I am delighted to welcome author Gaby Triana to my blog today. Gaby is the author of both horror and YA stories and her latest - the first in her Haunted Florida series - is called Island of Bones. Here she talks about her writing, her hometown and why she would make an excellent kitchen witch...
C.C: First of all, congratulations on Island of Bones. I loved it. The atmosphere, suspense, ghosts,
secrets and the mystery were a brilliant combination and made for a pretty
scary ride. It had a distinct ring of authenticity about it so I am guessing
you needed to do a fair bit of research, am I right and how did you go about
it?
GT: Thanks, Cat! Well, I live in Miami, Florida, only a
3-hour drive from Key West, so much of that authenticity comes from being a
local. As for the tidbits about 1950s Key West and Havana, Cuba, my parents are
Cuban exiles who came to Miami in the early 60s, so they lent some first-hand
experience to the narrative from their own memories.
C.C. You have a second in the Haunted Florida series coming
out in September, can you tell us a little about that?
GT: The second book is RIVER OF GHOSTS, and it comes out
September 26th. This one is about a Miccosukee woman living on the
reservation in the Everglades (a few miles from where I live) who gives airboat
rides and can’t help but add an element of the paranormal to her tales. This
goes against her culture but she is drawn to all things supernatural, so when a
TV production crew offers her a large sum of money to escort them to an
abandoned haunted depot in the middle of the Everglades, she takes them,
against her better judgment. Needless to say, all hell breaks loose.
C.C. When did you pen your first work, and what was it?
GT: My very first published work was a young adult novel
called BACKSTAGE PASS about the 16-year-old daughter of a famous rock musician
attending a public Miami high school incognito. The book came out in 2004 as
part of a 2-book deal with HarperCollins, and for the next 17 years, I wrote
and published in the young adult genre. Meanwhile, I was wishing I could write
paranormal/horror for adults. J
C.C. When did you first become interested in horror and what
drew you to it?
GT: That’s the funny thing. Horror was and has always been
my first true love, not young adult books. I became a horror fan as a child
listening to narrated tales of Edgar Allan Poe on my little blue and white
record player back in the 70s. From there, I became easily drawn to the works
of Stephen King, because of King’s unabashed inclusion of young characters in
his stories. Pet Sematary had a significant child character. It had several
kids that were my age when I first read it (at 12), The Shining had young Danny
Torrance in it, and Carrie was a teen coming of age. Whether he meant to
attract kid readers or not, he did because of his genuine kid POV narratives.
C.C. What is your writing process?
GT: It’s evolved over the years. I used to outline the whole
thing out, chapter by chapter, because I didn’t trust myself to know what I was
doing and didn’t want to waste time writing something that would go nowhere.
Nowadays, I’ll outline the first few chapters, just to get me started, fill in
the ending, but leave the middle entirely open, except for the occasional plot
point. This gives me a road map for direction but with the freedom to go in
anywhere with the novel I choose, as long as I end up where I planned. Only
once has the story diverted from that ending in a way that benefited the plot.
C.C. What was your route to publication?
GT: I was an elementary school teacher for 10 years first,
but I always used to write scary stories in high school and college, so writing
has always been a part of me. I began writing stories for my 4th-5th
grade students, and one became my first manuscript, still unpublished called Freddie and the Biltmore Ghost, about a
12-year-old and her friends who investigate an abandoned hotel in Coral Gables,
Florida. From there, I published BACKSTAGE PASS and 6 other young adult novels
over the next 17 years: CUBANITA, THE TEMPTRESS FOUR, RIDING THE UNIVERSE,
SUMMER OF YESTERDAY (about abandoned water park, River Country, in Disney
World), WAKE THE HOLLOW, and CAKESPELL.
C.C. Who are your greatest writing influences and why?
GT: Judy Blume was a huge influence for me growing up,
because I appreciated the honesty in her stories. She wasn’t afraid of writing
real kids, real teens into her books who were all going through real situations
and emotions, and I knew, when I became a YA novelist, that I wanted to write
the same way. Also, in high school, I was introduced to William Faulkner who
wrote using a stream of consciousness style, and most of my first novels all
adopted a similar style. I loved the immediacy of first person, present tense,
the way thoughts just popped up and flowed right as they were being formed. It
made me feel like I was right in the characters’ minds.
C.C. You have said that your ambition is to live ‘a witchy
life in the forests of New England’. What sort of witch would you be?
GT: Ha! I have always wanted to move out of Miami, not
because I don’t love it—it’s my hometown—but to experience somewhere new. I’ve
never lived in a place that experiences the four seasons, so I would probably
be a green witch or a kitchen witch, since I associate cooking, baking, and
seasonal foods with the way I’m feeling at different times of year. I can see
myself growing pumpkins and squash in my little garden then harvesting them and
making delicious butternut squash soups, all while infusing them with magical
goodness that makes my family happy. J
C.C. When are you at your happiest?
GT: When my kids are home. When they’re away, I feel
incomplete and borderline depressed. But when they’re home, and the house is
abuzz with that lovely sound of teen boys chattering, playing, and when the
dinner table is filled with their bodies and hungry mouths, and it’s not just
me and my husband, I have more young men to cook for, it makes me feel happy. I
love being a mom. J
C.C. Have you ever been on a ghost hunt (If so, what
happened? If not, would you go on one?)
GT: I have never been on an official ghost hunt, though I’ve
always wanted to. I’ve been on historical ghost tours, and I’ve broken into
several abandoned locations, but never experienced anything ghostly at those
spots. I have, however, experienced ghostly phenomena at my father’s house here
in Miami. Disembodied voices in the middle of the night, glowing blue lights
that appeared and disappeared in the middle of the air for no reason, and
lights turning on and off by themselves. Also, another time I complained that
my hairbrush was missing, and an hour later, it was sitting right where it
should have been when I knew for a fact it hadn’t been there an hour before,
and nobody was home to move it. I’ve also seen and felt presences while
meditating.
C.C. Finally, tell us something most people who know you
might not know. We promise not to tell!
GT: A lot of people don’t know that besides being a teacher
and a writer, I also used to own a cake studio, Cakes by Gaby, https://www.facebook.com/Cakes-by-Gaby-114312925256678/
where I made wedding cakes, sculpted cakes, and cakes for all special
occasions. A lot of people don’t know that I tried out to be a Miami Heat
dancer and made it but did not take the job because I had just started
teaching. Finally, a lot of people don’t know that I have two tattoos. My first
one which I keep hidden is of a butterfly (me) surrounded by four tiny
butterflies representing the three children I’ve had and the one baby I lost.
C.C. Thank you so much for joining me, Gaby. Now how can we
follow you?
GT: THANKS! It was fun being here, Cat!
Website: www.gabytriana.com
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Gaby-Triana/e/B0045B9682/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Blog: www.WitchHaunt.com
Twitter: @gabytriana
Instagram: @gabytriana
