What was the author’s inspiration for this book? How deeply does he develop his characters before beginning to write? Is there some special way he chooses their names? Has he always wanted to write? What advice does he have for those who are trying to have their writing published?
What was your inspiration for this book?
An instructor at a college in the Midwest advised students that the best way to write fiction is to try not to write. When you reach a point when you can’t take it anymore, when you’re haunted or some basic assumption has been severely compromised, then you’re ready to begin. In my case, my wife suddenly passed away in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. I believe it was Carl Jung who claimed beneath all the disorder in life there is a secret order. Since I found no logic here only sheer randomness, I eventually turned to fiction and a possible imaginative underlying order. If I left myself out of it and pitted opposing forces against each other, hopefully when it all played out some closure could be reached. Or, as Rilke once said, “All art is the result of having been in danger. Going as far as one can go and beyond.”
How did you choose the names for your characters?
They had to be evocative. For instance, Jed Cooper just sounded like and reminded me of a former farm boy from Indiana. And Miss Julie was surely a fragile choreographer trying to seclude herself in the Connecticut hills from some unseen threat.
How completely do you develop your characters before beginning to write?
They have to come alive for me visually and emotionally with all their flaws. I have to know, or at least sense as I go along, where they’ve been and where they’re going so that whatever they do or think is purely motivated—character driven and not simply serving some calculated plot.
How long did it take you to decide on a title for your book?
Since Jed was always on the run from trouble and the through-line was a chase—a significant quest that would change him and prod him to pursue the answer to a growing conundrum—Murder Run (like a ski run or a toboggan run) seemed crisp and in keeping with the rhythm of the “Big Apple” which turned out to be the prime, operative factor.
How much research, if any, did you have to do for this book?
For me a true sense of place, including weather conditions, is always a main character that influences everything else. And so, during the Manhattan book expo where my publisher had a booth, I took time out to reacquaint myself with the city and actually walked the streets including the Lower East Side.
>Did you planned every little detail of this book before you sat down and wrote it?
The way I work there has to be lots of room for surprise. In fact it’s the surprises that energize me and tell me it’s all ringing true. For instance, when a street kid by the name of Angie showed up in my imagination and began putting Jed down for being so naïve, I had to rely on her to steer Jed straight, which altered how and where he proceeded and heightened the obstacle course he had to go through. In turn, her apparent liaison with Jed out of the blue affected everyone in her dubious circle and exacerbated the whole dynamic.
Have you always wanted to write? What was the very first thing you wrote?
I always had the need to make some kind of sense of the loopy world I encountered growing up. At some point, I wrote short stories and then plays in graduate school and afterwards when my department at the University of Connecticut insisted I had to have a special niche. If I’m not mistaken, my first short story concerned a young character about my age who had a secret life his parents didn’t know about as he changed his appearance and snuck out of his house late at night. I’m not sure if it was any good, but a teacher encouraged me and gave me an A.
What is your favorite genre in which to write?
Some form of crime fiction. As long as there’s something significant at stake, a matter of life and death or close to it, the quest is bound to be worth the candle.
What kind of books do you like to read?
Literary fiction replete with underlying intrigue, such as the works of the U.K.’s Kate Atkinson, which combine great insight into human foibles and longings along with a unique wit and style and a search for justice and/or resolution.
J.D. Salinger, www.mercerislandbooks.com
If you could spend one hour with just one person, dead or alive, whom would you choose? Why? How would you spend this hour?
I’ve always wondered about J.D. Salinger’s preoccupation with the wisdom of very young children, like Holden Caulfield’s relationship with his little sister Phoebe. I’d like to know why, and how it all changed for him when he decided not to publish anymore. He still kept writing but became a recluse in the backwaters of New England.
Do you have any advice for writers who are trying to have their writing published?
I guess it all depends on why you write and what interest you have in the changing market. Perhaps the best thing to do is find a savvy mentor or an established editor, submit your work, and take it from there. What level are you on? Does your work fit some viable genre? Do you even want to be categorized? What can you do to grow and improve? Somehow, you have to come to terms with the odds and the publishing options. Otherwise it’s just a jumble of chancy writing groups whose feedback may be suspect or highly limited, self-publishing, pseudo agents, and small publishers that are legitimate or trying something out, e-books, publish-on-demand, and all the rest of it.
Where can your fans find you on the Internet?
I have a website and blog at shellyfrome.com, I’m on Facebook, and I can be reached at shellyfrome@gmail.com.
Recommended Article: Murder Run – a Review
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