Interview with John Hudson Tiner

by

Pam Labud

John Hudson Tiner talks about himself and The Client with the Lackluster Diamonds.

The Client with the Lackluster Diamonds is my first adult mystery. I've had more than 100 fiction stories published including short mysteries in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and two adventure/mystery books for teenagers. I am a member of the Mystery Writers of America. I've written textbooks, curriculum material, and biographies. I have more than 800 publishing credits, including 70 books, for all age groups.

1. Please tell us a little about yourself.

I am married to D. Jeanene Tiner, a teacher and photographer. Her illustrations have been used in more than 1,000 magazines, books, and other products such as posters, cookbooks, and travel postcards. I go with her on photo shoots to find unique images, and we have visited all 50 states and about a dozen foreign countries. We have two children and six grandchildren. The grandchildren range in age from two to ten, so we help with the babysitting.

After receiving a master's degree from Duke University, I taught mathematics and science and then began a career with the Defense Mapping Agency as a mathematician and cartographer.

2. Which authors have influenced your writing over the years? Who are you favorite authors now?

Although I read a wide variety of authors (Tony Hillderman, Sue Grafton, Lawrence Block, Hillary Waugh, Isaac Asimov, Ben Benson, Ed McBain), the two that have influenced me the most are Erle Stanley Gardner and Donald E. Westlake. I've read most of the fiction by Gardner, and now I use the Internet to find copies of his nonfiction travel books. I continue to find books that Westlake has written under some of his pseudonyms and enjoy them immensely.

3. Who inspires you to continue writing the most?

Most of my writing now is the result of editors asking me to do something for them, and I have a reputation as a fast writer. In one case, the publishing house had already begun the advertising for a book and had taken out a full page ad for it, and then the writer who was suppose to do the book failed to deliver it. The editor contacted me, and I provided a finished manuscript in about two weeks.

4. When you write, do you have a daily routine or are you a seat of the pants writer?

My writing is helped because I have an office with all of my reference material in easy reach. When I develop my own assignments, I tend to plug away at a rather slow rate. I enjoy putting my characters in a difficult situation. Then I try to figure out how they would react, and how they would use their strengths and weaknesses to solve the problem. Most of my fiction is situation driven at first, and then the characters take over and it becomes character driven.

5. How long does it take you to write a book?

After I receive the go ahead from an editor or face a deadline, I put my writing in overdrive. The quickest that I've written a book has been three days, and I've written several books in 10 days to two weeks. These were short children's non-fiction books. The longest continuous writing assignment was a 480,000 word science textbook that took 24 months.

6. What are your goals for the future, both immediate and as a whole?

Right now, my immediate goal is to help market the Client with the Lackluster Diamonds. It was envisioned as a series, so if it does well, I will work on another one.

7. How did you discover ebooks?

I have always worked at trying to detect trends in writing. I purchased my first computer in 1979, and I was an early user of the Internet. I saw its immense potential as a storehouse of information. Ebooks have created still another way for authors to market their material.

8. What would you like to see changed in the future for ebooks and the publishing world in general?

The one area I would like to see changed in publishing is to shorten the time from completion of a book until it is published. The intermediate stages from turning in the manuscript, developing illustrations, copy editing, continuity editing, page proofs, building an index (if it is nonfiction), and final approval takes a long time. It is not unusual for a book to take two years from finished manuscript to bound copy.

9. What would you like to stay the same in future for ebooks and the publishing world in general?

Writers are in competition with other forms of entertainment. Writing must be competitive as a form of entertainment and cost competitive as well. Ebook publishers who provide a polished and well-edited product will do well. Ebook publishers can avoid the terrible waste of returned, unsold books. It gives them a great advantage in keeping the cost down.