Spencer Quinn

An interview with author Spencer Quinn

Peter Abrahams is the Edgar-award winning author of thirty-eight novels, including The Right Side, The Fan, A Perfect Crime, and the Echo Falls series for younger readers. Under his pen name, Spencer Quinn, he writes the New York Times bestselling Chet and Bernie series, as well as the Queenie and Arthur series for younger readers. Abrahams was born in Boston, graduated from Williams College, and lives on Cape Cod. You can visit him at peterabrahams.com.

Interview by BWG member A.E. Decker

BETHLEHEM WRITERS GROUP: Do you follow a routine for writing--have special place where you write, or something you do before settling in to writing? What gets you writing on those days when it feels like the well of inspiration has run dry?

SPENCER QUINN: I almost always write in my office. It’s over the garage, a fifteen foot commute from my house, so bad weather is not an excuse to stay home. I try to write every day when I’m working on a novel. My goal is 1,000 words--I see myself as an old-fashioned piece worker--and I usually don’t reach it. But at least I do something, so I’m never where I was before. Each morning is a new morning. Except for the main ideas driving the story, I don’t rely on inspiration, meaning things from the blue. I’m very lucky that my imagination is on call, if I just sit there long enough.

BWG: Do you listen to music while you write?

SQ: I often do. Over the course of my career I’ve listened to all kinds of music. Lately it’s been country music–the perfect preparation for Heart of Barkness.

BWG: Have you ever suffered from a case of writer’s block? If so, what did you do to break it?

SQ: I never get writer’s block. Knock on wood. Whenever I’m not sure of what comes next, I step back and think of the engine that drives the story, the beating heart of the book, its spirit (many novels actually lack this). Then some narrative route always suggests itself. The beating heart of the Chet and Bernie series is the love between Chet and Bernie.

BWG: Are there any social media platforms you use to keep in touch with and/or make contact with readers?

SQ: ChetTheDog.com, peterabrahams.com, Facebook.com/ChetTheDog, @ChetTheDog

BWG: What’s the best piece of advice you were ever given about writing?

SQ: Push every idea as far as you can. (From my mother, who taught me to write.)

BWG: Let’s move on to the Chet and Bernie mysteries. What gave you the idea to write a mystery series from a dog’s point of view?

SQ: My wife said: You should do something with dogs.

BWG: Chet is so very, wonderfully doggy in his thoughts and behavior. Is there any one dog he was based off specifically, or is he a composite? Feel free to expand on any of the dogs you’ve owned or met over the years.

SQ: Chet isn’t based on any particular dog, but I couldn’t have written him without having had lots of dogs. Right now we have Audrey and Pearl, my crack research team. They work for treats, but mostly nap.

BWG: What I find interesting about the Chet and Bernie mysteries is that Chet notices clues he can’t convey to the human characters, and sometimes ignores or forgets things that are relevant to the case. Does having a dog for a narrator significantly change the technique of writing a mystery?

SQ: This is a huge subject, which I usually get to in my talks. Chet is not a talking dog, not a human wrapped in a dog costume, but as canine as I could make him. And thus, an unreliable narrator. When you let loose an unreliable narrator (especially like Chet) in the strict confines of the mystery form, all kinds of good things can happen.

BWG: Why did you decide to write the Chet and Bernie series under a pen name? I understand it took a bit of detective work for people to learn “Spencer Quinn” was the same person as Peter Abrahams.

SQ: But it’s not a secret now, thank god. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/soapbox/article/80170-what-s-to-be-done-with-an-author-s-pen-name.html

BWG: Do you come up with the hilarious (and sometimes rather dreadful!) puns in your titles by yourself, or do you draw on the help of friends and family?

SQ: Sometimes myself, sometimes anyone! Two have come from readers--The Sound and the Furry and Of Mutts and Men (the next C&B, coming 2020). Feel free to contribute!

BWG: What can readers look forward to from Chet and Bernie?

SQ: Of Mutts and Men, summer 2020--probably the first mystery where aquifers play a big role.

BWG: Are you excited to be judging the Bethlehem Writers Group annual short story contest? What sort of thing would you like to see in the entries?

SQ: I’m very excited about this! I have no idea what I’m going to see. Good fiction, for me, boils down to three things: the story being told, the quality of the prose, and the voice. But I’m not strict, and am willing to be swept away!