BLOOD TYPE: Peter Swanson @PeterSwanson3 #amwriting #writingtips

“I usually have a very bad moment about halfway through writing a book when I’ve painted myself into some unpleasant corner.”

CRIME AUTHORS SPILL THEIR GUTS ABOUT WRITING. Every Thursday top-notch authors of psychological thrillers and crime fiction share their writing secrets – and the secrets to their success – with you and me.

This week: PETER SWANSON

Tell us about yourself…

I am a full time crime writer living just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. When I’m not writing crime thrillers, I’m probably reading a crime thriller, and when I’m not doing either of those two things, I am trying to organize the ridiculous number of books that are threatening to take over my very small office.

I’ve published two novels—The Girl With a Clock For a Heart, and The Kind Worth Killing. My newest thriller — Her Every Fear — comes out in January, 2017 (Note from Barbara – if you want to read a review of Her Every Fear, click here).

How do you pick character names? Do any have special meaning to you?

Some names—usually of the main characters—have special meaning. For example, Ted Kimball, the frustrated-poet detective in The Kind Worth Killing is called Ted after Ted Hughes, and Kimball was my grandmother’s maiden name, and also my sister’s middle name. It’s a surname I associate with goodness, and Ted, especially compared with the other characters in the book he exists in, is one of the good guys.

But Ted Kimball’s name is an exception. Most of my character’s names are… TO READ THE INTERVIEW IN FULL, CLICK HERE