Much Ado About Russian Author Interviewed for The Patch

Reposted from The Braintree Patch



Vampire Fiction Set in Boston is Braintree Resident's Latest Writing Project


By Joseph Markman


Kerry Rockwood White grew up in Braintree, runs her own graphic design business and has self-published her first in a series of vampire stories, called "Much Ado About Russian."

About two years ago, Kerry Rockwood White and her husband Dan were watching one of those unintentionally funny entertainment documentaries on TV, about the renewed popularity of vampires in American culture.

White had seen the Twilight movies and was a fan of the HBO series True Blood. The roundup on vampires had her and Dan joking back and forth, eventually leading to White saying that she should write The Woman's Guide to Dating Vampires.

That night, lying in bed, White couldn't ditch the idea. She developed a main character, Hero Fletcher, a storyline about Fletcher – a single woman living in the Boston area – that involved meeting a handsome vampire at a nightclub, and set to work on a first draft.

It took just more than a month, writing a chapter every day or two in between taking care of her son and daughter and running an at-home graphics design business with her husband.

"This is probably the quickest I've written a book," White said. "As soon as I found Hero, I couldn't shut her up."

The novel, its 298 pages and stark black, white and red cover available on Amazon, is called Much Ado About Russian, and is actually the fifth book written by White, a Braintree native who grew up in the same house she now occupies with her family in East Braintree.

White attended Ross Elementary School, then East Middle, where her love of reading, and her knack for creativity, led to one of her first writing projects – a book report that instead became her own short story, about a conflict of communication between a boy and his teacher.

But despite White's passion for the arts – her dream in high school was to double major in journalism and music and become a writer for Rolling Stone – she ended up majoring in accounting in college, for economic reasons, and with a push from her parents.

"I didn't want to pay student loans for the rest of my life," White said.

After college White worked for a school supply company, where she met Dan, and had Aidan, who is now 12 and into making his own movies, and Julia, who is six and has her mom's passion for reading.

Following stints with a PR and marketing firm and with State Street in Quincy, White started her own business, which her husband now helps run. She also works with a worldwide group of independent artisans who have done projects for celebrities and nonprofits.

With a more flexible schedule came more opportunities to write, and White started digging into ideas that stemmed from crime shows and the Harry Potter series, penning four books before landing on an idea that she thought was especially marketable.

A friend of White's who is a big fan of vampire fiction read each chapter of the book as she wrote them. "It kept me going," White said. "Do I just think I'm being funny? Or is it funny?"

After putting the draft aside for a couple weeks, giving it another close edit herself and letting Dan go over it as well, White started trying to publish the work the traditional way, through literary agents and publishing houses. But after repeatedly not hearing back, or receiving form letters or ones that contained notes bearing little resemblance to her actual story, White decided to put her efforts into self-publishing.

First she got her manuscript professionally edited, then went with Amazon.com's CreateSpace, a website where authors can select among an array of self-publishing options. When a book is ordered online, it is printed and shipped directly to the customer. White also made Much Ado About Russian available for the Kindle e-reader. Digital copies are less expensive – $5 compared to $12 to $15 for the paperback version.

Since making the book available, White has sold about 85 copies. "It's an amazing feeling," she said, to read reviews on Amazon and posts on Facebook.

One mention in particular stirred White's emotions, she said. A friend from high school's mother emailed White saying that she had read the book and was moved by it.

"This is not a book you would ever imagine this mother reading," she said. "It meant so much to me, as sweet as this woman is she is not excessive in praise."

White said she will continue to pump out books in her "Fair Hero Series," though perhaps not as quickly as the first.

"[Hero] was talking to me all the time," she said. "I was lucky to sleep."

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