Ask the Author: Frank E. Hopkins
Answered Questions (5)
Frank E. Hopkins
Lost a Federal Government contract fo r$270 million because the contracting office for the Government department lived with her boyfriend the marketing person of the winning company. This event became the imputus for writing my mystery/triller, The Opportunity.
Frank E. Hopkins
I get inspired to write my novels from reading about events reported in the media in the past or today. My novels examine the conflict between the characters and the legal environment that frustrates their goals. My short stories are inspired by events I or my peers have experienced. I then to write humorous short stories expressing the naivety the main characters have with the situations they are experiencing.
Frank E. Hopkins
The motivation for my latest novel, The Opportunity, began when I read and followed the story of the indictment and conviction of Darleen Druyun a former high-level weapons buyer from the Pentagon, in October 2004. I thought with my over twenty years of experience in government contracting I could write a realistic novel on corruption in government contracting. According to Wikipedia she pleaded guilty to corruption for providing Boeing executives critical information related to a bid on replacing the Air Force tanker fleet. The critical information included confidential information from the Airbus Corporation on their proposal. Another Boeing executive was convicted and sent to prison and Boeing paid a fine of $615 million for their part in the scandal.
Since I was still working in 2005, I could not devote much time to this project, but wrote an outline and decided to write the government corruption novel when I retired and completed my first novel, Unplanned Choices.
Since I was still working in 2005, I could not devote much time to this project, but wrote an outline and decided to write the government corruption novel when I retired and completed my first novel, Unplanned Choices.
Frank E. Hopkins
I am currently working on several short stories and have started a new novel, Abandoned Homes. I belong to several writers groups or classes and my short stories and chapters in my novel are reviewed by other writers and their comments help me improve my work.
Frank E. Hopkins
I plan ahead to avoid writers block. When I first begin writing a novel or short story I create a detailed outline, including chapters and scenes within chapters. I enter that data on the top row of a spreadsheet. I follow by entering rows that include the date of the scene, characters in the scene, purpose of the scene, opening sentence of the scene, closing or transition sentence to the scene. When I have completed this process each scene is easy to read. If I get stuck on one scene I always move to another so as not to waste precious writing time.
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