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| Keith Snyder is the author of Show Control, Coffin's Got the Dead Guy on the Inside, and Trouble Comes Back (Walker Books, 1999). He’s also a gifted musician who wrote the theme music for the 1999 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention.You might also have heard his handiwork on some of the recent Tropicana juice commercials. Here’s what Keith had to share with us. Author's website - Read our review of Trouble Comes Back Feature by PJ Nunn PJ NUNN - Keith, tell us a little bit about your latest - TROUBLE COMES BACK. KEITH SNYDER - TROUBLE COMES BACK is the third in my series, and it's a bit of a departure. It's a little darker than the previous books. The mystery aspect grows out of the interactions of the characters. I don't write puzzle-based mysteries. Instead I try to write books with characters that are not only believable as fictional characters, but as people. That right there dictates that I can't write puzzle-based mysteries, because in that kind of book, the characters must bend to fit the demands of the puzzle. I get more enjoyment from really feeling I know a character, and seeing how he or she reacts to situations. My main character is a musician, but his solutions to problems have more to do with his personality than with his occupation. In this book, he's called on to help his old friend Martin who's having family problems. Martin's mother has lousy taste in boyfriends, and her latest is a drug-dealing jerk whose ways are starting to rub off on Martin's little brother, Leon. Friendship and loyalty are strong themes through all my books. By chapter two, Jason and his friend Robert have driven down to Long Beach to see what they can do. There are actually two major plotlines in TROUBLE COMES BACK. Both have to do with families. The trio of main characters is unique, but they're very realistic and interesting. What prompted you to go that route when you wrote SHOW CONTROL? I just wanted to write about the kinds of people I know: Brilliant, overeducated, underemployed [and sometimes under motivated] creative people. Musicians, actors, artists, and so on. They weren't and still aren't represented in crime fiction, most of which is about people from a generation or two before mine. I'm still proud of SHOW CONTROL which I started when I was 24. But I think TROUBLE COMES BACK is a better book. It also has more character background than either of the previous two, so readers don't need to start at the beginning of the series. What's in the works for number four? That would be telling! Well, I can say this much, anyway. There are three intertwined stories, and one of them illuminates how Jason, Martin, and Robert first met. It's been enlightening to learn who they were as teenagers. Every so often, when I encounter them as adults elsewhere in the manuscript, it's actually a shock. I know that music is one of your passions, and that your wife is an excellent vocalist. What's going on in that area of your life? Does it conflict with or enhance your writing? It conflicts. My music career stalled at around the same time my writing career began. I'm working on remedying that. For instance, my Four Feynman Songs, with text taken from the Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman, will premier this fall in New York. There may be a CD project related to book four as well, but that's just an idea right now. You've mentioned that if you had it to do over, you'd make some changes in SHOW CONTROL. How has your writing changed since that time? I think I've gotten better on all counts. My characterization is deeper than it used to be. I've also learned to handle trickier dramatic structures, but that's not something a reader should necessarily notice. Overall, I just keep trying to improve. If I ever get to where that stops happening, it might be time to stop. Has your writing won any awards? No, but I've heard encouraging things from people who were on awards committees, which I find gratifying. Who are you when you're not writing? What kind of work do you do? What are your hobbies? I spent the first three months of this year as a 'producer' at a NYC 'dotcom startup.' They offered me a full-time position but I declined, and I've been freelancing since then. By the time this is published, my current website design project should be up at www.josephwallace.com And, of course, my own website is at: http://www.woollymammoth.com/keith Who or what has most influenced your writing? Everyone and everything, I guess. I just try to read a lot, especially books that are unlike the ones I've already read. I do read mysteries, but that's only one part of my diet. As a writer, where do you see yourself in 10 years? I'll probably always write, although I may not always do it for money. I only do things for love or for money, so in ten years, I suppose I'll either be living off my writing or just doing it for personal satisfaction. |
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