Guest Author Interviews
July 2001
Interviewed for SinC-IC by Lorie Ham
SinC-IC: Why did you choose to write mysteries?PH: Of course, the influence of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy series lingered and influenced me. I love a puzzle, a good whodunit, and I like to be educated, learn something new. I think the mystery genre provides both of those elements for the reader: entertainment and education or information. I also love the classic definition of the mystery genre's premise or theme that "justice will be served" by the end of the novel. I like that.
SinC-IC: What is unique about your main character or setting?
PH: Bridget is unique, probably because of her name. She's also a little "fey," a quality that her grandmother had. Her grandmother, of course, came from Ireland. And Bridget's occupation is unique. She troubleshoots and assists nonprofit organizations. In book number two, she will be assisting an art league on the Oregon Coast. One the league's board members dies in a tragic fall that turns out to be murder. In the third book in the series, Bridg goes to Northern Ireland to work with the Corrymeala Peace and Justice Center. From there she takes a vacation to the Republic of Ireland where she goes on a geneological tour to look up her Irish roots, and darned if some of her fellow tourists don't begin to have fatal accidents.
SinC-IC: What authors do I like to read?
PH: My mystery author icon that I'd love to emulate is Ross Macdonald. I also enjoy reading Louisa Mae Alcott's old pot boiler pulp detective fiction. I also love the grand dames of mystery, Agatha Christie and P.D. James.
SinC-IC: How long did it take you to write this book?
PH: This is my second in the series (the first is being revised to be the second :). It took about three years, with monthly visits to my local writing critique group with a chapter a month. Then many revisions over several months of the whole novel.
SinC-IC: Do you make a living off your writing?
PH: I do in that I am a grant writer. But I'm beginning to make money from my short mystery fiction, and I believe in myself. I will turn a profit at mystery writing, too!
SinC-IC: What do you like most about being a writer?
PH: Being able to dream, to vision something that is not and make it so, to share thoughts that resonate with readers whom I'll never meet. To make peace with myself on old issues put in creative form, to challenge my thinking and assumptions--all of these and more. I think writing is a creative process and we were born to be creative creatures in some form. Writing feeds the spirit and the soul.
SinC-IC: What do you like the least about writing?
PH: Being so darn slow and having to unencumber myself (don't know if there is such a word), from bad writing habits. Also, I'm not a fast or facile writer and I dog an idea or manuscript to death sometimes, taking out the heart of the piece and then having to rewrite everything. And I'm bad about comma splices. And I'll probably never feel natural about them!
SinC-IC: How much time per day or week do you spend writing?
PH: I spend several hours a day writing, but not always on fiction. I'm a grant writer by profession and so some of my writing time is spent in that kind of venue. Once I have the "bit in my teeth," I'll go for eight to ten hours. But then, that's if I don't have to watch grandkids or have work assignments.
SinC-IC: How do you discipline yourself to write?
PH: Sometimes I do warm-up kinds of things: begin typing a passage or two of a writer I like, or retype the last page of my own manuscript where I left off. Sometimes, I write down the important key points or passages in the story, or the key events in a character's life that has brought her to the point of murder. These kinds of activities get me going and I write then.
SinC-IC: Do you hear your characters speak to you?
PH: No audible voices there, thank goodness. But do the characters take "left turns" as I write about them, doing things I hadn't expected of them. Yes. I happen to like my protagonists in what I think of as my series sleuths.
Bridget O'Hern is my novel length sleuth. But then I have short stories that feature three other sleuths. One is Stacie Mercer, 25, a paraplegic after a skiing accident left her legs paralyzed. Stacie took up crossword puzzles and wheelchair racing after she recovered. Now she solves crimes. Another sleuth is Clarabelle Gilley, 72, who runs a low income senior housing apartment. I love this former Army nurse who served in Korea. She's a female curmudgeon. I have a story submitted to Woman's World featuring Clarabelle (Cat Burglar, Beware), and had a lot of fun doing it. I wish I could be as crusty and in your face as she is. Finally, I have another sleuth "warming up in the wings." (I happen to love cliches.) Gwenilyn (Gwennie) Farnsworth, is an Anglican priest in the Church of Canada who is the Archbishop of Toronto's troubleshooter. I'm currently working on a story, "The Ghost of St. James Cathedral," with this middle-aged priest in it.
What's nice about having several works-in-progress and several lead characters or sleuths is that when I get miffed at one or tired or her, I can change over and hook up with another one.
SinC-IC: Thank you for this fascinating and informative interview!
August 2001
Interviewed for SinC-IC by Wendy Jensen
SinC-IC: Why did you choose to write mysteries?MB: That's what I like to read. I have always appreciated, first as a reader, then as a writer, the complex story line. You have the supposed story and the real story existing in the same structure. To me that was completely fascinating.
SinC-IC: What's unique about your main character or setting?
MB: The setting is pure country and straight up Kentucky at its best and worst. Kentucky is one of those states that doesn't get that much press, doesn't make the discovery or travel channels, yet is steeped in mystery and tradition. I spent over twenty years there and no matter where I live, I will always be a Kentuckian. As far as the main character, Cat Adams, is concerned, I just love her. She has her flaws, of course, but some of the things that I admire about her is her intense love for her child and for life in general, no matter what its form. She also has the quick witted ability to say that really witty thing when someone is snotty to her. I WISH I could do that, but unfortunately, I always think of the perfect thing way after the fact. lol!
SinC-IC: What authors do you like to read?
MB: The list is endless, but here are some of my favorites: Rita Mae Brown, Lillian Jackson Braun, Vince Flynn, Michael Crichton, Nevada Barr, Harlan Coben, Nancy Cohen, Peter Abresch, and the list goes on and on like the Energizer Bunny.
SinC-IC: How long did it take you to write Crazy Cats?
MB: There was an amazing learning curve between Crazy Cats and my next book in the series: Dog Crazy. Crazy Cats took me nearly two years and four mentors. I quite simply was using Crazy Cats as a learning vehicle, but after it was said and done I realized that I had a very good story.
SinC-IC: Do you have at least one family member who is supportive of your writing endeavors?
MB: My animals and my mother. There is a country song out now called, "That's Who I am" and it talks about her mother being her biggest fan. That's very true of my mother. The Christmas that Crazy Cats was accepted for publication, she gave me a square box tied up with nice bows and wrapping paper. When I unwrapped it I discovered that my mother had saved everything I had ever written, from the time I could write up through college. She told me that she always knew that I'd be a published author some day. Pretty cool, huh?
SinC-IC: Do you make a living off your writing?
MB: I make enough to buy food for my animals and to have an ice cream cone at McDonald's.
SinC-IC: What do you like most about being a writer?
MB: The six digit advance, wild parties, fully paid tours, millions of good looking groupies and the wide spread fame. I don't let it go to my head, though.
SinC-IC: What do you like least?
MB: When I finish writing the novel. For months I've lived with these characters and suffered and rejoiced with them. They are real to me, and when the book is finished, I miss them.
SinC-IC: How much time per day or week do you spend writing?
MB: Four hours writing, two hours promotional work.
SinC-IC: How do you discipline yourself to do your writing?
MB: I was/am a professional musician for well over 15 years. The same discipline that I used for honing my musical skills translated well into the writing life.
SinC-IC: Do your characters talk to you?
MB:H&%$#, yes! It's very spooky when they wake you up at night to suggest that you need to kill off another character in the book. Yikes. The first time that happened I wondered if I was going slowly insane. Maybe I am and I'm just enjoying it too much.
SinC-IC: Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?
MB: I'm going to be featured in SHAPE Magazine in the next month or so. Of course, they'll be mentioning Crazy Cats. Don't look tooo closely at the thighs!!! What we won't do for promotion, huh? A complete listing of my tour dates, appearances can be found on my website. Internet Explorer opens it best.
Life is incredibly short, my friends, don't waste a second.
SinC-IC: Thank you for this fascinating and informative interview!
October 2001
Interviewed for SinC-IC by Lorie Ham
SinC-IC: Why did you choose to write mysteries?BR: I've always loved reading mysteries. Any kind of crime fiction, particularly those that put the characters in a time and place where I might find myself. Or perhaps a place I'd like to learn about. A fiction story is where a reader can learn about things they've never been exposed to, and also a place they can draw their own conclusion about all kinds of issues. I love the puzzle, too. Figuring things out, seeing how other people might solve a problem, what conclusions they might draw.
SinC-IC: What is unique about your main character or setting?
BR: There are a lot of singers, a lot of musicians, and a lot of composers, but not too many people who do all of that, and even fewer who make their living from it. Liz Hanlon, the heroine in High Notes Are Murder, has been struggling to build her career for over ten years when the story opens. I wanted to show a character with strong aspirations, but also one with a rather normal kind of existence. She isn't some famous person we can't relate to, she's an ordinary person just like us who's got a lot of talent, big dreams-and a few problems along the way. Even though the music business has been written about a lot, the setting is often a glamorized world where no one really lives. In High Notes, Liz is like our friendly neighbor. The setting of the main club is unique because there are so few places like that left. Not many clubs have large stages, live bands, and built-in audiences that would allow them to host a live concert.
SinC-IC: What authors do you like to read?
BR: I really enjoy Sara Paretsky, Martin J. Smith, Taylor Smith, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Nelson Demille. There are so many really good writers, it's hard to remember them all.
SinC-IC: How long did it take you to write this book?
BR: The final version of High Notes Are Murder probably took about a year and a half altogether, but I began this character in a somewhat different story before that, then let it sit for awhile and came back and redesigned the story. All added together, I'd say it took about a year and a half.
SinC-IC: Do you make a living off your writing?
BR: Well, not just from this book, but I work full-time as a professional musician and I do a lot of music and lyric writing. I also have a Soundtrack CD to go with this book. I plan to do that with each book in the Liz Hanlon series, so my dream is to make a living from the writing of books with music. But it hasn't happened yet.
SinC-IC: What do you like most about being a writer?
BR: Letting my imagination run wild. Constantly challenging myself to be as creative as I can, to think deeper, more all-encompassing.
SinC-IC: What do you like the least?
BR: Knowing that whatever I write could be better.
SinC-IC: How much time per day or week do you spend writing?
BR: Every possible minute I can steal away from other things. I try to write in the morning before the interruptions start, get a few hours in. Then I go back to it every chance I get. I'm always thinking about the story when I'm out doing other things, so I try to take notes, then return to it and write the improvements before I forget them.
SinC-IC: How do you discipline yourself to write?
BR: I don't think I have to. I love writing, and I'm just drawn to doing it. Like most writers I think, I find myself rushing home so I can get to it.
SinC-IC: Do you hear your characters speak to you?
BR: Oh yes! They speak, argue, laugh, cry, and some make beautiful music, too.
SinC-IC: Thank you for this fascinating and informative interview!
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