Around The Globe With Victoria Weisfeld

Whoa! I know you were enjoying the exciting Pitch series. However, when one of those pesky authors, er, I mean wonderful and valued authors contacted me to promote herself and her book, I felt inclined to break in to the regularly scheduled programming. Don’t worry, you get a double shot next week.

So, I get in my transporter, pick up this week’s guest, and she sets the control for a cruise on the Nile. From seats on the deck we can see hot air balloons over the Valley of the Kings. Oops, there’s our humble waiter with mango drinks. Yum, tasty. Cool temps this morning. Yes, I think I could lay here and doze…oops, an elbow nudge reminds me I have an interview to conduct.

1. Who are you and what makes you the most fascinating person in your city?

I’ve been very lucky to have many different chapters in my life. I did interesting work, writing about the health care field, but in retirement finally indulged my lifelong desire to write fiction. I’ve also done the deep dive into various hobbies. There was the Julia Child period, a decade of figure skating, another of flamenco, and now genealogy.

2. Without revealing a deep dark secret (unless you want to), what one thing would people be surprised to learn about you?

This is my own hair.

3. What interested you to become a writer rather than something else such as a rock star?

I’ve always made up plots in my head. When it finally came time to write them down, it got much more complicated quickly!

4. Writers are readers. With which author(s) would you enjoy sharing dinner? Why?

It would have to be one of those huge long tables! But to pick two totally different dinner candidates, I’d say Alan Furst—I love his pre-WWII stories of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations—and S.A. Crosby. Both Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears are so powerful! And Ben Macintyre (a great friend of John le Carré), who writes riveting true stories about spies.

5. If I were stranded on a deserted island or suffering from a four hour layover at the airport, why would your book(s) be great company?

You’d need a book you could really immerse yourself in, which would make your surroundings disappear. While I, naturally, found my new mystery/thriller, Architect of Courage, totally absorbing, I’m pleased at the number of reviewers who’ve said, “couldn’t put it down.”

6. Share your process of writing in regards to: plot and character development, story outline, research (do you Google or visit places/people, or make it up on the spot), writing schedule, editing and number of rewrites.

I’m a pantser, meaning I write by the seat of my pants. I began Architect of Courage with nothing more in mind than this: a man visits the apartment of his girlfriend and finds her shot to death. That is not a plot or a story, it’s a situation. Then I had to start answering questions. What would he do next? In fact, he does the wrong thing—a sin of omission—and the rest of the story is, in part, his effort to atone. In my mind, a plot is the action and events that occur, the story is how characters react to them. They exist on a continuum. An action-adventure is heavily into plot; literary fiction is often mostly story. I like to have both.

I do tons of research to avoid the kinds of errors that bounce a reader out of the novel. Architect of Courage takes place in three locales: Manhattan, which I visit many times a year, as we live a short train ride away, and still I needed three different maps (subways, police precincts, and neighborhoods); the EU district of Brussels, which is well documented on maps, in photos (very helpful), and in other ways, but I’ve never been there; and Tarifa, Spain, where I have visited. The hotel I describe in Tarifa is completely fictional, whereas the hotels in Brussels are not.

Rewrites are essential for me because, face it, I don’t know these characters when I first start out. I may have general ideas about them, but I need to get to know them, how they react, what it is about their past or their way of looking at the world that affects their actions and attitudes. That takes time. I know some people write out all those character details beforehand, but I let those characteristics appear organically as the story develops. Then, in rewrite, I can assess and modify for consistency.

I like to write first thing in the morning. Robert Olen Butler says that’s when we have the greatest access to our subconscious mind. My subconscious is working on story problems all the time and, if I listen to it, it will come up with unexpected solutions and deeper connections between emotions and events.

Architect of Courage is my debut novel, as you know, so working on it was a learning process for me. At no point was it completely rewritten, but it underwent some serious editing. I hired an outside editor who reviewed it twice, each time helping me move it forward. The next ones probably won’t require as much. But then again, they may.

7. “I think I have a good idea for a story, but I don’t know where or how to begin. Your process may not work for me. Any advice?”

Is this a plot idea? Or a character idea? Or both? If it’s a plot idea, think a while about what kinds of characters would become involved in that situation. For what kind of person would it be particularly risky or emotionally difficult? Conversely, if you have a character or two in mind, what kinds of emotionally or physically perilous situations would they likely stumble into? would they most fear?

Regardless, let me echo the advice would-be authors often receive: Write the book you want to read. Don’t worry about market. Don’t worry about trends. By the time you finish, that trend may be over anyway. Only if it’s a story you really resonate with can you create a work that has authenticity.

Also, you may find it helpful to exercise your writing muscles with short stories. While I was working on Architect of Courage, I was also writing short stories and have more than 30 published. Even though they are totally different from the book, I learned a lot about writing by working on them. The fact that reputable (!) magazines and anthologies were accepting my work encouraged me to continue with the much bigger project.

8. I saw an amusing T-shirt the other day which read, “Every great idea I have gets me in trouble.” What is your philosophy of life?

Oh, we’re talking t-shirts now? A favorite of mine is “I ♥ Mr. Darcy.” A woman in the post office asked me, “Is that your husband?” I think Jane Austen’s sense of the possibilities of life and that things WILL work out is my general approach. But to keep that up, I’ll have to stop watching the news.

9. Please tell me you’re not going to stop writing? What’s next for you?

Architect of Courage was written in tandem with another book, set in Rome. Totally different plot and characters. It features an American travel writer—smart, observant, and curious, which so far has gotten her into trouble in short stories set in Morocco, Alaska, and Rome. (By the way, when I had to cut a lot from the Rome novel, in the spirit of recycling, I turned those “outtakes” into three short stories, all of which have been published.)

After that, I’d like to write about a trip to Egypt. I did that in late 2019, just before Covid hit, and it was wonderful.

10. Where can people find more information on you and your projects?

I blog about four times a week at www.vweisfeld.com. My posts contain writing tips, reviews of books, theater, and movies, travel tips, and other stuff I’ve found interesting. There’s a tab for updated information about my writing. I have author pages on Amazon and Goodreads.

I’m one of about a dozen reviewers of crime/mystery/thriller fiction and tv shows for Crimefictionlover.com, a UK website. It’s a good site to follow for fans of those genres.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about writing and Architect of Courage!

______

AWARD-WINNING LOCAL AUTHOR

PUBLISHES POST 9/11 NOVEL

WEST WINDSOR, N.J.—June 2022—Award-winning fiction writer Victoria Weisfeld’s mystery thriller, Architect of Courage, was published this month by Black Opal Books. Although this is a debut novel, her more than 30 published short stories have received several “best” awards.

“People often ask why I write crime and mystery fiction, and the answer is simple: it’s what I—like so many readers—enjoy reading. That little jolt of adrenalin. I also gravitate to stories about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances, as Archer Landis does in Architect of Courage.”

Available online and by order from bookstores, Architect of Courage is set in New York, Brussels, and Tarifa, Spain, in the summer of 2011. In real life at that time, law enforcement and security services were on high alert for any kind of terrorist events that might be planned to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11. That anxiety colors what happens in the novel.

The orderly life of the book’s hero, successful Manhattan architect Archer Landis, is upended by the murder of the woman he loves. To his surprise, the authorities link her to the Arab American community, and their reflexive conclusion is “terrorist.” Landis sets out to prove them wrong, as attacks continue on everyone and everything he holds dear.

“To protect the people around him—and to survive—Archer Landis has to confront prejudice, self-doubt, the limits of loyalty, and his own need for redemption that transcends his desire for revenge,” Weisfeld said.

Architect of Courage has received a positive reception, she said. “Readers say they especially like the way the characters are developed. I certainly hoped they would come off the page as real people, and it seems they do.”

Weisfeld’s short stories have appeared in leading crime and mystery magazines and anthologies, including: Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, and Black Cat Mystery Magazine. Several have won “best” awards.

Weisfeld, a West Windsor resident for nearly 40 years, predicted that Architect of Courage won’t be her only novel. Up her sleeve is a thriller set in Rome, Italy.