RomanceEverAfter

Author Booksignings

An Interview with
Peter J. Thompson
by Donna DeFalco

Contemporary thriller author Peter J. Thompson joined authors T.A. Stone and Lindsay Longford at Let's Talk Romance on September 17, 2003 to discuss his first book, Living Proof.  He took a few moments to chat with Donna DeFalco about his book, writing, and provides tips for the novice writer.

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I didn't write at all when I was younger, but I read all the time. I didn't start writing until about 10 years ago when I was in my thirties. At the time my younger brother was taking a class on writing screenplays, and we had similar senses of humor, so he asked for my help.

The idea of writing had never occurred to me, but I loved movies, so I thought it would be a fun thing to try. I helped him do the few pages he needed for the course and found I enjoyed it. I came up with what I considered a great idea for a movie and ended writing a script for it. It didn't go anywhere, but everyone who read it said it was good. I wrote one more screenplay after that, then a number of short stories before deciding I was ready to try a novel, which turned out to be Living Proof.

Ideas can come from anywhere. I first got the idea for Living Proof when Karla Faye Tucker was executed in Texas several years ago.

Karla Faye was the methamphetamine-crazed ax murderess who became a born again Christian while in prison. I remember watching the news the week before her execution. There was a real circus like atmosphere in Huntsville, Texas, the site of the death chamber. Hundreds of people gathered in the square across from the prison. On one side of the square, priests and nuns led candle light vigils; on the other side, hawkers sold T-shirts and fraternity brothers chanted and drank beer.

For me, this case crystallized the whole capital punishment debate. Her supporters noted that she had changed in prison, and the person they were going to kill was not the same as the one who had committed the crime. Others just wanted vengeance, or the chance to party while it all went down.

Watching all this got me thinking – what if they didn't really execute her? What if she were still alive? The whole novel flowed from that idea. I wrote pages of notes at the time, but I couldn't figure out how I wanted to do it, so it just sat there. It was over a year later then I was looking through some of my old notes, I saw this and I knew I could make it work.

For me it was harder getting an agent than finding a publisher. The first agent I queried sent back a personal rejection letter saying that she "really viscerally disliked" my description of the book. After I got over the initial shock, I figured that was a good thing. I must have something powerful in order to elicit such a strong response.

After that I sent off query letters in batches and waited until I got a new wave of rejection letters before I'd send off another batch. I had several agents request pages, and then turn it down, so I reworked the opening chapter and changed the name of the book to Living Proof.

I got several responses from the next batch I sent out. My agent, Jimmy Vines, was the first to respond. He e-mailed me to send out the full manuscript.  He read it right away, and I signed with him within a week. He sold it shortly after that.

You need to make sure your work is the best you can make it before sending it out.  After that, persistence is key. I've belonged to a writer's group for a long time, and I really think that good constructive feedback can help.

One thing I've learned is that agents and editors are deluged with material. When reading new submissions, they don't give the work much of a chance. If it doesn't grab them within the first few pages, they quickly move on to the next one. So it's real important to make sure what you're sending is the very best you can do -- especially the beginning.

I'm hoping to finish my second novel soon. Like Living Proof, it's a fast paced thriller with multiple viewpoints. I've been told that I write strong female characters and in the one I'm working on now, I'm amping up the romance aspect a little more. Hopefully, you'll be hearing more about it soon.

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