Wings ePress Interview W. J. Calabrese First In The East

Interview W. J. Calabrese

Fran Keighley

1) I read and enjoyed your THE ENDLESS PLACE, and what a great thriller. It took me awhile to turn off the light and go to bed, without expecting ghosts and monsters to creep up on me in the dark. Is your new book, FIRST IN THE EAST, scary, too?

Thank you for the kind words. Kevin Shaw thanks you, too. No, FIRST IN THE EAST is an entirely different kind of book. It is the fictionalized biography of "Lord" Timothy Dexter, who lived in Newburyport, Massachusetts, around the end of the eighteenth century. Dexter was one of the most entertainingly eccentric characters our country has ever produced. He claimed to be "First in the East, first in the West, and the greatest philosopher in the known world." I hope that this book will send you to sleep trembling with laughter, rather than fear.

2) Where do you get book ideas, in general?

You know, most of the time I don't really remember where the idea for a particular book came from. I tend to keep an idea tucked away for years before I finally use it. By then, the mists of time have settled over the question of its origin. FIRST IN THE EAST is an exception. I remember exactly where that one came from. Anyway, getting ideas has never been a problem for me. If anything, I've collected so many ideas that I probably won't ever have the time to develop them all.

3) Where did you get the idea for FIRST IN THE EAST, in particular?

Years ago, I got the idea to write a non-fiction book to be titled New England Doorways. I was going to pick a dozen New England buildings and tell the stories of the events that had taken place there. The Timothy Dexter House on High Street in Newburyport was the second building on the list. I didn't have to read very far to become so facinated with Lord Timothy as a character, that I decided to write a novel based on his life. The non-fiction project got put on a back shelf, and is still there, with about an inch-and-a-half of dust on it.

4) The excerpt I had the pleasure of previewing was fascinating. He actually sold house cats to the West Indies? As someone who has transported animals around, in the process of showing them and moving, I have technical curiosity--how did he confine them? Feed? Manage litter boxes? Do you know? It must have taken days, even weeks, to get them from New England to the islands. Or were some loose cats simply put on each ship to be mascots on the voyage, and sold upon arrival?

I haven't a clue, and the book doesn't go into detail, but what is recorded is that Dexter made a lot of money on the scheme. Vermin was plentiful in the Islands, and cats were scarce.

5) Now for some technical questions that seem to interest everyone when talking to authors. Do you have any set schedule for writing?

I have been very lax in this regard of late, but I find that my writing goes best, in terms of quantity and quality, when I write every day, starting at about the same time each day (preferably first thing in the morning).

6) Do you prefer to outline books before you begin to write, or do you just start with an idea and see where the people and action in the story take you?

I have to know a minimum of four things before I start a book: 1) Who is the main character and what is he or she like? 2) What kind of trouble is the main character in, or going to be in very soon? 3) Where are we going to first meet the main character? 4) How is the whole thing going to turn out?As I said, that is a minimum. Really, the more I know about the plot before I start, the better. I've had too many books die an early death when the characters go wandering off into the woods in search of the script and are never seen again. Somebody has to be in charge of the expedition, and it better be the author, who has, after all, the most to lose if the whole crew gets eaten by crocodiles. Another reason for wanting some sort of framework is that I tend to write my books the way a film maker shoots a movie, in scenes. I write the scenes as their required content becomes clear to me, regardless of where they will appear in the final work. I haven't done it yet, but it is conceivable for me to write the first draft of the ending scene right after I finish the first scene in the book. I say 'first draft' because I do allow myself to change my mind about the plot as I go along, and I revise and reshuffle scenes extensively as I go. I like to call this "disciplined spontaneity."

7) When you write, do you concentrate upon one book at a time, or do you switch between writing several, as the spirit moves you?

I usually have more than one book going at a time. Right now I have four. I do switch between them, as a sort of a remedy for writer's block. When I run out of gas on one, I switch to another for a while. At some point, every six months or so, I make a determination that I am going to put the others aside for a while and finish this one. The last time this happened was last Thursday.

8) I've heard rumors that you have a Ghost Doctor series in mind, or actually in progress. That sounds intriguing. What will the series be about, and is that the next we can expect from you? They sound like they will be more scary ones.

Strange you should ask that. Last Thursday (at four twenty-three PM, for the historical record) I decided that the this one I am going to finish next is the first book in the "Ghost Doctor" series. The first book, set in New York in 1877, introduces Dr. Gideon Mayhew, who spends a great deal of his time going around exposing the fake spiritualist mediums, who were popping up like weeds following the Civil War. Of course, Dr, Mayhew also encounters cases where real paranormal activity is going on. The first book (as yet untitled) is just about finished, except for a final edit. And yes, I hope that readers will find these books to be very scary.

9) Some of your books are historicals. Do you have a favorite historical period to write about?

So far, I have stuck to the time period from the Revolutionary War to the turn of the century (nineteenth, that is). The ghost Doctor series will set the clock forward about three quarters of a century.

10) What about settings? Do you have favorite places or parts of the world to write about?

So far, my historicals (and I guess you can count the Ghost Doctor book in this) have been set in New England and New York City. As a confirmed Anglophile, I would dearly love to write a paranormal mystery set in England. I already have a title, given to me by a very good writer friend. It will be called Dark Lane.