An emerging writer with several solid collections to her name, author B.S. Miller has gotten her career off to a strong start with her work being published in several strong collections. Now, in honor of Women in Horror Month, I talk with her about her early interest in writing, her writing process, and her collection “Veštica.”
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, when did you get into horror in general? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
B.S. Miller: Thank you so much for doing this! I’m excited to be involved/included. Horror has been a part of my life as far back as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are of the Ghostbusters (the movies, the crew, our playset firehouse, and proton packs)… I’m still obsessed with the franchise! I grew up watching horror movies hosted by Joe Bob Briggs with my mom and Svengoolie with my grandma because the women in my family are big horror fans (even my cousin, Melanie Sue, is a fellow horror author). If I had to pinpoint falling in love with written horror, I’d credit it to my copy of Vittorio the Vampire by Anne Rice. I asked my mom to buy it for me from Walden Books when I was twelve, and it was love. My mom buying that book, and Anne Rice digging her fangs into my heart, are why I write horror today. I have three kids (my oldest is about to turn five), and every Saturday night, we watch Svengoolie and make cookies. They’re fans of all things spooky—especially anything related to The Addams Family, Beetlejuice, and Ghostbusters. I even have Addams-Family-style-Kewpies of my kids tattooed on my arm because they love those characters so much.
Me: Who were some of your favorite writers growing up? Do you try to take influences from their style with your own voice in your work?
BSM: I can only hope to write as beautifully as Anne Rice. I can’t claim my writing is anything like hers, but I try to create prose that pulls out the emotions I felt when reading her work. Another favorite of mine has always been S.E. Hinton. I read Hinton’s The Outsiders the same year I read Rice’s Vittorio the Vampire, and I went from not liking to read to having an insatiable hunger for the written word. I’d like to think some of both are evident in my work; it would be hard to believe they’re not in there, given how much they shaped my taste as a reader. Hinton is also part of why I write under the name B.S. Miller.
Me: What was the starting point of becoming a writer? Were you always into writing growing up?
BSM: The year I really started reading, I started writing. I’m not a poet, but I actually dipped my toes into poetry first (thanks to S.E. Hinton for introducing me to Robert Frost…I even have “Nothing Gold Can Stay” tattooed on my back). The year after I read Vittorio and The Outsiders, and subsequently started writing for fun, my eighth-grade English teacher nominated me for a Summer Arts Academy for writing (thanks, Mr. Dran!), and I’ve been writing ever since. Teachers who believe in you are invaluable, and I can credit a handful of them for inspiring me to go back to school, then on to teach high school English (including several years of teaching creative writing), after leaving my original career path in the automotive field.
Me: Is there any specific genre you prefer to write? Is there a style or format that you find easier to get into, even if you don't have a preference?
BSM: I almost exclusively write horror—though the subgenre varies. If I had to pick a favorite subgenre, I’d say historical or folk horror. I really struggle (sometimes mechanically, sometimes ethically) to write in the first person.
Me: So, that brings us to your newest novella, “Veštica.” What can you tell us about the book?
BSM: Veštica is Serbian for “witch” and is inspired by Serbian folklore and cultural beliefs. I was born in America and raised with Serbian-Orthodox religious beliefs and other Serbian cultural traditions. I’ve always had strong women in my life (Serbian by blood or through marriage), but becoming a mom, and my oldest being a daughter, made me hyperaware of what it means to foster an environment to develop that strength. I was very close to my grandmother, who passed shy of ninety-four. Another of my favorite women is about that age, now. I was thinking of them and my mother when creating a strong, fierce, and clever female character, and I wanted very much to show her ferocity in advanced age. I pulled inspiration for monsters from creatures such as vukodlak and psoglav, but included human monsters we have seen so much of throughout history.
This novella started out as a chapbook I wrote for a competition judged by Clay McLeod Chapman, Ruthann Jagge, Jonathan Janz, and RJ Joseph. The judges chose Veštica for Best Cover and runner-up for Best Story. Part III of this novella is the original chapbook from the competition.
Me: How do you settle on the plots for the stories within here? Was there any special significance to the variety of the stories within here?
BSM: After writing the chapbook, I was hungry to tell more of the story for the characters. I decided to work from three points in time (divided into parts I, II, and III), but it all comes together by the end. I get into a bit in my author’s note at the end of Veštica, but so much of history is translated, manipulated, glossed over, or just plain lost, it leaves a lot of questions. One that scratches at me is What about all the lost stories? Lost stories mean suppressed voices. Suppressed voices mean rage. I wanted to boil a bit of that over the pot.
Me: Was there anything while writing the characters that you were surprised by in telling their stories?
BSM: The story is very personal because so much of the women I love are poured into it. I wanted to write this for them. But what really surprised me (in the best way) were the number of women who shared connections to the work. Most of my reviews on Amazon, for example, are from women with Slavic roots. I have a hard time expressing how much that means to me because this story is for them, too, and their words about my work connect us in a kind of sisterhood. One of the women who read and reviewed the work, fellow horror author Camille Danciu, said Veštica is on the short list of personal possessions she wants to be cremated with. I mean, as far as compliments an author could receive, is there anything out there much more moving than that?
Me: With a heavy reliance on Serbian folklore and setpieces, how much research went into making sure these different elements were integrated properly into the book?
BSM: I wanted the forest, where most of the novella takes place, to be authentic. I spend a lot of time in the woods here in Pennsylvania, but you’re not going to see all the same plants and wildlife as you would in the mountains of Serbia, so researching to a degree that made sense for the story was important to me. I also try to be conscious of how cultures are suppressed to a point of perceived vanishment through language as a tool of oppression (one may think of the Vanishing Indian Myth used to depict indigenous people in the Americas as extinct or destined for extinction). Serbs are resilient. A lot of work has gone into preserving traditions and language around border changes, war, powershifts, crimes against humanity... With all this in mind, I want to be cognizant that what some people may refer to as mythology, others may hold as beliefs in the present (not some distant past they’re disconnected from). The readers I gave the first copies of this work to (once developed into a novella because the chapbook competition was anonymous) are of Slavic heritage (several, specifically Serbian).
Me: What is your writing process? How do you stay focused on writing?
BSM: With three kids under five and being a full-time teacher, my process is more of a “when I can, I do” situation. I put out a short story collection when I was about seven months pregnant with my third child, and my babies were three years and twenty-two months respectively. A lot of it was written with tiny fingers reaching for my laptop, or late at night when one was asleep beside me and another was asleep with their head on my lap. About eleven months later, the novella form of Veštica was published. I used summer break from teaching as a time to go write outside sporadically while my husband was home with our feral babies. I’m a voracious reader, and I believe the more you read, the better you will write—especially if you’re listening to diverse voices and styles. I consider every book I read a means of studying the craft of writing. I really have far more ideas than time.
Me: Once it was finally written, what was the process for having it published?
BSM: I did a few sleep-deprived rounds of self-editing. My cousin, Melanie Sue, did the first read-through and caught several things I didn’t. My mom read it and caught something else [laughs]. You could say editing was a family effort. My husband read chunks at a time and gave feedback, which was really valuable from a reader's perspective (versus a writer's). I self-published through KDP and, after talking more with my cousin, decided to add an author’s note at the end (to avoid spoilers) before it became available to the public.
Me: What do you do to keep your creative energy flowing?
BSM: What energy? [laughs] No, but seriously, reading keeps me inspired. I want to give a shoutout to mental healthcare for really helping me work through some roadblocks that were stifling my creativity over the last couple of years because of professional burnout. My husband’s support—being a real partner—so I can carve out time to write around our work schedules is invaluable. Positive reviews are so validating… any reviews are appreciated, obviously, but the ones where people share personal connections really situate me within a network of shared experiences. The ethos there helps me attack the dreaded imposter syndrome lurking around so many creatives. A support system of those who keep reading and encouraging my writing keeps me going.
Me: What else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers?
BSM: Over the last year, I’ve visited Gettysburg (twice), Antietam, and the Kennedy Farmhouse (John Brown’s headquarters before the raid on Harpers Ferry). Knowing some of the history of these places was one thing, but physically being at these sites, seeing pictures, reading firsthand accounts at or near the sites where such loss transpired… it was heavy. I am simultaneously fascinated and horrified. During spring break, we plan on taking the kids to Harpers Ferry. I’ve been ravenously consuming Civil War history, legends, and inspired fiction (such as James McBride’s The Good Lord Bird), and am hoping to soon start a collection of horror stories inspired by the Civil War.
Me: Lastly, being that this is our Women in Horror Movement, what special message do you have for any women out there looking to join in the industry in any capacity as you are one yourself? Thank you again for your time!
BSM: Something I shared with students every semester I taught creative writing is that S.E. Hinton was sixteen when she wrote The Outsiders, and Mary Shelley was eighteen when she started writing Frankenstein. If you are a student interested in writing, do not give power to social constructs such as age or gender when they try to dictate or reduce the value of your words, ideas, experiences, potential, or creativity.
One is also never “too old” to create. Start. Or, keep going. When you’re putting in the work, there will be people who find value, but most importantly, do it for yourself. Write the characters you want to see. Write characters you want your daughters (literal or figurative) to see.
And if you’re interested in getting to know me a bit better, I can be found on IG @b.s.miller.author
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