Frequently Asked Questions
What is your favorite part about being an author? Mixing my love of history and my experiences into a compelling story.
What’s something in your writing space at all times? Not really a thing, but I listen to music. Mostly instrumental, classical, or movie soundtracks. Can’t have music with words though.
How did you celebrate when you finished your first book? A glass of champagne with my wife and daughter on our back porch. My daughter was also celebrating finishing her Masters’ degree.
What’s your favorite writing snack or drink? Bourbon on the rocks.
Who is your biggest supporter in writing? My wife. She is my Best friend. My muse. My sounding board. My first draft editor. My anchor.
Where does inspiration come from? My love of learning history and my travel experiences.
Who’s your favorite character you’ve created? Alex Chandler in part for his growth and he is a good reflection of my ideals and my experiences.
What’s your favorite character quote? “The past is dead and gone. Move on or die.”
Describe your book in five words? Compelling, Engaging, Intelligent, Detailed. Suspenseful.
What has been your hardest book to do research for? Historical fiction is hard. Making sure you get the details right is important. If I get a historical fact wrong, I can’t just chalk it up to "it's fiction" because it takes the reader focus away from the story. The hardest part of Book 1 to research was D-Day. There is so much first hand source material to choose from.
How do you select the names of your characters? Most are homages to friends, family, or people for have had an impact, good or bad, in my life.
What advice would you give young authors? Although I am not young, I would just say to just write. Start. Get the ideas down and worry about the organization later. If the story is good it will come together.
Do you let other people read your writing before publishing it? If so, who? Yes. I absolutely need that. I tend to write a few pages and then bounce them off my wife. She keeps my rudder on course.
What do you do to get inside a character's head? It really becomes a combination of what I would do, could do, or what should I do if I was that character in their situation or arc.
If you could be mentioned by any famous author, who would it be and why? Although he is no longer with us, Michael Crichton. Timeline, which is an amazing mix of history and science, is one of my favorite books and had a huge influence on my writing.
Which authors influenced you and why? Michael Crichton, Clive Cussler, H.G. Wells, Steve Berry, Ken Follett, and Diana Gabaldon. All have worked history, science, and modern arcs to create engaging, believable, and compelling stories.
Which part of the book was the most fun to write? I physically wrote every word of the book; 77,000+ words. I used the Remarkable electronic notepad to scribe, erase, re-write, and then it converted my writing to text which I then imported to Word to create my manuscript. That process is fun and keeps me from getting sidetracked by external electronic distractions.
Would you and the main character get along? Absolutely. I think I would get along with the entire Notable team. They would be awesome to work with and would have some great stories to tell.