Author Q&A on The Crime Warp with debut novelist Michael Grothaus

Michael was one of the debut authors who appeared at Bloody Scotland 2016 and The Crime Warp is honoured to have him here today.  Welcome Michael...




Tell us a bit about your current book release.

Available on Amazon
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Epiphany Jones is the story of a porn addict’s unwilling relationship with a woman who believes she speaks to God and their entanglement with a sex trafficking ring that caters to the Hollywood elite. It’s a dark comedy, social satire, and literary thriller all rolled into one.

Where did the inspiration for Epiphany Jones come from?

Before I was a journalist I worked in the film industry and the genesis of the idea came from things I found out about the dark side of Hollywood while attending after parties with world-famous celebrities. I then started researching sex trafficking…and years later we have Epiphany Jones.

Are any of your characters based on real life people?

Yes, most are. Or most are combinations of several real people. I think the most important thing to remember about Jerry, the main character in my novel, is not who he is based on but why I created that kind of character in the first place. I believe most protagonists start out already liked by the reader; they are someone the reader would want to hang out with. Or at the very least the character starts off as being mostly virtuous–they know what is right and what is wrong. I don’t like protagonists like that. Those types of protagonists don’t challenge readers. And those types of protagonists are written by weak writers.
What I wanted to do with Jerry is create a protagonist who no sane person should like, much less want to hang out with. Matter of fact, I wanted to create a protagonist that may even make the reader put the book down. But the point of having such a protagonist is that if the reader hangs in there with him they would not only be rewarded by seeing how things turn out, but come not to just understand him and feel sorry for him, but come to love him as well.

Do you ever suffer from writer’s block and if so how do you overcome it?

Every. Single. Day. I’m a journalist, so write about 10,000 words a week even when I’m not working on a novel. And each time I sit down to start writing a story it is agony. It’s shit and the writing sucks and I should just find a new profession. But you finish one sentence, then the next, and then the next and slowly this creativity you thought you lost (or never had) begins flowing and it’s amazing how this transports you from your laptop and the room you are writing in to the actual location you are writing about and the people you are writing about. You discover your own mind’s built-in virtual reality–as long as you keep working through the writers block and don’t give up.

Any writing exercises you’ve found particularly useful as a writing stimulus?

I think many new writers get hung up on starting at the beginning of the story. If you can’t find your words at the story’s beginning (which is often hard), move on to another part of the story you can more easily conceptualize. Get your juices flowing there and then return to the previous parts.

Who are your writing heroes and why?

Vladimir Nabokov because he had the balls to write the most unlikable protagonist in literary history and even after publisher after publisher told him there is no way anyone could publish Lolita, he kept on trying–and that’s made him one of the most celebrated writers of the 20th century.

Which author are you cosying up with tonight? 

The novels of Hiromi Kawakami, an amazing contemporary Japanese novelist. She’s incredible.

Could you describe the book you are working on at the moment using only 5 words?

No. I don’t think writers should talk about what they are currently working on.

Have you ever thought of setting a book somewhere exotic so you could visit that place or perhaps live there for a while? Where would that / will that be?
I actually do that with all my books. I never write about a place I haven’t lived (US, Portugal, UK). Japan will be on that list in the near future.