Sophie Littlefield Q & A

Sophie Littlefield, author of A BAD DAY FOR PRETTY, was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.  Now, when I decided I wanted to do a Q & A with her, I had a million questions I wanted to ask.  And then I got finger-tied when I tried to actually type them into the computer.  Instead of thought-provoking, deep investigating type questions, all I could come up with were pathetic easy ones, but she was kind enought to answer those too.


1. I love Stella's "side job" - where on earth did you find the inspiration for her job?

My husband is on the board of a women’s shelter, so it’s an issue close to the heart of our family, but my own experiences go back to a time when I didn’t even know what domestic abuse was. When I was little, a beloved older relative was treated shamefully by her husband. He didn’t beat her, but he was cussed and mean, and even as a child I understand that she was limited in her responses. She couldn’t fight back directly, and she was the glue that held a huge extended family together, and it seemed unthinkable that she had the option of leaving.

I still get angry thinking of the indignities and just the general everyday vitriol she had to put up with. If I could go back in time and give her husband a piece of my mind, I’d welcome the opportunity. Creating Stella was a sort of wish fulfillment – that women in a tough spot could have a badass fairy godsister who would have their back, no matter what.

As far as the methods Stella uses…the bondage gear and firearms and general creative mayhem…that’s just the product of an overdeveloped imagination!

2. Can we expect more adventures from Stella and Chrissy?
Yes! Books three and four in the series will be out in Spring ’11 and ’12. I’m working on the fourth right now, and I’ve enjoyed coming up with adventures for them, as well as developing some of the characters further.

3. Will Sheriff Goat continue to look the other way or will he start throwing cases Stella's way?
Oh, Goat…they will continue to explore their attraction and they will continue to find themselves at cross purposes professionally. It’s the thing that keeps their relationship interesting, in my mind…the fact that they share values and even, in some sense, goals, but their approaches could not be more different. I think it makes the spice spicier that they are bound to continue to hinder and undermine and even enrage each other – but at the end of the day there’s that incredibly strong attraction.

4. How difficult was it to master writing the dialog so that the Missouri came through so clearly?
Well sugar, I’m afraid there wasn’t any real talent involved there. That was just the product of growing up in a particular place for the first eighteen years of my life! I am actually very fond of “Missouri talk” – when I very occasionally hear it, it makes me feel right at home. I am hoping to take a vacation to the Ozarks in the coming year or two, perhaps a writing trip, so that I can just soak it all up for a few days.

Sophie's also got a fun blog, Can't Stop Won't Stop, that I recently began to follow.  There's more information on her books at her blog and she recently ran a fun contest for aspiring writers.  Hop on over there and leave her some comment love (after you leave some here, of course).