Meet Author Brad Frazer

Bradlee Frazer is an author, speaker, blogger and Boise, Idaho native who loves the blues, Ray Bradbury short stories and his wife, daughter and dogs. He is also the lawyer who successfully registered the color blue as a trademark for the iconic artificial turf in Boise State University’s football stadium.

Bradlee’s nonfiction has been published in national legal treatises on matters of Internet and intellectual property law, and he is a frequent speaker on those topics. His works of fiction include the short story “Occam’s Razor,” which was published in an online literary journal, and he has co-authored two screenplays, Dangerous Imagination and Spirit of the Lake. He has written scripts for sketch comedy, radio productions and short films, and in college Bradlee was a film critic who wrote and hosted a weekly half-hour television program called Premiere!. The Cure is his first novel.

Meet Bradlee Frazer




Welcome again to Characters Well Met where we are talking with Bradlee Frazer, author, Lawyer and all around good person. He has his debut novel available for purchase on Amazon called The Cure. I am reading it myself and only about half way in so I cannot give a review yet, but I can tell everyone this. Thriller fans are going to like this story. It has great characters and an engaging plot which compels the reader to keep turning the page to see what happens next. My kind of story. Without further introduction I am honored to introduce Bradlee Frazer a name I am confident we will all associate with great writing as his future novels come our way.



1. Great to have you here and willing to be taken away for a moment from a busy law practice, writing schedule, and family. How do you do it? That is, balance the high wire act of giving all to each of these endeavors?



Reggie, thanks for having me here on Characters Well Met. I enjoy the blog, and I am pleased to be included in the select group of authors you have interviewed!



To your question, I try to give my family first priority, of course, but my law practice is certainly the thing that is the most demanding. I am very lucky because I actually enjoy copyright and trademark law, and so my job is not dreary in that sense. I like going to work each day and tackling the new challenges clients bring me. I do find that I have to multitask, however, sneaking in bits of writing here and there at night and on weekends and the occasional lunch hour. It would be nice to be able to write full-time, but at the moment I can only dream about a luxury like that.





2. I really am invested in your protagonist Jason in THe Cure. Where do you get the ideas for characters? Do you describe them from real life people you have met or observe or just make them up?



My characters, candidly, serve as vehicles to move the plot forward. I think about how to get the plot from A to B in the most interesting way, and characters result from that analysis. For example, I knew that I needed a protagonist for The Cure who possessed certain characteristics, and Jason came to be the right vehicle to move the plot forward. I knew that Jason needed an antagonist with a certain demeanor to move the plot forward, and Phillip Porter was born. I knew Jason needed a good friend and comic foil to move the plot forward, and Scott Durrant was the result. Although in truth, my college roommate was named Scott Durrant, but the book character is not based on him, per se.



3. Where do your stories come from? The Cure is a bio/medical thriller with elements of thriller genre. People are already talking about when the next contagion will come along. Did you arrive at this story after keeping up with current events?



Yes, in part. I had had the idea for a story centered around a man with immunity from a plague for a while, but then within the last few years, with the anthrax attacks and the outbreaks of bird flu and SARS and swine flu and mad cow disease, it seemed that the time was right for the story of a protagonist who was immune to such a threat. And, because those threats do not seem to be diminishing and are in fact increasing, the notion of someone who is the cure for an epidemic will hopefully remain relevant and interesting to readers.



4. You are a lawyer. But your novels read like they were written by a scientist or at least someone who knows a great deal about medicine. Where did you learn all of the jargon and especially the science?



My dad was a self-taught electrical engineer who built his own radios and transmitters. When I was a kid, I followed in his footsteps to a certain extent and built amplifiers and other electronic gadgets. Then my interests turned more to chemistry, and I became fascinated with studying chemical reactions and fireworks. Then in 9th grade, I had a health class, and I wished to learn more about medicine and the human body so I studied those topics. So by the time I got to college, I was essentially self-taught in three scientific disciplines--electronics, chemistry and medicine, but for some reason I chose to get a finance degree and go to law school and THEN get an MBA on top of all that! I think The Cure was a natural outlet for all that self-taught knowledge I had amassed but never used professionally. I still had to do a lot of research to write The Cure, but it was easier since I was interested in those topics already.



5. You allude to Stephen King's novel The Stand in The Cure. You must be a SG fan. Did this novel follow in his footsteps on the way to writing a possible horror novel?



Bradlee: I am a King fan, yes. In fact, the real genesis of the story for The Cure came from my reading Stephen King’s novel The Stand, in which one of the Army researchers says to one of the plague survivors, “You killed it, you just killed it.,” meaning that he was immune from the epidemic. This idea, that one could be immune from a pandemic, stuck with me as the basis for a good novel idea--what would it be like to be immune to a plague? How would that make you feel and act? How would others treat you and what would the economic consequences to the pharmaceutical industry be?



I have not given much thought to writing hard-boiled horror, no, although I and my wife are huge horror movie fans. In fact, the first gift I gave her after we started dating was a VHS copy of Psycho, the original with Anthony Perkins. Most women would run screaming from that, but it endeared her to me as we are both fans of the genre.



6. You slip in some humor in The Cure. I like that as it breaks the tension from time to time. Lets the reader chuckle and get a breather before something new comes along that makes them want to turn on the light and check under their bed.

Are you a funny guy around your peers? That is, does humor come natural to you?



It does seem to come naturally to me, yes. Which is not always a good thing! I have to work to keep it in check in professional settings and around my peers, because when I am asked a question or am involved in a discussion with clients or other lawyers or judges a smart-alecky joke will invariably pop into my head. That’s why Jason’s best friend, Scott Durrant, a computer programmer and math whiz, is one of my favorite characters in The Cure--he gets most of the best lines, like the time he refers to Linda, Jason’s wife, as “W-Cubed,” a reference to the Wicked Witch of the West.



7. I always ask this question as I am quietly doing a survey. Are you a plotter or a pantser. In other words do you just outline everything before you begin writing or do you just sit and write and let the magic happen?



A little of both. I outlined in broad strokes what would happen to Jason and the other characters and I knew how the book would end, but much of the stuff that happens in between major plot points was a bit “pantsed.” Because The Cure is plot-driven, I essentially would just periodically stop and ask myself where I was and how I was going to get to the next major plot point in an interesting, uncontrived way, and then, without actually outlining it, I would start writing again hoping I would find myself on the right path. If not, I would make mid-course corrections in plot and character to move me forward.



8. I see you have signed with Diversion Press. Do they help you market your work? Or are you left to your own machinations with social networking and personal appearances?



Diversion Books, a NYC-based imprint of the Scott Waxman Literary Agency, has a great model. You have to submit and be selected (whether you are agented or not), and if they accept the book they act like a traditional publisher--you do not have to pay to publish and they do all the editing, the cover and so on just like a traditional publisher. They publish you first in e-book to gain a sense of the book’s market viability. Because they are an e-publisher, and because that medium is so conducive to online marketing, Diversion asks its authors to help create awareness of the book, principally by using social media. To be clear, I have a terrific Project Manager at Diversion named Mary Cummings who is an e-book marketing wizard, and she does a lot to promote The Cure. I help out where I can by being active in social media.



9. Are you working on something new for us in the near future? Tell us about it if you can? I haven't finished The Cure so I don't know what happens to your main characters yet, but will there be room for a sequel?



I am working on two new manuscripts right now, yes. One is a thriller in the vein of The Cure about a protagonist with a special ability and what that means to him, and the other is sort of a “buddy movie meets road movie” story about the end of the world and two mismatched people who team up to survive it together. It will ultimately be a story of hope, I think. Still not sure how it will end.



10. Who are your favorite authors? And what are you reading now?



My favorite authors are, in no particular order, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Ayn Rand, Kurt Vonnegut and Michael Crichton. I also like the classics: Huxley, Orwell, Harper Lee. I find myself reading mostly non-fiction at the moment; I just finished Bat 21, and before that I re-read both A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks--both of which are science-based works, by the way. I have pretty eclectic tastes!

Buy Links
Amazon
Nook
ITunes
DiversionBooks
G+
Linkedin
Twitter
Facebook





Thank you sir for coming here and opening up a slice of your life for us today. I am honored to be your friend and that you took the time to answer our questions. I sincerely hope you will come back soon to introduce a new novel to our group of readers and writers and challenge us to be as good as we can be.



Author Reggie Ridgway

Meet Author Everett Powers

Amazon Author's Page

 Everett's Blog

The Mighty T  by Everette Powers  Buy Link for Amazon.com
Canals Buy Link
Blog Address



Hello Everett and friends, readers and writers. It is great to have you here on Characters Well Met today. Or should I refer to you as Doctor Powers? You have managed to write two wildly successful novels, one of them a horror novel and the other a detective style thriller. All while keeping a thriving medical practice in Southern California and of course a happy home life.




1. My first question is how do you do it? I mean how do you keep all of your plates spinning on their respective sticks. What do you do to not suffer from the bane of all writers? Not enough time to write.



Thanks for having me on your blog, Reggie. You may call me Sir Powers if you wish, or Everett. Your choice. As my stepdaughters would say, I'm hecka old now and so am seeing far fewer patients than I used to. I see patients on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and write on Tuesday and Thursday. I also write a little on the weekends, depending on my motivation and whether my step-daughters are spending the weekend with their dad or not. If they're out of town, I like to loaf around the house with my wife or take her to one of our favorite overnight spots instead of writing. I used to be more disciplined.



When I'm really "on" and the creative juices are flowing, I can write almost anywhere and at any time. I could walk to my local Borders bookstore in five minutes, so I used to do a lot of writing and editing there. Now that they're closed, I favor the local library branch or one of the three McDonalds within five minutes of where I live. When out of the office, I write with my iPad and Apple wireless keyboard, using Dropbox to sync my files. That means I need a reliable WiFi connection, thus the McDonalds or the library. When I wrote my first novel, Canals, I wrote in the morning before everyone got up. Now I exercise first thing and write a little later in the day.



2. Okay I think I like Sir Powers.  It has a nice ring. I enjoyed reading The Mighty T. I have to admit at first I thought it was going to be one of those nature books or something. The cover fooled me. From the get-go your story takes off with a sniper and car chases and never lets up. Where did you get your idea for the story?



The crosshairs aimed at the dam didn't automatically tell you it's a thriller? Hmm... I did the covers of both books myself, with my six-year-old computer and my even-older software. They could be better, and maybe I'll have them redone when I'm rich and famous, but I'm happy with the way they turned out, all things considered.



I live in the San Joaquin Valley, not Southern California—Northern California to you southerners but Central California to anyone who lives north of Sacramento. The City of San Francisco derives much of it's drinking water from the Tuolumne River, the "Mighty T". Congress allowed them to construct a dam that dammed the Tuolumne as it exits the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. The naturalist John Muir called Hetch Hetchy Yosemite's "little sister"; it's quite beautiful and it is a shame the valley was flooded in the first place.



Environmental groups hate the dam at Hetch Hetchy and have been trying to find a good excuse to get it removed for over fifty years. Unfortunately for them, it would literally take an act of Congress to remove the dam. Every now and then they come up with a new angle, and then feed the story to the papers. Three large underground pipes convey the water across the San Joaquin Valley to San Francisco, and they run right smack through the middle of Modesto, where I live. Mainly because of this direct connection to Modesto, our local paper runs every story about Hetch Hetchy. Having written a horror book, I wanted to try my hand at writing a thriller and was looking for a good plot. A story about Hetch Hetchy appeared in the paper and I thought, "Hmm... What if someone...?"



3. Your next novel Canals was quite a departure. With murders happening along one of California's irrigation canals. Do you like writing horror versus mainstream detective thrillers? And which genre do you read?



I wrote Canals first, then The Mighty T. I've been a big Stephen King fan for years and thought I was going to be the next King when I wrote Canals. When King went flat for a few years, producing snorers like Tommyknockers, I found new authors to read. Today I read little horror and more thrillers, with cops or without cops. I enjoyed writing both books but Canals was special because it was my first "serious" novel. (I'll say more on how I wrote both books when I answer question number six.) I've expanded the genres I read, mainly to support other self-published or independent authors. I put my foot down with romance books, though. I'd have to check my man card in at the door.



4. You spend much of your day tweeting and blogging to promote your work. Do you have any advice for new writers who are looking for ways to use social networking to get the word out about their novel's?



I spent a lot of time tweeting and blogging through June of last year, but don't spend nearly as much time on those activities now. I'm not convinced social networking helps sell many books. Sure, it can help you sell a few hundred copies, but not enough to pay the bills and put money in the bank. What you really need is for whoever is retailing your work to promote it for you. For me, that's Amazon. I pulled my novels from all other retailers because I was selling very few copies in their stores and I wanted to participate in Amazon's Kindle Select program. I know people have written that they sell a ton of books on Twitter and Facebook, but frankly I think they're pulling our collective leg.



You've got to get Amazon's software to take notice of your work for it to sell more than a few hundred copies. One way to do that is by taking advantage of their free book promotions. If your book is in their Select program, you get five free days. If your book gets downloaded enough times, their software sees it as successful and it starts showing up on their recommended lists. Being on Amazon's top-selling list is like having your books displayed in the front of Barnes and Noble.



I think blogging works better than Facebook and Twitter because search engines like Google like blogs. The problem with most blogs written by writers is most of their readers are other writers. Yes, writers do buy books, but they're often fickle. Authors need to reach the book-buying reader to succeed.



5. Do you see yourself sometime in the near future being able to write full time and be able to live off of it?



My goal is to support myself and my family with my writing by 2013. That's next year, and a lot has to happen by then.



6. When you start a project, do you outline or just have an idea and start writing to see where it goes? That is are you a plotter or a pantser?



I wrote my first novel Canals in the method King calls in his book On Writing "a found thing," which is writing by the seat of your pants. I began with a premise, there's a monster living in the canals in and around Modesto and it's killing people, and went from there. Knowing how important opening scenes are, I began with what I thought was an intriguing opening, a guy missing an arm, floundering in a canal, and introduced my main characters. I wrote a scene at a time, then waited for inspiration to lead me to the next scene. When inspiration was flowing it was a thrill ride. When it wasn't, it was excruciating.



When Canals didn't sell through queries to agents and publishers, I blamed it on the genre: "No one's buying horror right now." I wasn't aware of the changes coming down the pike for publishing, namely Amazon and the Kindle. When I decided to write a second book, I decided to make it a thriller. And I decided to write with a plot instead of by the seat of my pants. Still, The Mighty T was loosely plotted. The thought of deciding in advance everything that was going to happen in a book sounds dull and boring to me as it removes the inspiration I've come to love about the writing process.



7. You self-published both your novels. Do you recommend this way over the more traditional way?



The answer depends on your goal for publishing. Mine is it sell enough books to support myself and my family, and to take care of them in the future after I've left the planet. I thought that meant I'd have to get my books in retailers like Barnes and Noble and Borders. But Borders is gone and B&N isn't doing so well. Publishing is changing, as is the way people read books. (More on that in question nine.) For me, self-publishing was the only route.



What most writers fail to understand is, regardless of how their work is published they're going to have to do most or all of the marketing themselves. (Unless you're a breakaway author like Grisham and others.) Signing a contract with a publisher means little if your book doesn't sell. And if it does sell the publisher gets most of the royalties. A writer has to ask him or herself: do I want to make most of the profit from my writing, or do I want my publisher to? I choose me.



It's more complicated than this, of course. When I decided to self-publish last year I read up on the people who'd done it or were doing it successfully: Konrath, Locke, and Hocking. Find their blogs and read their stories, then do what they did.



8. Did you try and find an agent and publisher before you self published?



Yes. I had maybe one serious nibble and collected a pile of rejection slips that'd been photocopied so many times you could hardly read them..



9. Do you think ebooks are the future or do you stick to your guns and still use paper?



My understanding is while exact figures aren't available, it's estimated that eighty percent of books sales are still print books. But that also means twenty percent are ebooks. That's after what, only two or three years? In my opinion, ebook sales will continue to rise and print will continue to fall, but will likely never go away. I think you have to have both an ebook and a print version available to reach the largest audience.



Most of the people I personally know don't own an ereader, and millions likely never will. And I know a few people who've taken a religious-like dislike of ebooks. I sold a print book to a guy I know through the Internet who lives in Australia. He called Amazon "the devil" and ebooks "pure evil." I didn't have the heart to tell him the book was printed by CreateSpace, which is wholly owned by Amazon.



10. Could you tell us a little about your WIP?



No. Just kidding. The working title for my work in progress is "Murder in Stevinson." The more I see that title, the less I like it so it'll probably change. I finished the first draft a couple of weeks ago. It's the second Grant Starr thriller, set in the tiny towns of Hilmar and Stevinson, about thirty miles south of Modesto.



It opens when a matador gets his liver macerated by a bull. Even though bullfights held in Stevinson are bloodless, meaning the bulls aren't harmed or killed as they are in other countries, they're still dangerous and accidental deaths aren't unheard of. It turns out in this case the matador was drugged, which makes it Murder Two. The killer then kills a guy he thinks is the only witness, only to learn later there's a second witness.



There are two parallel plots. The mayor of tiny Stevinson has been negotiating with a company that grows and sells medical marijuana. They want the legitimacy of growing their crop inside city limits and are willing to pay Stevinson up to ninety thousand a month for the privilege. The mayor, greedy and ruthless, negotiates a nice, but illegal, commission: three hundred and fifty grand. All he has to do is convince three of five city council members to go along with the deal. Easier said than done in an ultra-conservative and religious town. Only one of the three goes along willingly, two others have to be extorted.



The deal starts to fall apart when the mayor, in a fit of rage, kills one of the council members, a former lover who'd figured him out and demanded a healthy cut of the graft. Another "yes" vote evaporates when a high school teacher, who likes his teenaged female students a little too much, unexpectedly leaves town. Suddenly the mayor is desperate for votes.



Grant and his team assume one killer is responsible for all three murders but have a devil of a time figuring out "who done it."



Thanks Everett for coming by and chatting with us today. Great success with your writing career and we look forward to reading more of your work as it becomes available.



I am posting my two Amazon reviews for your novels below.



Canals



Great horror that might just keep me up at night for a long time. I now purposefully steer around areas with canals running through them. This was a great read that grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let go like a pit bull. The scenes are graphic but tastefully done and show rather then tell. Get it while it is hot.



The Mighty T



Everett has a good thriller here that I highly recommend. At first I didn't read it as I thought it was a documentary about a dam. Was I surprised. I could not put it down as we follow a group of terrorists on the order of Oklahoma City Bombers. They are intent on restoring the Toulome River to its original state before it was made into a reservoir. The salmon and other wildlife have suffered and now these crazy people are out for blood. This is the set up. Readers who like fast action whoop ass kicking, and things blowing up are going to love this. Great read and I loved it for great characterizations of the terrorists and the cops who are after them. The dialogue which kept me in it. The scenery descriptions take the reader on a vacation and you feel like you are there, right in the middle of the action.

Reggie Ridgway

Buy Links for In The Midnight Hour

These are some links you can use to check out or purchase In The Midnight Hour as an Ebook

Smashwords

Omnilit

Barnes And Noble Nook

Amazon Kindle

Lucky

Lucky




As my wife Connie and I drive the 50 mile or so canyon commute to work one morning, we gaze upon the beauty of the river along the steep forested mountain gorge. We love the drive and it serves us with a dose of serenity preparing us for a day working in a local hospital. Suddenly we arrive upon what has become an all too familiar scene on the winding two lanes, a rollover single car accident. People have stopped their cars and are tending to the victim. They wave us on and we notice the man sitting in the wreckage appears to be okay, although his car looks none-for-the worse.

We press on to work, but about a mile down the road we see a small dog running hell-bent and trailing a red leash behind.

“I wonder if that dog was in the accident?”, Connie surmises and I make to pull over and investigate. Connie, ever the good Samaritan when it comes to animals in danger, is almost half way out the door before the car stops and she gives chase calling out comforting and soothing words like “come here girl” and “its okay”.

In spite of her well meaning attempts, she only manages to further spook the already traumatized pooch who dashes for cover in the heavy brush along the river. After a few more minutes of coaxing Connie reluctantly gives up and we continue on for work. All the while she is lamenting the fact she wasn’t able to help the dog and worried for the next few days about what would come of it, in spite of my continued reassurances.

About two weeks later, we are traveling along the canyon, this time at night when we again spot a dog running along the highway. Connie exclaims breathlessly “that’s her, Stop”. She recognized the red leash. This time the exhausted dog comes to her and allows us to get her in the car for the short drive home. Connie checks her over and save for a few burrs, slightly malnourished and some scratches she seems not much for the wear, in spite of being out in the woods for two weeks. We decide to hang on to her and nurse her back to health, all the while checking the shelters and the paper for a lost dog. It takes about a week but our efforts turn up the owner who lives a couple of hours away in Orange County. We talk on the phone and we find out he had been convalescing with a broken upper arm and it is in a cast. We make hasty arrangements for him to come by and retrieve his dog, but it may take a while as he is 80 years old and can no longer drive.

We have had the dog for a couple of weeks now and are growing attached to her. She fits well into our routine and loves to sit on the couch and get her ears scratched. Connie even took her to the vet and got her checked out. She only has a few fleas and a tick or two, which is amazing after being in the wild for two weeks and subsisting on what ever she could to survive. The vet deems her good-to-go and we are glad.

The day finally arrived, the owner gets a ride from his son and they show up to our door. We call the dog Lucky now ,which seems appropriate, but find out they call her Stella. Dog and owner are reunited and there is not a dry eye among us as she recognizes him and licks his face and wines a greeting climbing up into his lap. He struggles with his arm in a sling and has to hobble with a cane, but it is apparent he is glad to see his puppy.

Connie is reluctant but understands she has to give Lucky up as she hands over the tattered red leash.

We got a phone call about a week later saying Stella is doing okay. We learn that the old man’s wife just got out of the hospital and she is ecstatic to be reunited with her dog. She was beside herself when she learned of the dog being missing after the car accident

Now as we make our canyon commute we stare wistfully at the place we pass by where we rescued the dog we called Lucky.

Meet Author Carolyn Arnold

Hello fellow readers and writers. With us today is the renown and attractive Carolyn Arnold. This is my second interview since I began blogging here at Characterswellmet, and we are fortunate to add this author to the list. I feel like I already know her having read all of her novels, and you can get to know her too. Without further introduction let us get to the interview. Cue the applause and the drum roll.

Hi Carolyn. Thanks for dropping by for an interview on characters well met. I know you are busy and appreciate your time. I have known you for about a year, I think I first saw you at #pubwrite. You are one of the most prolific authors I have met since I started on twitter and I have been following your work and downloading your novels. I have not finished the most recent one, but have enjoyed reading all of them so far. I am a fan so it is with extreme pleasure for me to ask you some questions.

Thank you for having me as a guest on your blog Reggie, it’s an honor. I’m also very pleased to hear you’re enjoying my novels.

You have a significant presence on social networking sights. You are active in promoting your novels as well as blogging and communicating with others. Where do you find the time?

I like to joke about having a time machine in my basement—I only wish. Really it comes down to what is important to you. If it’s important, you find the time. Yet even with that said I think finding balance is an obstacle for most authors, myself included. I believe the key lies in setting allotments of time aside for each endeavor. I’m still working on striking the perfect balance.

2. Your covers are striking. Where ever did you find such a wonderful cover artist?

Thank you Reggie : ) This is where I can plug my husband, George Arnold because he does all my graphic work. He even designed the book trailer for ELEVEN, my FBI thriller. If authors are interested in getting a cover made up, they can contact him through his blog here: http://wgadesigns.blogspot.ca/

3. I couldn't help noticing your novels are full of realistic police procedures and gritty realistic drama. How do you come up with ideas and where did you learn about how police and detectives do their jobs?

The ideas are the easy part to me. Anything in life can spark a story. Sometimes it’s a dream, a movie or television show that ignites a side thought, sometimes it’s the way a person looks that gets me asking what their life is like and how they got there, or here’s one that will make sound crazy “characters sometimes just come to me”. For example, an idea I’m toying with the fifth Madison Knight novel is springing off something I saw in my hometown. The idea for ELEVEN was born from my love of the show CRIMINAL MINDS and a small shack on the outskirts of the city I live in. Every time I’d drive by it, I wondered about its history and imagined underground burial chambers. Yes, I have an overactive imagination LOL (great for an author).

As for learning how police and detectives carry out their jobs, this involves research, research, research. I have a few resource books I turn to for these facts. I also look online because there’s a wealth of information there. I was also fortunate to have contact with a Detective Sergeant from the city I live in, and I’ve met many ex-cops online who have helped me if I have a specific question. And, just as an additional thought and suggestion to other authors who conduct research, cross compare. If you’re not too certain of an understanding the way it is presented in one resource, turn to another. By utilizing more than one resource, you’ll get a clearer understanding.

4. Many of us are just starting out as writers, or new at this whole social networking idea. Do you have any advice for promoting on the web?

Well everyone has a different style, and a different following. What works for one may not work for another, but this is my thoughts on the matter.

Present yourself professionally. This is of primary importance. Let others see you take publishing and book writing seriously and view it as the business it is. This is key. But know if you don’t view it this way people will pick up on it.

Be sincere, and think how what you offer benefits other people. Take “I” out of the equation.

Promote your fellow authors. This is crucial to any independent author. And as you develop your online relationships, these people come alive. They are not user names on a social network, they are real people like yourself. These relationships cultivate into friendships, and then you’ve found gold. You have a network of true individuals who support you in turn, and believe in you.

When presenting your work in an “ad”, whether this be on Twitter or Facebook or another network, be creative. Don’t reuse the same sentence day in and day out. Keep things fresh. Online networks are a constantly changing landscape, but this doesn’t give any of us a license to be lazy.

I suggest staying away from the phrasing “buy my book” and providing a link. Again, think: What am I offering? What would make someone click the link to even consider my book?

Also, keep active with online networks. Don’t just “pop” out Tweets—connect. If someone responds to an “ad” you’ve put up for your book, reply to them, engage with them. If someone says they bought your book, thank them. Every single reader is important, and I highly value each of mine.

And, I guess the last piece of advice that comes to mind (and it doesn’t mean it’s less important by any means), mix things up. Don’t just be all about you and your books. Like I said supporting others is very important—and it makes for great friendships—but you also support them by offering encouragement and motivation. This can be done through blog posts where you share your experiences or how you overcome certain roadblocks in your writing journey. You can also write about the craft and how you’ve found ways to improve. Again, this is my personal style, but you get the idea.

5. Madison Knight is the name of the detective in your novels. Where did you get the inspiration for this character?

I love watching and reading in the crime genre so it was a natural transition for me to want to write in it. I admire the brotherhood of blue, and am fascinated by the advances in forensics.

As for Madison Knight, she was born from the desire to create a strong female lead. A lot of times in the stories I read or watch, the female was the junior partner to a male lead. I wanted to switch that up.

6. All of your work was self published. Did you try to find an agent or publisher at first?

I queried for about a year (maybe longer don’t remember now), but over that time period I revised and edited between queries. I kept revising my approach and the outworking of the novel until I had it where it is today.

The start of last year, I had the interest of a New York agent, but they wanted an aspect changed. They were vague in their request, and I loved it the way it was. Keep in mind I also have friends who have agents and their books have been with them for years. They’ve done numerous revisions, and sad to say for my one friend all the large publishing houses were exhausted without an offer. I didn’t want to go through this so I decided to self-publish. I wanted my work in the hands of readers.

7. You write short stories as well. Which do you like to write the best? Novels or Shorts.

No contest—novels. Some people who have read my shorts, PEARLS OF DECEPTION (which is available to buy) and upcoming release RINGS OF A TREE, have told me they are like condensed novels.

8. Do you have a favorite author, or someone you were inspired to write by?

No one that really inspired me to write per say. I have my favorite authors of course, but they were not known to me when I first started writing as a teenager.

9. Brandon Fisher is the FBI agent in your latest novel Eleven. How was it striking out with new characters and even a new genre, if you will, by following the FBI?

I LOVE new characters, just as much as I love my series’ ones.

When it came to Brandon, his character drew me for several reasons. He was real, and believable. He was determined to do anything to make it as a FBI Special Agent even if that meant facing his fears, and possibly losing his wife to the job.

As I said earlier in this interview, I love CRIMINAL MINDS. FBI agents have a tough job to do yet they carry it out with a high level of professionalism and intelligence.

10. Last question. Do you write by the seat of your pants with an idea of the plot, or do you favor outlining every detail before sitting down to write a novel?

I’m definitely a “seat of my pants” type of writer, a “panster” as it has been termed by some. I see where I want the story to begin and know how I want it to end, but the journey there is uncovered as I go along.


Thanks again Carolyn for dropping in with us today. You are very kind to give us some time out of the busy writing schedule I know you have. I can speak for all of us, we eagerly await some more novels and short stories from you in the future. Watch out Amanda Hocking and even JK Rowland. Carolyn is in it for a long time to come.

Reggie Ridgway

Where to connect online

Amazon Author Page

Website

Blog

Twitter

Facebook

Interview With Kenneth Hoss, Author of Storm Rising

I am honored to have my friend Kenneth Hoss with me today.  He wrote Storm Rising, one of my favorite novels.  We met about a year ago in a place on twitter called #pubwrite and we keep in touch ever since then.  He is a great writer and I hope you will read on about where he gets his inspiration and tells us a little about his novel, and as a teaser I asked him to tell us about the sequel he is working on. If you want to, you might find him quaffing down a cold one at #pubwrite, and chasing some of the young female writers who hang out there.
Here is my review I posted some time ago on http://amazon.com/

I enjoyed reading Storm Rising. I really got into the character Kelly Storm who is sort of a loose cannon on the police force. She doesn't follow rules and has a gritty edge. She is like a dirty Harry, but a female detective. The story weaves current events into the past. Much of the drama takes place while she is wrestling with how to take care of her mother who has Alzheimer's. She is driven to find her father's murderer. She also is enlisting the help of her ex, who is also a cop. Someone is out to kill Detective Kelly Storm and anyone associated closely to her. This sets up a string of murders, kidnappings and intense drama which will keep you turning pages and wanting more. Looking forward to the sequel and Kelly Storm adventures. Great debut thriller from a new writer who writes from the hip and doesn't hold anything back.

Here is a pic of Kenneth and the cover of Storm Rising.  If you like the cover art you might want to contact George Arnold at WGA Designs.  http://wgadesigns.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact.html
George also did the cover for my novel In The Midnight Hour and my new novel Moon Shadow which should be coming out soon if the stars all align. You can view the covers here on my blog.  George is married to the talented Carolyn Arnold. A prolific author I admire.  You can find her on her web site at. http://carolynarnold.net/

Thanks again for hanging out with us today and I hope you enjoyed the interview.  If you would like to have me interview you if you are a published writer and give a short review of your novel here on http://charachterswellmet.blogspot.com/  ,leave a comment below and I will get back to you soon.

1. So Kenneth. Love your last name Hoss. Fitting, especially since you live in Texas. Now that you live in Texas, are you considering writing a novel about cops who live in Dallas or Houston?


I have another series in mind, though it’s still in the beginning stages. The story is set in San Antonio and the idea is to have my MC, a local Sherriff’s Detective, trying to catch a killer on the River Walk, which as anyone who has ever been there knows is a very busy place during the nicer months of the year. Tourist equal targets.

2. I couldn't help but notice your novel is pretty accurate with police procedures. Did you derive this knowledge from personal experience?

Some of the book is taken from real world experience, between my travels and being an ex-cop. I was lucky to connect with an ex-NYPD Detective on a Police Forum I belong to and he kept me straight on the NYPD procedures and the small details.

3. You have a significant presence on social networking sights like Twitter (where I met you) and Facebook, and your blog. Where do you find the time to promote, what with writing a sequel and your day job?

I make time, when I can. For Twitter, I currently use HootSuite to do my tweeting. It works fairly well and you can schedule your tweets. As for the blog, it’s not a daily thing. I add post to it when I have something to add, such as when I do the Indie Author Spotlight or Author Interviews. I’m all about promoting other Indie authors and believe that we Indies have to stick together.

4. Your debut novel was self published. Did you attempt trying to go the more conventional Legacy publishing route or did you try to seek out an agent? Also on that same vein, would you recommend the self publishing route?

I did try the Traditional route first, and after some time came up with a query letter and the book blurb. I researched agents and publishing companies to see which ones were interested in Police Procedurals. I sent out fifteen letters via e-mail the first month and waited two weeks for any kind of response. Out of the fifteen, I received three replies, all of which were basically “Thanks, but no thanks.” I didn’t let that stop me, and sent out another fifteen, this time receiving five responses, and though all were encouraging, they nonetheless were not interested at this time. I continued sending out queries and even partials for the next six months. One day, while on Absolute Write, I noted that several of my fellow writers were talking about Smashwords. They talked about how easy it was to self-publish a book. I checked out the site and the rest as they say is history.

5. What advice could you give new authors who need help promoting their first novel with social networking? (me for instance)

Just keep pushing it. Tweet, blog and Facebook as much as you can. I have had minor success with social media, while others have had great success. The bottom line is, you need to get the word out.

6. Your novel takes place in an urban setting and then your main characters ended up in Mexico. Did you have first hand experience in these locals?

I have had experience in Mexico, especially in El Paso and Juarez, though it was years before all of the violence that is taking place there now. Once upon a time, shortly after 9/11, I was laid off from a very good IT job. As most know, it was not a good time to be out of work. In order to make ends meet, and they seldom did, I took a job driving 18-wheelers cross-country. A lot my trips took me to the El Paso area, and a few times when I was laid over, I would make an excursion across the border to Juarez. It’s a whole different world down there.

Last question and don't laugh.



7. Did you find it difficult writing a female protagonist? Do you have a female mentor who could give you feminine advice about how they think and handle themselves in personal situations?

I promise not to laugh. I was told when I started writing Storm Rising, that a man writing a female main character would never work. After I had completed the first draft and sent it out to betas, I proved that I could write a female character. (Just check out the reviews.) Kelli is a composite of several women I’ve known over the years, some good, some bad. I would also have to add that she has some of my traits thrown into the mix. She is loosely based on one woman in particular, someone I knew a long time ago, and she broke my heart. I guess in a way, writing Kelli was my own brand of therapy, because to this day I still think about her.





You can find my book on Amazon, in both eBook and paperback. It is also available on Barnes & Noble, iTunes and Smashwords.

Amazon Links:

http://amzn.to/AhvE5X

http://amzn.to/yDvcdT

Barnes & Noble:

http://bit.ly/GMDUXO

iTunes:

http://bit.ly/zkTyWG

Smashwords:

http://bit.ly/kCg52y



You can also follow me on Twitter - @kennhoss

My blog is: http://kenhoss.blogspot.com/





Reggie, here is the bio, blurb and teaser.

Kenneth Hoss was born at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas in 1957 to Albert and Mary Hoss. He served a combined total of fourteen years on active duty from 1974 to 1987 in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy. His tour in the Army took him to Frankfurt, Germany where he had the opportunity to travel around Europe. While in the Navy, Kenneth spent most of his time stationed in San Diego and Long Beach. His Navy travels took him to Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Okinawa, Thailand and Pakistan. He has lived in several States, including South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Washington and California. Kenneth began writing while in High School, mostly Sci/Fi and Fantasy. It wasn’t until May 2011 that he realized his dream and published his first novel, Storm Rising – A Kelli Storm Novel.



When a murder investigation turns Detective Kelli Storm’s attention to a drug kingpin, the last thing she expected was to find a link to her father’s killer from twenty years earlier.



Detectives Kelli Storm and Bill Hayes are investigating multiple homicides in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood.



When a young woman is murdered, Kelli tracks the killer to a Gentleman’s Club in Manhattan. There she locates an unwilling witness. When the woman is assaulted and left dying, the investigation takes a new twist. The DEA steps in and takes over, forcing Kelli off the case.



Kelli decides to take a different approach. Working behind the scenes, she pulls out one of her father’s old case files and finds a connection between the killer and his murder.



Teaser from Storm Warning – A Kelli Storm Novel



Three shots rang out and Detective Kelli Storm ducked behind the unmarked sedan, gripping her Glock 19. Her partner, Eric Ryder, lay in the street a few feet away, blood staining the left shoulder of his jacket.

She peered over the trunk lid to locate the shooter. The shots had come from the bodega on the corner. Bystanders ran past looking for cover as she edged toward Eric. She grabbed his right arm and pulled him out of the line of fire.

She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled her cell out. “Central, this is Detective Storm, badge number three zero two zero, requesting an 85 forthwith to my location for a 10-13, officer down.”

Eric looked up at her and mumbled. “What the hell happened?”

“Just stay still, backup is on the way. This son of a bitch just made a big mistake.”

 http://kenhoss.blogspot.com/

Sounds like a great new page turner.  Thanks again Kenneth for dropping by and also for spotlighting me on your blog.

Book Trailer