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| Dirk Wyle is the pen name of a biomedical research scientist who’s written two marvelous mysteries – Pharmacology is Murder (Rainbow Books, 1998) and Biotechnology is Murder (Rainbow Books, April 2000) – with more to come in the Ben Candidi Mysteries. Read our reviews of Pharmacology is Murder and Biotechnology is Murder. Author's website Feature by PJ Nunn. PJ NUNN - Dirk, why don't you tell us a little about your first book and what inspired you to write it? DIRK WYLE - I started work on Pharmacology is Murder in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew wiped out our power for six weeks. I worked evenings, outdoors on a laptop computer. At the time, it seemed more entertaining than reading works of others by the light of a Coleman lantern. It was published in 1998. When did you decide to write a series? In 1996, when I learned that you must have a second one in the works to get the first one published. It worked. For readers who haven't yet read your books, what other authors might your work most closely resemble? One fellow writer noted a resemblance to Jonathan Kellerman who builds exciting mysteries around clinical psychology. My protagonist, Ben Candidi, is a novice biomedical scientist. One reviewer compared my characterizations to P.D. James. I put a lot of effort into fleshing them out. But the nicest compliment came quite spontaneously from poet/novelist Peter Hargitai after a group 10-minute reading session. He grinned, shook his head and said, "You are an intellectual but you write hard-boiled detective stuff." I answered that I didn't see any discrepancy between the two. A few years later, I learned that Raymond Chandler was an intellectual disguised as a pulp fiction writer. I love that! Have you written any short fiction or nonfiction? No short fiction. I have authored 85 scientific papers on my work in blood coagulation and in targeted drug delivery. Recently, I have been trying my hand at lay-oriented scientific journalism. Whose writing do you most admire and why? I like the authors I just mentioned. Chandler is great at plot construction. I admire the humanistic touch of John D. MacDonald. John Le Carre is a good example of elevated style. John Katzenbach's Just Cause is a masterpiece of third-person storytelling with multiple protagonists and great twists of plot. But these are later examples. My early influences were Mark Twain, Chekhov, Dostoevski, and many others. What do you like to do for recreation? Like my protagonist, I have a sailing yacht. His is a 36-foot Cheoy Lee; mine is a 34-foot Grampian. You can see pictures of both at my website. When and what is the next book due to be published? The next Ben Candidi will be ready hopefully in a year and a half. Will you be doing something besides the current series? I'm giving all my energies to Ben Candidi right now - and to his fiancee Rebecca Levis, MD -to-be. Writing a good mystery isn't an easy thing - it takes time. And it sounds like you have a full blown career on your hands. What drives you to spend your free time writing? The desire to "tell it like it is," to use the old 1960s expression. And probably the desire for immortality. A couple of months ago a fellow scientist told me, "You know you probably have a lot better chance at immortality than we [the scientists] do. A few years after we make a discovery, it just becomes part of someone else's research program. But if you tell a good story to a lot of people, it will live on." How long does a book take you, start to finish? Approximately 2,000 hours. Wow! Do you work from outline or just let the characters come alive and take you there? I start with a novel method of murder - poisons right now . I look for situations among scientists, companies, organizations that would motivate a person to murder. Then I work out the "Agatha Christie Elements" of the central murder (my terminology). Then I figure how to get Ben into it and keep the police out. I invent other characters to fulfill different purposes. By the end of this phase, I have gone through a pound of scratch paper, and have maybe three sheets to show for it. Next, I type these three sheets into my computer as "plot points" in ALL CAPS. Then, I start filling in details, sometimes as notes as to what has to happen, and sometimes as actual dialogue, if the spirit is with me. Sometimes when I'm writing "stage directions," my fingers start writing dialogue, and I just let it flow until it reaches five manuscript pages, or when it stops making sense, whichever comes sooner. If a scene is flowing nicely but is missing certain critical information, I will open a bracket {for the missing information} and let the scene keep on flowing. Curlicue brackets are easy to spot in editing, as are [STAGE DIRECTIONS]. These methods help me to extract inspiration without co-extracting little chunks of my brain. The manuscript grows from five pages to 50, and then maybe to 100. Then is the time to go over the material for doctrine of fairness, rising suspense or fascination, character motivation and a host of equivalent things. Then it's time to fill it out and polish, polish, polish - polish. What do you enjoy most about writing? When the book comes in the mail and I can see my story sandwiched between two nicely-designed covers. Least? A lot of people in the business are approaching the mystery/thriller in terms of consumer demographics. What a shame if such things became standards of criticism. How actively involved are you in the promotion of your books? "Have tuxedo, will travel," as the old Variety ads used to say. Or, "Have gun, will travel," as Gene Rodenberry turned the phrase for his Paladin. What's your passion? A world in which everyone gets a fair shake. What haven't you done that you'd really like to do before you die? Play my soprano saxophone with a whorehouse band in Tunisia. |
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