About Fred Tippett, II:
Fred Tippett, II, is the author of the Young Adult Mystery novel THE WOMEN IN WHITE, which released on Amazon on 12 November 2020. Fred currently lives in Alabama, though he is a Washington-DC-barred attorney. He holds a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Pennsylvania—and primarily uses his legal education to bolster the credibility of police procedural elements for his novels.
What inspires you to write?
I'm largely inspired to write by my desire to "fix" the world, to make sense of senseless and/or complicated elements of life. For me, it's a means of wish fulfillment and expressing dreams that elevate both me and–hopefully–my audience. I also tend to see writing as a very good form of satire and critique of cultural and world norms or situations that I feel need to be changed.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
It really depends on the day, year, month, etc. I enjoy so many, and I read from so many! I will say that as of right now, I'm a big fan of Michael Connelly, Karen McManus, and C.S. Lewis–because I've been reading plenty from them.
Tell us about your writing process.
It always starts with an idea for what I think could be a book.
From there, I outline the whole of the book before committing to writing any of it. I want to be sure that my idea is strong enough to sustain an entire book as opposed to, say, just a short story. If I'm unable to outline what I know will fill up a book, then I'll just leave it alone. If I am, then I'll usually finish up with the outline then edit it once or twice, to ensure that it's tight enough. After all, I want the book's plot, character development, etc. to be believable and entertaining enough to sustain reader interest throughout the whole story.
Once I'm satisfied with my outline, I write my book to fit that outline. And once that's done and I have a good first draft, I'll put it away for a while (anywhere from one month to three), then I'll come back to it and begin the REAL work of properly editing it for grammar, story beats, etc. The time away helps me to not be too close to the story–and, accordingly, strong enough to edit it WELL when I come back to it, even if that means killing some of my darlings along the way.
Once I've edited the book a first time, I'll usually edit it again, generally with a partner. After that edit, I'll begin to think about shopping it around for representation by an agent or even just direct indie publication.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I usually listen to my characters more than talk to them. I always write my books from my outline, but the outline–though it always includes meticulously detailed plot and character development beats–never includes character dialogue and never quite specifies how characters communicate their own thoughts or feelings. I may have an idea of how a character thinks or feels or speaks, but the characters ultimately have the final say. Sometimes, this actually leads to the book's taking a different direction than I had planned (though usually just in the details of how it approaches the story beats that I've already outlined).
What advice would you give other writers?
You cannot honestly expect to improve your craft unless you're both reading and writing MANY books, preferably in the genre(s) in which you want to be known as a writer. Reading in the genre(s) will give you an idea of what other readers (and thus agents and publishers) enjoy and what they will read consistently. Writing in the genre(s) will give you much-needed practice in producing art in your chosen genre(s). Even if you're writing stories that you have no intention of actually publishing, by virtue of the fact that you are indeed getting in the experience of writing them, YOU'RE STILL LEARNING from every last one.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I have been working on THE WOMEN IN WHITE for about four years now–and for me, deciding to self-publish was mostly about wanting to retain control of all of my rights. I've got nothing against traditional publishing (and I even plan to publish some of my future novels traditionally), but THE WOMEN IN WHITE is, in many ways, my baby. It's the first book that I wrote, the first series that I truly conceived of producing, and I want to be absolutely certain that I retain the undisputed ability to take it and its characters in the direction that I choose. In choosing to self-publish this series, I am essentially deciding that I will be the one to elect how many Greg Chase Mysteries there will be and what their content will entail from cover to cover.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
It is going to be digital. There's just no way around it.
The current pandemic and the way that it has been handled–or mishandled–is almost certainly going to mean fewer purchased print books, for MANY reasons. (Fewer hands physically on deck to print them, fewer bookstores in which to sell them, fewer people willing to brave the outdoors and purchase them from their local booksellers.) This is probably going to be the norm for at least another year or two. And even once the world has settled the current crisis, the return to the mass-production and purchasing of print books is probably going to be slow going. All of that will probably add up to a VERY big spike in ebook commerce, likely on such seller services as Amazon, Goodreads, and iBooks.
What genres do you write?: YA, Mystery, Fantasy, Crime, Science Fiction
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Fred Tippett, II Home Page Link
Link To Fred Tippett, II Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Twitter
LinkedIn
Instagram
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
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