When I first started writing this series, my goal was very simple. Start with a title that sets up a crime scene and create a whole plot from that. And it worked quite well for the first book. But that was the first book. It reads like a first book. It’s pretty simple, plot wise, and like it or not, I don’t tend to keep things simple.

And that’s probably why I’m not all that crazy about first person perspective.  It’s only one point of view explaining an entire story. That feels stilted and boring to me. My brain likes to crawl into the nooks and crannies of all my character’s psyches from time to time.

I’ve also noticed that my writing is becoming more expansive, subject wise. I blame it on getting back into screenwriting again. I took a few years off when the books occupied a good chunk of my time. I got back into it again last year.

It’s probably a “David versus Goliath” complex and could in all likelihood be just another step on my road to developing as a writer. I explore really big problems from the microcosm of how those problems affect a few people personally. Last year’s screenplay dealt with Alzheimer’s. This year’s is corporate control of energy. Book 4 dabbled in illegal pot farms and money laundering. Book 5 involves human trafficking.

It’s impossible for me not to feel a personal involvement or indirect responsibility when researching these subjects, either as a citizen of one of the most consumptive countries in the world, or more personally, just living out my daily life.

I’ve been raised by my stout Midwestern brethren to tend toward martyrdom, and I’m sure my writing reflects that. Since there is a sense of powerlessness concerning these things in my real life, I try to control them in an alternate universe, hopefully leaving my audience feeling entertained and maybe a little enlightened in the process.

It’s my way of humanizing the monster.

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