I can’t remember the first mystery I ever read. No. That’s a lie. I started out reading Nancy Drew and, honestly, I never thought about becoming a mystery/paranormal suspense writer until about 16 years ago. But that happened only after I tried my hand at writing Star Trek: The Next Generation fan fiction. Strange how life plays out sometimes, right? But I’ve got a wall-to-wall bookcase filled with all kinds of books. And guess what? My favorite mystery and suspense authors are right up front, in the middle, where everyone can see them.

MW: What mystery authors have inspired your own work?
Robert Crais. Hands down. This guy is a master at storytelling and is an author I study. I’ve read and re-read his books so many times now and I still haven’t grown tired. He chooses his words so carefully, and you can tell he really makes an effort at telling the best story he can. And, in my opinion, that’s what makes him so great. He doesn’t write. He tells a story, and he really, really knows how to grab you from page one!

MW: Please tell the reader about your mysteries.
I write a past-life series that carries suspense and mystery angles. I’ve been curious about past lives for the longest time and I’ve also always been enamored with Ancient Egyptians and their belief in the afterlife. And as I started writing more and more, I kept thinking: what if you kept coming back until you got it right? What if you had the chance to fix past mistakes, or right past wrongs? What would change, for the better or for worse? And then I thought: what if other people from your past didn’t want you to have a second chance, or didn’t want you to change certain things? And therein came the mystery and suspense part of my writing. With my stories, I play with what-ifs and what-could-have-beens along with someone-is-out-to-stop-you. or maybe even kill you. I have a blast with it, and it seems my readers enjoy it too.

MW: How has living on Long Island impacted your work?
Hmm. I love to incorporate Long Island into my stories. In fact, my leading couple, David and Lottie, live in Dix Hills. And I love writing about their lives and the towns that come into play. In every book, I’ll reference at least one Long Island town or area. It really makes my writing feel more like home, even if it is fiction.

MW:  What are your future writing plans?
 I have a love affair going with my male protagonist, David Bellotti, and I intend to write about him as much as I can. Feedback I get from other writers and fans about him has been off the charts, so I think I hit the right note when I dreamed him up so many years ago. And, for now, I’ll keep playing with the past life / suspense angle, too. There’s so much story you can create with it, because you can include historical elements along with psychological drama and mystery. Makes for fun writing for me, and hopefully engaging storytelling for the reader