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| Interview with Sinclair Browning, author of the Trade Ellis Mysteries. The first in the series entitled The Last Song Dogs (1999) received rave reviews. With the second book entitled The Sporting Club released in February 2000, a third entitled Rode Hard, Put Away Dead to be released early next year and a fourth book in the works, what can be next for this talented author. Author's web site - Email: Zsbrowning@aol.com Interview by Charlotte Austin. CHARLOTTE AUSTIN - Welcome, Sinclair. My first question is perhaps the most difficult for any author to answer. What brought you to write mysteries? Why not another genre where there might be less competition? SINCLAIR BROWNING - The Last Song Dogs is actually the eighth book I've written. Included in the previous seven were a couple of historical novels, a couple of contemporary thrillers, a romance, and two nonfiction books. Three of them got published and I turned down offers on two others. After reading Sue Grafton it became obvious that here was an author who was having fun writing mysteries. Always eager for a new challenge, I turned my fiction headlights on Trade Ellis and the dirty-shirt cowgirl series was born. Less competition? Everything in publishing is competitive these days. It's all a crapshoot. The only thing I could control is what kind of a game I was getting into. Why have you chosen to write cowboy mysteries set in Arizona? While I don't really buy into the old writing canard, write what you know; in this case it made sense. I've lived in southern Arizona and the Sonoran desert most of my life, ride horses and work cattle, so it seemed logical to me to craft a PI that also did those things. Now I don't feel guilty when I'm out all day riding and taking in the desert. After all, I'm working! We reviewed both The Last Song Dogs and The Sporting Club. Reviews by PJ Nunn. In LSD, you wrote about murder among high school cheerleaders. And in SC, you told the tale of mad racist hatred that leads to brutal murder. What have you got in store for us in the forthcoming third book of the series Rode Hard, Put Away Dead? When will it be released? I've just come to an agreement with Bantam and there will be at least two more Trade Ellis books. All of them are based on real cases here in Arizona. Sometimes, as in The Last Song Dogs, there's a very loose connection. In The Sporting Club the racially motivated murders are based on a case that is still open. All of the victims in the book, along with a grisly souvenir, are as the woman who caused the case to open remembers them. The genesis for Rode Hard, which will be out early next year, is a case where a 39 year old cowboy married a 64 year old older heiress. They were married on Valentine's Day and she was found drowned in a lake three months later. That's my departure point, although of course I skew the cases to suit my needs. Do you think a mystery series is generally more successful than stand-alone mysteries? Why? I suppose a lot of the answer to that question lies in the definition of successful. If you're talking actual money earned for the author, I'd probably have to go with the stand alone based on some of the recent big advances for first time authors (God Is A Bullet comes to mind). Of course, if you have a successful series that builds, you can also earn a lot of money (Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, etc.) For writers just beginning publication, I think the chances of getting published are much better with a series. Of course it's not a series until the second book comes out, but an author can write a book with compelling characters that CAN continue, should the Publishing Gods deem that to be the case. Successful for me is building a readership, and I think a series does that very nicely. I'm finding that readers become attached to the characters and feel they're real people they like to spend time with, Trade, Martin, Sanders, Charley Bell - not only are they real in my mind, but also in the readers' minds. We seem to be witnessing a renaissance for the mystery genre. Why do you think that may be the case? I think a lot of it has to do with the extended family I mentioned in the previous question. If readers like the people in the mystery books, they'll want to spend more time with them. As they get to know them, they become interested in their lives. I also think that in these days of sometimes ambiguous literature, the mystery not only gives the reader a definite framework, it also gives a sense of justice. While there are some exceptions, generally at the end of a mystery, fair play prevails and the good guy wins. If we can't have that in our lives, at least we get it in our reading. What are your plans after Rode Hard? A new series perhaps? I've just started Fast Eddy, the fourth book in the series. As long as I'm having fun writing them, and readers are reading them, I'd like to keep riding with Trade. At this time, I can't imagine doing another series. I'd like to eventually do a stand-alone thriller and I've also been incubating a big western family saga that would span the time of the last Indian Wars through World War I. I've done some screenwriting and might eventually do more of that. From your own experience, explain the struggle published authors face to remain published. I think the most important thing to remember is that it is not the most talented writer who will make it. It's the most persistent. You have to be committed not only to your writing and make that the best it can possibly be, but you also have to continue submitting your work, again and again. And don't let the rejections get to you. Remember, you are not being rejected by A PUBLISHING HOUSE, but rather by one person who works at that publishing house. The Last Song Dogs was sitting in a drawer and hadn't been traveling for a while when I ran across a note by an editor published in The Roundup (the publication printed by Western Writers of America). He was looking for contemporary westerns. Said nothing about mysteries. I thought "what the hell" and sent off a couple of chapters, and the next thing I knew, he had sent them to the mystery department and they asked to see the books. Since you will probably never, ever know where that publishing break is going to come from, it's important to never give up. What are the most common mistakes writers make when seeking to become first-time published authors? First, the manuscript has to be as good as you can possibly make it. The difference I see between the beginning writer and the professional is that the professional understands the importance of rewriting. Don't fall in love with your words or get worried that what you subsequently write will not be as good as what you have on the page. Just as you wouldn't expect to become a concert pianist without a lot of practice, you shouldn't expect to become a published writer without a lot of work. Personally, I don't think we even catch our breaths as writers until we have a million words under our belts. Once that manuscript is polished, study the market. If you're duck hunting, you've got to go where the water is. Know what the various publishing houses are publishing and concentrate your efforts in the places that will do you the most good. Has the publishing world changed in recent years? How? Absolutely. On the one hand we're seeing the huge conglomerations. As one example, Bertselmann owns Random House, Knopf, Pantheon, Crown, Ballantine, Vintage, Bantam, Doubleday, Dell, Fawcett, Anchor, Delacorte. In 1998 the Authors Guild provided an industry update. At that time, the seven major corporate parents (Bertelsmann, Pearson, Viacom, News Corporation, Time Warner, VHV Holtzbrinck and Hearst) published 73% of the adult book market. That's incredible when you think about it! And it hasn't gotten any better with the recent HarperCollins/Avon merger. The good news is that there are a number of small presses that are coming to life and they're publishing some very good mysteries. And then there's the whole electronic issue. Not only E books, but previously out-of-print books can be printed on demand which is good news not only for readers, but also for authors who have seen their work die in print. And of course we can't overlook the electronic reading formats - the Rocket Books and such that have every indication of revolutionizing the industry. When you can read in bed without disturbing your spouse or partner and adjust the size of the font for fading eyesight, plus take 12 books on a European vacation and they don't weigh anything - well, that's obviously going to have a tremendous impact on the industry. Any closing thoughts or comments? Believe. Believe in what you're doing, what you're writing. Write what you want to write. Never write to the market because that particular trend will be gone by the time your book is in print. Sure, it's a crapshoot. But it's also a grand ride. Enjoy! |
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