Interviews with Authors

LJ: For years you wrote non-fiction, and with the Sterling Glass series you moved into fiction. How difficult was it to pitch the idea of an antiques appraiser sleuth? Did you have to promise it would be a series or did your editor talk you into creating it as such?

EJ: Everyone thought I was crazy when I said I was going to try my hand at fiction. Because my agent, my editor, everyone, warned me against trying fiction, I had to write the full book first before anyone would take me seriously. But I always envisioned a series featuring Sterling, though in a series each book has to stand alone. What makes a writer happy is when people read the whole series.

LJ: When you're frustrated in your writing, where or to whom do you turn to in order to shake up your story? Critique group? Editor? Friends?

EJ: Even when writing non-fiction, I would stop, put what I was working on out of my head, and either watch an old movie (the dialogue is fabulous in those), or read to see how other writers handled whatever was giving me pause -- moving the scene forward, describing a setting, making a transition ... whatever. That's not plagiarism. That's learning from the masters.

LJ: Your mysteries are as intricate as the stolen antiques. Do you outline in order to manage the details of how and when to reveal clues?

EJ: I've always hated making outlines. I made C's or worse on my outlines in English class, but A's on my essays or stories. When I begin to write and the story begins to unfold, everything seems to fall into place. Since, like my protagonist, I was an appraiser, I approach my stories the same way I examine an antique. I deal with one bit of information, one clue at a time. Then when I have all the evidence, I piece it together. And having written non-fiction for so long, I follow the old "Who, What, Where, and When" trail as I write. Then I probe deeply into the characters to find out the "Why." That's when the real fun begins.

LJ: Your main character, Sterling Glass, is as observant about people as she is of antiques. Did you draw on experiences with real people in order to create the colorful characters Sterling deals with?

EJ: Absolutely. To my way of thinking, everyone is a potential character. That's why my daughter gave me a T-shirt that reads, "Careful or I'll put you in my book." Everybody is fair game to a writer.

LJ: Where did the idea come from to feature the antiques column Q&As at the beginning of each chapter? Was it to draw the reader's attention to that item as part of the mystery, or was it to educate the reader, or even to illustrate Sterling's character or credentials?

EJ: The answer is all of the above. Not everyone wants to read a factual book to learn about antiques, but a story ... that's a different matter. I figured the Q&A beginning to the chapters was sort of a painless, subliminal way to slip in some facts while showing that Sterling knows her stuff. What's interesting is that some readers read those Q&As before they even read the book, and others skip right over them to get to the meat of the story.

LJ: Where would your ideal writing location be? Or what would be your ideal writing environment?

EJ: The garden, or at least a room with a garden view. Robinson Jeffers, the early 20th century poet, built a stone tower in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, overlooking the Pacific. (www.torhouse.org) Now that would be heaven on earth!

More information at http://sterlingglassmysteries.com/

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