Dan Ames

Welcome to the official blog site of crime author Daniel Ames. Put on some ear protection, stand back, and let’s burn through some ammo.

Bending A Taco With RGB

Robert Gregory Browne is a bestselling author with several books to his credit including KILL HER AGAIN, WHISPER IN THE DARK, and KISS HER GOODBYE.

ATK: First of all, thanks for stopping by the AmesToKill blog.

RGB: Thanks, Dan, great to be here.

Tell us about your upcoming novel DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN.

It's about a disgraced newspaper reporter who latches onto a story about a houseful of murdered nuns in Juarez, Mexico, in hopes that he has the makings of a true crime book and can somehow resurrect his career.

Before he knows it, he's in over his head and finds himself involved with drug runners, corrupt border officials and a mysterious Mexican religious cult that has targeted him for death.

You frequently mention the influence Stephen King had on you. What works of his in particular resonated with you?

My favorite book of King's will always be THE DEAD ZONE, followed by PET SEMATARY.

Of his more recent work, DUMA KEY is, I think, terrific. King has a way with character and language and tone that I can only hope to achieve one day. I'm not sure how he does it, but it seems as if he's practicing magic -- and I want to know the secrets behind the sleight of hand.

You also mention Donald Westlake. I love his work, too, especially the Parker novels.

Love the Parker novels. But I love just about anything Westlake wrote. There is a complete lack of pretense in his work. Even most of the comedies are lean and mean, no frills -- and I always respond to writing like that. THE FUGITIVE PIGEON and SOMEBODY OWES ME MONEY are two of my favorite books.

I was recently in LA for a vintage book sale and found three of the four books Westlake wrote under the name Samuel Holt. Can't wait to dig in.

I read somewhere that you wrote spec episodes for The Rockford Files, one of my all-time favorite television series. Tell me, did you have a scene where Jim got tacos from a little take-out stand? I loved to watch him eat tacos.

No taco stands. But I loved Rockford and I have to say that James Garner really brought an amazing presence to that character. I think he's one of our great actors who never really gets his due. His recent work in THE NOTEBOOK was, I thought, worthy of an Oscar.

As for the Rockford spec script, if I recall correctly, I wrote a story about Rockford's police buddy, Lt. Becker, being accused of murder and Rockford having to prove him innocent. I was about seventeen when I wrote it and my dad ran into Joe Santos -- who played Becker -- at the race track and gave the script to him. We never heard a word about it, which wasn't really a surprise. But I thank my dad for giving it a shot.

Do you think your experience as a screenwriter helped in the writing of your first novel?

Working as a screenwriter -- which really translates to writing a lot of stuff that never actually makes it to the screen -- has helped me tremendously in a couple of ways.

The first is story structure. After writing over a dozen scripts, the three-act structure tends to burn itself into your brain, so whenever you sit down to write, you instinctively understand structure without having to give it any thought. And the three-act structure is something I think everyone who reads feels very comfortable with.

Working as a screenwriter has also toughened me up. If you can handle the criticism in Hollywood, you can handle criticism from anyone. Including editors and Amazon book reviewers.

What is your writing routine?

It varies depending on how close I am to deadline, but for the most part, I wake up at six am, get myself a cup of coffee, then sit down at the computer and procrastinate for an hour catching up on email and Facebook and news, before finally firing up the latest work in progress and getting to work. I try to write at least five pages a day, but I've recently ramped that up to ten when humanly possible.

I take a lot of breaks, but I pretty much work throughout the day. And if I'm close to deadline, I'll work at night as well.

What books and films continue to be an inspiration for you?

Lately, I find myself drawn to vintage paperbacks, written by the greats like Donald Hamilton, Dan J. Marlowe, and even some of the "goods" like Carter Brown and M.E. Chaber. There's something about those old mysteries and thrillers that calls to me. I sometimes wish I'd been born a little earlier and could have been part of the Gold Medal scene.

As for movies, I rarely get time to watch any these days. Frankly, I think the best screenwriting you can find now is on television -- which only makes sense, because writers are treated with much more respect there. Most shows are run by writers.

Which, of course, is why I'm happy that my novel KISS HER GOODBYE sold to CBS for a TV series. They're shooting the pilot as we speak and the script, written by director Michael Dinner, is extremely strong -- and so is the cast. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it makes it to series.

Thank you very much for stopping by, and we're all looking forward to the release of your next book. Is there anything you'd like to say directly to readers of the AmesToKill blog?

My pleasure, and yes, I'd like to tell the aspiring writers in the crowd to keep plugging away. We were all in your shoes at one time, so keep the faith.

And to the readers, please keep publishing alive by buying books, if you can afford to, or get them from the library. You don't have to buy my books, but buy the books you read -- even the downloadable ones. Otherwise there will be nobody left to write them.

Thanks, Robert! Check out robertgregorybrowne.com to learn more...