Jaime Jo Wright
9 min read ⭑
“My ‘intent’ is to help readers see God from a different viewpoint. Not a different theology—no—just a different vantage point. … In my stories, my intention has always been to go to the places we don’t often talk about—or want to talk about.”
On an average day, Jaime Jo Wright is home in Wisconsin’s woodlands, enjoying a cup of coffee, cuddling with her cats, or clacking away at her computer to create another thrilling Gothic novel. Jaime has won several awards for her bestselling books, such as The House on Foster Hill and The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond. Read on to learn why she loves to write about death and the macabre (and, of course, creepy ghosts), the spiritual intention behind her work, and the top books that fuel her faith and literary curiosity.
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
There’s much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?
I’m so not a foodie. In fact, my family of one husband and two children often hears my angsty whining, “I hate food!” This is primarily because I married into a family that finds food to be a very specific event—the time we ate it, the brand of ingredients we used, and so on. Keep in mind, these are not sophisticated palettes by any means, but it does mean that the hamburger must be crafted into the perfect “smash burger” and ideally accompanied with cheese curds fried to a perfect Wisconsin crisp.
Me? I’m all in for a bowl of cold Cap’n Crunch with Berries if you catch my drift. And when I’m in full-on writing mode and not playing with my felines (who are far more unconditional in the food expectations), I might grab some popcorn.
You can see why I’m a disappointment in the food department. But never fear! I’m a professional coffee drinker and was known for that title long before I ever published a novel. Ideally? You can find me with my feet kicked up on a chair overlooking the Wisconsin woods that engulf my house and threaten to overtake them. I’m usually purring at the bobcat in my backyard and always, always making sure my ‘possum friends have food. So I do consider food—just for the animals. They’re easier.
QUESTION #2: REVEAL
We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activity (or activities) do you love engaging in, which also help you find essential spiritual renewal?
I have this thing with cats. I always have. When I was 8 years old, my dad told me I could get a kitten when we moved to the country. We moved, and I acquired my first kitten.
When I was married, my dude told me I could have my first kitten of our married life when we moved to the country. (I sensed a theme at this point in my life). We moved, and I acquired my first kitten under the umbrella of marriage. I also became known as the neighborhood cat mom, and apparently, all the strays have decided that I’m a safe place to harbor.
I find that cats have this unconditional love and expectation. Unlike dogs—no shade, just truth—cats aren’t particularly needy, but they do love and show affection (while going vampire on you a few moments later). I think that’s how I’ve always equated my relationship with God and even friends. That independent nature that I have collides with a need to be watched over and kept track of with the occasional snuggle. But I also enjoy the freedom to move around and be me. It’s not a bad thing. And I always come home.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness. Every human, too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite, and how do you hide it?
People ask me why I often write about death and the macabre, not to mention throw in some E.A. Poe Goth and a ghost or two. Mostly, the questions don’t come from those outside of the Christian faith but from those within the faith instead.
This often surprises me, to be honest. After walking alongside my mom through the valley of the shadow of death, it really was a joy to find that we could truly fear no evil. Evil did not exist in death, which was merely a passage into life as we’d never known before. So death and the macabre become a photograph of the before that shifts our attention to the spark of hope in the after.
My mom’s passing was the most brutal grief event of my life. But when she moved to heaven, it also confirmed that every horror story—and we all have our own—can be met at the end with purpose and hope. That’s where salvation becomes particularly embroiled with death, and suddenly, death becomes beautiful and the darkness becomes filled with color.
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your current obsession? And why should it be ours?
Speaking of death and the macabre, I also love to write about the creepy and ghostly. But for those worried I’ve crossed into the realms of King Saul’s witch of Endor, I put it like this: my stories are like Edgar Allan Poe meets Scooby Doo. There’s always a creepy ghost lurking in the school halls until—yank! Off comes the sheet, and we meet the school janitor. In fact, I think it’s harder to write a “ghost” story and explain the ghost than simply leave the hauntings to your creepy, unanswered imaginations, right?
And it’s not just for women. I’ve been told, too, that even guys tend to go for the element of thrilling creep in my books—unless you’re like my husband, who prefers original Hebrew texts and doctoral professors’ apologetics theses. Then, yeah, I got nothin’.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Cashiers, CEOs, contractors, or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?
A while back, I was struck with the idea of “intention.” What is intention in the writing of story, and what’s the purpose of someone who believes in God writing about darkness and the creepier elements of life? Isn’t the intent of all Christianity to bring people into light and joy? What’s my intent?
I pretty quickly concluded that my “intent” is to help readers see God from a different viewpoint. Not a different theology—no—just a different vantage point. Think of it like looking at Mt. Everest from the bottom versus from the top. Same mountain, extremely different view.
Story is like that, and in my stories, my intention has always been to go to the places we don’t often talk about—or want to talk about. Death is a big one. So is abuse, the idea of being haunted by our pasts, the elements of trials that don’t leave at the end of the story, and the idea that a happily-ever-after is really pretty unrealistic. I want to see God in those places. Because God doesn’t often rescue us from our horrors or trials. Often, he provides us refuge—that’s a moment of safety during the storm. But the storm is necessary to be formed into who we’re supposed to be and to become effective in relating to others around us.
Intention is, ultimately, reaching people in the darkness and walking with them, not just trying to get them out of it. I think sometimes the best interactions with God are found in the dark when we can’t see him, but we still believe he is there.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied habits that open our hearts to the presence of God. So let us in. Which spiritual practice is working best for you right now?
God and I are pretty chill with each other. That probably sounds flippant, and I really don’t mean it to be. When I study the Old Testament, I’m often struck by the supremacy of God, his power, and my lack of right to even question him. But at the same time, he has a way of just being there.
I’m a “be there” sort of person. That means I tend to dwell in the moment and where I’m at. Day-to-day life doesn’t complement long moments of meditation (neither does my sporadic personality).
I like to live alongside and with God. This means inviting him in at all times and never sensing any alone-ness away from him. God and I—we practice companionship. I’ll even laugh out loud sometimes and say out loud, “Wow. Good one, God.” And then on the days when I struggle with anxiety or melancholy (too many to count), I love to just lean into his grip. He can hold me while we get through it together.
There is a lot of power in just whispering his name. It’s the being. The existing. The moment-by-moment knowing that we’re in each other’s presence. In his grip. That’s what I call it.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Looking backward, considering the full sweep of your unique faith journey and all you encountered along the way, what resources stand out to you? What changed the game and changed your heart? What radically altered your life? What changed your reality?
You know what really altered my reality? Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship. For real. I read that when I was in high school, and from that moment of highlighting and dog-earing, I was stunned by the intrinsic need to spend it all. There’s no hoarding in faith or in the Christian walk. There’s no saving up for retirement. It’s costly to be bold, and it’s costly to be daring, and God isn’t mundane or safe. Safe? Absolutely not. But as C.S. Lewis stated in Narnia: “He is good.” Back to Bonhoeffer, though. To read a book by a man who lived it out until the moment he hung from a rope? That’s giving the full price, energy, and effort into dynamic, authentic faith.
Aside from Bonhoeffer, I tend to lean into stories that exemplify a lot of that cost-plus-hope equation. I’m a huge reader of novels in every genre and have too many favorite authors to count. But if you were to get me to spill one writer I recently discovered who really encapsulates dark, light, mystery, Gothic, and hope, it’d be Amanda Flower. Her latest, I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died (book 2 of An Emily Dickinson Mystery), is a recent fave!
We all have things we cling to to survive (or even thrive) in tough times—times like these! Name one resource you’re savoring and/or finding indispensable in this current season, and tell us what it’s doing for you.
Murderous podcasts of true crime? No? Okay, but they do inspire me, and I find them indispensable. But if we’re delving into the more personal nature, I guess identifying with true crime is a tad disturbing. So let me share a different resource that I’ve been taken with of late.
Lately, I’ve enjoyed connecting with speaker and author Janet Newberry. So much of the message surrounding her ministry is one of living unafraid and finding hope. It’s the embracing of grace and joy and the doing away of shaming ourselves into some sort of spiritual perfection. She has a great newsletter, The Curated Life, that’s easy to read and has a lot of takeaways. Following her on social media has also been a quick encouragement in the midst of a busy life!
QUESTION #8: dream
God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
This year I’m embarking on a year of writing three novels. One down, two to go, and I’m excited about it. I’m excited for the opportunity to keep telling stories and to keep exploring the messages that God weaves into them as they develop.
Along with the stories, I’ve been led into the podcast world and am working on building my podcast, MadLit Musings with Jaime Jo, where I sit down and have some deep-dive chats with fellow authors. These are less of the typical author interview and more of the “let’s get down and dirty” and discuss elements they’ve written about that are tough to talk about. This year so far, I’ve chatted about the oppression of women in classic art, the Holocaust and the survival of Jewish children, and child labor in history. But there have also been fun conversations, too, about giant beetles, horses in bathtubs, western fairy tales, and more. I think I’ve been excited to see where this goes mostly because there’s so much more to an author than just their book! This is a way to connect the reader with the person behind the story.
This world is full of evil—murder, lying, death, and intrigue. We can see it on the news, on the streets, and if we’re being completely honest, in our own hearts.
How does society make sense of the evil in and around us? How do we cope?
One way is by confronting it in the form of entertainment. Is it any wonder that thrillers/mysteries/crimes and horror are the fourth- and fifth-most popular genres (respectively) in the U.S.? It should also come as no surprise that half of Americans enjoy true crime with 13% saying it’s their favorite genre.
As believers, we have an additional way to cope with the world’s evil—hope. A hope that comes from knowing that, as Jaime Jo put it, death is “merely a passage into life as we’d never known before.”
We truly need fear no evil.
Jaime Jo Wright is a coffee-fueled and cat-fancier extraordinaire who resides in Wisconsin’s rural woodlands. Her literary vocation involves penning chilling Gothic tales with a strong preference for the master of dark, Edgar Allan Poe. Jaime’s books will keep you on the edge of your seat with twists and turns that will leave you breathless. She is a multi-award-winning author with numerous bestsellers under her belt.
