I thought it
might be fun to do interview a fellow author and have her interview me. So I
sat down on a Saturday afternoon for a Facebook chat with fellow writer Wendy
Burke. Wendy is the author of 6 books including the recent Safe at Home.
Cyn: Ready to do this
thing?
Wendy: Sure...I'm just looking up
what an OHP hat is called...other than 'hat'.
Cyn: Let’s talk a little about ourselves. I'm a
mystery writer and Wendy writes... What would you call your particular romance
genre?
Wendy:
Porn.
Cyn: Lady porn?
Wendy: Erotic romance.
Mommy porn works too.
Cyn:
I once had a male coworker complain that guys
can't sit in the lunchroom
thumbing through Playboy,
but ladies can read romance novels and nobody
cares.
Wendy: With a novel --
the pictures are in your head...not in print! And for the most part, women paint a better
mental picture than men do.
Cyn: Most romance novels are spicier than
Playboy. Especially yours.
Wendy:
True-- but mental
pictures aren't interrupting the daily work flow.
And mostly go unnoticed
...especially since the invention of eReaders!
Cyn: We've known each other for like one
million years.
Wendy: and a half, I think
Cyn: What's one question you've always wanted
to ask me about my work?
Wendy: Are there people in your head that
pretty much talk to you all day long?
Cyn: Oh yes. The inside of my head is like a
Robin Williams routine.
Wendy:
Less hairy, I would imagine!
Cyn: There's some
hairy people in there, too.
Wendy: you keep them
impeccably well-groomed from what I can see...
Cyn: I've always wanted to ask you when you
wrote your first story.
Wendy: When I was old
enough to realize there were people in my head more fun than those around me. I
would imagine it was BEFORE I even knew what 'writing' was. As for concrete
writing, most likely late grade school-- as for thinking I could make money off
of it -- 10 years ago. I always
'wrote'...
Cyn: Me too. I
distinctly remember drawing a little book about two brothers who lived in a
windmill. I had confused a windmill with a lighthouse because they had boats.
Wendy: What author do you admire most?
Cyn: The first author I ever truly loved was
Laura Ingalls Wilder. I wrote Michael Landon angry letters over the TV show
Little House On The Prairie versus the book. Like a 7-page letter. Robert B.
Parker is a huge influence on me as well. The way he writes dialogue, how
prolific he was. How he keeled over while writing at this desk. Who
inspires you?
Wendy: Poor guy...not
the way I want to go.
I'm not really
'inspired' by any one writer -- as I don't read what my writing genre is.
I like the story like
of a Brad Thor and James Rollins. I'm more inspired to 'write' by something
that happens during the day. I like sad heroes.
Cyn: Me, too. I collect little bits
of every single day to use in stories.
Wendy: you know how that works in my head!
Cyn: We've both worked
in newsrooms and that's a great place for plots in general
Every single crime in
any of my books has been inspired by a similar real-life crimes. Even the awful
things that go down in What The Chat Dragged In
Wendy: Because a newsroom is also filled with
'characters.' All with have their own weird flaws
Cyn: More specifically what inspired what you're
working on now?
Wendy: I"m going
to have to plead the 5th on that one--as it stemmed from a real life
conversation with a real life law enforcement officer -- some would say an
'inappropriate' conversation from an elected official! But 'he' probably didn't
realize my reaction to it...just a simple innocent comment --which pushed the people
in my head in to high gear! And just remember -- text me at 2 a.m, for no
apparent reason -- you're in a book...
Cyn: The hazards of dealing with writer folks.
For me it was tamer, a visit to the Cirque de Soliel. I was sitting in the
audienc eand was impressed that the clown band was playing their own
instruments and singing
Wendy: Ah---Killer Clowns From Out of State!'
Cyn: And I started
thinking, wow these are super-talented people. I wondered what their lives were
like when not performing. What do accordion playing clowns do in their off
time?
By the end of the performance, I had most of
the book.
Wendy: And our poor spouses wonder what's
going on in our heads!
Cyn: That's the dual
track running in a writer's life. Watching and liking the circus, writing a
book, too. On the drive home, my husband said, "You're writing in your
head, I can see the way your eyes are moving."
Wendy: Some would call that schizophrenia
Cyn: My friend the psych nurse tells me my eyes
move exactly like a schizophrenic’s when I write
Wendy:
Scary! I just blurt
things out now...and the old man gets it. Like how looking over the treetops
into Green Bay in WI's Door County -- I just said, I want to sit here and
writer forever -- in my head I was doing just that -- could see the characters
on the deck having a conversation...people just don't get that
Cyn: My husband gets
it. He usually just brings me coffee when he sees it taking over
Knowing you in real life, you would be the
person I would least likely peg as a romance writer
Wendy: Why?
Cyn: You are
super-duper practical. How did you find your genre? Crime, I'd buy in a minute.
Wendy: I had promised
to write a cheesy baseball romance for a friend...
And so I did. I'm a
romantic at heart -- people don't see that side of me. I still want to write a
political thriller --- but with sex ....lots of sex...in it!
Cyn: People tend to
think the opposite about me. They think I am chipper. So, the dark edge to some
of my work surprises them. At least I think I am regarded as chipper.
Wendy: Knowing you-- didn't surprise me!
Cyn: I've yelled at you more than most people! All in the line of duty at work. Newsrooms are intense places.
Wendy: It's sometimes difficult to be 'nice'
in a setting like that -- which is why I'm glad I don't have the responsibility
I once did in a newsroom
Cyn: I wanted to ask if there was another
genre you'd like to explore, but you already answered. So for you it's a
political thriller?
Wendy: I wanna be Brad Thor or James Rollins
when I grow up! But for now, I would rather just work in the realm of fantasies
--- too much of that political crap right now.
Cyn: I'd really like
to be able to write a good piece of sci-fi or fantasy. I love that genre, but I
don't feel that I write it well. I have a half finished book called Araknj's
Quantum that's a steampunk mystery about time-traveling murderous robot chefs. I
let my friends pick my National Novel Writing Month project by naming random
things and that's what happened.
Wendy: See...I can't write something that
doesn't 'exist' or can't actually 'happen'...just the way my head works.
Cyn: You wouldn't
believe the research I did for that book, the real world research to create a
feasible alternate reality. In that world, India was part of the Holy Roman
Empire because I expanded the Pourtugese influence that exist in part of India
to most of India. I researched Catholic Indian names.
Wendy: And here I am looking for a hat. My
brain doesn't work that way -- I can't relate to it.
Cyn: I was also
researching how you resign from the Ohio National Guard today. When you can do it, what the procedures
are.... That may be a spoiler for my next book.
Wendy: I got it figured out! Deputy Hottie?
Cyn:
We’ll see. Speaking of books... I will ask an impossible question. Which
of your books is your favorite?
Wendy: Probably The One He Chose, Haste Ye Back a close second. Of course, I like them all...but those two
stick out to me for some reason. You? Which of yours?
Cyn: Probably What The Chat Dragged In. Because it was so hard to write, but I think I pulled it off.
Wendy: You did, very well.
Cyn: We need to promote ourselves a little
Wendy: You know how NOT good I am at that.
Cyn: So, talk about
what you have out now and what you're working on
Wendy: Safe at Home has been out a couple of weeks -- a story I really enjoyed writing,
because, although the 'seed' for it was much more baseball oriented - it still
came out as the story I was looking for. Currently I'm now in love with two new
characters ELI & ZOE -- he's a widowed sheriff and she's a newsroom 'jack
of all trades' -- they've never met -- but OH they will...they SURE will!
Cyn: Right now, I'm finishing up the final
edits on Killer Clowns From Out of State.
Wendy: Such a great
title! Reminds me of the ICP incidents.
Cyn: It's about a
small town female police chief that runs over a circus performer
who may or may not be
connected to a murder. Did I mention that he's handsome?
Wendy: The circus performer?
Cyn: Yes.
Wendy: With or without clown make up?
Cyn: Without, he's
only a fill-in clown. He's actually an assistant stage manager who knows how to
play the accordion. I'm proud of how it all comes together and makes sense.
Do you remember
a few years ago, me telling you before the morning news meeting about a dream I had about
a guy who had a dream and woke up to find that things in real life were
happening in the dream. I dreamed the whole story in one night as a dream?
Wendy: Yes...I read part of that one.
Cyn: It's a novella, and it’s going to be out
soon as well.
Wendy: Title?
Cyn: Oh yeah, that's
helpful for promotion. The Girl of His Dreams, A little different for me.
Though there is a mystery, it's just not a
murder mystery,
Hey,
when are you ever going to write that book about NASCAR we talked about?
Wendy: Eventually maybe.
Cyn: So many ideas, so little time.
Wendy: I know.
Cyn: That's the hardest part of being a writer, don't you think?
For me, not what to
write, but when to write.
Even if I had every hour of the day free to
write, I don't know that I could get it all down.
On that note, we decided to end our
conversation and actually get back to writing.
