Ask the Author: Flo Fitzpatrick
Answered Questions (8)
Flo Fitzpatrick
I've been in a 'revisit' old Phyllis Whitney's for the last month...one of my favorites, The Trembling Hills, is set in San Francisco at the time of the "BIG" earthquake. While the idea of the earthquake isn't enticing, I'd love to see the city as it was starting and rebuilding. I'd tour everywhere and look at old homes and businesses. What would I do? Try to get a job as an actress in an old theatre!
Flo Fitzpatrick
I'm into political biographies right now. Currently reading "Bobby Kennedy- Making of a Liberal Icon." Next up is Washington by Ron Chernow (author of Hamilton). After that is Jimmy Carter's autobio...and then Thomas Jefferson (Jon Meachum.) Not one of them is under 500 pages - and since by the end of the day I'm pooped and barely able to work on my own stuff....could take all summer :) !
Flo Fitzpatrick
The two biggest "mysteries" I've experienced in my own life I turned into one book and one short story. I based "Haunting Melody" on some strange events occurring in my Manhattan apartment (I'm still convinced I had a ghost !). And when I was about twelve or thirteen my best friend and I went exploring in the woods behind the Waco State Home and discovered a steamer trunk filled with very old newspapers that included some stories about an unsolved murder. I decided that would make a cool short story....and a few decades later "Treasures" was written. No recent mysteries to speak of except for how I keep donating books to the local library store, yet when I move I still end up with more books than shelves to hold them :)
Flo Fitzpatrick
Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence. I think Tuppence was the original "spunky" heroine at a time when women were -well - let's say "less than independent". The love the couple shares is evident without being sticky or interfering in terms of plot. Both Tommy and Tuppence are smart and sassy and willing to dive into an adventure without a thought for danger, yet they deeply care for others and often find themselves IN danger after going with the heart instead of the head.
Flo Fitzpatrick
I tend to go over whatever the problem is - character not working, plot going nowhere etc. just before I go to sleep at night - I tell myself I'll have an answer in the morning. Amazingly, it works (not always - but most of the time!) I'll also research something I need for the book and it will often spark enough fire to burn the block :)
Flo Fitzpatrick
Learn to self-edit. Learn as much about the business end as you can. (It keeps changing so that gets tricky!) Write what you love- not what you think will be the next big thing. Listen to agents and editors who are kind enough to tell you why they rejected your manuscript. Listen to agents and editors who are kind enough to accept your manuscript! Seriously, I kept struggling this entire fall with a book one of my previous editors thought might work for a line. But she and I finally agreed, this particular imprint and genre was just NOT me. So I moved on. Editors and agents are generally pretty savvy. They can tell if you're not loving what you're doing.
Flo Fitzpatrick
I'm immersing myself in research for an historical mystery series set in France.
Flo Fitzpatrick
Most recent is a bit of a misnomer. I finished up three books last summer - one will be published sometime this year and the other two are 'in waiting':) So I'll go with Scarecrow's Dream, which is scheduled for release in 2015. The idea was to mix mystery, paranormal and romance - and get a little political as well. (My heroine bounces back and forth between present day and 1973.) I kept seeing stories on the news which - to me - needed addressing without sermonizing in a story. That's about all I can say without revealing 'spoilers!"
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