The Well's End

Margaret Stohl Interviews Seth Fishman

International best-selling writer Margaret Stohl, co-author of Beautiful Creatures, caught up with Seth to generally fawn over the book and ask him some questions.

Seth Fishman: First of all, my biggest thanks for these really amazingly fun and original interview questions. I’ve long loved your books, and it’s hard to imagine you reading mine and enjoying. What an honor!

Margaret Stohl: Seth, your brain = a deeply dark place. Comparable to, say, a well. True or False? Discuss.

SF: Truish! I’d like to think that if you shine a light into my brain, you find that it isn’t so scary, or that it’s full of nice things, like water or wishes. That said, I often set the tone for The Well’s End by imagining what it would be like to be stuck down a well. The cold, the smell, the darkness, the fear. My mind and wells = best friends.

MS: When a little girl falls down a well and years later, finds herself getting in once again over her head—this time in the middle of a conspiracy involving a killer virus, her father, and her school—I get the feeling this story didn’t come from a dream about sparkly vampires, Seth. How did it come to you?

SF: I like all sorts of vampires, but when I set out to write this book, I wanted to ground the story in as much terrifying reality as possible. So I started with the girl who fell down the well, loosely based on ‘Baby Jessica’ McClure, who really did fall down a well in my hometown when I was a kid. Once I had this backstory in place, I wanted to invite the reader to become so confident in the reality of the book’s world that when it tilts, they don’t even notice (or, at least, feel that it’s very naturally part of the ride).

MS: The Well’s End is an adrenaline rush from start to finish. Was that the plan, or do you just like to torment high school students? When you read, are you also an adrenaline junkie?

Read the full interview on Omnivoracious.