Today we welcome historical mystery writer, Susanne M. Dutton to answer a few questions for us. Welcome, Susanne!
What is the sweetest thing someone has done for you?
I don’t know how to measure sweetness, but one image leaps up. This happened fourteen years ago. My throat tightens just to think of it. I flew to California to help my younger sister Jane as my father with Alzheimer’s disease was moved to a memory care home near one of my brothers. Dad was to leave a VA hospital and fly directly to the nursing home assisted by that brother. This was hard on all of us, sad and scary. Jane and I went to Dad’s home, responsible for getting suitcases ready and putting the condo in order. My father had memory problems, but the memories that erupted as we worked broke us into an even deeper kind of sisterhood. Afterward, we were a wreck, emotionally and physically. We decided to grab some dinner away from the house. I drove and when we arrived at the restaurant, Jane went in while I parked. When I came in Jane stood just inside the entry. She said, “Right this way, Susie!” She acted as a host, ushered me to a table, and pulled back a chair to a seat where a glass of my favorite wine and hot rolls already awaited me. I don’t know how she made it happen so quickly, but the sweetness was in the context. She and I had been through that physically and emotionally grueling day together. She was as worn and felt it as much as I. Still, she created this singular thank you for me.
Where do you get your best ideas?
My ideas begin as images, often dream images. I practice what is known as “the morning pages.” This is how it works: As soon as your life permits, get your coffee and sit somewhere quiet each day. Use a journal. If you have an image from a dream, simply put your pen down and let it flow. Don’t stop to think. Try for two quick pages or 10-15 minutes or whatever goal you can manage. If you don’t have a dream image, choose whatever comes up, especially if it seems like something you’d rather not explore. Some people use other kinds of prompts, but this is a prompt from the “inside self,” the one you don’t know so well.
What comes first, the plot or characters?
My characters come first. Often, I begin with an image that involves a character. What is happening to that character? That is rarely the first thing happening in the story, but a central thing. I write what leads up to it for that character and then what comes of it. I find the story by writing it. There is a plot there, but in the writing, it’s not so linear. Of course, there are many ways to write good stories. This is only what works for me.
What does your main character do that makes him/her special?
According to his colleague Dr. Watson, Sherlock Holmes is “the best and wisest man” the doctor has ever known. Those are the words that Arthur Conan Doyle put in Watson’s mouth, at least. At the same time, Holmes is not interested in anything that does not help him to solve his cases. He doesn’t care about relationships, or games, or, famously, the solar system. I hope readers will find that my Sherlock Holmes is perhaps better and wiser than ever.
Publication Date: May 8, 2021
The game is not afoot. The Better-Every-Day world of 1895 is gone, even hard to recall as WWI ends. From his rural cottage, Holmes no longer provokes Scotland Yard’s envy or his landlady’s impatience, but neither is he content with the study of bees. August 1920 finds him filling out entry papers at a nearly defunct psychiatric clinic on the Normandy coast. England’s new Dangerous Drugs Act declares his cocaine use illegal and he aims to quit entirely. Confronted by a question as to his “treatment goal,” Holmes hesitates, aware that his real goal far exceeds the capacity of any clinic. His scribbled response, “no more solutions, but one true resolution,” seems more a vow than a goal to his psychiatrist, Pierre Joubert. The doctor is right. Like a tiny explosion unaccountably shifting a far-reaching landscape, the simple words churn desperate action and interlocking mystery into the lives of Holmes’ friends and enemies both.
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Susanne Dutton is the one who hid during high school gym, produced an alternative newspaper, and exchanged notes in Tolkien’s Elfish language with her few friends. While earning her B.A. in English, she drove a shabby Ford Falcon with a changing array of homemade bumper strips: Art for Art’s Sake, Forgive Us Our Trespasses, Free Bosie from the Scorn of History. Later, her interests in myth and depth psychology led to graduate and postgraduate degrees in counseling.
Nowadays, having outlived her mortgage and her professional counseling life, she aims herself at her desk most days; where she tangles with whatever story she can’t get out of her head. Those stories tend to seat readers within pinching distance of her characters, who, like most of us, slide at times from real life to fantasy and back. A man with Alzheimer’s sets out alone for his childhood home. A girl realizes she’s happier throwing away her meals than eating them. A woman burgles her neighbors in order to stay in the neighborhood.
Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Susanne grew up in the SF Bay Area, has two grown children, and lives with her husband in an old Philadelphia house, built of the stones dug from the ground where it sits.
May 25: Literary Gold
May 27: Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters
June 1: FUONLYKNEW
June 3: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
June 8: Our Town Book Reviews
June 10: Viviana MacKade
June 15: The Avid Reader
June 17: All the Ups and Downs
June 22: Travel the Ages
June 24: Hope. Dreams. Life… Love
June 29: Becoming Extraordinary
July 1: The Key Of Love
July 13: Fabulous and Brunette
July 15: Cover To Cover Cafe
July 20: Lisa’s Reading
July 22: Novels Alive
July 27: Aubrey Wynne: Timeless Love
July 29: Jazzy Book Reviews
August 3: Archaeolibrarian – I Dig Good Books!
August 5: Deborah-Zenha Adams
August 10: Gina Rae Mitchell
August 12: Iron Canuck Reviews & More
August 17: Westveil Publishing
August 19: Inside the Insanity
August 24: The Faerie Review
August 26: Stormy Nights Reviewing & Bloggin’
August 31: BooksChatter
September 2: Straight From the Library
September 7: Author C.A.Milson
September 9: Long and Short Reviews
Thanks for hosting!
You’re welcome!
Thanks for hosting, Dayna. I thought these were some of the best of the interview questions I answered and I appreciate seeing them this morning! I want to emphasize that the way I wrote Sherlock Holmes and the Remaining Improbable was just my way. There are many good ways to write. If you write and then talk to other writers, you realize that no two have exactly the same process. Are any two painters or sculptors using exactly the same processes? We are like snowflakes. Susanne Dutton
Hi Suzanne and welcome! I agree about the writing process. Every creative person has their own way of creating a masterpiece!
I have become aware that my name on the book cover can be easily mistaken for “Suzanne,” it’s actually “Susanne.” If you can correct that, it would be great.
OMG! I am so sorry! For someone who constantly has their name misspelled, you’d think I would be more cognizant of misspelling other’s names! I’ve fixed that for you now. Please for give me.
Thank for the quick fix, Dayna. I bet your name is misspelled even more often than mine. I have noticed that the name on the cover is easily taken as Susanne with a “z.” Susanne
No problem. Yeah, my name is misspelled constantly, but I understand it. My mom wanted my name to look more feminine, so she added the “y.” Now everyone either misspells my name or, believe it or not, mispronounces it. If you know phonics, it’s easy to pronounce my name. DAY-na.
Sounds great, thank you.
Hello Rita. Thank you for stopping by and participating! Susanne
I enjoyed the interview.
Hi Kim! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Interviews with good questions have a hidden silver lining. As I answer the questions I uncover perspectives and feelings about my own life. How can that be? I challenge you. Answer one or two of those questions yourself. You might be surprised. Thank you for your comment. Susanne Dutton.
Sounds like such a good book.
Hello Sherry. Thank you. Getting the excerpts and other information about the book right for opportunities like this blog post is important. If it sounds good to you, I’m pleased. Your participation is appreciated. Susanne
Great post – I enjoyed reading it!
Thank you, Victoria. I appreciate that you did take time to read through the post. Susanne
This sounds like a great book I could really relate to, as it reminds me of what happened in our family.
The book sounds very intriguing. I love the cover!