M.E. Proctor was born in Brussels, Belgium, but lived in Houston for 20 years. She lives in Livingston, Texas, now, and her latest is the detective novel, “Love You Till Tuesday.”
Give us a brief description of your books.
The new book, “Love You Till Tuesday,” is a crime novel, a detective story, the first in a series featuring Declan Shaw, a Houston-based private investigator. He meets April Easton, a jazz singer. When he leaves her apartment on Sunday morning, he hopes to see her again. But a few hours later, she’s dead, gone from his life as suddenly as she came into it. He can’t let it go. He obsesses about her. His accidental connection with the case has unexpected consequences. He’s a stubborn and resourceful private detective. What will he find if he starts digging? The men behind April’s murder are worried, the stakes are high: a major trial with the death penalty written all over it. When they decide that Declan has to be stopped, nothing goes as planned.
What brought you to write these stories? For instance, was it a personal experience that inspired you, your “day job” or perhaps an overactive imagination?
I’ve always loved mysteries. They were all over the house growing up, but until 10 years ago I had not tried my hand at writing a crime story. I was writing what I call “quiet horror,” short stories where real life starts slipping into the fantastic. I’d also written four science fiction books, and I still dabble in the genre when I get an idea for a short piece, but I’d never “done crime,” so to speak. I wanted to move away from the science fiction world and write a contemporary and realistic story, a crime story. The name of the character popped into my head, Declan Shaw, and I tried to imagine what he did for a living. I made him a PI, a professional with a license, not an amateur. So yes, imagination and a long-lasting affection for the genre.
Where do you get information or ideas for your books?
The short stories and the books are more character-driven than plot-driven. I imagine a boy taking his bike out one early morning, for instance. Summer, slanting sun rays, what will he find? Or in the case of the detective book, I pictured the main character tired after a long day of doing research, going to a jazz club, meeting a woman. I let the story develop like a film in my head, a situation, where will it go, where does it go next? I don’t know where the ideas come from. It might be an image, a childhood memory, a few words that trigger the beginning of a story, then, as it moves forward, unexpected things happen. A character will say something in a line of dialogue that will send the story in a direction that I did not foresee. Or a character appears that turns out to be important. I believe in letting things develop naturally. When I’m about one-third in a manuscript, I start having a better idea of what is going to happen. That doesn’t mean that the end is fixed. Things can still change.
Where does the story take place? How does setting play in the telling of the story?
“Love You Till Tuesday” takes place in Houston, Texas. The classic private detective genre, especially the Noir variety, is urban. Streets at night, dark apartments, neon lights … I wanted to play with that kind of atmosphere. Houston is an interesting place with a population almost as big as Chicago and a sprawl and freeway spaghetti bowl to rival Los Angeles. It’s also humid and hot in the summer, with regular floods and hurricanes. Neighborhoods have distinct personalities and the cultural diversity is striking. A good landing spot for a young restless detective.
What do you think makes a good story/book?
I like complex stories and complex characters. I’m easily bored when the plot is too simple or too linear, and I want characters you can enjoy spending time with. A colorful antagonist, for instance, or a sleazy operator. People with substance, even if they’re secondary characters. Realistic dialogue is supremely important. Believable action scenes. I find protracted slugfests annoying. If there’s violence, it will be swift and abrupt, no lingering. A certain type of book with repeated cliffhangers at the end of each chapter, or the breathless tale that piles twists and revelations strike me as artificial. They often rely on clichés and are not very interesting, in my opinion. A book needs to breathe, not everything can be a mad rush. How do you bond with the characters if they’re running or being shot at all the time?
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
As a kid I wanted to be a teacher, a journalist, an archeologist. I know many writers. I don’t think any of them ever said they wanted to be a “writer.” or worse an “author,” when they grew up. I’ve always been writing, but it wasn’t fiction—research, advertising pitches, corporate communication, freelance journalism. I’ve always wanted to write, mostly I wanted to have the time to write fiction, which is a very different thing. It requires putting your rear end in a chair for a significant length of time and being able to focus on telling a story. It isn’t easy to carve the hours when there’s a day job, a family, obligations, and getting some sleep too.
When did you write your first book? And how was that experience?
I wrote the first lines of what would become the first science fiction book 30 years ago. It took a long time, with months when I didn’t make any progress. Life interfered like it tends to do. But I loved it. I loved disappearing into the plot, dreaming of the characters, solving the puzzles I created for myself. My day job was intense, demanding and interesting. Writing provided a release, even if I couldn’t write every day. I never considered it a hobby, but I didn’t have the time to do the submitting and marketing work that goes with the writing, the effort and the bell ringing it takes to get your name out there.
What was the most surprising thing you learned writing your stories?
That imagination is a bucket that never runs empty. The more you drink from it, the more there is. Ray Bradbury said that we all have a bottomless source of inspiration in our childhood. It always amazes me that you can pull a tiny memory thread and build stories around it, and the more you do it, the more you remember, and the stories keep coming. We have treasures in our heads. We add to the memory bank every day. All we have to do is reach in there.
Did writing your books lead you to other things?
I want to reverse that question. It’s everything I’ve done in my life that led me to writing. The people I met, the places I’ve seen, the jobs, all the experiences. It doesn’t transfer directly into the writing, it isn’t that obvious, but it blends into it. For a long time, I was distracted. Another way to say that I was curious about many things—theatre, learning to play the saxophone (not well!), learning to fly a plane (too impatient to get my license), so much travel, so many books to read … now that I concentrate on the craft, the work is better, deeper, and more satisfying. I’m also more productive, I used to procrastinate a lot. These days, when I sit at my keyboard, I get going right away. Sometimes the end result is a short story, sometimes it’s a book that I will obsess over for months. I like that feeling, though. It means the story has gotten its claws into me.
What suggestions do you have for aspiring writers?
Just write. Write anything, about whatever catches your fancy. Maybe it will be good from the start, maybe it will be meh … but I believe it’s bound to get better. I hear people say, I have that idea for a story or a book, I should write it down. But they never do. All the writers I know are people who need to write. Something pushes them. Maybe they want to get something out of themselves, or they find pleasure in telling stories. They’re also voracious readers. You can’t be a writer if you don’t read. It’s even better if you read in multiple genres, both fiction and non-fiction. Don’t lock yourself in a box.
Books:
“Love You Till Tuesday” – Detective novel.
Publisher: Shotgun Honey
“Family and Other Ailments – Crime stories close to home," a short story collection.
Publisher: Wordwooze Publishing
"Elymore," “Solitaire Plaza," “Sands of Kelian,” “Winter Planet,” the four books of the Savage Crown science fiction series.
How can readers find and purchase your books?
“Love You Till Tuesday” is available in paperback and eBook. All links and formats are listed here.
To find the short stories, the short story collection, and the science fiction series, visit my website.
I also have a Substack newsletter (every other Thursday, free to read) where I talk about the craft and interview writers, and chat about whatever goes through my head. It’s called The Roll Top Desk.
Social Links
Website: https://www.shawmystery.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/martine.proctor
Twitter: https://x.com/MEProctor3
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proctormartine/
Substack: https://meproctor.substack.com
Weird, Wacky & Wild South is written by travel writer and author Cheré Dastugue Coen, who writes the Viola Valentine mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her books are available at all online bookstores.
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