L. F. Crawford, Bad Moon Rising

AUTHOR: L.F. Crawford

BOOK TITLE: BAD MOON RISING

PUBLISHER: 5 Star Mysteries

BUY LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Rising-Five-Mystery-Series/dp/1594148589/ref=sr_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333239178&sr=1-19

1) Tell me a little about your book.  BAD MOON RISING is about Detective Art Murry, his partner Billy Kidman, and his twin brother, opera-singing Lance Murry--the 3 of them on a cruise ship from Florida to New Orleans to Jamaica.  When the ship docks in New Orleans, the woman Billy took out sight-seeing winds up torn apart, her body left in the cruise-ship’s Jacuzzi.  Billy is arrested and Murry investigates in order to save his partner.

2) What gave you the idea for this particular story?  A legend of how shapeshifting is passed from father to son in  Jamaica told to me by a Jamaican woman I met.

3) Are you a full-time writer or part-time, and how do you organize your writing time? Part-time writer.  No real organization as such--except sit down and write if you want to get the book done.

4) When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? After writing a spy novel.  It had a great plot but was not very well written.  I discovered I needed to learn the craft of writing and joined a critique group.

5) What do you hope readers will take from your writing? I hope they will learn something of interest in every book.  Something about the location/setting or about themselves because of their own reactions to what’s happening to my characters.  Also something they never knew.  Like the shapeshifting legend or the Patois language which my werewolf uses when he’s not working as a cruise ship waiter.

6) Which genres do you write, which do you prefer, and why? I enjoy every genre I’ve written in.  I think a good story and conflict will make any genre intriguing and hold the reader’s interest.  Right now, I prefer suspense.

7) What is the toughest part about being a writer and how do you get past it?  The toughest part of writing is facing off with the blank page and overcoming personal demons that say I don’t know what I’m doing, how to do it or anything else.  If you’ve got those thoughts, mentally shoot them all and get started writing.

8) Is there anything in your story based upon a real life event? If so, tell me about it. Yes, the werewolf pack is based on the shapeshifting legend recounted to me by a Jamaican.   Detective Murry’s encounter with the ghost of Marie Laveau in New Orleans is based on a friend’s experience at the Voodoo preistess’s gravesite.

9) How much is your protagonist like you? Murry’s an introvert and intuitive like me.  How different?  He carries a badge and a gun and even when the visions he has terrifies him, he still trusts himself enough to take action.  Which in BAD MOON RISING is imperative if he wants to save Billy’s life.

10) What kind of research did you do for this type of story?  Research on Jamaica and the hills where the werewolf pack lives, as well as about New Orleans and the police department there, and how a murder on a cruise ship docked there would be investigated.

11) Do writing violent or highly sexual scenes bother you? Why or why not?  Yes, because it’s a nasty mindset to be in--ha, there’s a pun there. 

12) What about your book makes it special?  The dialogue/banter between Murry, his brother, and Billy.  There’s a great dynamic there.  Also, the antagonist’s POV.  Learning about him and his beliefs.

13) What is your marketing plan?  Do what I can on Facebook, let readers know about my books, attend conventions or events when possible.  Have postcards or bookmarks to hand out.  Keep my websites current.

14) Where can people learn more about you and your work? Amazon Central for Authors or my website: www.lfcrawford.com or www.louisecrawfordbooks.com.

15) Any tips for new writers hoping to write in the genre of your book?  Read a ton of the genre you are interested and dissect it.  What do you like about the opening, the middle and the end?  How did the author keep the suspense building throughout the story?  How did the author work in setting, dialogue and descriptions without slowing down the action?

16) What’s in the future for you? I hope, another Murry/Kidman book.  Also, another Blaize/Zoloski book.  And perhaps a sequel to a young adult book I hope will be out by summer, AMY WARD AND THE RIFT GUARDIAN--it’s a mix of fantasy and suspense..