Ask the Author: E.A. Allen
Answered Questions (6)
E.A. Allen
"Shadows on a Distant Shore" came at the juncture of two thoughts. The first was what my characters -- Montclaire and Fitz -- might get mixed up in after all they'd been through in "When Beggars Die" (my debut novel). The second was the complicated mix of suspicions and machinations that were part of the runup to the First World War. The two ingredients that came together as "the Idea" for shadows were the German thinking about how to militarize the new Zeppelin airship and Germans suspicions that the Czar and the French were actively collaborating to defeat German ambitions to be a Great Power.
E.A. Allen
A combination of things. Thinking about the history of the Edwardian Era and about my characters, and about how they might get embroiled in events.
E.A. Allen
I am writing the first of what will be a new series of mysteries for Young Readers (10-18 years), featuring Percy St.-John. Percy's debut in three of my Montclaire Weekend Mysteries -- "The Twice-Killed Man," "Priceless," and "What to Do About Percy,' met with such approval among my readers that I have decided his story deserves to be told. Percy is a 13 year old genius safe-cracker (a "cracksman" in the Edwardian English) who has a natural gift for stealing things. His talents are turned to the good, when he is absorbed into the "control" of the French Intelligence Service (the Deuxieme Bureau) and assigned to do "useful staling."
E.A. Allen
Write. Then, think about how you are writing. Then, keep writing.
E.A. Allen
There is no doubt about it. It is seeing that my fun is entertaining to other people. We are all having fun together.
E.A. Allen
I do not get "writer's block." Once I have the idea for a Montclaire Mystery -- either a short (Weekend Mystery) or novel, I begin to think of plot, working from back to front. Someone called mystery writing "learning to think backward," Once I have the crime, the main characters, and the end I am working toward, I begin to plot. I structure my plots according to a traditional Three Act model, using the greatest plotting device know to man -- The Hero's Journey. These structures keep me moving forward and effectively prevent "writer's block." That is not to minimize how difficult it can be. I often hit a wall in thinking up plot twists, especially where those plot twists are most important, and climbing that wall can be a species of self-torture.
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