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| D. A. Butler, Author JOPLIN JUSTICE |
D.A. Butler
created Hailey Fox with some authority. She served as a newspaper reporter and
feature writer for newspapers in Missouri and Kansas. She currently works as a
contracts administrator in Florida, and has a son who is a Navy pilot.
Don't miss the excerpt following the interview.
Q: How
important is the setting of your mystery in Joplin? Why did you choose Joplin?
D.A. Butler: Joplin is very
close to my hometown, Pittsburg, Kansas, where I worked as a news reporter many years ago, and so the Joplin area
is familiar territory. It’s bigger
than Pittsburg, and just the right size for a novel that brings the flavor of a
small city, not too big, but not too small. It has essential elements for the story: A place where you know most of your
neighbors, you run into your friends, people talk about each other so
information is easily shared, but there are new faces from time to time because
the city is growing and developing.
With due respect to all the difficulties Joplin has had due to the
tornado, and the injuries, loss of life and destruction, we are all aware that
it is a city of good people who are showing how strong and resilient they
are. (My novel was written before
the storm.)
Q: What
inspired you to write your novel?
D.A. Butler: Just for my
own amusement and to exercise my brain, I started on a couple of novels and left
them on my computer. My son, who
was home from college, found one and read it. College-aged children rarely offer their parents compliments,
but he did so without knowing he was doing it. He asked me, “Mom,
there’s this novel on the computer, but it’s just five chapters. I want to read the rest. Where did you
find this? It’s great.” He was very surprised to learn that I’d
written it. I think his reaction
was: “No way. You wrote this? Really? Mom, you have to finish it.” It was quite a moment when suddenly I wasn’t just a mom to
him. His unexpected compliments
inspired me to keep going. He’s so
supportive of my writing efforts.
That helps, although my latest project may not interest him as much. I’m working on a novel that is in the
Nicholas Spark’s genre, a tragic romance.
Q: How much are
you or people you know part of your book?
D.A. Butler: I didn’t use
anyone I know as part of the book, every character is entirely fiction, drawn
from the ether. However, I was a newspaper reporter in a
nearby small town quite a few years ago, and those experiences gave me the
concept of what it would be like to be a young woman reporter in a similar,
small community today. I stay away
from using real people in anything I write, but I might borrow a
characteristic, a quirk, a passion, a look, or just a general personality
type. It’s like this: You may pick up the essence of someone,
for example their peccadilloes or the way they speak, and combine it with
traits from someone else.
By
way of illustration, several friends in grade school had mothers who were
always gabbing (the proverbial over the fence gossip routine), but they knew
what was really happening in our small town, and it left an impression that led
me to develop Hailey’s mother in my novel. I honestly can’t point to anyone of them and say Hailey’s
mother is like that woman (nor do I remember any of those women, specifically). So, you could say, I remember their
friendships, and the phones ringing, and people talking, which led to this
character being like the telephone operator of gossip in my novel.
My
character, Charley just sort of came to me. I could actually envision him, but he’s not like anyone I
actually know. I was able to
picture this sarcastic, jovial, but endearing figure, probably, unconsciously
stringing together a variety of traits from people I’ve met. I’m quite sure other novelists do the same
thing.
Frankly,
the only real “person” in the novel is my ghost, Teddy. That’s based entirely on something that
happened to me when I was about 24 – I lived in a haunted house, and it was
quite something. Here again there
is a difference: Teddy is a little
nicer than the ghost I experienced, but some of the things (ringing phones,
re-arranged canned goods) actually happened.
Q: What is your favorite part of being a
writer?
D.A. Butler: I love creating
something out of thin air. As a
former reporter, when I wrote for the newspaper, I had to stick to the facts
and not dramatize, yet there’s loads of drama in the real world. With fiction, I’m able to develop
characters, put them through twists and turns and have fun with the
make-believe drama. Either way, I
love words.
Q: What makes a
hero/heroine? What makes a villain?
D.A. Butler: A hero or
heroine must have the characteristics of an ordinary person who reaches deep
and finds the strength to overcome something, to soldier on in the face of
difficulties, to rise to the occasion.
They don’t disappoint us; they have admirable traits that we may seek to
attain, whether it’s kindness in the face of cruelty, humor in times of worry, or
the ability to help another person.
Villains
are somewhat easier and a lot of fun. I attended a writer’s conference where the speaker said to
let it all out with a villain, just put on your bad guy hat and let go.
Q: How do you convince your readers to
care about your characters, esp young newspaper reporter Hailey Fox?
D.A. Butler: I hope I make
my readers care by providing them with a character who is not perfect, who is
relatable, who falls down from time to time. Hailey forgets things, makes funny leaps in judgment (such as
thinking that she has a gluten sensitivity without really looking into that),
gets lost in a cave without her phone and forgets about ordinary maintenance on
her vehicle. She has a sense of
humor that carries her through. Here inability to chose between two men is another endearing
trait because she doesn’t want to hurt Dale or Arrow. The
sheriff is lovable because he has a great sense of humor and he’s stepped in to
be a father figure to Hailey. We
care about Dale because he is good to Hailey, and is a steady, reliable sort,
and we don’t want to see him hurt if she picks Arrow instead. These are emotions that we find in real
life, so we can relate to the characters as we see their plight develop.
Q: Do you write largely for entertainment,
or do you also try to deliver a message?
D.A. Butler: I’m writing
to entertain, with no agenda or message, and I want to give the reader a break
from their day, to let them have some fun. Novels written by James Lee Burke helped me immensely when I
had some health problems – his work got me through hard times, with his ability
to immerse the reader in a scene. Remember
the old commercial: “Calgon, take
me away”? That’s what I mean. For ordinary stressful days, a novel can
be an oasis in a storm (sorry for the cliché). That is my goal, to entertain and provide that respite.
Q: What do you
like most about the mystery genre?
D.A. Butler: I like that it’s
important to not just develop characters, but to thread through the story minor
clues and to throw the reader off often, so the end result is a surprise unless
they’ve picked up the clues. It’s
like building a game for the reader.
I also like taking a sudden turn just when the reader is getting
comfortable and expecting the story to go another way. An unexpected person knocks at the
door, or there is some other unexpected event. And, building in the ghost aspect was just for pure fun. But, the mystery genre is much harder
than I expected, just keeping track of leads to be sure everything is sewn up
and addressed at the end.
Q: What tips
would you give to others considering a career in writing?
D.A. Butler: If you love to
write, go for it. Enjoy the
process, enjoy the creativity.
But, don’t do it only if your only reason is to make a million or be a
run-away hit because there are so many aspiring writers now. If you enjoy writing and seeing someone
light up over your words, then you may have what it takes. Be persistent.
If
you write a few chapters and then lose interest, plot out the next twist and
change things up. Often people
stop after getting a good start because they don’t have an idea planned out
past that point. I love writing
with the flow, when you’re in a groove and the words are just coming out of
nowhere, but I also must have a general idea what I’m going to do and a few
plot devices in mind. Don’t overburden your reader with
unnecessary details all lumped together to get the background material out of
the way; seed these things through the novel. And, learn to accept honest criticism because you stand to benefit
from it and improve from it.
One
last suggestion, listen to people and how they speak so your dialogue will
sound real. If you can write
dialogue, you are well on your way.
Q: When you’re
not writing, what do you do? Hobbies? Sailing? Knitting? Standup comedy? Feed
the cats? Favorite music? Favorite
authors? Do you have a muse? Pet the cats?
D.A. Butler: My favorite
authors (writing now) are Lee Child, James Lee Burke, and Janet Evanovich, so
obviously I like a wide variety of fiction. I read a lot, although less when I’m writing. I’m taking up ballroom dancing at a
center near me, but I’m sure I’ll be falling over my own feet. I’m buying a house, so there will be
plenty to occupy my time there and I love to garden. I enjoy a wide variety of music: Jazz (Coltrane), current hits, young country and even
zydeco. I always have music
playing while I’m writing, always.
About
D. A. Butler
D.
A. Butler is a former newspaper reporter and feature writer for newspapers in
Missouri and Kansas. She has a
bachelor's of Science degree in journalism from the University of Kansas and a
paralegal certificate from Rockhurst College. She lived and worked in Kansas City area for over 30 years
before layoffs sent on a new adventure and she’s now a contracts administrator
for a large Orlando, FL company, enjoying the sunshine state. In her mid-twenties, she actually lived
in a house haunted by a pesky ghost, and the ghost is featured in one of her
novels, JOPLIN JUSTICE. She is
the mother of one son, a Navy pilot.
Completed
novels: JOPLIN JUSTICE (available for Kindle) and “Two Lane Highway.”
Current
projects: Developing new novel “Under
the Bougainvillea” (working title).
Mystery, Humor,
and Romance alá Missouri
By D.A. Butler
(D. A. Butler Did It)
JOPLIN JUSTICE– Excerpt from Chapter 5.
The B&C smelled of cigarettes, booze, and
disinfectant, as always. From the
jukebox, a new country song followed the end of another. The tough-looking bartender, a
handlebar mustache dripping over his lips, watched her move past the busy
tables towards the far end of the bar.
She found Dale Jargis and Charley Hoyt deep in conversation in one of
the booths there and took a seat next to Jargis, forcing him to move over. She slapped her new book on the table.
Charley drew out a pair of reading glasses
and perched them on his nose. He looked at the title: “Ghosts in the House, a Compilation of Sightings and
Encounters From Another Dimension.”
After riffling through a few pages, he wrinkled his nose and stared at
Hailey over the top of the readers. “You spent good money on this?”
She sighed. “I’m not the only person with a ghost is all.”
“Right.” He closed the book and looked over at Jargis and then back
at Hailey. “Did you kiddies have fun this afternoon with the Bronco?”
“If not for me, she’d be out on a hot date
with Bob at Buster’s Tow,” Jargis said.
“Old Bob’s a treasure, ain’t he?”
A slim, sandy-haired waitress sashayed over
to their booth. Charley ordered
Hailey a scotch on the rocks and nachos.
“You’re going to eat.”
“Charley, I can’t eat nachos, you know that.”
“All in your head. Just like this stuff.”
He pointed a finger at the book on the table. “You don’t have a ghost. You have an overactive imagination.” He turned to Jargis. “She calls him Teddy.”
“Have you ever come home and found all your
underwear in a heap in the middle of the kitchen floor?”
Charley laughed out loud. “No, can’t say that I have. But if I keep drinking anything is
possible.”
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Love how just that brief excerpt is so atmospheric.
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