I’d like to introduce you to the forty-third interviewee in my ‘Meet the Author’ series. He is Samuel Stone.

Hi, Samuel! Welcome to Susan Finlay Writes blog site.

Hi Susan,

First let me say that I am honored that you want to do an interview of me for your blog. Thank you.

How many books have you written?

I currently have 22 books in print many of which are also available as ebooks. My Poetry books are:
In Search of Tomorrow, Visions of Yeserday and Tomorrow, Insights of the Heart, Attributes of Courage, Attributes of Living, Attributes of Ecstasy and Tribulation, Attributes of Nature, Attributes of Perception, Attributes of Trirbulation,

My Fictional Books are:
Shades, Crush, Downfall, Blink, Undercover Ops, Deception, Defiance, Decoy, and Happenstance

My Non-Fiction Books are:
A Native American of Swedish Heritage, Open Heart Surgery, Fiction Writer’s Bible, And Attributes of Fiction.

Can you tell us a bit about your background as a police sergeant and as a writer?

My career in law enforcement spanned a quarter of a century, during which time I served as a patrol officer and a detective. I received a number of commendations and recognitions, including “Police Officer of the Year,” for 1982.

During my years as a detective I served two tours of undercover duty, working deep undercover. The first tour involved infiltrating an element of organized crime and bringing down a topless club empire, which was involved in the distribution of drugs and other criminal activities.

The second tour involved me portraying a burned-out Vietnam veteran who owned and operated a surplus store. That operation resulted in three hundred and thirty-six drug related arrests, including major drug dealers and the seizure of numerous fully automatic weapons including machine guns.

I had a wonderful career with many accomplishments; some of which included becoming the first law enforcement officer in the state of Washington to obtain a search warrant by phone, (telephonic search warrants have since become a common practice in law enforcement); writing a manual on the Landlord Tenant Act, which is being used by law enforcement and prosecutors as a training manual; clearing more than one hundred and twenty-five burglaries through the investigation and arrest of a burglary ring; and the apprehending of a rape and murder suspect single-handedly.

During the course of my career, I was involved in supervising both the patrol and detective divisions, including all forms of operations from routine patrol, to hostage negotiations, to murder investigations.

Upon retiring I found myself with a lost of my identity. I was the Sarge for many years but no longer. In High school and college I delevoped a passion for literature and then for the next twenty-five years the only thing I wrote was police reports. I started writing. It rekindled my passion and I found my new identity as an author.

I also discovered that my career in Law Enforcement was actually my research years for the novels I’m writing today. I enjoy writing poetry in my spare time when I am not working on a novel.

My passion for the written word has made me a life long student of literature. My poetry is known in circles around the world for it’s unique and entertaining style. I reside in the Pacific Northwest where I find the solitude of the region inspirational to my craft of writing. I currently have nine poetry books, nine fictional novels, four non-fictional stories, as well as two writer’s reference book in print.

I was featured as a Best Selling Author for my book “Shades” by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Reports on 14th and 15th of September 1999 on their 80 television stations and in 37 million households. Shades remained a Best Seller for nine months. January 2000, I was a guest speaker at a formal event held in Seattle, Washington, listed as the First Literary Event of the New Millennium.

I was born and educated in San Francisco, California. I have attempted through my own understanding and insight to the emotional and psychological depths of fiction to create a realistic bonding effect upon those who read my works.

My literary stories have received five star reviews in the United States and Five Crown ratings in the United Kingdom. Since August of 2007 I have been the guest featured Poet, at the Poetry Plaza in Japan. Hopefully, I haven’t over stayed my welcome. If you like Poetry, Poetry Plaza is a wonderful place to visit.

You have written mystery/thriller novels and non-fiction books. Can you tell us, first, a bit about your mysteries?

My novels are action packed fictional crime dramas based on my experiences in law enforcement. The underlying theme of my novels is “people in position of authority” have to be held accountable.

Some of your non-fiction books are based on your work experiences as a police sergeant. Can you tell us about them?

Actually none of my non-fiction books relate directly to my work experience as a police sergeant and here is why. When you write non-fiction stories you should back up all the main facts by at two independent sources. In most cases it is impossible to do this, which means you have to omit those parts and people from your story leaving your novel less than complete. In writing fact based fiction, you create fictional characters and places. In essence this allows you to tell the entire uncesnsored story because after all it is only fiction. I think in many cases fictional stories actually tell a more accurate account of events than non-fictional stories do.

The only real difference is that you are claiming it is fictional instead of fact.

Some of your non-fiction books are inspirational. Can you tell us about them? Do you have a favorite?

Some of my non fictional books are: A native American of Swedish Heritage, and Open Heart Surgery and You. My favorite is Open Heart Surgery and you, and the reason why is because I survived open heart surgery and wrote this book to give others the insight involved in going thought the procedure as I did. I have a drinking story concerning A Native American of Swedish Heritage. This book comes from a Journal this elderly friend of mine kept from the time he was eight years old. We were having cocktails and he told me how he always wanted to have his journal published. One thing let to another and I told him I would make it into a book and get it published for him. He was delighted. Little did I know that he had boxes and boxes of journals. It took me over two years to go through his journal and compose the book. He was happy and I felt good, but be careful what you promise when you have been drinking…it could take up the better part of two years to complete the task.

You’ve written a couple of books on writing—‘Attributes of Fiction’ and ‘The Fiction Writer’s Bible’. Can you tell us about those?

Actually Attributes of Fiction is a rewrite of Fiction Writer’s Bible they are an attempt to examine the components that make up fictional stories. The emotional and psychological bonding effect of chosen words, and how they influence oue thought process.

What is the most important advice you can give new authors? Also, do you ever teach writing classes or workshops or speak at events?

I firmly believe that writing is an art form painting pictures with descriptive words. Like everything eles in life it takes time and practice to developed a true talent. Remember we’ll you never be as good of a writer today as you will be tomorrow. A few years back I did some speaking events and writing classes but not recently.

You write poetry, too, and have published a book or two of your poems. Can you tell us about those?

I have nine poetry books in print and most are also available in ebook.

Poetry books are:
In Search of Tomorrow, Visions of Yeserday and Tomorrow, Insights of the Heart, Attributes of Courage, Attributes of Living, Attributes of Ecstasy and Tribulation, Attributes of Nature, Attributes of Perception, Attributes of Trirbulation,

Are you working on a new book?

Sad story, I was for the last six months, but I lost all of it when my computer died, so I have to get around to starting it again, but I’m taking a break first.

What is your favorite or least favorite part of writing?

Character development is probably the most fun part of writing. The most satisfing part is having the book finishded, published and in print. The rest of the process is really a lot of work.

I figured out once it takes on the average 3000 hours to research, write, edit, rewrite, re-edit and prepare a book for publishing. A normal 8 hour a day job employee works a total of 2080 hours a year. So writing a novel takes on the average a year and half of solid manhours.

Writing takes a lot of time and a lot of work. I once built a log cabin. It took me two years to harvest, cut and treat the logs prior to building the cabin. After the cabin was completed I was asked if there was a trick to building a log cabin?
I said yes, you have to really want to build a log cabin otherwise it is not worth it. The same holds true to writing a novel.

I told many students of writing there is only one reason to write. You write for the satisfaction it gives you creating the story. If you write for any other reason you will be disappointed.

Lastly, writing a novel is like buying a lottery ticket. It gets you in the game and that is about it.

If you could meet any book character, who would it be, and what would you do with them?

I’m not avoiding the answer to this question but I believe every character I have ever created I have met in one way or another in my life. The key to sucessful characters are that they stir emotions and feelings held within our own life experiences.

What books or authors have most influenced you in your own writing?

I am of fan of John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson, Jack Higgins, Tom Clancy, and Mary Higgins Clark.

Please list any websites or social media links for yourself or your book.

http://mysterypen.homestead.com/
http://www.authorsden.com/samuelestone
http://plazapoetry.com/
http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=&keyWords=samuel+e+stone&x=8&y=8&sitesearch=lulu.com&q=
http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-0001020001/Shades.aspx

Samuel E. Stone
samuel@hotmail.com

Thanks!

You’re Welcome
SamuelEStone