Laura Griffin on Word of Mouth

It’s time for a new interview series… like NOW. No really, actually it’s called NOW (Newly Omniscient Authors). This blog has been publishing since 2011, and some of the earlier posts feel too hopeful dated. To honor the relaunch of the site, I thought I’d invite some of my past guests to read and ruminate on their answers to questions from oh-so-long-ago to see what’s changed between then and now.

Today’s guest for the NOW is Laura Griffin, author of Deep Tide, the story of an undercover FBI agent and a coffee shop owner who must team up when a local barista is found dead in their coastal Texas town.

Has how you think (and talk) about writing and publishing changed, further into your career?

I used to rely on bestseller lists and rankings to point me to what to read, thinking rankings equated with quality. But now I know that a book’s commercial success can sometimes be attributed to random factors. So now I rely much more on word of mouth. If a trusted friend or fellow author tells me a book kept them up all night or changed their worldview then I quickly add it to my TBR list, sight unseen.

Let’s talk about the balance between the creative versus the business side of the industry. Do you think of yourself as an artiste or are you analyzing every aspect of your story for marketability? Has that changed from your early perspective?

To me being an artiste implies someone who is passionate about their work. I think passion is key, no matter where you are in your career. Readers can tell when that spark is lacking, which is sometimes the result of an author (and possibly an editor) who are under pressure to cater to some specific trend in the marketplace instead of what comes naturally. 

The bloom is off the rose… what’s faded for you, this far out from debut?

Experience in this business can be a good thing in terms of keeping an even keel. I no longer get upset out over little bumps in the road, such as a moved pub date, a disappointing cover design, a negative review. But it’s important not to get jaded and to celebrate all the wonderful victories along the way. I love, love, love going out to celebrate pub day. It so exciting when my new book is out in the world!

Likewise, is there anything you’ve grown to love (or at least accept) that you never thought you would?

I have come to accept that it is not possible to please everybody. It’s such a basic idea and also so liberating! You don’t need everyone to love your book. You just need a collection of people to love it as passionately as you do! Finding those people, and hearing from them how about your story and characters touched their lives, is one of best parts of being an author.

And lastly, what did getting published mean for you and how was it changed (or not changed!) your life?

That first book contract is such an exciting milestone. Getting published meant that I had the green light to pursue the career I had dreamed about since I was a child. I always wanted to write stories, and did from an early age. Being a published author meant I could put that dream front and center in my life. To aspiring authors I would say you don’t need a publisher to give you permission to do that. You first have to do that for yourself. If writing is important to you, prioritize your writing time and resist distractions. There are so many homes for so many different stories, so don’t give up!

Laura Griffin is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty books and novellas. She is a two-time RITA Award winner, as well as the recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award. Booklist magazine calls Laura's popular Tracers series "the perfect mix of suspense and romance." Laura got her start in journalism before venturing into the world of suspense fiction. Her books have been translated into fourteen languages. Laura lives in Austin, Texas, where she is working on her next novel. Visit her website at http://www.lauragriffin.com and on Facebook

Charles Salzberg on What I Was Thinking If I Had Been Thinking

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. 

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Charles Salzberg, author of Man on the Run, which releases on April 18

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

I do. Three years ago, I wrote a novel called Second Story Man, about a master burglar, Francis Hoyt, and the two lawmen, a recently retired Connecticut State investigator and a recently suspended Cuban-American Miami cop, who aim to bring him to justice. Without giving too much of a spoiler, at the end of the novel Hoyt “walks away” from any consequences which essential turns him into a fugitive. I had no intention of ever writing another novel with Hoyt in it and, in fact, my next novel, Canary in the Coal Mine, had nothing to do with Hoyt or breaking and entering. When I finished Canary, I was looking for my next novel, but the more I thought about it the more I began to wonder what would happen to a guy like Hoyt when he’s on the run? He'd have to abandon the East Coast, where he was arrested, but where would he go and what would he do. The question haunted me until I finally figured out that by writing my next novel about him, I could answer that question. Hence, the inspiration for Man on the Run came from Second Story Man.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

I’m one of those writers who never outlines his books. In fact, not only do I not know what’s going to happen in the next chapter, I don’t even know what’s going to happen in the next paragraph. So, I usually start with the what if question. First, I decided where he’d wind up: the West Coast. The rest of the plot came directly from the pandemic. Not writing about the pandemic, or even mentioning it, but rather relating to what I did during the lock-down, which was listen to dozens and dozens of true crime podcasts. Finally, it got to the point where I decided that one of my main characters would be a female former journalist who has a true crime podcast. And then, what if that podcaster happened to be doing a series on master burglar Francis Hoyt? And what if Hoyt found out about it? What would he do? And at the same time, what if Hoyt was approached by someone to pull a job—a big one? And so, with those elements of the story, I was able to weave a plot, as I wrote.

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

That sounds like a bit of a nightmare and no, that’s never happened to me—probably because I don’t have the whole story when I start. But I have had characters “run away from me.” By that I mean the characters begin to take on a life of their own and they refuse to do or say something I might want them to. When it gets to that point, if it gets to that point, it’s a good thing because it means I’ve created real, flesh and blood characters with a mind of their own. I stop manipulating them and they start manipulating themselves.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I’m not really very much of a “story” guy. I usually start with a character of a situation and then, if I have something to say about it, the plot will start to develop. So, I’d have to say that story ideas don’t come to me too often, but thank goodness characters do.

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

It’s more like the story choosing me rather than me choosing the story. I can sometimes decide I want to write something on a certain subject—like writing a novel that takes place in the world or rare books, or Hollywood movies, or even based on stories people have told me. For instance, in one of the classes I teach I had a student named Julia Scully, who led a fascinating life—mostly in the world of photography. Her life story was so amazing that I asked her if I could use part of it for the Swann novel I was working on, and she said yes. By the way, she’s 94 now (she lives across the street from me) and I highly recommend her amazing memoir, Outside Passage, about growing up in Alaska during the Depression.

I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

Unless you count my alter-ego, who’s usually too lazy to sit with me in front of the computer, I work alone. Which is probably a good thing, since I get distracted very easily and will jump at any opportunity not to write.

After a successful career as a magazine journalist for New York Magazine, Esquire, GQ, Redbook, New York Times etc., book reviewer, nonfiction book writer, Charles Salzberg made a move to fulfilling that dream of becoming a novelist when his first novel, Swann’s Last Song, was published and wound up being nominated for a Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel. After losing, he swore he’d keep writing crime novels until he won something. After four more novels in the Henry Swann series, he wrote two successful stand-alone novels, Devil in the Hole (named one of the best crime novels of 2013 by Suspense Magazine) and Second Story Man (nominated for another Shamus and a David Award, both of which, true to form, he lost). He finally broke the losing streak when Second Story Man was named winner of the Beverly Hills Book Award. He’s also published three novellas, to be found in the collections Triple Shot, Three Strikes and Third Degree. He teaches writing in New York City, is a Founding Member of New York Writers Workshop, and is on the boards of PrisonWrites and Mystery Writers of America-NY.

Matt Cost on From Beginning to End

It’s time for a new interview series… like NOW. No really, actually it’s called NOW (Newly Omniscient Authors). This blog has been publishing since 2011, and some of the earlier posts feel too hopeful dated. To honor the relaunch of the site, I thought I’d invite some of my past guests to read and ruminate on their answers to questions from oh-so-long-ago to see what’s changed between then and now.

Today’s guest for the NOW is Matt Cost, author of Velma Gone Awry: A Brooklyn 8 Ballo Mystery which releases on April 12

Has how you think (and talk) about writing and publishing changed, further into your career?

I don’t believe that much has changed in how I think about writing over the course of my career. I have always loved learning new things and creating stories. I’d like to think that my writing has become better. My upcoming historical PI mystery, Velma Gone Awry, is a culmination of all of my writing that has come before. It is a combination of my mysteries, which there are two separate series, the Mainely Mystery series, and the Clay Wolfe Trap series, and my historical novels. What I have come to better understand is how hard and how many people are striving to become successful writers. While I believe that everybody who writes a book is accomplished, financial prosperity is much harder to achieve. 

Let’s talk about the balance between the creative versus the business side of the industry. Do you think of yourself as an artiste or are you analyzing every aspect of your story for marketability? Has that changed from your early perspective?

My writing has refined into a more business-like aspect, without, I hope, losing the artistic side of things. I absolutely think of myself as an artiste, but at the same time, I have realized the importance of the rhythm of writing. My books, written fast and furious, usually run about 80,000 words at the end of the first draft, and generally I add approximately 8,000 words to that in rewrites as I flesh out characters, scenes, and the plot. That being said, in my first draft, something significant has to happen every ten-thousand words to drive the book forward. This is every 12.5 % of the book. I like to start with the hook that sets the mystery in motion, rising up throughout each climatic occurrence, and then receding, only to rise again. So, there is a business side to my writing, but I do not write for the market, I write for myself, and the market can choose to follow or not. 

The bloom is off the rose… what’s faded for you, this far out from debut?

If anything has faded, it would be the insatiable desire to have people read and love my books. I wrote a book about Joshua Chamberlain and the Civil War titled At Every Hazard for my first, and it was well received and well-reviewed. My second historical, I am Cuba, ran into more criticism, mostly because readers didn’t like the fact that I cast Fidel Castro in a good light. It was then that I began to realize that most reviews are a matter of taste and opinion, and that these were not always going to jive with my chosen work of art, no matter how well written, and that was okay. I’ve gotten poor reviews for foul language, violence, politics, and far more obscure reasons. The lesson? You can’t please everybody. 

Likewise, is there anything you’ve grown to love (or at least accept) that you never thought you would?

I never thought that editing would be something that I’d embrace. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that this is a place where the magic happens, and a good book can be transformed into a great book. The global development edits strengthen and fill in plot holes, flesh out characters into talking, thinking, and breathing individuals with fears, anxieties, and hopes. Line edits can be a thing of beauty as you rearrange a sentence to be stronger, tweak a scene to become haunting, and change a single word to resound in the reader’s mind. 

And lastly, what did getting published mean for you and how was it changed (or not changed!) your life?

I self-published my first book, At Every Hazard, and that was a fantastic experience, as I learned how to fend for myself in setting up the book pages, creating a cover, getting copies printed, and how to promote and market myself and my book. The rest of my books, ten of them as of last count, have been published by Encircle Publications. Taking the load off my shoulders in regard to creating a cover and a book has been awful nice. It has allowed me to write more efficiently and productively. Thus, in April, my twelfth book, Velma Gone Awry, will be published. In August, the fifth book in my Mainely Mystery series, Mainely Wicked, will be published. And in December, the fifth book in my Clay Wolfe Trap series, Pirate Trap, will be published. What did traditionally published has been huge for me. I can now focus on the business of writing. 

Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries. Cost has published four books in the Mainely Mystery series, with the fifth, Mainely Wicked, due out in August of 2023. He has also published four books in the Clay Wolfe Trap series, with the fifth, Pirate Trap, due out in December of 2023. For historical novels, Cost has published At Every Hazard and its sequel, Love in a Time of Hate, as well as I am Cuba. In April of 2023, Cost will combine his love of histories and mysteries into a historical PI mystery set in 1923 Brooklyn, Velma Gone Awry.