Dana Elmendorf: On Making Readers Believe in Magic

Dana Elmendorf was born and raised in small town in Tennessee. She now lives in Southern California with her husband, two boys and two dogs. When she isn’t exercising, she can be found geeking out with Mother Nature. After four years of college and an assortment of jobs, she wrote a contemporary YA novel. Find her on Facebook and Instagram.

Dana Elmendorf

Photo by Holly Ireland

In this interview, Dana discusses how her writing process completely changed while writing her debut adult novel, In the Hour of Crows, her hope for readers, and more!

Name: Dana Elmendorf
Literary agent: Jill Marr with Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency
Book title: In the Hour of Crows
Publisher: Mira
Release date: June 4, 2024
Genre/category: Magical Realism
Previous titles: South of Sunshine
Elevator pitch: In Appalachia, there is a woman who is a Death Talker, and she can talk the death out of the dying. She uses her gift to help solve the murder of her cousin.

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What prompted you to write this book?

Anything that has to do with the supernatural or paranormal captures my attention. As a Native Tennessean, I love southern culture, which is why I found the folk magic of Appalachia so appealing. Many aspects of it are echoed in my own upbringing.

One day while knee-deep in the research rabbit hole, I came across a YouTube video of a man speaking about his Appalachian grandfather who was a folk healer—a Fire Talker. He said his grandfather could talk the fire out of a burn by whispering secret Bible verses over the wound. There were three rules to being a Fire Talker. One, if you tell someone the secret bible verses, you lose your gift. Two, you can only give your gift to the opposite sex. Three, if you die with your gift, your gift dies with you. I thought that was fascinating. My writer brain lit up with the idea, what if someone could talk the death out of the dying? A Death Talker. And the concept of my book was born.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

Four years. Three years and three complete rewrites to get the book right. Then another 18 months until publication. It was a long road to get this book good enough to snag a new agent. It started with a completely different concept. The original idea was about a young boy who tricked a witch, and she cursed him to be a crow during the day and boy at night. She stole his soul and put it inside a girl. The boy and girl grew up and fell in love. The only way to get his soul back and break the curse was for the girl to die. That was a disaster of a story. I could never get it quite right. But I loved the Appalachian setting and folk magic I had discovered as I wrote the story. I had fallen in love with the characters. And I felt I had really captured the atmospheric quality I love to read. I didn’t want to give up on this story. So, I kept the prologue and one other chapter and started over. I don’t think a lot of writers are willing to do that, but sometimes it’s a necessary part of the process to find the story.

The second rewrite had three points of view. And while the story was better, it wasn’t quite there yet. But I sent it to my agent at the time, to see what she thought. After she read it, she dumped me as her client. (Three days before Christmas.) Honestly, it was one of the best things that could have happened to my career. Anger can be a powerful tool. It was the fuel I needed to completely reimagine this story. So I started over, I saved the prologue and maybe five chapters. I killed off a beloved character and turned it into a murder mystery. Shifted the love story to the background. Moved some minor characters into the spotlight. And gave the villain a new agenda.

Nine months later, I had finally written the story correctly. Eight agents requested my story, but it was Jill Marr’s enthusiasm that won me over and those other agents never had a chance. After a little more than a month on submission, we sold it at auction.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

Working with my publisher Mira has been a dream. I think the biggest surprise during the whole publishing process is how enthusiastic the entire team is for my book. On our first marketing call there were about eight people and each one of them gushed about my book. And I sat there thinking, Holy cow, they’re talking about YOUR book, Dana! It was truly an emotional moment for me. To know that all my hard work, through years of doubt, had finally paid off. Every step along the way my publishing team has been amazing. I am so thrilled I get to keep working with them on my next novel, Grave Birds (summer 2025).

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

The biggest surprise for me is how I overhauled my writing process over those three years it took me to write this book. So many things changed from how I write now, to how I used to write. If you would have told me years ago that I would scrap an entire book, twice, and rewrite it from scratch, I wouldn’t have believed you. There’s no way past Dana could ever fathom throwing away so many words, two novels worth no less.

It all started four years ago when I hired a writer’s coach to help me become a better writer. I remember sending her those first pages of that first draft of “Crow Book” and asking her, “Why is the prologue so good, but the first and second chapter is just meh?” And her response has changed how I look at my writing forever. She said, “That prologue, only Dana Elmendorf could have written. That first and second chapter is run-of-the-mill, anyone could have written it.” That “run-of-the-mill” identifier really stood out in my mind. Every scene or chapter I write goes through that filter, and I can see immediately when I’m writing something that’s just average. And I also know when I’ve written something only I could write.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I hope readers walk away from my story wondering if the characters, the magic, the fantasy elements could possibly exist in the world. I hope they get so lost in the story that the lines of reality and fiction have blurred. That they jump on the computer after they have finished reading it, searching if Death Talkers or Sin Eater Oil really exists. And I hope they think about the story and characters long after the book is closed. Those are the things I do when I’ve fallen in love with a book, and I hope my readers experience that as well.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Don’t give up. Show up. Do the work. If you do those three things, I guarantee you will succeed. There’s a quote from Nora Roberts that I love. “There’s no secret, no formula, no magic spell. It’s called writing, regularly, consistently, daily. It’s discipline and drive and desire.”

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