I did a series of author interviews for another website long ago and I've decided to repost them now that the other site is no longer active so they'll continue to be accessible on the internet. I always found it reassuring to hear from different writers the way that there really isn't just one way to be a writer. I think that kind of reassurance is evergreen so please enjoy this one from 2018:
When did you start writing? When did you decide to pursue publication?
I wrote stories starting in third grade through college. Then career turned my focus to business writing. About thirty years ago, my husband and I moved to Montana where I found a wonderful writing community and I restarted with fiction. Sold my first short story for $5…and…the check bounced, a great lesson in the vagaries of publication. I also wrote magazine articles while working on numerous novels. The novels won contests and earned rave rejections from agents and editors but no publishing contracts. Finally, last year, my tenth book, Instrument of the Devil, won the Kindle Scout contest and was published. A thirty-year long haul but worth it.
Are you a ‘plotter’ or ‘pantser’? Do you outline a story before writing or make it up as you go?
Basically I’m a pantser. I have a starting point and an ending point but not many clues about the middle. The first draft is the skeleton to figure out the plot. Succeeding drafts, I add the flesh, muscle, sinew, layering on more with each rewrite. Sometimes characters appear and force their way into the story, changing the direction. Because I trust the power of the subconscious, I go with the flow. Usually it works out. Also my critique group helps when I get stuck, offering fresh ideas.
Do you read a lot of the mystery/thriller genre? Who are your favorite authors?
Because I do a lot of editing and beta-reading, I don’t have time to read as many books as I’d like. Probably my all-time favorite author is Raymond Chandler. I also admire Sue Grafton because she maintained high quality for decades until, sadly, the alphabet ended in “Y” when she recently passed.
Talk about Instrument of the Devil.
Instrument of the Devil is about a terrorist who targets Tawny
Lindholm, a technophobic widow, setting her up as a scapegoat in his
plot to bring down the electrical grid. It takes place in Montana at the
Hungry Horse Dam, a major power generating station for the Northwest
US. The inspiration came from two sources: five years ago, I bought my
first smartphone when they really took off in popularity. It confounded
me with its antics–strange tones, inexplicable messages, a screen that
spontaneously went black, etc. I assumed the problems were operator
error, but it also made me wonder, what if a bad guy used a rigged
smartphone to manipulate an innocent person to take the fall for a
crime? At the same time, I was researching the vulnerability of the
power grid and learned that a smartphone has the capability to access
computers that control the grid’s inner workings. Those two components
came together and the story was born. Then in 2016, the FBI thwarted a
cyberattack by smartphone on a dam in New York, so I knew I was onto
something that could really happen. A rigged smartphone is the Instrument of the Devil. Ironic postscript: after numerous trips to the phone store, it turned out my phone was defective so not all its antics were operator error.d
What are you working on next?
Stalking Midas is a proposed title for the second book in the series. Tawny is working for the lawyer who helped her in Instrument of the Devil. He suspects his estranged father is a victim of elder fraud and sends Tawny to investigate. The plot involves a lucrative annuity scam that takes cruel advantage of senior citizens’ devotion to their pets. The third book in the series (proposed title The Suicide Gene) deals with teenage suicide.
Check out Debbie’s website at debbieburkewriter.com
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