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What's your background?
I admit it: I wrote ads for a living. Most of my TV spots were crap, but a handful were at least amusing. Like my gargling toilets using what we called breath mints (for Clorox.) Or my cat who had to hire a bloodhound to find his Fresh Step litter box because the odor control worked too darn well. Or my Clio-nominated spot for SOS in which dirty pots and pans clanged out Morse-code cries for help. As a fiction author, I’ve committed several crime novels, two of which snagged local awards. But I had accomplices: my critique group. Their sharp eyes and sharper wits are an essential part of my writing process.
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What is your writing process?
It almost always starts with an idea. For Voices in the Night, as one example, it started when I learned that when mobile phones were first offered, there was a whole community of hobbyists who were using radio scanners to spy on those phone conversations. I began thinking about one guy who was doing that. Putting myself inside his head, I asked myself Why would this man have this hobby? And what would make for a compelling story? In the process, I discovered who he was, his painful backstory, and the complication that the people he was listening to were being brutally murdered--by someone else with the same hobby.
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Do you plot the whole book before you start, or do you make it up as you go?
I wish I could plot out the whole book in advance. That would make the writing that much faster and easier. The way I work is different than that, for better or worse. I have a general idea when I start, but the deeper I get into the writing, the more complexities present themselves to me: questions arise: why would he or she do that? What would they do when certain complications arise? And then there's the adversary. What's his motive? How do I drop hints without giving it away too soon? These and many more questions arise during the writing. Sometimes I am surprised by the direction my story takes.
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Why do you write crime fiction?
I find the plotting endlessly fascinating, especially when I find a way to bring the whole thing together in a satisfying conclusion. But not all my books are about crimes. I've written books in other genres as well. You can see them all at my website, https://authordavidwolf.com
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Who are your favorite authors?
There are so many! Richard Powers, Nelson DeMille, Penelope Lively, Michael Innes, Jordan Harper, Yuvan Noah Harari, Jill Lepore, Jodi Picoult and more.
