This week, we
welcome author Sue Frederick. It’s been my privilege to work with her in an
editorial capacity and to see the success of her latest release, The Unwilling
Spy.
How did you come to write “The
Unwilling Spy.”
Instead of counting sheep when I go to bed each night, I make up book
titles. One night I thought of the title
“The Unwilling Spy.” From the title
alone, I created a story – 84,000 words later I published my first novel. Perhaps it is unorthodox; but, for me, an
intriguing title develops into a story, then a story into a published
novel. I’ve almost completed my second
novel, “Madame Delafloté, Impeccable Spy.”
Again, the novel began with the title.
What was most difficult about it?
Amazingly, writing is easy for me. I was born with a little television screen
inside my head where I watch visions of my characters and, interestingly, I
become my characters – I commit murder, have conversations with Adolf Hitler,
make love to a handsome spy, cuss and spit like a sailor. All these visions become my novels. The
difficult part is editing and publishing.
There is so much to know about both.
Experience, however, has lessened my frustration in both these areas.
What has been the most rewarding about it so
far?
It’s marvelous to see a manuscript turn into a published
novel – the fruit of your labor. There
is a true sense of accomplishment when it all comes together. I must say it was quite exciting to see the
finished book cover for “The Unwilling Spy.”
The picture of the cover had been in my mind from the very first moment
I began writing the novel.
If somebody from say, Pluto, landed in front of you and
asked you to tell them about your novel, how would you describe it?
I consider my novels “heart” novels. Assuming someone from Pluto can read and
understand our language, I would simply say this story is about a simple man
who is faced with unimaginable difficulties as he battles tyranny and evil in
times of war. His journey is unforgettable.
In my writing, there is nothing I can teach you, but I am
hoping to inspire you. It is my desire
that you are entertained by what I write, that you are moved to laughter, to
love and to the pure and priceless appreciation of words.
Which of your fictional characters most
resembles you?
I would like to think the integrity of Garcia Quinones,
the protagonist, comes from me. It is
important to me to write about heroes, those who make the world better by their
exemplary behavior and philosophies.
Give us a writing tip.
Write from the heart.
Your novel is about espionage – will you change
genres in your future novels?
It is almost laughable that I write spy novels with such
self-confidence and ease. How could a
sweet Southern belle who truly drinks mint juleps in her French country garden
write about Nazis and the world of spying?
It’s that little television screen again – I see visions!
As far as future books, I have written two that are ready for
editing at the moment – they are literary fiction, far removed from
spyhood. One is “Sanctuary of the Heart”
which is about a depression-era family in north Georgia. The other is “Baltimore Billy” – a novel
about a man who, at age 55, believes he is a cowboy. His youth was spent at John
Hopkins Hospital
in Baltimore
where he read Tom Mix comic books and listened to the radio westerns of the
Cisco Kid and the Texas Rangers. Over
time, he became a cowboy and through his life never really entered the real
world. In his adulthood, he returns to Baltimore where his
cowboy persona began. Poignant and
moving, this novel is definitely a “heart” novel.
