Interview: Q and A w/Robin Spano, A fresh face for detective/crime novels.

I recently read a pre-release copy of Robin Spano’s “Dead Politician Society”, ready for sale at your favorite book retailer on September 1st.

On Goodreads.com, Spano is keeping a close eye on what her fans and detractors are saying, this led to some chit chat between us. I realized, “HEYwaitaminnit… i am askin questions here.. i wonder…”

Needless to say, I asked Robin if she would be down for a an email onslaught of Q&A. To my surprise, she gladly agreed!

Thanks Robin for taking the time to work with me! I appreciate your taking time out to do so :)

Read on for a mixed bag of questions!

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JasonB (JB)- Tell me a little about yourself. Just general likes, dislikes, bank account numbers, you know the important stuff.

Robin Spano (RS) -? How about if you tell me your bank account numbers first and I?ll see if they have anything in common with mine. You should tell me your mother?s maiden name, too. And your childhood pet.

I?m 35. I love to write (duh), and I love to be outside and active. I love traveling. There?s so much life in the world, and while I don?t feel any frantic need to see everything in one lifetime, I love exploring new experiences, and want to have as many as possible before I die. I also love food.

I don?t like limitations. I don?t like to be around judgmental people. I don?t like crowds, though I?m trying to learn to be okay with them.

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JB – How long were you working on Dead Politician Society (DPS) before you were published?

RS – Almost two years in total. One year where I was messing around with the idea, taking courses and working full-time. Then we moved to Vancouver and my husband suggested I give writing a serious try. So I took the 20 pages I had, and spent the next year turning them into a full-length novel.

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JB – Did you hit any creative blocks? How did you get over them?

RS – I hit about a thousand creative blocks. Mostly related to self-doubt. Writing my second book has been a lot easier?though of course I still go through despair and anguish some days where I want to delete the whole project, it?s a lot easier now that I know I CAN finish a novel.

The best way for me to get through a block is to get outside and get physical. Something about working my body on a snowboard or fighting the tides behind the wheel of my boat is so therapeutic. I get back in touch with myself, and when I return to my computer, I?m better able to attack the story.

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JB – Clare, the protag of DPS, has some strong likeness to yourself. How much of the character is based on you? How did you pick and choose characteristics?

RS – [...] basically, I created an alter-ego to go live a life I?m too scared (and unskilled) to. It?s almost like having my own holodeck.

I didn?t base Clare on myself, but I understand her because we have similar values and temperaments. She?s 13 years younger, so her temper flares more easily than mine. I?m married (faithfully), so I?m not as sexually adventurous as Clare. But there?s the motorcycle connection. The tough exterior/sensitive interior. I used to smoke. And I love the simple version of things; life without frills and snobbery.

I chose a trailer park for her background because when I was a kid, I thought it would be the coolest thing to live in a trailer, because if your house was on wheels, you?d never be tied to one place. (I think the travel bug/open road addiction hit me early.)

I gave her mechanical skills because I wish I had them. (I don?t.)

And her job as an undercover detective?especially going forward in the series?gives her scope to do all kinds of things, try on different faces, go to different places. I like writing crime fiction because the plot is built in, but because I don?t like limits, I don?t want to be tied to a police procedural or even one constant location.

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JB – DPS left off in a great place for the sequel to pick up. Any clue on when the next installment will be available? Teasers on the plot you are considering?

RS – Thanks?I?m glad you think so! If all goes according to plan, Book Two is scheduled for Fall 2011 release (one year after Dead Politician Society).

Its working title is Death Plays Poker. Clare is undercover at a major televised poker tournament, trying to find out who?s been strangling poker players in their hotel rooms. It?s almost finished, and I?ve had a lot of fun writing it.

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JB – What is your work schedule like when you’re writing? How do you keep yourself on track? How does the affect family time?

RS – I?ve learned to hoard my mornings, because that?s when I?m most creative. I stay on track pretty easily then. Afternoons are trickier, because my mind starts melting, getting more scattered. So I?ve learned to go with that, to use afternoons for other things, like answering interview questions :)
I try to spend evenings and weekends with my husband ? he?s good about letting me write if I want to, but I think it?s important to get out in the real world and spend time with real people.

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JB – Your favorite music to listen to while you were scrawling away at DPS?

RS – I don?t listen to music when I?m writing. What I love about music is lyrics, and they distract me too much from work.

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JB – What is the best and worst books you have read in the last decade, and why.

RS – I hate knocking other writers, because I know how much work goes into any novel, even if I don?t like it. So let me answer both parts of this question with Dan Brown?s The Da Vinci Code.

Why it was the WORST: The writing is technically atrocious, according to the Snob School of How You?re Supposed To Write. And to be honest, I agree with the snob school in this case?I spent most of the book cringing, silently editing, wondering why his editor hated him so much to let the book slide through to publication with so many errors and such bad use of language.

Why it was the BEST: As much as I cringed, I read the whole thing. I turned each page eagerly; I stayed awake later than I wanted to; I even read during the day (I rarely do that) because I was hooked on the plot. And it sold?there?s something about this book, and the writing, that made millions of people worldwide crave more. As a writer, I?d be a fool not to try to learn something from that.

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JB – If a genie were to pop out of your kitchen sink and offer you the opportunity to co-author a book with anyone, who would you pervert the time stream to rock the literary world with?

RS – John Irving. I think his writing is genius, and I think his one major gap (plotting) is something I could help him with. (ha ha.)

I love the way he gets into his characters, observes (and shows) their motivations, fears, desires. He shows them influenced by their setting, their upbringing, incidents in their lives. And he makes them alive; he moves them through the story like real people move through the world. But for my taste, they move a bit too organically. Other than A Prayer for Owen Meany, which is as near flawless as I?ve ever seen a book, I don?t think he devotes enough time or attention toward crafting a tight plot.

In my dream collaboration, we?d start with a novel he wants to write, and he?d send me his first draft. Then I?d take it, work it through using Track Changes, and guide the plot into something tighter and maybe more gripping for readers. Then I?d send it back to him, and he?d make the final call on all things.

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JB – What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?

RS – Morning. It sounds so corny, but nothing fills me with joy like the sun rising over mountains, or a highway, or an ocean, or a lake. It?s like the whole world is yours, filled with promise and beginnings. All you have to do is reach out and shape it into what you want to see and do.

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JB – What is your preferred reading format? Hardcover, Trade paper, Massmarket paper, ebook? What makes the difference for you?

RS – I like print books. I usually buy paperback because why not save the money? Also paperback is easier to lug around to doctors? offices and on airplanes.

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JB – It’s no use denying it, i have proof you have killed at least 10 people, how do you hide the bodies [...]?

RS – Ha ha! Well, I do have a boat, and we?re right by the ocean?