IC
First, Peter, congratulations on your book's nomination for a Daphne!
Peter
I came in second, but I've heard some good comments about Killing Thyme and I may have picked up some new fans. It's an ill wind and all that stuff.
IC
Your publisher, Write Way, will publish Tip A Canoe, your third in the James Dandy series in January 2001. You and Write Way arrived on the mystery scene at about the same time. Tell us how it all started.
Peter
When Write Way started up they had a notice in the Writer's Digest market column that they were accepting manuscripts. I sent them my latest novel. They got back to me eight months later and asked me to rewrite it, which I did. They rejected it, but asked me to send them the next one. Which I did. And they rejected that, but asked to see it again a week later.
They liked both books, so they said, but being on the edge of solvency, didn't feel like they could take a chance on them. Finally, knowing that they dealt in mysteries, I targeted one for a specific audience. That was Bloody Bonsai, a James Dandy Elderhostel Mystery, and the rest, as they say, is show biz.
IC
What prompted you to write an Elderhostel mystery, and how did you target that specific audience?
Peter
I had been thinking about using Elderhostel for a couple of years, and knew that the Elderhostel catalog went out to half a million people, and there's a million or more bonsai enthusiasts in the U.S. So that was the pitch I made when I presented Bloody Bonsai to Write Way, but it was the mystery and the relationship between the two main characters that sold it.
The second book, Killing Thyme,involved cooking classes, which I hoped would appeal to a lot of people who enjoyed cooking. The third book, Tip A Canoe, is about canoeing through the swamps of South Carolina, and I hope it will appeal to birding people.
So I've been trying to build readership by appealing to new groups of people as I've gone along. I would recommend that new writers think a bit about how they might promote their books, and mention that when they query agents or publishers.
IC
What would you tell new authors who are thinking of going with a small press?
Peter
For a while I was apologetic about it, but I've come to realize two things. First, Write Way is a major small press, and more and more people in the publishing world have taken notice of it. My editor, Dorrie O'Brien has been a major help in wisely editing my books, and collaborating on PR. I've come to realize how lucky I was to be picked up by Write Way.
Second, I think that for new writers, small press is where the action is. The big publishers are looking for the mega-sellers and only reluctantly handling some new authors. I've talked to some who were picked up by big houses and not only were ignored, but actually had to fight with their PR departments (new kids just out of college) to try to get word of their books out. If you're an unpublished writer, keep small and university presses in mind.
IC
The two books Write Way rejected were thrillers. Was it difficult to switch to mystery?
Peter
Most writing is a mystery, if not about a killing, then about whether boy gets girl, or man makes it out of the wilderness, or woman gets elected to Congress. The big thing I needed to learn was that there should be either a body right off, or the promise of one. That's why my editor insisted I put in a prologue, to foretell the murder that didn't happen until about page 87. I applied this lesson to Killing Thyme right off. On page one, somebody croaked.
IC
What is your advice to someone who wants to write a mystery novel?
Peter
Depends. If the writer has no experience, I recommend learning to create characters, how to plot, how to write effectively. I think we have to have a firm idea of what these basic building blocks of a story are before we attack a novel, regardless of what it is about. I just happen to have a book coming out this next March, Easy Reading Writing.A bit of SSP--shameless self-promotion--there.
But if the askee has been in the writing game a while and has a fair grasp of the principles, I would suggest that they read mysteries. Maybe take the time to break down one that they really like into scenes, and see how it was done, all the foreshadowing and clues, both real and misleading.
IC
Easy Reading Writing is an unusual title. Please explain!
Peter
It takes from the quote attributed to Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Easy reading is damn hard writing." One of the problems I've found with books on writing is that they are damn hard reading. Does that sound right? Good writing should be easy to read. Shouldn't our books on writing be easy reading? Writing ERW has turned out to be a chore, mainly in trying to figure out the order in which to tell it, and because I want to keep it an easy, conversational tone that everyone can understand.
IC
Were writing workshops and critique groups helpful when you decided to write mysteries?
Peter
I've been writing for years, and never got anywhere until I took some classes from Marcy Heidish and David Hoof at Georgetown University. I always felt I knew plot, but they taught me about characterization and dialogue, and some of the other techniques, without which I'd still be flopping around. That was the main reason I started my BookMarc series, to give beginners some of the things I wish I had known when I started out.
IC
You survived the promotion of your first book, and are promoting the second. Any tips for those just beginning the ordeal? Is ordeal the right word?
Peter
Yes, ordeal is the right word. Not the meeting of people or the signing of books, but trying to figure out what works, and making the phone calls and arrangements. If you are living under the delusion that once your novel is published your job is over, allow me to pry open your eyelids. Unless you are a name, no one will publicize your book if you don't. Big or small press. In fact, the small press will help more.
What I did was try to spread the word on the Internet as much as I could to all the bonsai clubs around the country, and to all the senior magazines, and tried to be persistent in getting free space to get the word out. I spent nine months before I got one newsletter to do an article on me and Bloody Bonsai.
I set up readings and book signings at all the major bookstores around where I live. Made up flyers and sent them out to all my friends to hang up, did whatever I could to get people to notice and buy. And when I drove for two hours to a book signing, and only one person showed up, I tried to treat that one like gold. Publicity never ends. I promote my work all the time. My second novel is Killing Thyme. Go buy it. You'll like it.
IC
What was the best experience you had with the publication of your first mystery novel? What was the worst?
Peter
The best was when someone came up at one of the conferences and said, "Oh, you're Peter Abresch. I have your book. Will you autograph it for me?" The worst, not getting a fifty thousand dollar advance. I keep kidding my editor about this, and she keeps telling me it's in the mail. Actually, I don't think there was any worst. I had one semi-negative review, but at least they did review it, and I learned from what the reviewer said.
IC
Since we began this interview in early July, you've been able to put the first chapter of Tip A Canoe on your Web site. There's no body in the first chapter. Does this indicate a change in your publisher's requirements?
Peter
I don't think there was ever a requirement that I have a body in the first chapter. The problem with Bloody Bonsai was that I didn't have a body until page 80 or 100, maybe a third of the way through the book. Dorrie O'Brien felt that was too far in to hold reader interest, thus the prologue.
In Tip A Canoe, due out in January, a body shows up in Chapter 3, but there's some questionable stuff going on before that, and the chapters are short. Also, I think a major part of the allure of these Elderhostel mysteries is the relationship between Jim Dandy and Dodee Swisher. All the letters I've received mention her, and warn me in no uncertain terms that if Jim dumps Dodee, they'll dump me.
IC
You're in the Spotlight. Anything we rushed through or overlooked?
Peter
What's left? My underwear size? One thing on my Web page I'd like to leave you with. Writing is a lonely business, and I work all day for the salary a day laborer in India would turn down. But I keep at it because, sometimes, when it's on, when a phrase or a thought drifts out of the ether that makes me sit up and say, "Wow, where did that come from," and I know it's a keeper, it's like being touched by God. May we all string those words together.
This interview was conducted during the month of July 2000 for SinC-IC by Pat Browning.
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August 2000
