A LIFE THROUGH BOOKS INTERVIEW
“Black Veil” by Greg Jolley
What is the hardest part of writing your books?
For Black Veil as with all off the Danser novels, it’s the work with my private editor before the book goes to my publisher. We have an amazing relationship based on a lot of trust and she is a true professional when it comes to grammar and punctuation. We always go through a book three times before either of us is satisfied and while the work is not hard, it is often humbling and a challenge because I treat punctuation as the song’s rhythm section, which is often breaks a lot of rules.
What songs are most played on your Ipod?
For this write, it was Los Lonely Boys and The Hellecasters.
Do you have critique partners or beta readers?
I don’t work with beta readers (and I stay a million miles away from writing and critique groups), but I did work closely on Black Veil with my two favorite partners in crime. The first is the brilliant professional editor, Nicki Kuzn, who corrects my abuse of grammar and punctuation rules. The second is Robert Jolley, who is amazingly gifted at continuity edits. I love it when he says, “The gun was in the glove box. How did it get on the kitchen table?”
What book are you reading now?
Candide by Voltaire and The Lady and Her Monsters by Roseanne Montello (a Mary Shelley – Frankenstein study)
How did you start your writing career?
Like most of the best adventures, with a dare. Having a deep love of language and word play and stories since I was a child, and being a constant reader, I simple said to myself, “Why don’t you write one?” That was the spark for Distractions, published about two years later.
Tell us about your next release.
The next novel is Thieves, a Molly and April Danser story. It is scheduled for release by Épouvantail Books in December of this year. The sisters have lived a life of crime, mostly thefts from those they believe deserve it the most – social vultures such as 1-800 lawyers. Things turn dark and twisted when an innocent man dies and an ex US Marshal decides that he has to put them down, permanently. Thieves is more of a roller coaster than Black Veil, which is actually more like a haunted house ride.
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