Today my guest is Frank Scully. He's a great talent and a very funny man. So please help me welcome him to the party.
1: When did you first begin writing?
The first time I ever seriously wrote anything was when I was a freshman in college more than 40 years ago. After college, I served in Vietnam and worked on my career. I didn’t get back to writing again until the early 90’s.
2: Where do you get your inspiration for writing from?
Everywhere. Life, work, books, everything and anything can provide a spark.
3: Do you have any rituals that help you get in the mood to sit down and write?
Not really. Once I get into a book it almost takes over and I have to learn to push myself away from writing to take breaks and get some rest.
4: Are you a plotter or a pantser when you write? Why does that work for you?
I begin with a pretty good idea of the full makeup of the main characters and the general theme, plot and curve of the story line. From there, once I start writing things can take some surprising twists and turns that I don’t see coming until I write them down.
5: Who are some of your favorite authors to read when you are not writing?
Tony Hillerman, Michael Connelly, Robert Ludlum, Len Deighton, Martin Cruz-Smith and too many others to name.
6: Are you currently reading anything right now?
I’ve been reading some of Lee Child’s novels recently among others.
7: How do you deal with writer’s block?
When I have writer’s block, I usually just go back to what I have already written and edit for a while until it gets me in the mood to start writing.
8: What do you like to do for fun when you’re not writing?
I am a poker player. When not writing and I want to relax I will play poker either online or at a casino. Poker is like life. You can do everything right and still lose. In the summer I might spend some time in the garden. It’s like editing. There are always weeds to pull.
9: If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and why?
If I had to pick one spot among the many I would like to see it would be Italy. I would love to tour Italy.
10: What advice do you have for new authors?
Write because that is what you want to do. Don’t do it for fame or money. Write for the fun of writing.
11: Is there anything you’d like people to know about you?
Nothing in particular comes to mind.
12: Tell us a bit about your book. What’s it about?
The first time I ever seriously wrote anything was when I was a freshman in college more than 40 years ago. After college, I served in Vietnam and worked on my career. I didn’t get back to writing again until the early 90’s.
2: Where do you get your inspiration for writing from?
Everywhere. Life, work, books, everything and anything can provide a spark.
3: Do you have any rituals that help you get in the mood to sit down and write?
Not really. Once I get into a book it almost takes over and I have to learn to push myself away from writing to take breaks and get some rest.
4: Are you a plotter or a pantser when you write? Why does that work for you?
I begin with a pretty good idea of the full makeup of the main characters and the general theme, plot and curve of the story line. From there, once I start writing things can take some surprising twists and turns that I don’t see coming until I write them down.
5: Who are some of your favorite authors to read when you are not writing?
Tony Hillerman, Michael Connelly, Robert Ludlum, Len Deighton, Martin Cruz-Smith and too many others to name.
6: Are you currently reading anything right now?
I’ve been reading some of Lee Child’s novels recently among others.
7: How do you deal with writer’s block?
When I have writer’s block, I usually just go back to what I have already written and edit for a while until it gets me in the mood to start writing.
8: What do you like to do for fun when you’re not writing?
I am a poker player. When not writing and I want to relax I will play poker either online or at a casino. Poker is like life. You can do everything right and still lose. In the summer I might spend some time in the garden. It’s like editing. There are always weeds to pull.
9: If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and why?
If I had to pick one spot among the many I would like to see it would be Italy. I would love to tour Italy.
10: What advice do you have for new authors?
Write because that is what you want to do. Don’t do it for fame or money. Write for the fun of writing.
11: Is there anything you’d like people to know about you?
Nothing in particular comes to mind.
12: Tell us a bit about your book. What’s it about?
Resurrection Garden is a tale of murder, love and redemption set in North Dakota in the first decade of the 20th century.
Jake Turner, a man who travels alone with a reputation he would like to leave behind, is a target for ruthless killers who want to stop him from solving a murder. And that’s the least of his problems.
Jake, a scarred veteran of the charge up San Juan Hill, has been a lone drifter through much of the settling of the west. Opportunity was growing out of the newly turned sod of the North Dakota prairie in 1904 when he stopped to take a part time job as a Deputy Sheriff, expecting to move on again when the dark parts of his past catch up to him.
An investigation into a murder of a man hated by everyone has threads that lead to his best friend, Isaac. Jake is ambushed and almost killed, but is nursed back to health by Isaac. While Jake follows the clues into a labyrinth of hatred, sordid crimes and missing money he becomes attached to an eight year old orphaned boy named Andy and falls in love with Isaac’s sister, Alice. After being alone for so long with no hope or care for what tomorrow might bring, Jake finds it difficult to accept these new emotional attachments.
Jake believes in Justice, but before he had only his own life on the line. When Andy is kidnapped and almost killed, Jake knows the killers will do anything to stop him. In order to protect Alice and Andy, he must break their hearts and leave them and North Dakota behind.
Jake knows he’ll be back. So do the killers. Trap and counter trap are laid. Jake knows there will be graves. He just doesn’t know who will be in them.
Thank you Frank for being here. I can't wait to read Ressurection Garden. I love the cover for this and for your other upcoming novel, Dead Man's Gambit.
Jake Turner, a man who travels alone with a reputation he would like to leave behind, is a target for ruthless killers who want to stop him from solving a murder. And that’s the least of his problems.
Jake, a scarred veteran of the charge up San Juan Hill, has been a lone drifter through much of the settling of the west. Opportunity was growing out of the newly turned sod of the North Dakota prairie in 1904 when he stopped to take a part time job as a Deputy Sheriff, expecting to move on again when the dark parts of his past catch up to him.
An investigation into a murder of a man hated by everyone has threads that lead to his best friend, Isaac. Jake is ambushed and almost killed, but is nursed back to health by Isaac. While Jake follows the clues into a labyrinth of hatred, sordid crimes and missing money he becomes attached to an eight year old orphaned boy named Andy and falls in love with Isaac’s sister, Alice. After being alone for so long with no hope or care for what tomorrow might bring, Jake finds it difficult to accept these new emotional attachments.
Jake believes in Justice, but before he had only his own life on the line. When Andy is kidnapped and almost killed, Jake knows the killers will do anything to stop him. In order to protect Alice and Andy, he must break their hearts and leave them and North Dakota behind.
Jake knows he’ll be back. So do the killers. Trap and counter trap are laid. Jake knows there will be graves. He just doesn’t know who will be in them.
Thank you Frank for being here. I can't wait to read Ressurection Garden. I love the cover for this and for your other upcoming novel, Dead Man's Gambit.
4 comments:
I loved your comparison to a garden weeding it out and editing.
Another place on your list should be Greece. Beautiful waters, archeological sites and ruins, and the best party country around. :)
Great interview! And Resurrection Garden was a fantastic read.
I have not read Resurrection Garden yet but I did do a cover blog about it and was able from the brief blurbs Frank put out here to immerse myself in his world. It was a delightful place to research and took me back to a wild, tempestous time that is staid in our history books, but came alive because of Frank's depictions. I know Frank has been trying for a long time to get his work published, and how frustrating that is, because I have walked the same walk. All I can say to him is, Frank, I am so delighted that I am one of the first to have the privilege to know hear your author's voice and want to thank you for taking me on such a pleasure packed ride back into our Country's tumultuous past.
I think I was in college the same time you were but the only thing I wrote then were term papers and poetry. You story sounds intriguing. Good luck!
sounds like your my kind of writer. loved the weeds to be pulled comment. never thought of comparing working in the yard to editing. lol. hey, the book sounds good too.
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