We are delighted to welcome author J.R. Scott to Omnimystery News today.
J.R. has written four mysteries featuring reporter Alie McCull, the most recent of which is The Horse Hide (Turquoise Morning Press; September 2015 ebook format). We recently had the opportunity to spend some time with him talking about the character and the series.
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Omnimystery News: Tell us a little more about Alie McCull.
Photo provided courtesy of
J.R. Scott
J.R. Scott: I fashioned Alie as a character who has a little bit of all of us in her. Or how deep down the way we'd like to be; loud, brash and impatient with a world that seems unjust. But tempered with empathy for the little guy trampled on by society. And Alie is not always "politically correct", not too concerned about offending people. Just because you tick off someone doesn't mean you're not right. As a woman, Alie has a strong sense of empowerment and equality. Using her as a recurring character is a literary tool to examine the world through a microscope. All the people under the lens are creatures just trying to make sense of events in their daily lives.
OMN: How has she developed over the course of the series?
JRS: In Medallion, the first book of the series, Alie is introduced as an underdog in the masculine world of news reporting. By the end of the book Alie has made the precarious jump into the deep end of the man-pool of credibility that she builds upon in the following three books of the series.
OMN: How would you tweet a summary of The Horse Hide?
JRS: Murder on the Racetracks, Love on the Rocks, A Poisonous Conspiracy.
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in the books?
JRS: I worked for several years as a standup comic and filmmaker in the Midwest. As a standup comic I painfully learned how quickly an audience will turn on you if you don't develop the fine art of timing, editing and storytelling; you have to be quick on your feet. As a filmmaker I followed the same path to hone my craft. These disciplines easily translate to writing a novel. Did I mention timing?
Each of the Alie McCull books has a thread of an actual historical event tied to the story. In the 50's Los Angeles had a contaminated horse meat scandal that went statewide. In the other three books we discuss police abuse, government conspiracies and guilt by association.
OMN: Describe your writing process for us.
JRS: Like many story tellers, I think of my prose as a combination of a word soup mixed with Lincoln Log metaphors. I try not to bore the reader with long-winded descriptions and dialogue; keep it short and sweet. And to the point. Otherwise after one or two paragraphs people may lose interest and slip into comas. Plotting a novel is like a mental jigsaw puzzle with the pieces lying face down. After stumbling upon a concept I storyboard the "script", similar to filmmaking. Concepts become chapters and chapters turn into scenes until the jigsaw puzzle pieces are flipped over one-by-one and the narrative begins to take shape. I really do very little rewriting, but tons of editing. My writing is very personal; to me cutting even one paragraph is as painful as sawing off an arm with a dull butter knife. It can be pretty darned annoying at times.
OMN: How do you go about researching the plot points of your stories?
JRS: Because the Alie McCull mystery series take place primarily in Los Angeles during the early and mid-1950's, I spend hours upon hours researching the Internet and source books at the local library to verify my facts. I check the old street maps, historical records and statistics that I'm able to dig up to authenticate the data. The most exciting stuff in my research is the true-to-life government conspiracies that are well-hidden by the fog of the past. And when my fact-finding hits a dead end, I make up stuff.
OMN: What is the best advice — and harshest criticism — you've received as an author? And what might you say to aspiring writers?
JRS: The best advice I've received is to not to be derivative. How many stories have been read, regardless of the genre, that haven't already been told a dozen times before and beaten in to the ground? My goal with the four Alie McCull books is to balance the past with the present to bridge that cultural gap and try to entertain the reader at the same time. The harshest criticism I've received is that my work violates the "show, don't tell" concept, which I disagree with; the objective in writing is to find the right balance of telling versus showing. Adjectives are not evil, kiddies.
What is my advice to aspiring writers? After all is said and done, make sure your dialogue rings true; i.e., during a normal conversation most people do NOT cuss like drunken sailors or drop the "F" bomb every other sentence. Gauge your reading audience, folks.
OMN: Complete this sentence for us: "I am a mystery author and thus I am also …".
JRS: I am a mystery author and thus I am also suffering from a deep-seated anxiety with a dark spot in my soul. I'm surprised that my children didn't grow up to be axe murders; at least I don't think they did. I haven't read a newspaper in years.
OMN: You're published as written by J.R. Scott. Why did you choose to use your initials?
JRS: I go by J.R. Scott as my pen name for a simple reason; my given birth name is John Robert Scott, which is cool unless you want to find me in the phone book or on the Internet. There are literally hundreds of us with the same name in every city across the country. So much so that once in a while when a John Robert Scott shows up in the obituaries, the flowers come to my house. I can't resell the damn flowers, so I decided to use the pen name instead. Even using J.R. Scott can be a little bit dicey.
OMN: How did you come up with the titles for your books?
JRS: The titles of all of my books are used as a hook; typically a character mentions the title as part of the denouement that ties into the story. This is a pretty common narrative tool.
OMN: How involved were you with the cover design?
JRS: The cover design was created by The Turquoise Morning Press (Cover design by Calliope-Designs.com)
OMN: Have any specific authors influenced how and what your write today?
JRS: I've always been fascinated by the old '50s and '60s hardboiled mystery novels I read as kid, Ross MacDonald and Mickey Spillane being on the hit list. And the classic noir films that pop up on TMC every so often. The backdrop of The Horse Hide came from the hours spent on tedious research that most writers do, but afterwards always gives me that pesky brain damaged feeling.
OMN: When selecting a book to read for pleasure, what do you look for?
JRS: I spend my reading time in an alternate dimension; non-fiction historical works (i.e., Shelby Foot's civil war series) and biographies such as Hillenbrand's Unbroken. As it's been said, if we don't study the past, we'll be doomed to repeat it. Which we'll probably do anyhow, hopefully with a little more finesse the second time around.
OMN: Create a Top 5 list for us on any topic.
JRS: Top 5 books …
• The Sirens of Titan — Kurt Vonnegut;
• Catch-22 — Joseph Heller;
• Anything by Agatha Christie;
• Anything by Mark Twain; and
• Sammie the Seasick Sea Lion — author unknown.
OMN: What's next for you?
JRS: The fifth Alie McCull mystery/novel is in the works. While each of the previous books can be read as a stand-alone, they all interconnect the life of the spunky reporter. In the fifth book, we turn the page back three years to explore the events that mold Alie's future as a crime busting investigator. I can't wait to read it.
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J.R. Scott grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and currently resides in Southern California. The former TV producer, independent film maker and standup comedian has written four books for die-hard mystery-thriller fans who love a pulse-pounding yarn with a roller coaster ride of tense action and suspense on a backdrop of 1950s nostalgia.
For more information about the author, please visit his website at JRScottAuthor.com.
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The Horse Hide by J.R. Scott
An Alie McCull Mystery
Publisher: Turquoise Morning Press
Death paid an unexpected visit. The brutal murder at a racetrack and two kidnapped thoroughbreds snarls Alie McCull in a web of lies, deceit, and half-truths. After poisoned horsemeat smuggled from Mexico makes people drop dead, the reporter wades into one part of a mystery she is determined to solve.
When Alie's world is torn apart by the sting of infidelity and an old flame who might be covering up a gruesome secret, she knows one wrong move might be her last as she investigates the provocative conspiracy behind The Horse Hide.
— The Horse Hide by J.R. Scott
