Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I first became interested in writing fiction when I was about 12 years old, but I’m not a natural-born storyteller, and it took me many years to learn what a story is and how to tell one. I’ve found structuralists such as Gustav Freytag and Vladimir Propp to be especially helpful, as I have Joseph Campbell.
Over the years, I’ve written 13 books. They run the gamut of genres: historical mystery, Western, Viking fantasy, urban fantasy, science fiction, romance, horror, thriller, and young adult. I’ve even written a volume of lit crit. Most are available on Amazon.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Death in the Old Dominion. As I point out on my author’s blog, I grew up in Idylwood, a community just outside Falls Church, Virginia, which is about eight miles from Washington, D. C. My parents graciously took me and my four siblings to the cultural and historical sites in Virginia and the nation’s capitol.
We visited Mount Vernon, Monticello, We visited the Tomb of the Unknown in Arlington National Cemetery; marveled at the work of the great masters in the National Gallery of Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art; and studied the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution, up close and personal, at the National Archives.
We thrilled to the artifacts in the National History Museum, the Air and Space Museum, and the Army-Navy Medical Museum, home to such as fetuses in formaldehyde, human skulls and skeletons, and an elephantiasis leg.
All of these places made last impressions upon me and my siblings, and one of them in particular, colonial Williamsburg, became the setting of my latest book.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Probably, but they seem fairly prosaic to me.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Wow! It’s a long and eclectic list, which includes (in no particular order) Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Dan Simmons, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Shirley Jackson, Frank Peretti, Bentley Little, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, Ian Fleming, Louis L’Amour, Joss Whedon, Joyce Carol Oates, Shirley Jackson, Flannery O’Connor, Walker Percy, James Patterson, Ernest Hemingway, D. H. Lawrence, O. Henry, William Shakespeare, John Donne, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Bram Stoker, Rabindranath Tagore, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Kate Chopin, Sherwood Anderson, H. G. Wells, John Keats, William Butler Yeats, T. S. Eliot, Stephen Crane, Erma Bombeck, Miguel Cervantes, and my favorite, Mark Twain. (I’m sure I left some out, but not intentionally.)
What are you working on now?
I’m recharging my batteries at the moment, as I mull over my options.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far, Twitter has worked for me, especially since Lou Diamond Phillips very graciously retweeted an announcement of my Western, “Good wit ha Gun.” (Thanks again, Mr. Phillips!)
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Learn the craft by reading voraciously. Read all genres, classic and popular, and take notes on technique. Study how established writers create grand entrances for their characters, create mystery by withholding context, use foils and confidants, twist the plot and supply cliffhangers to leave readers wanting more, interweave subplots with main plots, generate and heighten suspense . . . the list goes on.
If characterization is difficult for you, as it is for many, myself included, start with the trait theory of personality. It may not be scientifically valid, but it sure helps in creating characters. Remember, though: characters are more than collections of traits, but traits will get you started, traits and conflict–and the values of your characters.
Never think you’ve learned it all or completely mastered the art and craft of writing.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Aristotle’s Poetics is not prescriptive, but descriptive.
What are you reading now?
Non-fiction at the moment. My reading, like my writing, is varied. I re-read the books I’ve enjoyed best (and learned much from), both nonfiction and fiction. I heartily recommend both Shakespeare and Twain. (By the way, for pleasure, Shakespeare read Geoffrey Chaucer, who’s also quite good.)
What’s next for you as a writer?
Another book or two, bye and bye.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Winesburg, Ohio, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, Till We Have Faces, and The Bible (KJV)—oops! That’s five.
Author Websites and Profiles
Gary L. Pullman Website
Gary L. Pullman Amazon Profile
Gary L. Pullman’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account