How and Why I Write, part 5

·      What is required for a character to be believable? How do you create yours?

Language, language, language. Is the dialogue advancing the story in a tongue the reader can identify as appropriate to the character? I observe people, I remember people, then I create characters from the bits and pieces I've observed. A character in one of my books may be the blending of the traits of 3-4 people I’ve met. Be forewarned, I tell people, anything you do or say could end up in one of my poems or novels.

·      Are you equally good at telling stories orally?

I think so. My wife doesn't.

·      Deep down inside, who do you write for?

Primarily, I write for a reader of one: Larry Andrews. My mother influenced my passion for language. (For example I have four linguistics textbooks on the university book market; one translated into Korean.)

I write because I love the challenge of making the best linguistics choices available to depict realistically disparate characters in both disparate and desperate circumstances.

How and Why I Write, part 4

• What do you think are the basic ingredients of a story?

Do the story's plot and sub-plots resonate with the experiences, concerns, needs, dreams and challenges readers face? The characters need to be recognizable to the readers. No detail about what one of my characters wears, eats, drives, and the like is too small to include. Finally, I believe my readers bring intelligence and experience to the page; I do not attempt to “write down” to my readers nor do I try to control my books' vocabulary or concepts.

• What voice do you find most to your liking: first person or third person?

Third person is easier. I'm experimenting with first person.

• What well known writers do you admire most?

Robert B. Parker, Ernest Hemingway, Henry James, Mark Twain, Ted Kooser, Geoffrey K. Pullum, Geoff Nunberg.

Why and How I Write, part 3

• What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

This isn't very intellectual, but the first thing I do is to stand beside the computer hutch and do some exercises to loosen my back muscles my physical therapist taught me. Since I often lose myself in what I'm writing, I'll sit longer than I should, an irritation to my back. Then, I sit down to work, reading the last chapter I finished to bring me up to speed.

• What type of reading inspires you to write?

I get ideas from The New Yorker, the Atlantic, and a diverse list of novels our book club selects. I read several newspapers, thanks to the internet.  Stories are all around us, inviting fictionalization. (Nice word, eh?)

How and Why I Write, Part 2

• What is your favorite genre? Can you provide a link to a site where we can read some of your work or learn something about it?

I like novels that provoke thought and discussion: Mystery, Political Intrigue, Social Issues, anything by Robert B. Parker. Parker is my greatest influence. One reader told me that Ryan Graves, my protagonist in both novels, sounded like a Parker character.

On the other hand, I also write poetry, especially when I see or remember something that would make an ideal photograph. My poems are like photographs. My prose, however, is focused and grounded on how characters react to what happens to them, human causes and effects, decisions and consequences.

Two sites: http://larryandrews-writerauthor.blogspot.com OR amazon.com/larryandrews.