Wife's suggestion led to bestselling series

  By Elaine Lies

TOKYO
Tue Aug 21, 2012 5:00am EDT


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TOKYO Aug 21 (Reuters) - John Verdon was 65 and retired,
reading a lot of detective stories and talking about them with
his wife, when one day she suggested he write one himself.
He took her up on the challenge, and Dave Gurney - a retired
New York City homicide investigator just beginning his new life
when mysterious letters start arriving - was born.The book was snapped up by a publisher and came out in 2010
to rave reviews, and Gurney's adventures have continued with two
more books, the latest - 'Let the Devil Sleep' - just out.Verdon, a former advertising executive who retired at 53 and
turned to furniture making before writing, said he has been
surprised and pleased by the results.'When I wrote the first book I didn't even imagine it would
be published. I had the time to do it, my wife encouraged me to
do it, and I wrote the first one hoping she'd like it,' he said,
noting that the suggestion for more came from his agent.'From that point on I think it kind of took hold of me,
because during the course of finishing the first book I'd become
close to and interested in the characters. So the idea of
putting them in new situations and being with them again felt
comfortable to me.'As the new book starts, Dave has fallen into a depression as
the result of injuries suffered in his previous escapade, but
the reappearance of a serial killer after a decade gradually
rouses him to action.Verdon, who said he'd always wanted to write but thought
advertising was the only way he could write and make a living,
said that one of the challenges of carrying on with a series is
working to keep the reader interested.'I've read both types of series - series about characters
that don't seem to change at all, and then I've read others in
which you grow old with the character and you watch their kids
grow up and all that,' he said.'I think they have to change and I think that mechanism for
change comes from the fairly horrendous things that happen
toward the end of each book.'When I started writing the third book, one of the things I
had to deal with was to imagine: okay, here's a guy who's been
shot three times a few months ago, where does that leave him?'Despite bringing out a book a year, Verdon said he doesn't
rely on a detailed outline but rather scribbles ideas down on
index cards whenever and wherever inspiration strikes.'I have two ballpoint pens in my pocket because God forbid I
should be making a note and one of them should run out of ink. I
have two pens and have a dozen index cards in the pocket of my
shirt every day,' he said.Verdon then stuffs the cards in a manila envelope until the
envelope starts to burst, at which point he takes out the cards,
usually by then numbering four or five hundred, and arranges
them on his dining room table until he starts to have a
structure of acts and then of scenes.'Eventually I sit down at the computer and start actually
turning it into something that looks like a novel,' Verdon said,
noting that he is a 'careful' worker who usually writes around
two pages a day.His advice for aspiring writers is simple: don't wait until
you're 65 to start, the way he did, and stick with it.'Over the years, when I was in the advertising business, I'd
start a novel and I never got more than 50 pages into it before
I lost interest,' he said. 'So once you start it, finish it.'
(Reporting by Elaine Lies, editing by Mike Collett-White)

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