Featured Author: Joss Landry

[Tawdra Kandle]

1. Tell us about your latest book. My latest book is called Mirror Deep. It’s also my first book. It’s a mix or romance and mystery. I had called it a Romantic suspense, but Kirkus Reviews called it a Romantic Mystery.

2. Where did the idea for the book come from? I was writing a novel one afternoon, and happened to be keeping an eye on the Australian Grand Slam tennis match. There was a commercial, a horse with mane and tail flowing, and Mirror Deep was born, complete with characters story plots and subplots. I dropped the other novel I was working on mid-stream.

3. Who and what inspire you to write? I began reading, I was seven years old. I was hooked on the images and stories that words could draw, in awe of all those authors. My mother explained to me that this was not some magical power and that I could write too. From the time I was eight, I ran a diary for fifteen years – my first blog.

4. Each author has his or her own inspiring journey. How did you begin writing? A story came loud and clear to me when I walked my dog one morning, on the beach in Miami, Florida. Staring up at the condo balconies lining the sand, I spotted a handsome man on his, in my mind’s eye. His name, Eric Parker. He glanced out at the ocean, as though he might catch sight of the childhood sweetheart, Jennifer Cormier, he’d refused to follow to France when Jen received a scholarship to study art. From there a trilogy was born. A third one still needs to be written. One day, I will publish all three.

5. What has been the most pleasant surprise about writing? Discovering what all the characters in the story are capable of doing. Sometimes, I am in awe of where they take me, and writing becomes as pleasant as reading. How about an unexpected downside? I reread eight to ten chapters back when I first start writing after a few days away, to put me back in the story as my characters love to surprise me with plot twists and some foreshadowing now and again. The jolt I receive whenever I eventually turn to a blank page is heartrending. I so want to learn where this story is going, but I can’t. I first have to write the rest. I never learn. 
6. Do you have any writing rituals? Need a computer. Can’t handwrite, or talk in a recorder. Need my two “C” words: coffee and computer. Oh, and it’s better in the morning  

8. Do you write your books in order? This is an odd question. No one has ever asked me this before, so I had to juggle to figure out the answer. I guess you mean, do I write the ending first or certain drama scenes first? I definitely write my books in order. Mostly because I never know what’s going to happen next. Also, because I reread so many times, I will make changes throughout as I move through the story, and sometimes these changes will modify the main plot’s trajectory. Never know how the story will end until the last 20 pages of the novel.

9. What is on your writing playlist for this book? Do you mean songs? I normally don’t use music as it keeps me from hearing what the characters are saying. However for Mirror Deep, I listened to Gordon Lightfoot’s music. My main male character, Pierce Bonner loves his music and renders Lightfoot’s songs with a honeyed voice while he plucks away at his guitar.

10. Any favorite writing snacks? Coffee and fruit. I forget to eat when I write. I’ve lost weight over the last 5 years because of it.

11. What advice would you give writers who aspire to be published? First build a social media platform. Join writers’ clubs: Thenextbigwriter.com is my favorite. Get feedback on what you’re writing. Better yet, give other authors feedback on what they are writing. Best you wait until invited to do so, though. Read in the genre you’re writing. Expect to be critiqued and learn to roll with the punches.

12. Are you working on anything new right now? I have just finished two new books. “Long Goodbyes”, a romantic mystery, which can also pass as women’s fiction. We follow three women who have lost their tender halves. Their struggles, and their exciting encounters with new lovers. The second book is called: “I Can See You.” A mystery as well, resembling an urban fantasy. Ten year-old Emma Willis has inherited Granny Dottie’s power of sight and she can accomplish much more. Raised amongst adults, Emma is unusually bright. When a murderer is loose in Newark, a maniac with many faces and a thirst for killing children, she will need all her powers to catch a killer and help the people in her life. Only, the madman knows who she is...
13.  Who is your favorite character in your current book? Difficult to pick favorites amongst my children. Some people have told me Dutch windmill, Detective Patrick Vander Hurk is remarkable. Some people love Kat’s determination and the fact that she sometimes runs headlong into problems without pondering the results of her actions. Pierce is hunky and laidback, yet he reads like a dark blue-eyed volcano waiting to happen.

14. What is your favorite book of all time? Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain Fournier. Read it when I was ten and story has stayed with me. I have many favorites. Beach Music by Pat Conroy is another.

15. Tell us in one sentence why we should read your book. “A dynamic mystery as unstoppable as the attraction between the book’s two main characters.