MLC: Do you remember the first mystery you ever read? If so, what was it, and what pulled you into it?
AUTHOR: I was an only child living in a very small town (2,000 people) with no bookstore and not even a library until I was 12. So my books were few and every one was precious. When I was about 9, I went along with my parents to the home of Harry and Mary Walker, friends of theirs who had two older daughters who were quite a bit older than me. I had taken a book to read while there (listening to adults talk was usually very boring), but when Mary saw me pull out my book, she mentioned that if I needed more books to read, her daughters had some. Of course, I eagerly said I might need more. So she showed me a bookshelf with books about Trixie Belden, Ginny Gordon, Cherry Ames, Nancy Drew and Donna Parker. I don’t remember which book I read first, but I do remember how excited I was and how I couldn’t wait for the next time my parents were invited over to Harry and Mary’s house for an evening. I eventually read all their books and I bought many of them (including the entire Trixie Belden series (my personal favorite) for my own bookshelf.
MLC: When did you first decide you wanted to write a mystery, and what led you to that decision?
AUTHOR: I’ve always read mysteries, but for some reason, when I began writing, it actually didn’t occur to me to try to write mysteries. I think I felt it would be too difficult to do all that plotting, and I knew nothing about police work and investigations. But one Boxing Day, I was reading a mystery I’d picked up from the library, and it wasn’t very good (I figured out whodunit way too early!), so I threw it on the floor of our family room, and said out loud, “I could do better than that!”
My husband was sitting in the room reading the newspaper. Hearing my comment, he said, “Well, why don’t you?”
I thought for a moment. Could I really do better than this author? I guess I couldn’t do much worse. Did I have any ideas? Well… Several years before, for some really weird reason, I started noticing places where bodies could be found. Don’t laugh. It’s true. And I wasn’t looking for them at all!
One of the places was a Japanese garden in Vancouver. We were walking there with our two toddlers, and I still recall it as if it were yesterday, walking along this serene path, with a gurgling brooks and little wooden bridges and beautifully manicured bushes and trees, and coming around a corner and spotting a bush, and thinking, “That would be a good place to see two feet sticking out!” Not! I mean I don’t ever want to come upon a body in real life.
But that’s what I thought. And a few months later, I had a similar experience in another setting. And a year later, I had another. And then another…
So, sitting in my family room, I wrote down all my “settings” for murder, and chose the garden one as the first one, and figured out whose body it would be. Once I knew whose body it was, everything else came from that – all the other characters and the location and the plot and everything. And then I had to decide what type of mystery it would be, and since my favorite is the classic British style of Christie, Heyer, James, etc., that’s the direction I went in, although it actually took a couple of drafts before I got it totally figured out.
Now, I should mention here that I home-schooled my sons, so the Christmas holidays were my holidays, too. I urged my boys to go play with their friends.
Of course, Christmas vacation ended in a few weeks, so I had to put my first draft away. All told, it was 17 years from that Boxing Day moment until I held a copy of that book (eventually titled
Shaded Light) in my hands a few days before Christmas in 1999.
MLC: Do you write in any other genres? If so, which ones?
AUTHOR: When I first began writing, for some reason, I wrote from the POV of a teenage boy. I’d been teaching high schools, so I must have thought I knew something about them. I ended up writing several books that way. I’ve also written personal experiences articles, stories about people and how they impacted life and life impacted them, and a little bit of most other kinds of writing. In addition to my two mysteries, I have five novels for teens, three nonfiction books for teens, a Christmas play, and a whole raft of columns, articles and short stories.
MLC: Which comes first for you, the plot or the characters?
AUTHOR: Well, as I said above, for my mysteries, to date it’s been the setting. I have all these places to find bodies that I need to use up.
But realistically speaking, it’s the characters. I spend a lot of time figuring out whose body it is and then who the other characters are, and the plot basically flows out of that. For my second mystery,
Glitter of Diamonds, long before I started writing mysteries, we were at a baseball game and I had one of my “there’s a place to find a body” moments when I looked at the pitcher’s mound. I later refined that and made it the bullpen, but the whole story came from that. Whose body would it be, and who would be the people in that person’s life, and so forth.
MLC: When you are all wrapped up in the story, do you feel like you could solve the crime, or maybe even solve all the world’s mysteries?
AUTHOR: Absolutely not! I rarely even try to guess whodunit when I’m reading mysteries. And I feel disappointed when it’s so obvious I figure it out. With my books, I know who did it before I start writing, and my goal is to make it as convoluted as I can so no one can figure it out. But I have none of the genes of Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher.
MLC: Do you write every day, or what kind of a schedule do you have? Do you write fulltime, or do you have a “day job”?
AUTHOR: I wish I had a schedule! I tell people I’ve never been a writer, and they think I’m crazy, but it’s true. I’ve never had a regular workweek. I’ve never been one of those people who writes for a set number of hours every day. I think I’d love to do that, but life keeps getting in the way. I homeschooled for a total of 17 long years. I’ve always been very active in my church or community. I do a lot of teaching and speaking (I have this thing about always wanting to share what I’ve learned.) I “accidentally” started an organization for Canadian writers six years ago and it just took over my life. So I have to create time to write, and some days are better than other – some months – even some years are better than others. When I do write, I’m pretty quick. But making time, that’s the hard part. And it’s not getting any easier.
MLC: Other than your writing, what do you enjoy doing? What is the most important thing to you in your day-to-day life?
AUTHOR: Reading, mostly mysteries. The odd other book by Austen, Lewis, Tolkien, Pratchett, or L’Amour. Watching sports, especially baseball. Watching Star Trek and movies that are funny but say something, like First Wives Club and Music and Lyrics, or Cars, or the screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s. I like movies where the dialogue is snappy. And music. I usually write with the music going strong. Mostly country western and not new country. The real stuff. Johnny Cash. Hank Williams. Ian Tyson. Toby Keith. Clint Black. Terri Clark. Paul Brandt. I think I’m really a blue collar person and so are my books.
And I love watching TLC’s What Not to Wear and seeing people’s self-confidence dramatically increased. Sounds like I sit around a lot. I do, but I also walk and swim and try to stay physically fit.
As for the most important thing in my life, I’d say relationships. With God, with my family, and with other people. I’ve come to see that the main reason I have so much trouble writing on a regular basis is that people have always come first, and I will always drop everything else if someone needs me. Not sure if I want to change that.
MLC: Who are your favorite mystery authors? Do you try to emulate them in your own writing?
AUTHOR: How long do we have? I have so many favorites. I love the classic Golden Age mysteries by people like Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, etc. … I love the books of Desmond Bagley, Dick Francis, P. D. James, M. C. Beaton, and others. But I also love the classic American books of Marlow, MacDonald, Erle Stanley Gardner, and so forth. And then there are current writers, from the humor of Donna Andrews and Tim Cockey to historicals such as Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen series, to the grittier books of Robin Burcell and T. Jefferson Parker. And then there are the Canadian authors I’ve come to know and appreciate. Peter Robinson, Howard Engel, Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Rosemary Aubert, Rick Blechta, Lou Allin, and the list goes on. And then there’s Crime and Punishment and others that break out of the genre but are really mysteries.
My favorite, I guess, is a book that has a great plot and at least one character I can sympathize with, and a story where I learn something new, and where there’s a bit of humor, a bit of romance, an absence of violence or swearing that seems to be there only for shock value rather than to advance the plot, and a satisfying ending that feels right and doesn’t leave a lot of loose ends.
I think that describes most of Georgette Heyer’s books, and yes, she is my favorite author. Her book, Behold Here’s Poison, is probably my favorite mystery. And yes, that’s who I am attempting to emulate in my Manziuk and Ryan Series.
MLC: In your present book, is this part of a series, or is it a standalone book?
AUTHOR: Glitter of Diamonds is the second in the Manziuk and Ryan Mystery series.
MLC: If you are doing a series, do you see an end to it sometime, or do you plan to go on for several years with it?
AUTHOR: I see myself doing maybe six to eight books. I personally get a bit tired of a single series that goes on forever. There are a lot of dynamics going on. Plus I have other books I’d like to write.
MLC: Do your characters ever drive you a bit crazy by going off in their own direction? If so, how do you rein them in, or do you just let them run off on their own?
AUTHOR: Actually, that’s the fun part. You have this two-dimensional “person” you’ve created on paper. And you start to write, and something magical happens. And you discover all these things you didn’t know about the person. Or you knew in a small way, but seeing him or her actually talking and moving, you see from a completely different perspective. That’s what I write for – to have the characters come to life and become “real” to me.
And sometimes, yes, you have to take out a giant eraser and recreate the character because what you’ve got isn’t going to work for your story, Or you have recreate the story-line to work with your character. And sometimes that’s hard, but it’s a bit like pruning a fruit tree. If you just let it go any which way, it won’t be nearly as fruitful in the long run.
MLC: Do you pattern your sleuths after yourself or someone you know? If so, do you let that person know they were your “pattern”?
AUTHOR: Not really. I guess there are bits and pieces of people I’ve known. Can’t help it. If you’ve known anyone tall and your character is tall, you might take little bits from the tall people you’ve known. But I’ve never consciously created a character from the "pattern” of a specific person. Subconsciously, I have no idea.
MLC: How long did it take you to get published? How many rejections did you have to suffer through first? Were you ever tempted to give up? What do you think made the difference when it was accepted?
AUTHOR: The whole publishing thing has been wild. When I got serious about writing (in 1989), I pulled out one of the teen books I’d started writing earlier, and finished it and got it ready and sent it to about 8 publishers. The last one picked it up and it was published less than a year later, in May of 1991. It then took me 7 years before my next book – a nonfiction book for teens – was published. My first mystery didn’t get published until 2000. Seventeen years from conception to delivery!
MLC: Do you ever attend any conferences? If so, which ones?
AUTHOR: I’ve attended Bouchercon twice, Left Coast Crime once, Malice Domestic twice and Bloody Words a number of times. I’d like to attend more, but it takes both time and money, and I wish I could make conversation as well as some of my characters can! I don’t do small-talk well. So I really don’t make good use of the time for the networking I ought to do. It isn’t that I don’t want to get to know people and all that – I can just never think of anything to say to them! Plus, when I talk to another author, I always feel guilty if I haven’t bought their books.
MLC: Do you have to promote your own work, or does your publisher do that for you?
AUTHOR: Unless you’re John Grisham or some other big name author, I don’t really think you have a choice these days. I know some authors who hate every minute spent on promotion, who are solitary people and dread having to speak or talk. I really sympathize with them. As a new author, in order to even get your book considered by many publishers, you need a platform. I’m a member of many writers organizations and listservs, and promotion is a constant topic – what can we do that’s effective and yet won’t cost an arm and a leg and take up too much time or energy. I think it’s unfortunate because you really can’t write and do a lot of promotion at the same time, but if your books don’t sell… It’s a vicious circle. For me, the internet can be one of my best friends in getting the word out about my books without taking huge gulps from my life and money.
MLC: If you have to do marketing, what methods have worked the best for you?
AUTHOR: I’ve also been to several conventions and to Book Expo here in Canada. I try to do as much joint promotion as I can with groups such as Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada and anyone else who gives me the opportunity. And I do quite a bit of stuff on the internet – from interviews like this to being part of a number of mystery listservs, having a page on sites such as Crimespace, and starting a website just for Glitter. And I did a booksigning tour in the spring in the eastern US and I plan to do more signings in the coming year.
MLC: Do you have any idea how your book is selling?
AUTHOR: I know that the hardcover of Glitter of Diamonds was aimed at libraries and collectors, and thanks to some great reviews, including one from Library Journal, it’s being picked up by a lot of libraries. My personal focus is more on the trade paperback version which is just coming out now. I know I can’t afford to buy many books in hardcover, and I’m sure most other readers can’t either. On the other hand, I love it when people ask their library to order my books! That kills two birds with one stone.
And I’m hoping collectors are picking up hardcover copies from mystery bookstores. I’d be glad to mail them a signed bookplate.
MLC: What has been the best review you have gotten, and why?
AUTHOR: Probably the most memorable one ever was the reviewer who not only raved about one of my teen books in print, but personally bought a case of the book and gave them out to teens! How do you top that?
For Glitter of Diamonds, Library Journal called me a “master of plotting” and that made me feel really good, because I think that’s what I worried about most in writing mysteries - could I fool people? I try really hard to come up with a believable and yet tricky plot. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about some little detail that needs to be tweaked. I want people to say, “I didn’t figure it out!” So having Library Journal calls me a “master of plotting” - Wow! I’ve also been really happy to see that
Glitter of Diamonds is getting great reviews from men. Because it has a baseball angle, I think more men will pick it up.
MLC: Have you won any awards, either as an author or for your books? Please tell us about them.
AUTHOR: Yes, I’ve won 6 awards here in Canada. One for a feature article that was painful to write (not my thing at all!), one for a regular column that profiled other authors, two for my teen novel More than Friends, and two for Shaded Light.
MLC: Is there any one certain thing that a reader has written to you that made you just want to jump up and shout “Yes!!!!”?
AUTHOR: What keeps me going is just that – having someone tell me that they read my book and they liked it in some way and they want to read the next one. That’s better than money or fame or anything else (good thing, too, because I’m not making much money and so far not that many people know who I am
). One certain things - For Glitter, I’d have to say it was having my oldest son, who is not a mystery fan, but read it because there was baseball in it, tell me, “It wasn’t cheesy.”
MLC: What is your next project, and when will it be out?
AUTHOR: I’m working on two things: a nonfiction memoir and my next mystery – Opaque Rays. Like the front runners in a horserace, they’re jostling for position. Hopefully, if nothing unexpected happens, I can finish them both within the next two years. But I will have to watch how much speaking I do. Sometimes that threatens to take over. And it’s tempting, because I could make more money doing that.
MLC: If you could write anything at all, ignoring what editors and publishers say they want, what would it be?
AUTHOR: Hmm. I believe that’s what I am doing. I’m fortunate in that I don’t have to rely on my writing for money. So I’m writing the books I’d like to read.
MLC: Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring mystery authors?
AUTHOR: Join a writers organization such as Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers of Canada. Go to conventions and get to know the business. Read – good books or magazines in any genre, books about writing, and books or articles and stories that are the kind you want to write. Don’t start with a book; start with short stories and articles. And learn the craft before you try to break any rules.
MLC: Do you have any teasers for your readers and fans about the next book?
AUTHOR: Well, I had one of those moments of finding a spot for a body while visiting my mother when she was in a nursing home. Now, that may not sound very unique – nursing homes have lots of bodies. But of course, this body wouldn’t be the one you’d expect to find. And they do say, “write what you know.” I think I can come up with something interesting. Bottom-line for me is that there have to be characters I care about.
MLC: If a genie suddenly appeared and said they would grant you just one wish for your books, what would you wish for?
AUTHOR: More time to write! All these characters in my head are clamoring to get out and I need to free them.
MMLC: Please give us your website url and your email address where people can contact you.
AUTHOR: www.glitterofdiamonds.com or www.njlindquist.com; email address is info@njlindquist.com
MLC: Thank you so much for giving us a little glimpse into your books and your life. We look forward to a lot more books from you.
AUTHOR: Thanks so much for having me and for paying attention while I rambled on about myself!