What inspired you to start writing this book? A particular scene or character?
I like to dream up “what if” scenarios and then plop characters smack dab in the middle of it. In Serpents Unwound, I wondered what would happen if someone with malicious intent hacked into a hospital’s electronic medical record system. The rest of the plot just took off from there with a storyline that I hope successfully pulls in motivations such as retribution, revenge, and redemption.
How did you build your characters for Serpents Unwound?
For most characters I start with a quick character sketch that gives me an idea of their name, where they were born or what skill they bring to the table. I then use my 4-page character chart that is available on my website if anyone is interested. In addition to physical description it allows me to create the person with their favorites, their habits, information about their family, their attitude, traits and personality. That doesn’t complete the process for me. After I’m done with the character chart I’ll typically write a one-page narrative about the character just to get a better feel for him/her in writing.
This takes time but it helps me to keep a character true throughout a story. If a character is at ease or tense in particular situations, my character chart will help define that and I can put that type of description in the story. The character leads the action, not the scene itself.
You are a certified information security professional. Does your story reflect your experiences?
I think you’ll see common practices and mistakes that many organizations make in defense of their information assets in my writing. I will usually look at well publicized incidents and then add twists and turns to them. With so many breaches happening every day, it’s not really hard to come up with ideas that the reader can relate to because they saw something similar happen on the 11:00 news.
What was the toughest part of your writing debut novel?
Serpents Unwound has been a tremendous learning experience for me. From the moment I hit “publish” I thought of a couple million things I could have done differently. The “indie” route is like running a business so better planning would have helped me. That said, revisions and editing was probably the toughest part for me and from this first experience I think I’ll be changing up my editing process for my next novel.
Speaking of your next novel, what’s next for you?
I’m currently doing character development for a series that I’m interested in writing. It will dive into the realm of cyber-terrorism and cyber-warfare. The news has played on the term “critical infrastructure” for a while now but what is critical? With much of the developed world dependent on technology to meet every day needs, there is a lot of opportunity to create fear and panic among citizens.
Serpents Unwound now available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and CreateSpace.