Interview with Don Harstad Dec 2003

Jon- Don, what made you decide to start writing, and, why mysteries?

Don- I had eleven days of vacation, use it or lose it, and had to start it in 24 hours. I had absolutely nothing lined up to do, it was January, so I just tried writing a novel. It was finished, except for the spell checking, in eleven days. Hence the title. (I wrote it on an Amiga 1000, with one meg of ram and a 20 meg hard drive. To check the spelling, I had to insert a floppy....)

Jon- I've often heard that you should write what you know. Did this influence your choice for the protagonist in your series with Carl Houseman?

Don- It certainly did for me. I had about 20 years as a Deputy Sheriff under my belt at the time, and I found that there was virtually no research necessary, and I could devote full time to writing the story. I really think that that's why it went so fast.

Jon- Is humor a difficult thing to include in a book that is mostly serious?

Don- No, not at all. I use it in much the same way I used it as a cop... a little tension breaker. That, and a developed sense of the ridiculous will push its way to the top sometimes.

Jon- What are your writing habits like? And have they changed since you started writing?

Don- I don't outline... never have. I most certainly don't write every day, until I start the novel for real. Then its every day until I'm done. Usually about 45 days or so.

Jon- Have you given Carl any traits that you wish you had?

Don- Heh, heh. I ain't gonna tell.... Truthfully, he's a bit more energetic, and a bit slimmer, and a little more dedicated on a daily basis.

Jon- How important is realism in the writing to you?

Don- If you mean the procedures and the reactions of the protagonists, I think it's absolutely essential. I think that as a rule of thumb, if you keep the general environment realistic and believable, you can slip in an outrageous villain and the reader will accept them. I sure hope so, anyway.

Jon- Do you ever draw on your own experiences in law enforcement for story elements?

Don- Yes. Never exact cases, of course, but similar ones sometimes. The primary case, since it always seems to involve a homicide, is never an actual case. I'm fond of saying, however, that the bodies are based on real bodies. Just not in the same circumstance, and I use combinations to avoid someone recognizing a relative. That's a direct result of living in a sparsely populated area. We all know each other.

Jon- What’s your favorite part of the whole author experience? The writing, the editing, the meeting of fans, something else?

Don- The writing is the most fun.

Jon- Were you nervous when the reviews for your first book started coming in?

Don- Oh, yeah. I was lucky in that Eleven Days was put back 6 months on the Doubleday schedule, so I was finished with Known Dead before Eleven Days was ever reviewed. I missed some of the so called 'second book jitters,' that way.

Jon- Do you have any plans to put up a website?

Don- All the time. <grin> I also have plans to put up a porch, and I think that's going to come first.

Jon- The plot of your latest book, A Long December, like your other work, is very topical. What made you decide to explore this terrorism angle?

Don- About ten years ago, we were working a task force thing with the FBI, and one of them was a counter-intelligence agent. He said that foreign terrorists would submerge themselves in one of two places... a large urban area, or a university campus, because of the mobile, diverse populations there. Then Postville began to get really diverse. Bingo. I started Long December before 9/11, mainly because I wanted to do a Postville-like setting.

Jon- How did you hook up with your new publisher, Rugged Land? I haven’t heard of them before.

Don- Rugged Land's publisher and editor in chief is my old editor from Doubleday, Shawn Coyne. We work well together, and he has a good approach to the whole publishing business.

Jon- Do you ever sit down to write and find your self at a lose for what to type? How do you deal with it?

Don- No, actually, I don't. By the time I sit down to write, I either have enough of an idea to begin, or I'm far enough into it that what comes next is limited to one or two options.

Jon- What are some of your favorite films?

Don- I'm really fond of "Without a Clue," "Blade Runner" the editor's cut without the narrative, "Alien,", "S.O.B.", "Chicago,"... Lots of movies, really.

Jon- Have you any plans to write a non-series book?

Don- I do. They're tentative until I get this next one done, though.

Jon- What kind of things do you do with your free time, besides think about building a porch?

Don- I build models, do some amateur astronomy, read, and eat too much.

Jon- Who are some of your favorite authors?

Don- I've always been partial to T.H. White's "Once and Future King." Barbara Tuchman, Larry Niven, Joe Haldeman, John Keegan, the very early Tom Clancy (very, very early), John LeCarre's Smiley series....

Jon- With your background in law enforcement do you tend to be more critical when you watch police shows or movies? And how about when reading?

Don- Very much so. What I think I fail to appreciate is how so many cop stories just go waltzing off into the realm of the completely implausable any time it appears that the writer is too lazy to keep the thing in line. I especially dislike the maverick cop who 'only works alone.' That and the phoney conflicts between cops that are used because the writer can't think of any better way to get a plot point or a character trait across. I usually sigh a lot at cop moveis.

Jon- Do you have any bad habits you'd like to share?

Don- I tend to procrastinate. That, and succumb to cookies entirely too often.

Jon- what's your worst distraction when you are trying to work?

Don- Noise.

Jon- What's the one thing always in your refrigerator?

Don- Bottled water.