Welcome to a new segment on my blog, Interview Alley. I enjoy conducting guest/expert interviews, but they occasionally get lost on Help from My Friends Friday, which I equally enjoy. (I’ll be moving my previous interviews to Interview Alley as well).
Confession time: I chose Allison Brennan to open my new segment. Our talk was supposed to run last week in time for her new release The Wrong Victim. The night before the blog was scheduled, I texted her to say I was pitching the interview. I wasn’t happy with my lame, superficial questions. No offense to Allison; her answers were great. The truth is I’ve known Allison Brennan for twenty years, and I thought I could do better. So, here’s my attempt at number two.
Backstory: I met Allison Brennan in the early 2000s when we were both members of the Kiss of Death chapter, a subgroup of RWA®. Allison posted often, and although I only knew her online, I found her outspoken and confident. I also found I agreed with her more often than not.
During this time, while my peers and I were entering contests and querying agents, something incredible happened. Allison Brennan appeared to get published overnight. (Not precisely accurate, but in the publishing world, that’s pretty darn close.) One of my critique partners lamented, “How does she do it? She has five children, two are in diapers!”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “Maybe she was born writing.” I had no idea at the time how close my response was to the truth.
New York Times, USA Today Bestselling Author, Allison Brennan
And here’s where our interview begins.
Donnell: Hi, Allison. Thanks for joining me (again.) You grew up literally surrounded by books. I’ve met your mom. I know firsthand that she’s an avid, avid reader. How did she influence you and would you say she was a catalyst that inspired you to write?
Allison Brennan: First, your original interview was fine! You are one of the most supportive writers out there, always lifting other writers — so thank you!
And yes, my mom is a huge reader. She loves mysteries, and in fact I’m named after a character in an Ed McBain book. When she was pregnant with me, she was reading and there was a character Matthew, and a character Allison. I am a girl, and thus Allison! So, because my mom was always reading, I grew up with books everywhere. She took me to the library to get my first library card when I was four—when I could write my name—and we went there every Saturday to check out books for the week.
I used to think that because my mom always read books that if I read books around my kids—and read to them—that I’d raise five readers. Only two are big readers. The others read to varying degrees. However, I think because I was an only child without a lot of distractions like the internet and video games (I’m 52!) and my mom let me read at the dinner table, I naturally gravitated to books. And because my mom was a huge mystery reader, so was I.
Donnell: You once told me after you left your legislative consulting position, you carried a certain philosophy with you into your writing career. Will you share that with readers?
Allison Brennan: Writing is my job. Just like when I worked in the Capitol, I treat it as a job. Just because I love it doesn’t mean I don’t have to work at it. While my hours are flexible (as in when my kids were younger and I’d take time off to go with them on field trips or school events), I’d always put in the [writing] time later.
Donnell: How many manuscripts had you written before you sold to New York?
Allison Brennan: I wrote five books in two years and sold my fifth manuscript. I learned something from each book that helped make me a better writer.
Donnell: I checked out your website and counted 70+ books that you either wrote, co-wrote, or participated in (anthologies and the like). I was exhausted after counting ? How do you like working with a co-writer? Are you friends with James Patterson?
Allison Brennan: Really? That many? I think I only have 42 books — but those are traditionally published. The rest are short stories and novellas and while they count, they don’t count as books, if that makes sense. Ha.
I’m not friends with James Patterson, never even met him! I co-wrote four books with Laura Griffin, our Moreno & Hart series. We didn’t handle co-writing as others do. We each had a character, and we came up with a basic story that we could break into two novellas that connected. So, I wrote my character’s novella, and Laura wrote hers, and we brought each other’s characters into our stories. We had fun and I think we both would love to do more, but time and contracts have prevented this.
Donnell: You mentioned there was one genre you attempted you weren’t too happy with. What happened there?
Allison Brennan: I wrote a supernatural thriller called ORIGINAL SIN. I had the idea before I sold, but had only written a few chapters when I sold THE PREY, my debut novel. So, I shelved it. But it was in the back of my head for a while, and I turned the story over, things began to click, and I wanted to write the Seven Deadly Sins series. I loved the characters and the concept. It started with a dead high school student on the cliffs with no obvious sign of death, and I thought [the story] would bridge crime fiction with paranormal.
The book nearly killed my career. There were many reasons for this—my publisher marketed it as a paranormal romance, but it wasn’t, so paranormal romance fans weren’t interested. I also learned that my core readership doesn’t like “woo-woo” in their crime fiction.
In hindsight, I should have written it under a pen name, but my publisher thought my name would sell the book. It was too late to stop publication of the second book, which has the worst sales of any book I’ve written, and they didn’t publish the third book. A few years later, I self-published book three in the series to wrap up storylines. It’s a long book but I felt I owed the series fans a conclusion. That didn’t sell well, either, confirming that my readers don’t like my foray into the supernatural.
Donnell: We should probably talk about your Quinn and Costa thriller series. If I wasn’t married, I might fight Kara Quinn for Matt. Why/how did he come to be, and why did you decide to switch to a male protagonist lead?
Allison Brennan: I was writing the Lucy Kincaid series, and I had just wrapped up the Maxine Revere cold case mystery series, and I had this idea in the back of my head for many years about an FBI Mobile Response Team. It’s loosely based on the real-life FBI Evidence Response Teams that many local offices have. I needed a team leader, and Matt popped into my head almost fully formed—a workaholic, dedicated, plays hard/works hard. Sharp, maybe a bit too rigid, but knows what he’s doing—he’s willing to bend rules and while he’s a diplomat, he also doesn’t have time for obstacles. I just … know him. LOL.
I also wanted an ensemble cast of characters—a team, where every member is important and where I could possibly focus on different team members in each book, with Matt being the glue. I didn’t consciously switch to a male lead, but I wanted the series to have a different focus than the Lucy Kincaid series and having Matt was a distinct shift. Besides, if men can write female leads, why can’t I write a male lead?
Donnell: Once again, I agree with you! I think you also said that Kara wasn’t supposed to be a permanent fixture in the series, that she was, in fact, a walk-on character. How did she become so important she now gets top billing in the Quinn/Costa thriller promotion?
Allison Brennan: Kara was created in The Third to Die to be a catalyst for Matt. She would be his love-interest, but his career would come first. I envisioned him always thinking what-if, and that maybe in a few books their paths would cross again, if she survived the story—which wasn’t a guarantee (since I don’t plot!) So, when I started writing, I didn’t intend for her to stick around. But I loved her opening scene, and really wanted to learn more about her. As I was writing, I found myself drawn to Kara, and by the end of the book, knew I had to find a way to keep her around.
She’s similar to Matt in some ways—but wholly different in others. She’s driven by instincts, and while she’s confident in her abilities, she’s insecure in her personal life. She’s a loner, a glass-half-empty pessimist who always thinks the worst of people. Matt is not a pessimist and is as confident in his personal life as his professional life. They were a good match.
I like to think of them as being equals in the series, and she only gets top billing because “Quinn & Costa” rolls off the tongue better than “Costa & Quinn” LOL.
Donnell: As I mentioned we met on a writing loop. We’re both members of Crimescenewriter. We’ve both taken citizen academies, including The Writers Police Academy, while you’ve enrolled in the FBI Citizens Academy. One thing that made me want to write a taskforce was because I was tired of the standard misconception that the FBI can waltz into a local precinct and take over a case. Not true! What inspired you to create your FBI task force?
Allison Brennan: I didn’t want my team to be rooted in one jurisdiction. I had the Lucy Kincaid series set in San Antonio. I didn’t want another FBI team in another city. And when I originally conceived of the idea, I was obsessed with forensics (This was shortly after I toured the morgue and viewed an autopsy, LOL.) I wanted to write about an evidence response team that I had learned about when I went through the citizens academy, where each team member has a specialty and are an expert in something. I thought about how I might make that national, a team of the “best of the best” and thought, what if they go to areas where the FBI is thin? Rural and small communities that don’t have the resources to tackle complex cases? And the concept stemmed from there. Plus, I can move them around to different small towns which keeps the series interesting and helps infuse setting as character.
Donnell: Kind of like playing FBI Barbies ? Back to Matt Costa, why did you decide to give this character the lofty title of Special Agent in Charge?
Allison Brennan: In the first book, I explain that he was given the title of Special Agent in Charge so that he would outrank most other FBI agents if there was any pushback, LOL. He would probably, if this team really existed, be an ASAC, but I like that he has the authority and power to do what needs to be done, and he answers to one of the assistant directors of the FBI.
Donnell: I listened to Tell No Lies on a road trip. That’s where my love affair with Matt Costa began. I also thought
Los Angeles undercover cop Kara Quinn was a convincing, kick-ass protagonist. What do you attribute to their fantastic chemistry?
Allison Brennan: Thank you! Matt and Kara met in The Third to Die. Kara was on administrative leave after a fatal shooting when she took down a slave-labor enterprise in Chinatown, Los Angeles. Kara finds the body of the first victim of the Triple Killer, an antagonist who kills three victims every three years.
Because Kara is a cop, she sees things differently than others, so when Matt’s team hasn’t arrived at that point, he asks Kara for her assistance.
I try not to overthink my characters. I knew they had chemistry the first time they were on the page together, but let it just take its natural course. Neither thought they’d see each other again after the Triple Killer case ended. But when Kara ends up joining the team, at least temporarily, they have to address what happened. Kara is fine with no-strings sex. Matt is not. While he doesn’t prioritize relationships in his life because his life is his career, he realizes Kara isn’t like his other relationships.
To me, I want Matt and Kara to have a real, authentic relationship but because this series isn’t romantic suspense, I don’t need them to be the focus in every book.
Donnell: In The Wrong Victim, Matt and Kara are reunited again to work the case. But you do something devious, which creates a subplot and elevates the tension in an already tense book! Will you give readers a hint about a certain team member?
Allison Brennan: Dr. Catherine Jones is a forensic psychiatrist who was introduced in the first book. Catherine and Matt also went through the FBI academy together and have been friends for fifteen years—Catherine’s husband is Matt’s closest friend outside of the FBI, and Matt is the Godfather to their daughter.
Reviewers haven’t liked Catherine, and I don’t know if it’s because they didn’t read the first book and thus don’t know her backstory, or if it’s because she can be a bitch. Ironically, Catherine was going to be more of a lead in the series when I originally conceived the concept—not a romantic lead, but a character lead. But Kara kind of took over, LOL.
Catherine doesn’t like Kara because she doesn’t play by the rules—rules that Catherine lives by now because when she didn’t, her sister ended up dead. Worse, Kara is uncultured, she’s uneducated, and she relies on gut instincts, not on carefully reasoned investigations.
Catherine doesn’t play a major role in book four or five, though she has a role in both books. I might need to better explore her in book six … maybe by putting her and Kara together in a case without Matt. Hmmm …
Donnell: Ah, my work is done here ? Let’s move on to setting. I was stunned to learn you’d never been to the San Juan Islands and gleaned most of your information from the Visitor Center. I know you’ve been to Arizona (Tell No Lies) you live there! But readers, If I my brag on Allison a bit, The Wrong Victim does not read like a travelogue. I have been to the San Juan Islands, and was firmly entrenched down to the street, pier, all the way to the bitter cold water in Friday Harbor. This had to be difficult. Do you write a bare bones draft, then layer in setting later?
Allison Brennan: I had wanted to visit! But no such luck.
I research extensively, and have maps of the area saved on my computer to refer to. I learn about the weather, the people, the demographics, all that stuff. Most I don’t use, but it’s nice to know.
I used to write a “sloppy copy” and then deeply edit, but after about book nine or ten, I started editing as I go. If it’s not plot critical, I’ll make a note to myself and continue writing. For example, at the beginning of the book I didn’t care how far away Jamie’s dad’s house was from Friday Harbor—it wasn’t important to the story. But when it became a race against time to get there for my team, I spent a couple hours combing the island, finding the best place for the cabin—remote, on the water, opposite from Friday Harbor—plus I needed to know about currents, weather conditions, sunset, shipping routes, everything I could think about before I could write the big climax scene.
Donnell: Since this interview is already long, I’ll just close by saying I loved everything about The Wrong Victim. It was action packed, filled with everything from red herrings to sexual tension and a dynamite (or should I say C-4) plot. I just want to say you’ve earned your success and then some even though you were published overnight ?. No one has a harder work ethic than Allison Brennan. Special thanks to MIRA for giving me an Advanced Reader Copy.
About The Wrong Victim:
A bomb explodes on a sunset charter cruise out of Friday Harbor at the height of tourist season and kills everyone on board. Now this fishing and boating community is in shock and asking who would commit such a heinous crime—the largest act of mass murder in the history of the San Juan Islands.
Was the explosion an act of domestic terrorism, or was one of the dead the primary target? That is the first question Special Agent Matt Costa, Detective Kara Quinn, and the rest of the FBI team need to answer, but they have few clues and no witnesses.
Accused of putting profits before people after leaking fuel endangered an environmentally sensitive preserve, the West End Charter company may itself have been the target. As Matt and his team get closer to answers, they find one of their own caught in the crosshairs of a determined killer.
To learn even more about my special guest author, or to check out her website: https://www.allisonbrennan.com/
Allison, thanks again. Here’s hoping the second time’s a charm xo
Thank you so much for hosting me! 🙂 GREAT interview 🙂
e part about scouting locations for the cabin after the story was started- such dedication to making things realistic for the reader is wonderful. And cool about your name. I spent many years reading Ed McBain — Lots of great info to digest here. I love the had so many to devour! Love that your mom loved him, too.
Thanks, Jillian. I think this was so much better than “so what’s your favorite color, Ms. Brennan?” 🙂 Sorry you word got cut off. Hmmm.
Totally agree. A very well-done interview!
I have fun researching … but I tend to get sucked into the procrastination internet hole when I start!
What a fun interview and a great new blog segment, Donnell! (I hope you’ll interview yourself when you release comes out this month!)
Nice to ‘run into’ you again, Allison, I attended many of your workshops (back in the RWA/KOD days) and watched your career flourish. Did you ever have a burnout episode that you needed to take a break and refill your creativity well? (That’s where I’m at now- and I feel guilty for not writing and black despair when trying to write…)
Hi Sarah! Good to “see” you again 🙂 …
I think all authors go through burnout at different times. For me, after I wrote and failed with my supernatural thrillers, I struggled a bit — I wrote the first three Lucy books (the first was already done when the paranormals failed) and they did much better, but I was moving publishers with book four and really questioned my ability to continue to make a living doing what I love. These doubts drained my confidence and made it so much harder to write. I didn’t really consciously recognize this until later — SILENCED, the fourth book in the Lucy series, was the first with a new publisher and I was late on it because I struggled — I literally did not know what to write. I could barely put a chapter together. This was in late 2011
I can’t say that any one thing got me out of this rut. I think part of it was getting the book down and working with my editor on revisions and accepting that nothing I do will be perfect, but I can make it better. And then mentally taking each book as it comes and not looking back at my failures or worrying too much about the future and future contracts. All we control is the book, so I work to make each book as strong as I can and then I put that aside and start the next book.
Also, we need to find joy in what we do, even when we struggle. Sometimes that means changing focus, writing something new or fresh, taking a break. Maybe it’s taking up a new hobby or watching a favorite movie or starting a new ritual in the morning before you sit down to write. It’s different for everyone.
BTW, I totally understand the guilt. Some books are harder than others. One of my recent books I really struggled with — and I dreaded sitting at the computer because I didn’t know how I was going to make it a good story. And I felt super guilty because I knew it wasn’t great, and I was getting close to deadline, and then I felt the despair that I was going to be late, and more guilt, and in the end I turned in a book I wasn’t 100% happy with. But I told my editor that I wasn’t 100% happy with it and that I felt it wasn’t suspenseful enough but I didn’t know how to fix it. She said she was there to help. That was a huge weight lifted. Now, I’ve regained my confidence that when I get her notes I’ll be able to look at the book with fresh eyes after a few weeks and craft the story into something I’ll be proud of.
So these valleys come to all writers, and sometimes more than once. But the one thing that I know in my heart is I love being a writer. So even when it’s hard, even when I’m struggling and don’t see the light, I have faith that it will change as long as I keep working at it.
(FWIW, I now walk every morning. This has been good for me as I had fallen into a cycle of getting up, having coffee, and starting work even when I wasn’t really motivated to write. That made the writing worse. Now, I have more of a structured morning and getting out for an hour in the cool air helps wake me up and get my creative juices working before I sit down toe work!)
I love your response, Allison. Thank you. Editors can be an authors best friend or worst antagonist. Sounds like you found a great support system.
LOL, Sarah, others are interviewing me. I would make it a “fluff” piece 😉
Nice interview Donnell!
Thanks, Wally! Hope you’re doing well!
Love the interview! I’ve loved Allison’s books since the beginning with The Prey. Even the Seven Deadly Sins ones. 🙂 Loving Quinn and Costa very, very much.
Thanks, Jill, Don’t tell me you’re after, Matt, too? 🙂
Thanks Jill! And thanks for visiting today 🙂 Wish we could see each other in person again, but alas, I moved. XO
You had me hooked at Ed McBain.
Allison, your stories sound intriguing. I’m especially interested in how you put the San Juan Islands to work for you without an actual visit. The photo is going to force me back there for a visit.
Donnell, your knowledge of Allison’s work, made for some great questions.
George
Thank you, George!
I wish I could have gone! I feel like I’ve been there.
My mom had almost all the Ed McBain books. It took me awhile but I asked my readers and they said the most likely book she had read when she was pregnant was RUMPLESTILSKIN which was a Matthew Scudder story and there was a little girl in the book named Allison. I wish she still had the book, but when she downsized she got rid of a lot of her collection 🙁
Great interview!! Allison, we met at Thrillerfest back in 2015. You helped me with my pitch. And I sold the book! I’ve been a fan of you and your writing ever since. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your journey and your wisdom here.
What a great networking story. I’m a fan of both of you! I love your thrillerfest story, Barb. So glad Allison was part of it.
I’m so glad! Terrific news. Remind me of the pitch — I listened to so many during pitchfest that I forget who said what! Thrillerfest does a great job of helping writers and I love going; I’m going to miss it this year!
It’s amazing that everytime I read about an author, I learn something important I can do to improve my writing. I did just that as I read this great and interesting interview. Thank you Allison. Thank you Donnell.