Lee Child Interview by Bryan E. Robinson, Ph.D

Lee Child Interview

by Bryan E. Robinson, Ph.D

As a writer, you probably recognize Lee Child by name unless you've been living under a rock. But you will certainly recognize his billion-dollar brand: Jack Reacher, portrayed by Tom Cruise on the big screen. Child is the author of 24 New York Times bestselling Jack Reacher thrillers with 14 having reached the #1 position and the #1 bestselling complete Jack Reacher story collection, No Middle Name.

All his novels have been optioned for major motion pictures—including Jack Reacher (based on One Shot) and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Child’s latest novel is Blue Moon. Foreign rights for the Reacher series have sold in 49 languages and 101 territories. With more than 100 million books sold, the series has commanded over a billion dollars in global sales. In addition to books and movies, there is a Jack Reacher custom coffee blend, songs by Child and Naked Blue from Reacher’s perspective on CD and digital download and now a soon-to-be television series on Amazon. A native of England and a former television director, Lee Child lives in New York City.

I sat down with him to talk about how he balances his billion-dollar business with his personal life and his own self-care. We talked about mindful productivity, wellness and how he describes his “workplace.”

Bryan Robinson: Great to talk to you, Lee. I wanted to begin by asking how you would describe your workplace.

Lee Child: The physical locale doesn’t matter that much. As a writer, your workplace is inside your head in your imagination. You need a certain amount of resources such as a desk, keyboard, Internet and reference books. Inevitably you end up with an office somewhere, and I have one in every one of our houses. That’s where I work.

Robinson: Is there any particular place you prefer to write either inside or outside?

Child: At a desk inside. Although there’s the usual thing with writers when you go for a walk or take a shower, you get the ideas you need. It’s quite a skill in tricking your mind into relaxing and therefore giving you what you need.

Robinson: So how does Lee Child relax?

Child: Mostly reading or music. And TV third. I rarely get too far down the list because normally I’m either reading or listening to music.

Robinson: You’ve done some music with Naked Blue from Baltimore.

Child: Yeah, we have a CD out. It was a weird coincidence. If you put it in a book, nobody would believe it. I was independently a fan of theirs, they were a fan of mine and we found each other out about 15 years ago. I wrote the lyrics, and they wrote the music.

Robinson: Do you sing or play an instrument on the CD?

Child: I don’t. I probably could have, but I felt like it was more respectful to let the professionals do it.

Robinson: I understand that you have a coffee brand.

Child: Yeah, we do. Reacher’s famous for liking his coffee, and that was about the only thing we could merchandise for a guy who owns nothing. We were approached by a coffee roaster, and we did a deal. Jack Reacher coffee is for sale worldwide online.

Robinson: So you got the coffee, the books, the movies, the band and now Jack Reacher will be a TV series on Amazon.

Child: Yes. We switched away from the feature film world to streaming television. We plan to reboot it with Amazon starting pretty soon I hope.

Robinson: Do you know who will play Jack Reacher yet?

Child: We don’t. That’s the next big decision, and obviously it will be a crucial decision in light of the movies. The casting was never thoroughly approved of among the readers in the feature films, so we’re going to be very careful this time.

Robinson: With all the irons in the fire, what would you say are your biggest pressures?

Child: Deadlines always. Not so much the books because it’s the primary function. I’ve never run into too much stress with that, but it’s everything else. It’s the promotion, endless interviews reading books for blurbs. Everyday has 10 things that have to be done. I’m probably a bad subject for this article because I don’t do anything to mitigate pressure. I don’t look after myself in any way. Thinking about it deeply from my point of view, it is a kind of toxic masculinity. To admit weakness or anything like that. It’s unthinkable. I grew up with the catch phrase which was, “I’m not afraid of stress; stress is afraid of me.” It’s not very mindful or certainly any part of this modern wellness thing. I’m aware deep down I’m reacting against my own interests. But it’s part of being a man of my age. You can never admit anything like that.

Robinson: Do you think that works for you? In a way, it sounds like that is a form of resilience because you consciously have that mindset.

Child: Yeah, I very much do. I imagine other people might disagree. It’s both selfish and aggressive in that I won’t be beaten, certainly not by something like stress or overwork.

Robinson: So you do have a mindful approach to this. You have an intentionality about it. Do you feel like your life is pretty balanced?

Child: I find that to be almost a circular question. Part of being masculine in my generation is you just knew that you’d go to college and work really hard the rest of your life. So to what extent is work different from life? In a lot of ways life is work. Therefore, the balance thing is almost an empty question. What else am I supposed to be doing other than work? So in a lot of ways the balance thing is a non-question. You’re going to work so you just get on with it. The idea that you have these other activities that you should be balancing doesn’t really come into it.

Robinson: A lot of people are talking about work/life integration instead of work/life balance. Work is where some people have their significant relationships, friends and social connections. Does that resonate?

Child: Yeah it does. Looking back, I would say you generate almost all your friends and your ongoing relationships through the job. I don’t have any friends who are not from those worlds.

Robinson: You’ve written so many books. Do you still love writing as much as you used to?

Child: That’s part of the fascination of it for me. On the one hand, it’s an absolute joy and pleasure. When you’re making up a story and it’s going well–which it is most of the time–and it’s sometimes unbelievable that you get paid for that. On the other hand, there is the fact that it’s a job and career. At a certain level if you get as far as I’ve been lucky enough to do, you’ve got a lot of people depending on it: publishers, the book trade, agents and lawyers. So it’s a very real career–a real job with multiple people planning their bottom line that year. You got to be 100% aware of that and 100% blind to it so that the joy and fun continue. You don’t want to be sitting there writing aware of the stakes. I think that’s the main trick to me.

Robinson: Of all the contributions you’ve made, what are you most proud of?

Child: I’d have to go to family for that. My daughter, I think, has brought me the most happiness. I’ll be leaving behind a number of books that will quickly go out of print and be forgotten. But I’m also leaving a human being who will endure and carry forward her values into the future which is the thing I’m most proud of.

Robinson: Is there any wisdom you want to share, based on your experience, with mystery writers trying to make it?

Child: That’s a tough one. I’ve been successful in one narrow field, but I think overall if it’s a question of what would I tell my younger self, I think I would say, “Trust your gut a little bit more than I did.” I can pick out a couple of times when I should have done something differently, but because of conventional pressures or advice I didn’t. None of them were particularly fatal or disruptive, but I can see afterward I should have trusted my gut. You know we live in a data-automated age where everything is researched to the nth degree, but there’s still plenty of room for those gut decisions which can be superior to all that. Data is great and research is great but at some point you must make a decision on it. Your subconscious decisions betray an analysis of that information that is made more sophisticated than the conscious mind.

Robinson: Is there anything else you would like to share with the members of Killer Nashville?

Child: Sometimes I wonder where all this wellness stuff came from. I think it is possibly explained that people of our age are going through issues with their elderly parents. You see these decrepit old people and think, “Oh, my God. I don’t want to get like that.” And that spurns this wellness mania amongst the second generation. they’re trying to avoid that fate. But my approach has always been different. I don’t want to get that old in the first place. I’d rather burn out and have fun at a younger age. My attitude to wellness is to avoid it rather than to indulge it.

Robinson: Well, that’s a refreshing approach. You’re saying there are different ways to live fully.

Child: Yes, exactly. My internal motto has always been, “I’ll have more fun in 60 years than you’ll have in 90,” and that’s how I’ve lived. Now I’m over 60 and living on borrowed time.

Robinson: When you’re on vacation, do you work or do you take time off?

Child: I have a writing season where I write every day until the book is done. That’s usually six or seven months of the year. Vacation comes after that, and I never, ever work on vacation. I also never work on a day when I’ve got something else to do because I have a mental block where if I know I’ve got to finish at a particular time, the day is useless because I’m always feeling it’s not worth getting into that now because I’m going to have to stop. It handicaps me. I’m not one of these guys that works on a plane or in the airport. I need to have a completely dedicated day in the office to get anything done of quality.

Robinson: It sounds like you’ve got good boundaries between work and play. When you’re on vacation, you take that time to relax and have fun. One last question. Who are some of your favorite writers?

Child: Oh, too many to mention. All my peers and contemporaries. I like to catch up with what they’re thinking and doing and also a completely random selection. When I was a kid, of course there was no Internet or structure for recommendations, none of these algorithm that if you like this you’ll like that. Every discovery was to some extent random. And I try to replicate that whenever possible. For instance, when I do go on vacation, I forget that I’m in the business and try to look at everything just as a normal consumer, so I will choose books randomly based on how they look, how they feel just to get the filter out of my bubble.

Robinson: I appreciate your taking the time to talk with me, Lee.

Child: It’s a real pleasure.

---

Bryan E. Robinson is a licensed psychotherapist and author of two novels and 40 nonfiction books. He applies his experiences to crafting insightful nonfiction self-help books and psychological thrillers. His multi-award winning southern noir murder mystery, Limestone Gumption, won the New Apple Book Medal for best psychological suspense, the Silver IPPY Award for outstanding mystery of the year, the Bronze Foreword Review INDIEFAB Book Award for best mystery, and the 2015 USA Regional Excellence Book Award for best fiction in the Southeast.

His most recent release is Daily Writing Resilience: 365 Meditations and Inspirations for Writers (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2018). He has written for Psychology Today, First for Women, and Natural Health, and his blogs and columns for writers appear in Southern Writer’s Magazine. He is a consulting editor for The Big Thrill, the online magazine for International Thriller Writers. His long-selling book, Chained to the Desk, is now in its 3rd Edition (New York University Press, 1998, 2007, 2014). His books have been translated into thirteen languages, and he has appeared on every major television network: 20/20, Good Morning America, ABC’s World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, NBC Universal, The CBS Early Show, CNBC’s The Big Idea. He hosted the PBS documentary, Overdoing It: How to Slow Down and Take Care of Yourself.

Killer Nashville Interview with August Norman

1. This is the second novel that follows heroine Caitlin Bergman. How soon into crafting the first book did you know her story would continue?

Even before Caitlin made her debut in Come and Get Me, I’d worked the character into a screenplay and another novel. As an investigative journalist, Caitlin gets to explore the issues I care about, whether that’s battling white supremacists, breaking up a cult, or dating in her 40s. The journalists I know work hard in dangerous places to bring the world basic facts, often for little pay and less respect. Like them, Caitlin is obsessed with getting the true story behind the legends, even at the expense of her own safety. 

2. What are some of the challenges you faced with writing the second book in a series? Were there things that came easier throughout the process?

One wonderful challenge I faced writing “Sins of the Mother” was honoring the expectations of the first book’s readers. With a debut, you get to say, “Here are my characters; this is what they do.” While plotting the second installment, readers from my publishing team to Goodreads followers wanted to know who would come back, how Caitlin would grow, and what horrible junk food she’d eat this time. I made sure to honor that relationship with the reader while taking Caitlin in a new direction.

3. Most of the book is set in Oregon. What drew you to choosing the setting in the Pacific Northwest?

To tell this story, I needed somewhere in America that you could hide a cult within miles of the broader society. I also wanted a setting where the locals feared the end of their traditions because of a liberal shift in ideals, and would be willing to fight to ensure their ways of life. Oregon’s lush forests, rocky coasts, inland plains, tribal lands, federal preserve, and wild-country-feel all bash heads daily with the new Bohemia tech sector billionaire playgrounds of Portland, Silicon Valley, and Seattle. Caitlin is searching for her past in a state that’s dealing with its own growing pains. In “Sins of the Mother,” the area’s small government “Don’t Tread On Me” mentality allows white supremacists to flourish in the same proximity as a reclusive cult. It’s only a matter of time before the two fight for their ideals, no matter the cost. 

4. You recently became a father, and the book definitely focuses on parental themes. Was that coincidental? And are there things you learned about parenthood from writing a book centering so much on that theme?

In the lead-up to my entrance into parentage, I did a lot of soul-searching on what I believe makes a good parent and what constitutes family. Whether related by blood, chosen through adoption, or selected from a pool of friends, I think the closest families are born through love and sacrifice, rather than biology. As unnatural as it may seem, sometimes the best thing a parent can do is realize they don’t have the skills to guide their children through life and leave them with someone more qualified. Having never met her birth mother, raised by a single adoptive father, and now childless in her early forties, Caitlin explores her own family’s tree, ultimately seeing another side of her perceived abandonment and the sacrifices and openness needed to truly love.

5. You have a background in screenwriting. How has that experience helped you with writing novels? Or has it made things more difficult?

Coming up through screenwriting, I hope I can claim a few skills that help me as a novelist. I gravitate toward short, cinematic scenes in my chapters, understanding that readers fill in much of the setting with their own shorthand. I also try to create characters that actors from well-known stars to five-lines-and-under would line up to audition for. Who wouldn’t want to play an aging cult leader, past his prime and looking for a way out? A devout, female lawyer that represents a cult in greater society but becomes her true self in the privacy of their woodland compound? A violent white supremacist hell-bent on saving his daughter from those people? Finally, many authors come to their work with a my-way-or-the-highway sensibility that can leave them stuck when their publishers ask for edits or complete page one rewrites of art that took them years to complete. Screenwriters, subject to deadlines and notes from all levels, have to be able to move fast and adapt, while keeping their original concepts intact. So far, these skills have all helped bring Caitlin Bergman to the page.

6. Your lead character, Caitlin, is definitely a strong female protagonist. Did you face any challenges writing a female character? 

As a straight white male, no one needs me to explain a damned thing about being a strong modern woman — and I keep that in mind with every sentence I type. Caitlin Bergman began as a minor character in an early screenplay but quickly became the lead I wanted to see challenge the injustices of the world. Rather than try to create a strong female protagonist, I wrote Caitlin as the ideal acting role for one of my best friends. Fierce but flawed, strong but not a superhero, sexual but not necessarily sexy, and smarter than anyone I knew, Caitlin is the combination of four women and one man from my life, and someone I would love to hang out with — if she’d deem me worthy. That said, I rely heavily on beta readers to make sure her words and actions ring true. Since my first title, “Come and Get Me,” touched upon the terrible trauma of sexual assault, I asked 20 readers to evaluate the work before it reached my agent’s hands. Of those 20 readers, 15 were women. Of those 15, at least 2 were in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, as well as people of other ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations. With justifiable historical and societal reasons, I’ll never satisfy everyone, but I do everything possible to make Caitlin and her friends behave like real people I know and love. 

7. No spoilers, but the book’s plot centers around the fictional Daughters of God cult. What research goes into trying to craft a cult from scratch?

Cults fascinate me — not just the religious ones but any occasion where a group of people choose to believe in something that can either be demonstrably proven false (cough, cough … flat earthers) or where the association requires self-injury, legal compromise or financial ruin. When building my own group, I wanted to concentrate on the people who would stick around, even after their prophesied end of the world had come and gone. To really get into their mentality, I first consulted my own personal therapist, then dove deep into articles, books and documentaries about these hidden societies, many of which found their own starts in my background of Southern California. Sadly, most of us are susceptible to this kind of belief, and far too many have lost their families, fortunes and lives under the leadership of demagogues. 

Killer Nashville Interview with J. A. Konrath

Killer Nashville recently had a chat with author J.A. Konrath regarding his prolific—and eclectic—writing career. A pioneer of the self-publishing model, Konrath has sold over 2 million books worldwide. His latest novel, The List, will be available in trade paperback May 2018. Konrath is a 2018 Killer Nashville Guest of Honor and will be participating in several conference sessions.

Take a moment and enjoy the wit and wisdom of J.A. Konrath.

Clay Stafford

Founder of Killer Nashville 

An Interview with J.A. Konrath
by Liz Gatterer

KN: I read on your website that you received over 500 rejection letters before getting published. How did you handle that and what advice do you have to new authors that are experiencing the same thing?

Joe: I drank. And I recommend that to all authors, new and old.

These days, I don’t advise authors to spend years chasing agents and publishers. A saner approach is to self-publish. As you build an audience, agents and publishers will no doubt find you.

Remember, the end goal is to find readers. Those are the people you need to be chasing. You can do that with good stories. Or with promises of cash. What reader would turn down piles of cash?

Are you giving out piles of cash at this conference? Is Deaver? Is that why he always has people around him?

KN: You are a most prolific and varied author, but you really resonate with whichever audience you are writing for. I read The Globs of Use-A-Lot3 to my six-year-old. He almost peed the bed laughing so hard! But, he got the message. He is now quite tyrannical about recycling in our house and he is most proud of his gaseous eruptions-thanks for that. You write in so many categories and genres–horror, mystery, comedy, instructional, … (blushing slightly) other genres, and even children’s books! How do you switch hats so easily?

Joe: Thanks for the kind words. I’m lucky to be interested in many genres and find all of them fun to write for. Hopefully the fun I’m having translates to the reader.

If you don’t find my books fun, that’s entirely my fault. I apologize. I’ll try harder next time. Would you like a pile of cash?

Besides the children’s picture book, I’ve also published other odd things. Like adult coloring books (The Ultimate Adult Coloring Book of Circles—which is 100 pages of circles), the Stop A Murder series (where you solve puzzles to catch a serial killer, unlocking clues, more story, and videos are you progress), eco-punk science fiction (Timecaster), and very funny erotica (Want It Bad).

And, of course, The List is now available as a mass market paperback, and I haven’t had any mass market paperbacks in years. It’s a technothriller with memorable characters and a lot of fun moments. Everyone should buy two copies; one for personal use, and one for their mother.

KN: You are a full-time writer and full-time professor with a full-time family. That’s a lot of time! How do you balance it all?

Joe: I’m actually five people. Which is expensive when buying shoes.

Were you the one who brought up drinking and money? Because that seems like a good idea. Maybe we can combine the two. Having a beer, while sitting on a pile of cash. Also, people dance for our amusement.

That would be the life, wouldn’t it?

What was the question again?

Oh, balance. I quit teaching, and my kids are grown, so now I just write. It’s a great job, and I highly recommend it.

KN: Throughout all of your stories, comedy plays a big part. Even the scary novels have their funny bits. But writing is serious work. How do you keep your sense of humor through all of it?

Joe: Reading is like giving your limbic system a work-out. It allows us to vicariously experience all emotions; fear, sorrow, joy, excitement, and laughter. Laughter is my favorite. So even when I write dark stuff, I try to find room for humor. It makes things more fun.

Hmm. I just re-read the above paragraph, and that wasn’t fun at all. Maybe I should add some emojis.

Laughter is my favorite. 😊 Even when I write dark stuff. ☹

Does that make it more fun? If not, you should have a beer.

KN: You are a big proponent of self-publishing and self-promotion. Aside from suggesting that they read your book A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, is there one thing you think all new authors need to know?

Joe: Don’t write crap.

No reader wants to waste her time with bad books, so do her a favor and don’t write any.

It is difficult for writers to judge the merit of their own writing, even if they’ve written a few dozen novels. We all need some sort of objective feedback. Let your family, friends, peers, editors, and beta readers tell you what isn’t working because then you can fix it. Things are much harder to salvage if you publish something sub-par and get a bunch of well-deserved 1-star reviews. Don’t ever publish anything before it’s the very best you can make it.

You have one goal; make the reader happy. Don’t blow it.

---

Many thanks to J.A. Konrath for so graciously taking time to answer our questions and to Vida Enstrand and Lauren Vassallo from Kensington Publishing for facilitating this interview.

An Interview with Novelist Roy Freirich

An Interview with Novelist Roy Freirich

---

Imagining the End of Sleep

Have you ever worried about being unable to fall asleep?
I have, and the worry itself began to keep me awake, in a kind of meta, vicious cycle.  

But, why?  What’s so great about sleep?
It’s a question I used to ask, before I knew better. 

I’ve led multiple lives as a writer, and each one gave me the same answer. In recording studios mixing songs, or in my office writing sentences of novels and drafts of screenplays, the longer I worked, the better the results.  Until… diminishing returns set in, and song mixes were merely different and no better than one another, sentences were overbaked, script scenes over-complicated and finicky — all as the work hours intruded on normal sleep hours.  The jury is in: deprivation results in diminished capacity in any area of endeavor. In my case, the stakes are admittedly low—if I write a weak line of song lyric, or a cheesy scene in a movie, we all live to tell. But if I were a surgeon, an airline pilot, a truck driver, a crane operator….?

When did it really hit home for you?
I had a real wake-up about the need for sleep, when I “came to” making a left through a red light across three lanes of oncoming traffic.  Those horns were loud. And that was something called a micro-sleep, from missing just three hours of sleep the night before.

I looked into it, and found that neuroscientists, sleep specialists, and psychologists everywhere understand and agree: Deprivation results in measureable body chemistry changes, which in turn degrade our physical and mental capabilities, and eventually our long-term health.  The science is complex, but beyond dispute.

There will be impairments to motor control, cognition, memory, judgement, and emotional stability.

But aside from the proven science, what does sleep mean to you personally?
For me, sleep is profoundly about a truly vital, beautiful, longing — for escape.

From three things: effort, consequence, and the past.

Most of us, most of the time, are variously trying, are attempting, something.  There’s effort at work, of course, and the ever-present to-do list for home and family, and even effort during time-outs for ourselves, ironically, when we’re following the tricky plot of Westworld, or just trying to fill in that crossword blank, or just trying to relax.  Sleep, when we get there, is finally a true respite from trying, which is lovely to contemplate, and even lovelier to experience deeply and often.

The second escape, from consequence, isn’t so bad either. For the one third of our lives we sleep (or should be asleep), we’re not responsible for what happens in the other two thirds. It’s not our fault! How wonderful to say that and have it be true! 

But escape from consequence has an even deeper benefit for all of us.  It’s escape from the self-editing process. It’s been called RISE, or regression in the service of the ego. In semi-waking states and in dreams, our minds are free to experiment without fear of outcomes. I no longer worry about what will happen to the end of my story if I change this scene, or try this line of lyric instead of the one I’ve settled on.  We let the new idea come and don’t sweat the consequences. I don’t see it as “channeling” or anything quite as grand or special, but as just getting out of our own way.

The third escape, and the one that became a central conceit and drove the drama of the novel:  escape from the past.

Here’s how: in dreams, we defuse the emotions connected to unresolved experiences in our lives.  We’ve all had these moments, from any sort of unfulfilled wishes, desires for a “do-over,” from small regrets to more serious trauma from violence, catastrophe, death.  In dreams, we replay versions of these, variously disguised or symbolized, more safely.

How did that become a novel?
As a novelist (and habitual worrier), this brought me a question: What if we couldn’t dream, because we couldn’t sleep?  How many nights of without dreaming would it take to for the unconscious to find other ways to surface, even in our waking lives?

The novel and the research behind it suggest that after four or five nights we lose the emotional stability that dreams maintain, and our unique preoccupations, desires, misconceptions, and fears could spiral into obsessions, urges, delusions and paranoia. 

So it’s not just about slurred speech and stumbling and impaired judgment, but we’ll each go crazy in our own special way. 

How does that novel dramatize that idea?
In my speculative writer’s mind, I wondered, what if were nine or ten nights without sleep, multiplied by the population of an entire town with no way out? If it sounds dire, it is.

It all begins innocently enough, mid-summer at an idyllic tourist destination like Martha’s Vineyard or Fire Island, with locals complaining about tourists, and tourists complaining about locals, and the heat, the bugs, their mattresses, or the neighbors’ music or outdoor lights.  

After a few days, there’s a run on bug spray, eyemasks, earplugs, Ambien. The sleep-deprived Chief of Police loses control as tempers flare, bar fights erupt, domestic spats turn into abuse. A lonely teenage girl joins a dangerous contest going viral: who can Tweet every fifteen minutes for the most hours?  A few tourists die from (accidental?) sleeping pill overdose, missing persons are reported, boating accidents claim lives, drownings. The desperate, sleepless urgent care doctor starts prescribing a few sleeping pills apiece—but how many does the little mom ‘n’ pop pharmacy have?

Local authorities aren’t immune from impaired judgement and delusions, either, and they cut the island off out of fear the insomnia will spread to the mainland.

 Denied the outlet of dreams, the unconscious finds other, primal ways to surface. Violence flares as a mob decides who to blame, and rioting erupts. 

Will help arrive before the worst happens? 

Desperate for unconsciousness, suicide is finally the only respite for some, as others set the island ablaze, howling in fury and fear.

Anarchy, mayhem, chaos.

The short story?  Dreams keep us sane, and sanity keeps the peace.

Killer Nashville Interview with Dean Koontz

An Interview with Dean Koontz

Killer Nashville sits down with Dean Koontz to discuss his writing process.

KN: You have created some of the best bad-guys: Edgler Vess, Junior Kane, Ticktock, and, Lee Shacket - these are characters that still haunt me.  How do you do it?  How do you build the perfect bad-guy?

DK: Maybe I am one. If I were, I might not know, because really bad guys are superb at self-justification. I’m sure the Cookie Monster thinks of himself as the Cookie Connoisseur, and the Hamburglar believes he’s just redistributing sandwiches in the interest of culinary justice.

Anyway, ordinary criminals are of little interest to me. I’m more intrigued by sociopaths who lack any normal human feelings but convincingly imitate them. Sociopaths exist in every race, every age group, and every economic class; more are men, but there are women among them as well. Scary stories like INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS or John Carpenter’s version of THE THING, in which evil extraterrestrials hide among us in human form, put the hair up on the back of my neck, but human sociopaths are in fact real and therefore far scarier. They are an immensely destructive force in society because not all of them become serial killers like Ted Bundy or predatory Hollywood moguls; others rise to positions of authority in government, business, churches, the arts, everywhere. They’re just a slice of humanity, but they are often so charismatic that they can lead numerous others into darkness.

The difficult challenge is to imagine how such a person thinks. They’re narcissistic almost to the extent of being solipsists, creatures of unrestrained desires, driven not by greed or hatred, but by a lust for absolute power over others, by arrogance and contempt, and by the particular kind of envy that is covetousness. This kind of character is capable of anything other than humility.

At the same time, choosing evil is a choice of fools, because though evil can win in the short term, it never wins in the long term. And because I never want to glamorize evil, I use that foolishness to make my antagonists objects of dark amusement, though they never realize that they’re unintentionally funny.

I think the scariest elements of your stories are those that are rooted in truth.  The nanobots from the Jane Hawk series or the microscopic archæa from your upcoming release, Devoted, for example.  How do you develop truly terrifying purposes from the seemingly benign?

I read a lot of science and technology, not with an eye for story ideas, just out of a general interest in everything from quantum mechanics to molecular biology. My head is a stew pot——or maybe a witch’s cauldron——in which everything cooks 24/7 until some irresistible story idea rises to the top. Whereas a lot of people are charmed by new technology or exciting theories of new social structures, I tend to see the dark side almost at a glace. Elon Musk said, “Creating a neural [brain] lace is the thing that really matters for humanity to achieve symbiosis with machines.” When I heard that, I immediately thought, “Yeah, well if you do that and achieve symbiosis with computers, then your brain can be hacked, and you can be controlled.” And so the Jane Hawk series was born. It’s strange, really, that I see the dark possibilities so easily and quickly, considering that I’m the biggest optimist I know.

KN: For over 50 years you have published multiple books every year.  I thought I had read them all, but after checking your webpage I see I have some catching up to do! How do you sustain such a pace?

DK: How do I sustain that pace? A passion for storytelling, a profound love for the beauty and potential of the English language, and a need to eat well. Besides, having grown up in poverty and on the bottom rung of the social ladder in every way, I was somewhat surprised to discover this talent and amazed that it opened a world of possibilities for me. Talent is a grace; I did nothing to earn it, therefore I feel obliged to explore it and grow it, work on the craft and art, until one day I fall dead into the keyboard. It’s hard work, but it’s also joyful, and it gives my life purpose that, as a child and adolescent, I never expected to find.

KN: There are certain elements I have come to expect from a Dean Koontz novel.  It will be scary; I will have to stop reading at least once to catch my breath; there will be at least one scene that breaks my heart – and there will be an awesome dog.  I know where the dog inspiration comes from – you have been blessed to have so many special dogs in your life.  But what about the terrifying parts and the tragic parts?  Where does that inspiration come from?

DK:I write suspenseful fiction because suspense is arguably the fundamental quality of our lives. Suspense and an irresistible urge to search for cute kitten photos on the internet. I also include comedy in my work, because it’s how we deal with stress and terror and the realization that we’re baton twirlers in a parade of fools. Suspense. . . Well, we never know what’s going to happen to us tomorrow, later today, a minute from now. The best literary novels are also suspense novels woven through with quiet humor.

As far back as I can remember, I feared my own death a lot less than I feared the deaths of those I love. Tragic events are significant threads in the fabric of life; losing someone you love inevitably inspires a terror of eventually being alone in a world that can be hostile in the extreme. Young writers are always counseled to write what they know, and too many of them interpret this to mean they should write navel-gazing novels about the tedium of youthful desire. However, what they know, what we all know, is that the world is strange, the universe is a mystery, evil is real, love is our only hope, and we all die——which is pretty much all the material you need for an infinite number of novels.

KN: Series versus stand-alone books:  Which do you prefer writing?  Do you plan for a series or does the potential develop as you write? Will Devoted become a series?

DK: I prefer standalones. But sometimes a character seizes your imagination and won’t let go. Odd Thomas and Jane Hawk became as real to me as the people next door——though I’ve never known a neighbor as amusing as Odd or as kick-ass as Jane——and I just had to know more about them. I could never write 20 or 30 novels with the same character. Once I know everything about them, once they have allowed me to peel back the last layer of their hearts and minds, staying with them for more books would be all about finances, not art.

Many thanks to Dean Koontz for answering our quetsions and to Beth Parker for co-ordinating this effort.

Killer Nashville Interview with Harriet Tyce

An Interview with Harriet Tyce

Killer Nashville sits down with debut author Harriet Tyce to discuss her new book, Blood Orange.

KN: I believe that it is quite an accomplishment for a debut author to be published by Grand Central.  You are a very talented writer.  

Blood Orange

 is a novel that grabbed me from the prologue and didn’t let go – even after the ending so I completely see why such a prestigious publishing house would want it for their catalog.  But, HOW did you get there?  Here at Killer Nashville we work with new authors and that is always the question – how did she do it?  How did you get your work in front of the right people?

TYCE: Thank you very much! That’s very kind of you to say so and I’m glad it grabbed your attention. I studied for a Masters in Creative Writing – Crime Fiction at the University of East Anglia and through that was able to get the opening of my novel in front of the agents at David Higham Agency when I applied for a scholarship. I didn’t win the scholarship, but I was contacted by Veronique Baxter, one of their agents, some weeks later. She’d liked what she read, and suggested we meet, and after that meeting, offered me representation. This gave me a huge boost to finish the manuscript, and when it was finally done, Veronique submitted it to a number of publishers in the UK. It caught the attention of my UK editor Kate Stephenson, at Wildfire, which is an imprint of Headline, a Hachette publisher. She made a pre-emptive offer for world rights, which I was delighted to receive, and through this Blood Orange is being published jointly by Wildfire and by Grand Central, another Hachette publisher. I’ve been extremely lucky.

KN: “Show-don’t-tell” is a bit of advice that we give our authors.  You excel at this skill.  For example, when Alison managed to stick her hand in “it” outside the nightclub and her inebriated mind thought she could wash off that stink before anyone noticed – I thought that pretty much summed up Alison’s situation better than pages of detailed descriptions ever could. Contaminated by her actions and distractions she really hopes that no one will notice how bad things are until she can clean up the mess. But really she is going to leave a little bit of filth on everyone and everything she touches for quite a while.  This is a two-part question:  How do you do that? And – what was your inspiration? LOL.  On second thought, maybe I don’t want to know the answer to that part…

TYCE: I prefer to read prose which is terse and leaves something to the imagination, and that’s what I try to write. As with every student of creative writing, I started out reading the stories of Raymond Carver, and comparing the Lish edits with the stories as Carver originally wrote, I feel that less is always more. One gesture will convey more than pages of description. At least that’s what I try to do – I’m glad you think I succeeded with it. As far as that scene was concerned, I had in my mind Lady Macbeth trying to scrub off the blood spot, and the dogs refusing to eat the palms of Jezebel’s hands. And when I was a child, I used to go for walks in Edinburgh with my parents, and we would walk under a large bridge on which someone had daubed graffiti with dog fæces.

KN: I am the mother of a 6-year-old, so the scene where young Tilly is missing really spoke to me.  My heart was pounding out of my chest and I almost couldn’t read fast enough to find out what happened.  But that was also the scene where I began to really feel for Alison.  Up until then, I was pretty much in the “yes, you are a terrible mother” camp.  But there she was being a “good” mother playing with her daughter and it still all falls apart.  She wasn’t concentrating on something else, she wasn’t lost on her phone or talking to someone.  This was a situation that could happen to me… easily.  What was your process for developing this scene?

TYCE: I have children myself and while neither of them has ever gone missing for any period of time, even thirty seconds can feel like a lifetime. I walk on the Heath regularly, and watch my children climb the tree I’ve described, and I’ve seen police cars occasionally on patrol, and it came to me organically as a scene. I knew it was a point in the book where a catalyst was necessary to bring the hostility between Carl and Alison entirely to the surface, and given how critical he is throughout of her parenting, it seemed logical to me that he would be bound to blame her entirely for this scare, even though as you point out, it’s something that could have happened to anyone. I actually don’t think Alison is ever a terrible mother – even the night that she doesn’t come home doesn’t put Matilda at any risk, and she always does her best. It’s just not always very good…

KN: Obviously, you are an experienced criminal barrister, so it makes sense that those parts of the story were so believable.  But what about the other parts?  How do you go about researching the gruesome details? And do you ever worry what someone might say if they saw the search history on your computer?

TYCE: I think that’s an occupational hazard! My next book will be dealing with divorce, amongst other things, and I’ve had to tell my husband up front that all of my searches about family law and custody battles are for book purposes and not because I’m planning an escape route. It took quite a lot of logistical planning to work out the final scene in Blood Orange, for which I had to do a lot of internet searches that threw up some sites I really would never want to visit. And it’s fair to say I’ve had my share of hangovers, so those parts weren’t too hard to write…

KN: Finally, even though it is perfectly acceptable and usually expected for women to have careers and families, we torture ourselves with guilt when we aren’t always present for

them.  We tend to see other women as having it all together and judging us for being unworthy somehow (whether or not that’s true.)   So, I really liked the way that you included the “forgiving mom” – the one that said that she turned off the notifications in WhatsApp and seemed genuinely friendly to Alison.  What was your inspiration for this?  

TYCE: The UK agent Juliet Mushens made an excellent point some time ago which was that no domestic thrillers would work as real-life situations if the female protagonists had girlfriends. Alison has isolated herself from her friends, and she is paranoid that all of the mothers at school are judging her adversely, but actually, she’s her own harshest critic, so eaten up with guilt that she can’t see what is really happening around her. I felt that it was more realistic to have people being friendly around her – even though she thinks she’s a terrible person, she’s not that bad, and they can see that. I also wanted to make sure she has a potential future after the end of the book – if she can actually get through all the awfulness, there’s a great circle of women out there ready to catch her and give her support moving forward.

Killer Nashville Interview with Sara Blaedel

An Interview with Sara Blaedel

Killer Nashville sits down with best-selling author Sara Blaedel to discuss her latest book, THE DROWNED GIRL.

---

KN: Is it more difficult to create a new main character or build upon a character that is well known by your readers?

For me, whether introducing a new character or digging into the evolution of an already existing one, it all falls under the same umbrella.  And, I love to engage in both.  I’m especially excited about character development; it’s always the people who get under the reader’s skin and drive the action, don’t you think?  It is the characters we think about long after we’ve finished reading, who we connect and relate to, and whom we look forward to getting back to in a series.  While it takes a lot of time to construct a new character, making sure they possess layers and flaws and strengths and authentic characteristics, having a character evolve and grow according to their experiences and maturity, as we all do in one way or another, also takes a great deal of focus and commitment to getting it right.

KN: Is Camilla based upon your own experiences and/or observations as a journalist?

While I wouldn’t say any of my characters is based on me or meant to be a stand-in for me, I definitely use what I know, when appropriate, in the building of a character’s life and work.  In this case, absolutely; I was a journalist for years and tapped into that part of my life to support Camilla’s profession, how she approaches her work, and that whole world.  It’s super-fun!

KN: I love the growth in Camilla’s character when she became more of the solution to racism instead of perpetrating stereotypes. Was this based upon something you have experienced on one side or the other?

Again, I come at this in a sort of hybrid fashion, a mix of the real and personally experienced and what I perceive would be the genuine experience of my characters.  I spent a great deal of time developing them from the start- no single figure in any of my books shows up without a history and backstory of their own that I’ve worked on, along with a construction of them from the ground up and inside out.  It is essential, for me, that my characters’ personalities and choices reflect what they’ve been through so far, whom they meet and have relationships with along the way, and what they witness in the world around them.

KN: Was it difficult to publish The Drowned Girl in a different language than it was originally written? What were some of the pitfalls? Why was the original title changed?

This is an excellent question!  For an author, and I am sure I speak for many (if not most) here, any adaptation is always a scary thing.  There is a great deal of reliance and trust required of the translator, who must organically capture the nuances of the plotting, characterizations, description, and timing.  I am always super-obsessed with making sure that happens, and I have a person who carefully studies each one of my translated books to make sure that nothing has been missed or misinterpreted.  It’s amazing how getting one word or phrase even just a little bit off-base can change the tone or direction of storytelling.  The changing of titles is most often left to the publisher of the translation as frequently the original title doesn’t completely work in that specific language.  It is important for storytellers to protect the integrity of their work and their visions, while at the same time trusting the publishers and people they work with, who want to do everything to support the book and make it accessible to their marketplace.  I always try to find that balance between staying very involved and allowing some space to let the experts do their thing.

KN: I felt the setting in a small town where some might not be as willing to accept outsiders made it perfect by creating the tension needed. Racism is a tough topic to conquer, what type of research did you do to bring it to the readers so realistically?

Research plays a massive role in my preparation for writing.  It is a part of the author’s job that I truly love and look forward to.  Of course, this goes back to my days as a journalist, wherein research and accuracy are imperative.  I go deeply, mining into nearly every aspect I write about, from the locations (I go to the sites where my action takes place, and breathe that air and study the people, the geography, the very essence) to the professions (authenticity is crucial), to the history and natives, and everything in between.

I have always been fascinated by the differences between small towns and big cities; I’ve personally lived in both.  I’m intrigued by the familiarity of life in smaller, more contained, more traditional, and more slowly-changing towns, where, typically, everyone knows everyone else, and there is very little anonymity and lots of secrets simmering beneath the surface.  Which means, treasure troves of potential tension and suspense and drama.  A playground for a crime fiction author!!

Killer Nashville Interview with David Baldacci

An Interview with David Baldacci

In this Killer Nashville interview, award-winning author David Baldacci gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how he makes his characters and locations come to life and highlights the differences in writing a stand-alone novel versus a series.

How is the plotting different for a stand-alone novel and the first novel in a series?

With a stand-alone you know you have one shot to get it all out there. With a series, you can hold things back and wait until the time is right in another book. You can build character arcs more methodically. I like to drop little nuggets or Easter eggs in series books that I know will not be resolved in that novel, much as I did in Long Road to Mercy.

Did you plan to write a series or did Atlee Pine develop into someone who needed to tell more about herself after you began writing?

I planned all along to bring Pine back, and thus built her character correspondingly in the novel.

I love the growth of Carol Blum. Much like anyone we know casually, she seemed ordinary until the reader gets to know her. How and why did she become such an important character? 

I was unsure of what Carol’s full role would be when I started, whether a help or hindrance, loyal sidekick or bureaucratic foil to Pine.  But I quickly decided she would be a full-bore character, loyal but independent. Quirky but resourceful. I really liked the idea of an older and younger woman partnering together and supporting the other. You almost never see that, at least in thrillers.

Is it more difficult to create a woman protagonist that is tough, yet shows us glimpses of her feminine side than a male? In general is it easy to get into the character’s head if they are male?

Both genders have sets of challenges. With men, the temptation is to write them as strong but vulnerable and in times of action, indomitable. And that can get sort of formulaic so you have to watch that. But there are so many male characters portrayed that way it doesn’t seem to matter to readers or moviegoers, which I’m not sure is a good thing. I’m obviously not a woman, so writing from another gender’s perspective is challenging. Writing a woman as strong but feminine sounds like a safe compromise, but it can also throw you into cliché land. What I tried my best to do was be true to Pine’s character and not really dwell on the labels readers might throw on her. She is strong and capable and at times bossy or overbearing, but so can we all be, men and women, depending on the situation.  She can be aloof, suspicious of people’s intentions. But then again, so can all of us. I guess I just tried to make her human, with all the advantages and disadvantages that come with that.

The setting of the Grand Canyon intrigued me. The facts about the location as well as the descriptions pull the readers into the scene. How did you choose the setting? Did you travel into the Canyon? Speak with locals?

I traveled to the Grand Canyon last year and found it fascinating. I talked to locals and guides and people who had done the mule rides, raft rides, and hikes. It just really spoke to me as an ideal location for both the sort of story I wanted to tell and also as a geographic location that a character like Pine would be comfortable existing in.

Killer Nashville Interview with Dana Chamblee Carpenter

An Interview with Dana Chamblee Carpenter

Dana Chamblee Carpenter 

is the author of “Book of the Just,” the third novel in The Bohemian Trilogy. Carpenter’s award-winning short fiction has also appeared in

The Arkansas Review, Jersey Devil Press, Maypop, 

and, most recently in the anthologies, “Dead Ends: Stories from the Gothic South,” and “Killer Nashville Noir: Cold Blooded.” She teaches at a university in Nashville, TN where she lives with her husband and two children. Visit her at http://www.danachambleecarpenter.com/.

Q: You give such an intriguing glimpse of history and culture that is often not touched upon. What drew you to write a story in Bohemia during the 13th century and the new amazing places “Book of the Just” takes us?

I don’t tend to start out with a setting in mind—how fun would it be to know your destination ahead of time? I go where the character takes me, and it makes for a much more adventurous journey. When I discovered the connection between Mouse and the infamous medieval codex known as the Devil’s Bible, I knew her story started in the 13thcentury in Bohemia because that’s where and when the codex was written. But once Mouse got me there, I fell in love. I sometimes wonder if, in a different life, I lived in that part of the world. The more I learned about the places and the people and the stories and the culture, the more I felt like I was coming home somehow. Similarly, practical aspects of the story took me to the places in Book of the Just. Parts of Australia are remote and shrouded in ancient mythical truths—just the kind of spot Mouse would go if she needed a place to hide. Likewise, the Book of the Just (a real book like the Devil’s Bible) and my research of ancient Hebrew history took me to the Middle East and parts of Africa. And again, I felt a visceral connection to these places and a deep respect for the people who live there. I love going to these places and I love taking my readers with me. Too often we get anchored in our comfortable spaces and forget how beautifully diverse the world is. I want to make the unfamiliar familiar for myself and my readers so we can appreciate our differences while reveling in the joy of all that makes us human.

Q: How does your career as a teacher influence your writing?

I really don’t think of teaching or writing as a career. Career seems like something you choose. Writing and teaching chose me—sometimes against my will. ☺ I guess that makes them a calling. Whatever we name them, they are both integral parts of who I am, entwined and inseparable. I see teaching as a form of storytelling. Education is about learning to hear the stories around us, to connect to them and empathize with them, to understand them so that we can learn our own stories—in truth and without posturing or judgment. And then, once we’ve listened to or read the stories around us, we must learn to tell those stories and our own. Storytelling is also a form of teaching. The journey of writing and research teaches me so much about humanity and the world and history and science, the known and the unknown. I learn and then I share that with my readers, and then my readers teach me. It’s the same process I go through as a teacher—I learn and share with my students and then my students teach me. I suppose the deep current running through all of it is an insatiable curiosity.

Q: Your writing intricately mixes history, thriller, and a feeling of mysticism and magic. What things do you see influencing these aspects of your writing?

I’ve always been an eclectic reader. I read everything, every genre, including poetry and plays, both “literary” fiction and “commercial.” (I’m not sure what those labels offer us so I’m wary about using them.) I love going to new places and new times, and I love playing with “what ifs.” When I go looking for a common thread in my favorite writers, be it Eudora Welty or Maya Angelou or Neil Gaiman or William Faulkner or Stephen King or Katherine Howe or Naomi Novik or countless others, I see that each of them and the stories I find most compelling reveal a world to me where there is so much more that we don’t understand than what we think we do. That’s the world I want to live in—full of the thrill of discovery and the play of what if. And that’s the world I want to create for my readers, too. The unknown, the mysterious, the magical lives among us in the everyday. We just have to teach ourselves to look for it.

Q: Did the first novel in the series, Bohemian Gospel, winning the Claymore Award influence the rest of the series?

Winning the Claymore opened all the doors for me. So, in that way, yes. I got the chance to prove myself with Bohemian Gospel, which let me move on to write The Devil’s Bible and Book of the Just. But in terms of the story, no, winning didn’t influence what came after Bohemian Gospel. I learned pretty quickly as I was working on The Devil’s Bible, that I needed to shut out reader expectations, marketing issues, publisher wants, etc. If you let that stuff get in your head, the story loses its authenticity. It was even harder to push that all aside when I was working on Book of the Just because it was the end of the trilogy, and I knew that readers would want to see certain things tied up (and tied up in certain ways). But I just needed to get into a quiet space and listen to Mouse and let her finish the story for me.

Q:The Devil's Bible, the second in your series, not only won the Silver Falchion in Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror category but also Best Overall novel at this most recent Killer Nashville conference. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with that? How does it feel to have this success coincide with closing out this literary chapter with Book of the Just in October?

Oh, my goodness, what a night! I didn’t see that coming at all! The overwhelming emotion that settled on me like a blanket, when Clay called out The Devil’s Bible as the winner, was gratitude. I have an incredible family that walks this journey with me and makes sacrifices to give me space and time to chase this dream, and I am beyond thankful for them. But my Killer Nashville family—and I do think of them like family—has also been there for me when I most needed encouragement or kindness or guidance. The award that night came when I was nervously awaiting the release of Book of the Just, wrestling with the insecurities that most writers have, but I also coming off a frustrating summer where everything but my writing was defining me. I came into the conference that year worried I was only playing at being a writer. I felt like a fraud. And then I went to panels and had quiet conversations with friends, met new ones—I was reminded that this tribe of writers was my tribe, where I belonged. Winning the Silver Falchions was the ultimate affirmation. I left Killer Nashville emboldened, but also inspired to take that inclusion and support away with me so I could gift it to other writers. That’s what I’m looking to do with every article I write and event I attend as part of the Book of the Just tour—I want to give what I’ve been given. I want to embolden writers to believe in themselves. 

Killer Nashville Interview with Jeffery Deaver

An Interview with Jeffery Deaver

by Clay Stafford

Jeffery Deaver is one of the best writers on the planet today, as well as being a longtime supporter of Killer Nashville. Not only is he the author of around forty bestselling books (including a James Bond novel and The Bone Collector [made into a movie starring Denzel Washington]), Deaver is also an incredible teacher. This year, he’ll be doing a special writing intensive on Thursday at Killer Nashville covering the nuts and bolts of creating a highly commercial story. It’s a must-go-to class for anyone wanting to take their writing up a few notches. And from what better person to learn than from a man who has sold over 50 million copies of his books in over 150 countries and in over twenty-five languages. With the release of his on-the-edge-of-your-seat new book, “The Cutting Edge”, I talked with Jeff about his writing habits and what he will be teaching this year at Killer Nashville. And if you want to sign up for Jeff’s writing intensive, you can do so here.

CS: Your books are solid and obviously well-researched. Where or how do you do your research? Do you actually go on location? Or do you research through books and the Internet?

JD: Thanks! For geographic locations, I always go to the sites I’m writing about. I once wrote about a river I had been to years before—a raging torrent. It had been dammed by the time I set an exciting scene in my book there. The worst that could  happen was you’d be stuck in the mud. I heard about that from fans! As for the other research, generally I do online and book work. Occasionally I’ll reach out to an expert in the field, but generally that’s not necessary.

CS: Your books always have a series of plot twists. Do you have a writing formula that works for you as a storyteller?

JD: For me, this genre is all about the plot and twists (other crime writers prefer character-driven stories). The overall formula is to keep Mickey Spillane’s comment in mind: People don’t read books to get to the middle. I do whatever I can to propel readers through the story. Twists help me do that, as readers know they’ll be surprised. The formula is to create clues in the form of people, events and objects that either 1. serve two purposes, an innocent purpose being the most obvious or 2. are lost in an avalanche of trivia. Rule one with twists: You must never cheat.

CS: You write both novels and short stories. Is one easier to write than the other?

JD: Both should create deep emotional engagement. Novels, of course, are more grunt labor, since you need to create an elaborate world and characters we care about, to achieve that goal. Short stories have as their payoff, solely a twist, and we don’t need to do more than make our characters chess pieces, which might, or might not, be utterly destroyed in the end.

CS: Your stories are intricately woven. Obviously there is an outline. Otherwise the plots wouldn’t be as solid as they are. How extensively do you outline your projects and what does that outline look like?

JD: Oh, yes, I spend 8 months outlining. My book for 2019 has been planned out and the outline is 130 pages or so, single spaced, though that’s with very wide margins, since I take notes in the white space. It has every element of the story including all the clues, characters, notes, cross-references, subplots. A book (any book, even non-thrillers) is about structure as much as fine prose (I’d even say structure is more important than an elegant style). Some authors can achieve this structure by simply sitting down and writing. I can’t. My books are long and complicated, with the subplots weaving in and out with the main plot. An outline is necessary. Also, I’ve found that an outline lets you know early in the game whether a novel or story will work. It’s much easier to throw out a ten or twenty page outline when you’ve decided that it’s a no-go project, rather than creating 200 pages of prose and coming to that unfortunate conclusion.

CS: You’re doing a writing master class at Killer Nashville on Thursday, August 23 this year. Everyone is excited. Can you give us an overview of what we’ll be learning at the session?

JD: The course looks at the dozen or so general principles of writing fiction (such as defining goals, dealing with your publisher, and—yes—outlining), and then in depth analysis of the four elements of fiction: plot, character, dialogue and setting. It’s both helpful and funny. I’m really looking forward to it!

- Clay StaffordFounder of Killer Nashville 

Many thanks to Jeffery Deaver  for so graciously taking time to answer our questions and to

Andy Dodds from Grand Central Publising for facilitating this interview.

Killer Nashville Interview with Sara Blaedel

Sara Blaedel is the author of the #1 international bestselling series featuring Detective Louise Rick.   Recently, Ms. Blaedel took a bit of time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for Killer Nashville about The Undertaker's Daughter,  the first novel in her new triology.   Thanks to Bree Goodchild for conducting this interview.

Enjoy…and be inspired!

Clay Stafford

Founder of Killer Nashville 

An Interview with Sara Blaedel
by Bree Goodchild

KN:The reader is taken through the process of being a funeral director as Ilka experiences it; from picking up the body to embalming, reconstruction and makeup to the funeral itself. What kind of research methods did you utilize to create this sense of realism for your character? 

SB: Research is an essential part of my writing process. It always has been, and that only intensifies as the years and titles go by. I place absolute importance on achieving authenticity. Readers are clever and savvy; they know their stuff and aren’t going to buy into anything (in this genre) that doesn’t ring true or feel possible.

As has been the case with all of my books, my research for The Undertaker’s Daughter entailed everything from reading to traveling to becoming an apprentice. When I decided to use the US as the setting for the first time, I studied the various regions until I zeroed in on Racine, Wisconsin, a city which has the nation’s largest number of Danish-Americans and Danish immigrants. I dug into the funeral home industry in the States, comparing and contrasting its laws and regulations and traditions to those in Denmark. I was really struck by how differently this extremely sensitive and reverent work is handled from one country to another. I was fascinated to learn that there are varying laws even from one state to another within the US.

I spent weeks in Racine, living amongst and getting to know the lovely people there and how they navigate. What a wonderful experience- I can’t wait to visit again. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to intern at a funeral home, which proved enlightening, compelling, and so informative.

KN: Ilka seems to miss bits of information and the subtleties of interaction between other characters. What was your thinking behind this dramatic decision? 

SB: I’m so glad you caught this. Ilka is a newcomer to the US; this is her first time visiting the country. A Danish citizen, she’s an outsider when she arrives in Racine, and she’s alone and dealing with a death in the family. Being out of her element in so many ways, she struggles, at first, as anyone would, to keep up and to understand the nuances of another language and culture.

KN: Ilka seems more of an observer than a detective in this book - compared to Louise Rick. What was the creative process behind developing Ilka’s character? 

That’s an interesting question. Ilka is absolutely more of an observer; at least at first. She’s not a detective. When we meet her, she’s leading a quiet and modest life as a school photographer. She is summoned to the States after the death of her long-estranged father, an undertaker, who lived and worked in Racine. Ilka, while trying to tend to her father’s estate, business, and tax issues, takes some time to try to connect with the man she barely remembers. It is while she is living in Racine and laboring in her father’s funeral home that Ilka finds herself needing to search for information and dig for clues. She’s, at most, an amateur sleuth, with no expertise or experience in detective work.

KN: Reading this book, I was surprised when at the end I did not experience the sense of closure between Ilka and her father as expected. Can you talk about what you hoped readers would get out of The Undertaker’s Daughter? 

That’s another fascinating question. The Undertaker’s Daughter is the first in a trilogy, and so, while I had intended to bring to completion many of the storylines in this book, full closure wasn’t part of the plan. Yet.

For me, this series is about familial relationship and the bond between fathers and daughters. It’s about second chances and the many ways in which we can start again. It’s about the ways secrets and lies can devastate, and how love and acceptance, and the truth can be so redeeming.

KN: Do you see this as the beginning of a new thriller series, like Louise Rick, or a stand-alone?

The Undertaker’s Daughter is the first in a trilogy. All three volumes will be set in the States, which is a super exciting first for me.

---

Many thanks to Sara Blaedel for so graciously taking time to answer our questions and to Caitlin Mulrooney-Lyski from Grand Central Publishing for facilitating this interview.

Killer Nashville Interview with Alan Bradley

Alan Bradley is the New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning Flavia de Luce mystery series.  His first novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie received the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Award,  the Agatha Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, the Arthur Ellis Award, the Macavity Award and the Spotted Owl Award.  Recently, Mr. Bradley took a bit of time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for Killer Nashville. The author discusses his protagonist and the unique choices made in creating her, his writing process, and offers advice to those who—like Bradley—began their writing careers a little later in the game. Thanks to Liz Gatterer for conducting this interview.  

Enjoy!

A Killer Nashville Interview with
ALAN BRADLEY

KN:  When I first looked at the press release for The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place and saw that the story was about a 12-year-old girl, I assumed this was a children’s book, or a middle-grade book and was intrigued that was not how it was categorized. Who do you write your books for?

I write my books for people who are interested in the same kind of things I’m interested in. I dote on curiosities and wonder, and I have been accused of possessing a magpie mind. Fortunately, there are vast numbers of readers of all ages who share my enthusiasms.I have heard of a four-year-old girl who insists upon having the books read aloud to her, then acting them out with herself as Flavia, her father as Dogger, and her mother as Mrs. Mullet.

KN:  I must admit, I am a new Flavia fan. I enjoyed The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place so much I have now binge read/listened to the entire series from the beginning. By the way, the narrator, Jayne Entwistle is just fantastic! There is an incredible amount of information in each book. How long does it take to research one of your books? Do you squirrel away factoids for use “at some point” or is it a more focused practice?

Yes, Jayne is incredible. I recently had the opportunity of speaking to her “live” during an internet broadcast. I think we were both in tears of laughter and recognition!

Some of the facts in the Flavia books are titbits I’ve been saving up for years, while others come to light during research. Because I’m a great fan of ancient and outdated reference books, it’s often harder to decide what to leave out than what to put in. In general, it takes about nine months to a year to write each book, a substantial amount of which is research. It’s not always easy to find out, for instance, what the weather was like in England at a certain hour of a certain day in 1952, or whether the 10:32 from Waterloo ran on Sundays in November.

KN: I have read at first you thought this would be a six-book series, and then a ten-book series. Well, The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place is book 9… Is book 10 in the works? Will that be the end of the series? (Please say no) Are there any plans for your next series?

In spite of reports to the contrary, I’m presently working on a tenth book. Beyond that? I don’t know. I’m sure my lovely publishers would be happy to continue, but, as Sherlock once so wisely remarked, “It is a capital mistake to theorize in advance of the facts.”

KN: Although the character of Flavia de Luce has certainly developed over the series, she has not really aged. She was 11 in Book 1: The Sweetness at the Bottomof the Pie and now in Book 9: The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place she is 12. It has been quite a year for the young girl! Is Flavia destined to be a pre-adolescent forever?

Flavia at 18, for instance, would be a completely different person than she is now, and perhaps not half so interesting. At any rate, there’s still much to be told about her present circumstances, and I’ve never been one for rushing things.

KN: As an author that really began to write in earnest after retirement and who published an award-winning novel after 70, what advice or words of encouragement (or words of warning) would you give to others who are just beginning their writing later in the game?

First of all, my heartiest congratulations to anyone who manages to get published at 60 and beyond! At that age, it seems unlikely that you’ll be changed: your life will be, but you won’t.

My best advice would be, as has been said so many times before, never give up. I was once told that real success takes ten years, but in my case, it took fifteen. To summarize: apply bottom to chair, write, and keep writing.

As Philip Van Doren Stern (author of the book that inspired the film “It’s a Wonderful Life”) once said, “The only thing that’s important is the manuscript. All the rest is just bubbles on the horse-piss.

---

Many thanks to Alan Bradley for taking time to answer our questions and to Sharon Propson from Random House Publishing for facilitating this interview.

Killer Nashville Interview with Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Killer Nashvillle recently spoke with authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child on their Pendergast series. With a new book coming out, the pair talks about writing with a partner, how to keep a series and a main character engaging, and the process behind writing the 17th book in the serial. Even in the answers to our questions, we can see how they play off one another. Thanks to Liz Gatterer for conducting this interview.

Enjoy…and be inspired!

Clay Stafford
Founder of Killer Nashville 

An Interview with Preston & Childby Liz Gatterer

KN:  City of Endless Night is the 17th book in the Pendergast series.  How do you plot out such a long-running series?  Do you plan the next book(s) in advance, or are they conceived one at a time? How do you keep the storylines straight?

Doug: We conceive them one story at a time. When we wrote RELIC, we thought it was going to be a one-off and didn’t think that Pendergast would be (or should be) the main character. He took over the books on his own. We didn’t know his first name until four books later. As for keeping the storyline straight, we often find ourselves re-reading our old books and taking notes, to make sure we’re picking up the right threads. Sometimes we even consult our most passionate fans about various arcane details we ourselves have forgotten. I recall once wracking my brains trying to recall what Pendergast thought of Italian opera, and finally consulted a fan who said, “He hates it.”

KN:  The first two novels in the series, Relic and Reliquary were published two years apart–1995 and 1997 respectively.  The third novel, Cabinet of Curiosities, came along 5 years later in 2002 and since then you have averaged a new Pendergast novel every 12.5 months with each novel comprised of an average of 417 pages. Keeping up that pace is amazing–especially when you take into account the research that goes into each book, the fact that you have written over 2 dozen other books (collaboratively and individually), have book tours, speaking engagements and families that I assume like to see you occasionally. How do you manage it? 

Linc: We’re pedaling as fast as we can! Joking aside, it really helps having a writing partner on the case—Doug and I have both written numerous solo novels as well as our joint books, so we know. Also, the fact that we now are so familiar with the Pendergast universe—although not necessarily with Pendergast himself—means that the foundation for new novels is already well in place. But the bottom line is that we love what we do: writing about Pendergast and his various adventures remains always fresh and exciting to us both.

Doug: Linc does the pedaling; I stand behind him and bark out orders like the coxswain of a rowing crew. Seriously, it is great having a writing partner whose taste and intelligence you trust implicitly, and who thinks like you do.

KN:  You excel at blending the natural and supernatural in your books. Which comes first? Is the supernatural a bridge between the events you want to happen, or are the natural events a product of the supernatural? Is there a secret to finding the balance?

Linc: This was perhaps particularly evident in the earliest books of the series, RELIC and RELIQUARY, although it’s been a factor in numerous Pendergast and non-Pendergast books of ours as well. I’ve always been a fan of ghost stories, and when I was an editor at St. Martin’s Press I put together numerous supernatural anthologies. The idea of trying to mix a straight-ahead thriller with potentially supernatural elements (although with a fair amount of science underpinning everything) was more revolutionary when RELIC first appeared than it is today. In fact, at the time our publishers and booksellers weren’t quite sure what genre to classify it as. Ultimately RELIC was called a “techno-thriller,” but I’m not sure even that quite encompasses it.Doug: We have always been attracted by the hints of the supernatural, because it adds a certain mystery and Gothic flavor to the series. Too much mystery has been taken out of the world and we want to put a little bit back in.

KN:  As a fan, I LOVE that in City of Endless Night Pendergast returns to NY and teams up with Detective D’Agosta again.  And (I don’t want to give anything away) the Epilogue really warmed my heart.  However, these events hint at a certain amount of closure for Pendergast which terrifies me a bit (and not in a fun way).  I am almost afraid to ask, but, are these harbingers of an end to the Pendergast series?

Doug: Not at all. We’re quite fond of Pendergast and hope to see him in many books to come, provided he doesn’t get killed along the way. (Nobody is safe in our books.) We plan to launch a new series starring Nora Kelly, in which Pendergast might, from time to time, make a cameo appearance—if he’s still alive by then.

KN: You have been quoted as saying that you try to write thrillers that you yourselves would like to read.  This aligns well with the Killer Nashville mission to help writers write books that we would like to read.  Do you have advice for new authors on how to accomplish this feat?

Linc: I can only speak from my own experience, but with that proviso: I’ve found that writing a book about a subject that I personally find fascinating, either that I know something of already or would like to learn more about, not only makes the research and writing process more enjoyable, but it results in a more compelling and credible story. Readers can tell the difference between a book written from the heart and one written simply in hopes of selling lots of copies. Also, writing a novel can be a difficult and at times even disheartening process—it’s not uncommon to have to rewrite passages or even whole sections of prose along the way, especially when starting out—and writing about a subject of great personal interest can sometimes make that easier.Doug: I couldn’t agree with Linc more. It’s a huge mistake to think you can figure out the formula and write a bestselling book. The “formula” in my opinion is to write about what fascinates you, populate it with characters that you know and love (or hate), and set it in a place you know well.

---

Many thanks to Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child for taking time from their book tour for City of Endless Night to answer our questions and to Caitlin Mulrooney-Lyski from Grand Central Publishing for facilitating this interview.

Killer Nashville Interview with Tony Vanderwarker

What happens when Tony Vanderwarker, the founder of one of Chicago’s largest ad agencies, decides he wants to write fiction? He connects with author John Grisham and learns to do-in his ugly babies. Here is a wonderful story of mentorship and the trials and errors of being a writer. Thanks to Beth Terrell for conducting this interview.Enjoy…and be inspired!

Clay Stafford
Founder of Killer Nashville 

Tony Vanderwarker

KN: Please welcome Tony Vanderwarker to the Killer Nashville blog.  Tony, could you tell us about your path to becoming a professional writer? When did you know you wanted to be one? How did you get started?

I’ve always wanted to write novels, I think as far back as a teenager. When I was in the Peace Corps in Africa in my late teens, I wrote oodles of ersatz Rimbaud poetry and three or four meandering novels – all of which I burned when I came upon the disasters some years later. But I did get interested in film through working with the government’s film unit and went to film school at NYU. I ended up making a major motion picture, which got minor attention, so I decided to write shorter films. I then went into advertising and cashed out of the business in my late forties. I’ve been writing novels ever since.

KN: Did you always write thrillers? What drew you to the genre?

I began writing comic novels, but they didn’t sell, so I tried thrillers figuring I’d imitate my friend (author) John Grisham. Wrote a couple and got lucky. John offered to take me under his wing and teach me the secrets of thriller writing. So the novel I have coming out, Sleeping Dogs is the one I wrote with him over a period of about five years.

Sleeping Dogs by Tony Vanderwalker

KN: John Grisham was instrumental in helping you come up with the idea for that novel, wasn’t he? Could you tell us about that?

At our lunch when Grisham offered to mentor me, he said, “Okay, we need a plot. You said you had a couple ideas, let’s hear them.” I pitched the first, swing and a miss. The second he shot down also. So I pitched the third as I began to sweat.“So there are actually seven unrecovered nukes scattered around the U.S. as a result of mid-air accidents and collisions during the Cold War,” I told him.“You’re kidding,” he said.“No, all over the place, Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon – the Pentagon claims they are harmless.”“Whoever heard of a harmless nuke? What if the bad guys got a hold of one?”So with Grisham engaged, we began a long and arduous process of crafting a novel together.And the interesting part is, when Sleeping Dogs ran into a glut of similar thrillers on the market, I pulled it and wrote a book about writing with John calledWriting With The Master. It got picked up and the publisher also decided to publish Sleeping Dogs. So both came out on Feb 4.

KN: Two books on the same day? That’s pretty impressive. What does your writing schedule look like?

I write from 9-12 in the morning, that’s usually when I run out of gas and my dogs get tired of lying around in the studio. They are lousy on plots and terrible spellers, but they contributed the title of my novel.I take off weekends and holidays. Otherwise, it’s rigorous. I’m lazy and have a dread of the blank page so if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t get any work done. I do two to three pages a day, many of my ideas come to me when I’m half-asleep in the middle of the night. In the morning, my bedside table ends up looking like a bunch of stickies were shot at it.

Writing With the Master by Tony Vanderwarker

KN: But you’ve worked hard to make the technical details authentic. How much and what kind of research do you do?

Lots, Siri is with me constantly. I’m always asking her crazy questions like, “What did Mussolini have to do with the Mafia?” or, “What’s the difference between an mk mod 47 nuke and some other one?” She’s a tireless co-worker. But it really depends on what kind of book you’re working on and how familiar you are with the territory. Bubonic plague is something I know nothing about (fortunately) so Siri and I are spending a lot of time on that. Reading up on nukes took months. But the ad agency stuff comes flying out of my head faster than I can get it down.

KN: And how about your personal experiences? How do they inform your work?

My life seeps into everything I do. I was having lunch with my publicist a couple weeks ago and she asked about my kids. I described my daughter, who is a theatre director, as a tough and resolute person who is not afraid to tell anyone to go jump. And Sharon said, “Could she have been the model for the lead female characters in Ads For God and Sleeping Dogs?” I hadn’t realized it, but she was right on. Probably included a bit of my wife also since she comes in the same size.

KN: What do you hope readers will take away from Sleeping Dogs?

That nuclear weapons are scary as hell and we ought to pay more attention to how they are stored and handled before we create a catastrophe. Sleeping Dogs brings to life the possibility of terrorists recovering one close to a major population center and coming close to detonating it, immolating millions and making the Eastern Seaboard uninhabitable for centuries.

KN: That does sound scary—and is a message a lot of people probably ought to hear. So how do you get the message out? What sort of marketing and promotion do you do?

The whole nine yards: social media, website, writing websites, email lists I’m on, Kickstarter, plus I have two publicists, one at my publishing house, the other a freelancer I’ve hired. I began marketing this book back in June 2013 and I’ll continue until I’ve bored everyone to tears and is begging me to stop.

KN: What’s next for you? 

Two directions: First, I’ve resurrected two comic novels I wrote years ago and am bringing them out later in the year, probably from a publishing house I’ve started with a friend. So Ads For God and Say Something Funny will be coming back to life. I’m also writing new comic novels as well as another thriller. The comic novel is titled Client From Hell and is about the Mafia taking over an ad agency. The thriller is a sequel to Sleeping Dogs.

KN: You have some pretty eclectic interests as a writer. What authors have inspired you?

The list is endless, but particularly Ford, Franzen, Updike, Kesey, Grisham (for his stories), Hiassen (for his humor) and above all, Cormac McCarthy.

KN: Any advice for aspiring authors?

Be patient. Words are tricky characters and don’t always do what you want. And slow down, speed kills good writing. And about your work, ask yourself the question one of Fellini’s characters posed in 8 ½, something like: “Is this really remarkable or just the foot of another cripple in the sand.” Ruthlessness is as much a part of writing as imagination. You have to be able to do-in your ugly babies.

---

Tony Vanderwarker is the founder of one of Chicago’s largest ad agencies, and is the author of the memoir Writing With the Master: How a Bestselling Author Fixed My Book And Changed My Life about his experience being mentored by John Grisham while writing the thriller Sleeping Dogs (both released by Skyhorse in 2014). He has also penned the forthcoming novels Ads for God and Say Something Funny.

Things Readers Want to Know/ Author Del Staecker

If you’re a seasoned author, you get asked the same questions by non-writers. If you’re a beginning author and haven’t yet found your stride, sometimes you find yourself asking the same questions. It’s always beneficial, even for the most seasoned pro, to note how other craftsmen do things. I’m always learning. I think that’s why Killer Nashville is such an incredible experience for me every year. An interesting writer for me is Del Staecker who literally locked himself in an isolated Idaho cabin to write his first novel by longhand just because it was something he always wanted to do. From there, success followed. So here’s the questions Del might have asked back in those days and here also are the answers he gives from his seasoned hand. Experience is always the best teacher, unless you’ve got someone like Del and you’re willing to listen. Thanks Del for taking the time to share.

Clay Stafford,
Founder of Killer Nashville

At readings, signings and other appearances, readers often ask, “Where do you get your ideas?” “How do you create characters?” and, “Do plots just come to you?” I encounter questions such as: “Where do your characters come from?” “Do you create profiles?” “What makes a character a good one?” and, “How do you make dialogue sound so real?”I have not been trained to be an author. By that, I mean I have not received instruction through an MFA program, or writer’s seminars—formal or informal. For me, writing has come from a life of reading and personal experiences, and although I attended college and received an excellent education, I am a self-taught writer. Correction, I am more a storyteller than a writer.But let me share what I know about creating, developing, and (upon occasion) completing written works worthy of publication.

Q- Where do ideas come from?

A- I allow my memory to wander and my imagination to work. I jot down ideas and occasionally thumb through stacks of notes. If an idea has life—staying power—it jumps out of the pile and demands more thought. I have the beginning of a story, then the characters go their own way. For example, Tales of Tomasewski began when I imagined the experience of searching for a street hustler I knew many years ago. What the character and the person searching for him did is the story—it emerged from their actions.

"More Tomasewski"/Del Staecker

Q-Are plots outlined?

A- Nothing is planned. I never know where the story is going. What happens is inexplicable and devoid of method. Strong characters extend good plots. When I began writing The Muted Mermaid, it was one story that grew into three books (Shaved Ice and Chocolate Soup being the other two parts). Tales of Tomasewski started as a single short story and grew into a novel. Subsequently, it has led to contracts for two additional books based on the lead character.

Q-Where do characters come from?

A-From life’s experiences. Each character is a person, or parts of a person, that I have met. Sometimes the traits from several persons blend into one character. Jake Thompson (aka Jan Tomasewski) is a blend of an acquaintance from my college years and many of the people I grew up with on Chicago’s Southside.

Q-What about constructing and using character profiles?

A-No. Characters are represented by their actions and their participation in the situations in which they are embroiled. In fact, the characters take off based upon their own energy, and as real personalities, they are finding their place in a particular universe. I believe the author’s imagination is a creator of that universe. More than once, I’ve awakened from a sound sleep to overhear their conversations. Occasionally, they talk to me.

Q-What is the secret to a good character?

A-They are engaged in activities that seem plausible for them, they exchange thoughts in believable dialogue with other good characters, and they perform deeds in settings that are a fit for them. If their conversations sound authentic and the settings seem real, then the characters are real to the reader.

Q-How is realism attained?

A-The characters do it all on their own. Once their universe exists, I am just a storyteller—an observer, a reporter, informing readers about the world the characters inhabit. My job is to get the description right.

Q-Getting back to profiles—what if a character “goes rogue?”

A-If they are real, then characters can be contradictory. In fact, at times they must be. Also, characters develop. Over time, we all change. Sometimes we grow, and sometimes we regress. Strict adherence to a profile would stifle the “real-ness” of a character. Remember, consistency can be boring. Granted, characters have recurring traits. Ledge Trabue’s quirky stomach and The Professor’s love of food are elements that are timeless and solid for them. Jake Thompson’s sarcasm is eternally his.

Q-How about killing a character?

A-One reader gushed, “I love how you kill people!” Telling that reader the truth was easy. I do not kill any characters. Simply, the characters do their thing. Characters are eliminated by other characters as action unfolds.

Q-What’s the key to writing believable dialogue?

A-Listen to the conversations that characters are having and simply repeat them. After letting things set for a while, I return to each dialogue and read it aloud. Listen as if you are there. I hope I’ve been helpful in shedding some light on the writing process. My coming to the world of writing books for publication was based upon a lifetime of reading and experiencing life. I do not claim any special expertise, just love for a good story.

---

Del Staecker is an Executive committee member of the International Association of Crime Weriters, Chair of the 2014 Dashiell Hammett Prize Committee, and author of five crime thrillers. His Ledge Trabue trilogy, The Muted Mermaid, Shaved Ice and Chocolate Soup, is set in Nashville and New Orleans. Visit his website at www.delstaecker.com.

(To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)

An Interview with 2014 Killer Nashville Attending Editor Bryon Quertermous

All the agents and editors who come to Killer Nashville are looking for new authors. We make sure of that before they are invited. Sometimes, though, we see a new house that is incredibly hungry. And, for us, that’s a good thing. In our Guest Blog – which in this case is more a question and answer – Bryon Quertermous, commissioning editor for Exhibit A Books (distributed through Random House), sits down with us for a little one-on-one to build the excitement as we move forward to when he arrives at Killer Nashville this August looking for new literary talent. I’m hoping everyone who reads this will come to our FREE AGENT / EDITOR ROUNDTABLES at Killer Nashville, meet Bryon and our other acquiring agents, publishers, and editors, and maybe – like so many before – get up from the table with an editor or agent interested in acquiring your next book. Thanks Bryon for talking with us. And so the excitement builds… Happy Reading!

Clay Stafford

Bryon Quertermous: In an effort to help spread the word about our phenomenal new crime fiction imprint, Exhibit A Books, and to help me find the next generation of crime writers, I’ll be attending the Killer Nashville conference this August. To help those who aren’t familiar with myself or Exhibit A Books, I sat down with Killer Nashville organizers to answer some questions.

Killer Nashville: Welcome, Bryon. Let’s start with a little bit about Exhibit A books. What can you tell me about the imprint?

BQ: Exhibit A is the crime fiction imprint from Angry Robot Books. Our aim with Exhibit A is simple: one look and you’re hooked. Whether it’s a hard hitting procedural, shocking psychological mystery, international noir tale or something entirely new, this is an ethos we’re running right through from our acquisitions strategy to our eye-catching marketing strategies, covers and distinctive branding. Exhibit A is the new focal point for compelling fiction in the crime fiction community. We’re looking for authors who are not only great writers, but great ambassadors for the Exhibit A imprint, with a solid emphasis on fostering close relationships between authors and readers and producing books that can be enjoyed by all readers from fans of Castle to life-long historians of the genre.

KN: Tell us me about your background as an editor. Is it something you’ve always wanted to do or did you fall into it?

BQ: Editing is something I’ve always wanted to do. I was the editor of my college newspaper and college literary magazine because I love finding new writers and encouraging them and sharing their work. After college, I spent a year in New York City working for Random House with their crime fiction and science fiction imprints before deciding I hated being poor in the city and moved back to Michigan. Since then, I’ve worked whatever editorial jobs I could find, including starting my own award-winning crime fiction magazine Demolition, which I ran for four years. I also worked as a freelance editor and as an editor with Harlequin’s digital-first imprint Carina Press.

KN: What are you looking for in a submission?

BQ: There are a lot of things that go into getting my attention with a project, but the most important of those is a cool, engaging voice. I can help an author fix a plot or make characters better, but if an author doesn’t have a compelling voice I’ll have to pass. Aside from that, I’m also looking for authors who get what we’re trying to do with Exhibit A and want to be part of our family. We like to try new things and challenge some of the traditional publishing status quo so authors who are eager and inventive really get us excited.

KN: So many small presses don’t have the ability to pay advances or get their books into major stores. Is that a problem for Exhibit A books?

BQ: Far from it. We do pay advances and have a very generous royalty structure to get more money to the author faster. We’re distributed by Random House in the US, which gets us on the shelves at major chains such as Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million among others, including prime placement with online booksellers and promotions such as Kindle Daily Deals.

KN: What do you say to a writer who says, “I had a friend who made a million dollars self-publishing his book. Why should I send my book to you if I can do it myself and keep all of the money?”

BQ: As I said before, we’re looking for authors who want to be partners with us. Some authors are also great at business, great at design and packaging, and great at promotion. Other authors either don’t have these skills, or don’t have the time or money to put into publishing their own books. We offer a stable of professional editors, cover designers, production geniuses, and publicity and sales staff to help our authors. We take on the risk and the upfront aspects of publishing and let the authors concentrate on the part they’re the best at: writing great books. But we do realize we’re in a new and exciting environment and work with our authors to broaden their exposure. We don’t do non-compete clauses, and we encourage our authors to self-publish books that might not fit our mission and to publish with other traditional publishers if they choose for other projects.

KN: How do you pronounce your last name?

BQ: Kwuh TER Muss. Like Thermos.

KN: Thank you, Bryon. I know our attendees are looking forward to meeting you in August!

---

Bryon Quertermous was born and raised in Michigan. His short stories have appeared in Plots With Guns, Thuglit, and Crime Factory among others, and in the anthologies Hardcore Hardboiled, The Year’s Finest Crime and Mystery Stories, and Uncage Me. In 2003 he was shortlisted for the Debut Dagger Award from the UK Crime Writers Association. He currently lives outside of Detroit with his wife and two kids and is  the commissioning editor for Angry Robot’s crime fiction imprint Exhibit A Books. His first novel, Murder Boy, will be published by Polis Books in 2014. (To be a part of the Killer Nashville Guest Blog, send a query to contact@killernashville.com. We’d love to hear from you.)