William Nikkel is the #1 Amazon bestselling author of CAVE DWELLER. He’s a retired homicide investigator turned author, a member of the International Thriller Writers organization (ITW). He’s the author of 8 Jack Ferrell mystery- suspense novels, a Jack Ferrell novella, and two Max Traver steampunk westerns.
A former homicide detective and S.W.A.T. team member for the Kern County Sheriff’s Department in Bakersfield , California, William is an amateur scuba enthusiast, gold prospector and artist. He and his wife Karen divide their time between California and Maui, Hawaii.
My 3 takeaways from this episode:
- your life experiences inform your writing
- he strives to keep all his characters authentic and their interactions with the police believable
- he believes readers want to escape real life and go through the door with the sign that reads, “No Admittance” – he takes them there
Podcast Link
Two Tips Tuesday
William Nikkel’s main character, Jack Ferrel, reminds me of one of my favorite detectives, John D. MacDonald’s, Travis McGee, who has been described as, “the last of the great knights-errant: honorable, sensual, skillful, and tough.” (Donald Westlake)
So … today I thought I’d quote Travis:
One:
“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat, then you know he never will. Integrity is not a search for the rewards of integrity. Maybe all you ever get for it is the largest kick in the ass the world can provide. It is not supposed to be a productive asset.”
― John D. MacDonald
I think integrity is an important quality in the characters we write and in how we as writerpreneurs conduct business.
Two
“We were about to give up and call it a night when somebody threw the girl off the bridge.”
― John D. MacDonald, Darker Than Amber
Never underestimate the element of surprise in plots:)