Meet The Board is an interview series that highlights the fantastic individuals who make up The Board of Directors for Crime Writers of Canada.
This month, we meet BC/Yukon Rep, Joanna Vander Vlugt.
Joanna Vander Vlugt is an author and illustrator. She has been writing since a child, and she's a graduate of Simon Fraser University's Writer's Studio. Her motorcycle illustrations have been purchased world-wide and her Woman Empowered motorcycle art series has been featured in on-line art and motorcycle magazines. Under the pseudonym J.C. Szasz, Joanna’s short mysteries Egyptian Queen, and The Parrot and Wild Mushroom Stuffing were both published in Crime Writers of Canada mystery anthologies. Her essay, No Beatles Reunion was published in the Dropped Threads 3: Beyond the Small Circle anthology.
The Unravelling, her debut novel, and Dealer’s Child were Canadian Book Club Awards finalists, and now Spy Girls has received Chick Lit Book Cafe's International Book of Excellence Award for best spy thriller and suspense. Joanna draws upon her 13 years’ experience working in the prosecutor’s office and 10 years working in the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner for inspiration for her novels. Joanna is proud of her podcast SAM Magazine and the many authors she has interviewed and short stories she has showcased
10 Questions for Joanna
1. Who is your favourite Canadian author (live or dead, doesn’t have to be mystery)?
L.R. Wright was my favorite Canadian author.
2. What is your favourite book?
My favourite book is Lessons in Chemistry. I bought the book after listening to the audiobook while creating art.
3. What is your favourite movie?
It’s an animation, K-Pop Demon Hunters. I learned about the movie after listening to The Q podcast in which the creator, Maggie Kang, who was raised in Toronto, talked about how she didn’t want to portray the typical superhero.
4. What inspires you to write?
It’s not so much inspiration, but if I go three days and I haven’t written something, my world is off kilter. Nothing can beat that feeling when, with a single word, I get a hint of an idea, and I know something is there, I just need to think about it and give it time.
5. Has a real person ever inspired a character in your stories?
Yes, my daughter, who’s an ER nurse. In each book, if I don’t have a nurse as a main character, then I’ll have minor characters administering first aid, or from the medical profession.
6. Has a real person ever inspired you to kill them (in your book)?
Yes. Because of my experience working in the prosecutor’s office, I cannot write novels involving innocent victims. I’ve seen too much of the reality of those situations. In Spy Girls, I was so disgusted with individuals in power getting away with human trafficking, that I had it as a plot line. Usually, my murder victims are individuals of ill repute.
7. Are you proud of the first novel/story that you wrote? And, did you let other people read it?
Yes, I am proud of it, and I did publish it. I originally wrote The Unravelling in the early 2000s. I had a period of ten years when I wasn’t writing. Ten years later I re-read The Unravelling with the thought, if there was something salvageable, I’d rewrite it. I couldn’t remember who was the murderer. I was a different person and writer ten years later.
8. Other than writing, what is your passion?
Art. I wrote and created charcoal portraits as a child. My medium now is Copic art markers. I’m now working with another author and creating the art for a graphic novel. I’ve also illustrated over thirty motorcycles, some commissions, some for myself.
9. On average, how long do you write in a day?
I write approximately three to six hours a day, depending on where I am in the novel I’m working on, and if I’m meeting a deadline.
10. Do you have any unfinished manuscripts in your drawer/computer?
I have a time travel. It took me four years to finally write it, and I had developmental edits done. Now, I need to get back to it. What’s difficult is how close the story mirrors the current situation in the US, and I believe that’s why I’m hesitant to jump back in.
Social Media handles:
Instagram: Joannavandervlugt_author_art
Newsletter: https://joannavandervlugt.substack.com/
Website: www.joannavandervlugt.com