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JONATHAN MABERRY: A lot of writers are afraid of crossing genre lines, and yet you’ve become one of the world’s best selling authors by rubbing those lines out.  Talk about that.

SANDRA BROWN: A good story is a good story, period. That’s my philosophy as a reader. I don’t care if a story is set on a space ship or a wagon train. Tell me a good story, and I’m yours from page one to the final sentence.

I suppose I applied that same thinking to my writing. My romance novels had suspense, although it wasn’t the “BOO!” type of suspense. And my thrillers have romance, although it’s tailored for a mainstream audience. I like the idea of my having rubbed out the lines between genres!

MABERRY: Your writing never gets stale.  What keeps it all fresh for you after so many books?

SANDRA BROWN: Thank you for the compliment. I think staleness is a consequence of the writer’s boredom with what he/she is writing. The first reader I must entertain is myself.  If I’m not intrigued by the plot, if I don’t care what’s going to happen next, if I’m indifferent to a character who is a complete ninny and, as such, deserves total defeat, then my paying customer will feel the same. So I keep it interesting for myself. And with each book, I try to do something I’ve never done before. I build in an element that will make this story, and the telling of it, new and interesting for me, so that it will be fresh for the reader.

MABERRY: What makes a scene come alive for you as you write it?

SANDRA BROWN: Dialogue. I think dialog is key to making your reader sit up and take notice. It should be smart, written the way people actually talk, and what is said should move the story along. I write, rewrite, rewrite, and then rewrite dialogue.

MABERRY: What’s hits you first when creating a new book: character or plot?

SANDRA BROWN: Sometimes it’s the character, other times it’s the plot, and often my brain sends them to me at the same time. Each story has a different birth process. I’ve even had stories begin with a snippet of dialogue. I was drawn up short, asking, “Who said that? Why? Was the speaker male or female, the protagonist or antagonist?” Sound insane? I’m sure it is!

MABERRY: Your characters tend to be complex.  What’s your process for crafting layered characters?

SANDRA BROWN: I prefer writing about characters who have a moral barometer. It doesn’t have to be that strong, and they don’t always heed it – in fact it’s a far more interesting story if they don’t. But I love placing them in a moral dilemma. Giving them a soul-twisting choice makes for the best stories. At least that’s my old-fashioned opinion. In addition to his/her struggle against the bad guys, the protagonist is wrestling with an inner demon. This makes them human, relatable to the reader, and gives them more to overcome – or at least to combat.

By the conclusion of the story, the central character should have made a discovery about himself, or learned a life lesson, or reached an understanding that had eluded him before. This epiphany (to use a fancy word) doesn’t have to be a roaring freight train. Even a subtle enlightenment can be effective and make the story richer.

MABERRY: Talk about book signings.  Are they fun for you after so many books?

SANDRA BROWN: Book signings are fun because you get your ego stroked. It’s nice for a fan to introduce a child who was named after one of my characters. I once had four generations of one family of fans ask to have their photo taken with me.

MABERRY: Any quirky signing anecdotes?

SANDRA BROWN: In Houston, a long, lost cousin came by and presented me with a photograph of my grandparents taken on their wedding day. Before then, I’d never met that cousin and had never seen that photo, but I recognized my grandparents. Those experiences have been heart-warming and fun.

But there have been occasions when I’ve gotten a little creeped out by a fan who was a bit too ardent — to the point where hotel security was notified.

MABERRY: Are book signings worth the effort?

SANDRA BROWN:  Hmmm. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to quantify their effectiveness in terms of sales.  Basically you’re preaching to the choir.  The people who come to meet you, are the fans who would probably buy your book anyway. You may attract a few new readers out of sheer curiosity, but that increase may not be enough to cover your plane ticket. So, while book signings are a good p.r. stroke for everyone – the author, publisher, and book seller – I feel that the best possible thing a writer can do for his reader is to stay at the computer and write a good book.

MABERRY: Publishing has been as hard hit as other industries by the economic tsunami.  What’s going to keep the book business afloat?

SANDRA BROWN:  Readers. When you get right down to it, books are still reasonably inexpensive forms of entertainment. No doubt even diehards have been forced to cut back on their book buying budgets, but they won’t stop reading. Writers and publishers are feeling the crunch, but when the economy has righted itself, there will be a surge of new writers and books because they will have been held in abeyance. I, and all readers, can look forward to that!

MABERRY: What’s your process for getting an idea to grow into a finished book?

SANDRA BROWN: My process is a hell of a lot of WORK! First I write a very brief, bullet point synopsis for my editor. This gives her an idea of who the characters are and what the story is about. This isn’t a detailed document because I don’t know all the details yet. After getting her input, which is usually very helpful, I write the first draft. This usually takes several months. The focus of this draft is to tell the story, to get all the plot elements and twists in there, then bring it to a conclusion.

The second draft is the crafting draft, where I take apart every scene and rewrite it until I’m more or less happy with it. This also takes several months.

The third draft is to gauge the pacing and to make sure all the loose ends have been tied up, that there are no holes I’ve left unplugged. Then I do a final read-through, polishing as I go. All that takes a year.

MABERRY: What’s the skinny on your new book?

SANDRA BROWN: SMASH CUT actually began with that character/plot combo I mentioned earlier. I got the villain and an opening scene simultaneously and built from there. “Smash cut” is a script writing term that means an abrupt edit, one designed to shock or scare the wits out of the movie-goer. I can’t tell too much without giving away good stuff, but I will tell you that I incorporated lines from movies into my characters’ dialogue. The research was fun! My family are all movie buffs, and we’re constantly quoting dialogue from favorite films – sometimes to the puzzlement of other people. I suppose this is where the idea came from. Of course, our quoting movie dialogue is harmless fun, whereas in SMASH CUT that’s not the case!

MABERRY: So…what’s the next book going to be about?

SANDRA BROWN: I don’t have a clue!

– JM

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