WARNER B. BAIR II

Twenty Questions
Author's Q and A

1. “Kismet” is the first book in The Anonymous Man series. What
made you decide to write a series? Actually, it didn’t start out that way.
After I wrote “Kismet,” I became enamored with the characters of Anon and
Charlie and I wanted to see what would happen to them in the future.

2. Why didn’t you put a name to Anon? I was about three quarters of
the way through “Kismet” when I realized I had never named his character.
So, I decided to leave it at that. When he is featured, he narrates the action in
first person, so his name doesn’t seem all that important. It does become
somewhat difficult finding a way to attribute dialogue to him when the story
is being told in third person but I always manage to handle it in some fashion.
In the current novel I’m writing in the series, we learn the first initial of his
first name. Quite a revelation!

3. How many books do you plan to write in the series? I’ll keep
writing in the series format as long as the characters continue to evolve and
interest me. The problem with writing about continuing characters is that a
successful book often forces an author to keep duplicating the same formula
that led to that success. Then, I think, the book’s become so much alike, you
often can’t tell them apart. And that’s boring, at least to me.

4. So, how do you avoid that problem? First, I’ve varied the plot lines
in each book. In the “The Manse,” Anon and Charlie find themselves
involved in an adventure with a climatic fight to the death in a wilderness
setting. The “Feral Pistillate” is a dark, hard boiled action piece. In “Moses
Lake,” Anon and Charlie find themselves involved in a very traditional
“whodunit” type of mystery.
Second, as each book unfolds, you see the evolution of Anon and
Charlie. They struggle with problems, just as we all do. We see them
dealing with such issues as the dichotomy between respecting the rule of law
and defending life in the absence of law, the importance and meaning of true
love, obsessive sexual behavior, the strains of being a scientist and still
believing in God, faith in the absence of religion and the role of violence in
their lives and how it affects them.

5. In “Kismet,” although Anon is a lawyer, he seems to operate pretty
much outside the law. Is that going to be a recurring theme in the series?
Yes. Anon and as we’ll see in future books, Charlie, appeal to that part in all
of us where we just want to cut through all the bull and really give the bad
guys exactly what they deserve. I think that is part of this genre. Think Mike
Hammer, Phil Marlowe, Spencer, for example. One of the recurring themes
in the stories, however, is the negative impact committing violent acts, even
when arguably justified, has on Anon and Charlie. In traditional detective
fiction, our hero dispatches bad guys, shrugs and moves on. In reality, killing
people is a horrible experience, even when justified in war or to enforce the
law and the people who do it inevitably suffer for it, many for the rest of their
lives. You’ll see that with Anon and Charlie. They will do what they have to
do to protect themselves, their family and later in the series, their country but
they will suffer for it.

6. To what extent do your characters mirror your own life
experiences? The old cliche is that writers write about what they know.
Obviously, each writer draws on their own experiences in creating their
particular brand of fiction. Some of what I write about I have experienced. A
lot of what I write is pure fabrication but hopefully, grounded in reality.

7. During your legal career, did you ever experience anything
dangerous and, if so, how did those experiences influence your writing? I
was prosecuting a murder case and it was gang related and there were threats,
so I found it necessary to send my family out of town for a time. I slept with a
gun on the night stand next to my bed for several weeks. On another
occasion, I successfully prosecuted a drug case and the defendant, after being
sentenced to prison, walked by counsel table where I was sitting and leaned
over and whispered that when he got out he would come after me. I surprised
him when I immediately responded that I’d be waiting for him. With my
Glock.
     As a reserve sheriff’s deputy, I stopped cars with suspected murderers,
took part in drug busts and backed up swat units where we feared there
would be a shootout with armed suspects. I’ve seen the victims of violence,
including those who were killed. It’s rough. I have great respect for our law
enforcement officers and what they have to endure.
     I think these experiences hopefully lend an air of authenticity to the
stories.

8. How do you write? I usually think about the basic story and then I
sit down at the key board and start writing. The late Robert B. Parker, creator
of Spencer, indicated that when he wrote his stories, one chapter seemed to
flow into the next and that seems to be how it works for me. Sometimes, I
rewrite as I go along and sometimes if I’m on a roll, I may finish the entire
novel and then go back and edit. When the book is finished, it usually goes
through several revisions, particularly after my “Anonymous Man” readers
work over the manuscript. These are several different people, all ages,
different backgrounds, who read the novels and give me suggestions for
improvements.
     I try to write every day but I must write at least every few days or I start
to go through “writer’s withdrawal.”

9. What do you like best about the writing process? My characters
changing my story. This is something only fellow writers will really
understand. In “The Feral Pistillate,” I ended up changing the story based on
a scenario Charlie came up with during a conversation with Anon and others
in the Manse as they tried to figure out how to deal with a threat on their
lives. Charlie had a good plan, a plan that only she would have come up with,
based on who she is and how she thinks, so I went with it and wrote it that
way.

10. It seems that Charlie will become a central character in the future
books. Did you intend that as you envisioned her character? Absolutely. We
talk about discrimination in this country as we should but we often neglect to
talk about the struggle women in general still experience. We only had two
female law students in my class and after our first semester, one of them
dropped out and the other committed suicide. When my youngest daughter
went to law school, a majority of her classmates were women. And
thankfully, none of them committed suicide. It’s getting better but there’s still
a long way to go. Kathy and I decided early on that our daughters would have
all the same educational opportunities that our son would have.

11. So, how do you see Charlie? Charlie is intelligent, well educated,
kind, sensitive, very intuitive. She’s very practical and tough when it’s called
for. She has enthusiasm for life and learning about and experiencing new
things. She’s also drop dead gorgeous, sexy and ready to make love any time,
anywhere. But, of course, only to Anon whom she loves exclusively and
obsessively. In short, she’s every man’s wet dream! She keeps Anon on an
even keel and is right there taking part in all their adventures.

12. Authors of series novels indicate that their characters “get in their
heads.” Have you found that to be the case? Definitely. Anon and Charlie
are in my thoughts constantly. They’re as much a part of my life now as
anyone else in my family.

13. Will you ever write a “stand alone” novel? Actually, I already
have. Two, in fact. The first will be called “The Therapist.” It’s about a P.I.
in L.A. who rescues a lady in distress and falls for her even though she might
just be the death of him. The second is “Til The Last Breath” which tells the
story of a homophobic hit man who falls in love with a transgender person.

14. Who are your favorite authors? In this genre, in no particular
order, John D. MacDonald, Robert Crais, Michael Connelly, Lee Child and
Robert B. Parker. I also read anything Dean Koontz writes and most of what
Steve King writes.

15. Some personal questions. What is your worst fear? Beyond any
harm to my family, my biggest fear is running out of time. There are still so
many things I want to do.

16. What is your greatest joy in life? Love. Genuine, unselfish, fully
committed, totally fearless love. Love for my lady; love for my children.
Everything else in life pales by comparison.

17. If you were reincarnated, what would you want to be? A drummer
in a rock band.

18. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? Yeah, write. A lot of
people talk about writing but few actually do it. Think about what you want
to write, hopefully something you know about and then just do it. You’ll
soon discover if it’s any good, whether you have any innate talent. Study up
on the genre you’re writing in. Stephen King says in his book “On Writing”
the best way to learn to write is to read. He’s absolutely right about that.
     Learn some fundamentals. For example, you can’t write a novel that’s
30,000 words since that would be a “novella.” Learn about such techniques
as “showing versus telling” and “point of view.”
     Find your own voice, don’t try to write like someone else. Do your
background research, as necessary for credibility but again, as King says,
leave the background in the background.
     If you’re writing pop fiction, don’t inundate your readers with
adjectives and adverbs. An intelligent reader will use their imagination to fill
in the blanks.
     Make sure your characters are well developed and act consistently with
who you have defined them to be. There is nothing more frustrating than
having a character do some odd thing that is totally inconsistent with their
personality.

19. Can would be writers actually learn to write? That’s a tough
question. No. Robert B. Parker had a piled higher and deeper in lit and he
admitted it didn’t add a thing to his writing. I think, however, that if you have
some talent for writing, formal study can help you polish your skills as a
writer but if you have the talent, the best way to improve is to write and keep
on writing.

20. Even if you never get published? I think the people who write do it
because they have to do it; they are compelled to do it. I think they would
keep on writing even if they never published a word. Writing and publishing
are two different worlds. Publishing has always been a crap shoot. The
traditional process was to write your book, take several years to interest an
agent and several more years to interest a trade publisher. If you got lucky
with this process, the publisher would do everything else. At that point, you
could sit back, collect your royalties while you worked on your next book.
     Now, even if you successfully complete that process, unless you’re
Dean or Steve, you’ll have to promote your book anyway, the publisher is no
longer going to do that.
     The good news is that the internet has turned the publishing business
on its head because more books are being sold that way now. The latest trend,
of course, are books that never see a printed page. You read them
electronically. Self publishing or publishing through a subsidy press can
work as well, at least for those authors who are willing to publicize and
promote on their own. If you want people to read your book, you’d better
have a whole marketing campaign in mind before you even think about
putting it in print.