Fiction Scribe

Hello, Mr. Weston. Welcome to Fiction Scribe.

By way of introduction, what are five words that you feel describe you the best?

Eclectic, inquisitive, serene, smitten, happy

You are currently on virtual tour with your book First Night. Will you tell us briefly about the book?

First Night is a ghost story for the holidays.

It is set in Boston on New Years Eve, during the First Night Festival. It is about the ghost of a 17th century Puritan girl, Sarah Pemberton, who meets two teenage sisters from San Diego, Alex and Jackie, and enlists their help in fighting the charge of witchcraft that has been brought against her.

Along the way, the book delves into Boston history and landmarks; one critic dubbed it a history mystery, which I think has a nice ring to it.

You mention on your website that you have lived in many places. What draws you about Boston?

I arrived in Boston after enjoying the warmer climates of Dallas and Phoenix for a while, so it was a shock to the system. Coupled with the traffic, it didn’t endear itself to me at first, and I only expected to be here for a couple of years. That was 25 years ago. But I had an epiphany of sorts (one New Years Eve, actually), and realized that Boston was the embodiment of everything that had drawn me to America in the first place: the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the American Dream, etc. I’ve loved the place ever since.

How much has your travel influenced your writing?

Well, it had a direct influence on First Night (and its follow up), because the book is half mystery, half travelogue. My goal in the Alex and Jackie series (as well as telling a good yarn) is to pay homage to these wonderful places that I’ve been lucky enough to spend time in. So, without the travel there would be no book.

Beyond that, it was the accident of travel that spurred me into writing fiction in the first place: I was running a consulting company (hence the travel), and had done some business writing, but when I had the opportunity to live in Luxembourg for a while, I decided to take a sabbatical from the company. I love what I’m doing so much that my sabbatical has now morphed into a new career.

If your life were a young adult novel, what kind of character would you play?

As a child I wanted to be Jim Hawkins from Treasure Island. Not that I’m a match for swash-buckling pirates, but I love discovery, puzzles and mysteries. I think it was the first of those, discovery, which has been the driving force behind everything I’ve done, including my writing.

What are you working on now?

The sequel to First Night:

Prior to First Night, I had an idea for a story set in Luxembourg, but I didn’t have all the characters finalized. When Alex and Jackie appeared in First Night, I knew that they were perfect for this other story, so I resurrected it. It is called the Elf of Luxembourg. In this one, Alex and Jackie get mixed up with some vampires and the search for El Dorado, as well as the Elf of the title. The girls also get to roam the street of Luxembourg, which is a beautiful city in a beautiful (if tiny) country. If all goes well, I expect it to be published before the end of the year.

Do you have any advice for aspiring YA writers?

As Polonius said to his son, Laertes, ‘to thine own self be true’: Write from the heart about what you believe in, because if you’re not passionate about your work, you can’t expect your readers to be either.

Secondly, tell people about your writing: This is not boasting – it’s time management. For example, I’ve told so many people that my next novel will be published by the autumn that I’ll look foolish if I now miss that deadline. So the more people I tell the more incentive I have to keep writing.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

First Night, the novel, would not exist if not for Boston and the First Night Festival, and I must thank them for supplying me with such wonderful material to work with. For those that do not know, the heart of the Festival is the First Night Inc., a non-profit Organization that works year round so that our year end party is a success. I would encourage everyone to visit Boston, especially for New Years Eve.

But in the meantime, I’d equally like to encourage every to visit the good people at First Night, at their web site: http://www.firstnight.org.

Thank you very much for your time, Mr. Weston. I wish you the best of luck with your book First Night.

Thank you for inviting me.