Jennifer McMahon
Jennifer McMahon
Jennifer McMahonis a novelist who formerly resided in Barre, Vermont and now lives in Montpelier, Vermont. She has a civil union with her partner Drea, and one child, daughter Zella. She is a graduate of Goddard College, and studied poetry at Vermont College...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
CountryUnited States of America
college poems poetry studied time trying year
I studied poetry in college and for a year in an MFA program. As time went on, my poems got more and more complicated. What I was really trying to do was tell stories.
absolutely bump exercise love perhaps quite scare trying
I absolutely love writing about the things that scare me, the things that keep me up at night. I don't quite know why. Perhaps because so many things do scare me, and this is my subconscious way of trying to exercise some control over things that go bump in the night!
counselor delivery easter farm house illness job kids last mental pizza quit shelter staff work
Over the years, I have been a house painter, farm worker, paste-up artist, Easter Bunny, pizza delivery person, homeless shelter staff member, and counselor for adults and kids with mental illness - I quit my last real job in 2000 to work on writing full-time.
wrote
I wrote my first short story in third grade.
falls
You can have the greatest characters in the world and write beautifully, but if nothing's happening, the story falls on its face pretty quickly.
particular people picking
People often ask if my books should be read in any particular order, but they're all standalone novels, so picking up any one of them would be fine.
bad books calls friend ideas nightmares notebook queen side wake
I have a friend who calls me the queen of the nightmares because I've always had really bad nightmares. I keep a notebook by the side of my bed, so I'll wake up in the night from a bad dream, and my heart's pounding, and I'm really scared, but I write it down, and sometimes I get ideas for books that way.
graduated poetry program studied vermont
I graduated with a B.A. from Goddard College in 1991 and then studied poetry for a year in the M.F.A. in Writing Program at Vermont College.
cellar dead eating empty found frying looked orange pebbles railroad shotgun skull stone treasures walls
I found many treasures in the woods over the years: shotgun shells, empty Colt 45 bottles, old railroad spikes, orange and black beetles eating a dead mouse, pebbles that looked just like teeth, old stone walls and cellar holes, a rusted out frying pan, the skull of a cat.
conflict external forever good leaving problem remember shape whether
At the heart of every story is conflict - whether external or internal, make it a good one, and remember that this problem is going to shape your character, leaving her forever changed.
noises possibly ultimate
My grandmother was a psychiatrist and possibly the ultimate of all skeptics. But even she couldn't explain the strange noises we so often heard in the attic.
constantly fascinated full illnesses medical shelves
My grandmother was a psychiatrist and had shelves full of medical books - I was constantly sneaking looks at some of those. I was fascinated by the descriptions of illnesses and diseases.
sequel stories
I've never done a sequel - so far, there have been too many new stories and characters calling my name.
people
Some people say, 'Write what you know.' My thing is, 'Write what scares you.'