Why did you decide to build a story around Hurricane Katrina?

Hurricane Katrina was a unique event--the worst natural disaster in American history. Law and order broke down, communication was cut off, the city's entire infrastructure collapsed--it just seemed like the perfect setting for a murder mystery. Besides, New Orleans is such a fascinating city anyway with its colorful cultural heritage and surrounding bayous. What better place to set a story?

How much of the story is true?

As with all my stories, much of it is true. There is an actual DMORT, and all ten regions were activated before Katrina struck. DMORT maintains two portable morgues, and one of them was set up in the tiny town of St. Gabriel an hour north of New Orleans--and believe it or not, they even had an actual Bug Man helping out. FEMA did decide to rescue the living first and recover the dead later on. The settings in the story are all actual places: the Lower Ninth Ward, Charity Hospital, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court--they're all real. I like to work with as much fact as possible before I begin telling lies!

What's your next project after First the Dead?

My next book will be entitled Less than Dead, which will once again feature Dr. Nick Polchak, forensic entomologist, the central character from three of my previous novels. Less than Dead will be set in a fictional town in central Virginia. The book is scheduled for release in September of 2008.

What are the elements of a good thriller?

Thrillers are plot-driven. You have to hit the ground running, and you can’t afford to let the pace slow down. When I turned in the rough manuscript for Shoofly Pie, my story editor advised me to cut forty pages out of the middle. That was painful—but it made a big improvement in the book. Character is a big part of a thriller too; readers want to see the story played out by interesting, complex characters.

What, in your opinion, separates a thriller from straight suspense?

The same thing that separates Space Mountain from the Jungle Cruise—the pace of the adventure.

Is there another genre you long to write in?

There are several, but the challenge for a writer is to establish a clear “brand” before he deviates from it. John Grisham writes legal thrillers, Tom Clancy writes techno-military adventures. Both writers deviate from their brand, but first they clearly established it. For now, I write mystery/suspense.

Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

Absolutely. I’m always amazed how much attitude can change during the writing of a book. One day I think, “I’m Hemingway!” and the next day I think, “I can’t even construct a decent sentence.” And I always finish a book thinking that it’s inadequate or incomplete. I’ve just come to accept doubt as part of the creative process; I think every creative person has to.

What’s the best advice you’ve heard on writing/publication?

I saw a quote from a writer that said, “Inspiration is for amateurs.” If you wait to write until you feel like writing, you’ll never write very much.

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve heard?

“Just get something down on paper; you can always go back and edit it later.” If I followed that advice, I’d never finish anything! Those of us who are more linear thinkers need to think things out before we actually put pen to paper. An equally bad piece of advice in my genre is, “Just start writing and see where the story takes you.” If you take that approach with a complex plot, I can guarantee you where the story will take you: into a confusing jumble of plot holes, inconsistencies, and flat-out contradictions.

What’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

On my first novel I wrote the entire manuscript before I sought the advice of a story editor; as a result, he advised me to throw away forty pages of text. Ouch! Now I begin every novel by writing a thorough plot summary, which is usually about forty pages long. That’s when I seek my story editor’s input—before I ever begin writing the text. By taking this approach, I save a lot of wasted time later. Why didn’t somebody tell me that before?

What are a few of your favorite books? (Not written by you.)

I’m the wrong person to answer this question, because I rarely finish a book. The problem is that I’m a writer, too, and I rarely read just for enjoyment—I read to learn. I’m like a magician who attends another magician’s performance: I’m not there just to enjoy the show—I want to know how the trick is done!

What piece of writing have you done that you’re particularly proud of and why?

I’m particularly proud of whatever work I just finished; I like to think I’m getting a little better with each book I write. Something inside me resists feeling too proud of something I’ve done in the past. I’m too young for nostalgia—I want to keep moving forward.

Can you give us a view into a typical day of your writing life?

To hit my deadlines, I write on a schedule—not a time schedule, but a word quota. I write about 2,000 words per day, five days per week. That, of course, is after the research is finished (a three-month process) and the plot summary has been completed and reviewed. My average novel is about 90-100,000 words long, so at a 10,000 word per week pace I can finish a novel in nine or ten weeks—theoretically. In the real world I can never get ten weeks of uninterrupted writing time, so the process usually takes about four months.

Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

Every writer longs to write one great story—not necessarily a famous or profitable story, but one that captures something you’ve got deep down inside of you. That’s what I hope to do one day—and I have no idea what that story is or even what it might be about.

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

I’m not much for quitting. Someone once asked me, “What’s the chief quality that separates writers from non-writers?” I said, “The ability to make yourself sit down at a computer and type 450 pages of text.” In other words, not quitting—without that quality, you just can’t write.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

My favorite part is the chance to be involved in a purely creative act—to just think of stories and then write them down. How good is that! My least favorite part is the time delay involved in publishing. If I come up with a killer story concept today, that book will not appear in print for almost two years. I like my gratification to be a little more immediate than that.

These questions are excerpted from an interview with Gina Holmes at Novel Journey. For more, visit their website at: http://www.noveljourney.blogspot.com/