Interview
Thank you for this opportunity. I
enjoy discussing the Danser novels and View
Finder in particular. I appreciate you time and interest and love hearing
from readers.
Is
There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?
Often,
crime does pay and pay well, if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty. In the
case of View Finder, that meant BB
Danser deciding to dig up his father’s corpse to retrieve the suitcase of cash
buried at his feet.
The
other side of that coin is the moral challenge that a person can experience
when greed and the need to survive cause them to act in dreadful ways. In BB’s
case, these worries are few, but always tugging at the back of his mind, coloring
his struggle to balance right and wrong, good vs. evil.
The other message in View Finder, is the warning to be
careful of the dreams you chase. In some ways, View Finder is a cautionary tale
as BB Danser pursues his cinematic vision and career, finding success, but
dogged by a conscious he can’t quite kill. During a life often lifted by brilliant
work behind movie cameras, his crimes tarnish his soul and twist his mind.
Is
there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Staying
dedicated to the current write while other interruptions like PR and
correspondence and editing my other books need to be taken care of. It helps to
write seven days a week and to put all of that aside for five hours, staying
immersed on the new story. I can then handle the other sides of an author’s
life with care and focus.
How
many books have you written and which is your favorite?
I am one month into my
twenty-fifth novel, Izzy on Ice. With
each book being about a member of the Danser family, the novel Cream of the Wheat is a favorite. In it,
I gather most all of the family in one place and let them run amok; their
passions, obsessions, crimes and of course, their loves. Cream of the Wheat is scheduled for publication by Épouvantail
Books in 2022. Since the Danser novels are not a series, it will fit right in.
If You had
the chance to cast your main character from Hollywood today, who would you pick and why?
Gregory Peck because he physically resembles
BB Danser and both have the capacity for expressing a wide range of good and
evil, sanity and madness. Johnny Depp is tempting for many of the same reasons, ever
turning left when all the street signs point right. Ideally,
I would talk to film director Tim Burton to move to the other side of the
viewfinder, for looks, style, quirkiness and his beautiful visions.
When
did you begin writing?
When
I was twenty-six. I was a compulsive reader since I was a boy and one summer
day, quite simply, a voice in my head said, “I dare you.” Grinning, I took the dare,
buying two packs of index cards and a few fine tipped Pilot pens. Months later,
I had a hundred or more cards filled with what I still call Ingredients,
talking to theme, structure, cast, locations and a lot of snippets of dialogue
that pleased me and sparked my character’s personalities. The next step was
also a dare, “Stop thinking. Jump on in, no more toe tips into the water.” I
stared the novel Distractions that
same day, not sure where it was going, but loving the fact that it was out on
the road.
How
long did it take to complete your first book?
After
filling an open cigar box with the index cards, all standing up for easy reference,
I spent ten months writing the first draft of Distractions. That was unfortunately in the days when I wrote a
dozen or more drafts, so that took up the better part of the second year. When
I typed “The End” on the last draft, my next step was hiring a professional
editor, something I still do this day. Quite simply, I learned the importance
of having my grammar decisions challenged and I loved it when she asked, “Greg?
The gun was in the glovebox. Now it’s on the kitchen table?” It is seriously
cool to have continuity issues repaired by an editor vs, readers. All in all,
the first book took twenty-two months to complete.
Did
you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?
Somerset Maugham, JD Salinger,
Truman Capote, John Cheever, Richard Brautigan and Peter S. Beagle were
invaluable inspirations, each with a rare, fresh and brave voice and love of
making the story more important than anything else.
What
is your favorite part of the writing process?
I
love doing the research, spending months at that before I start a novel. This
is an ongoing process as I’m always gathering ingredients for future books
while writing the current work. The ingredients will often be about 15,000
words before I start the novel, focused mainly on structure, theme, the
characters and locations, along with lots of vignettes of dialog that might or
might not find their way in the book, but provide windows into each character’s
personality and motivations.
I also enjoy the lift of typing
“The End.” I consider each Danser novel to be a daughter of mine and
take delight in watching them each leave the front porch, often barefoot and
with a battered suitcase, as they move out into the strange and interesting world.
Describe
your latest book in 4 words.
A twisted roller-coaster ride
Can you
share a little bit about your current work or what is in the future for your
writing?
I’m currently writing Izzy on Ice (w.t.), a story of revenge
and justice. This novel is based on my coverage of the Joey Bova murder trial
in 2019, where, after six years lost discussing his mental competency, he was
tried for the first-degree murder of Zuheily Roman Rosado, a vibrant and hardworking mother of six children. As is so often the
case, much of the focus was on the killer, a reality I find repulsive.
During
the trial, my intent was to tell his victim’s tragic story in a non-fiction
book: The Murder of Zuheily Roman Rosado. Prior to
the trial, I read all the court and investigation reports. I viewed all the
still photographs and security camera footage. I interviewed Bova as well as
members of the Rosado family, the press, attorneys and investigators. And yes,
I studied the autopsy reports. These more than anything revealed the full
impact of Bova’s cruel and senseless crime.
He was found guilty of first
degree murder and sentenced to forty-five years in prison, no parole. The
Rosado family took some comfort in the verdict, but faced a lifelong loss of
Zuheily. I was struck by the fact that no matter how much the non-fiction work
would focus on Ms. Rosado, some light would be cast on Bova. Quite honestly, he
is both unimportant and undeserving. I decided
to do a fiction book about justice, involving this and similar senseless
murders, where the scales are so often weighed to the criminal’s benefit.
All the best,
Greg
