Entertainment

POSTED: Thursday, Aug. 02, 2007

Greenlaw takes a new tack

Author sails into military fiction

Maine author and lobster boat captain Linda Greenlaw, whose nonfiction bestsellers include “The Hungry Ocean” and “All Fishermen Are Liars,” pens her first mystery novel about a maritime insurance investigator who comes upon a suspicious homicide.

Q: Personal work ethics seem to be a theme in this novel. You, personally, seem rather driven in your own life. Does this have some influence on how you shape your characters?

A: I do pride myself on my work ethic. Maybe Jane Bunker and I share that same work ethic. I suppose it did shape Jane. As for the other characters, like Nick and George, of course everyone has contact with people who are corrupt. I like to think I am honest in my work.

Q: How does the sedentary life of a writer differ from your active life at sea?

A: The most difficult thing was sitting long enough to actually produce what needed to be produced in a timely fashion, because I would much rather be on my boat.

When I’m at sea, I am totally responsible for all that goes on. Any successes and failures, I do only to Linda Greenlaw. When I am on tour, I have a publicist who books signings for me, and bookstore people are much involved in the success of an event. I don’t feel as fully responsible for it, as I do when I am at sea.

Q: How was the writing process for this book different from your nonfiction writing? I know you’ve said you don’t make an outline for your books.

A: As far as the writing process, I did for the first time in my writing experience need to outline the plot. The characters are all composites of people that I know.

A lot of the details were figured out as I was writing. I don’t send anything to my editor that I don’t feel is polished. He doesn’t see a rough draft. I do that at home.

One big change I made was seven chapters into process. At my editor’s request, I changed to writing in the first person. (I had started the novel in the third person). It was easier to write in the first person but difficult to keep Linda Greenlaw and Jane Bunker separate. It was hard to keep Jane Bunker from becoming me.

I didn’t know the ending before I sat down to write “Slipknot.” I figured it out as I was going. I didn’t sit down with the end in sight, but developed it as I went.

Q: This mystery has a lot of technical stuff about being at sea, things that boaters and fishers would know. Do you find that, on your tour, you get different questions depending on where you are?

A: So far, my book tour has been primarily coastal New England.

However, I do get people at my signing events who know nothing about boats or fishing. I get very different questions from them. A lot of people who are not boat people want to know more about writing. They ask more bookish questions.

I get so many questions about whether or not I am still fishing. People are still really curious about my experience with “The Perfect Storm.” (Greenlaw was a minor character in the best-selling book that became the 2000 blockbuster film. She’s the captain of the swordfish boat “The Hanna Boden,” and in the movie is played by the actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). I get a lot of questions about boats and storms.

Q: More books about Jane Bunker to come?

A: “Slipknot” is the fist of a three-book series. Many of the characters you will learn more about in the next two books. I’m not really sure yet which characters will become more prominent.

Q: What’s up after your book tour ends?

A: I go home Aug. 19 and then I will begin writing the next Jane Bunker book and will haul lobster traps part-time. And I have my fingers crossed for film rights. In my mind, I have already cast Jodie Foster for Jane Bunker.