1–What is the title of your latest release?
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A Light in the Forest is a heartwarming and suspenseful tale about resilience and strength. A young mother on the run from an abusive relationship hides in a town with dark secrets, discovers a mystery connected to her in ways she never anticipated, and finds that the love of a family can be found even in the unlikeliest of places.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I lived, worked, and went to school in southeastern Ohio for six years; an Ohio native with roots in Cincinnati and Cleveland too. My other novels have taken place in the mountains of Colorado and Alaska, but my early days in the hills of Ohio were calling to me and I wanted to set a story there that brought out the beauty in the place and the people.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Vega has lived a fairly isolated life during her years on the road, her house a van she shared with her late mother. But she wanted a family, a home, a place to let her roots grow. She wants to have that with Zach and her new baby. While Vega and I might not have known each other in real life, what we have in common is a deep desire for family and connection and that is something that can easily bond friends. I admire everything about Eve, from her kindness to her strength and her willingness to laugh even when life has doled out more cruelty than good. Eve is the kind of person I’d want to meet for a glass of wine, and some good conversation and I’d absolutely ask her to bring the pigs along.
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Vega is brave, vulnerable, and a mama bear who will do whatever it takes to protect her son. Eve is emotionally strong and witty with a deep empathy for others.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
The characters in this book often say the wrong things, act in unforgivable ways and use hateful words. What I learned while writing this book is how much fear motivates actions. Fear of what’s different or fear of saying the wrong thing. Fear of not being loved or accepted for who we are. I learned that it’s much easier to give in to fear and much, much harder to love in spite of hate, anger, and indifference. But ultimately, it’s the actions that are motivated by love that make all the difference and create space for lasting change.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I do a combination of both. I always go back and read what I wrote the day before and when I do that I tend to edit as I read. But mostly light editing, unless I feel I wrote a character or dialogue totally wrong. Otherwise, I try to resist the temptation to get everything perfectly right on the first pass and keep writing forward until I reach the end. I leave big-picture edits for the subsequent rounds of revisions.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I have a slight obsession with beets. I know, I know, beets and indulgence don’t seem to belong in the same sentence, but it’s unapologetically one of my absolute favorite foods. It pairs so deliciously with goat cheese and salmon, try them with Brussels sprouts, maybe oranges, nuts or mint. So many yummy combinations. They are easy to make at home and are a perfect lunch salad. Have I sold anyone else on beets yet?
9–Describe your writing space/office!
I used to write everywhere: kitchen island, car, coffee shops, waiting rooms, and sometimes in a locked bathroom when the kids were little and I needed to finish a chapter. Then somewhere along the way, I earned myself an office nook and now I have my bookshelves and good lighting, and a desk facing a beautiful view of the mountains that I stare at when I’m procrastinating.
10–Who is an author you admire?
I admire all writers who create stories, have the courage to publish those stories, and then keep writing more even though it’s a career that takes thick skin and a creative drive that at times must adhere to schedules and deadlines. Currently, I’m a fan of Yaa Gyasi. Her novels are thought-provoking, smart, beautifully written, and uncompromisingly honest. Homegoing is one of my favorite books of all time and the one I recommend to anyone looking for their next read.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
It’s difficult to pinpoint just one book. Many books have changed my life in one way or another. Whether it’s because of characters that move me, beautiful writing, or a story that changes the way I see the world. The book that comes to mind now is a memoir I recently read, Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng. The author’s incredible courage, strength, and tenacity during her imprisonment and the many trials she faced before, during, and after the Cultural Revolution brought me to tears more than once. It’s an incredibly detailed account of her experiences and yet an easy read that gripped me from the beginning.
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
It’s a long road from deciding to write a book to seeing your novel in print. By the time my agent and I accepted an offer for my first book, I had been writing for a few years, experienced rejections, learned to love and value the revision and editing process, and understood that one of the most important qualities in a writer is patience. So, by the time I learned that my dream of being a published author was about to come true, I was thrilled, of course, but I also understood that it was the continuation of everything I had learned along the way: patience, perseverance and a stubborn love of creating stories that will weather the good and the tough.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
I read everything, but I’m first and foremost drawn to stories about characters who move me and who deepen my worldview by teaching me something new. As that can be found in many genres, I read broadly.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
I find it very difficult to narrow down favorites because there are so many good movies out there. But I made my decision by considering how often I quote lines from that movie and with that I have two that are tied. And tied because they are based off of the same book by Jane Austin. One directly and one indirectly. The first is Pride and Prejudice, the Keira Knightly version, although give me the mini-series with Colin Firth any day. The second is Bridget Jones’s Diary based on the book by Helen Fielding and a modern-day retelling of the classic.
15–What is your favorite season?
I love all the seasons – that’s why I live where I get to enjoy all four. But if I’m pressed to pick, then I’ll say fall because you can get a hot summer-like day, a bitter cold one with flakes of snow, spring-like mud from unexpected rain, and of course, a perfectly cool crisp day where everyone pulls out a scarf and drinks a seasonal coffee.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Simply. A nice lunch with friends, a dinner out with family. A lovely surprise of a clean kitchen when I wake up in the morning. But I’m also not opposed to a last-minute, surprise trip to Italy. Hint. Hint.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I really enjoy the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking with Nora NcInerny. It’s about real people and their stories. It’s both sad and uplifting and very, very real.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Anything with amazing flavor and a little bit of heat. And I always love trying something new, unless it’s made with bugs. I’m not that adventurous.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Hike, yoga, read, skiing with the family, spending time with friends. Binging the newest season of The Great British Baking Show because although I don’t bake, I love watching those who do.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
My next book comes out in March of 2023 and is about a man who fakes his own death to provide for his ailing wife and a young girl who will do anything to give her brother the family he deserves. I’m still in the early stages of writing this one and I’m excited to see where the story takes me when it’s all said and done.
A LIGHT IN THE FOREST by Melissa Payne
From Melissa Payne, bestselling author of The Night of Many Endings, comes an emotional and suspenseful novel about the weight of secrets and the healing power of friends and family.
Vega Jones escapes an abusive relationship with nothing but her two-month-old baby and the van she grew up in. Her destination is a small Ohio town her late vagabond mother left years ago. It’s one full of nobodies, her mother warned. That makes it the ideal refuge for Vega to lie low, feel safe, and maybe learn more about a past her mother never spoke of.
Vega warms to the town and to new acquaintances like Heff, the young deputy and artist who prefers his yard art to actual policing, and empathetic Eve, a local farmer whose near-death experience gave her more than just her life back. But even in this welcoming community, there’s an undercurrent of something unsettled, talk of a tragedy that unfolded in the woods years ago, and a mystery connected to Vega in ways she couldn’t have anticipated.
As a mother on the run and following a path of mounting risks and illuminating secrets, Vega discovers that even during the darkest of times, there’s light in unexpected places.
Women’s Fiction | Thriller Domestic [Lake Union Publishing, On Sale: December 13, 2022, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662503689 / ]
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About Melissa Payne
For as long as she can remember, Melissa Payne has been telling stories in one form or another—from high school newspaper articles to a graduate thesis to blogging about marriage and motherhood. But she first learned the real importance of storytelling when she worked for a residential and day treatment center for abused and neglected children. There she wrote speeches and letters to raise funds for the children. The truth in those stories was piercing and painful and written to invoke in the reader a call to action: to give, to help, to make a difference. Melissa’s love of writing and sharing stories in all forms has endured. She lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with her husband and three children, a friendly mutt, a very loud cat, and the occasional bear. The Secrets of Lost Stones is her first novel.
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