Today we are talking to Art Johnson author of Deadly Impressions
Tell us something unexpected about yourself!
That after a career as a studio and touring musician with credits as a Grammy and Academy award participant, that I would, at the age of seventy, have two detective/thrillers published.
What kind of books do you write?
I write detective/mysteries with a minimal amount of displayed violence. It has been my habit to take real historical people, who may or may not be known to the public at large, and use facets of their life to weave through my fiction. I try to explore a real adventure for the reader in a shorter form without sacrificing the thrill of a thriller.
What inspired you to write?
I began reading poetry and the lives of four poets in particular. W.B. Yeats, Charles Baudelaire, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Stephan Mallarme. That would be in the early 1980's, when I was touring in Europe quite a bit with Lena Horne and Randy Crawford.
What makes your writing stand out from the crowd?
I'm really not sure how, or if I can, answer this question. I wrote poetry, essays and short stories and gave lectures on the creative process at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles in the mid-eighties. I began “The Devil's Violin” in 2006. It is possible that through the study of obscure ancient philosophies that something in my writing is a bit tweaked. Really couldn't say.
What is the hardest part of writing – for you?
The length of time that it takes to start with a blank page and have a finished manuscript ready for publication. When you are an author on your own with no research staff etc., it takes about a year to a year and a half to finish one book. I am usually working on two or three at a time.
Where do you like to write – what is your routine?
I can write anywhere and I don't have a routine. I've learned to trust my intuition. I never try to write when I sit at my desk to write. I have never experienced writer's block. I just ask the characters in my book to tell me where they want to go next.
What do you do when you are not writing – do you have a day job?
As a musician, when I tire of a section of a new manuscript I'm working on, editing or whatever, I pick up an instrument and lose myself in the sound. I might stop writing for few days to give that thing a rest and then I will record in my home studio.
Do you work with an outline or just write?
I just write.
What advice would you have for other writers?
Patience
How important is marketing and social media for you?
I'm waiting to find that out!
What's your next step?
Finishing the final edit of my third book and writing the first edit on my fourth, which is also complete. I like to stay a few steps ahead. No pressure.
Deadly Impressions is available here.
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