Dark Harmony: A Vivienne Taylor Horse Lover's Mystery (Fairmont Riding Academy)

Q&A with author Michele Scott

This is the second book in a trilogy. How did the story writing unfold for you as compared to book one, Silent Harmony? Was your process different? Did you have any trouble spots or any scenes you were really excited to write?

The difference for me in writing Dark Harmony is that I already had a good grasp on the characters and where I wanted Vivvie’s story to go. I felt as if I really knew these young adults and could get inside their head easier and have a good grasp on each individual story arc, especially Vivvie.

My writing process is almost always the same. The first book in the series does take me a little bit longer than the other books because I do a lot of pre-planning and creating. I write out character interviews, create personal journals for the characters, scrapbook my vision of what they look like, where they might live, etc. It’s a lot of fun. With each subsequent book in the series, I do plot outlines and refer back to the “Scrapbook” and all of the information that I had stored in it when beginning the series.

The difficult parts for me in writing this book concerned the timeline. I originally wrote adult cozy mysteries. Those types of mysteries tend to take place over a short period of time (as in a week or two). When I write Vivvie’s story, I have to take in consideration that she’s away at school building relationships—not only with other people but the horses as well. For me, to write a full scope mystery in this series, I need to span several months, and I have found that difficult. Fortunately, I have a wonderful editor who helped me through that issue. There is also a real heaviness around some of the topics I was writing about in book two that—emotionally—as a writer I needed to handle but to also be in tune with in order to convey them in the best possible way I can.

My favorite scenes to write are those with Vivvie and Harmony. I am very lucky to have several of my own equine partners and the connection I have with each of them is special and unique. I find myself getting emotional in a good way when I write the scenes with Vivvie and her horse.

You are very involved in the world of equestrian riding in “real” life. How does the equestrian world compare to the world that you create on paper?

The real difference is that in the world of eventing, riders don’t tend to be consumed with wealth and status as much as I portray the young adults do in this series. Event riders and horse people in general are down to earth and consumed with their animals and sport.

Tell us about Vivvie’s unique ability–she’s special, but she’s in a contemporary, “normal” setting. What was the inspiration for her ability and how does that have an affect on the real world characteristics of the story?

I was inspired to write Vivvie’s story after an equine telepath visited with my daughter’s pony, Mister Monty. Monty was always kind of aloof and although he did his job, he never seemed terribly connected to any of us. The telepath told us to place our arms around him and just send him love. He had apparently conveyed to to the telepath that he was used to always being sold off whenever a kid was done with him. That he would get attached and then be sold, and that he was afraid to become attached to my daughter or me. In that moment, I promised Monty that he would have a home for life and I meant it. I kid you not, from that day forward, Monty has been the most affectionate, sweetest, loving horse I have had. He nickers when we come to the barn; he’s always happy to see us. He changed that day and it inspired me to write a story about a character with that kind of gift. That was seven years ago, and I can’t tell you how many people have offered to buy the pony for a lot of money (a lot more than we ever paid for him), but he will never be sold. And although my daughter now has a much larger, more advanced horse, I am the lucky one who rides Monty now—as I am not terribly tall and he isn’t a small pony. It’s worked out well for both of us.

What’s your favorite strength of Vivvie’s and which of her weaknesses drives you crazy?

My favorite strength in Vivvie is her compassion. The weakness that drives me crazy is her fear of stepping outside of the box and trusting people a little more. She tends to be a bit jaded. It’s because she doesn’t trust people very much, so I get that.

Vivvie has a modest background compared to her peers at the Fairmont Riding Academy. How does that impact her story–is it important?

It impacts her story because she gets to see the world from other perspectives. She gets to see that just because someone has money doesn’t mean they’re happy or are jerks. She’s a bit of a fish out of water which helps her discover who she wants to be and how she wants to be behaving in the world.

Tell us about Vivienne’s journey from here on out.

Vivienne has a journey ahead of her when she spends her summer at Liberty Farms in Virginia working with some of the more well-respected coaches in the world. I don’t want to give away too much but I can say that there will be more secrets that are uncovered, new bonds formed, and some old ones broken. Vivvie’s life changes quite a bit coming up and I hope the readers will continue to join me for the ride!