Welcome to The Professor of Eventide edition of Ask Me Anything! Here are some of the questions I received from my newsletter friends and from readers of this blog. 

This is a spoiler-free discussion, so if you haven’t read the novel yet but you’re curious, you’ll be safe here. When I do my next #AMA I’ll include some more spoilery questions and answers. 

1. What inspired The Professor of Eventide? 

I went into some of the major inspirations for The Professor of Eventide here. As an author, it can get a little tricky trying to explain where all of the inspirations came from because there are so many, especially with this book. 

I read many mysteries as I was preparing to write TPOE, including some by Agatha Christie and P.D. James. I read a lot of Dark Academia novels, some of which I listed here, but also others by Alex Michaelides, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and M.L. Rios. I read some classics most associated with the Dark Academia genre, including Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I read everything by Poe, several times, in fact, to try to catch his diction, tone, and rhythm. I’ll do a complete list of the books that I read for inspiration while writing TPOE soon. 

It  can be hard to pinpoint exactly what bubbles up in the moment of writing. Natalie Goldberg, in Writing Down the Bones, talks about composting, which is where we collect the fragments that will, in time, bloom into our stories. Goldberg said, “Our senses by themselves are dumb. They take in experience, but they need the richness of sifting for a while through our consciousness and through our whole bodies. I call this ‘composting.’ Our bodies are garbage heaps: we collect experience, and from the decomposition of the thrown-out eggshells, spinach leaves, coffee grinds, and old steak bones of our minds come nitrogen, heat, and very fertile soil. Out of this fertile soil bloom our poems and stories. But this does not come all at once. It takes time.” 

This is about as good an explanation as I can think of when trying to explain how all these various ideas come together to form one story. I threw all of my inspiration for TPOE into the pot, let them simmer, and in time they generated the ideas that helped me bring Jonathan’s story to life. 

2. Where did the idea for Eventide College come from? Did you base the setting on a real place?

Since the main inspiration behind TPOE was The Secret History, I knew early on that this would be a campus novel. When I wrote Her Dear & Loving Husband, I used a real place (Salem, Massachusetts) and a real college (Salem State University). While I loved every bit of writing that book, for TPOE I wanted freedom of movement, so I created a fictional college in a fictional seaside town in Coastal Maine. I decided which buildings were necessary (I’ve spent many years of my life on university campuses) and then decided where on the campus they would be located. I even drew a map of Eventide College in my writer’s notebook so I could keep track of where everything was. 

3. Why does Jonathan take so long to start searching for the murderer? 

Okay, so this one is slightly tricky to answer from a non-spoiler standpoint, but I think I can say that, even though I wouldn’t call Jonathan an unreliable narrator, he certainly doesn’t tell us everything up front. There’s a lot about himself that he holds back as he’s telling us the story. He doesn’t start looking for the murderer right away because he’s trying to ignore and explain away everything that happens at Eventide College.

And then, going along with this theme, was the question:

4. Would you consider this a story about self-deception?

I actually thought this was a very perceptive question, so well done to Ann in Seattle. Yes, I do think this is a story about self-deception. Jonathan deceives himself about what is happening around him until it’s too late for some of his students. 

5. How long did it take you to write The Professor of Eventide?

I came up with the idea for TPOE soon after reading The Secret History, which I read in January 2024 (I read The Secret History a total of three times over the course of 2024). I started reading mysteries, other Dark Academia, and other Gothic stories, as well as starting a notebook with ideas and research for the book in the spring of 2024. I began the first draft of TPOE in October 2024. Actual writing time was 16 months, during which I wrote five drafts, though from first concept until completion was almost exactly two years. 

6. What was the hardest scene to write?

I may need to revisit this one for the more spoilery edition of #AMA. If you’ve read the book, you can probably already guess. Three of Jonathan’s students are murdered. One was more difficult to write about than the others. Even though all of the violence happens off stage, it was still a tough scene to bring to life. 

And continuing on that note is this question:

7. Oh my God! Did (   ) have to die?

Here’s another one for the spoilery edition of #AMA. Again, if you’ve read the book already, you know which character is being referred to. While I can’t say a lot here, I will admit that sometimes as writers we have to make difficult choices that serve the overall story. Although that death was the hardest for me to write, it also made the most sense considering the murderer’s rationale for committing the crimes. I felt a bit like Dickens when he was deciding whether or not to kill off Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop. Finally, in his notes, he decided, yes, kill her. Killing off beloved characters is never fun, but it is sometimes necessary. 

8. Did you always know the ending of the story?

Yes and no. How’s that for an answer?

The last chapter, which is essentially Jonathan’s postscript, stayed the same and it’s one of the first things I knew about the story. Despite the many rewrites, it was one of the few things that stayed the same throughout the various drafts. In fact, it was one of the first chapters I wrote.

Interestingly, the murderer changed several times during the writing process. I had a few other characters in mind, but the more I understood what the story was trying to be, the more I realized that I needed someone with a motive that matched Jonathan’s back story. Those scenes required many rewrites, so that is one aspect that changed over time.  

9. Is this a murder mystery? I figured out who the murderer is fairly early on. 

You’re right on schedule if you figure it out before Jonathan. If you figure it out as Jonathan does, that’s great too. Every reader is going to experience the story differently. That’s what I love about reading. There’s no right way to understand or interpret this or any other story. Here’s a little secret: I wrote it so that readers might guess whodunnit before Jonathan figures it out. That’s part of Jonathan’s problem–he doesn’t see, or he willfully ignores, the evidence that is right in front of him. 

While I’m not sure TPOE qualifies as an inverted mystery like The Secret History, I do think that solving the mystery isn’t the most important part. The suspense comes from following Jonathan’s psychology as he begins to piece the puzzle together. 

Here are some fun questions that readers sent in. 

10. If Eventide College were real, would you want to teach or study there?

As beautiful as Eventide College is, and as beautiful as the Coastal Maine setting would be, knowing what I know about it, no, I wouldn’t want to stay permanently as a student or a professor, though I might not mind visiting for a day or two. 

11. What would Jonathan be like in the modern world?

I thought this question was so interesting because TPOE is set in 2010, which is only 16 years ago, yet, by comparison to today, in some ways 2010 feels almost quaint. I actually had to research what technology was available then. I remembered having a cellphone and I was pretty sure I had a laptop, but beyond that I couldn’t recall. One thing you can say about Jonathan is that he’s extremely adaptable to every situation he’s found himself in, so he would be fine wherever or whenever he was. 

12. Coffee, tea, or something stronger while writing?

I’m definitely not a Hemingway girl, so  ixnay on the something stronger. But I’ll go for either coffee or tea while writing, usually iced coffee with a shot of hazelnut or hot tea, usually English Breakfast or Earl Grey. 

13. Music or silence while writing? And then: What music (if any) did you listen to while writing?

Definitely music. I need something going in the background even if I’m not focused on it. There are so many wonderful Dark Academia playlists out there on Spotify and YouTube that I loved listening to while writing TPOE to help me get into the Dark Academia mood. Classical music, which I love, is also wonderful for getting into a Dark Academia mood. I wrote about the music I listened to while writing TPOE here. 

14. Which character in The Professor of Eventide are you most like?

Jonathan. Without even having to think about it, Jonathan. He gets his bookish nature, his introversion, and his sarcastic sense of humor from me. Maeve is who I would like to be, but definitely Jonathan. 

15. What is your writing uniform?

Gosh, I’d hate to perpetuate the stereotype of the writer who writes in their PJs, but I’m afraid I’m going to do that here. Other times I wear my comfy clothing that I normally wear around the house like shorts and a t-shirt. 

16. Morning writer or midnight writer?

It depends on what time of year it is. If it’s from late May through early August when I’m home for the summer months, then I’ll usually write in the morning. If it’s the school year, then I’ll write in the late afternoon and early evening. Unlike Jonathan, I don’t do too much at midnight except sleep. 

Thank you so much to everyone who sent in their questions. If you’d like to contribute some spoilery questions for the next #AMA, send them through the Contact link.