Kimmery Martin on The Inspiration for Doctors and Friends

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 Kimmery Martin, author of Doctors and Friends, which was written prior to COVID-19 about three doctors whose lives are transformed on the front lines of a new pandemic.

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 write medical fiction and decided in 2018 to feature an infectious disease doctor during a brand-new, worldwide viral pandemic as the protagonist of my next novel. (Yeah: I know. I am sorry.) The specific idea for the big central question of the plot was inspired by a book I read in 2019 about a physician who had to choose between two dying colleagues for an experimental antiviral treatment (Crisis in the Red Zone, by Richard Preston.) If that sounds too grim to contemplate, please know the novel actually includes quite a bit of humor and sweetness. It was also not inspired by you-know-what!

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

I am an inefficient plotter, plagued by a total inability to outline ahead of time. Therefore, my plotting method involves vomiting out 100K words and then wrangling them into some semblance of a suspenseful and coherent story afterward. I do not recommend my method. 

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

Most definitely. I can’t imagine that not happening.

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

Not a day passes that I don’t see or experience something funny or tragic or poignant or irritating or amusing and think to myself, yep, that’s definitely going in my next book. However, that sort of thing tends to lend itself to a subplot or a scene, rather than constituting the big overarching hook of a story. I usually start novels without a clear picture of how they will unfold and subsequently wind up trashing a lot of ideas.  

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

I’ve only written four novels, and of those four, only one—the one I am finishing now—percolated for a long time. I think at a certain point, a successful story jams up your mental bandwidth until you just have to finish it. It’s the one that constantly crops up in your thoughts when you are supposed to be doing something else, which, depending on the subject matter, can lead to some awkward interactions.

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? 

Yes, I have the world’s quirkiest rescue dog. He glommed onto me from the moment we met and would prefer never to leave my side. He participated in all the Zooms and hangs out next to me squeaking and snorting and nudging me while I am trying to write. His name is Charlie and he’s on my Instagram a lot too. 

Kimmery Martin is an emergency medicine doctor-turned novelist whose works of medical fiction have been praised by The Harvard Crimson, Southern Living, The Charlotte Observer and The New York Times, among others. A lifelong literary nerd, she promotes reading, interviews authors, and teaches writing seminars. She’s a frequent speaker at libraries, conferences, and bookstores around the United States. Kimmery completed her medical training at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She lives with her husband and three children in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her next novel, Doctors and Friends, is available now.

Priscilla Paton on Nailing Inspiration

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 Priscilla Paton, author of When the House Burns which releases on February 14, 2023

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?

My mysteries are inspired by a real circumstances and crimes: instances of data theft and crimes against children for my first mystery, Where Privacy Dies, and drug dealing and sex trafficking for Should Grace Fail. Also, I serve on local nonprofits who support marginalized people and see data about abuse, homelessness, addiction, and mental health issues. That all sounds like a sensible beginning, but to tell the truth, “origins” remain mysterious. When I was beginning the Twin Cities series, the name for the male detective, “Erik Jansson” came immediately, though I had to work out his age, family situation, and experience. Then Deb Metzger burst out in full form, like Athena from the head of Zeus. Deb is like that.

When I started researching the newest book, When the House Burns, I had a different topic in mind—not the housing crisis and arson that are featured. What turned my interest around was the murder of a real estate agent in the region, though my fiction does not use the specifics of that crime. I was juggling my first concept (which may be used later) and the death of a realtor when it became evident during the Covid Pandemic shutdown that the basement of my residence had become toxic. I had to move. Suddenly having to pack unsettles the mind greatly, and new ideas came out of that experience. By the way, I put toxic basements to sinister use in When the House Burns. 

In addition, research tosses up fascinating stuff. In researching arson, I came across a Harvard Business Review article (to sum it up would be a spoiler) that sent my plot in a fresh direction. 

Yes, the subconscious or subliminal does make contributions. I decided to call a woman character, “Karma,” and the concept of karma ends up reverberating with other characters. My detectives, Erik Jansson and Deb Metzger, are a volatile match. Erik, who can seem like a boy scout, is devious with a sly humor. Deb, who’s lesbian, is outspoken and impulsive. I let them loose through free writing to see where their banter goes. 

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

With pain and agony. I have a few central points in mind, like the original crime scene and key scenes of conflict and action. Again, real life offers examples: I read about conflicts over real housing proposals, from absurd to serious, and also learned about a former ammunition plant site being prepped for development, a situation that had its own convoluted plotline.

I start as a pantser and after I have a chunk of crude draft start outlining.  (Only my outlines are cut and paste jobs, rewritten several times.) Then I set up a large white-board calendar to clarify which characters are involved on which days—this also prevents me from having three Mondays in a row. It’s a two steps forward and one step-in-a-hole process for me to construct an evidence trail and developments among the characters that work together to advance plot and therefore story.

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

I don’t think of my plot as firmly in place until I reach the line-revision stage. I’ve had characters significantly change in early drafts, which influences their motives and actions. For example, in When the House Burns, I first had a passive uncertain man, Edward. Edward morphed into Rafe Edward, and Rafe is driven and clever and dreams of vengeance and love. His boss, though, calls him ‘Edward’ to put Rafe in his place, which only incites Rafe to—well, you’ll have to read the book. 

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

I used to be a literary scholar reflecting carefully on what others wrote. It’s still a challenge for me to move into a quicker procreative mode, and I have to release my irreverent alter ego to have at it. Going out in the world helps, too. As other writers have noted, you don’t need to start with a big idea. A detail about a person you see, or a situation like a toxic basement, can spin out into more. It’s like catching fluff from the air and then making yourself stay at the computer until you’ve nailed that fluff to a premise. It’s hard nailing fluff.

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

As noted above, this happened to me with When the House Burns. I found that one topic kept me writing longer than the other, so it’s organic, or I’m like a dog. I go with the one that feeds me first.

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?

I’m pet-less at the moment, but two of my writing spots overlook bird feeders. One’s near the Mississippi River, a major flyway and home to eagles. It releases the imagination to see an eagle cruise by.

When I’m desk weary, I stretch and take music breaks. I leave periodically to eavesdrop on people in coffeeshops where there happen to be yummy treats. Writing requires profundity and treats.

Priscilla Paton writes mysteries set in the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Priscilla grew up on a dairy farm in Maine. She received a B.A. from Bowdoin College, a Ph.D. in English Literature from Boston College, was a college professor and taught in Kansas, Texas, Florida, Ohio, and Minnesota. She has previously published a children’s book, Howard and the Sitter Surprise, and a book on Robert Frost and Andrew Wyeth, Abandoned New England. She married into the Midwest and lives with her husband in Northfield, Minnesota. When not writing, she participates in community advocacy and literacy programs, takes photos of birds, and contemplates (fictional) murder.

Larry Atlas on the Inspiration for South Eight

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 Larry Atlas, author of South Eight, the story of a young doctor’s collision with the demands and contradictions of modern acute care medicine, both its power and failings, and the moral questions it ultimately provokes.

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?

My background as a writer was entirely in plays and screenplays, exactly zero in prose fiction. So when, quite by accident (honest, it’s true!) I found myself working in a hospital first as a nurse, and then within a few years as a nurse practitioner hospitalist, my initial thought was to write something for the stage. In fact, I tried that twice, and within pages knew that it wasn’t going to work. What I wanted to write, the internal experience of treating hospital patients, could only work as a novel. That was a starting point, a hospitalist physician, in the heart of that world, his experience of it, and of the patients and co-workers.

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

I set out thinking of South Eight as “literary fiction,” but built a plot around events and a patient from the central character’s past, how they intersect with the main character’s present position, the power the current position.

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

Well, this is my first novel, but as with plays and screenplays, I was surprised by how the story did actually, in important ways, assume a life of its own. I remember reading somewhere, about playwriting, that the characters will tell you how the story should unfold. I think that was true here. Also, I love mysteries and thrillers, so perhaps it was natural that I’d incorporate those elements as I wrote.

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

Often. On any given day there’re a dozen possibilities in the news, or someone will tell me a story they’ve heard that has interesting twists, possibilities. The question always is, will it hold up, will it hold one’s interest the next day, a week later, a month. And if it does, will it have enough “room” for expansion into a complete work, whatever the form.

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

Well, in my case I’m still working in medicine — can I say active sideline in medicine? — which takes a lot of time and energy. So, the question is, do I have a story, a single story, that is so compelling that I simply have to find the time and energy, to write it. One can have a lot of ideas percolating, as you say, but having that one that comes to a boil in a sense, chooses itself.

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?

I have a four-year-old black Labrador who comes into my writing space and lies on the blue couch there. Once in a while she’ll bring me her ball to remind me it’s time to take a break.

Larry Atlas is a former Drill Sergeant who served in the Army. After his service, he attended Bennington College, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees before declining admission to medical school —and moving to New York to begin a successful career as an actor, playwright, and screenwriter. Among his produced plays are Total Abandon and the award-winning Yield of the Long Bond which premiered at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles. He worked on multiple studio film projects including Sleepless in Seattle. He conceived and implemented the first nationwide online actors’ casting service, and then later co-invented and patented the first navigable nonlinear video architecture. Larry lives in upstate New York with actor-turned-therapist Ann Matthews, and their dog Ruby.