I met today’s guest, Michele
Drier, in the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime where she preceeded me as
president. She says: Like many journalists I had ideas for novels years ago at
the San Jose Mercury-News. Crawl forward mmmmph years and I published my first
novel in 2011. Since then, I’ve written and published twelve novels and have at
least five more in a holding pattern, waiting to land.
What
is the background noise when you write and why is it there?
There is not background noise
when I write—other than an occasional pitiful meow from my cat when he finds
his food bowl empty.
In fact, his bowl is never
empty, but I write in silence because I’m engrossed in my characters, the
setting and the scenes. He’s a pretty independent cat and spends most of his
day outside but when he wanders into my office and meows, I usually jump out of
my skin. One of these days I worry I’m going to have a heart attack at the
sudden noise.
What is
your most recent excellent read (book, short story or essay) and why?
I don’t know if it’s the most
excellent, but I had a slight accident and spend a couple of weeks mostly flat.
I gave myself permission to read, and went through several John Sandford
books I’d had piling up.
I’m a fan of Sandford—probably
because he comes from a journalism background as a Pulitizer-prize winner who
worked at The Miami Herald and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He has an easy
style that’s very approachable and a great sense of setting.
Are
you a plotter, pantser or something in between and why?
I’ve always said I’m a pantser,
although I also always know the ending of the book. I don’t always know who the
murderer/villain/criminal is though.
I start a book with “Chapter
One” and continue writing until it’s finished, some 65,000 to 70,00 words
later. Much of that comes from years as a journalist and editor at daily
newspapers. When you write a newspaper story, you need to have a structure in
your mind. In fact, I used to teach my novice reporters to write their lede
(newspaper term for the opening sentence and spelled that way to differentiate
it from “lead”, which is what type was made from) before they went out on their
interview. This way, they had a framework for asking questions and a way to
begin the interview. It was easier to change or rewrite the beginning that to
not have an idea what the story was about.
Being a pantser gives me the
freedom to wander down secondary or small roads. And sometimes I meet
interesting characters who demand to be included.
When
you start reading a book do you always finish it? If not, what causes you to
permanently put a book down?
My mother told me that you
should always finish things you start. A few years ago, I decided I was old
enough that this didn’t mean every book.
I’ll stop reading a book because
of bad writing, bad grammar, formula writing, overused trite words, lack of
plotting or pacing, undeveloped characters or gratuitous violence on the page.
I’ve given up on most thrillers because I’m tired of reading about sociopaths
who kidnap, torture, sexually abuse and kill women.
What
do you do that you suspect causes your copyeditor to pull her/his hair out?
Possibly my use of the AP
Stylebook. I don’t use gender identification for some words (“blond” is a
gender-neutral identifier) and the non-use of an Oxford comma. Also, despite
Lourdes Venard’s primer…I probably—mix up – en, em spaces…and ellipses …I grew
up reading Herb Caen’s three dot…journalism
When
you compare your first draft to your final draft, do you net add words or
subtract words? In general, what is it that you add or subtract between first
and final draft?
I tend to write a first draft
that doesn’t get rewritten much. Some plot holes filled, a bit more
description, clearer metaphors. If my critique groups, beta readers or an
editor think I need clarification, I’ll add words or sentences, but generally I
cut words in the final draft. No matter how hard I try, a lone “that” insists
in plopping itself in.
How
did you develop the idea for your most recent work?
My most recent Amy Hobbes
mystery developed because of California’s consistent water woes. I live near
the Delta, where the San Joaquin and Sacramento rives meet and flow into San
Francisco Bay. Gov. Jerry Brown has a proposal to dig massive tunnels under the
Delta to ship Sacramento River water south, bypassing the Delta, the marshlands
and possibly interrupting the Pacific flyway, one of the largest bird migration
paths. Delta residents are incensed; many are farmers who’ve lived on and
farmed the reclaimed land for better than 150 years. Is this proposal enough to
drive someone to kill?
And I’ve begun my next book, a
stand-alone sci-fi psychological thriller about being able to buy more memory for
one’s brain. It popped up when I sat and couldn’t remember a word and said,
“Lord, I wish I could buy more RAM like I can for my computer.”
What
language error, when you hear or see it, grates on you like the screech of fingernails
on a chalkboard?
Oh, let me count the ways! The
biggest and most consistent one is using “that” for “who.” “Who” is for people,
“that” is for objects. My stomach is churning by the end of the nightly news.
Turning nouns into verbs; e.g.
being “tasked” to do something, “exiting” the room, “fisting” someone’s hair.
These comes from the use of jargon (copspeak, educatorspeak, bureaucrat speak).
Homonyms. Wrong verb tenses (the
past tense of “sink” is “sank” not “sunk”), probably more. I discover I’ve
turned into a language curmudgeon.
What
is a piece of writing advice you think is worth sharing?
I’ll choose to share Elmore
Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing:
1. Never open a book with
weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than
"said" to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify
the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
5. Keep your exclamation points
under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of
prose.
6. Never use the words
"suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
7. Use regional dialect, patois,
sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions
of characters.
9. Don't go into great detail
describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part
that readers tend to skip.
My most important rule is one
that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
To learn more about Michele
Drier and her books, please go to www.micheledrier.com
Or her Amazon author page http://www.amazon.com/Michele-Drier/e/B005D2YC8G/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Or visit her fb fan page at www.facebook.com/AuthorMicheleDrier
Or email her at micheledrier@att.net
Here’s a quick blurb for Delta for Death:
California is in the middle of a
catastrophic drought and water managers are scrambling to find ways to conserve
the resource. The Governor has proposed a plan to dig massive tunnels under the
Delta, a sprawling tract of islands, sloughs, farms, marinas, resorts and historic
small towns. The project will ship Sacramento River water south, to the thirsty
corporate farms and cities of Central and Southern California, not a popular
idea in Northern California.
When two bodies turn up at a
state corporation yard in the tiny Delta hamlet of Freeland, Amy Hobbes and her
police reporter, Clarice, are determined to find out if water is an issue worth
killing for.
Terrific interview, Michele! I love it when an author tackles a current issue, as it promises an info brief on something important, as well as a good story. Gotta get a copy! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I try to have some current events in all my books...probably because I'm a trivia nut and news junkie. Even the vampires live in the real world and tackle real issues. In SNAP: I, Vampire, the ninth in the series, they track down, and take down, an arms merchant who's selling to terrorists.
DeleteNice interview! Thanks to both of you.
ReplyDeleteOh, my, what a surprise to see my name mentioned! I'm looking forward to your standalone, Michele. I need more brain RAM, too!
ReplyDelete