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[Note: This is the second in a series of interviews with author and writing coach, James Scott Bell.]
James Scott Bell on Conflict, Gritty Suspense, Legal Thrillers, and Zombies
by Donna Brennan
Jim Bell is an award winning suspense author and the creator of the Zombie Legal Thriller genre. But where does he get his ideas?
Donna Brennan: You were a successful lawyer in L.A, even owned
your own practice. Did any of your story ideas come from your experiences as a
trial lawyer?
James Scott Bell: Some of my early books employed actual experiences.
But I think the great benefit was that the law and courtrooms are such natural
arenas of conflict. It was great training in the recognition of story material.
D: So many writers dream of quitting their day job
and writing full time. Was it hard for you to leave a lucrative law practice
for the uncertain world of writing fiction? How many novels did you have
published before you decided to take that giant step?
J: I didn't just quit. I transitioned, and as the fiction
area grew for me, I gave up more of the law practice. I am not a big advocate
of quitting a day job without having a foundation for the future. I think a
writer should have some royalty income and a contract in hand. Or, in these new
times, a year or two of proven self publishing income. A day job keeps you from
writing “desperate.”
D: All of your suspense novels and thrillers take
place in L.A. What is it about that city that seems to draw you, and your
characters, to it?
J: If I was smart, I would've set my stories in Hawaii
and taken a tax deduction for research travel. Seriously, Los Angeles is such a
fabulous noir city. It's not just one vibe. It's a collection of incredible
neighborhoods and people and hopes and dreams and scams and restaurants and
cultures. On and on. It's where I grew up and it just calls to me. You can
never exhaust the story possibilities in a Los Angeles setting.
D: In your suspenseful whodunit series with L.A.
attorney, Ty Buchanan, you successfully manage to show the gritty nature of the
world Ty is thrust into after his fiancee's "accident" (or was it a
murder?) without using bad language or extreme violence. Is there a secret to
how this is done?
J: Some of the best crime novels ever written were
done in the 30s and 40s. Movies too. Did they use offensive language? Overt
violence? I think they were the better for not using those. They created
pictures in the reader's mind. I
mean Double Indemnity has so much
sexual tension you can cut it with a knife, and you don't need to show every
detail. I just don't see the need for it.
D: Is Ty Buchanan based on any particular lawyer
you know? Is he a composite of different lawyers you've worked with or squared
off against in a courtroom? Are there elements of your own personality in there?
J: He's mostly me, or the me I would like to think I
would've been in that situation. When I was an actor, I learned the great
secret of acting from reading about Spencer Tracy. He said the secret was to be
himself in whatever role he was playing. He would be Spencer Tracy as a priest,
or Spencer Tracy as a fisherman, or Spencer Tracy as a father of a bride. He
was so natural, so convincing. In a way, Ty Buchanan allows me to “act” in a
certain way, and that's one of the fun things about writing fiction. Or acting,
for that matter.
D: From Inspirational to gritty suspense to
zombies. Is there no end to your writing interests? And what was the motivation
to publish your Mallory Caine zombie thriller series under the pen name of K.
Bennett.
J: I don't want there to be any end to my writing
interests. I love being able to explore whatever canyon or cave I happen to
stumble upon. That's what art is all about, or should be. If you just repeat
yourself it gets boring.
The main reason I chose to do the zombie series
under a pseudonym was to distinguish it for the benefit of the readers. I
don't hide behind a pseudonym, I'm very open about it, but it's just a simple
way to alert people that this is a different kind of book.
In reality, I think readers of all my work will see
similarities in theme and style. But mainly I'm having so much fun with it. I
bust out laughing a lot.
D: Okay. Is the character, Mallory Caine, Zombie at
Law, based on any particular lawyer you know? And, be honest, are there aspects
of you in that character?
J: I think Mallory Caine is sort of a picture of my
ideal lawyer. In point of fact, she is probably modeled more on my dad than on
me. My dad was a great Los Angeles lawyer who represented poor people a lot,
and that's what Mallory does with the oddballs who come to see her. She
believes passionately in the Constitution and the presumption of innocence, and
my dad did, too. He passed that passion along to me and in many ways that seems
to be the theme of most of my novels.
James Scott Bell will be the Keynote speaker at the Write Stuff conference. He will also be teaching a 1-1/2 day pre-conference workshop: "Novel and Screenwriting Intensive."
