Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination. Cachanilla and Canuck, originally from Baja California, she now resides in Vancouver. She has an MA in Science and Technology Studies from the University of British Columbia.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including Gods of Jade and Shadow (Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, Ignyte Award), Mexican Gothic (Locus Award, British Fantasy Award, Pacific Northwest Book Award, Aurora Award, Goodreads Award), and Velvet Was the Night (finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Macavity Award). She writes in a variety of genres including fantasy, horror, noir and historical.

She has edited several anthologies, including She Walks in Shadows (World Fantasy Award winner, published in the USA as Cthulhu’s Daughters). Her fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Best American Mystery and Suspense.

Tell us about The Bewitching.

The Bewitching is a horror novel about three women who come in contact with witchcraft: a student completing her thesis in the 1990s, a writer in the 1930s and a farmer in 1908.

The Bewitching weaves together multiple timelines, locations, and generations of women. How did you approach structuring such a layered narrative?

I like Alfred Hitchcock’s “bomb under the table” explanation. He’s talking about a movie scene where people are having dinner and then a bomb explodes, which surprises the audience. But then he says picture the same scene, but the audience sees that there’s a bomb under the table. That’s suspense.

What Hitchcock is explaining is that knowledge can empower audiences because it allows them to anticipate an event. The Bewitching is using anticipation and suspense for most of its narrative. Each timeline allows you to glimpse the bomb. We may even know that the bomb maker is in the building, we may know it was the waiter, but the suspense is going to come from watching that thing tick while the people keep having their dinner.

Was there any particular challenge or delight in writing a story set in 1990s academia?

That’s when I was a student, so I remembered everything quite well. It’s funny how time passes and now that period is considered ‘vintage’ or even ‘historical.’ It’s also funny what life was like and how young people now perceive the past. For example, I was talking to a young person who told me, with great certainty, that in the 1990s we didn’t have laptops. That’s funny because I had a laptop that weighed like a bunch of bricks, but it was a laptop. Anyway, the 1990s section was fun because it was traveling back to something that I knew but sprucing it up. The college where the action takes place is inspired by the college I attended. So it felt a bit like decking your house for Halloween, you know? Turning the college of my memories into an eerie duplicate.

What does your writing routine look like now? Has it changed since your earlier books?

Somewhat. I’m a full-time freelancer now so I get to control my schedule more, but the work must get done at some point and I generally like to write at night because it’s quieter and tackle other tasks (publicity, emails, research, etc.) in the daytime.

You’ve worked as a publisher, editor, and writer, how have those experiences shaped your perspective on the industry?

They’ve allowed me to see different sides of book production, but I think what has been most helpful has been time. There’s a saying that goes “más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo.” It means the devil knows more because it’s old than because it’s the devil. There’s a Darwinian element to a writing career. If you survive long enough, you learn useful tidbits.

What advice would you give to writers navigating traditional publishing, especially those with culturally specific or genre-defying stories?

Don’t self-reject. There are people who will tell me they’ve never tried querying an agent, but they just know it’s too difficult to get one, so they’re not going to try. It makes me go, what? Give it a try. Give it several. Most people don’t get a publishing deal from their first novel, and even when we get deals stuff happens. Sometimes editors leave, other times publishing houses are reorganized, sometimes publishing houses close. It’s a constantly shifting environment and that means opportunities pop in and out of existence.

What’s something about your journey to bestseller status that might surprise people?

People think my first novel was Mexican Gothic, which landed me on bestseller lists for the first time. But that was my sixth novel. I’d had a whole long career before that.

What’s the best (or worst) piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?

I sometimes hear people say that if you are not having luck with publishers, you should try self-publishing because it’s much easier, and that’s a disservice. You’re suggesting that someone start their own business and saying that it is easy? Nonsense. Self-publishing should be approached with the research and stamina any kind of business venture requires.

What’s one thing you believe women writers should stop apologizing for?

Do people apologize for stuff? To whom? I can’t think of anyone I would apologize for except my editor if I was late with a manuscript, and I’m punctual.

Favorite place to write?

In bed but I try to be at a desk for the sake of good posture.

Favorite drink/snack while writing?

I don’t write or drink while I write. It gets crumbs all over the computer.

What do you listen to while writing?

It varies. For The Bewitching it was a lot of 1990s alternative music because one of the timelines is set in that decade.

What’s a book that changed your writing forever?

Madame Bovary. It was probably the first time I understood interiority.

What are you working on next?

My next novel, The Intrigue, will be out next summer. It’s set in Mexico in 1943 and it’s about a lonely heart scammer who is trying to con a spinster with the help of her niece. It’s a noir.

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Minerva grew up on tales of witches and the supernatural from her great-grandmother, who claimed that she had an encounter with a witch as a child in 1900s Mexico. Now, Minerva is creating her thesis about little-known horror author Beatrice Tremblay and makes the shocking discovery that Tremblay confronted the same witch her great-grandmother had years ago. Minerva must leverage this knowledge to survive the witch’s wrath and complete her thesis.

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