AJB: How long did it take for you to write "Veil of Lies"?
JW: A loaded question. It usually takes nine months to write a novel, with a month lead time for some initial research. But Veil wasn’t the original first in the series. It was actually the second book. The first went all over town and was rejected. Even by St. Martin’s, my publisher. But I learned from networking with fellow mystery authors, particularly those in Sisters in Crime, that often first books in series don’t get published (perhaps the author is getting used to the character and hadn’t developed the story well enough, or they’d never written a mystery before and it was a little clunky, or both as in my case) but it happens. So I wrote Veil with the thought that it might become the first. When I finish one novel I jump right into the next, particularly in this case because I also wanted to see if I could write a series, something else I’d never done before! I was already well into my third novel in the series when my editor at St. Martin’s called my agent out of the blue and asked if I had anything else in that series because he “couldn’t get the characters out of his head.” I had only just delivered Veil to my agent and he whipped it into an envelope and sent it off to the man who became my editor. In two weeks we had a sale. And it only took fourteen years and two weeks!
AJB: Did you find the process of writing easy?
JW: Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes difficult. Stories just come to me. No problem. Physically getting them down onto paper can sometimes be a chore but never dull. I always know how a story starts and how it ends. It’s all that pesky stuff in the middle that’s the problem! I actually enjoy the rewriting because the hard part is done; the main story is down. Rearranging things and adding clues and smoothing it all out is a lot of fun.
AJB: Did you enjoy the research needed?
JW: You’d have to be mental if you went into writing historical fiction and didn’t enjoy research! The flow of information these days makes it easier than it ever was (the internet allows me to email people in archives in England...and anywhere else I need to contact) but there is no substitute for the time it takes to sit and read what you need to find out. I find that footnotes are sometimes the best place to find turns of plot. You just never know what you are going to find to give you an idea. I can’t imagine hiring someone to do the research for me, for instance, because you would miss all those little titbits.
AJB: How did you first find the process of getting your novel published?
JW: Long. If we count those fourteen years. And then it was a year and a half until Veil was on the bookshelves. But the process was fascinating and not a little scary wondering how much I’d have to change in the editing process. As it was, I have a fabulous editor with whom I am simpatico. The changes were minor and really added to it. I don’t mind the process. As a matter of fact, I appreciate it. It makes a much better novel.
