P.M. Raymond hails from New Orleans, but currently lives on the East Coast with 27 cookbooks and an imaginary dog named Walter. You can find her enjoying a café au lait and indulging in the storytelling mastery of Shirley Jackson, M.R. James, Nuzo Onoh, Tananarive Due, and manga maestro, Junji Ito. Her work has appeared in Flash Fiction Magazine, Kings River Life Magazine, Dark Fire Fiction, Pyre Magazine, The Furious Gazelle, and Dark Yonder.
P.M. Raymond is a member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Color, Short Fiction Mystery Society, and is the co-chair of the NC Chapter of the Horror Writers Association. She was named to the 160 Black Women in Horror in 2023 and is a 2024 Killer Shorts Horror Screenplay Finalist.
Read on to learn more about her and her career!
Q: Who has been your biggest supporter(s) throughout your writing career?
A: I am lucky beyond belief to have several tribes who support my writing. My twin, Paula, has been incredibly encouraging of my successes. My critique group is filled with award-winning writers who have been the most consistent forum to show my work and polish it. And last, mentors, mentors, mentors! I have two at the moment.
Q: Where do you draw inspiration from in your work?
A: Most of my stories take place in my hometown of New Orleans. The city’s rich culture and architecture play a huge role in creating immersive (I hope!) stories. As a writer of color, the majority of my stories have undertones intersecting between race, gender, and class.
Q: What does it mean to you to be an author?
A: Curiosity about the written word and a passion for it. I love to read as much as I love to write. When a book really takes me in and nestles me in its world, it makes me even more energized when I get back to my work.
Q: What is your writing process like? Do you listen to certain music, snack, make loads of phone notes when inspiration randomly strikes?
A: I like some kind of background music when I write. My favorite is to put on a YouTube instrumental music channel – mostly jazzy piano – and get to typing.
Q: Is there a genre or subgenre that you want to explore that you haven’t yet? Conversely, are there any that you’ll never write?
A: I have always wanted to explore cozy mysteries and romance and try to infuse horror elements into it. I’m on the fence with splatterpunk and steampunk because I haven’t read enough in those genres, but they are also on my radar. I don’t want to write anything extreme, but I don’t have a problem with that kind of material in the hands of a much more skilled writer in that sub-genre than I.
Q: What has been the hardest part of your career as an author so far?
A: Rejection!! Getting that rejection email can be hard especially when I absolutely believe in a story.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest strength and weakness as an author?
A: My greatest strength is knowing my voice. I can tell when a story isn’t working and usually it’s because my voice is not working. My weakness is I am an unbelievably slow writer! It takes me weeks to get a short story draft done.
Q: Who is on your radar as someone you’d love to work with?
A: Tananarive Due or Akela Cooper from a writing perspective. I also write screenplays so directors Anna Biller or Julia Ducournau.
Q: At some point in our lives, we’ve all hears the negative comments: “You’re not good enough.” “You’ll never make it.” “This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” “You don’t belong.” How do you move forward when faced with negativity?
A: Having a group of writers you can vent to makes the difference. I belong to a Slack group of female writers of color, and we post when we have disappointments and when we have successes. It’s very supportive and inspiring and it keeps me going.
Q: What advice would you give to women who are wanting to write, especially if it’s something others might perceive as “outside of the norm”?
A: Don’t let anyone dim your light. Not well-meaning family and friends and definitely not anyone who is not part of your tribe. Don’t let others put their idea of ‘success’ on you. We all have our own journey, and it shouldn’t be compared to another writer.
Want to support P.M. Raymond? You can find her work in Illicit Motions, Rock, Roll, and Ruin: A Triangle Sisters in Crime Anthology, and Malice, Matrimony, and Murder. Check out her website and follow her on X and Facebook to stay updated on her work.
I’d like to wish her the best of luck in the Killer Shorts Horror Screenplay Competition where she is in the top 10 finalists with Things Are as They Should Be in the Short Story (Prose) category! The top three will be announced on April 22nd, so stay tuned!
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