Friday's Guest - Frank Talaber answers questions #MFRWauthor #Plot #characters

1. Are you a panster or a plotter or perhaps a bit of both?

I’m definitely a panster. I’ll just sit down and start pounding out scene after scene as the book unfolds in my head. Most often in no particular order, with the end scene often one of the first I write. Although once I reach a certain point then I’ll start organizing the plot. Which then usually leaves me with more ideas on scenes to write. Also with the end scene written I usually end up writing backwards towards the beginning. I suppose you could call me a reverse-plotter/panster. Hey, did I just invent something new here?


2. Which comes first - characters or plot for you?

Usually plot. While some of my characters tend to get into and raise a lot of trouble that has to be dealt with, the plot will drive the book. I usually will think up a plot idea and ask my usual question, what if? Then coffee kicks in, after I feed the cats. Trust me, no writing is done in the morning unless the cats are fed first. But once I get an idea on what to write, then the nagging question, what if, begins to stalk me. I’ll answer more of that in the next question.

3. What are you working on now? Is this a book in a current series or something totally new?

A totally new series entitled; The Ainsworth Chronicles. Book One: The Joining. 
Carol Ainsworth is an undercover police officer acting as a day manager at the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Two mafia mob families have gone there to supposedly have a wedding and join their families. Only the truth is they’ve gone there to start up a new division of the mobs business, one that would concentrate on importing illegal goods and drugs from the Far East using Victoria as its hub. Victoria just happens to be the most haunted city in all of Canada, with a lot of ghosts and hauntings. For some reason the ghosts are being disturbed and agitated by what is happening, as Carol soon discovers. Carol worked in a previous series with a Haida Shaman and knows there are a lot of woo-woo things we don’t understand and/or believe in. Because of this, she soon learns that she’s sensitive to ghosts and ghostly disturbances.
Carol runs into Jake Holden an American FBI agent, also investigating the case. They both have the hots for each other. Then enters handsome Luigi Cavallio one of the mafia head men, who really has the hots for Carol. 
Toss in Rebecca, a demented dominatrix, who’s been jilted by Jake and still wants him and elderly Agnes who is known as Ms. Teak from her stage career. She can read minds, as Carol soon finds out and talks intimately with a crystal skull named Cider. High Tea at the Empress Hotel just evolved from high class and social decorum to crazy on the edge of your seat thrills.

4. Do you have some kind of object or place that figures in most of your books? I use gems a lot, hospitals and caves.
Well, if ghosts and spirits count then yes. But for the most part I use the west coast of Canada, which is rich in native lore and legends.

5. Do you write everyday or just when the spirit hits?
Usually more when the spirit hits, if I’m heavy into a novel I’m working on, then usually everyday. But as my day job is being a service manager for a very busy auto shop, during the week my mind is usually very tired at the end of the day. I usually spend half an hour to an hour in the wee hours of the morning writing and on weekends.