| Gary Williams & Vicky Knerly |
 |  |  |  |  |
Williams and Vicky Knerly:
Suspense Publishing (S. PUB.): You both live in completely different cities and
work via phone and email…how did this partnership come about? Is it
challenging?
Vicky Knerly (VK): We met at a writer’s conference in Jacksonville (Gary’s
city) and found that our interests meshed, so we decided to collaborate and
see where it took us. We set up a formal partnership, and the rest, as they
say, is history.
Gary Williams (GW): What makes our partnership even more interesting is
that I was born and raised in the south and, although Vicky now lives in
Georgia, she is originally from New York. Our polar-opposite upbringing
lends itself to our creativity.
S. PUB.: How do you delegate the workload? Can you describe your process?
GW and VK: Gary is the “creative, evil genius,” so the basic story ideas
originate with him. We kick ideas around by phone and e-mail, and one or
both of us will do some background research on places, people, historical
events, etc., to make sure the story will be accurate. Even though we write
fiction, we have a lot of factually accurate people, places, events, and
processes in the stories.
Once we have the basic story idea down, Gary does an initial “brain dump”
(as we call it) to get the story on paper, so to speak. During his writing,
Vicky will research anything that was missed during the initial phase.
After the story is in a file, Gary passes it to Vicky, who edits it for content
and technical errors (grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage, etc.). Questions
usually arise during this process, such as “Will this scene actually work?”
“Can we expand this?” “Should we include more background/character
enhancement, etc.?” A lot of “tweaking” goes on during the editing phase.
Once we have what we think is a final version, we have several people read
the manuscript for any typos we might have missed, inconsistencies in the
story (usually due to a “tweak” somewhere that wasn’t carried throughout
the entire manuscript), and anything that just doesn’t sound right.
Then we do a final overall edit to make sure we haven’t missed anything,
and the manuscript is ready to go!
S. PUB.: What sparked the idea behind “Death in the Beginning” and Curt
Lohan’s adventures?
GW and VK: We wanted to set a story in St. Augustine, Florida. It’s a town
with deep historical roots that is frequently overlooked and
underappreciated. Most people think the first American settlement was at
Plymouth Colony in 1620. In fact, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon
landed at Florida in 1513, and later established a settlement in St. Augustine
in 1565, which still ranks as the oldest continuous European settlement in
the United States. What sparked the storyline for “Death in the Beginning”
is the gunpowder magazine inside the Castillo de San Marcos fort in St.
Augustine. The fort was completed by the Spanish in 1695 and was
constructed with massively thick walls. In the mid-1800s, over 150 years
after construction, a gunpowder magazine, which had been walled shut, was
discovered when a cannon fell through from the top gun deck. Inside, were
the skeletal remains of animals. It’s believed that when the fort was under
siege in the 1700s, the inhabitants used the room as a dumping place for the
animal remains they ate and eventually sealed it closed. The idea of a
sealed, undiscovered room in such an old structure seemed like an intriguing
concept to seed a story.
S. PUB.: Now that you’ve finished, is there one thing that you would go
back and change?
VK: Not really. At this point, the story has gone through several iterations,
and we like to think it’s exactly where it should be. We’re both pretty
excited about it, because we love how the story has evolved from its original
form. We’re just hoping our readers agree!
GW: Only to catch that one typo that gets overlooked (and is in every novel
that I’ve ever read.)
S. PUB.: If you could be any character in fiction, who would you be (not
your own)?
VK: Elizabeth Bennet from Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice.” I love strong
female characters, and Lizzy represents the quintessential strong woman of
her time. Plus, it would be nice to find a “Prince Charming” like Mr. Darcy
(the one who falls hopelessly in love with her, not the standoffish one in the
beginning).
GW: Professor Otto Liedenbrock from the Jules Verne classic, “Journey to
the Center of the Earth.” He’s a man all about discovery who gets to follow
coded messages and clues to a place only one other man has been. It’s great
adventure. Plus, how many times does a man get blown out of the shaft of a
volcano and live to tell about it?
S. PUB.: If you could write a message to future aspiring authors and place it
in a time capsule for them to read years from now, what would you write?
VK: In the immortal words of Winston Churchill, the message would begin
“Never, never, never, never give up.” There are always challenges to writing,
and even more challenges to getting that writing published. As with most
creative endeavors, it’s a long, slow process, but it’s worth it in the end if
you stick with it.
GW: Three things: 1) Write for the love of it. Never expect to make a living
out of it; 2) Don’t take yourself too seriously. (Many writers view themselves
as having an elevated intellect and stature. I assure you I drink beer and pay
bills just like everyone else); 3) Since you’re reading this in the future, please
look for our 29 novels and buy every one of them. We’ll be glad you did.
S. PUB.: Tell us something about your co-writer that would surprise people.
VK: Wow! This could get us in deep trouble. Actually, as far as we know,
we’re both pretty straight-laced and don’t have a lot of skeletons in the
closet. I think people would be surprised to know that Gary is a rabid
Jacksonville Jaguars fan.
GW: Vicky is addicted to Facebook!
S. PUB.: Can you give your fans an idea of what to expect from your spring
2012 release?
GW and VK: “Three Keys to Murder” is set on Amelia Island, Florida. It
involves a female reporter, Fawn Cortez, who has recently moved there to be
near her fiancé. Her father, a lifelong treasure hunter, has recently perished
diving in the Gulf of Mexico for a fabled cache. Meanwhile, a series of
bizarre murders on the island eventually links to the history of an infamous
Seminole Indian’s severed head. Things get really interesting when Fawn
discovers a hereditary link between the Indian and someone living in town,
which ultimately ties to the treasure her father sought. Fawn’s life is soon in
danger from the serial killer as she races to solve the clues to a two-century-
old puzzle.
Suspense Publishing (S. PUB.): You both live in completely different cities and
work via phone and email…how did this partnership come about? Is it
challenging?
Vicky Knerly (VK): We met at a writer’s conference in Jacksonville (Gary’s
city) and found that our interests meshed, so we decided to collaborate and
see where it took us. We set up a formal partnership, and the rest, as they
say, is history.
Gary Williams (GW): What makes our partnership even more interesting is
that I was born and raised in the south and, although Vicky now lives in
Georgia, she is originally from New York. Our polar-opposite upbringing
lends itself to our creativity.
S. PUB.: How do you delegate the workload? Can you describe your process?
GW and VK: Gary is the “creative, evil genius,” so the basic story ideas
originate with him. We kick ideas around by phone and e-mail, and one or
both of us will do some background research on places, people, historical
events, etc., to make sure the story will be accurate. Even though we write
fiction, we have a lot of factually accurate people, places, events, and
processes in the stories.
Once we have the basic story idea down, Gary does an initial “brain dump”
(as we call it) to get the story on paper, so to speak. During his writing,
Vicky will research anything that was missed during the initial phase.
After the story is in a file, Gary passes it to Vicky, who edits it for content
and technical errors (grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage, etc.). Questions
usually arise during this process, such as “Will this scene actually work?”
“Can we expand this?” “Should we include more background/character
enhancement, etc.?” A lot of “tweaking” goes on during the editing phase.
Once we have what we think is a final version, we have several people read
the manuscript for any typos we might have missed, inconsistencies in the
story (usually due to a “tweak” somewhere that wasn’t carried throughout
the entire manuscript), and anything that just doesn’t sound right.
Then we do a final overall edit to make sure we haven’t missed anything,
and the manuscript is ready to go!
S. PUB.: What sparked the idea behind “Death in the Beginning” and Curt
Lohan’s adventures?
GW and VK: We wanted to set a story in St. Augustine, Florida. It’s a town
with deep historical roots that is frequently overlooked and
underappreciated. Most people think the first American settlement was at
Plymouth Colony in 1620. In fact, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon
landed at Florida in 1513, and later established a settlement in St. Augustine
in 1565, which still ranks as the oldest continuous European settlement in
the United States. What sparked the storyline for “Death in the Beginning”
is the gunpowder magazine inside the Castillo de San Marcos fort in St.
Augustine. The fort was completed by the Spanish in 1695 and was
constructed with massively thick walls. In the mid-1800s, over 150 years
after construction, a gunpowder magazine, which had been walled shut, was
discovered when a cannon fell through from the top gun deck. Inside, were
the skeletal remains of animals. It’s believed that when the fort was under
siege in the 1700s, the inhabitants used the room as a dumping place for the
animal remains they ate and eventually sealed it closed. The idea of a
sealed, undiscovered room in such an old structure seemed like an intriguing
concept to seed a story.
S. PUB.: Now that you’ve finished, is there one thing that you would go
back and change?
VK: Not really. At this point, the story has gone through several iterations,
and we like to think it’s exactly where it should be. We’re both pretty
excited about it, because we love how the story has evolved from its original
form. We’re just hoping our readers agree!
GW: Only to catch that one typo that gets overlooked (and is in every novel
that I’ve ever read.)
S. PUB.: If you could be any character in fiction, who would you be (not
your own)?
VK: Elizabeth Bennet from Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice.” I love strong
female characters, and Lizzy represents the quintessential strong woman of
her time. Plus, it would be nice to find a “Prince Charming” like Mr. Darcy
(the one who falls hopelessly in love with her, not the standoffish one in the
beginning).
GW: Professor Otto Liedenbrock from the Jules Verne classic, “Journey to
the Center of the Earth.” He’s a man all about discovery who gets to follow
coded messages and clues to a place only one other man has been. It’s great
adventure. Plus, how many times does a man get blown out of the shaft of a
volcano and live to tell about it?
S. PUB.: If you could write a message to future aspiring authors and place it
in a time capsule for them to read years from now, what would you write?
VK: In the immortal words of Winston Churchill, the message would begin
“Never, never, never, never give up.” There are always challenges to writing,
and even more challenges to getting that writing published. As with most
creative endeavors, it’s a long, slow process, but it’s worth it in the end if
you stick with it.
GW: Three things: 1) Write for the love of it. Never expect to make a living
out of it; 2) Don’t take yourself too seriously. (Many writers view themselves
as having an elevated intellect and stature. I assure you I drink beer and pay
bills just like everyone else); 3) Since you’re reading this in the future, please
look for our 29 novels and buy every one of them. We’ll be glad you did.
S. PUB.: Tell us something about your co-writer that would surprise people.
VK: Wow! This could get us in deep trouble. Actually, as far as we know,
we’re both pretty straight-laced and don’t have a lot of skeletons in the
closet. I think people would be surprised to know that Gary is a rabid
Jacksonville Jaguars fan.
GW: Vicky is addicted to Facebook!
S. PUB.: Can you give your fans an idea of what to expect from your spring
2012 release?
GW and VK: “Three Keys to Murder” is set on Amelia Island, Florida. It
involves a female reporter, Fawn Cortez, who has recently moved there to be
near her fiancé. Her father, a lifelong treasure hunter, has recently perished
diving in the Gulf of Mexico for a fabled cache. Meanwhile, a series of
bizarre murders on the island eventually links to the history of an infamous
Seminole Indian’s severed head. Things get really interesting when Fawn
discovers a hereditary link between the Indian and someone living in town,
which ultimately ties to the treasure her father sought. Fawn’s life is soon in
danger from the serial killer as she races to solve the clues to a two-century-
old puzzle.
| Released 11/21/11 |
| “This novel is an excellent read. Mixing scientific fact with religious history and the supernatural, it moves readers relentlessly through a suspenseful tapestry of action. Its images are vivid, the characters lively, and their control of the story line makes for a real page turner. I'm anxious to see their next book.” – Lloyd H. Muller, author of "Family Tales and Letters" and "Old Ghosts" |
| “Science, spirituality and the supernatural collide in this break-out debut thriller, with an action-packed storyline so tightly woven, you won’t be able to catch your breath until the very end. It’s a delicious, twisting journey unlike any I have read.” – CK Webb, co- author of “Cruelty To Innocents” & “Collecting Innocents” |
| Released 03/30/12 |