Mayra Calvani's Blog, page 2
June 24, 2020
A Conversation with David Armstrong, Author of 'The Rising Place'
David Armstrong was born and raised in Natchez, Mississippi. He is an attorney, former mayor, candidate for the U.S. Congress, and he currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer for the city of Columbus, Mississippi. David received both an undergraduate and a master’s degree in political science from Mississippi State University, where he taught American and local government. He worked for over two years as a copywriter for an advertising firm before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law, which he graduated from with honors.In addition to The Rising Place, David has written two other novels, one of which, The Third Gift, is set to be released this summer. He has also written four screenplays and has taught screenwriting at the college level. David is the father of two grown sons, William and Canon, and he lives with a snarky cat in one of the oldest and most haunted antebellum homes in Columbus.
His website is therisingplace.com, and he may be contacted at dmatyro@outlook.com.
INTERVIEW:
Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, The Rising Place. To begin with, can you give us a brief summary of what the story is about and what compelled you to write it?
A: The Rising Place is based on what I think is a compelling premise: What if you found a hidden box of letters from World War II that belonged to an old maid who had just died—would you read them? And what if you did and discovered an amazing story about unrequited love, betrayal, and murder that happened over seventy years ago in a small, southern town?
After a young lawyer moves to Hamilton, Mississippi to practice law, one of his first cases is to draft a will for Emily Hodge. “Miss Emily” is a seventy-five-year-old recluse who is shunned by Hamilton society, but the attorney is intrigued by her and can’t understand why this charming lady lives such a lonely and seemingly forgotten life.
Emily later dies, and the attorney goes to her hospital room to retrieve her few possessions and bequeath them as she directed in her will, and he discovers an old box of letters, hidden in the back of one of her nightstand drawers. He takes the letters back to his law office and reads them through, and he soon learns why Emily Hodge died alone, though definitely not forgotten.I was compelled to write The Rising Place after I read a daily devotional in The Upper Room magazine about an old maid school teacher who had just died, leaving no children. One of the teacher’s former students, from fifty years ago, approached the teacher’s niece and told her what a profound effect her aunt had had on him and several of his friends. The niece was amazed to
hear this, and a bit ashamed, since she never knew how special her aunt’s life had been. So, I decided to develop this idea into a novel, told in epistolary form through a box of old letters that had been hidden away for over seventy years.
Q: What do you think makes a good historical romance? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?
A: Love, laughter, and tears.
Q: How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?
A: That’s a good question and one I’ve been asked a lot. Many writers go to great lengths to plot a story, do character sketches, make chapter outlines, keep a journal of notes, etc., but that just doesn’t work for me and a lot of other authors I’ve talked to. When I get an idea for a story, or a character appears inside my head, I’ll mull it around for several weeks, or several months, until I’ve got it nailed down. Then, when I finally sit down to write, the story just naturally flows. I rarely get writer’s block and am somehow able to remember most of the details of the story without the use of notes. By no means, though, do I credit this to any special ability of my own. I think when you “go with the flow,” as opposed to what you’ve already plotted and structured on paper, prior to writing, your creativity is greatly enhanced. And a lot of this method is simply about trust. I trust my muse(s) to help me bring the story to life. When I write, it’s like I’m sitting in a theatre and watching a story unfold, so I simply transcribe what I’m seeing and hearing on the stage or on the screen. Sometimes, I’m actually an unseen observer in the scene, itself, and I’m taking detailed notes about what’s going on. After the protagonist in The Rising Place, Emily Hodge, appeared inside my head one morning, I just started writing what she was showing and telling me. I had no idea where Emily was going with her story, who the other characters would be, what the conflict(s) would be, or how the story would end. I also had no idea what the title was until I was almost finished with the first draft. The title just came to me one evening when I was out for a walk, and I knew it was the perfect title. This, I believe, is how our muse(s) works.
Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed him or her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?
A: My protagonist, Emily Hodge, appeared in my mind one day and started revealing who she was, what her story was, and how she wanted me to tell it. I literally had no idea where Emily was going with her story, how it would evolve and end, but Emily was as real to me as anyone whom I had ever known. True, I had gotten the general idea for the story from the daily devotional that I mentioned above, but I did no character interviews or sketches about Emily or any of the other characters, prior to the actual writing. Again, I simply went with the flow, and everything just naturally fell into place. This is why I trust my muse(s) and would never attempt to write another novel without his/her/their inspiration and guidance.
Q: In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?
A: Again, I made no attempt to create the main villains—Harlan, Nolan, and Eddie Scruggs. They simply appeared, like I trusted they would, as Emily’s story unfolded on paper. There is a much more heinous antagonist in the story, though—the ugly prejudice that permeates the town of Hamilton, Mississippi during the Second World War. This is what the three main characters in
the story, Emily Hodge, Wilma Watson, and Will Bacon are all struggling with and against, in a time and place where civil rights were unheard of, a woman’s place was in the home, and the color of one’s skin is what defined their character and status in society.
Q: How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?
A: A basic definition of “narrative” is how you tell a story, but I think there’s more to narrative, than simply that. Most writers write in third person, which is a sound, objective way to tell a story. But that method is too detached and impersonal for me. I prefer to write in first person, as if the story were my own. I’m somehow able to get inside a character’s head and feel what he/she is feeling, know what they’re thinking, and about to say and do. To me, this makes the characters really come to life. On the flip side, though, a third person narrative is probably more revealing in description and easier to structure. In the stories I write, I tend to focus more on characters and dialogue, than I do on description and action. To me, to write, “I woke up this morning and knew I had to tell my wife I didn’t love her, anymore,” is far more alive then to write, “David woke up and knew he had to tell his wife he didn’t love her, anymore.” But writers, as well as readers, are all different. One style will work easier for you, be more comfortable, than the other, and that’s the one you need to go with. Neither style is better than the other, just different.
Q: Setting is also quite important, and in many cases, it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade did you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?
A: Certainly, it helps to be familiar with the setting—as I was in The Rising Place. If not, then it’s critical to do as much research as you can on where your story is located and when it takes place, especially when your story is action and/or period driven. But, I want to point out that setting should never overshadow your narrative, dialogue, or characters. Setting should be a great frame for your painting, but it should never detract from the painting, itself.
Q: Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme(s) recurrent in your other work?
A: No, I had no idea what my themes would be, at the start. As Emily Hodge revealed more and more of herself and her story to me, the themes appeared and naturally evolved. They became as much of the background and setting as the place and period, themselves.
Yes, many of the same themes in The Rising Place are also at work in my next novel, The Third Gift. Apparently, these recurring themes in my writing are life themes I came back again to work on, or simply explore. I think we all have core themes that motivate and drive our lives, at least on a subconscious level.
Q: Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?
A: In my mind, the art of writing is talent and the craft of writing is practice. I don’t think the two are separate, though, nor do I believe that one ends and the other begins. They’re both necessary ingredients that produce the final result. Like sugar and flower in a cake—they both have to be in it for the cake to be a cake (or at least taste good).
No, I don’t think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust. Good editing doesn’t destroy a story, it only makes it more believable, more readable, more professional. And a good editor will never try to change your story, only make it better. Plus, the reality of writing is that it’s not about what you write—it’s about what you re-write. Editing is simply the icing on that cake.
Q: What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?
A: Talent, dedication, and discipline.
Q: A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. Thoughts?
A: Wow, that’s a scary thought! I still have nightmares about not having done my homework for school, or not being prepared for a test. Other than graduating from law school, writing is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s also one of the most—maybe the most—rewarding things I’ve ever done. Anyone who’s ever written a novel and had it published will tell you that the amount of work and time it takes to complete such a daunting task is incalculable, to say the least. Novelists talk a lot about how much time it took them to write and re-write their novel, but if you add to this the amount of time it took them to do research for their story, and the time it took to research potential agents/publishers and then to query them all, it’s overwhelming—to the point that you have to wonder why anyone in their right mind would ever take on such a project. I think the answer, though, is that the process itself is so rewarding. Think about it—how many things are there where you can be so absorbed in what you’re doing that you totally lose all sense of time and place? And if that’s not a real turn-on, then I don’t know what is.
Q: Are there any resources, books, workshops or sites about craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?
A: Absolutely. There’s a plethora of resources, books, workshops, and websites available. Actually—too many to even attempt to mention. One of the best books, though, I’ve ever read on the craft of writing is The Writer’s Journey, 2nd Edition, by Christopher Vogler. I highly recommend this book to all aspiring, and experienced, writers.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?
A: Yes. I have an old friend who’s an expert on the art and craft of creative writing. He’s read all the best books on the subject—including Chris Vogler’s 2nd and 3rd editions, he’s watched most of the YouTube videos on the subject, he’s been to numerous writing seminars and literary festivals, and he can spend all day talking about the subject of writing. The problem is, though, my friend has never written anything. I don’t understand how/why someone with that much knowledge about writing wouldn’t just sit down and do it. So, the best advice I can give is that if you want to be a writer, then write. Write every day, even when you don’t feel like doing so. It’s all about practice, and we all know what they say about “practice.”
March 5, 2020
Meet Paul Martin Midden, Author of 'Riley'
Paul Martin Midden is the author of five previous novels, each of which explores different writing styles. He practiced clinical psychology for over thirty years. Paul’s interests include historic restoration, travel, fitness, and wine tasting. He and his wife Patricia renovated an 1895 Romanesque home in 1995 and continue to enjoy urban living.
Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, Riley. To begin with, can you give us a brief summary of what the story is about and what compelled you to write it?
A: Thank you. Riley is about the eponymous protagonist who is about thirty, a writer by trade, who lives in Washington, D.C. At the beginning of the book, she has left her husband and has undertaken a novel about separation and divorce. She lives in a small apartment in a D.C. high-rise.
The characters in Riley’s novel are also in a marriage that is teetering on the edge. It opens with Adam, her protagonist, trying to decide if he should talk to Suzanne, his wife about their relationship. He works from home, and he has decided this was the day they would talk. In the end, he loses his nerve and doesn’t say anything. But to his surprise Suzanne is the one who takes the initiative.
Riley’s life and the novel she is writing share many similarities, but there are also major differences. Suzanne turns out to be having an affair with her female boss. Riley’s best friend is a slightly older lesbian who is attracted to Riley but who values the platonic friendship they have.
As the story unfolds, unexpected things happen that challenge all of the characters. Without giving away the plot, the lines between reality and fantasy begin to blur, and each of the characters has to deal with the emotional impact of events as they unfold.
That is what the story is about.
Q: What do you think makes a good Adult Fiction book? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?
A: A good contemporary fiction work requires a realistic portrayal of the characters, both externally in terms of their behavior and internally in terms of the mental process they undergo. The other two elements are important for all novels: an interesting narrative that keeps the reader reading and sufficient suspense to encourage them to read until the end.
Q: How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?
A: I am definitely one of those writers who discovers the work as I go along. It is one of the joys of writing. It’s almost like reading in reverse.
Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?
A: Not formally. But as a psychologist with lots of time spent with patients up close, I have a pretty well-developed understanding of how people function. That has important in all my books, but it was invaluable in writing this book, as much of the action takes place inside the characters’ heads.
Q: In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?
A: What made the antagonist realistic was relating his internal story as well as his behavior. He wasn’t so much just a bad guy as a confused, conflicted, angry, and neurotic guy. Of course, there is considerable overlap among those things. Again, the internal, mental landscape gives life to otherwise confusing or bad behavior.
Q: How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?
A: For this novel, the dynamic tensions existed both among the principal characters and in the lives of the novel-within-a-novel characters. And there was a lot of interplay among them all. I think this helps the excitement and engagement level of the readers. Hope so!
Q: Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade did you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?
A: The setting of the novel is Washington D.C., which I visit often. It is a city rich with opportunities for description and emits a certain gravitas that is distinct from most other cities. Being a large city, it also provides a lot of background material.
Q: Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme(s) recurrent in your other work?
A: Along with the plot, I discovered themes as the writing unfolded. The specific themes of this book are distinct from my other works, although there are some secondary themes that reverberate in several of them. I am given writing about neurotic, conflicted people. Occupational hazard, perhaps.
Q: Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?
A: I think I’m not a good judge of the line between craft and art in my own work; that is probably something for others to determine. Re: editing: It depends on the editor. I interviewed a woman who apparently thought the central structure of the book was flawed. I did not hire her, as the changes she proposed would have destroyed the narrative structure of the book. The ones I did hire were respectful of the work and its characters. I tend to be protective of my characters.
Q: What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?
A: Dedication to the craft; a more or less continues output; and a love of writing. A willingness to self-promote is also important for commercial success.
Q: A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. Thoughts?
A: I think there’s something to that, but with a caveat. I seldom enjoyed homework in school, but I love writing. That is such an important difference. It is a mature kind of love, however, rather than a one-night stand: it takes patience and perseverance.
Q: Are there any resources, books, workshops or sites about craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?
A: The book that triggered my actual decision to write was Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird. Anyone familiar with that work knows immediately how potent her advice was. Beyond that, I think reading widely is one of the best preparations for writing.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?
A: For those who love to write, the craft often comes naturally. I think it is important for individual writers to respect their own love of the process and write accordingly.
Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, Riley. To begin with, can you give us a brief summary of what the story is about and what compelled you to write it? A: Thank you. Riley is about the eponymous protagonist who is about thirty, a writer by trade, who lives in Washington, D.C. At the beginning of the book, she has left her husband and has undertaken a novel about separation and divorce. She lives in a small apartment in a D.C. high-rise.
The characters in Riley’s novel are also in a marriage that is teetering on the edge. It opens with Adam, her protagonist, trying to decide if he should talk to Suzanne, his wife about their relationship. He works from home, and he has decided this was the day they would talk. In the end, he loses his nerve and doesn’t say anything. But to his surprise Suzanne is the one who takes the initiative.
Riley’s life and the novel she is writing share many similarities, but there are also major differences. Suzanne turns out to be having an affair with her female boss. Riley’s best friend is a slightly older lesbian who is attracted to Riley but who values the platonic friendship they have.
As the story unfolds, unexpected things happen that challenge all of the characters. Without giving away the plot, the lines between reality and fantasy begin to blur, and each of the characters has to deal with the emotional impact of events as they unfold.
That is what the story is about.
Q: What do you think makes a good Adult Fiction book? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?
A: A good contemporary fiction work requires a realistic portrayal of the characters, both externally in terms of their behavior and internally in terms of the mental process they undergo. The other two elements are important for all novels: an interesting narrative that keeps the reader reading and sufficient suspense to encourage them to read until the end.
Q: How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?
A: I am definitely one of those writers who discovers the work as I go along. It is one of the joys of writing. It’s almost like reading in reverse.
Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?
A: Not formally. But as a psychologist with lots of time spent with patients up close, I have a pretty well-developed understanding of how people function. That has important in all my books, but it was invaluable in writing this book, as much of the action takes place inside the characters’ heads.
Q: In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?
A: What made the antagonist realistic was relating his internal story as well as his behavior. He wasn’t so much just a bad guy as a confused, conflicted, angry, and neurotic guy. Of course, there is considerable overlap among those things. Again, the internal, mental landscape gives life to otherwise confusing or bad behavior.
Q: How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?
A: For this novel, the dynamic tensions existed both among the principal characters and in the lives of the novel-within-a-novel characters. And there was a lot of interplay among them all. I think this helps the excitement and engagement level of the readers. Hope so!
Q: Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade did you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?
A: The setting of the novel is Washington D.C., which I visit often. It is a city rich with opportunities for description and emits a certain gravitas that is distinct from most other cities. Being a large city, it also provides a lot of background material.
Q: Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme(s) recurrent in your other work?
A: Along with the plot, I discovered themes as the writing unfolded. The specific themes of this book are distinct from my other works, although there are some secondary themes that reverberate in several of them. I am given writing about neurotic, conflicted people. Occupational hazard, perhaps.
Q: Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?
A: I think I’m not a good judge of the line between craft and art in my own work; that is probably something for others to determine. Re: editing: It depends on the editor. I interviewed a woman who apparently thought the central structure of the book was flawed. I did not hire her, as the changes she proposed would have destroyed the narrative structure of the book. The ones I did hire were respectful of the work and its characters. I tend to be protective of my characters.
Q: What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?
A: Dedication to the craft; a more or less continues output; and a love of writing. A willingness to self-promote is also important for commercial success.
Q: A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. Thoughts?
A: I think there’s something to that, but with a caveat. I seldom enjoyed homework in school, but I love writing. That is such an important difference. It is a mature kind of love, however, rather than a one-night stand: it takes patience and perseverance.
Q: Are there any resources, books, workshops or sites about craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?
A: The book that triggered my actual decision to write was Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird. Anyone familiar with that work knows immediately how potent her advice was. Beyond that, I think reading widely is one of the best preparations for writing.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?
A: For those who love to write, the craft often comes naturally. I think it is important for individual writers to respect their own love of the process and write accordingly.
December 6, 2019
A Conversation with James D. Bell, Author of 'Maximilian's Treasure'
James D. Bell is an award-winning author and retired Judge who received the highest bar association approval ratings ever given to a Mississippi Circuit or County Judge. He is listed in Preeminent Lawyers, Outstanding Lawyers of America and Top 100 Attorneys of North America. He is the author of two novels, Vampire Defense and Maximilian’s Treasure. His short story, The Adventures of Sherlock Hound, was published in Dog Stories for the Soul, alongside stories from Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Willie Morris and others. The son of a Choctaw mother and a Mississippi businessman, Judge Bell is devoted to his wife, Joanne. They live in Brandon, Mississippi and have four children. Judge Bell practices law in Jackson, Mississippi, but is frequently called back to the bench by the Mississippi Supreme Court for short term assignments.
INTERVIEW:
Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, Maximilian’s Treasure. To begin with, can you give us a brief summary of what the story is about and what compelled you to write it?
A: It’s based upon an encounter I had with an elderly Choctaw gentleman who told me that Mexican gold intended to help the Confederacy was hidden on his farm. I helped him search his farm. In Maximilian’s Treasure rumors of hidden gold fuel a battle over possession of a Choctaw family farm. Two young lawyers, John Brooks and Jackson Bradley, agree to help the family keep their farm. Early legal success prompts the drive-by murder of the patriarch of the family. The grandson chases the suspects whose bodies are found on the farm, scalped. At the same time, clues to a vast treasure are found on the farm. Jackson, pursued by fortune seekers, adventurers, an exotic beauty and a homicidal maniac follows the clues to a Caribbean reef and then to the Chiapas jungle. John stays behind to defend the grandson and continue the fight for the farm. His efforts are complicated by arson, murder, race riots, and the realization that he lost his one true love. The adventures of John and Jackson rush toward an intertwined triple climax that proves that what happened long ago and far away matter here and now.
Q: What do you think makes a good legal thriller? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?
A: We have an innate desire to see and experience justice. We are offended when the rich and powerful destroy lives and trample the rights of others. We hurt when we see the innocent harmed. Everyone has an inner voice, a sort of lawyer, that alerts us when justice is threatened. If justice fails, the whole world is out of balance. That’s why I became a lawyer. That’s why I became a judge. That’s why I write.
A great legal thriller must incite the reader’s inner lawyer to join the author’s quest for justice. To do that, the reader’s inner lawyer needs a deserving client who has all the odds unfairly stacked against him and an opponent with overwhelming unfair advantage. Justice itself must be at risk if you and the reader don’t find a way to overcome the odds together.
Q: How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?
A: I know the beginning and the end of my story when I start. Knowing the end helps me plot an interesting course filled with mystery, action, suspense, comedy and romance. I make an outline and work my way along the outline from one scene to another. Sometimes the story takes on a life of its own, and things occur that I did not expect. That may make me re-write the beginning or change the outline.
Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed him or her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?
A: My best friend and I were young lawyers defending citizens charged with crimes in Mississippi. We attracted a bit of attention because we kept winning cases. Jack was a loyal friend, an intrepid investigator, and a great researcher. Together we regularly accomplished what at first seemed impossible. Jack died twenty years ago; too young; too soon. I miss him. I brought him back to life in my novels, Maximilian’s Treasure and Vampire Defense. He and I were polar opposites on issues that divide people today, but that’s what made us a great team. I
recreate that dynamic between John and Jackson.
Q: In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?
A: I encountered real villains during my career. I interviewed scam artists, serial murderers, paranoid schizophrenics, devil worshipers and just plain scary people. I draw from that “frightening well” to come up with my antagonists. They’re a bit too real to me.
Q: How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?
A: I love action-adventure. I feel like I’ve done something wrong if I don’t have something exciting happening every few pages. I want the reader to have an “I can’t put this book down” experience. I try to create suspense by having multiple simultaneous intertwined storylines. I interrupt an episode at a critical moment and jump to another storyline, leaving the reader hanging. I want the reader to hurry through the interrupting episode to get back to the suspended scene. My goal is to get the reader hooked on the interruption and suspend it at a critical moment.
Q: Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade did you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?
A: Write what you know about. I use my hometown along with the woods, rivers, jungles and lakes I have explored. I write about adventures I have lived. In Maximilian’s Treasure, I dove the reefs, crossed the river, climbed the cliff, hung by my fingernails over the precipice, entered the cave behind the waterfall and …
You don’t have to do everything you write about, but describing things you know is a good way to bring life to your story.
Q: Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme(s) recurrent in your other work?
A: In the past, every book and movie had a “moral to the story.” I feel we have lost some of that. I write to put the moral back into the story. The themes I explored in Maximilian’s Treasure include: 1. What happened five hundred years ago, two hundred years ago, and last year matters today. 2. What happens in distant places matters everywhere. 3. Things are not always what they seem. 4. There are many kinds of treasure, some far more valuable than gold. 5. Christians can work with and be friends with people who do not share their faith without being “judgmental”. 6. God actively intervenes in our lives.
Q: Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?
A: Storytelling is both craft and art. Craft comes from study and experience. Art is an act of creation springing from the mind. Editing should refine, not redefine, your work.
Q: What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?
A: Success is in the eye of the beholder. Make sure that you are judging your success on your own scale. If I had to limit my comment to three measures of success; 1) Envisioning a story that has positive impact on the life of a reader; 2) Completing the story you envisioned; 3) Observing your story having positive impact on a reader.
Q: A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. Thoughts?
A: Yep. Use every opportunity to learn more about your subject, and write, write, write.
Q: Are there any resources, books, workshops or sites about craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?
A: As I was finishing my first novel, I took a night course at Millsaps College titled, “How to Sell What You Write.” I encourage every writer and aspiring writer to study how to sell your work. You may have to be just as creative selling your work as you are when you create it.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?
A: Set aside dedicated time to write. You will come up with a hundred bad excuses to put off writing. Write anyway. Don’t wait for inspiration, just write. My experience has been that after a couple of pages of hard work the story starts telling itself and writing comes easy. I can always delete the first two pages if I don’t like them.
INTERVIEW:
Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, Maximilian’s Treasure. To begin with, can you give us a brief summary of what the story is about and what compelled you to write it?
A: It’s based upon an encounter I had with an elderly Choctaw gentleman who told me that Mexican gold intended to help the Confederacy was hidden on his farm. I helped him search his farm. In Maximilian’s Treasure rumors of hidden gold fuel a battle over possession of a Choctaw family farm. Two young lawyers, John Brooks and Jackson Bradley, agree to help the family keep their farm. Early legal success prompts the drive-by murder of the patriarch of the family. The grandson chases the suspects whose bodies are found on the farm, scalped. At the same time, clues to a vast treasure are found on the farm. Jackson, pursued by fortune seekers, adventurers, an exotic beauty and a homicidal maniac follows the clues to a Caribbean reef and then to the Chiapas jungle. John stays behind to defend the grandson and continue the fight for the farm. His efforts are complicated by arson, murder, race riots, and the realization that he lost his one true love. The adventures of John and Jackson rush toward an intertwined triple climax that proves that what happened long ago and far away matter here and now.
Q: What do you think makes a good legal thriller? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?
A: We have an innate desire to see and experience justice. We are offended when the rich and powerful destroy lives and trample the rights of others. We hurt when we see the innocent harmed. Everyone has an inner voice, a sort of lawyer, that alerts us when justice is threatened. If justice fails, the whole world is out of balance. That’s why I became a lawyer. That’s why I became a judge. That’s why I write.
A great legal thriller must incite the reader’s inner lawyer to join the author’s quest for justice. To do that, the reader’s inner lawyer needs a deserving client who has all the odds unfairly stacked against him and an opponent with overwhelming unfair advantage. Justice itself must be at risk if you and the reader don’t find a way to overcome the odds together.
Q: How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?
A: I know the beginning and the end of my story when I start. Knowing the end helps me plot an interesting course filled with mystery, action, suspense, comedy and romance. I make an outline and work my way along the outline from one scene to another. Sometimes the story takes on a life of its own, and things occur that I did not expect. That may make me re-write the beginning or change the outline.
Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed him or her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?
A: My best friend and I were young lawyers defending citizens charged with crimes in Mississippi. We attracted a bit of attention because we kept winning cases. Jack was a loyal friend, an intrepid investigator, and a great researcher. Together we regularly accomplished what at first seemed impossible. Jack died twenty years ago; too young; too soon. I miss him. I brought him back to life in my novels, Maximilian’s Treasure and Vampire Defense. He and I were polar opposites on issues that divide people today, but that’s what made us a great team. I
recreate that dynamic between John and Jackson.Q: In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?
A: I encountered real villains during my career. I interviewed scam artists, serial murderers, paranoid schizophrenics, devil worshipers and just plain scary people. I draw from that “frightening well” to come up with my antagonists. They’re a bit too real to me.
Q: How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?
A: I love action-adventure. I feel like I’ve done something wrong if I don’t have something exciting happening every few pages. I want the reader to have an “I can’t put this book down” experience. I try to create suspense by having multiple simultaneous intertwined storylines. I interrupt an episode at a critical moment and jump to another storyline, leaving the reader hanging. I want the reader to hurry through the interrupting episode to get back to the suspended scene. My goal is to get the reader hooked on the interruption and suspend it at a critical moment.
Q: Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade did you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?
A: Write what you know about. I use my hometown along with the woods, rivers, jungles and lakes I have explored. I write about adventures I have lived. In Maximilian’s Treasure, I dove the reefs, crossed the river, climbed the cliff, hung by my fingernails over the precipice, entered the cave behind the waterfall and …
You don’t have to do everything you write about, but describing things you know is a good way to bring life to your story.
Q: Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme(s) recurrent in your other work?
A: In the past, every book and movie had a “moral to the story.” I feel we have lost some of that. I write to put the moral back into the story. The themes I explored in Maximilian’s Treasure include: 1. What happened five hundred years ago, two hundred years ago, and last year matters today. 2. What happens in distant places matters everywhere. 3. Things are not always what they seem. 4. There are many kinds of treasure, some far more valuable than gold. 5. Christians can work with and be friends with people who do not share their faith without being “judgmental”. 6. God actively intervenes in our lives.
Q: Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?
A: Storytelling is both craft and art. Craft comes from study and experience. Art is an act of creation springing from the mind. Editing should refine, not redefine, your work.
Q: What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?
A: Success is in the eye of the beholder. Make sure that you are judging your success on your own scale. If I had to limit my comment to three measures of success; 1) Envisioning a story that has positive impact on the life of a reader; 2) Completing the story you envisioned; 3) Observing your story having positive impact on a reader.
Q: A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. Thoughts?
A: Yep. Use every opportunity to learn more about your subject, and write, write, write.
Q: Are there any resources, books, workshops or sites about craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?
A: As I was finishing my first novel, I took a night course at Millsaps College titled, “How to Sell What You Write.” I encourage every writer and aspiring writer to study how to sell your work. You may have to be just as creative selling your work as you are when you create it.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?
A: Set aside dedicated time to write. You will come up with a hundred bad excuses to put off writing. Write anyway. Don’t wait for inspiration, just write. My experience has been that after a couple of pages of hard work the story starts telling itself and writing comes easy. I can always delete the first two pages if I don’t like them.
November 27, 2019
A Chat with Memoirist Brooks Eason
Brooks Eason has practiced law in Jackson, Mississippi, for more than 35 years but has 
resolved to trade in writing briefs for writing books. He lives with his wife Carrie and their two elderly rescue dogs, Buster and Maddie, and an adopted stray cat named Count Rostov for the central character in A Gentleman in Moscow, the novel by Amor Towles. In their spare time, the Easons host house concerts, grow tomatoes, and dance in the kitchen.
Brooks, who has three children and four grandchildren, is also the author of Travels with Bobby—Hiking in the Mountains of the American West, about hiking trips with his best friend.
Congratulations on the release of your book, Fortunate Son - the Story of Baby Boy Francis.
When did you start writing and what got you into nonfiction?
I'm a lawyer, so I've written for a living for more than 35 years. I've written off and on for pleasure even longer than that, from inappropriate limericks to short stories to books. My first serious nonfiction project was my first book, Travels with Bobby - Hiking in the Mountains of the American West, which is about six hiking trips with my best friend. We had so much fun on the trips and saw such magnificent places that I decided I needed to write about them. It was very rewarding.
What is your book about?
It's about my being adopted as an infant and the wonderful life my parents gave me, about learning the identity of my birth mother and the circumstances of my birth one week before my first grandchild was born under almost identical circumstances, about how I nearly got rich but didn't, and how times changed from when I was born until my granddaughter was born, which meant that my daughter got to keep and raise her baby. I won't brag on the quality of the writing because my parents taught me not to brag, but it's an amazing story.
What was your inspiration for it?
I love to write, and an amazing story that needed to be written fell into my lap when I learned my birth mother's identity. I was found as a result of litigation in four courts in two states initiated because I was a potential heir to a fortune from her grandfather, who owned oil wells all over the country as well as the only facility in the Western Hemisphere that made fluoride for toothpaste. There are lots of teeth in the Western Hemisphere.
Who is your target audience?
Anyone interested in a good family story or the subject of adoption should enjoy it. People who just want to read about good people should appreciate it as well. The parents who adopted me were as good as they come. My father was a Boy Scout leader for 60 years. He was the finest man I've ever known. My daughter, who made the brave decision to have and keep her daughter and has accomplished a great deal more, is one of my heroes.
What type of challenges did you face while writing this book?
The principal challenge was that I kept learning things I had to add all the way to the end. When we were in final production, I learned that my best friend's mother handled the paperwork and logistics for my adoption and kept it a secret from me for more than sixty years. I said stop the presses, interviewed her - she was almost ninety-two - and added a chapter.
What do you hope readers will get from your book?
I hope it will underscore the importance of family. There has been a breakdown in the family in recent decades, and that has been very harmful. I also hope people will come to the conclusion that more unwanted pregnancies should end with an adoption instead of an abortion. Even those who are fervently pro-choice should be able to agree with that. If I had been conceived after Roe v. Wade was decided, there's a good chance there would be no me and my three children and four grandchildren would not exist. And my grandchildren make the world a better place.
Did your book require a lot of research?
A fair amount, but it was fun. I did some internet research about both my families, birth and adoptive, and travelled to meet my birth mother's family, which is now mine too. They were all kind and generous with their time and some with more than that. They gave me two portraits of my birth mother, one painted when she was fourteen and one on her wedding day in 1964 when I was in the fourth grade. I also tracked down some of her friends and her first husband, all of whom were generous with their time. Unfortunately, I never got to meet her. She was beautiful, rich, and smart, but she had a short and tragic life. She was married twice, divorced twice, was in and out of rehab, and died of cirrhosis at forty-seven, eighteen years before I learned she was my mother. I was her only child.
What was your publishing process like?
It was pretty easy. I decided to try to find a small, independent press after doing some online research and getting some advice from other authors. One of them recommended WordCraft Press, I completed the submission, they said they wanted to publish my book, and we signed a contract the next day.
What is your advice for aspiring authors?
Write for the love, not for the money, because there's a good chance you won't make any. If you do your best and the work fulfills you, and if people appreciate what you've written, then you'll be a success even if you never make a nickel.
What has writing taught you?
To be more observant, to keep my eyes and ears wide open, and to see the potential stories in everything around me. I like to think that writing has made me more interesting. Writing has also taught me that I really love to write.
resolved to trade in writing briefs for writing books. He lives with his wife Carrie and their two elderly rescue dogs, Buster and Maddie, and an adopted stray cat named Count Rostov for the central character in A Gentleman in Moscow, the novel by Amor Towles. In their spare time, the Easons host house concerts, grow tomatoes, and dance in the kitchen.Brooks, who has three children and four grandchildren, is also the author of Travels with Bobby—Hiking in the Mountains of the American West, about hiking trips with his best friend.
Congratulations on the release of your book, Fortunate Son - the Story of Baby Boy Francis.
When did you start writing and what got you into nonfiction?
I'm a lawyer, so I've written for a living for more than 35 years. I've written off and on for pleasure even longer than that, from inappropriate limericks to short stories to books. My first serious nonfiction project was my first book, Travels with Bobby - Hiking in the Mountains of the American West, which is about six hiking trips with my best friend. We had so much fun on the trips and saw such magnificent places that I decided I needed to write about them. It was very rewarding.
What is your book about?
It's about my being adopted as an infant and the wonderful life my parents gave me, about learning the identity of my birth mother and the circumstances of my birth one week before my first grandchild was born under almost identical circumstances, about how I nearly got rich but didn't, and how times changed from when I was born until my granddaughter was born, which meant that my daughter got to keep and raise her baby. I won't brag on the quality of the writing because my parents taught me not to brag, but it's an amazing story.
What was your inspiration for it?
I love to write, and an amazing story that needed to be written fell into my lap when I learned my birth mother's identity. I was found as a result of litigation in four courts in two states initiated because I was a potential heir to a fortune from her grandfather, who owned oil wells all over the country as well as the only facility in the Western Hemisphere that made fluoride for toothpaste. There are lots of teeth in the Western Hemisphere. Who is your target audience?
Anyone interested in a good family story or the subject of adoption should enjoy it. People who just want to read about good people should appreciate it as well. The parents who adopted me were as good as they come. My father was a Boy Scout leader for 60 years. He was the finest man I've ever known. My daughter, who made the brave decision to have and keep her daughter and has accomplished a great deal more, is one of my heroes.
What type of challenges did you face while writing this book?
The principal challenge was that I kept learning things I had to add all the way to the end. When we were in final production, I learned that my best friend's mother handled the paperwork and logistics for my adoption and kept it a secret from me for more than sixty years. I said stop the presses, interviewed her - she was almost ninety-two - and added a chapter.
What do you hope readers will get from your book?
I hope it will underscore the importance of family. There has been a breakdown in the family in recent decades, and that has been very harmful. I also hope people will come to the conclusion that more unwanted pregnancies should end with an adoption instead of an abortion. Even those who are fervently pro-choice should be able to agree with that. If I had been conceived after Roe v. Wade was decided, there's a good chance there would be no me and my three children and four grandchildren would not exist. And my grandchildren make the world a better place.
Did your book require a lot of research?
A fair amount, but it was fun. I did some internet research about both my families, birth and adoptive, and travelled to meet my birth mother's family, which is now mine too. They were all kind and generous with their time and some with more than that. They gave me two portraits of my birth mother, one painted when she was fourteen and one on her wedding day in 1964 when I was in the fourth grade. I also tracked down some of her friends and her first husband, all of whom were generous with their time. Unfortunately, I never got to meet her. She was beautiful, rich, and smart, but she had a short and tragic life. She was married twice, divorced twice, was in and out of rehab, and died of cirrhosis at forty-seven, eighteen years before I learned she was my mother. I was her only child.
What was your publishing process like?
It was pretty easy. I decided to try to find a small, independent press after doing some online research and getting some advice from other authors. One of them recommended WordCraft Press, I completed the submission, they said they wanted to publish my book, and we signed a contract the next day.
What is your advice for aspiring authors?
Write for the love, not for the money, because there's a good chance you won't make any. If you do your best and the work fulfills you, and if people appreciate what you've written, then you'll be a success even if you never make a nickel.
What has writing taught you?
To be more observant, to keep my eyes and ears wide open, and to see the potential stories in everything around me. I like to think that writing has made me more interesting. Writing has also taught me that I really love to write.
November 4, 2019
A Conversation with Trial Lawyer/Political Thriller Author Michael Bowen
After his graduation from Harvard Law School, Michael Bowen worked as a trial lawyer for thirty-nine years before retiring in 2015. He focused on franchise and distribution disputes, but found time to assist in representing the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team in complex litigation over a proposal to put a maximum security prison across the street from County Stadium, and to represent numerous pro bono clients, including one who had been sentenced to death. His career in fiction began with the 1987 publication of Can’t Miss, a “gently feminist” (St. Louis Post Dispatch) novel about the first woman to play major league baseball. It continued through publication of one political satire and nineteen mysteries, culminating in 2019 with False Flag in Autumn, a follow-up to 2016’s Damage Control (“ . . . consistently delightful . . . . Bowen’s ebullient antidote to election season blues . . . . ” Kirkus Reviews). During his legal career he also wrote numerous published articles on legal and political matters, and co-authored the Wisconsin State Bar treatise on the Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law (paperback and movie rights still available). He lives in Fox Point, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, with his wife Sara, who is also a Harvard Law School graduate and a published lecturer on Jane Austen and Angela Thirkel. www.michaelbowenmysteries.com
INTERVIEW
Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, False Flag in Autumn. To begin with, can you give us a brief summary of what the story is about and what compelled you to write it?
A: False Flag in Autumn asks why there wasn’t an “October surprise” before the 2018 mid-term elections, and whether there will be one before the presidential election in 2020. It features Josie Kendall, whose memoirs will not be titled Nancy Drew Goes to Washington, a manipulative Washington apparatchik who is engaging, ambitious, cheerfully cynical, and (as she puts it) not possessed of “an overly delicate conscience.” A rogue White House aide has tabbed her for the role of unwitting pawn in 2018’s planned October surprise, which leads to her being caught up in the more nefarious scheme planned for 2020. Knowing that the stakes are high and could quickly get personal, Josie will have to decide whether to keep her head down and pray that the prospective victims die quickly and without too much pain, or to venture outside the Beltway bubble where the weapons are spin, winks, and leaks, into a darker world where the weapons are actual weapons. She ends up on the side of the angels although, Josie being Josie, these angels play a little dirty. I decided to write it because, after a lifetime as a reasonably savvy political junkie, I spent 2016 making one wrong prediction after another, and I wanted to see if I could at least imagine something weirder than what was actually going to happen.
Q: What do you think makes a good political thriller? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?
A: The single most important element of a political thriller is heart. The protagonist has to care about something – country, cause, ideology – larger than himself or herself, and the reader has to care about the protagonist and at least one of the potential victims. As Lenin said, “The death of millions is a statistic. The death of a single human being – that is a tragedy.”
The second indispensable element is believable action. A punch in the mouth hurts; you don’t just shrug it off. People don’t exchange snappy patter during fistfights. Most people have no idea of whether they could fire a gun at another human being, and in combat situations they don’t act like robots (or like Hollywood action heroes – but I repeat myself).
The third critical element is human weakness, shared by the protagonist with other characters. The protagonist should have at least occasional doubts, make serious mistakes, and perhaps shiver a bit at times when he (or, in this case, she) looks in the mirror.
Q: How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?
A: I firmly believe that plot flows from character. I had detailed portraits of my main characters in my head before I typed the first word of the story. Characters being true to themselves will go a long way toward shaping the plot because, after all, the plot is basically what the characters do, and well thought out characters won’t behave randomly.
I had the basic premise in my head before I booted up my computer. I didn’t prepare a chapter-by-chapter plot outline, but I did work out a reasonably detailed synopsis of the plot in the initially successful pitch that I made to the first publisher I approached. At the same time, twists and turns inevitably developed, and the plot evolved as I dealt with them. I think it’s important for writers not to have too much of an ego-investment in their initial conceptions. You know things that you don’t know you know, and that knowledge will bubble to the surface as you solve basic problems – e.g., after twenty pages of talk, I need an action scene pretty soon – that come up while you’re telling the story.
Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed him or her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?
A: Since Josephine Robideaux Kendall was fifteen years old, she has wanted to work someday on the White House staff; to fly one day on Air Force One, working out talking points for the president to use in discussing a crisis that arose after the plane was in the air. Her uncle says that her mind, like the rapids on Louisiana rivers, is fast but not deep, and she agrees. She knows that she is smart but not (yet) wise, and that she is capable of serious moral lapses, but when they occur she confronts them honestly, without kidding herself. I had developed Josie thoroughly in Damage Control, and in False Flag in Autumn I let her grow from the harrowing experience that she had in the earlier book as a result of her flippancy and misjudgments.
I prepared a sketch of her, but that was mostly for the benefit of the publisher. I knew who Josie was and would be. I didn’t do “interviews” with her. That idea frankly never occurred to me. On reflection, it would have been fun but I’m not sure it would have moved the ball very much.
Q: In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?
A: The key to Hank Sinclair is that he’s book-smart but not gut-smart. Washington is full of people like that (some of whom have run for president recently). One of my law partners, who had worked on the staff of a governor and labored in that governor’s effort at a major party convention to get himself put on the ticket as the vice-presidential candidate, told me that the core, single-minded attitude of anyone on any elected official’s staff is “Can do.” A staffer wants to accomplish whatever the candidate wants, regardless of what it takes, what the risks are, or whether it’s right or wrong. Put that together with book-smart but not gut-smart and you get Watergate – or Hank Sinclair. He doesn’t have to be evil. He simply has to be useful to people who are.
Q: How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?
A: The key to excitement is suspense, and the keys to suspense are foreshadowing and investment of the reader in the protagonist (or in whoever is in peril). Action itself is very useful, but it is secondary to and derivative of suspense. The reader doesn’t know what’s going to happen, and has to care whether one thing happens rather than another. Once you’ve accomplished that, you can (as Raymond Chandler put it) have someone walk through the door with a gun in his hand. It is very important to genuine excitement that action not be arbitrary, that it flow organically from the plot. You can’t have your protagonist get into a fight just to prove to someone else (the leader of a gang of outlaws or terrorists that he’s trying to infiltrate, for example) that he’s tough or capable. (That trope, by the way, was a staple of westerns and private-eye TV shows in the 1950’s and 1960’s.) Finally, action has to conform to character. Josie Kendall grew up in Louisiana and she knows how to handle firearms, but until she has to find out the hard way she doesn’t know whether she’d be any use in a firefight. (Neither do I and, odds are, neither do you.) As she says when considering options in a tight situation, no one will confuse her with Jack Reacher.
Q: Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade do you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?
A: The most important element of convincing setting is concrete detail. In Vienna, lots of people ride bicycles at night. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, streetwalkers don’t ply their trade east of the Milwaukee River. In Washington, D.C., everyone hates the Metro, locals have an aversion to tourists, and a lot of people who smoke hide their indulgence like eighth-graders sneaking behind the gym because the optics are bad and Washington is a city where people care about optics. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a key police force is the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff and his legions of deputies – and people are not particularly shy about smoking.
In a perfect world, an author can get to some facet of the essence of a particular place. In the American south, generally, there is a sense of history, and in the American Midwest a sense of identification with a particular locale, that would seem alien to someone in, say, New Jersey or California. In Washington, one such defining element is the perpetual tension between elected officials (especially presidents), who are viewed as transients, and the permanent government (or “deep state,” as some call it these days) that plans to run administrative agencies forever. How do you figure out what that defining feature is for a particular place? Three ways: (1) live and work there for over a year; (2) marry someone from there; or (3) visit there for a while, keeping your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut.
Q: Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something that you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme recurrent in your other work?
A: I have had the basic themes of my Washington crime stories firmly in mind since I published Washington Deceased some thirty years ago: Washington is a place where people do things – both good things and evil things – for reasons that would make no sense in (say) San Francisco or Chicago or Atlanta; and where, somehow, for some reason (the genius of the Constitution? Divine providence?) messy compromises get worked out and the United States muddles through one crisis after another without catastrophe and sometimes in startling triumph. Somehow a zeitgeist of depraved and sordid cynicism leads to people rising above their limitations and actually shocking themselves by doing what’s right for their country.
Q: Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?
A: Let’s not kid ourselves: in mystery writing, art and craft are basically the same thing. We’re telling stories about good and evil, free will and determinism, logic and intuition, causation and randomness. Such storytelling is an art if it’s done right (that is, in a craftsmanlike way), and it’s a waste of time if it’s not. It’s an art if it engages the reader, which can be done only by those with a confident command of the craft, and it’s a flop if it doesn’t, no matter what literary pyrotechnics attend it. G.K. Chesterton wrote that it may be a finer thing to be a lyric poet than to be a wit, but it’s a lot easier to pretend to be a lyric poet than to pretend to be a wit. The same thing is true of writing mysteries and thrillers: their art and craft is that they work for readers (or they don’t). If they don’t, you can tell right away, and you know that neither art nor craft is involved.
In theory, of course is it possible for conformist or mindless or ideology-driven editing to negate the creative brilliance shining through an author’s work. In over thirty years of publishing fiction, however, I’ve never had a bad editor. Every editor I’ve ever worked with has done everything he or she could to bring out what was best in my work and to cast aside what detracted from its quality. Hence, I’m more than a little skeptical about whether this theoretical possibility is ever realized in practice.
Q: What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?
A: That depends on the definition of “successful”. If a “successful” novelist is one who writes bestsellers, then the three keys are (1) knowledge of the target demographic; (2) willingness and ability to tell a fast-moving story using an eighth-grade vocabulary; and (3) a talent for developing fresh premises to hang those stories on. If a “successful” novelist is one who gets critical acclaim in high-minded publications, then the three keys are (1) achieving first-hand or at least second-hand contact with the people, mostly in New York, who determine the orientation of those publications; (2) willingness and ability to tell stories that reflect that orientation; and (3) a talent for developing fresh premises to hang those stories on. If a “successful” novelist is one who writes stories that he or she (and, ideally, others) can still read with pleasure twenty years after those stories were published, then the three keys are (1) an imaginative knack for asking “What if . . . ?” and then following the implications of that question to an emotionally satisfying conclusion; (2) a willingness to pound a keyboard until your brains fall out and a coherent narrative structure has taken shape; and (3) a talent for developing fresh premises to hang the resulting stories on. Careful readers will notice a theme here.
Q: A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. Thoughts?
A: I don’t agree. Homework is something you do, even though you don’t want to, because you don’t have any choice. Professional writers do have a choice. Anyone who could be an author could, if nothing else, sell fraudulent securities or successfully manage a house of assignation.
Q: Are there any resources, books, workshops, or sites about the craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?
A: The closest I can come – and it’s not particularly close – is Evelyn Waugh’s memoir A Little Learning. Beyond that, the truthful answer is no. I don’t mean to suggest that I’m so good that I couldn’t have benefitted from resources such as these. I simply mean that I never consulted them. Because I was practicing law full time, I had to either write fiction during the times when my partners were playing golf, or not write fiction at all. Studying about how to write better simply wasn’t an option, because even my partners didn’t play that much golf.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?
A: Two things. First, unless you so fervently want to write that nothing I might say could possibly dissuade you, then don’t take up writing as a profession. Effective fiction should proceed from an urgent inner need that cannot be satisfied except by written expression. Second, believe in the stories you tell. There are plenty of successful writers who don’t, and in general they are unhappy people.
INTERVIEW
Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, False Flag in Autumn. To begin with, can you give us a brief summary of what the story is about and what compelled you to write it?
A: False Flag in Autumn asks why there wasn’t an “October surprise” before the 2018 mid-term elections, and whether there will be one before the presidential election in 2020. It features Josie Kendall, whose memoirs will not be titled Nancy Drew Goes to Washington, a manipulative Washington apparatchik who is engaging, ambitious, cheerfully cynical, and (as she puts it) not possessed of “an overly delicate conscience.” A rogue White House aide has tabbed her for the role of unwitting pawn in 2018’s planned October surprise, which leads to her being caught up in the more nefarious scheme planned for 2020. Knowing that the stakes are high and could quickly get personal, Josie will have to decide whether to keep her head down and pray that the prospective victims die quickly and without too much pain, or to venture outside the Beltway bubble where the weapons are spin, winks, and leaks, into a darker world where the weapons are actual weapons. She ends up on the side of the angels although, Josie being Josie, these angels play a little dirty. I decided to write it because, after a lifetime as a reasonably savvy political junkie, I spent 2016 making one wrong prediction after another, and I wanted to see if I could at least imagine something weirder than what was actually going to happen.
Q: What do you think makes a good political thriller? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?
A: The single most important element of a political thriller is heart. The protagonist has to care about something – country, cause, ideology – larger than himself or herself, and the reader has to care about the protagonist and at least one of the potential victims. As Lenin said, “The death of millions is a statistic. The death of a single human being – that is a tragedy.”
The second indispensable element is believable action. A punch in the mouth hurts; you don’t just shrug it off. People don’t exchange snappy patter during fistfights. Most people have no idea of whether they could fire a gun at another human being, and in combat situations they don’t act like robots (or like Hollywood action heroes – but I repeat myself).
The third critical element is human weakness, shared by the protagonist with other characters. The protagonist should have at least occasional doubts, make serious mistakes, and perhaps shiver a bit at times when he (or, in this case, she) looks in the mirror.
Q: How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?
A: I firmly believe that plot flows from character. I had detailed portraits of my main characters in my head before I typed the first word of the story. Characters being true to themselves will go a long way toward shaping the plot because, after all, the plot is basically what the characters do, and well thought out characters won’t behave randomly.
I had the basic premise in my head before I booted up my computer. I didn’t prepare a chapter-by-chapter plot outline, but I did work out a reasonably detailed synopsis of the plot in the initially successful pitch that I made to the first publisher I approached. At the same time, twists and turns inevitably developed, and the plot evolved as I dealt with them. I think it’s important for writers not to have too much of an ego-investment in their initial conceptions. You know things that you don’t know you know, and that knowledge will bubble to the surface as you solve basic problems – e.g., after twenty pages of talk, I need an action scene pretty soon – that come up while you’re telling the story.
Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed him or her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?
A: Since Josephine Robideaux Kendall was fifteen years old, she has wanted to work someday on the White House staff; to fly one day on Air Force One, working out talking points for the president to use in discussing a crisis that arose after the plane was in the air. Her uncle says that her mind, like the rapids on Louisiana rivers, is fast but not deep, and she agrees. She knows that she is smart but not (yet) wise, and that she is capable of serious moral lapses, but when they occur she confronts them honestly, without kidding herself. I had developed Josie thoroughly in Damage Control, and in False Flag in Autumn I let her grow from the harrowing experience that she had in the earlier book as a result of her flippancy and misjudgments.
I prepared a sketch of her, but that was mostly for the benefit of the publisher. I knew who Josie was and would be. I didn’t do “interviews” with her. That idea frankly never occurred to me. On reflection, it would have been fun but I’m not sure it would have moved the ball very much.
Q: In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?
A: The key to Hank Sinclair is that he’s book-smart but not gut-smart. Washington is full of people like that (some of whom have run for president recently). One of my law partners, who had worked on the staff of a governor and labored in that governor’s effort at a major party convention to get himself put on the ticket as the vice-presidential candidate, told me that the core, single-minded attitude of anyone on any elected official’s staff is “Can do.” A staffer wants to accomplish whatever the candidate wants, regardless of what it takes, what the risks are, or whether it’s right or wrong. Put that together with book-smart but not gut-smart and you get Watergate – or Hank Sinclair. He doesn’t have to be evil. He simply has to be useful to people who are.
Q: How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?
A: The key to excitement is suspense, and the keys to suspense are foreshadowing and investment of the reader in the protagonist (or in whoever is in peril). Action itself is very useful, but it is secondary to and derivative of suspense. The reader doesn’t know what’s going to happen, and has to care whether one thing happens rather than another. Once you’ve accomplished that, you can (as Raymond Chandler put it) have someone walk through the door with a gun in his hand. It is very important to genuine excitement that action not be arbitrary, that it flow organically from the plot. You can’t have your protagonist get into a fight just to prove to someone else (the leader of a gang of outlaws or terrorists that he’s trying to infiltrate, for example) that he’s tough or capable. (That trope, by the way, was a staple of westerns and private-eye TV shows in the 1950’s and 1960’s.) Finally, action has to conform to character. Josie Kendall grew up in Louisiana and she knows how to handle firearms, but until she has to find out the hard way she doesn’t know whether she’d be any use in a firefight. (Neither do I and, odds are, neither do you.) As she says when considering options in a tight situation, no one will confuse her with Jack Reacher.
Q: Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade do you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?
A: The most important element of convincing setting is concrete detail. In Vienna, lots of people ride bicycles at night. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, streetwalkers don’t ply their trade east of the Milwaukee River. In Washington, D.C., everyone hates the Metro, locals have an aversion to tourists, and a lot of people who smoke hide their indulgence like eighth-graders sneaking behind the gym because the optics are bad and Washington is a city where people care about optics. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a key police force is the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff and his legions of deputies – and people are not particularly shy about smoking.
In a perfect world, an author can get to some facet of the essence of a particular place. In the American south, generally, there is a sense of history, and in the American Midwest a sense of identification with a particular locale, that would seem alien to someone in, say, New Jersey or California. In Washington, one such defining element is the perpetual tension between elected officials (especially presidents), who are viewed as transients, and the permanent government (or “deep state,” as some call it these days) that plans to run administrative agencies forever. How do you figure out what that defining feature is for a particular place? Three ways: (1) live and work there for over a year; (2) marry someone from there; or (3) visit there for a while, keeping your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut.
Q: Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something that you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme recurrent in your other work?
A: I have had the basic themes of my Washington crime stories firmly in mind since I published Washington Deceased some thirty years ago: Washington is a place where people do things – both good things and evil things – for reasons that would make no sense in (say) San Francisco or Chicago or Atlanta; and where, somehow, for some reason (the genius of the Constitution? Divine providence?) messy compromises get worked out and the United States muddles through one crisis after another without catastrophe and sometimes in startling triumph. Somehow a zeitgeist of depraved and sordid cynicism leads to people rising above their limitations and actually shocking themselves by doing what’s right for their country.
Q: Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?
A: Let’s not kid ourselves: in mystery writing, art and craft are basically the same thing. We’re telling stories about good and evil, free will and determinism, logic and intuition, causation and randomness. Such storytelling is an art if it’s done right (that is, in a craftsmanlike way), and it’s a waste of time if it’s not. It’s an art if it engages the reader, which can be done only by those with a confident command of the craft, and it’s a flop if it doesn’t, no matter what literary pyrotechnics attend it. G.K. Chesterton wrote that it may be a finer thing to be a lyric poet than to be a wit, but it’s a lot easier to pretend to be a lyric poet than to pretend to be a wit. The same thing is true of writing mysteries and thrillers: their art and craft is that they work for readers (or they don’t). If they don’t, you can tell right away, and you know that neither art nor craft is involved.
In theory, of course is it possible for conformist or mindless or ideology-driven editing to negate the creative brilliance shining through an author’s work. In over thirty years of publishing fiction, however, I’ve never had a bad editor. Every editor I’ve ever worked with has done everything he or she could to bring out what was best in my work and to cast aside what detracted from its quality. Hence, I’m more than a little skeptical about whether this theoretical possibility is ever realized in practice.
Q: What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?
A: That depends on the definition of “successful”. If a “successful” novelist is one who writes bestsellers, then the three keys are (1) knowledge of the target demographic; (2) willingness and ability to tell a fast-moving story using an eighth-grade vocabulary; and (3) a talent for developing fresh premises to hang those stories on. If a “successful” novelist is one who gets critical acclaim in high-minded publications, then the three keys are (1) achieving first-hand or at least second-hand contact with the people, mostly in New York, who determine the orientation of those publications; (2) willingness and ability to tell stories that reflect that orientation; and (3) a talent for developing fresh premises to hang those stories on. If a “successful” novelist is one who writes stories that he or she (and, ideally, others) can still read with pleasure twenty years after those stories were published, then the three keys are (1) an imaginative knack for asking “What if . . . ?” and then following the implications of that question to an emotionally satisfying conclusion; (2) a willingness to pound a keyboard until your brains fall out and a coherent narrative structure has taken shape; and (3) a talent for developing fresh premises to hang the resulting stories on. Careful readers will notice a theme here.
Q: A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. Thoughts?
A: I don’t agree. Homework is something you do, even though you don’t want to, because you don’t have any choice. Professional writers do have a choice. Anyone who could be an author could, if nothing else, sell fraudulent securities or successfully manage a house of assignation.
Q: Are there any resources, books, workshops, or sites about the craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?
A: The closest I can come – and it’s not particularly close – is Evelyn Waugh’s memoir A Little Learning. Beyond that, the truthful answer is no. I don’t mean to suggest that I’m so good that I couldn’t have benefitted from resources such as these. I simply mean that I never consulted them. Because I was practicing law full time, I had to either write fiction during the times when my partners were playing golf, or not write fiction at all. Studying about how to write better simply wasn’t an option, because even my partners didn’t play that much golf.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?
A: Two things. First, unless you so fervently want to write that nothing I might say could possibly dissuade you, then don’t take up writing as a profession. Effective fiction should proceed from an urgent inner need that cannot be satisfied except by written expression. Second, believe in the stories you tell. There are plenty of successful writers who don’t, and in general they are unhappy people.
October 30, 2019
Talking Craft with Mystery Author Susan McCormick
Susan McCormick writes cozy murder mysteries. She is also the author of GRANNY CAN’T REMEMBER ME, a lighthearted picture book about Alzheimer’s disease. She is a doctor who lives in Seattle. She graduated from Smith College and George Washington University School of Medicine, with additional medical training in Washington, DC and San Francisco, where she lived in an elegant apartment building much like the one in the book. She served nine years in the military before settling in the Pacific Northwest. She is married and has two boys, plus a giant Newfoundland dog.Connect with Susan on the web:
Find out more about THE FOG LADIES:
INTERVIEW:
Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, The Fog Ladies. To begin with, can you give us a brief summary of what the story is about and what compelled you to write it?
A: THE FOG LADIES is a cozy murder mystery with a group of spunky older women and one overworked, overtired, overstressed medical intern who all live in an elegant apartment building in San Francisco where old ladies start to die. Mrs. Bridge falls off a stool cleaning bugs out of her kitchen light. Mrs. Talwin slips on bubbles in the tub and drowns. Are these deaths the natural consequences of growing old, or is it murder?
Years ago, I lived in an apartment building similar to the one in the book, and I always thought it would make a good setting for a cozy. The name of the book and the idea for the group of women came instantly, before anything else about the story. They call themselves the Fog Ladies because you can count on them like you can count on San Francisco early morning fog burning off by midday. Being a life-long cozy murder mystery lover, I concocted murders around them and set a killer loose in their apartment building.
Q: What do you think makes a good cozy murder mystery? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?
A: Characters drive a cozy, and I tried to create a memorable cast of quirky yet identifiable characters that will hopefully survive this killer in their building and persevere for more mysteries to come. Another cozy feature is an enclosed setting, like the elegant San Francisco apartment building in my story, so the victims and the killer are all known to each other and it is hard to hide.
Q: How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?
A: The first draft of THE FOG LADIES had far too few suspects, thanks to my hope of “letting the story write itself,” without an outline or plot points. That process gave me the wonderful characters of Chanterelle and Baby Owen, who wrote their own scenes. But without enough villains, I had to go back and turn perfectly lovely characters into potential killers. So now I outline everything, and plot it all ahead.
Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed him or her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?
A: The Fog Ladies each have their quirks and foibles, and I created entire character sketches about each, plus every other character in the book. But sometimes things don’t go as planned, and that is the surprise and magic of writing. Enid Carmichael, a busybody with sharp hearing, discovers Starbucks lattes at the ripe old age of eighty. She loves the bitterness, the froth. I wrote that. Then she craved more lattes, and the next thing I knew, she was stealing Starbucks coupons from her neighbor’s newspaper to feed her addiction. She did that. Not me.
Q: In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?
A: My killer has his motives, his hopes, his setbacks. The original draft of THE FOG LADIES, that first exciting but unplotted, unoutlined draft, included my villain’s voice sprinkled throughout the story. In re-reading, there were too many points of view, and to decrease reader confusion, I took his chapters out and stuffed all his thoughts into a scene toward the end. I miss his commentary throughout the book, but his perspective is still there.
Q: How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?
A: The best part of writing for me, and the part that creates the most memorable and lively scenes, is the part of writing that is not planned. One of my characters wrote herself onto life support and expected me to resuscitate her. Exacerbating but interesting. The characters of ne’er do well teen parents Chantrelle and Big Owen and their baby were nowhere in my mind when I started to write. They created themselves, and the story is richer for them.
Q: Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade did you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?
A: I lived in an apartment building much like the one in THE FOG LADIES, minus the murders, when I did medical training in San Francisco. Elegant apartment buildings are found throughout San Francisco, especially in Pacific Heights, where the story is set. Tenants of all ages live together for years, providing the perfect cast of characters and cozy-type enclosed setting for a series of murders. I tried to describe the building, the love the old handyman had in polishing the wood and brass, and also the Fog Ladies’ apartments, aged and dated but still glorious, a little like them.
Q: Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme(s) recurrent in your other work?
A: The theme of murder and fear is a given in a cozy murder mystery. I always knew I wanted to write about growing old and female bonds of friendship. But some of the other themes of the book, like love, mistakes, even parenting, came only after the characters took over.
Q: Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?
A: To me, craft is the careful planning and plotting I wish I’d done before the writing fun began, art is the fun I had when I didn’t know what was going to happen. Revision is the ick I had to endure because I didn’t plan and plot ahead. Editing is the tightening of phrases, condensing of scenes, overall improvement made once the manuscript is almost there. The fun creation part of writing lives through all the hard work that comes later.
Q: What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?
A: In life, I think the single most important attribute we take to any profession is showing up on time, with enthusiasm. A cruder way to say this is “butt in seat.” I am a doctor in a training hospital, and it applies to our medical residents trying to further their medical knowledge base, it applies to students in college, and my first job as a shopping mall Easter Bunny, and my second job as secretary, and my weirdest job as a mate on a sport fishing boat, and my current jobs as a doctor and author. Putting in the time and looking forward to putting in the time (or pretending to) go a long way to a successful career. For writing, it also helps to have imagination and a talent for storytelling.
Q: A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. Thoughts?
A: Until the book is in your hands in hard copy, you are never finished with that book. There are always tweaks to make it better, typos to discover, characters who need one more boost. Even once that book is out in the world, there is promotion and marketing, which means more writing, more time. And there is the next book, and the side book, and the book that’s screaming to be written even though you are writing the next book and the side book. It is never ending.
Q: Are there any resources, books, workshops or sites about craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?
A: Elizabeth Lyon comes to mind as far as helpful books about editing. Reading cozy murder mysteries is immensely helpful in solidifying my cozy craft while enjoying this genre.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?
A: Plotting and planning is smart, or you will end up with too few suspects or no side story of how a single mistake can change your life. However, you need to give your characters a little space to be themselves, because the surprises they bring, like Enid Carmichael’s latte binge or the trio of Chantrelle, Big Owen and Baby Owen, will delight you and your readers.
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September 10, 2019
Talking Craft with Mystery Duo Rosemary & Larry Mild
ROSEMARY AND LARRY MILD, cheerful partners in crime, coauthor mystery, suspense, and fantasy fiction. Their popular Hawaii novels, Cry Ohana and its sequel Honolulu Heat, vibrate with island color, local customs, and exquisite scenery. Also by the Milds: The Paco and Molly Murder Mysteries: Locks and Cream Cheese, Hot Grudge Sunday, and Boston Scream Pie. And the Dan and Rivka Sherman Mysteries: Death Goes Postal, Death Takes A Mistress, and Death Steals A Holy Book. Plus Unto the Third Generation, A Novella of the Future, and three collections of wickedly entertaining mystery stories—Murder, Fantasy, and Weird Tales; The Misadventures of Slim O. Wittz, Soft-Boiled Detective; and Copper and Goldie, 13 Tails of Mystery and Suspense in Hawai‘i. 
ROSEMARY, a graduate of Smith College and former assistant editor of Harper’s, also delves into her own nonfiction life. She published two memoirs: Love! Laugh! Panic! Life With My Mother and the acclaimed Miriam’s World—and Mine, for the beloved daughter they lost in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. On her lighter side, Rosemary also writes award-winning humorous essays, such as failing the test to get on Jeopardy; and working for a giant free-spending corporation on a sudden budget: “No new pencil unless you turn in the old stub.”LARRY, who was only called Lawrence when he’d done something wrong, graduated from American University in Information Systems Management. In 2019 he published his autobiography, No Place To Be But Here: My Life and Times, which traces his thirty-eight-year professional engineering career from its beginning as an electronics technician in the U.S. Navy, to a field engineer riding Navy ships, to a digital systems/instrument designer for major Government contractors in the signal analysis field, to where he rose to the most senior level of principal engineer when he retired in 1993.
Making use of his past creativity and problem-solving abilities, Larry naturally drifted into the realm of mystery writing, where he also claims to be more devious than his partner in crime and best love, Rosemary. So he conjures up their plots and writes the first drafts, leaving Rosemary to breathe life into their characters and sizzle into their scenes. A perfect marriage of their talents.
THE MILDS are active members of Sisters in Crime where Larry is a Mister in Crime; Mystery Writers of America; and Hawaii Fiction Writers. In 2013 they waved goodbye to Severna Park, Maryland and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where they cherish quality time with their daughters and grandchildren. When Honolulu hosted Left Coast Crime in 2017, Rosemary and Larry were the program co-chairs for “Honolulu Havoc.”
Over a dozen worldwide trips to Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Great Britain, France, Italy, Israel, Egypt, and more have wormed their way into their amazing stories. In their limited spare time, they are active members of the Honolulu Jewish Film Festival committee, where Larry is the statistician and recordkeeper for their film ratings.
Website: http://www.magicile.com
INTERVIEW:
Congratulations on the release of your latest book, Copper and Goldie, 13 Tails of Mystery and Suspense in Hawaii. To begin with, can you give us a brief summary of what the stories are about and what compelled you to write them?
ROSEMARY and LARRY: Copper and Goldie is a collection of 13 fun-filled stories, each one a complete little mystery. Homicide detective Sam Nahoe takes a bullet in his spine in the line of duty. Disabled, his career with the Honolulu Police Department shattered, what now? Jobless, divorced, and lonely, he becomes a Checker Cab driver and adopts a golden retriever with a touch of Doberman as his partner. Somehow trouble always finds them. Sam and Goldie take on the criminal side of Honolulu: bank robbers, kidnappers, vengeful wives, even killers. Hobbling on two canes, Cane and Able, he orders Goldie to chase the baddies. Snitch/card-sharp Sophie asks him: "You still walkin' wit' dem giant chopsticks?"
What triggered the stories? Larry invents all our plots and dreamed up Copper and Goldie several years ago. We published nine of the stories individually in Mysterical-E, an online quarterly mystery magazine. He also found a perfect outlet for our love of golden retrievers. In Locks and Cream Cheese, the golden retriever Shana helps foil a thug. But dogs, cats, and birds find their way into many of our books. In Cry Ohana, a stray Black Lab becomes homeless Kekoa’s only friend. Lord Byron in Death Goes Postal is a brave kitty who sleeps in the poetry stacks and helps nail a killer. In Boston Scream Pie, Detective Paco teaches his macaws to talk.
What do you think makes a good (traditional “cozy” mystery)? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?
ROSEMARY: One, an inventive, well-paced, plot full of conflict. A crime has been committed; or the threat of a crime hangs over the characters. Or, there is no hint of a threat, and then a happy scene suddenly erupts into mayhem. Two, characters who are three-dimensional—way beyond their façade, deep into their minds and hearts. Even the villains must be flesh and blood. Three, An amateur sleuth like a Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher; or a private investigator; or a detective/policeman/inspector solves the crime(s). But solves it by way of a convoluted path that keeps the reader guessing. And always with the author keeping his/her promise to the reader. No unsubstantiated off-the-wall conclusions. So we’ve narrowed the three elements down for you. In truth, we could go on and on in rapturous detail. So fasten your seatbelts, we’ve got mysteries for you.
How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?
ROSEMARY: Larry insists he’s more devious than I am, so he makes up all our plots and writes the first draft. Often I find a tantalizing scene told low-key or second-hand. I really love turning it into real-time drama and dialogue.
LARRY: I work from a ten- to fifteen-page statement of work, so I know where I’m going in general. The central plot develops from the characters, their situations and reactions. Subplots may pop up at any time. Rosemary has her say in pushing and pulling the growing plot too.
Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed him or her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?
ROSEMARY: Larry has an image in his mind of who the protagonist is; he might make notes on it. In Copper and Goldie, Larry gave Sam his own chronic back trouble; he also walks with two canes and calls them Cane and Able. Often I’ll pick out photographs in magazines or newspapers that match my concept of some of our characters.
LARRY: Sam and I are simpatico. It goes along with the idea that there is something of the author in every character.
In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?
ROSEMARY: Larry and I work hard to give all our characters realism and credibility. For Hot Grudge Sunday, I found a photo of a former Congressman looking down from a balcony in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. He had the perfect commanding demeanor for our antagonist, a mercurial corporation president. It was a start.
LARRY: Antagonists and villains are created from their motives. What is it that they want most and how far are they willing to go to get it? The psychology, subterfuge, skills, preparations, opportunities, and execution take you to the next layer. Our goal: getting the reader into the characters’ minds.
How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?
ROSEMARY: If you’re dozing off writing a scene, delete it! Your readers will do the same. Using The Da Vinci Code as an example, end each chapter with a cliff-hanger—meaning a sense of danger or a seemingly hopeless dilemma.
LARRY: Conflict and resolution! Action! Conflict and resolution! Action! And more of the same. Well, almost.
Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade did you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?
ROSEMARY: We love drawing on our own experiences for our settings. In Copper and Goldie you’ll hang out at Sam’s favorite eating places and parks, which are ours too. In Murder, Fantasy, and Weird Tales, we placed a story in a Cambodian jungle, where an American helicopter pilot and local boatman struggle for possession of a stolen sapphire. In that very setting, we witnessed the massive fig tree roots wrapped around decaying temples.
LARRY: Our short stories are set in at least a dozen countries. There’s nothing like first-hand experience. Our photographs are great tools in recalling those experiences.
Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme(s) recurrent in your other work?
ROSEMARY: Larry knows the general theme when he conjures up each plot. Together we hammer out the details. The theme (or more than one) and outcome evolves in each book. Sometimes the characters lead the way to a surprising conclusion.
Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?
ROSEMARY: First step: Disgorge (yes, disgorge!) your story. Write the first draft without obsessing over each word and paragraph. Get the whole story out. Then edit. Think about it, mull over it. When you’re rewriting true craft begins. Did I use an adverb like “he said angrily” when I should have said, “He slammed his fist on the table.” Show, don’t tell. The Maryland Writers Association newsletter once had a cartoon showing a speaker before an audience of writers. On the wall behind him was a large sign: “Adverbs and Adjectives Anonymous.”
LARRY: The art lies in your creativity—the realism, the settings, the conflicts, and the characters who must endure them. The craft comes in how you manage that art—allowing and drawing the reader to see that art. Sure, editing can both destroy and make a story. If the writer(s) and editor(s) work toward the same goals as Rosemary and I do, then a carefully crafted editing job will do wonders for any writing.
What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?
ROSEMARY: If “successful” means making lots of money, that “success” doesn’t include us. If we had to live on our earnings from our writing we’d be on welfare! But secretly, we’re proud to admit we don’t need ATMs. Our true success comes from this: One, a fan of our books coming up to us in our booth at a fair or festival and wanting our newest one. Two, a daughter saying her mother has read all our books and needs to buy her the new one for her birthday. Three, seeing our books in print on shelves. They’re our legacy. On the most practical side, the digital revolution—Print on Demand—means our books will never go out of print.
A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. Thoughts?
ROSEMARY: You better believe it. It’s “Work work work work work” as Mel Brooks manically said in one of his crazy films. But we love it. The work keeps us going.
LARRY: So is it a labor of love or is it just lovely work and we do it?
Are there any resources, books, workshops or sites about craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?
ROSEMARY: Umpteen resources are available. The wittiest, sharpest advice comes from Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty) in Writers on Writing. He lists ten rules in his essay “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points, and Especially Hooptedoodle.” Join a writers’ critique group. Take writing classes at a community college or university. Join writers’ organizations such as Sisters in Crime. Subscribe to The Writer, Writer’s Digest, etc. (they’re also online). Keep a notebook with you so you can jot down ideas, observations, dialogue you hear at the grocery store or during an argument between your parents. First and foremost, just start writing. Try not to get bogged down by advice; there’s no end to it out there.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?
ROSEMARY AND LARRY: The golden rule of writing is get something down on paper. So what are you waiting for? Start writing. Read in your genre of interest and learn from it. And for happy escapes, read our books!
June 15, 2019
Review: IT’S TIME TO START LIVING WITH PASSION!: My Journey To Self Discovery
It's Time to Start Living with Passion!: Your Journey to Self-DiscoveryTitle: It’s Time to Start Living with Passion! My Journey to Self Discovery
Author: Jean Paul Paulynice, MBA
Publisher: PAULYNICE CONSULTING GROUP, LLC
Publisher’s contact info: INFO@PAULYNICECONSULTING.COM
Website: https://www.jeanpaulpaulynice.com/
Non-Fiction
Genre: Self-help/Inspirational
Publication Date: May 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-7330427-9-6 (Hardback) $16.99
ISBN: 978-1-7335601-9-1 (Paperback) $9.99
ISBN: 978-1-7330427-0-3 (eBook) $3.99
ISBN: 978-1-7335601-2-2 (Audiobook) $3.95
Do you feel as though you’re on autopilot, going through the motions every day—wake up, go to work, come back home, have dinner, sleep, repeat—without real meaning, depth, and purpose in your life?
Even if you have a fulfilling job and earn a good salary, that doesn’t mean you’ve found your passion in life. The problem is, finding your passion can be elusive, especially in our present society where we are constantly seeking external validation from others and are being judged in public platforms more than ever (i.e. social media). Perhaps the wisest statement in this book is that “the moment you start to listen to yourself, you can start shutting out all the noise.” This little book is all about soul-searching, self-analysis, and reflection. Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone and seek out your passions. Sometimes you have to change your mindset and shift your perspective about things in order for transformation and growth to take place. Likewise, it’s also about the choices you make, not so much the major ones but the little ones you make on a daily basis.
In his light, honest, and engaging prose, Jean Paul Paulynice encourages you to do some introspection so you can begin your path toward finding your passion and bliss in life. For those who journal, the reflection questions he asks make very good journaling prompts. A very quick read, under fifty pages, It’s Time to Start Living with Passion! is a little morsel of goodness and wisdom that will help on your journey to self-discovery.
Author: Jean Paul Paulynice, MBA
Publisher: PAULYNICE CONSULTING GROUP, LLC
Publisher’s contact info: INFO@PAULYNICECONSULTING.COM
Website: https://www.jeanpaulpaulynice.com/
Non-Fiction
Genre: Self-help/Inspirational
Publication Date: May 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-7330427-9-6 (Hardback) $16.99
ISBN: 978-1-7335601-9-1 (Paperback) $9.99
ISBN: 978-1-7330427-0-3 (eBook) $3.99
ISBN: 978-1-7335601-2-2 (Audiobook) $3.95
Do you feel as though you’re on autopilot, going through the motions every day—wake up, go to work, come back home, have dinner, sleep, repeat—without real meaning, depth, and purpose in your life?
Even if you have a fulfilling job and earn a good salary, that doesn’t mean you’ve found your passion in life. The problem is, finding your passion can be elusive, especially in our present society where we are constantly seeking external validation from others and are being judged in public platforms more than ever (i.e. social media). Perhaps the wisest statement in this book is that “the moment you start to listen to yourself, you can start shutting out all the noise.” This little book is all about soul-searching, self-analysis, and reflection. Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone and seek out your passions. Sometimes you have to change your mindset and shift your perspective about things in order for transformation and growth to take place. Likewise, it’s also about the choices you make, not so much the major ones but the little ones you make on a daily basis.
In his light, honest, and engaging prose, Jean Paul Paulynice encourages you to do some introspection so you can begin your path toward finding your passion and bliss in life. For those who journal, the reflection questions he asks make very good journaling prompts. A very quick read, under fifty pages, It’s Time to Start Living with Passion! is a little morsel of goodness and wisdom that will help on your journey to self-discovery.
May 2, 2019
Interview with Randy Overbeck, Author of ‘Blood on the Chesapeake’
Dr. Randy Overbeck is a writer, educator, researcher and speaker in much demand. During his three plus decades of educational experience, he has performed many of the roles depicted in his writing with responsibilities ranging from coach and yearbook advisor to principal and superintendent. His new ghost story/mystery, Blood on the Chesapeake, will be released on April 10, 2019 by The Wild Rose Press. As the title suggests, the novel is set on the famous Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, home to endless shorelines, incredible sunsets and some of the best sailing in the world. Blood is first in a new series of paranormal mysteries, The Haunted Shores Mysteries. Dr. Overbeck’s first novel, Leave No Child Behind, a thriller about the terrorist takeover of a Midwest high school and one teacher’s stand against the intruders, won the 2011 Silver Award for Thrillers from ReadersFavorite.com. Dr. Overbeck is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and an active member of the literary community. You can follow him on Twitter @OverbeckRandy, friend him on Facebook at Author Randy Overbeck or check out his webpage, www.authorrandyoverbeck.comCongratulations on the release of your latest book, Blood on the Chesapeake. When did you start writing and what got you into paranormal mystery?
I know this may not be true for all authors, but one thing that has surprised me about the entire writing and publishing process is just how long it takes to get my novel from idea and concept to finished, polished product. When I checked my records, the first drafts of Blood on the Chesapeake date back almost eight years. Of course, the story and the writing has gone through several revisions over that time, including changing the story from a simple cold case murder mystery to a ghost story/mystery. And how did that evolution develop? Like a lot of my “light bulb” ideas, it was inspired by a session at a great writing conference, this time, the Midwest Writers’ Conference.
What is your book about? After being dumped by his fiancé, Darrell Henshaw, a young teacher and coach, decides to find new pastures and lands a job on the Chesapeake Bay. He cannot believe his good fortune as Wilshire, a quiet, scenic and charming resort town on the Eastern Shore offers him his dream job—teaching high school history and coaching football and basketball—and a second chance at love. Except no one told him that a student was murdered at the school and that the kid’s ghost haunts the hallways.
You see, Darrell sees ghosts, though he’s not happy about it. His first encounter with the spirit world did not go well and he has the OCD scars to prove it. But, after he’s hounded by the terrifying ghost, he decides to look into the murder, aided by his new love, Erin Caveny. Together, they follow a trail that leads back to the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and even the Klu Klux Klan. Then, after two locals who try to help are murdered and Erin’s life is threatened, Darrell is forced to decide if he’s willing to risk his life—and the life of the woman he loves—to expose the killers of a young man he never knew.
What was your inspiration for it?
Most of my stories have been inspired by the towns I’ve travelled to and the people and places I’ve encountered on my way. When visiting a new area, I’m always been intrigued by the possibilities of unfamiliar places, the “I wonder if” notion. The initial idea for Blood on the Chesapeake actually sprang from a visit to a coastal New England town. The town boasted an old high school with an unusual architectural feature, a faux widow’s walk atop the second floor of the school building—which readers will discover is a critical part of the setting and narrative of Blood on the Chesapeake. Then, when I later journeyed to the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, I was overwhelmed by the quiet, scenic beauty of the region, but also intrigued by the duality of the cultures there. Here was a region bearing the hallmarks of a proud New England tradition, but also with roots still very much in the South. (The area was home to famous slave plantations and was split in loyalties during the Civil War.) I thought it’d be interesting to explore that dichotomy in fiction. In this most peaceful and beautiful of settings on the Chesapeake Bay, what if something horrific happened in this small town and they tried to cover it up?
What type of challenges did you face while writing this book?
Any new narrative poses multiple challenges and this novel was no different, but I enjoy meeting challenges, especially the literary variety. One significant challenge was the setting of the story, the when. The tale actually covers two different time periods; most of the narrative occurs during fall, 1998, but the murder actually occurred more than thirty years before that, in the early sixties. To be certain to have the details accurate to each time period—clothes, hairstyles, slang, music, happenings, etc.—was a significant challenge, but one I had fun trying to master all these.
Did your book require a lot of research?
Without a doubt. Although the central focus of the story—high school teaching and coaching—was an area with which I have considerable familiarity, several other parts of the narrative required a good deal of learning and research. Good thing I enjoy that. Here are just a few examples. Since I’m not a native to the Eastern Shore—one reason I made my protagonist, Darrell Henshaw a fish out of water there—I made several trips to the region to make sure I could get the geography, culture, names and details right. Also, like Darrell, I was fairly new to the water, so I had to learn a great deal about sailing on the Bay (and still required help and research to correct some details in the writing there). I had to do considerable research about what happened in a small town after a lynching, so that this critical part of my novel would ring true to life. Finally, since the ghost story is an integral part of the tale—and I don’t pretend to have any particular expertise in the area—I had to learn from those that do, to ensure my “ghost whispering” was credible and fits what is known and accepted in this arena.
What do you do when your muse refuses to collaborate?
That’s not usually not a problem. In fact, what happens more often with me us that the muse throws too much at me. I might be trying to work on one part of the novel, looking for inspiration, and the muse will give me direction on a later part of the story. Or on another different narrative all together. I tend to go with the flow and move to where the muse wants to take me. Usually, it works out and by the time I’m able to get back to where I wanted to be, the muse is gracious enough to give me what I need.
Many writers experience a vague anxiety before they sit down to right. Can you relate to this?
Not really. Since I only have a limited amount of time when I’m actually at the keyboard, ready to advance the story, I almost always have anticipation, rather than anxiety when I’m writing. Usually I have a number of ideas swirling around in my head and I can’t wait to get them down “on paper.” Of course, some anxiety strikes me, like whether I’m getting it right or heading in the right direction, but by now I’ve done enough revising and editing to have faith that I’ll take the time (usually many times) to get it right later and I don’t focus on that concern then. The times I sit down to write for me are freeing, because I’m glad to get the character or the murder or the ghost out of my head and into the computer.
Do you have a writing schedule? Are you disciplined?
Yes and no. When I’m in the groove, I will write pretty much every day, but I’m not a Prussian about it. Most days, I’ll write for two to three hours at a time, usually in the late morning or early afternoon. But some days you might find me at the keyboard for a couple hours in the evening or even in the middle of the night, if my characters won’t let me sleep. One thing I’ve learned is that for me, after a few hours, either my inspiration dries up (or maybe just takes a break) or my writing deteriorates. So I’ve learned to let it go and come back to it. I try to make the writing a regular habit, but I’m realistic about it. Sometimes life intrudes. For several months last year, we were designing and building a new house as well as selling our prior house. During that time, there was little time for writing. I didn’t stress over it, but simply returned to my writing commitment as soon as I could.
What was your publishing process like?
With my first novel, Leave No Child Behind, and with Blood on the Chesapeake, I worked with publishers, a small press with the first and a much larger house with Blood. I know other authors who have had good experience self-publishing, but I’ve chosen not to go that route, at least for these works. Originally, I was hoping to interest a strong agent and through him/her secure a book contract. Although I attracted the attention of a few agents, I was never able to close the deal. Dealing with the small press for the first book worked out quite well for me as they gave me some support and also considerable autonomy. And although my journey with the second publisher is still in its early stages, I had heard and read very good things about The Wild Rose Press and am looking for great things from them as the book moves forward.
How do you celebrate the completion of a book?
I’m not big into rituals, so I’m not sure how to answer this question. What is completion of a book? When the first draft is finished? When the tenth revision is done? When you’ve completed all the work from the feedback from the editor? When you get the contract for the book? When the first copy appears, on the iPad or in your hands? When the first thousand copies are sold? All of those are hallmarks of my journey of writing and I try to savor each one and learn from the experience.
How do you define success? For me, success is when I see my writing—years of imagination, creativity, perseverance, research and just plain hard work—come to fruition and become real, the novel published, the book in readers’ hands, great reviews coming in. And when readers, most of whom I’ve never met, write me to tell me how much they enjoyed my story. Rather than any financial measure, that for me defines success.
What do you love most about the writer’s life?
That’s easy. I write because I love writing, because I feel I have something to say. But nothing in my writing life has brought me more joy than seeing how much my readers LOVE my work. After my first book, Leave No Child Behind, was published, I received scores of emails from readers telling how much they enjoyed it and how it scared them to death. (It was supposed to scare them.) Several years later, I still keep and re-read those emails.
What is your advice for aspiring authors?
Many writers say that writing is a solitary act, just you and the computer. While I can’t argue with that, I need to add that my writing would never have risen above the minimum without help from outside. I’ve participated in several really good writing conferences including Killer Nashville, Midwest Writers’ Conference, Sluethfest and have found these experiences invaluable for “priming the pump” and getting me to think beyond my boundaries. Not to mention all the connections I’ve made with fellow writers. But I have found the greatest asset to my writing has been my regular participation in a really great writing group. These fellow writers have been both kind and cruel to my words, and my writing has improved as a result. My advice to aspiring writers is always to find ways to prime the pump and get a support system. And of course, read. Read a lot.
George Orwell once wrote: “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” Thoughts?
I have to admit, in my darkest hours, I have shared George’s concern, but not often. I’ll acknowledge that at times my writing does take over and feels very much like an obsession—not unlike the OCD of my character, Darrell—but it’s a compulsion I welcome and relish. At least most of the time when my muse is speaking to me and the words flow.
What’s on the horizon for you?
I’m currently finishing the second installment in the Haunted Shore Mysteries series—tentatively titled Crimson at Cape May, another ghost story/mystery, this time set in the beautiful, historic resort town of Cape May, which also happens to be the most haunted seaport on the eastern coast. The Wild Rose Press already has first rights to the book and I expect this second novel in the series to be released sometime in 2020. Also, a third book in the series is in the planning, this time with nefarious happenings and another mysterious ghost at a sunny resort in the Bahamas. At the same time, I’m working on a standalone mystery about a drug dealer and murderer who preys on middle school students. You could probably say, I’m keeping busy.
Anything else you’d like to tell my readers?
I’d like to think my new novel can and will appeal to a broad range of readers. One of the early reviewers for the book, best-selling and Edgar award-winning author, William Kent Krueger, made this exact point: “For those who enjoy a mixed bag in the books they read, Randy Overbeck has performed a nifty literary feat. Within a web woven of threads from a number of genres—a bit of romance, a lot of mystery, and a good deal of old-fashioned ghost whispering—he’s written a pretty solid social commentary.” So if you’re looking for a little romance or if you’re on the hunt for a good whodunit or if you’d like to curl up with an old-fashion ghost story or if you just want to be transported to a “setting to die for,” you’ll find all four in Blood on the Chesapeake. And, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
April 29, 2019
Talking Craft with Victoria Landis, Author of ‘Jordan’
Victoria Landis is a professional writer, editor, and artist. A 16-year member, and former board member, of Mystery Writers of America, she Co-Chaired the SleuthFest Writers Conference from 2015-2018.She's taught at SleuthFest, the Authors Academy at Murder on the Beach, and the Alvin Sherman Library at Nova Southeastern University.
Visit her at www.VictoriaLandis.com
Found out more: https://amzn.to/2HWMs5R
INTERVIEW:
Q: Congratulations on the release of your latest book, Jordan. To begin with, can you gives us a brief summary of what the story is about and what compelled you to write it?
A: Jordan is the story of a young woman from Boca Raton, Florida, who disappears for three years, then surfaces with the ability to heal people by simply touching them. As you can imagine, in today’s viral social media world, word gets out too fast, and an entire world of sick people—whoever can manage it—make their way to South Florida, in hopes of being cured. Is isn’t long before things get out of hand and chaos erupts.
As a little kid, I wanted to do two things. Fly and heal people by touch. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried to concentrate, neither of those ambitions came to fruition. A few years ago, the healing thing came to mind again—not sure what sparked it—and I wondered what would happen if? In today’s viral social media world? Wow.
Q: What do you think makes a good thriller? Could you narrow it down to the three most important elements? Is it even possible to narrow it down?
A: Jordan is a bit of a hybrid. Part pure thriller and part magical realism. You need to believe that Jordan can heal people in order to go along with the rest of the story. I think there are two absolute basics. Thrillers are fast-paced. The stakes are high, whether for an individual, a community, or the world. They are not the place for flowery narrative.
Q: How did you go about plotting your story? Or did you discover it as you worked on the book?A: I’m not a plotter or a pantser. I semi-plot out my stories. I know how I want it to begin, end, and usually something important in the middle. I keep a list of actions and scenes I want to include, but I’m not sure where they’ll wind up. The main thing is to make sure there is no ‘muddle in the middle.’
Q: Tell us something interesting about your protagonist and how you developed him or her. Did you do any character interviews or sketches prior to the actual writing?
A: I have two protagonists. Jordan Crissman and Petra Simmons. I did a page on both of them before starting and decided I wanted to tell the entire story through Petra’s eyes, much like Nick, Daisy’s cousin, in The Great Gatsby. There’s only Petra’s POV. Jordan returned home apparently stripped of any sense of street smarts, and she needs Petra for that. Petra is wary of publicity and reporters because of the way they hounded her after the death of her child-actress mother. She hates being in the spotlight. She’s a bit jaded and weary at the young age of twenty-nine.
Q: In the same light, how did you create your antagonist or villain? What steps did you take to make him or her realistic?
A: Huh. I don’t want to give away too much here, as it’s not clear who that person is until the end. I’ll say there are several people who are interested in controlling a miracle. I like making all my characters human, though, with good and bad traits. What helps is giving them a background story, too, even if it never makes it into the book. Understanding what makes them tick and what they want is the key to making them realistic. Then just put yourself into their heads, and you’ll very quickly figure out how to write them.
Q: How did you keep your narrative exciting throughout the novel? Could you offer some practical, specific tips?
A: Get rid of extra, unnecessary words whenever you can, such as: that, had, had been, was, then, just, still, even, etc. The overall effect of them is they slow everything down.
Describe enough to enable a picture in the reader’s head, but don’t overdo it. We don’t need to know what every character is wearing in every scene. We don’t need to know how the woman’s hair is arranged every day, unless it’s key to the plot.
In the action scenes, keep the sentences short—staccato. Use as few dialogue tags as you can get away with.
Q: Setting is also quite important and in many cases it becomes like a character itself. What tools of the trade did you use in your writing to bring the setting to life?
A: I know Boca Raton very well, as I lived there for nineteen years. So that helped, of course. I mention the basics when entering a place for the first time in a book. The overall layout, what style the architecture is, whether it’s pristine or a dump, that sort of thing. It also helps set the mood and adds to character building. A choice detail can paint an entire picture in the reader’s mind, so choose that detail wisely. The fictional multi-national conglomerate-owning Teigh brothers are important in Jordan, as is their fabulous estate. I had the characters visit it once and described the basic layout then. When they visited again, it was easy to add details. (Just for fun, there is a map of the estate on the Jordan page of my website.) You can also tuck in a detail or two in the narrative that accompanies a character’s dialogue.
Here’s an example from Jordan:
“I was lucky enough to get an end unit,” Petra said while inserting her key. “Lots of windows.”
“It’s beautiful.” The woman wandered around the combined living and dining space, stopping at the wide bay window facing the plaza and its fountain.
That is the first description of Petra’s apartment, where they spend a lot of time. Later, the choice details are added as needed.
Q: Did you know the theme(s) of your novel from the start or is this something you discovered after completing the first draft? Is this theme(s) recurrent in your other work?
A: I knew Jordan’s from the get-go. The theme is how humankind really hasn’t changed for thousands of years. I don’t always know in advance. My first novel, Blinke It Away, evolved as I wrote it, and the theme became the plight of the native Hawaiians and how they were shafted when the United States acquired the islands.
Q: Where does craft end and art begin? Do you think editing can destroy the initial creative thrust of an author?
A: No. Editing is essential to making a story sing and stand out more. Otherwise you might have incoherent ‘brain droppings’ (credit to George Carlin there.) The craft and the art, once you learn to self-edit as you go, become one.
Q: What three things, in your opinion, make a successful novelist?
A: The ability to know what is or is not an interesting story before you start. The ability to listen to and seriously consider the feedback you ask for. And the ability to write in a way that makes the reader not want to put the book down.
Q: A famous writer once wrote that being an author is like having to do homework for the rest of your life. Thoughts?
A: If you’re studying a subject you love, then you don’t mind homework, right? If you think of your writing/research as drudgery homework, then why on earth are you doing it? Go do something you find engaging and interesting, for heaven’s sake.
Q: Are there any resources, books, workshops or sites about craft that you’ve found helpful during your writing career?
A: Writers’ conferences with serious workshops are fantastic. IMHO, SleuthFest is the best for that. Spoiler alert—I did Co-Chair that one for four years. But it’s a small niche conference, meant for writers, not readers or fans. One attendee stopped me in the hall one year and told me he’d learned more about writing at SleuthFest than he had at an invitational course at Oxford.
Writing advice books by Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Hallie Ephron, David Morrell, & Carolyn Wheat.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with my readers about the craft of writing?
A: I’ve learned that our egos are our worst enemy. Learn to put it aside. Stop being defensive and listen to those you ask for advice. Caveat: Take your time to learn just who you should ask for advice. This is not a fast business. It’s slow. Take your time. Do it right. You’ll thank yourself later.
Thank you so much for having me here!
