Speaking with Chester D. Campbell, author of the Greg McKenzie series and Sid Chance series, feels a lot like gathering around a campfire and waiting to hear a master storyteller begin. His voice is graveled, his words are low and there is something enigmatic about the way he speaks.
It was during active duty in WWII, 1944, that Chester D. Campbell knew he was meant to be a writer. He would return from the war to attend the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and study Journalism. Chester completed his first novel between the ages of 20 and 21. If it’s true that in order to write well, you have to write what you know – Chester needn’t worry; he has a lot of great stories waiting to be written.
One of the many unique qualities to Chester is that he has 50 plus years experience as a writer, which he regards as his “apprenticeship.” With the plethora of training under his belt, he doesn’t have to do as much research as another author might. For the most part, Chester’s ‘been there and done that.’
As Chester tells it, “I’ve been involved in one sort of writing or another all my life.” After working as a magazine editor and creator, in public relations, speech writing and spending the last 18 years managing a statewide trade association, Chester decided to put his apprenticeship to work and write novels.
For Chester, the characters define the story. “The plot is necessary, but the characters need to be interesting and someone the reader can identify with.” And Chester writes characters with which people can relate.
Many readers question if they are a reflection of the author himself. What does Chester tell the reader who wants to know: Greg is really Chester? “No, he’s bigger than me and bolder than me, but we think a lot like.” As for Sid, “He’s a lot bigger!”
Chester stepped out of the box in writing characters of a certain age group. He “decided to write about older characters, because you get stereotypes regarding older people.” Just because a person reaches a certain age doesn’t meant they aren’t as capable of fighting crime as the next person. Chester’s characters prove this point.
How long does it take Chester to write a novel? “Roughly a year.” And “that’s with generating a plot, writing and research, editing etc.” He adds, “the writing itself can be completed in 3-4 months if you get in the groove.” He doesn’t have a lot of problems with “one specific facet or another” when it comes to creating the story. It’s “getting through middle” because he knows how the story will start and how it will end, it’s just building the blocks that can be tricky.
One of Chester’s favorite parts of story telling is creating dialogue. A fan of Robert B. Parker, he patterned his style after Parker’s characters’ confabulation. Reading how beautifully the discourse between Chester’s characters flows, he certainly honed his craft well.
Chester believes that “all plots have a grain of truth to them” and writing, for him, “is easier when you have something to go on.” For the most part, he uses real locations while taking liberty with inventing a few places and things. As he says, “Readers appreciate it because they know where the locations are.” If they are familiar with the area, they have a sense of familiarity with the setting in the pages.
Chester wants readers to find enjoyment and escape with each novel he creates. While he concedes that it would “be nice to be a best-seller.” For Chester, it’s really about the readers for “the more readers there are, the more interesting it is.”
Chester is published through a small press and “they don’t get the big consideration as much as the New York guys.” So, he relies on distribution through local book stores and finds that it’s not as easy to be stocked in most major stores. However, he is locally doing well and is a big believer promoting his novels and hosting book signings.
Is the economy affecting sales? For Chester, the “jury is still out on if people are reading less.” There has “been a big jump in movies” and he believes “the same hold will hold true in books and mysteries.” He continues, “mysteries are a good way to escape,” to find a story full of people who have greater trials and tribulations than the reader does.
What is a downside to self-promoting the novel? “Promoting takes more time than writing,” Chester says. He has the next Greg McKenzie story percolating in his head and needs to get back to letting Greg tell his story. As a reader, I’m itching for him to hurry back to writing and creating these great novels.
Advice:
On getting an agent: Find an agent with whom you can communicate. Over the course of his writing career, Chester has had many interested agents. But, he’s learned that it has to be someone who believes in your novel and is willing to push and promote it.
On Conferences and Workshops: Chester is a great believer in conferences and is attending Killer Nashville 2009. Of Killer Nashville, he says “they have excellent panels and you get to hear authors talk. They speak about things that help you out and the conference allows you to network, meet a lot of people that help you along the way.” In fact, an author he met through Killer Nashville wrote the blurb for the jacket of his latest novel.
Advice for writers: “Read, read, read in whatever genre you are interested in. Learn from other people and read how-to books on novel writing.” But, “the main thing is to write. It’s the only way you can learn it and improve on it.” The more you write, the better your writing becomes. Being a great writer is about improving and moving forward.
Remember to “stick at it and keep going regardless of what’s going on.” Perseverance pays off.
With his Greg McKenzie series and Sid Chance series currently bringing joy to readers everywhere, it’s a wonder what he will do next. I will certainly be waiting and watching.
To find out why you should pick up a copy of Chester D. Campbell’s latest mystery in his Sid Chance series, The Surest Poison, check back for my upcoming review. To visit Chester, go to his website at: http://www.chesterdcampbell.com/
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