D. J. Adamson is an award-winning author. Her family roots grow deep in the Midwest and it is here she sets much of her work. She juggles her time between her own desk and teaching writing to others at two Los Angeles area colleges. Along with her husband and two Welsh Terriers, she makes her home in Southern California.
Her latest book is the mystery, amateur sleuth, Admit to Mayhem.
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Did you like mysteries when you were growing up?
Like most mystery writers, I liked mysteries and thrillers. Everything from Nancy Drew to Agatha Christie to Edgar Allen Poe to Elizabeth George to Laurie Stevens to Cindy Sample. However, my tastes and enthusiasm are not held to genre. In fact, I believe in order to write genre well, you need to understand all literature. So, I eagerly read Saramago, Vonnegut, Steinbeck, Uris, Poe, King, Faulkner, Goyen, Atwood, etc.
What was the first story in that genre that you wrote?
It is too far back to remember. The first novel I tried, I believe, I titled Murder Times Two. It still sits on the shelf. I believe an author needs to write ten novels before they can fully implement their first published. I may have needed to write more than ten, but then, I’m getting old. Better now than never. However, I published short stories in literary magazines before launching my first novel, Admit to Mayhem, a Lillian Dove Mystery.
What is your favorite part of writing in this genre?
My favorite part in this genre is the same as any other I would write in, I enjoy the characters. I know the characters in the Lillian Dove series as if they were family. They sit waiting for me in my den.
What do you find most difficult about writing in this genre?
Plotting is always difficult for me. I tangent off into areas not needed. In order to keep the plot moving in a line of conflict to climax, I outline after the first draft is written.
Is there an author in this genre that you admire most?
I admire all writers who brave putting themselves out there to be read and work hard to tell the truth of how they see life. Writing is a lonely career. No one sits in front of that computer but me. No one reads the manuscripts as many times as me. What I write, to me, is never good enough. I am sure these feelings are felt by most readers. You have to admire people who go about the long hours and tedious edits to put something out for someone else to enjoy.
What is up next for you?
I have a mystery-science fiction trilogy Deviation coming out in April. Suppose There Was A Crime, the second of the Lillian Dove series is due out this fall.
Do you have anything to add?
To your readers who don’t write, don’t hesitate to let the author know how much you enjoyed their work. That is the treasure found in writing, your words. And if you write, write every day, write without expectation, write because you have to, you need to, you can’t stop. Whether you publish or journal, if that is who you are, don’t deny the voice that tells you to: write.
