JS: I'm flattered by the "worthy successor" comment, but I hope people understand that those sort of comments are really just marketing tools for publishers. Somebody might go into a bookstore and pick up one of my books who has never heard of me before, but has heard of Willeford, so they'll buy the book, hopefully because they're getting a rough idea for the type of book it is. But if the person expects to read a Willeford novel, they'll be disappointed. Can I just vent for one second? It really pisses me off when some smart-ass reviewer spends the whole review comparing me to Willeford, or another author mentioned in a blurb, saying that my book is nothing like those author's books. What the hell does that have to do with the book I wrote? I DIDN'T WRITE THAT BLURB, SOMEBODY ELSE DID!!!...Okay, I'm better now...I get Jim Thompson, Patricia Highsmith, and James M. Cain comparisons too, but I really think my books are only similar to these writers in a very general way. The only real similarity is that I write dark crime novels, usually with amoral protagonists, so reviewers and publishers people immediately think of other writers who have created these types of characters. I understand why it's done, but it can be a double-edged sword.

But, to answer your question. It's true, I've been a huge admirer of Willeford's work for a long time. I know I'm not in the consensus, but I think THE SHARK-INFESTED CUSTARD is his best book. It might have been ahead of its time when it was published, and I'm not sure the publisher knew what to do with it, but I think it's a fantastic crime novel. I love PICK-UP, COCKFIGHTER, the Hoke Moseley novels, and I also love THE HIGH PRIEST OF CALIFORNIA. I think what I like most about Willeford is his irreverence. He didn't care if his books were marketable or not, if they had amoral characters, or unsatisfying endings--he wrote what he wanted to write and he didn't give a damn what anyone thought. I mean some of his characters are such total assholes--I think it's great! He probably paid a price for this because, until the Moseley novels, he wasn't a real commercial success. But even with the Moseley novels, he wrote them his own way, with each book having a different style. And the dry sense of humor in his books is priceless. He really was a guy who marched to his own drumbeat.

AG: How about yourself? How do you set your own parameters?  Are you affected by reader expectations?  Would you, for instance, consider writing a caper novel?

JS: I love caper novels. In fact, I just read a great one, Whittington's THE DEVIL WEARS WINGS. My latest book, TOUGH LUCK, was almost a caper novel, but I didn't quite take it in that direction. I'd absolutely consider writing one, but it wouldn't be until several books down the line. Because I don't have a series character, I don't really have to think about reader's expectations as much as if I did. I mean maybe if I wrote something totally different, like a romance novel, I'd get a few letters, but as long as I'm writing crime novels I don't think anyone cares what I do. I think that's one of the great things about crime fiction--there are so many sub genres, that a writer can keep switching back and forth, doing different things. I think detective fiction is much more limited in this respect.

AG: You make a distinction between crime fiction and detective fiction. Can you explain the difference for those who might not see the distinction? And, loosely related, how do you feel about being described as a "mystery" writer?

JS: There does seem to be a lot of confusion between crime fiction and detective fiction, with the two often getting lumped together for some reason, although I think the distinction is very clear. Actually, the two are total opposites--crime novels are detective novels inverted. Instead of following the detectives or cops who are trying to solve crimes, you are with the criminals who are committing them, with the cops being on the periphery, or nonexistent. Imagine an Agatha Christie novel. Now imagine the same novel told from the perspective of the killer--that would be a crime novel (a weird crime novel, but still a crime novel). There are some gray areas. For example, Elmore Leonard, who always writes from multiple viewpoints, might have a cop or state trooper, and a criminal (or two), and go back and forth between the different POVs. But these are still crime novels because there is no real mystery to solve--we know who the criminals are in advance and we (usually) see the crimes as they are being committed.

Some of my books (especially HARD FEELINGS and TOUGH LUCK) have some mysterious elements in them. There are mini mysteries within the plot that eventually get solved, but all my books are crime novels. I always keep the cops and detectives outside the story. Hitchcock once said, when asked about why he always has the police as minor characters in his films, that "Cops are boring." I have to admit that I feel the same way. There are some excellent police procedurals and detective novels and novels about police officers (Ellroy's THE BLACK DAHLIA pops into my head), but when I'm reading I usually find the criminals much more interesting than the police, so when I write I naturally try to stick to the criminals' perspectives. That said, I have to admit, I love rogue cop novels, such as Lionel White's, BEFORE I DIE, so that would definitely be an exception...But, no, I don't mind being called "a mystery writer" one bit. My books sometimes get reviewed in the mystery column of newspapers, and are sold in the mystery section of bookstores. I guess some people consider crime fiction to be a sub genre of mystery fiction so there isn't a real place for crime fiction, but as long as the books get attention I'm happy. I just hope that people don't pick up my books expecting to solve a locked room mystery.

AG: You mention Lionel White, one of the most prolific crime writers of the 50s/60s.  If you'd had the chance to meet him when he was alive, what question(s) would you have liked to ask him?

JS: I really only started reading White's books recently and have read six or seven books, but I am a big fan of his already. The film of THE KILLING has always been one of my favorite film noirs but, for some reason, I'd never read the book before. I'm just as impressed with the novel as I am with the movie. Kubrick added some twists here and there, but the general plot structure is there which influenced such films as PULP FICTION and even MEMENTO. I also think BEFORE I DIE (or TO FIND A KILLER) is a great cop novel, and THE NIGHT OF THE RAPE, although dated, has a structure more like a contemporary thriller. So White could do it all--caper novels, first-person novels, multi-narrated thrillers. If I met him I'd probably just ask him about the film of THE KILLING--if he met Kubrick and Jim Thompson and what that whole experience was like. I'd also ask him why he never gives the location of the racetrack in THE KILLING, which is obviously Belmont Park on Long Island. Did the publishers fear there would be a copycat heist? But White probably wouldn't be first on my list of old pulp writers I'd like to meet. I'd rather hang out with Charles Willeford…

JS: I'm always a few books ahead of myself. When I'm writing one, I'm outlining a few more. In fact, sometimes I start writing the other books and continue writing them for a few days, then go back to the one I'm really working on. At the very least, I always have ideas for other books while I'm writing, and at least jot the ideas down...When I finish writing a novel I usually have a few chapters written of the next one. Then there is all the time waiting for my agent and editor to read the book, and doing revisions on the book, so when I finally turn in the new book I'm more than halfway through the next one. By the time the book is published I usually have at least a draft of the next one finished, and I've started the one to follow that one. I enjoy writing every day so I don't really take any breaks from it. Maybe I'll take a weekend off, but I always like to get into a new project.

JS: I usually have a rough outline of a book before I start writing, but I'm very flexible with it. I cut and paste all the time, moving things around, and the book eventually takes shape.

JS: I write, on average, three or four hours a day. I try to write two to three pages a day, but I don't really keep a set goal for myself. If I spend a day editing and plotting out parts of a book, but only write a paragraph or two, I don't stress about it because I know that the day I write will be easier because of all the "set-up work" I did the day before.

JS: In the computer age it's really hard to estimate how many actual drafts I do. I might do ten or fifteen official drafts, but I make so many changes within the drafts, as I'm writing, that I might actually do twenty or twenty-five drafts. Then it goes on to copyediting and I do a couple more. It's always my goal to get my books as tight as possible, cutting anything I think is extraneous, even within sentences. Sometimes I'll even use shorter words, if I can get the same meaning across.

JS: My agent and editor have a lot of input in my books and make great suggestions. But before I get to that point my first reader has always been my wife. She really knows the rhythm of my writing and helps me get my books into shape before I show them to anyone else. I think it's important to have a reader, or readers, you trust to show your work to. When I was starting out writing, it was harder to tell the good advice from the bad, which is one of my problems with writing workshops. You have to sit there, listening to people comment about your work, and most of them don't know what they're talking about. I think getting bad advice can throw a lot of young writers off because it's hard to make any sense out of all the noise. But now that I've been at it for a while, and have written a number of books, I get a sense right away of what works and what doesn't, and I'm fortunate that I get a lot of great advice.

JS: Wow, you make my books sound so uplifting! But, seriously, I do find these themes interesting, much more interesting than writing about a world where things always work out perfectly. I like to create situations where the stakes are high for my characters, where they make decisions that often turn out to be the wrong ones. But, unlike say David Goodis, I usually try to balance out the bleak situations my character's are in with humor, using humor as a type of redemption. I've always liked writing that makes me feel uncomfortable, that makes me squirm (in a good way) while I'm reading, but that also makes me laugh and feel gripped because I want to find out what happens next, so I try to create that feeling in my own books...And, yes, I do think the themes I deal with contribute to why my books are considered "noir." As we all know noir is an ambiguous term and sometimes hard to define, but a lot of it does have to do with "things not working out the way they're supposed to" and a dark view of the world, and I think that definitely comes out in my writing.

JS: For me, the process of screenwriting is much easier than novel writing. You have to do just as much plotting, but there's much less writing to do, and I find the whole process very enjoyable--I really love it. What happens after the screenplay is written is another story. You realize that all the nightmare stories that you've heard about Hollywood are true. You have very little input and if you get emotionally involved in a project it's even worse. It makes you appreciate the control you have as a novel writer.

JS: Yes, actually, I do sometimes read more than one book at a time. Sometimes I lose track of a book in my apartment and pick up another one and get into it, then go back to the other one. But I almost always finish every book I start. I guess it's a superstition I have--I don't like to leave things unfinished, maybe out of a fear that I won't finish my own books. Recently, I read Whittington's THE DEVIL WEARS WINGS, and an Elmore Leonard I'd never read, SPLIT IMAGES. Currently I'm reading AMSTERDAM by Ian McEwan. I try to read a combination of current crime fiction, old pulp novels, and literary fiction. While I try to read as much as I can, I probably don't read as much as I did when I first started writing. Part of it is because of demands of time. I have a daughter now, whom I spend half my day with, so when I have free time I spend most of it writing. I'm also a very slow reader--I almost never finish a book in one or two sittings. Still, l try to read at least a book a week, but I used to read much more than that. I think it's very important for writers to read regularly, but it's even more important when you're first starting out. I know collectors will cringe when they read this, but I used to mark up my books, circling passages I liked, making notes about the way the authors structured the plots, and even scribbling ideas for my own novels in the margins. Now, although I still learn a lot from reading, I never mark up my books at all.

AG: Given that you finish almost every book you start, there must have been a few you've read that weren't very good. How much can you learn from a badly written novel?

JS: I think people are much more selective about choosing books than they are about movies, TV shows, music, and most other forms of entertainment. A movie only takes a couple of hours, a song takes a couple of minutes, and if you don't like what's on TV you change the channel (unless, you're like me and you have TIVO, then you always watch what you want to watch--but you get my point). Buying a book takes more of a commitment. People want to make sure they don't get burned so they'll usually buy a book that they know they'll probably like, either because they've read the author before, heard something good about the author, or they've started reading the book and like the writing. So, in my case, when I say I finish most books I start, this is because I usually only start books I know I'll want to finish. But, in the rare case that I read a disappointing book, I'll try to figure out where the story went wrong, and how it could have been done differently. I do the same thing when I watch a bad movie, or one with plot holes.

AG: Speaking of plotting, in your own novels the action always seems to come from the characters, and you conjure up superbly climactic and satisfying endings -- something a lot of writers seem to neglect. Do you find plotting comes easily, or is it the result of hard work? Do you have any tips to help us less gifted plotters?

JS: First off, thanks for the compliment---I do work hard on plotting. When I started writing, I had a lot of trouble plotting--it was even a weakness in my writing. I was strong with dialogue, which is one reason why I wrote plays at first. In fact, when I wrote short stories I sometimes wrote all dialogue, with little or no description or plot--I really just wrote character studies. Gradually, my style changed, and I became much more plot oriented. One way I learned about plotting was by reading a lot fiction, and learning from my favorite writers. Elmore Leonard is a great crime plotter, but I also paid attention to the plotting techniques of writers such as Kafka, Marquez and Heinrich von Kleist. A big help has been writing on a computer. I used to write longhand, then transcribe my work, and I found it much harder to plot that way. I know a lot of writers say that they have no idea what's going to happen next in a novel, but I'm the total opposite. I have a vague outline from the beginning, with an ending in mind, and then, as I write and come up with new ideas, I insert the ideas and twists throughout the document. After a few weeks, the full plot takes shape and I usually stick with it, with minor variations, until the book is completed. I might not know the exact ending, but I'll know how the book is going to end, or at least what type of mood the ending will have. For example, in COLD CALLER, I had a vague idea of what would happen to Bill when I started writing the book, but I didn't know what the actual ending would be until I'd figured out the rest of the plot. NOTHING PERSONAL took more advance plotting, because of the intersecting stories.

AG: New York is a noir city. How much does being a New Yorker influence what you write about?  How comfortable would you be setting one of your novels elsewhere?

JS: My books take place mainly in the New York area because I've lived in New York all of my life and I like to write about what I know best. I don't like to do a lot of research for my books--not because I'm lazy, but because I don't want the books to seem too researched--I want everything to come naturally, out of the characters and the situations. Many crime writers do a lot of research for their books--Elmore Leonard jumps to mind--and pull it off brilliantly, but, at least at this point in my career, I like to stick to what's inside my head. Of course I'm just talking about setting here. I always research for details in my books but, for example, I could never see setting a book in Cuba. Down the line, I think I'm going to start moving away from this a bit. I have some stories I want to write that will have to take place outside of New York, but right now I feel very comfortable writing about New York and New Yorkers, and there's no shortage of material here. I guess, in this way, I'm lucky I'm not from some small town in the Midwest. There's so much going on in this city, so many different cultures, so much tension, so many angry, stressed out people, that it's really a noir writer's dream.

AG: What advice do you wish you'd been given when you first started writing novels?

JS: One thing is to get used to waiting. Before you get published, you're waiting for news from agents and publishers, and that never changes. You're always waiting for feedback on your books, or for news of foreign sales or movie deals. The waiting can drive you crazy which is why it's always important to stay busy, to keep working. But I don't think there's any real advice someone could've given me. Unlike other careers, there's no set career track as a writer. In fact, I don't think any two writers have the same experiences. Some people get lucky the first time out and have a blockbuster bestseller. Other people have to work their way up slowly. Others write one novel and you never hear from them again. So I don't think there's any advice that can prepare you for such an unpredictable career. You just have to keep working hard and hope you get lucky.

JS: I'm finishing up my new novel for Vintage, called TWISTED CITY (yes, a two-word title), which will be published in early 2004. I'm very happy with the way it's turned out and I think it may be my best novel yet, and maybe the most noir. I'm also working on another book for Vintage, which I hope will come out in 2005. I've also been plotting out a screenplay for HARD FEELINGS, which I'd love to have a chance to adapt.

photo by Julie Scholz 

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