Interview with Fred Tippett

When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer?

Probably during my freshman year of college. I had already developed IDEAS for many short stories and a few books by then. Freshman year, though, was the first time that I actually wrote up an outline for what would’ve been my first book—and decided that writing novels was something that I wanted to do with my life.

However, in the interests of full disclosure, it wasn’t until about six years later that I managed to gather enough bravery to DRAFT my first book.

How do you schedule your life when you’re writing?

Ideally, I like for writing to be my first order of working business each day. I like to take about two hours to write and to crank out 2,100 words.

When it comes to editing, the road is a little less clear. If I’m editing a draft, I usually try to spend about an hour a day on the process, plus more time wherever I can find it.

This is the IDEAL, though. Sometimes, I’m not able to hit those marks that I’ve set for myself. Sometimes, I’m writing for an hour or less. Sometimes, I don’t get anywhere near 2,100 words. Sometimes, I must make time for editing—and writing, for that matter—whenever I can find it amidst my other responsibilities.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I tend to write lines of dialogue and sometimes entire pages-long scenes out of order. I could, for instance, be writing chapter five and get an AMAZING idea for a line of dialogue or a scene or multiple scenes that I already know will take place much later in the story. When that happens, I don’t waste time on waiting patiently to get there in my writing. I tend to break off and write out every bit of what’s on my mind, then save it over for eventual incorporation when the story calls for it. And to date, almost all of that misplaced information has been fitted, unedited, into the stories that I’ve written once I’ve inevitably gotten there.

How did you get your book published?

I have my own business—Trinity Power Productions, LLC—which focuses on, among other things, publishing novels for adults and young adults. So I published Textbook Murder through my business.

Where did you get your information or idea for your book?

The idea for Textbook Murder came primarily to me from reading multiple books and—more so—watching multiple movies in the Cozy Mystery subgenre. I became inspired to write my own “amateur detective” story that paid respect to that subgenre while also mixing things up a little in terms of the types of themes that I’d be covering.

As for the information that’s in my book, most of it came from my own research into and knowledge of the publishing industry, as well as the industry of writing-based graduate school programs. (Textbook Murder’s plot very much involves the business aspects of the traditional publishing industry, and the book’s protagonist and main victim are heavily involved in a creative writing Master of Fine Arts program.) I already know plenty about both subjects because they are areas of interest for me. But to realistically present some elements with which I was not familiar, further research was required. And I mainly conducted that via the Internet.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I enjoy exercise as well as taking long walks out in nature. I also have a YouTube Channel called TPP Dynamite on which I semi-regularly make and post reviews and discussions regarding popular films, movies, and books.

Is there anything you would like to confess as an author?

Hahaha. This will sound cliché, but… I really, REALLY enjoy being an author. I could do without some—or all—of the hoops and hurdles that go into actually publishing a book once it has been properly written. But I absolutely love the process of developing ideas for the books themselves and getting them out onto the page.

How do you process and deal with negative book reviews?

Writing and publishing books amounts practically to releasing art. Artistry by its very nature is an invitation for criticism. No human being is the same; and while I definitely prefer it when my books resonate with audiences that love them, I understand that it’s natural and even healthy in some ways to experience the disagreement of those negative reviews. How else would I grow as a writer if not for frankly stated opinions of my readers?

Thus far, my reviewers have been pretty kind. And that has been a sure relief. But when I do receive criticism about my writing, I try to view it as an opportunity to take a deeper look at whether my work is as good as I think it to be. It’s one thing for a book to just not click with a reader for personal reasons. It’s quite another for the reader to point out that a book has structural issues, unrelatable characters, too much required suspension of disbelief, et cetera.

Book Title: Textbook Murder

Author Name: Fred Tippett, II

Pub Date: 09 September 2022

ISBN: 979-8352058466

Book Category/Genre: Mystery

Page Count: 265

Publisher: Trinity Power Productions, LLC

Author Bio:

Fred Tippett, II, is the author of the Young Adult Mystery novels The Women in White and The Lethal List. 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.

​

You can find Fred at @fred_flinstone8 on Twitter and Instagram.