Author Interview: Sarah M. Stephen

Sarah M. Stephen is the author of the Journal Through Time Mystery series. The first book in the series, The Dead of False Creek, follows present-day museum archivist Riley Finch and 1890s detective Jack Winston as they work together to solve a crime. View it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and Kobo.

Her second book, The Hanging at the Hollow Tree, is slated for August 2022. Learn more about this release, including where you can pre-order the book, on her website.

I got the chance to interview Sarah for the November 16, 2021 edition of the Clueletter. For more author interviews and other mystery news and tidbits, be sure to become a subscriber.

Hi, Sarah! Thanks for joining me. Your Journal Through Time Mystery series features a split narrative between Jack Winston, a detective from 1897, and Riley Finch, a museum archivist from 2017. How did you find writing in two different eras? Did you do any historical research to prepare?

First of all, let me say thank you for inviting me, Manon. I’m thrilled to be here. I’ve read a lot of historical fiction set in Victorian London and drew on that somewhat. Vancouver is much younger than London (only officially a city for just over ten years when Jack is solving mysteries) and was heavily influenced by English settlers (of course indigenous people had been living in the area for hundreds of years before that). I’m thankful that the City of Vancouver archives are extensive. The city’s first archivist, Major James Matthews, left detailed notes of interviews he did with residents from Detective Jack Winston’s time, and I had lots of fun reading those. I also referred to Making Vancouver by Robert A.J. McDonald and A Century of Service by Joe Swan for information about the early days of the city and its police force. 

My impression is that your books are (very professionally!) self-published. Is that correct? What was your experience with the publishing process?

Thank you! Yes, I’m independently published. I spent a lot of time researching how to set everything up and trying to understand what leads authors to success. Much of the guidance is to: 

• Write a good story (which I think I have done, or at least tried to do);
• Get a great cover (so I worked with a wonderful cover designer who is familiar with Vancouver, and he did an excellent job of incorporating current landmarks around False Creek and the historical element of the book in his design); and 
• Make sure your books are edited professionally (my editor is fantastic and I loved working with her).

For the mechanics of publishing, I created the imprint and set up a company. My intention is to eventually publish other authors, so I wanted to be in a position to do that when the time is right. The initials WZE in my imprint reference the maiden names of my mother and grandmothers.

I noticed that you also have a corporate career. How does that compare with writing? Do you have any advice to aspiring authors who are also working an unrelated job?

I work full time in a corporate job, so for now, writing is something I squeeze in during the evenings and weekends. I actually drafted most of The Dead of False Creek while commuting on public transit. Because of the pandemic, I no longer have a commute, but you can find me dictating or typing on my phone while waiting to pick up my son from school in the afternoons. 

For as long as I can remember, writing has been something I’ve wanted to do. I have pages and pages of journals where I write about wanting to write. After years of thinking about it, I eventually registered for a creative writing course, and the idea of False Creek was sparked during that class. I worked on the draft for about a year, including workshopping part of it during a year-long creative writing program I was accepted into called The Writer’s Studio. After all that momentum, I put my manuscript aside when my son was born, though I was back to thinking about writing every day. I resumed working on the book again in 2019 and started working with my editor on it in the fall of 2020. It’s been a slow process, but I’ve learned so much, and I believe this was the process I needed to go through. 

The other thing about writing for me—and I think this is true for a lot of people who aspire to write—is that I didn’t really tell many people about it. Most of my friends had no idea about my book until it had been released for a few weeks. I still struggle talking about writing in person (but once I get started, watch out, I’ll go on and on and on). I’m working on becoming more comfortable about telling people I’m an author, and I’m pleased to say that when I do, the response I get is so wonderful, it’s becoming easier and easier. 

If you were to compare Jack Winston with another literary sleuth, who would it be?

This is such a great question. I really wanted to create a character who was—at least at first—still figuring out how to be a detective. I admire the way Anne Perry’s character Thomas Pitt has developed and gained confidence throughout his series. Jack has a different arc ahead of him, but I think he and Pitt would get along if they ever met. 

Lastly, let’s talk about the second book in your series, The Hanging at the Hollow Tree, which is slated for August 2022. Where in the writing process are you with it? Can you tell us a bit about the story?

I just received some great developmental feedback from my editor on Book 2 and have a few areas to strengthen before it goes to copy editing in early 2022. In this one, Riley will be helping Jack solve another murder, but also trying to figure out a mystery in her own time. Once Book 2 is in copy edits, I’ll start my first round of revisions on Book 3.

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Thanks so much to Sarah for the interview. Sleuths, I hope you enjoyed it! If you aren’t already subscribed, please be sure to sign up for the Cluesletter and get author features alongside other mystery goodies.

Author photo credit: Kent Kallberg Photography