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Eighteen-year-old Lucy doesn’t know how she became a ghost, but the more she remembers of her life in Victorian England, the more she wants to forget. Her only hope of changing the mistakes of her past is to enlist the help of a servant named Philip—the one living person who can see her. This impossible romance story is filled with delightful period detail and plenty of mystery.
Q&A with E.B. Wheeler
What are three things people may not know about you?
Three things about me. Let’s see. I studied Welsh in college (though I only remember a little of it); my first job was mucking out horse stalls when I was eleven; and I’m mildly allergic to chocolate (I eat it sometimes anyway).
Do you have a writing routine?
I set aside writing time early each morning before the kids get up. I’m not a morning person by nature, but I find the routine really helps me be productive. No one else is making demands on my time, it’s too early for a lot of my friends to be on social media, and my mind is usually still fresh and uncluttered. That being said, if I get an idea in the middle of the day, I make sure to write it down, and if I get a stroke of inspiration, I may end up staying up way too late getting the scene down.
How much research do you do?
A lot! I want my historical settings to be accurate, so I start with general research about the time period and read things written in the era. Then, as I go, I run into details, like what kind of pen the character would be writing with, what flowers would be in the garden, or how the characters would have addressed each other. If I can’t find the answer, I try to write around it, but I like the details to help keep readers in the scene.
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?
I’ve written both ways. For short stories, I really like “discovery writing.” For novels, though, I find it convenient to have a rough outline that reminds me of what major events or twists are going to occur in the story, yet still allows enough flexibility for the characters to react in a way that’s natural for their personalities—I don’t try to force characters to follow a prescribed plot, but I can decide ahead of time what kinds of situations to throw them into.
What else have you written?
I worked for four years writing scripts for educational software programs and instructional videos. I’ve also written historic preservation guidelines and recommendations and blogged for a museum. Some of my short stories and poems have placed in the League of Utah Writers’ annual writing contest, and my creative nonfiction piece, Imperfect Instruments, won the 2014 prose award from Segullah literary magazine.
Meet the Author
E.B. Wheeler grew up in Georgia and California. She attended BYU, majoring in history with an minor, and earned graduate degrees in history and landscape architecture from Utah State University. THE HAUNTING OF SPRINGETT HALL is her first novel. She lives in the mountains of Utah with her husband, daughters, various pets, and as many antique roses as she can cram into her yard.
