David: I move around a lot when I write. I used a
mini cassette recorder almost exclusively to write business correspondence,
presentations, etc. in my former career as an investment banker, and that's
carried over into my writing. I dictate into a digital mini cassette recorder
and transcribe it via Dragon Naturally Speaking software. I used to have a
writing studio in an attic room in our home, but abandoned it. I felt isolated
up there, couldn’t move around as much as I like to and couldn't interact
during the day with my wife, my stepson and our pitbull, Styles. So we put a
writing desk in the living room behind the sofa and I hang out there to make
notes, outline, get organized, edit on the computer, etc. But when I write I
carry my mini-cassette recorder around the house most of the time.
Paul: What types of books do you like to read? Who
are your favorite authors? Why?
David: I read mostly thrillers, and some classic
literature. F. Scott Fitzgerald is my favorite author, and The Great Gatsby is my favorite novel. I read it every few years. I
also really admire his novel, Tender is
the Night and many of his short stories. I've never found a writer who can
perfectly put together a phrase like Fitzgerald, and who manages to convey the
emotions of his characters with such poignancy and irony. Thriller writers I
admire are Frederick Forsyth — The Day of
the Jackal may be the best thriller ever written — Graham Greene — I just
re-read Our Man in Havana and The Third Man again—John LeCarre,
Robert Ludlum, Thomas Harris, Ken Follett, and Tom Clancy (his older stuff). Elmore
Leonard is my favorite contemporary writer. No one does dialogue like him, and
no one mixes edgy humor and attitude with suspense as he does.
Paul: If someone had the power to step into your
creative mind what would they see?
David: They’d probably find it fairly organized. I get
an idea and develop it methodically in thinking through a novel. I work with a
structure, building emotional peaks and valleys throughout the story. I let my
characters run with things during scenes, but I plan scenes out before I write
them, so even that process is reasonably organized.
Paul: How do you find the time to write?
David: I'm a retired investment banker, so I no
longer have a day job, which leaves me as much or as little time to write as I
please. Even without a day job, life intervenes. I spend a lot of time taking
care of things around the house, managing our finances, and researching on the
computer. Styles also frequently interrupts me when he insists on playing ball.
Some days I write for only a few hours, some not at all, but when I get hot,
I'll work almost non-stop all day.
Paul: What is one thing you hope I do not tell the
readers?
David: That I welcome distractions as a means of
practicing work avoidance, particularly when writing first drafts of anything,
which are the toughest for me. Styles is a great random interrupter. He has a
bed underneath my desk, which he uses, but when he's fed up with waiting he’ll
jump up into my lap (he’s allowed to), grab one of my hands and pull me, then
go fetch one of his balls.
Paul: Do you plot your stories or do you just get
an idea and run with it?
David: I am an outliner. My first editor taught me
to do detailed character biographies followed by a detailed scene-by-scene
outline of my novel. I've softened from the rigor of such a detailed outline as
I write more, but I never write anything without knowing where I'm going, and
particularly how it's going to end. I also use some screenwriting techniques to
work with key touch-points in structuring my story. And before I write a scene,
I'll always scribble down key elements of the conflict and tension I want to
build between the characters within it, often scratching out elements of the
dialogue like a tennis match, back and forth, before I start writing. I'm
probably the antithesis of the organic writer.
Paul: Do you do a lot of editing or do you find
that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
David: I can’t imagine writing a first draft of
anything and not rewriting, then rewriting, to get it the way I want it. The
old adage that "writing is re-writing" is certainly true of me. That
being said, sometimes I'll write a long sequence of dialogue back and forth
between characters in a scene, particularly characters I've gotten to know very
well late in the book, that seems so natural and flows so easily that I don't
want to touch it. But I usually do.
Paul: Do you have to do much research for your
stories?
David: I do substantial research even for stories in
which I am able to draw on my experience from over 25 years in investment
banking, for example, my novels Bull
Street and The Gravy Train, set
on Wall Street. I believe that relevant details can help bring a story to life.
David: My most recent novel, Arab Summer, released in January, is part of the Sasha Del Mira
series. When the Muslim terrorist group, al-Mujari, murders Sasha’s husband,
the former CIA agent comes out of retirement to avenge his death by tracking
down the al-Mujari’s leader before he can launch an Arab Spring uprising intent
on a bloody coup of the Saudi government. She knows her target well; Saif Ibn
Mohammed al-Aziz was once her ally — and lover.
Paul: What inspired you to write this book?
David: I was inspired to write Arab Summer because of the favorable response from readers to the
character of Sasha from my first novel in the series, Trojan Horse. As a result of that I wrote Sasha Returns, a short story, last year, and still kept hearing
from readers asking for more Sasha stories. I guess they’re responding to a
strong female protagonist who’s both true to her emotions and takes no
prisoners when she’s wronged — and has the brains, martial arts skills and
weapons expertise to back it up.
Paul: Do you also write any poetry, non-fiction or
short stories?
David: I’ve recently written some short stories, which
was how I started writing in grammar school. I hadn’t written one since college
until about a year ago, and decided to give one a try after reading some
autobiographical pieces by F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose short stories I love. In
one piece he wrote that he’d written a 7,000 word short story over a weekend,
then sent it off to one of the magazines that regularly published them. That
spurred me to write a short story again. It took me a lot longer than a
weekend, though, but I had fun writing Rudiger
and will write a follow-up to that story with the same characters.
Paul: What do you do when you’re not writing? Do
you have any hobbies or party tricks?
David: When I'm not writing I'm doing things around
the house, taking care of the day-to-day aspects of life, playing with Styles,
hanging out with my wife or going to the gym. For the last five months I've
been overseeing the rebuilding of our detached garage, which got flattened by a
100-year-old oak tree during hurricane Sandy. It's been an incredible distraction,
although on some days it’s fun at the same time. I enjoy listening to music. I
have great stereo equipment — I’m not an iPod guy — in our home and our weekend
house, with tastes ranging from classical to classic rock and current artists. The
Beatles, David Bowie, Mark Knopfler and Mozart are favorites. I also enjoy a
good red wine and have a well-stocked cellar at our weekend house in
Pennsylvania.
Paul: That was most interesting, David. I wish you every success for the future.
David's Blog: David Lender
David on Twitter: @davidtlender
David on Facebook: David Lender
David's latest book: Arab Summer (Sasha Del Mira) (Amazon)
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