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Bestselling Author Stephen White ReadersRoom: Stephen White, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It's a pleasure to have you with us here today! StephenWhite: It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks! ReadersRoom: I would like to jump right into this by asking you about Blinded -- which is due to be released later this month. Could you tell us a bit about the novel! StephenWhite: Actually, Blinded was released yesterday, but sure . . . The book was a kind of a gift from an old colleague. She called me with a simple question that provided the entire concept for the plot! ReadersRoom: Could you elaborate a bit on that! StephenWhite: The series protagonist, Alan Gregory, is a Boulder psychologist. The question he's struggling with as the

novel begins is: What should he do with the fact that one of his patients thinks her husband is a murderer? The thrust of the story is how he, with the help of his detective friend, Sam Purdy, tries to resolve the moral and ethical ambiguities inherent in that situation!

ReadersRoom: Sam Purdy has a very prominent role in this book, and we really get to know him. He becomes very human to us. Do you have any plans to send Sam out on his own? Perhaps a series featuring him!

StephenWhite: Sam has been a crucial part of the series from the beginning and I adored the opportunity to write part of this story in his voice. The truth is that I don't do a whole lot of planning about future books. I tend to be grateful for story ideas as they develop, and suspect that if I focused my energy on trying to develop a story for a particular character I'd end up frozen to my keyboard. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to feature Sam in a future book!

ReadersRoom: I have heard that when you wrote your first novel with Dr. Alan Gregory you had no intention of writing a series. How do you feel about that now!

StephenWhite: It's absolutely true. I was ignorant about series fiction and naive about the attachment that readers and publishers have for series characters. If I had known that I'd still be writing about these people a dozen books later, I think I my have tried to develop the core characters with a little more flexibility in their roles. I mean, Sue Grafton gets an entire alphabet, and Nevada Barr has an awful lot of National Parks to choose from, but I'm left with a small cadre of people in a little Colorado town. But . . . it's all turned out well for me. My ignorance has left me in a terrific place!

ReadersRoom: Do you have a particular favorite of the books in the series!

StephenWhite: I like to think that I get better over time. Although there are certain things that I like about individual books in the series, my favorite is always the one I've just written, which in this case is next year's book. That manuscript is just completed. The best part about feeling this way? Nobody else has read it, so no one can disagree with me!

ReadersRoom: If we could step back to what you were saying about the "restrictions" on your novels -- one of the ways you seem to deal with that is by telling some of your stories from more than one point of view. Particularly in The Best Revenge -- which was released in paperback last December -- most of the book was told in the third person. Do you find mixing up storytelling styles helps you keep your characters fresh!

StephenWhite: I've been blessed over the years with some wonderful editors and supportive publishers who have permitted me the flexibility of diverging from the Alan Gregory first-person narration that I used in the first two books. The freedom to use alternate first person narration, third-person story telling, and the freedom to focus on protagonists that aren't part of the series fabric, like in The Best Revenge, are all ways that I remain invigorated while continuing with the series. I do think the style changes allow the series, and the characters, to stay fresh!

ReadersRoom: It really does work very well, and it helps that your novels are so well researched. And with that, I'd like to ask how much time you spend and how you do your research. My particular favorite of your books is The Program, and I was very impressed with how "real" everything seemed. How did you research it!

StephenWhite: Research is a funny thing for me. Some of the stories are literally written from my head, some (like Higher Authority) required a full year of research, and others -- like The Program, are a whole different story. The Program was written with the assistance of a couple of people that I'm not free to identify, people who were able to provide me with the details of the inner workings of the Witness Security Program, facts that no amount of traditional research would have provided. It was truly a unique experience, and I look back on it with some awe!

ReadersRoom: I understand that. Do you plan to revisit Kirsten Lord!

StephenWhite: Kirsten was the first female character that I wrote from the first person point of view. The experience was oddly liberating. I'd be happy to go back into that voice, but the story would have to be right. Carl Luppo creates a similar problem. Coming up with a way to reintroduce him in a future book might take some gymnastics. But you never know!

ReadersRoom: Since we announced this chat, we've had a number of questions sent in from our readers. Would you answer a few of them for us!

StephenWhite: I'd love to!

ReadersRoom: Robert K-Knox, Indiana: Within your world, there is such contrast! Overwhelming reality from the medical field and daydreams on the pages in your novels. Could you please tell me how Privileged Information (1991) changed your views on life/career/and Boulder!

StephenWhite: Privileged Information was a lark. I was a practicing psychologist, seeing way too many patients a week. I had my first computer -- an old Compaq portable -- and I didn't know how to use the word-processing software so I decided to write a story as a teaching aid. The pages piled up and after a couple of months I remember saying to myself that it was beginning to look suspiciously like a book. The biggest change I experienced was the realization that I adored writing fiction. The subsequent publication, and the determination I gained to make a career of my new passion, changed my professional life totally, and my personal life in many ways. Boulder? Boulder was, and is, a character in the books. I try to treat the town dispassionately, but I also try to have fun with it. It's the kind of place I couldn't make up if I tried!

ReadersRoom: Kris R- Dallas, Texas: In 1996, I was reading Harms Way while spending 6 months on Medical City's Pediatric Oncology floor with my daughter (thank you). Do you write solely for yourself, and your creative spirit, or do you often find yourself thinking, "What would my readers like?!

StephenWhite: You're welcome. An aside, first. Twenty-five years ago (gulp!) I was the psychologist in Pediatric Oncology at Children's Hospital in Denver. It's where I first met Jon Kellerman. He was doing the same thing at LA Children's. Small world! The marketplace is an ephemeral thing. I don't think I'd be any better at predicting what readers might like than I am at predicting what the stock market is likely to do next. So, yes, I write stories that are sufficiently interesting to me that I'm unlikely to get bored over the course of the year that I'll be working on them. I figure that if I can stay interested for a year, I should be able to captivate readers for as long as it takes them to finish the book.

ReadersRoom: Mike C-Klamayh Falls, Oregon: How was the writing and publishing of your new novel, Blinded, a different experience than your other books?

StephenWhite: The writing? Not so much. I loved the opportunity to spend some time in Sam Purdy's head, and the dark humor in the book was fun to write. The publishing part is largely out of my control. Writers with careers like mine can bitch and moan but the reality is that publishers do what publishers do.

ReadersRoom: Gloria J- Pacific Grove, CA: Boulder is such a wonderful town. (Trios Winebar is my favorite for dinner and jazz.) What feedback have you had, positive and negative from citizens and locals about your novels and how Boulder plays such an important part in them?

StephenWhite: No arguments from me about Boulder. The locals have been wonderfully supportive of my portrayals of the town, but they are the first to criticize if I take liberties with reality. They've granted me the freedom to be critical, but have let me know that I had better be accurate.

ReadersRoom: Linda B-Meade, Kansas: Do you think your "storytelling" need and ability comes to you through your Irish background?

StephenWhite: Well, that's a nice thought. If you ever had the glorious opportunity to sit with one of my uncles in a pub in a Kerry listening to them spin a tale, you'd be enchanted indeed. The love of books that I've had my whole life is certainly part of my Irish blood. I'd like to think I got a bit of the blarney from them as well.

ReadersRoom: And your last readers' question: Doug N- Wardell, MO: As a fan, I am anxious to read Blinded. In your minds eye, how do you hear Sam Purdy's voice? (is it low and calm or a little twangy)?

StephenWhite: Sam's an Iron Ranger. He has the attractive patience with syllables that northern Minnesotans have. His speaking style has been infected with a lot of years in Colorado by now, so everything's toned down, but I think that the echoes of the Iron Range are always apparent in his speech.

ReadersRoom: Thank you for answering those. One of the things our readers who are also writers themselves like to know about is our guests' writing schedule and habits. Could you tell us what a typical work day is like for Stephen White?

StephenWhite: The best advice I ever got about writing was from my dissertation chair in graduate school. He told me that the most important thing a writer does each day is "put his butt in the chair." My butt is in the chair by seven a.m., seven-thirty at the latest. I write every day once I start a book, six days a week minimum. I don't stop writing each day until I have three new manuscript pages. I don't necessarily stop at three but I don't stop until I have three. I don't believe in writer's block. Writing is my work. When I go to work, I write. Some days I write better than others, but each day I intend to write, I do write.

ReadersRoom: And our next to last question -- what is in the future for you?

StephenWhite: Next year's book is sitting on my desk as we speak. My editor promises his comments within the next few weeks. It's a series book, entirely narrated by Alan Gregory. After that? The concept I have for the book I'll begin writing in the next couple of months is the best concept I've ever had for a book. Period. I'm still toying with the structure and form. Will it be first person or third? What will the series focus be? Those things are very much up in the air. After that? My crystal ball is not that good. I've been blessed with a remarkable career. I get to make a living doing something I love. I hope that continues.

ReadersRoom: Stephen, before we go, I'd like to ask you about your character Lauren, Alan Gregory's wife, who has Multiple Sclerosis. What her family goes through as she fights the disease has made a lot of readers with MS reach out to you. I understand you, yourself, have MS.

StephenWhite: That's correct.

ReadersRoom: Is it hard to write about something so personal, even though you are attributing it to another character?

StephenWhite: Not really. There are roughly half a million people with MS in the United States. No two of them have the same form of the illness. Lauren doesn't have mine, so much of what she experiences aren't identical to things I go through. All writers write about personal things, disguised or not. Writing about illness is no different than writing about marriage or children or anything else that cuts close to the bone.

ReadersRoom: Finally, is there anything you would like to say to your millions of readers who might read this chat?

StephenWhite: Something that I can't say in person: Thank you. Readers sometimes treat writers, like me, as though we have given them something special. The reality is that my readers have given me an invaluable gift. This career - telling stories for a living - is a rare privilege. I treasure it every day. The main reason I get to continue doing it is because of all the support I've received from the wonderful people out there who treasure books.

ReadersRoom: Stephen White, thank you so much for spending this time with us here at ReadersRoom.com -- and much continued success!

StephenWhite: It's been my pleasure. Thanks for the opportunity to be with you.




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