Last week, I announced the beginning of a new FAST FORWARD author interview with participating authors who had published their second novel in a mystery/suspense series. Today I want to welcome my good friend and fellow author, Joyce Schneider as my first guest. Joyce began her writing career in the mystery/suspense genre with EMBRYO, a medical thriller that went virile in a matter of months. She followed up with EMBRYO 2: CROSSHAIRS, which is a sequel that begins where the first EMBRYO left her readers breathless.
FAST FORWARD: Joyce, welcome and thank you for participating in this interview today. A story’s protagonist often reflects an
author’s personality, or displays characteristics the author has chosen to
explore. Without committing (or confessing) to either idea, can you please
share with us some of the back story that defines your protagonist but isn’t
included in the published novels?
JOYCE SCHNEIDER: Jill Raney, obstetrical intern, started out
in the first Embryo as vulnerable-but-gutsy, caring, curious but above all
insistent on doing the right thing no matter the cost to her or her career.
These attributes almost got her killed. She and the man she loves, obstetrical
resident David Levine, barely escaped death at the hands of a madman on the
steep roof of an old part of the hospital. The awful scene, captured by
overhead news choppers, became a media obsession, run horrifyingly over and
over. Jill and David are now reluctant "celebrities" - and the
targets of every wacko who wants to share in the attention.
Including a killer. Some psycho who wants in
on the attention, and sends death threats to Jill and David in the form of
cryptic, horrifying “clues” on the bodies of women he assaults.
Jill feels fury about these assaults which
they must treat, but has a harder time than David getting a grip because of her
additional fear of falling: recurrent visions of the awful scene on the
roof. Both must still return to their exhausting hospital duties, knowing that
any psycho can just walk into a hospital.
How does Jill regain her old emotional
strength? With stoic determination. Those two words define her character: stoic
determination. Her story in EMBRYO 2:
CROSSHAIRS details a gutsy person going through and getting through the
darkest, most terrifying time of her life.
FAST FORWARD: After writing the first novel in a series,
it seems that subsequent novels would flow out fully formed. The author has the
basics down: format for the storyline; a feel for the proper number of plot
lines and chapters; techniques for creating a charismatic protagonist and
supporting characters; secrets to making the antagonist likeable; and
guidelines for adding conflict right up to and through the denouement. Joyce, how
has writing become easier for you; and what remains as difficult now as when
you wrote the first novel? (Avoiding chocolate doesn’t count!)
JOYCE SCHNEIDER: Chocolate binges help. I recommend M&Ms
with the almonds inside. And...what’s in your heart impels you and helps the
writing flow – especially the first draft, which I spew. Difficulty comes in
subsequent drafts that want to run in too many directions. Here’s where I
struggle to boil it all down to its intense core. Since I aim for fast pace,
two words are never better than one, and I chip away & chip away. Typos are
my worst headache: since I write fast when the juices are flowing, I wind up
with a thousand typos. I have help catching those, but some still escape
notice. Argh!
FAST FORWARD: To hold a reader’s attention, a series
protagonist must continue to grow or change in each novel. In Sue Grafton’s ABC
series, Kinsey Millhone does not age (much), or get married, or acquire
children, but she expands her knowledge of the job, begins to carry a gun, and
discovers family relatives who are woven into the storyline. Without revealing
any spoilers, how has your protagonist developed or changed from Book #1?
JOYCE SCHNEIDER: She has fallen more deeply in love. David
Levine is her rock, her sanctuary. She has also come to love the sweet-faced
baby who has yet to be born, and frets about him. He is an innocent, started in
a petri dish and transferred to a silicone cylinder filled with amniotic-like
fluid. Dark, creepy photos of him floating in his cylinder blanketed and
obsessed the media, Twitter, YouTube. Will he be a normal kid? Taunted by
others as he grows up? Would he be safer adopted quietly by “non-famous”
people? But Jill and David love him! There’s this and more...
FAST FORWARD: A series requires the presence of a
continuing main character. Often, however, there is another recurring
character. The almost infinite pairings of main characters with guy/girl
Fridays or wingmen could claim its own category on Jeopardy. Who could ever
forget Tom Hanks’ sidekick, Wilson? Two Mystery/Suspense series authors and
their interesting (equal or supporting) characters that come to mind are Tess
Gerritson’s Rizzoli and Isles; Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino. Is
there a recurring secondary character in your series? What is the purpose/role
of that character within the plot?
JOYCE SCHNEIDER: Jill and David join forces to become
detectives on their own, helping the police in ways that even forensics experts
never imagined. You’ll see how in “CROSSHAIRS.” In this post CSI-era, bad guys
know how to leave no physical evidence behind. No
prints, no fibers, no eyewitnesses. But Jill and David find new ways to detect
criminals. They become like a new age Holmes and Watson!
FAST FORWARD: Researching a new novel takes the author on
a journey to many new places, whether through books, movies, newspapers, or
physical travel. What did you most enjoy about the research process of your
second novel, and where did your research take you?
JOYCE SCHNEIDER: I most enjoyed talking out the fascinating
medical parts with my husband. He’s an endlessly patient physician who loves
explaining medical stuff which I interweave as I write. Hard to believe I
started out as a Liberal Arts major (French & Spanish literature), because
in recent years I’ve become fascinated by medicine and forensic science.
FAST FORWARD: Thank you for the wonderful look behinds the scenes of your second novel. Where can fans of your novels find you and
your books on the Internet?
Links:
Many
thanks, Gail!
