Peter Prasad

Please tell us a little about yourself.

Boys Life Magazine turned me into a reader when I was ten years old.  After hearing my first Paul Simon album, I started writing poetry at age 15.  I managed the literary journal in high school and got a degree in journalism at University of Florida.  My fast path to paid writing was in South Africa and Japan where I wrote ads and magazine articles for ten years.  I didn’t have TV, so I read all the time. I returned to California to begin a career in high-tech marketing and renewable energy.  Now that solar energy is well-established I’m happy to be writing everyday.  

What type of books do you like to read? What type of books do you like to write?

 I read all the Hardy Boys and cut my teeth on the epic sagas of Leon Uris and James Michener.  I discovered Vonnegut in college and read all of him.  I hitchhiked around Madagascar reading Lord of the Rings. Stephen King wrote his early novels about psychic powers so I read all of them.  John LeCarre is my favorite spy thriller writer.  Then I discovered the historical fiction of Bernard Cornwell.  Now I read biographies, history, thrillers, murder mysteries and mystic poetry. 

I’m working hard to write crime thrillers featuring my newbie private investigator Jake Knight who is an Afghan war veteran and a sheep dairy farmer.  Jake is only twenty five years old, so I expect to grow him through a series of stories.  I’m playing in a land where the slow food movement meets the crime thriller.    

What are your top 3 books? What are your top 3 authors?

 Michener, Vonnegut and Cornwell are must reads for storytelling, story arc and making a location come alive. At the cutting edge of fast-paced thrillers, I’m fond of Russell Blake and Barry Eisler.  The last excellent crime thriller I read was Joseph Amiel’s A Question of Proof.  The story held me enthralled to the last page.    

What inspires you to write?

I love stories told at the camp fire that engage my imagination. This is a lineage from Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Jack London and updated by Stephen King.  I wrote to King once; his advice -- just tell a good story.   I’m inspired by the right choice of word, the turn of a phrase, a descriptive passage that paints a scene. 

Are you a plotter or a pantser? Why?
A good crime thriller requires well-plotted action so I’ll spend weeks mulling over a story and outlining it before I begin to write.  It saves me having to focus on what happens next.  Thus I can pay attention to character development, dialog and scenic descriptions when I’m writing.  I know some folks are successful as ‘seat-of-your-pants’ writers, but I would find myself wandering all over the map at the cost of telling a tight story.  Being a plotter enforces a discipline that many early writers lack. 

What time of day do you write?

 I like to start early and use as many uninterrupted hours as I can squeeze in.  If I’m deep in a story that needs lots of attention, I’ll write from 2-7am.  Normally, I prefer to work between 7-11am and 4-9pm.  But then, that’s just me.  To clear my mind, I’ll go pull weeds in the garden or cook.  When you add the time spent editing, proofing and marketing, it can make a long day.    

What tool do you normally write with? (A pen, computer, phone, etc.)

I write at a computer.  I remember the days when I xeroxed pages and cut and pasted new sections to build a better story.  Those days are over.  The keyboard is the way to go.  I doubt I could think in longhand for more than a paragraph now. I believe each draft needs to be polished five or six times.  I want the flexibility, speed and convenience to make that part of writing easy to do.    

Have you ever dealt with writer's block? If so, how did you combat it?

I like to spend weeks thinking through a story line, outlining and plotting.  When it comes time to write, I know what needs to happen next.  If the story is not coming, then I’ll review and polish a section I’ve already done.  At the end of the day, I try to leave off at a place where I can pick up quickly.  Rod Sterling once gave that advice to my journalism class.

Please tell us a little bit about your work (please provide a link here if it's published somewhere online).

My first book, Campaign Zen, was an attempt to resurrect tavern doggerel as political commentary.  It’s a subjective history of the democratic process and the ballot box.  I wrote it to process me angst during the Obama presidential election.  I’ll update it every four years for the next election. 

Sonoma Knight: The Goat-Ripper Case is a sexy romantic crime thriller set in the heart of California wine country.  The book is a homage to artisan cheese, wine and the beauty of Sonoma County, north of San Francisco.  I’d like to move to Sonoma some day.  I made cheese every weekend for a year as part of my research.

Here’s the set-up.  Afghan vet and bronze Star hero Jake Knight comes home to heal, save his family farm, fall in love…and stop a puffed-up wine adulterator bent on murder.  

One reviewer said: The style of this book is excellent, it is a fun read, extremely funny and witty and the author has not only created a gem of a book, he is created some wonderfully inspired characters.

Where did you get your idea for this story?
I followed the advice to write about what I know and love.  I wanted to write in a genre that could be a launching pad for a series of stories, so I chose crime thrillers.  Instead of writing police procedurals, I wanted to make Jake Knight a budding P.I. so he could sometimes be outside the law.  The formula is simple: create an ugly situation, drop my P.I. into the middle of it and see what happens. I work hard to create the unexpected.  

What challenges have you faced with writing this story?
Writing is the easy part.  Editing, proofing, and marketing are the hard parts.  I struggle with how I paint characters.  I create a fully-developed back story and motivation for each one.  The bad guys have to demonstrate heir evil, which the battered and abused characters need a way to come clear of their suffering.  While my P.I., Jake Knight, starts out kind of vanilla, he’s going to grow some character quirks to survive as a series.  That’s going to be fun.

Who is your favorite character to write?

I enjoy writing bad guys.  The bad guy defines the reason you want to root for the good guy. The movie Gladiator is an excellent example of this.  Today’s reader wants to know what made the bad guy be so evil.  Is he or she beyond saving?  When the bad people demonstrate that they are, then it’s OK to kill them off.     

What type of romantic relationship do you like to read? (Hate/love, best friend, forbidden, etc.) is it the same type you like to write? Why or why not?
I’ve been married for 30 years.  I like to see relationships in the many stages of love from passionate bodice-rippers to calm, abiding, eternal love that lasts a life time.  Love is a drug and when you have it in your life, you’re lucky.  On the other hand, love requires daily attention, lots of dialog and honesty.  The best partner is the kind you can grow with through all the stages of life.  However, if I put that in a character’s mouth, I think I would lose readers.  My job is to entertain, not moralize, sermonize, explain or pontificate.  Recently I was told that a sex scene helps make characters human. I struggle to write sex scenes.  The challenge is to know how much is enough.           

What draws you to a book (to read)?

I have to like the genre, the era, the location, feel that I’ll learn something and be entertained.  I read and write reviews.  I like to read authors that are good at their craft so I can study how they do it.  I have great respect for a plausible yet twisted plot.  I enjoy new authors that show a spark of creativity.  Bottom line, I need a good story. Writing is hard work, and when done well, I like to let the author know why I enjoyed it.   

What characteristics do you look for in your ideal heroine? Your ideal hero? Are they the same characteristics you employ when you write your heroine and your hero? Why or why not?
Heroes make choices that reveal their character.  Heroes don’t go looking for trouble; trouble finds them.  My kind of hero champions the down-trodden and lifts them up.  My  heroes want you to believe that life is a good place to be.  They strengthen your willingness to have faith in humanity.

What are you currently reading?

In the last month, I’ve read and reviewed three crime thrillers. 

A Question of Proof by Joseph Amiel is a classic courtroom drama with a plot that twists to the very last page.  Hostile Witness by Rebecca Forster is about a female defense attorney that champions her client when everyone else wants to find her crazy. Buffalo Dick by Duff O’Brien introduces an element of magical realism into a crime thriller.  All are well-written and fun to read.

 
Why a mystery?  What about this genre inspires you to write?
 Mysteries engage a part of my brain and keep me reading to find out what happened.    Plot it important for me.  Some people read books to spend time with the characters.  I already have too many characters in my imagination.  I read to see what happens.

If you don't mind, what is On'Ya and what have you learned by putting your story there? 

On’Ya is Australian slang for “good on you”.  I use it as a salute to acknowledge authors and readers.  I once lived in a communal house with a wild bunch of Australians who had very creative slang.  Because I like dialog and poetry, I care about the odd things that people say.  Slang gives character to life and dialog.

I put Goat-Ripper up on Story Cartel for a 20-day run of free downloads in exchange for honest reviews.  As an Indie Author, I need readers willing to express an opinion.  I think of Amazon and Goodreads as big turnstiles in the sky. They count every click and comment.   The challenge is to get some buzz going about your book so readers will take a chance on you.  Story Cartel does a good job of that and Goodreads is great for reaching out to readers. 

Why did you choose the self-publishing route?

I chose self-publishing because it’s fast and direct.  I wanted to avoid the three-year delay of rejections while seeking a publisher. If an e-book does well, then a publisher may seek me out to re-issue for bookstore sales.  Plus, the millions of e-book readers consume more books faster than any other segment of readership.  It is a great proving ground for story, and never too much trouble to fix errors or typos and republish.  Every writer has a responsibility to readers to produce the best book we can.  Even if we self-publish we’ll be compared to books that have been combed and edited by professionals.  I encourage all writers to pay for those services. 

What are the ingredients to your favorite book?

The classic story line is to get your character up a tree, throw rocks at him, then get him down from the tree.  Another formula is a big action event in the beginning that concludes with a big action event in the end.  Many films are structured this way.  I believe that a story works better when you add new characters in the middle and twist the plot a few times.  It’s important to offer the reader a thrilling ride.    
 

Twitter handle:  PeterPrasad.SF@Twitter.com

Blog link: Goodreads blog: Expletives Deleted http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6494640.Peter_Prasad/blog
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Prasad/e/B008MHBABG/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1377532623&sr=8-1