I had an opportunity to sit down
and talk to mystery author, Wayne Zurl, awhile back and finally had the time to
put it all together. Like me, Wayne spent his
formative years as a police officer back east. He worked for the
Suffolk County Police Department for twenty years and also served with the
United States Army. I hope you enjoy the interview.
Me: You’re a pretty prolific writer, with something like twenty
books under your belt. As I understand,
they all center around a main protagonist named Sam Jenkins. So for the
uninitiated, describe your debut novel,
A New Prospect, for my readers in 25
words or less.
Wayne Zurl (WZ): How about 28? What it would be like if Andy
Sipowitz was hired as sheriff in Mayberry? A NEW PROSPECT is like an episode of
NYPD Blue in the Smoky Mountains.
Me: Like me, you’re a former cop from New York. So how on earth did
you ever get dragged into the seedy world of being a professional writer?
WZ: After I retired and left Long island, I volunteered at a
Tennessee state park. One of my jobs was to help the rangers keep the French
& Indian War re-enactors from bayoneting each other during the battle
scenarios, but more often, I wrote publicity for the living history program.
That led to selling non-fiction magazine articles—twenty-six in ten years. I
thought getting paid to write was cool, but when I couldn’t dream up anything
new and thrilling to say about 18th century Tennessee, I hung up my spurs. Then
I needed a creative outlet and I decided to try fiction. How difficult could it
be? Ha! That leads me to the next question.
Me: So Sam Jenkins made the move from New York to Tennessee, where
did the idea come from to have him fight crime in the not so sleepy little town
of Prospect, Tennessee?
WZ: Around the time I was contemplating a foray into the world of
fiction—or making model airplanes or oil paintings—I read Robert B. Parker’s
NIGHT PASSAGE, his first Jesse Stone novel. I liked the premise. Stone was a
former LAPD detective who took a chief’s job in a small Massachusetts town. I
asked myself: Why couldn’t I write about a retired New York detective who began
a second career as the chief of a small Tennessee department? I’d been a cop
and Parker wasn’t. I knew all the technicalities and details and would simply
recycle old cases that I investigated or supervised and transplant them from NY
to the fictional small city of Prospect. (Just for clarification and
comparison, some cities in Tennessee are smaller than incorporated villages in
New York.) At that time I knew nothing about the publishing business, but I was
enthused, so I grabbed a pen and pad and started to write.
Me: As a fellow policeman turned writer, I know how hard it is to
accurately portray the day to day ops of a department. How did you capture the
small town department environment? Did
you have any inside help from local guys when you were creating the background
story?
WZ: On Long Island, we had a few small town and village departments
that we assisted (especially with felonies) occasionally. I had a basic idea
about the differences between large PDs with many specialized bureaus and
sections and the small departments that were basically uniformed service
providers. But with my protagonist coming from a big place to a small one, I’d
give him an ego just slightly smaller than South Dakota and let him insist on
doing his own felony investigations. In Tennessee that’s not done, so I need a
little suspension of disbelief here. Prospect PD is typical of the area, twelve
officers and the chief with no detectives. In my last command, when we were
busy and up to strength, I had twenty-eight detectives, two secretaries, and a
community service aide to work with. I wanted Sam to share this background and
with his move, share in my culture shock. When I need an injection of local
atmosphere or procedure, I call on a friend who works as a crime scene
investigator for the county sheriff. He also provides up to date scientific and
forensic information that I relay to my dinosaur friend at prospect PD.
Me: Mystery writers are an odd bunch. Alcoholic beverages aside,
what, or who, would you say has influenced your work the most?
WZ: I’ve got a few favorites who I take inspiration from. Robert B.
Parker for his spare and snappy minimalist style and easy going dialogue. James
Lee Burke as inspiration in descriptions of people, places, and events that he
often turns into sheer poetry. Joseph Wambaugh, the reigning king of police
procedurals, for his style of taking seemingly unrelated police incidents and
eventually meld them into a coherent storyline with a common ending. And that
other guy from Long Island who writes mysteries, Nelson DeMille, who seems to
have an endless supply of quality smartass dialogue coming from his
protagonist, retired Detective John Corey.
Me: Most people pick up a book and don’t realize just how much WORK
actually goes into writing. What would you say was the hardest part in writing?
WZ: When I have the inspiration and the ideas are flowing, writing
is fun. It’s after the last word is on paper, after you finish what you
consider your final edit and you’re happy with the end product that the hard
work begins. If you have no idea who might want your story or book, plan on a
time consuming search for a publisher. I was lucky to have tied up with a
couple of publishers who handled my full-length novels and the shorter
novelettes. So, for a few years, I haven’t had to worry about selling what I
wrote.
That brings me to a job I
detest—the post-publication marketing and promotions. I had envisioned getting
published and then my only other obligation would be show up at some local
bookshop, smile for the customers, and sign a few books, with the publisher’s
marketing people doing what they know best, and about which I am mostly ignorant.
Another misconception. The last time I worked on computers, (1967) they were
seven-feet tall. Today, I’m about a step above clueless with my PC. I didn’t
know a blogspot from a sunspot and Twitter was another word for a stupid
person. Out of necessity, I learned and I persevere—almost daily, and under
protest.
Me: When you wrote A New Prospect, did you envision it being a
onetime deal, or did you have an idea that you were going to do a series of
books?
WZ: I was naive when I envisioned Sam’s career at Prospect PD. I
not only wanted a bunch of books, but a long running TV series or a bunch of
annual TV movies. Just kidding.
Like any cop who worked a crowded
and busy area, I retired with a large collection of war stories. I wanted to
chronicle them all and that would call for numerous books. I ended up
compositing two or more actual incidents which, with a minimum of manipulation,
fit together in a more readable and interesting story. This has worked for four
novels and more than twenty novelettes.
We all know that police work is
not always a thrill a minute, so fictionalizing and embellishing the real stuff
takes them from potentially mundane semi-autobiographical sketches that might
sound like a police report to what I hope comes across as good fiction.
Me: When I was writing my first novel, I had this vision of ‘and
they lived happily ever after’ playing out in my mind. That didn’t work out
quite so well. Did your original idea for the ending actually survive until the
end or did you alter it along the way?
WZ: When I finished my first draft of A NEW PROSPECT, I hired a
“book doctor” to evaluate the manuscript. He gave me good news and bad news. He
liked my style and voice. He liked the characters and natural dialogue. Then he
said, “In 1985 this would have been a quick sell. In 2006, it won’t fly.” He
went on to explain what 21st century publishers (and readers) want to see.
So, I jumped through hoops to
turn the story inside out—bury the backstory—start off with a shocker—adapt an
“arrive late, leave early” style for the scenes and chapters. By the time I
held what I considered a finished product, I had read and revised that thing so
many times, I hated the sight of it. Then I sent it back for a second opinion.
And he drew my attention to another area of seemingly necessary alteration.
In fictionalizing these actual
incidents and having no obligation to remain absolutely truthful, I thought it
was a great opportunity to take all the little things that didn’t go right and
fix them—all the points I missed, things that could have quickly cleared the
case, could be seen after Jenkins gets divine enlightenment from who knows
what. He could say all the clever things I didn’t think of until after I walked
away from the scene and sat drinking coffee in my car or the office. In short,
I’d make Sam’s cases pieces of investigative artwork—the kind of fiction I’d
like to read. Book Doctor helped me come down from “cloud nine” with a simple
statement, “Perfect is boring.” He suggested a somewhat flawed character;
someone who doesn’t always do the right thing; someone who might cause a reader
to say, “Oh, Sam, you’re a good cop, you know better.” So, I revised yet again.
Eventually, I found a publisher
willing to take a chance on Sam and me. In the end, all that work was worth it.
The book won two awards and came in as a finalist in two more contests
Me: Your latest book,
Pigeon River Blues, just came out last May.
Are you planning any new releases before the end of the year?
WZ: After the release of PIGEON RIVER BLUES, my publisher announced
that he was going out of the traditional publishing business. That left me
sitting with two finished novels and no one to publish them. I had intended to
participate in a couple of virtual book tours for PIGEON RIVER BLUES and then
get serious about finding a new press, but as fate would have it, someone
introduced me to a pair of agents who liked the first fifty pages of A TOUCH OF
MORNING CALM, a story about Korean organize crime. When the agents requested
the full manuscript, I spent time sprucing up the draft. After reading it, they asked if I had
anything else completed so they could try and sell a publisher on a two or
three book contract deal. I just finished my final edits on A CAN OF WORMS, in
which I composite two old cases and tell the story of a police officer being
accused of a prior rape. I’ve got my fingers crossed, hoping they have success
when the acquisitions editors return from their traditional August vacations.
Earlier this summer I signed a
contract with a publisher who wants to take five previously unpublished
novelettes and create an anthology in print and eBook called FROM NEW YORK TO
THE SMOKIES: A Collection of Sam Jenkins Mysteries. These stories, of about
10,000 words each, span a time frame from 1963 to 2010. It’s expected out in
April or May of 2015
Me: Do you ever get writers block? And if so, how do you deal with
it?
WZ: Sure, there are times when I can’t dream up a nifty connection
or a believable red herring to save my life. To get past that, I usually uncork
a better than average bottle of wine, grab two glasses, and invite my wife to
help solve my problem. She’s pretty good.
Me: Where do you get your ideas for your books? Are they ripped
from the Smoky Mountain headlines, or are you like me and let your head conjure
up some truly nefarious ideas?
WZ: As I mentioned in question 3, I use actual cases and incidents
and people as a basis for the stories I embellish. More recently, just like an
episode of Law & Order, I’ve ripped a few local headlines apart and
integrated them with my cast of regular characters and associated vignettes
from the old days. I’m always honest and admit I have more of a memory than an
imagination. I only have to get creative when it comes to manipulating these
stories from the northeast to the mid-south. Sometimes I have to alter the
dialect from NU Yawk to Tenn-uh-see.
Me: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers?
WZ: I’d like to thank you for inviting me to your blog and giving
me an opportunity to meet your fans. I’m glad to meet more living proof that
there is life after the PD. I wish you good luck with all your books.
Me: Wayne, thank you for taking the time to participate in this
interview. If you’re a fan of mystery / suspense genre, then I recommend you
check out all of Wayne’s books. You can find them and more about the author at
the links below.
Links to connect with Wayne Zurl:
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