Hello Gary, welcome to Brand Education! How does living in both Italy and the USA influence your writing?
I believe living in a small village in Italy, struggling with the language, and learning the culture gives me a contrasting perspective on life. I own a home there, so paying taxes and arranging boiler inspections on the house boilers are a learning experience. My friends complain about a trip to the DMV to renew their driver’s license, and I laugh. They have no idea what I go through to renew my visa. Last year, it took three trips to stand in line for hours. The last visit was two hours in the rain, with hundreds of immigrants worldwide and no one speaking English. It gives me a different perspective on how others handle life’s problems. My protagonist is an American writer who maintains a house in Italy and America. My experiences are also his and add to the texture of his character. Living in both countries has influenced my writing in many ways I am unaware of.
What inspired you to become a writer?
In 1994, I was asked to participate in the Connections Leadership Project for the State of California. Halfway through the three-year project, the editor asked if I would consider writing and submitting something for the book. I submitted three articles, and to my surprise, all three were published in the book Options, Making Connections in Today’s World. Published in 1997.
At the end of the project, the committee had a final meeting to celebrate the end of the project. Everyone connected with the project was there, and it was a large crowd. At the end of the luncheon, the editor addressed the group at the head table. As the last order of business, he wanted to leave us with one final thought from one of the articles in the book. So, he began reading my article on my son’s death. Immediately I recognized my words and became very uncomfortable as the crowd started to look around. He introduced me at the end of the reading and said, “Thank you,” ending the conference.
As I started out, I heard someone calling my name. I turned, and a middle-aged gentleman was heading toward me through the crowd. He approached me and stood there for a second, searching for words. Then he said, “I couldn’t let you leave without saying,” he paused, composing himself. Then continued,” I, too, have had a devastating loss recently. However, your words have given me a new perspective. You changed my life.” Finally, he reached for my hand, shook it, turned, and left, disappearing into the crowd.
That was the moment I understood why people write and why I write.
Can you describe your typical writing routine and environment? How do you stay motivated and productive?
When I am writing. I have to write every day. Production increases each day. First, two hundred words a day, then three hundred words, then five hundred words to a maximum of about nine hundred a day. If I take a break for a day or two, it starts again at about two hundred words daily. I do have a ritual. I write at the same time of day in the same spot. In America, I write in a walk-in closet I turned into an office. Jazz playing softly. It is the same routine in Italy, except that the office is a large rock room.
How do you develop your characters and plotlines? Do you use any specific techniques or tools?
I have no formula or unique technique. My Characters dictate the plot as I am writing. I never know where the storyline is going. I focus on the chapter on the dialog and interaction between the characters. By the end of the chapter, they had decided what the next chapter would be.
Character development is different. Shelby Foote said. You don’t learn to write dialogue in a classroom. You learn dialogue in the workplace, steel mills, construction, paper plants, et cetera, and paying attention to how people speak. Ernest Hemingway was quoted as saying once. To write a very good story. You must have experienced it.
I choose not to go to college. The first significant decision of my life and the best. I started working as a common laborer a few years later as an apprentice electrician. After nine years, I started a small company that grew into a multimillion-dollar national electrical company. It was a great life to prepare myself for writing. My work history has given me a great reservoir of mannerisms, speech patterns, et cetera on which to build characters.
What themes or messages do you aim to convey through your work, and how do you incorporate them into your stories?
I start each book without a theme, focusing on the protagonist and the situation he finds himself in. As the story progresses, a subplot begins to develop. It is this subplot that has a theme. The story, I hope, is good. The subplot is always deeper and concerns a philosophical problem people encounter in their own lives. Courtly love. Where have our beliefs on what constitutes murder come from? How do two highly successful people maintain a loving relationship et cetra? After finishing a book, I hope the subplot gives the reader pause and a new perspective to think about.
How do you maintain suspense throughout a long-running series like Warren Steelgrave?
This is a hard question to answer. Let me answer it this way. As mentioned before, I start a new book without any plan, focusing on the first chapter. Warren Steelgrave and the cast of characters dictate the story; it’s never planned. As a long-running series, I know the characters so well that you know something is about to happen when one shows up in the scene. This anticipation is suspense. I sometimes add something to a scene that makes no sense, not even to me. Then, three chapters later, I used it. It becomes a clue. My readers have picked up on this. When something unrelated to the scene shows up, they question what it means, anticipating the answer.
How does your writing process differ between a series and standalone novels?
Writing a series is different in a significant way. I believe what Raymond Chandler said about being creative, he said. When you are in your head, you are not being creative. When I start a new book in the series, I am in my head a lot, balancing the writing between a new reader and an old fan. You must put enough background so you don’t lose the new reader. But not so much background you bore the fan of the series. The book can start slow for the first three chapters, then it’s off to the races.
What’s been the most rewarding part of writing the Warren Steelgrave series, and what challenges have you faced?
My biggest challenge in a writing career is that I am dyslexic and gaining the confidence to write. When writing, the word my is almost always by, and the word job is jop, et cetera. So, proofreading and attention span become big problems because of my short attention span. My books have so many mistakes that one proofreader will not find them all. So, four different proofreaders proofread my novels.My greatest satisfaction is hearing from someone who comments that the book gave them a new perspective on something they are dealing with in their life.
What can you tell us about your latest book, In the Blood?
In this latest book in the series, Warren Steelgrave deals with the separation between Cindy O’Brian, the love of his life, and himself. This causes a distraction that concerns his good friend, Jack Sullivan. They are avoiding killers all over Italy, and Jack can tell Warren is not on top of his game. Jack is afraid Warren’s distraction with Cindy might cause their death.
Congratulations on your New York award! How has this recognition affected your writing?
To be invited to a Black Tie dinner to receive an international award, be called on stage, and receive four!! There are no words to describe the satisfaction. At times, all creatives, writers, painters, et cetra have doubts about their work. These awards have given me new confidence in my writing.
How has Warren Steelgrave’s character evolved over the series, and what major challenges has he faced?
In each book, Warren Steelgrave faces many challenges staying alive. The series starts when he is a young sixty-five-old. He has aged over the series and has to come up with more creative ways to escape and stay alive because of his age.
Warren Steelgrave, in the first four books, was a deep believer that to kill someone for any reason sent you straight to hell. He was willing to accept that as a consequence if put in a position to save someone. He always found a way out of being placed in that position. In the book Betrayal, he finds himself in a situation where he is plotting the murder of two people. He walks to the church of his great-grandfather and spends the afternoon confronting the issue with his God, which changes his perspective. Evil has to be stopped when encountered.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers who are just starting out in their careers?
First, to be a great author, you must read a lot to find your voice. If you enjoy reading nonfiction history, don’t think you will write a great mystery novel.
The second is experience. Hemmingway said if you have not experienced it, you can’t write effectively about it. So, put part of yourself and your experiences into your stories.
Third, know your weaknesses. I am dyslexic; I spend the most money on proofreaders, not editors.
Fourth, know why you write and stay focused on that. You cannot please everyone. Staying focused on why you write helps with the criticism, which will make the praise much sweeter and will also come.
Five, do not think too far ahead in a story you are writing. Instead, focus on the scene and the characters. If the characters are real and have a personality, they will come to life, take over, and direct the story.
Sixth, find the discipline to write every day. I can always throw it away, but write something. It can be gobbledygook, but write.
What’s next for you in your writing journey?
I am forty-five thousand words into a new Wareen Steelgrave and hope to finish by fall. I have been getting requests to write articles for different magazines. That’s it for the near future.
Find out more at https://garysmithauthor.com/