Ask the Author: R.H. Johnson
Answered Questions (9)
R.H. Johnson
Thanks for your non-question question, Steve. I really appreciate your comments. You'll find "Hollow-Point Diplomacy" to be quite current in its treatment of world affairs (the recently collapsed nuclear treaty, for instance), and readers seem to like the pace of the action. Travis Delta will ride again in 2019! Book #11 is already in the works. Best wishes to you.
R.H. Johnson
The unsolved murder of an old friend shortly after we graduated from college fifty years ago.
R.H. Johnson
I suppose my answer will surprise no one: Pete Nazareth and Tara Gimble, stars of my crime series. I know them far better than famous couples in anyone else's novels, of course, because my constant challenge is to keep them real and fresh. Their relationship, both professional and personal, keeps evolving, and they represent a classic case of one plus one equaling three -- and possibly four. Things will get tougher for them in the fifth book, EYES IN THE CAVE, but they will continue to evolve.
R.H. Johnson
"God wants me to kill" is hardly a new concept, but it's fascinating nevertheless. In "Widow-Taker" two NYPD detectives hunt for a murderer who doesn't consider himself a murderer. Self-righteousness is usually an accident waiting to happen. In "Widow-Taker" the accident happens again and again and again.
R.H. Johnson
I live. One of the finest college professors I've ever known once advised me to live first, write second. It's hard to say something when you have nothing to say, right? If you keep your eyes and ears open, you'll find at least ten stories every day. A character, a phrase, a news article -- anything can trigger a big story. I don't have enough time to write all the stories I find in one week.
R.H. Johnson
Stop thinking about it, and write. I remember Aldous Huxley's fine 1921 novel, "Crome Yellow." One of the memorable characters is a master at creating exhaustive files for the book he never writes. It's good to think, but it's not good to overthink.
R.H. Johnson
Everything happens just the way you want it to. If you need lightning to strike the antenna of a pink VW Bug that's floating across the Pacific, it happens. If you want a hippo to fly, the hippo flies. Holding a pen [or banging on a keyboard] is like holding a magic wand.
R.H. Johnson
My tenth novel, the geopolitical thriller "Hollow-Point Diplomacy," was released in January 2019, and I'm already at work on #12. This next one will feature Travis Delta, hero of "Hollow-Point Diplomacy," as he battles an international cartel bent on destroying the world's major economies. As usual, the research will occupy as much of my time as the writing. I strive for fiction that reads like page-one news.
R.H. Johnson
The sound you hear is me knocking on wood. Writer's block is something I've never needed to battle. If I'm not in the mood to write, I don't write. Maybe that's the key. You can't force creativity. Let it flow.
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