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- Author interview - |
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| Interview with S.D.Tooley author of When the Dead Speak (1999), The Good Die Twice (1999) and Nothing Else Matters (2000). Visit the author's website. See our reviews of The Good Die Twice and Nothing Else Matters. Read our recent review of Full Moon, Bloody Moon released on October 13, 2000. Feature by PJ Nunn. PJ NUNN - Sandy, thank you for taking the time to chat. Let’s start at the beginning. What prompted you to start writing? SD TOOLEY - As the nuns would say: "Idle hands do the work of the devil." One can only imagine what an idle mind does. Even as a child I seemed to live in my imagination more than real life. It was more fun, and I could make it as peaceful or as chaotic as I wanted. It wasn't until later that I started to put pen to paper and make my imagination come alive. What is the first piece you had published? A letter I wrote to the president when I was in grade school was published in our local paper. Does that count? I’ve written a number of short stories and a couple of television scripts. But the first piece to actually see the light of day was WHEN THE DEAD SPEAK in January 1999, the first Sam Casey Mystery. I absolutely love the character of Sam Casey. What inspired her? She was in my head for some time. I didn't base her on any relatives or even on myself. Just one day, I started hearing dialogue in my head and this character took shape. Sam says and does things I wish I had the nerve to do. Guess I live vicariously through my character. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS is the first book I read in that series, yet I had no trouble picking up the thread of Sam's character and delving right in. When writing a series, how do you decide how much background to put in each new book? I’ve read a number of series in my life. Those that can bring me up to date in just a few sentences are more interesting than those that repeat information about the characters and plot lines from a previous book in the series. Although there are people who detest soap operas, books that act like soap operas are appealing to me. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS actually picks up just two months after the last book ended. I count on the reader having read the previous book. It's a fine line between annoying and appeasing the reader. The tension between Sam and Jake is almost palpable at times but they have big changes ahead. How do you manage to keep them so close, yet at odds with one another? Because of the way they were 'united', they are still learning about each other and basically still in the dating stage. Theirs is an arranged marriage so each day they learn more about each other, what pushes the other's buttons, what to avoid. Not only do they have to contend with their different methods of solving a crime, but Sam is going to constantly find her cases entangled with Jake's. Just as in life, the fun is in making up. Is there another Sam Casey mystery due out soon? Sample chapters of RESTLESS SPIRIT are in the back of NOTHING ELSE MATTERS. The third in the Sam Casey series is tentatively scheduled for release in the summer of 2001. The first book I ever read of yours was THE GOOD DIE TWICE, written under the pseudonym of Lee Driver. Why the name change? Once people heard I had a second book coming out, they all assumed it was the second Sam Casey. The only way I could see to avoid the confusion was to use a pseudonym. Although looking back, I see similarities between the two books, I might never have guessed they were written by the same person. How do you manage to create such different voices and styles? The only true similarity is the Native American element. When I was editing NOTHING ELSE MATTERS, I kept getting interrupted by dialogue I was hearing in my head. It's not unusual for my mind to constantly be a few chapters or books ahead of my fingers - yet something wasn't right. These were not the voices of Sam and Jake I heard, but those of other characters. So I tried to satisfy these characters by writing a short story, which is how Dagger and Sara came about. However, creating a new series around different characters is really not that much different from staying with the same series - it's creating characters to fit in with the new plot. Chase Dagger and Sara Morningsky are a fascinating and unlikely duo. What prompted you to create them? Sara was the main character in a short story I wrote titled "Sara Morningsky." I had fun with this short story and Dagger was actually the secondary character. Sheila and Einstein were in it and it was meant as a stand-alone. I wasn't going to go any further with it so, naturally there was a satisfactory ending, as far as where the characters ended up romantically. Then I started to get more story ideas revolving around these characters, and Dagger started to sound more vocal and more as the central figure. Sara's unique ability seemed natural to me. Just from reading some of Tony Hillerman's books and several research books I own, I knew about shape-shifters in Indian mythology. I also read a young adult book on metamorphism and shape-shifting. At the same time, I wrote a short story titled Full Moon-Bloody Moon. It was based on the full moon/Friday the 13th syndrome. It is mostly a horror story featuring a demonic figure who is basically human until a full moon falls on a Friday the 13th. I hopped onto the Internet and found out more than I ever wanted to know about shape-shifting. Will there be another book about them? The second Chase Dagger will be released on October 13, 2000 - on the next full moon on a Friday the 13th. Full Moon, Bloody Moon will be a full length novel and picks up where the short story leaves off. Matter of fact, the short story can currently be read at Rosewort, an on-line fantasy/horror magazine at www.geocities.com/Soho/Den/3712/FullMoon.html [Read our recent review of Full Moon, Bloody Moon] Have you written anything else I might have missed? You've read them all - except for the three previous versions of WHEN THE DEAD SPEAK. I don't think you want to read them. How much of yourself might we find in your characters? I probably sprinkle more than one character with bits and pieces of my personality. I'm actually more Abby than anyone. I detest confrontation and try to be a peacemaker. On the other hand, Sam is sensitive to criticism yet she does her best to provoke it. That is sometimes me, too. Both books are rich in Native American heritage. Is that a part of your background? Because of my interest in Native American history and customs for the past twenty-five years, I have started to research my father's side of the family. I know my mother's side is Polish, but neither she nor my aunts would ever talk about my father. I have found a number of people who have worked our Holder family tree up one bark and down the other. They have discovered that Holder is a prominent surname in the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes. That may explain my unusual interest in Native Americans, but as yet I haven't been able to confirm it. Where do you see yourself as a writer in the next 5-10 years? I have at least 12 more story ideas for the Sam Casey series and I'm still cooking up ideas for Dagger. I would like to be the consultant for the Sam Casey television series and the Dagger series. Patrick Warburton would make a great Jake Mitchell although I haven't found the perfect Sam Casey yet. And Oded Fehr (from The Mummy) would make a great Chase Dagger. Whose written work inspires you most? For the longest time, I refused to read other works for fear that I would be copying someone else's style rather than creating my own. Then I realized I had to read what was being published if I was going to find out what the public was reading, and not be mired in stale plot ideas. Now I find myself being inspired by a number of writers. I like James Patterson's short chapters, the humor of Janet Evanovich and Paula Boyd, the suspense-building of Jeffrey Deaver and Jay Bonansinga, the witty dialogue of Nelson DeMille, Laura Lippman and Sharon McCrumb, and the list goes on. What author would you most like to be a fly on the office wall? Janet Evanovich. I actually would like to be a fly on her shoulder so I can read as she types. What kind of advice can you give to those still seeking to get published? Persist. Don't give up on your dreams. |
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