Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
My name is Ian Griffin. I grew up in East Texas and served 31 years in the United States Army. Those 31 years took me across the world. This adventure provided me with insight into numerous countries. I got to see the good and the bad in multiple cultures. I deployed eight times to support our nation’s interests and spent nine years in Germany alone. This cross-culture experience gave me a unique perspective that every culture and country has its own way of doing things, and it works for them. Understanding various cultures is engrained in my writing, and I take pride in that. I have several degrees up to the Graduate level, but none are in English or Writing. Instead, my Undergraduate Degree is in Global Business and Public Policy, and my Graduate Degree is in American Military History.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “The Birth of a Spy Couple”?
For “The Birth of a Spy Couple” was my first book. Truthfully, I never saw myself writing a book or becoming an author. I was attending a Community College working towards a Communications Degree and finished my coursework for the semester. So, I decided to write about where I spent five years of my life. As I did, I thought, I have to make this a story. There were numerous challenges with this. I am not an English Literature guy or an English major. I knew how to tell a story verbally but wasn’t confident I could put that in a manuscript. Next was how to articulate a common nuance in another country so that a reader in America could understand or relate to it. There are challenges there. When I started, I wanted two things. Produce a book over 200 pages and sell it to at least one person that didn’t know me. It was a struggle at times to get over 200 pages. I laugh now because once you achieve it, you are more confident in your writing, and 200 pages is now easy. Another big challenge after writing it was not putting enough time into editing. I have an editor, but there is also a personal perspective of editing that needs some serious devotion to bringing out a great product. I missed that. You can never edit enough, and you will always miss something. As I look back at writing the first book, I realize I should write about ¼ of the time, and ¾ of the time should be devoted to editing, restricting, cleaning it up, etc.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
Wow, so this is a broad spectrum for me. First, with my History degree, I naturally gravitate to historical stuff, factual things, or non-fiction, and here I am writing fiction. So, I have a few authors and their books that I cherish. I like how Dan Brown tells the story in The De Vinci Code. The whole time you read the book, you are clinging to it. There is no time in the book that you tell yourself, “I want to put this down and read it later.” To me, that is important. He keeps the characters interesting enough that you want to know more about them. I also have to mention Ian Fleming, who served in the British military and put his thoughts into spy books. That sounds a lot like me. Then there is Wolfgang W. E. Samuel and his book The German Boy. He weaves his incredible story that has you holding onto every word. I will mention three other writers: Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, and Stephen King. Each is a hero in American literature, yet each vastly differs in how they spin a yarn. There is a guy named Frederick Jackson Turner, a historian that was recognized at Chicago’s World’s Fair in 1893. He wrote numerous things, and most of his writing I initially did not gravitate to. He had this one paragraph in The Significance of the Frontier in American History that captivates you. That one paragraph pulls me into his work. It just demonstrates the power of a well-crafted paragraph. Lastly T.D. Krupp, a personal friend, and author, provided me with much insight into writing. When faced with naysayers, he would ask, “But did you have fun writing the book?” Dang, right, I did. That is all that matters.
Q4. What’s your favorite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
Well, being from Texas and the United States. In Texas, that would be my hometown of Pittsburg. The reason is that it is a modern-day version of Mayberry. It doesn’t get more Americana than that. Everyone knows you, and they are polite.
Regarding the United States, it happens to be Yellowstone. It is so peaceful and beautiful there. Now what I consider my second home is in Germany. There I would say Kitzingen or anywhere in Bavaria, Germany. Kitzingen, for my children, was their version of Mayberry. I still have friends there today.
Q5. Is there lots to do before you dive in and start writing a book?
Everyone writes differently. For me, I have to map it out in my head. At least 2/3rds of it, I have thought out. I am not a person that puts things down in a structured outline. I will take notes, but I have the story in my head. Now I will also go into the research part. I want to make sure that anything that I refer to is accurate. Even if the slightest detail may have no real relevance, I will research it for hours or even days. I want the reader to know that I have done my due diligence on the research and not just made things up. If I write about a concussion, I will consult with a medical person and research all the symptoms, extreme cases, medication, and treatment for someone with a concussion could be. If I refer to day-to-day life in Germany, I want to lean on my experience and ensure that is precisely how their everyday life is. Once I have done my research and have 2/3rds of the story mapped out in my head, including the ending, I start writing.
Q6. How long did it take you to write your book ’33 or 9′?
It took about two months to write 33 or 9. I had about 110 pages written over three weeks. Then I went to Germany for vacation for almost two months. On the airplane ride, I had 13 hours to myself. During that time, I mapped out the rest of the book. I spent about ten days on the back porch of the in-laws writing the rest of the book. Then a few weeks, chopping and cleaning it up. I think I reviewed this book about six times before sending it to the editor. I feel my ability to articulate myself in writing grew tremendously from the first book.
Q7. On what platforms can readers buy your books?
My books are available on Amazon, Amazon Kindle, BookBaby Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Rakuten Kobo, Scribd, e-sentral, and one can go to my webpage www.rickandkatja.com, to access any of those venues.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘The Birth of a Spy Couple’?
For the book cover of The Birth of a Spy Couple, I wanted the backdrop to have the town of Kitzingen in it since that is where the story takes place. I also wanted the couple, Rick and Katja, to be on the front of the book. Katja with her pixie cut and Rick being a little taller. As for the title, I read that you should write the book first and then come up with the title. I had a list of 40 titles and wasn’t sure where to go with the title, to be honest. I printed out the list, gave it to four friends, and asked them to pick two names. Everyone had selected The Birth of a Spy Couple, which is how the title came about. The second book, 33 or 9, was different because the title is crucial to the story. So, I had that title from the start. Book three, Betrayal from Within, I did a similar thing as in The Birth of a Spy Couple, that is how I came up with the third book title, which I am shooting to release in November.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
That is a tough one. After the first book, I focused on slowly revealing unknown things about the key characters. Character building this way draws the reader closer and closer to the characters. For me, the two key points in writing are the story and character building. Everything else is just icing on the cake.
On a personal level is keeping up with the things relevant to the story or research. My first two books are in the 2005-2007 timeframe. Well, I can’t put a specific technology regarding phones we have today that didn’t exist then. So I have to do my homework.
Q10. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
That is simple. Just write. You will have your critics, don’t worry about them, just write. After I released my first book, I had a Professor sit me down. She pulled me aside, handed me a book by Stephen King, and said, “I should read this book so I could write like him.” I thought to myself, but you haven’t even read my book. I may already write like that, or I want to write like Ian Griffin, not Stephen King. That’s not a knock-on Stephen King, I hold him in the highest regard, but I want to be Ian Griffin and no one else. So, trust your instincts and just write. Too many will give you advice, and many have never pushed a book across the finish line. With each book I write, I have grown more and more as a writer. So, just write.
Ian Griffin on Amazon
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