Carole Nelson Douglas - Photo by Donna Andrews

…fantasies and mysteries. They take place in made-up worlds populated by created characters. They unravel the meaning of these characters' lives and actions through invented plotlines and resolutions. Almost all genres have neglected strong women characters, though, until more recently. They've also have been missing characters of color -- another lack that is now receiving more attention.

Crescent Blues: What does it take to succeed in so many different arenas?

Carole Nelson Douglas: You need to unleash your imagination. You must avoid letting others tether it because they espouse one "right" way of doing anything. You need to practice writing in a variety of styles, untainted by what's fashionable or salable or likely to win awards. You gain confidence from doing this, so that you sense when you are "right," even if all around you are saying you're wrong. (See the Kipling poem "If.")

Creative people, whether they are writers or artists or musicians, are often at odds with the arbiters around them: teachers, critics, scholars. Work for the arbiters, and you have cheated your own potential. Learn to follow your star, and you will never be ashamed of what you have written, although you may not be rewarded for it in a traditional way (money, fame, praise).

Vincent Van Gogh never sold a painting in his lifetime. But if you read his letters to his brother Theo, the only one who supported him, you see Vincent knew he had a unique vision and was learning to express it. The man in him would be shocked by the exorbitant prices his works command after his death, but the artist in him always believed, and that belief was worth millions to his ability to paint, despite all the discouragement.

Crescent Blues: Recently, you branched into editing with Marilyn: Shades of Blonde, a 1997 anthology of stories exploring the myth and reality of Marilyn Monroe, and Midnight Louie's Pet Detectives, a collection of mysteries released this fall. What were your goals for these books and how well do you feel your goals were met?

Carole Nelson Douglas: Marilyn Monroe is not a subject I would have chosen, and I wasn't particularly keen to be an editor, although I'd been a copy and layout editor of a newspaper's feature and opinion pages. In both the Midnight Louie's Pet Detectives and Marilyn: Shades of Blonde anthologies, I wanted to invite writers who weren't typically expected to write to this subject. In both anthologies, I leaned on mystery writers, but also included fantasy writers.

For Marilyn, I also got pieces from literary and mainstream writers. I wanted stories that were fresh and varied, and I'm very pleased with the Marilyn anthology. It was not identified as a mystery collection, and thus its outstanding stories were overlooked by a lot of readers who nominate for awards in the field. But nonetheless it included a Shamus-award winning story by Carolyn Wheat and a Nancy Pickard story that surprised both the author and myself by being selected for the respected literary/fantasy annual collection, The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror.

And Midnight Louie's Pet Detectives, which features both domestic and wild animals, from an owl to a hamster to a Tasmanian devil to an opossum to an elephant (as well as the usual dogs and cats), is also being well received.

Crescent Blues: What inspired you to take up the challenge of "rewriting" the death and times of Marilyn Monroe? What is it about her life (or death) that speaks most vividly to you?

Carole Nelson Douglas: I was a theater major in college, and had wanted to be an actress since I was six or seven years old. Running into the tyranny of type casting, I had decided by college that I like playing against type too well to go into a profession that depends on type.

One of my favorite roles was the "dumb blonde" in Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn, which I only got because the (dumb, blonde) actress they really wanted wasn't available. I loved doing that part, which is where I discovered that "dumb blondes" in theater are neither dumb nor naturally blonde.

As I read about Marilyn's life, and the stories from various writers contributing to the anthology, I came to a new appreciation of how she made herself and made herself last amazingly long despite an industry that used and trivialized women. Elvis Presley (and his legion of imitators) is the subject of the Midnight Louie novel I'm writing now, and I'm struck by the similarities between these two blue-collar icons who defied their times and the expectations of their modest births to live the American Dream, and die it.

Crescent Blues: How did it feel to be on the "other side" of the editor's desk? Are you planning to take up the blue pencil challenge again?

Carole Nelson Douglas: Editing is like gambling. You pick your games, your players, and hope they pan out. I was thrilled by the work I got from the writers who accepted the challenge. I like it; it's hard work. I probably won't have time to try it again for a while.

Crescent Blues: In 1997, you wrote and staged a one woman show called Sunset Strip: A Monologue in One Act, in which you played Marilyn Monroe on the eve of her Broadway comeback, 35 years after her supposed death. Was this an outgrowth of the anthology, or vice versa?

Carole Nelson Douglas: Definitely an outgrowth of the anthology, and of the encouragement of my husband, Sam Douglas, whom I met when we were in a play years ago, and who suggested I read/perform the Marilyn Monroe point-of-view monologue I wrote as my story for the anthology.

After I wrote it, I wondered if any practicing actor would ever request to perform it. I never expected to perform it myself. However, once I realized that no director would have ever selected me to do so, but that I could be writer/director/actor in this case, I had to try it.

Moonlighting as Marilyn was fascinating. I had a couple of occasions to don her persona offstage, giving me even more insight in her life. This experience certainly has enriched my background in writing the book about Elvis imitators. It is truly eerie to impersonate a persona that has so many resonances with the public.

Crescent Blues: Are you still appearing in the show, or are you working on another stage show?

Carole Nelson Douglas: Mostly I just read from my work, which I enjoy tremendously. I don't foresee more full-blown impersonations, although women do impersonate Elvis. But I was unable to resist…

Carole Nelson Douglas (continued)

Click here to read the Crescent Blues review of Cat in a Golden Garland.