Make Note of Elle Hartford
Greetings, Noters!
You might notice this post breaks away from my usual twice-a-month cadence. Well, I couldn’t miss out on a chance to chat with the fabulous author I have featured for you today. She’s celebrating the release of not one, not two, but THREE books this fall. Without further ado…
A Bit About the Author: Elle Hartford adores cozy mysteries, fairy tales, and above all, learning new things. As a historian and educator, she believes in the value of stories as a mirror for complicated realities. She currently lives in New Jersey with a grumpy tortoise and a three-legged cat.
Find more stories of Red and her friends at ellehartford.com. And while you’re there, sign up for Elle’s newsletter to get bonus material, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, and terrible jokes!
Elle and I connected through a multitude of channels. We are both members of the NYTristate Sisters in Crime chapter and got to meet in-person for the first time at our summer get together. Elle is also one of the kindest and most supportive people you can meet on social media, so it is an absolute delight to be able to showcase her amazing and ambitious work! Elle, welcome to Noteworthy! We have much to discuss today, so let’s dive in. Writers are readers, first and foremost. What book made you first fall in love with reading?
Such a tough question! It might be a tie between Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Tamora Pierce’s The Immortals series. I definitely fell in love with Pierce’s Tortall at a young age, but it was Bronte (she was one of my heroes in middle school!) who really encouraged me to try writing myself.
I was heavily into fantasy (I clearly still am LOL) at a young age; I think it plays such a unique role in how our imaginations grow as we get older. You mentioned Bronte encouraged you to write. How did you begin your writing journey?
Very, very quietly! ;) For years I wrote just for me. I would come up with stories to comfort myself or to explore a new concept. Eventually, I loved my characters so much that I realized they deserved to be shared with others! That has held especially true for Red and her friends in The Alchemical Tales series.
I’m so glad you began sharing your work. The first piece I read from you was your short story in Justice for All: Murder New York Style, which I absolutely loved, and now you’ve recently launched The Alchemical Tales. Do you outline your books? What’s your plotting process like?
I do outline, but I often change the outline as I go along. I try to wait until I know the main gist of the mystery before I start writing–but then once I am writing, the characters may dictate changes in the plot! For example, in Beauty and the Alchemist, the murderer’s motive completely changed on me before I’d finished the first draft. But the result was so much better than what I had planned anyway, so I welcome the changes.
Characters rarely do what they're told, it seems. I run into this dilemma, too, but they usually know their story better than I do. Speaking of characters, what trait do you admire most about your heroine?
My protagonist, Red, is an old-school alchemist (think proto-science and the Elixir of Life). Because of that, she’s incredibly well-rounded and resourceful–she has a grounding of knowledge in botany, geology, and other natural sciences. I wish I could also hold all that knowledge in my head! :) Although it does backfire on her sometimes, like when she’s absorbed in her experiments and misses out on subtext . . . like the fact that all her friends think she and a certain someone need to get together finally. ;)
I absolutely love the idea of an alchemist. Fun fact: Alchemy is also one of my favorite words. I love inserting it into my Court of Mystery series, just as a little easter egg for myself LOL
With your new series, you’ve got an incredibly ambitious release calendar. How did you decide to pursue this, and what have been the most exciting/challenging hurdles to overcome?
I do! So, I released the first book, Beauty and the Alchemist, on August 12. The second, Cold as Snow, just came out on September 9. And the third, Mermaid for Danger, is coming October 7! The thing is, I really took my time before I decided how to release my books. I spent about a year researching different avenues, writing query letters, and learning the author business! But during that time I was writing, too, so I ended up with a backlog of books to share. :) Honestly, the most challenging thing about it has been reminding myself to slow down once in a while. I’m so excited to share this series, and I really want to do my characters justice, so sometimes I heap too many to-dos on my plate!
I feel this so much! I constantly am telling myself to slow down, well, one side of my brain is. The other is telling me to hurry up, to write more. It’s a really tricky act to balance!
This is usually the part of my interviews where I say “now, for some fun,” but this has been fun from the start, so let’s keep up the momentum! Where’s your ideal space to write?
We have a spare bedroom which started out as “William’s room” (that’s my tortoise, who lives in a habitat about as big as a corner sofa). Slowly, that room has become my office, too! I’ve even created a standing desk and filled the area around it with knickknacks and calendars, so at this point, William has to share the room whether he likes it or not. ;)
For those of you on social media, William pictures are always a joy to have on your timeline! Besides, William, what are three things that are always on your writing desk/writing space.
My planner is essential! And there’s usually a cup of green tea hanging around. I also have a little keychain of a Final Fantasy character who reminds me of one of my book characters, Luca, so I keep him around for inspiration. :)
Haha, love it! I totally recreate my Court of Mystery characters in Elder Scrolls Online. Someone just might see Duchess Jacqueline, Ziri Axesinger, or Lady Uma Dorrow running around. Elle, with three releases in 2022, you’ve got a lot to celebrate. How do you celebrate a big professional accomplishment?
Hmmm, this one is hard, because I do really struggle with self-care. But I like to think I’m getting better. :) For the release of Beauty, I took the day off and tried to spend it doing things I love–walking, yoga, music, and drinking fun cocktails during a movie night at home!
Sounds like the perfect way to enjoy a moment. All right, with everything you’ve got going on, you must have some great tools to share with readers that help you juggle it all. What is your favorite, can’t-live-without writing tool?
So, my writing started out with a $0 budget, since I was a student and writing for fun (way back when!). Back then, I got hooked on Google Drive/Google Docs, and I have never looked back since. It’s free, it comes along automatically with a Gmail address, and it does almost everything Word will do–but, most crucially, it stores everything online and is available from anywhere! (It also exports to .docx or .pdf when it comes time to share)
In this business, free writing tools are invaluable! All right, for our final question…You stumble across a crime scene. What literary character are you alerting first? Why?
Okay, I had to really give this some thought! In the end, though, I decided that I would definitely go with one of my own characters, Officer Thorn. She’s the police officer in Belville, and she always knows exactly what to do–and isn’t afraid to delegate, either! She can be a bit bossy, of course, but I’d feel confident that with her in charge of the crime scene, everything would get done precisely the way it needs to. Underneath all that bluster, Officer Thorn is all about justice. :D
You know, alerting a member of law enforcement is probably the best answer to this question LOL well done! Elle, it’s been wonderful having you here. Thank you for sharing your time and your insight with readers. Noters, make sure to check out Elle’s new series, The Alchemical Tales, available now!
Beauty & the Alchemist: In this magical mix-up of fairy tales and murder, Little Red Riding Hood solves the mystery at the heart of Beauty and the Beast . . . What does it take to overcome a curse? Alchemist Red and her friends will need all the help they can get to solve a crime and uncover the truth!
Cold as Snow: In this magical twist on a familiar tale, alchemist Red sets out to answer the riddle behind a cursed mirror and deadly apples . . .
. . . Who decides who’s fairest of all? And who would be willing to kill over it?
Life in Belville has just settled down, and Red’s ready to wait out her first mountain winter–preferably while under a cozy blanket, sipping some homemade tea. But when a mysterious ore turns up in the snow, Red is called in to investigate. And when she finds a body before even setting foot in the mine, all bets are off. It turns out that the mining team responsible for discovering the new ore consists of a fairy named Snow and–you guessed it–seven dwarves. Life is no song for the teammates, however, especially when one dwarf after another becomes the victim of vicious attacks.
In an effort to keep her town safe as the mystery grows, Red accepts a job tracking down the source of the ore. But at the same time, rumors of dragons and constant snow storms are raising the stakes. And as she and her friends take Snow under their wing, Red begins to wonder if all isn’t fair in Snow’s icy world–or even in her own.