Author R&R with Gregor Pratt

 

Greg "Gregor" Pratt is a former Ohio attorney who retired after 40 years of general practice focused on litigation in the Cincinnati area. But he always wanted to be a fiction writer, and with the winding down of the practice of law, found time over the last several years to write his first novel, Ebola Island, drawing on his experience as a trial lawyer. Ebola Island is the first in a series featuring class action lawyer, Jack Gamble, who is thrust into the middle of a pandemic on an island with a cast of dynamic characters who must grow to trust each other in their dire circumstances if they want to survive.

Pratt's second novel in that series is Dragon's Eye, in which Jack's wife Maddy, a teacher, goes missing. The police think Maddy has run off with one of her students even though there are no clues—she’s simply vanished. When the police and other agents of the New Zealand government begin to pull back the veil on hidden evidence, Jack and friends embark on a harrowing journey to rescue Maddy from the grips of the Chinese government. But how do private citizens challenge an overreaching totalitarian government with limitless resources and connections?

Greg stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about writing and researching the novel:

 

Each author and each novel are different. Like most authors my very first novel is still in a box under my desk. It needs so much work! Researching it was great fun and I mention it because the research process was so much different than my later novels.

Since most of my first took place in Newport, Kentucky, which was close to my home at the time I was able to go there and see the streets and some of the buildings for myself. Of course that meant I had to separate out the new buildings. Focus was on the buildings that were there in the 1960s when the Kennedy Justice Department investigated Newport, which had been a vice hot spot since the Civil War. But buildings and streets are just a start. What was life like? I read a number of books about Newport in those days. One that I remember is Razzle Dazzle, which described the lives of people back then and how the legal operations were used to mask the illegal ones. Razzle Dazzle was a dice game where the player often appeared about to make a big win and somehow they never did. I was lucky to have an acquaintance whose father had been quite the gambler. He played cards regularly with a character named Sleep Out Louie, who got his nickname because he would sleep out a few hands in his chair while the game went on around me. The shared stories were invaluable. For instance Louie and my friend’s father would play gin for stakes so high that major league baseball players who were in town would come by to watch the action. They would keep score but would not play. And one of my brothers in law had an ancestor who was a member of “the mob” in Newport. The real life touches of those “true” stories helped give feeling to those chapters of the book and helped define the characters and their interactions.

On my second and third books which were actually published I was not so well placed geographically. Ebola Island (2019) takes place largely in Madagascar and Dragon’s Eye (2022) takes place in New Zealand and Vanuatu. Not only does my budget not allow travel to far away places like that , when I was writing Dragon’s Eye New Zealand was not admitting visitors due to COVID. So I had to come up with other methods to develop the background for my stories.

Ebola Island is a pandemic novel and as you have likely guessed the island reference is to Madagascar. The conditions of the people the island in my novel are wholly a product of my imagination: the physical attributes of the island itself I gleaned or tried to from Google Earth and online research. What routes would my characters travel? What is the terrain like? What landmarks would they see or cross? How far could they be expected to travel in a day/how many days would an overland journey take? What were the flora and fauna like? What creatures inhabit those lands? How available is water? What does the countryside look like if viewed from a mountain’s edge? These are all items I want to represent as accurately as possible. From Google Earth I could travel visually across the island from one identifiable place to another and the terrain changed as the journey went on just like it would if we were really traversing the island. Flora, fauna, creatures and water were all subject to research. Before I started writing I purchased several books on Madagascar , read them and went back to them for reference while writing. In that fashion the big issues were largely correctly represented and hopefully realistic with some specific areas crafted to fit the story. This is fiction after all.

The locale for Dragon’s Eye was predetermined at the end of Ebola Island when Jack announced that after he and Maddy married they were going to New Zealand. In 2019 I was hoping to go to New Zealand, research locations and specifics and then start writing. And I planned to do a little sightseeing and some fly fishing while there.

That didn’t exactly work out. Ebola Island is a pandemic novel published just weeks before we heard of COVID for the first time. And I am proud to say I got a number of things right in that scenario. And some not, for instance I did not anticipate face masks. And I definitely did not anticipate New Zealand being essentially closed to visitors. So here using Google Earth again I visited Nelson, New Zealand remotely and I was able to identify Jack and Maddy’s house, the school their children would attend and walking routes to get there as well as many other physical attributes that played into my novel. I find the satellite view most helpful.

Other facts needed research. For instance, how long does it take to fly a small plane from Tauranga, New Zealand to Port Vila, Vanuatu,? Is there an airport there? What is the name of the airfield in Port Vila and what is its condition? What are the politics, economy, population of Vanuatu? What nations are they friendly with? Are there any ongoing international issues? For issues like that I prefer to start with the CIA World Factbook or just World Factbook sites for each country. These sites are very comprehensive and are attributed to the CIA. They are readily accessible online. By way of example the World Factbook site for New Zealand has twelve sections identified covering such things as Geography, People and Society, Energy, Military and Security. It is often a good place to start to get to know a new and remote area. And it can even spark additional issues or twists and turns for your novel or perhaps just accurate historical references to give your work more gravitas. That type of site will give you ideas on what to explore in more detail. It can help you spell place names correctly and alert you to historic and cultural issues. And best of all, it fits right in our budget.

 

You can learn more about Greg and his writing via his website and follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. You can find the ebook version of Dragon's Eye via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited, with print versions available via most major booksellers.

Author R&R with Penny Goetjen

 Award-winning author Penny Goetjen writes murder mysteries where the milieus play as prominent a role as the engaging characters. A self-proclaimed eccentric known for writing late into the night, transfixed by the allure of flickering candlelight, Goetjen embraces the writing process, unaware what will confront her at the next turn. Fascinated with the paranormal, she usually weaves a subtle, unexpected twist into her stories. After writing a three book mystery series set on the coast of Maine and two books set in the Caribbean islands, her latest crime novel, The Woman Underwater, is set in her home state of Connecticut.

The Woman Underwater centers on Victoria Sands, whose husband disappeared without a trace seven years ago. In the years since, no witnesses have stepped forward and no credible evidence has been collected, not even his car. The few tenuous leads the police had are now ice cold. He simply vanished on a field trip with the private boarding school where he taught behind stone walls, the same school their son now attends. But someone has to know what happened. And that someone may be closer to Victoria than she realizes.

Penny stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about writing and researching her books:

 

What goes on before a writer sets pen to paper or fingertips to a keyboard?

Research is a malleable term. Writers each have their own definition of what that means to them in their work.

Honestly, I don’t spend a lot of time researching my novels before I sit down at my laptop to launch into a new manuscript. I write about locations I know intimately and have already fallen in love with, so there’s not much to research about the setting. But situations come up as I delve into each story that do require further investigation.

My most recent release, The Woman Underwater, a contemporary suspense set in New England, features a tension-filled helicopter scene. I didn’t know much about whirlybirds before I got to that development in the story, so I Googled certain parts of the craft and what the inside of helicopters looks like. Fortunately, I was writing from a laywoman’s perspective so she didn’t have to know technical terms, but I needed an understanding of what she would be seeing and experiencing. Once I was finished writing the chapter I ran it by a friend of mine, an airline pilot and former helicopter pilot, to test its validity. With only a single word tweaked, it sailed through with his nod.

In the second book in my Olivia Benning Series, Over the Edge ~ Murder Returns to the Caribbean, I needed to understand how the currents ran along Peterborg Peninsula on St. Thomas in the U.S.V.I.—particularly if “something” was dropped into the water on the bayside versus the oceanside of the peninsula. So, I reached out to a friend who is a seasoned captain there. He was very helpful, providing maps and regaling stories about how dangerous it can be on the point and the fate of the unfortunate who have stood in the wrong spot on the rocks at the wrong time.

In the third book of my coastal Maine mysteries, Murder Returns to the Precipice, I needed to get into the background of a certain coin that plays a key role in the story. What is referred to as the 1933 Double Eagle had an abbreviated stint in circulation when President Franklin D. Roosevelt recalled all gold, in an attempt to end the bank crisis of the 1930s. The few coins that were not returned soared in value but were deemed illegal to possess. I found it fascinating digging into this unique coin’s history, often uncovering varying versions of the story.

So for me, research isn’t visiting the local library or reading tombs of historical or technical information before I start a rough draft. Most of what I use is what I’ve experienced living or visiting in colorful locales. As the story develops, however, and as the need arises, I turn to Google or an expert in a particular field.

You can learn more about Penny Goetjen and her books via her website and also follow her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Goodreads. The Woman Underwater is now available via all major booksellers.

Author R&R with Lisa Sherman

 

Lisa Sherman's love of words led her to pursue a BA in English Literature as an undergraduate. Her interest in jurisprudence led her to law school, where she attained her Juris Doctor degree. Later, Lisa rounded out her love of writing by obtaining an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University and became a book reviewer for Windy City Reviews through the Chicago Writers Association. Her debut novel, Forget Me, was released in August.

Forget Me follows Wandy Dellas, who feels void of an identity after she was robbed of her memory in a mysterious accident. But things change when Wanda learns about a missing woman who looks all too familiar. She can't help but wonder if this case might hold answers to her past. The closer she gets to the truth, the closer danger gets to her and her young daughter, leaving her to question whether some memories are best left forgotten.

Lisa stops by In Reference to Murder to discuss writing the book:

 

THE ROMANCE NOVEL THAT WANTED TO BE A THRILLER...

When I first began drafting what would become my debut novel, Forget Me, I set out to write a romance novel. I sat in front of my computer screen as thoughts of "meet cutes" and happily ever after endings buzzed through my mind. And just like the title of the classic song by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh, I was "in the mood for love." Romance would be my guide.  

Regardless of the type of book an author is writing, all novels have certain elements that lead them to fall into a particular genre. Essentially, every genre comes with things readers want to see happen in the novels they choose to read. This is also known as reader expectations. For example, readers who choose a historical fiction novel are looking for a story in which the characters are living in an earlier time period. These readers are hoping to immerse themselves in the details that make up the flavor of that era. Details like the fashions of the day, the popular cuisine, and the inherent battles of that century. Given those expectations, a reader would likely feel dissatisfied if they discovered the book they thought was traditional historical fiction took place in outer space.

While keeping the parameters of genre expectations in mind, I pecked away at my computer keyboard for months, trying to add the elements of a romance novel to my story. I knew exactly how I wanted the narrative to play out: who would fall in love with whom, and how, and why, as well as what obstacles my heroine and hero would face on their way to true love. Their journeys were tattooed upon my heart.

But as I worked my way through the draft, strange things started to happen. My beloved characters tapped me on the shoulder and instead of whispering sweet nothings in my ear, they spoke to me of crime and mayhem. I dismissed their musings, pushed those plot threads out of my mind, and reassured myself there was an easy explanation for these shenanigans. I’m an attorney. Of course I’m going to view things through a legal lens. Satisfied with this explanation, I forged ahead on a path to at least a "happy for now" ending to my story.

But my characters were not satisfied. They voiced their complaints louder. Much to my shock and dismay, one of them even tossed around the idea of murder! It was time for me to listen.

So, I saved my work in progress and created a fresh, new document on my computer. I began writing a book with twists and turns, mind teasers, a puzzle, a mystery…and murder. By the time I finished my first draft, I knew my desire to write a romance novel was destined to go unrequited. And in the same way romance novels often play out, the one" I thought was "meant to be" wasn’t the one at all. Instead, my story met the elements of a novel I hadn’t planned on writing. Yet it landed in a genre I’ve fallen in love with nonetheless…a psychological thriller.

 
You can learn more about Lisa Sherman and her writing via her website and also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Forget Me is available through the publisher, Speaking Volumes, and via all major booksellers.