Uncover the Mystery Beneath the Buried House

Joining us today is mystery author Bob Avey. Bob is on a virtual book tour to promote the second book in his Detective Elliot series, Beneath a Buried House. We´ll talk about his work, the obstacles he faced bringing his work to publication, and what he has planned next.

Thanks for joining us today, Bob.

It´s a pleasure to have you here.

Can you tell us a little about yourself? How long have you been writing? Who or what is your greatest source of inspiration?

I´m the author of the Kenny Elliot mystery series, which includes Twisted Perception, released April 2006, and Beneath a Buried House, June 2008, several short stories and various non-fiction articles. I live with my wife and son in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and when I´m not writing or researching mystery writing techniques, I spend my free time prowling through dusty antique shops looking for the rare or unusual, or roaming through ghost towns, searching for echoes from the past. Through my writing, which I describe as a blend of literary and genre, I explore the intricacies and extremities of human nature.

I´m a member of The Tulsa NightWriters, The Oklahoma Writers Federation (active board member for 2006), The Oklahoma Mystery Writers, and Mystery Writers of America.

I began writing during my ninth year of school in typing class, which was a required subject at the time. The instructor, I believe his name was Mr. Brown, allowed his students a qualified free time during the last fifteen minutes of the class period. We couldn´t leave the room or disrupt the other students, but we could use the time to study or read, do homework or practice typing. I chose the typing. However, rather than going over the current assignment I began typing short episodes or scenes, which featured a bungling super hero type character. After class I would leave the stories on the desk, hoping, of course, that someone might read them. As it turned out, I developed quite a following.

I write to better understand myself, and the world around me, so I´d have to say that is my greatest source of inspiration. Other than that, I love to read, and writers like Dean Koontz, Stephen King and John Saul fascinate me.

Are you a morning or nighttime writer?

I´d have to say morning, though I jot down ideas whenever and wherever they strike me. This often happens when I´m driving, and I have to pull over when I get the chance and jot down whatever it is on a notepad I keep for that purpose. I tried capturing these thoughts with a hand held recorder, but that just didn´t work for me.

Do you use an outline / or character sketches?

I´ve tried outlining and I just can´t do it. I´ve read that it´s pretty evenly divided between writers who outline and those who don´t, and there are plenty of good authors on both sides of that fence. If I put all of my effort into an outline, when I get to the actual writing I feel as if I´ve already written that part and the writing feels stiff and forced. I guess it´s whatever works for you. I have, though, utilized character sketches with some success, and I make plot notes as I go along.

Tell us about your Detective Elliot series.

Actually I didn´t start out to write a mystery or a series. It just sort of happened. I´d recently joined the Tulsa NightWriters, a group I still belong to, when I discovered that some of the members had begun meeting one night a week to critique each other´s work. At the time, I was writing dark fantasy short stories. The members of the critique group turned out to be a rather conservative lot who weren´t exactly thrilled with my work. They encouraged me to abandon the short stories in favor of a novel and to choose a more serious subject. Feeling a bit rejected over the group´s response, I sat at home one evening mulling over their suggestions. My stories come to me in different ways but often they will manifest as a snippet of character monologue or dialogue, and as I sat brooding over the group´s harsh words this happened. I heard a character say, "You can´t fill out a homicide report, indicating the suspect to be a ghost." I immediately knew I had something. Here was what appeared to be a cop story, which should satisfy my conservative friends, and yet there was this ghost thing that gave my imagination something to work with. That character turned out to be Detective Elliot.

What do you like about Elliot?

From what at first glance might seem like a somewhat ordinary police detective, Elliot continually surprises me with the complexity of his nature and the depth of his character. In addition to that, he rescued me from a literary lull and gave purpose to my writing.

Is there anything you dislike?

Not really. He can be a bit cold, even mean at times but this is more of a defense mechanism than anything else, and it always seems to work to his advantage.

How long did it take you to bring Twisted Perception and Beneath a Buried House from first drafts to final published products?

It was different with each one. With Twisted I hadn´t previously published a novel and wasn´t really sure that I could. The result was a stop and start sort of effort that took much longer than it should have, about five years, give or take a few. I made several mistakes, and I only bring it up with hope that other writers reading this might avoid them. One of the things I did wrong was to begin sending the manuscript for Twisted Perception to agents and publishers in what was virtually an unedited first draft state. My second error was to keep doing this. And to give myself a little credit, I was getting positive remarks on the manuscript, but no offers of publication. When I finally woke up and had the manuscript professionally edited, I found success.

With Buried House, on the other hand, I became so involved with promotional efforts of the first book that I procrastinated myself into a full-blown situation of writers´ block. I´d written a few scenes here and there and that was it. That´s when an opportunity presented itself. I´d run across a writers´ conference that offered a contest in which the writer could send in a synopsis and the first three chapters of the current novel they were trying to market. The winner of the contest was guaranteed to have their entire manuscript read by a New York agency. Yeah, you guessed it. I won the contest. The agent wanted to see the complete manuscript as soon as possible. The problem was, I didn´t have a complete manuscript, only a few scattered scenes. So, I went home and, for all practical purposes, wrote the book in two months. This is not a situation that I recommend putting yourself into.

Were there any special obstacles or challenges you faced during the publishing process?

I don´t wish to mention any names, but my first publisher and I did not agree on the best way to market a book. I´ll just leave it at that and say that I renegotiated my rights back and found a new publisher.

How many other books are planned for this series? Care to share what the next one is about?

I have two or three more Elliot books in mind, but I´m not sure of the final number at this point.

With the third book in the series, which has a working title of "Footprints of a Dancer", I plan to address some Native American themes, particularly the sacrificial aspects of the Mesoamerican culture.

Where can readers purchase a copy of your books?

Beneath a Buried House is available at many of the online bookstores including Amazon.com

The book can also be found, or ordered at most physical bookstores.

What´s up next for you?

I need to get started writing "Footprints of a Dancer", the next book in the Detective Elliot series.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I´d like to invite everyone to visit my website at www.bobavey.com where sample chapters of both my novels can be read. While there, you can also register for a free copy of either book by signing up for my free newsletter.

Thanks for stopping by Bob. Best wishes and good luck with your writing.