Interview with Brian Pinkerton by David Niall Wilson for Macabre Ink
David Niall Wilson is an award-winning novelist and short story author. He is a former president of the Horror Writers Association.
DNW:
I grew up in
southern
BP:
I have lived in the
But sticking too closely to one setting can be limiting
and claustrophobic. Sometimes the
plot requires a location that serves a distinct role, like
When I write about other locations, there’s some research
to keep me honest, but it’s not painstaking.
I don’t want it to overwhelm the plotting.
I’m not going to spend pages and pages on architecture or climate or
culture. I gotta keep the story
moving.
As for time periods, I like to write in the here and now.
I use contemporary settings to create a sense of immediacy and relatable
situations. I want it to feel like
it’s happening the very day that you’re reading it.
It’s an interesting coincidence that you mentioned
DNW: You are a rarity in younger novelists...you have a degree in journalism. In a gene world where the Internet, POD and Vanity publishing have made everyone a potential author, how do you feel your education has influenced your work - the speed with which you've accomplished publication - do you have pet peeves about writing? This is where, I guess, I'd like to know the background of how you came from going to school...graduating...and deciding to write for publication...
BP:
Well, I can’t slam POD, because I self-produced my first book, but I am reminded
of the William Goldman quote, “Everyone who knows the alphabet thinks they’re a
writer.”
But that’s the beauty of writing – it doesn’t matter who
you are, where you are, how much money you have, what degrees you own.
Anyone can express themselves.
Anyone can tell stories.
I think my background in journalism and business
communications has helped bring some discipline to my writing.
I can write quickly and clearly.
However, I’m pretty certain my degrees were irrelevant to getting my
novels published. You live or die
by the quality of the submission.
At the
After
If I have any pet peeves about writing, it’s overwriting.
More words do not create better sentences.
If something is a chore to read, I will put it down.
Life is too short. I have
the same MTV-video games-160 beats per minute attention span as everyone else
from my generation.
DNW:
Your last name begs the question...you are a crime writer with the name
Pinkerton. It's almost the kind of thing that if someone wrote it, no one
would believe...are you related? Even if not, was there ever a fascination
with the old Pinkerton men, the intrigues, the cases...what made you choose
crime thrillers for your home, and do you see yourself branching out from that
in the future, or is this where you plan to stake your claim?
BP:
People ask me all the time if Pinkerton is a pen name because of the link to
Allan Pinkerton, the first private eye, who invented the detective agency.
But it’s my real name. It’s
a happy coincidence. I believe
we’re related through common ancestry.
I don’t feel that it influences the type of books I
write. In fact, aside from
Killing the Boss, my books don’t
focus much on the detective or investigation.
My themes are more Alfred Hitchcock-like… innocent people who become
entangled in crimes.
My books have been labeled variously as mystery,
suspense, thriller and horror. I
also like to play the tension for humor and hope to do more of that.
DNW:
All authors have a process, even if it's a totally disorganized mess of a
process. Tell me what a typical writing day is like. Tell me how you
go from idea, to outline (if you use one) to final draft...do you listen to
music? Who and what influences your work...where do you find your
inspiration? In other words...to be more succinct...can you describe YOUR
process?
BP:
My writing routine is very planned out and structured.
I know some writer friends who are appalled by my calculated approach.
What I lose in spontaneity, I gain in efficiency.
I don’t write into corners or suffer writer’s block.
I know exactly where the plot is going and set up the twists and turns in
advance, so they are both surprising and logical.
The creation of the last few books have followed a
pattern. First, I’ll compile some
book ideas, with a leaning toward high-concept, standalone thrillers.
Then I’ll share those ideas with a small group of people for feedback.
I’ll assemble their favorites, determine my favorites, and make a
decision.
After I choose the story, I create a chapter-by-chapter
outline. It could be 60 or 70 pages
long. It maps out all the beats in
the story, written in a fast, breezy style.
It’s a narrative, like a film script treatment, with bits of dialogue
thrown in.
Then I use that outline to write the chapters.
I sit in the basement with one large cup and one small cup of coffee from
Dunkin Donuts, and one chocolate-frosted donut.
I block out all distractions.
There’s no computer, no phone, no people.
Just me, the furnace, and a small stereo playing music.
But the music can’t have lyrics.
I write one or two chapters at a time in six-hour writing
stretches on designated mornings.
It’s the first draft. It’s
handwritten on lined white paper.
It is extremely messy, probably indecipherable to others.
During evenings, I handwrite a second, neater draft.
I make pencil edits on the second draft and rewrite problematic pages.
I give that draft to my wife and somehow convince her to type it up for
me, because I am a terrible typist.
After it’s typed and printed out, I tackle that next
version with more handwritten edits.
I read the whole thing a couple million times and enter the final changes
into the computer myself. I print
out a clean copy to give to a few people for feedback.
The feedback can take any shape or form, ranging from a list of typos to
guffaws over plot holes.
I keep working with the manuscript until I never want to
see it again, and then it’s done.
The whole process takes approximately nine months to produce a medium-sized
novel. About as long as it takes to
bring a baby into the world.
On my Web site, I have a free PDF e-booklet that
describes the making of my novel Abducted.
It includes the original pitch letter to the publisher and pages from the
outline and various drafts.
For my new one,
Killer’s Diary, I sent the original handwritten drafts to Paul Little, the
publisher. He’s going to use the
pages as a promo giveaway. My
handwriting is so demented that it truly looks like a killer’s diary.
DNW:
Patented last question. You have one day to come up with the
inspiration for a new story or novel. You can spend it in a library with
access to all the books of the world, in a studio with access to all the music
of the world, or you can be transported to anyplace in the world for the
day...which do you choose, and why? If you choose the last option, where,
and why?
BP:
It would have to be music.
Good music fires up my imagination.
It becomes a soundtrack for characters and stories that need to be
written. If I’m traveling to an
exotic location or going through the world’s books, I think I would be too
caught up in the experience of those things to create something new.
But music somehow supplements my writing and creativity.
I hate silence when I’m writing.
It’s intimidating. It
prolongs the pauses. So I play a
lot of CDs and it’s a wide mix of music.
An average writing stretch could be covered by In The Nursery, Philip
Glass, Mahler, Dead Can Dance, Miles Davis, Tangerine Dream, Controlled
Bleeding, Moby and Brahms. In
particular, I play a lot of weirdo experimental music.
When the writing is going real well, I don’t notice when
the CDs end. The music has
continued in my head without missing a beat.