Avalon Books - Author! Author!


	Read some interviews from past editions:
		Zelda Benjamin April, 2008
		Shirley Marks December, 2007
		Donna Wright December, 2007
		Carolyn Brown August, 2007
		Roni Denholtz June, 2007
		Tara Randel April, 2007
		Sydell Voeller February, 2007
		Sheila Robins December, 2006
		Ann Holt October, 2006
		Cynthia Danielewski July, 2006
		Jane McBride Choate March, 2006
		Kathryn Meyer Griffith January, 2006
		Mel Taylor November, 2005
		Kathleen Fuller September, 2005
		Tracey J. Lyons July, 2005
		Ludima Gus Burton May, 2005
		Holly Jacobs March, 2005
		Sandra D. Bricker January, 2005
		Kathryn Quick November, 2004
		Cheri Jetton September, 2004
		Heather S. Webber July, 2004
		Karl Fieldhouse May, 2004
		Shelley Galloway March, 2004
		Ilsa Mayr January, 2004
		Kathy Carmichael November, 2003
		Dorothy P. O'Neill July, 2003
		Joani Ascher May, 2003
		Patricia DeGroot March, 2003
		Nancy J. Parra January, 2003
		Barbara Meyers November, 2002
		Christine Bush September, 2002
		Debby Mayne July, 2002
		Jean C. Gordon May, 2002
		Norma Seely January, 2002
		Glen Ebisch November, 2001
		Gina Cresse September, 2001
		John Paxson July, 2001
		Terri Alcock May, 2001
		Clifford Blair March, 2001
		Amanda Harte January, 2001
		Kent Conwell November, 2000
		Carolyn Brown September, 2000
		Annette Mahon July, 2000
		Marjorie McGinley May, 2000
		Jack Lewis March, 2000
		Amanda Harte January, 2000
		Joyce and Jim Lavene November, 1999
	Return to the current Author! Author! interview:
		S.J. Stewart April, 2008


Author! Author!: March, 2002
Click on images to learn more about these books. An Interview with Charles E. Friend

Mr. Friend, you're the author of six published novels and a number of non-fiction books. How did you get started in writing?
	I've wanted to be a professional writer since I was a child, and actually wrote my first short story at age seven. My first commercially published books were non-fiction works about law and law enforcement, but I've always wanted to concentrate on fiction, so one day I just sat down and started a novel, and I enjoyed writing it so much that I've been writing novels ever since.
Why did you decide to write Westerns?
	Two reasons, very closely related. First of all, like many Americans I've always been fascinated by the history of the Old West. It was an era filled with great events and colorful characters, and writing about it is a lot of fun because it gives the author the opportunity to go back and live there among them for a little while. Secondly, by writing a Western novel you give the same opportunity to others. When people read the stories that I write, they can travel back in time to Dodge City and Deadwood and Tombstone and all the other famous places they've heard about all their lives. It's wonderful to be able to bring so much pleasure to people.
Why do you think that Westerns are so popular after all these years?
	I think that the Western novel has an appeal that's timeless, because it reminds us of a period when, so it seems to us at least, life was a little simpler and values were a little more clear-cut. People think of the Old West as a time and place where good and evil were much easier to distinguish, and justice perhaps somewhat more likely to be done. Furthermore, the American West was a place of hope and promise, of beginning anew, of great adventure and the unequaled excitement of seeing what's over the next hill. Those things are very much a part of the American character, and I think to some extent we all long to experience them again. The Western novel provides that opportunity for us.
You write in some detail about the locations in which your stories are set. Have you spent much time in the West?
	I've lived in Texas and Arizona and visited many of the places throughout the Southwest that are part of the Western legend. That helps a great deal in visualizing how the country looked in the old days and what it would have been like for the people who lived there during that time.
Where do you get your ideas for your novels?
	That's really a tough question, because deciding what to write about is often harder than the writing itself. I try to visualize an exciting situation and then expand upon that, writing about the events that would lead up to and flow out of that one single scene. After I start to write, the characters in the novel seem to decide what will happen next, because once you've created them you try to imagine what they would do in that situation if they were real. After you begin to see things through their eyes, it's almost as if they were taking over and leading you through the story themselves.
Your series of novels about the western lawman Clay Shannon have become very popular. Why do people find Shannon so appealing?
	I believe that many people see in Shannon qualities they admire in real life, and perhaps even things they would like to be themselves. Shannon is brave, dedicated, honest, tough, fair, and just, and most people find those values attractive. Shannon is also sometimes a little too hard and a little too ready to shoot first and ask questions afterward, but apparently people are willing to forgive him for these faults.
Is Shannon totally fictional, or is his character based upon a real person?
	In a sense he's based upon a real person, because he has the qualities that made the great lawmen of the West the legends that they are. There's a tendency today to try to debunk all historic figures by talking about their faults instead of their virtues. Earp and Masterson and all the others who "carried the star" in the Old West each had their failings, because they were human beings. No human being is perfect, and certainly some western marshals and sheriffs were very imperfect, but by and large they were courageous men who often died trying to protect the people they served and bring law and order to the frontier. In effect, Clay Shannon is a composite of the best of those old-time peace officers. He's what we all want a lawman to be.
*So far you've done four Clay Shannon novels--Shannon's Law, Shannon's Way, Shannon: U.S. Marshal,* and now Shannon: Carrying the Star. Will we be seeing more of him?**
	I'm presently working on the next Shannon novel, which is about Shannon's adventures following the events in Shannon: U.S. Marshal. After that, I hope to write at least two more Shannon stories, one of which will cover his life between "Shannon: Carrying the Star," which tells of Shannon's first days as a lawman, and "Shannon's Law," which was the first Shannon novel to be published.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to break into novel writing?
	Many people long to be writers, but for many reasons--perhaps because of the pressures of earning a living or a lack of confidence in themselves as writers--they never quite get a novel started or, if they do, they never quite get it finished. Therefore the first rule is: WRITE IT! Unfortunately, that's not as simple as it sounds. Writing isn't easy. It's hard, at times very hard, but don't lose confidence in yourself when things get tough. If necessary, put your novel aside for a little while and come back to it later, but above all, finish it. The second rule is: When you've completed the book and the first agents and publishers you send it to turn it down, KEEP TRYING. Rejection is always discouraging, but remember that some of the most successful and famous authors in America today began with a wastebasket full of publishers' rejection slips. Just keep sending it out until you find a publisher with the sense to see what a good writer you are and what a good story you've told.