Presenting what she calls “a white trash lesbian murder novel,” Binghamton University alumnus Jennifer Pashley read selections of her upcoming 2015 novel, “The Scamp,” to a small audience Friday night at River Read books. Pashley has also published two collections of short stories, the first of which contains her master’s thesis.

“The Scamp” is set for a spring release from Tin House Books, and follows the story of two half-sisters who think they’re cousins: one, a serial killer who targets troubled women, the other, a victim to her sister’s tendencies. Each sister gets her own sections of narration, and the story is followed through both of their perspectives. The book is full of graphic scenes of sex and murder, making even Pashley slightly uncomfortable reading them aloud. The novel isn’t a simple catch-the-killer story, but rather a narrative about abuse, and how abuse further begets abuse.

Pashley’s career started in 2002 with her first short story, which was published in the Mississippi Review. From there, she continued to work at her writing, building her inventory of short stories until ultimately publishing her first collection, “States,” in 2007 through Sandhills Press. She recalls the experience of working with small publishers as both thrilling and frustrating.

“Small presses have the freedom that bigger presses can’t have, but it was a mom and pop, which made it hard to get things going,” Pashley said.

Soon after, her second collection, “The Conjurer,” was picked up by Standing Stone Books, and was published in 2013. After getting an agent and submitting the manuscript to her novel, she was picked up by the influential and prestigious independent publisher Tin House Books, where she’s having a vastly different experience than with publishers she’s worked with in the past.

“Tin House is very competent,” Pashley said. “It’s nice to work with people who are professional. It’s the best of both worlds since Tin House still has that small press freedom.”

Pashley is a perfect example of how you can’t let life get in the way of your craft. Ever since she was a little girl, Pashley knew that she wanted to be a writer. However, she remembers how easy it was to get daunted by the real world and succumb to the phase of “I need to make money.” Instead of letting the throes of life put her dreams on hold, Pashley showed that with a little extra hard work, you can succeed in making your dreams come true. After taking a 10-year hiatus in order to raise her child, she graduated from BU in 2005 with a master’s degree in English with a concentration in creative writing. In order to help support herself and her family, Pashley took a job in advertising where she worked for eight years. She never stopped writing, and by the time she finished her masters thesis, she had written the bulk of her first collection, “States.” During those years, Pashley submitted her stories to literary magazines, and won several prizes for her short fiction.

Because of her background in short fiction, Pashley learned to be a minimalist, which made switching to novel writing challenging. Short stories, according to Pashley, are like laps, while novels are more like marathons. In writing short stories, there’s a lot you leave to the readers assumption and imagination. Novels, on the other hand, require you to fill in the blanks a little bit more. As to why she writes, she attributes her passion to her need tell these stories.

“I think these things need to be said,” Pashley said. “The stories I’ve told in the past and the ones I’m telling now are coming up for air and I need to say it.”

The one piece of advice she’d offer to aspiring young writers in college requires them to be both brave and voracious readers; to be a good writer, one must also be a good reader.

“Be fearless in what you have to say, and read everything,” Pashley said. “Popular books, trashy books, it doesn’t matter. You have to pull from many different places to find out what you need.”

Pashley’s career demonstrates that you can’t let the real world stop you from pursuing your passions and perfecting your craft. At the end of the day, a writer must pick up their pen and put words on the page. The rest of the world will keep on spinning, but it’s the writer’s job to capture every moment the best that they can.