Fiction Scribe

Hello and welcome to Fiction Scribe, Mr. Avey. Let’s start with getting to know you a little better. List five things you feel define you as a person.

I’m generous to a fault, too emotional for my own good, in love with life and those who love it too, fascinated with the world around me and thankful to God who created it.

Where did the inspiration for Beneath a Buried House come from?

I’m continually inspired by the world and I believe that on some level my writing serves as a means of exploration, something I do to better understand myself, and those around me. With Beneath a Buried House, I was looking for a flip side to Twisted Perception, the first Detective Elliot novel, which thematically explores the lasting effects of child abuse.

As a result, while the first book depicts an antagonist that was more or less created by the environment, Beneath a Buried House unravels a tale of a sophisticated killer who came into the world carrying the capacity for evil.

Tell us a bit about your main character.

Being born in a rundown shack in the small town of Porter, Oklahoma, Kenny Elliot lived with his mother, Kathryn Elizabeth, who engaged in prostitution to supply the family with money, though most of what she earned went to supply her drug habit. When Elliot was nine years old, his mother died of an overdose of heroine.

However, due to the efforts of Charlie Johnson, Porter’s Chief of Police, Elliot managed to stay in Porter, being raised by various foster families. As might be expected, he got into a lot of trouble in his early years. Later, though, in his junior high years, Elliot met his girlfriend, Carmen Garcia. Under the influence of Carmen, and with the guidance of Chief Charlie Johnson and Barney Simms, Porter’s football coach, Elliot began to straighten himself out. While in college, he became interested in criminology and, after graduating, secured a job with the Tulsa Police Department.

Not long after becoming a detective, Elliot demonstrated an uncanny talent for solving unusual cases, possessing a near premonitory ability to see through the clutter and hone in on the important elements of a case. No one was more surprised by this development than Elliot himself and he keeps a low profile about it, downplaying its importance whenever asked.

What is it about writing mysteries that you like the most?

One of the most important elements of writing is creating a sense of “what’s going to happen next�? to keep the reader turning the pages. With mysteries some of this type of suspense is built in. When you add unusual, sometimes, dark characters to this mix, you get a tempting and fertile literary area in which to work.

What makes Beneath a Buried House stand out from other mystery books?

A fascination with human nature compels me to explore, to probe the depths of dark and unusual characters, showing not only the bad, but hopefully what’s good and redeemable about them as well. With Beneath a Buried House, the evil, which defined the antagonist, transcended the character, nearly becoming an entity all to itself. This subtle feeling of an additional presence behind the scenes, which permeates the story, lends an unusual feel to the novel.

What are your dreams for your writing? Where do you see yourself in five years both as a writer and a person?

My dreams now are as they always have been, and that is to be a writer who is read and appreciated by many. In five years, I hope to be better off financially.

What is the most valuable piece of advice you have been given / learned in your life as a writer?

We writers are an easy lot to take advantage of simply because we want what we want – to be legitimately and successfully published – so badly that we sometimes allow this to cloud our judgment. There are people and organizations out there whose sole purpose is not to help you as a writer, but to take your money. Be aware and weary of them.

Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers here?

I would like to sincerely thank those who read this interview, and I’d like to invite everyone to visit my website at http://www.bobavey.com where sample chapters of both of my novels can be read. You can also register to win an autographed copy of either book by signing up for my free newsletter.

Thank you very much for coming by this blog. I wish you great success with Beneath a Buried House.

You can purchase Beneath a Buried House at:

Barnes and Noble
Amazon