An Interview with Bill Stackhouse

By Beverely Rowe
April 2003

Bev: How does a guy go from writing training manuals for NASA to writing mystery fiction about a small town police chief? Tell us about yourself.

It's actually the other way around—or maybe more like coming full-circle—sort of like a country boy who fails to make a name for himself in the big city and returns home to the farm.

By education and training I am—or was—an engineer, with a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Engineering from General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan, and a Masters from Wayne State University in Detroit.

As a Staff Quality Engineer at Ford Motor Company and later as Director of Quality Systems and Training at an automotive parts supplier, I did quite a bit of technical writing. There were the tedious policies and procedures, of course, but I also had to design training programs—first for engineers and technical people, then for shop-floor-level personnel.

It was the training programs for the shop-floor-level people that really hooked me. I found that I had to use quite a bit of creativity in taking technical subjects like Basic Measurement and Statistical Process Control and making those topics interesting enough to hold people's attention while at the same time getting them to learn the subject matter.

When we went from classroom training sessions to videotape training, I wrote some of the programs as scenarios (playlets, actually) that demonstrated technical concepts using dialogue and humor. Not only were those playlets effective, they were fun to write—infinitely more so than being out of town four or five days each and every week visiting the plants for which I had functional responsibility.

When I finally burned out on the travel schedule and sat down to think about what kind of work I could do instead of what I had been doing for fifteen years or so, my wife said: "Don't think in terms of what you can do. Think of what you'd like to do." I thought back to those scenarios—those playlets. What I really enjoyed most was writing.

I started out my new writing career as a playwright. I was certain I'd be the next Neil Simon. When Reality smacked me upside the head, I decided I'd try my hand at novels. My Mom had been an avid mystery reader and I had grown up reading her hand-me-downs. I was convinced I'd be the next John Grisham. When Reality smacked me up the other side of my head, I decided that, with seven unpublished stage plays and five unpublished mystery novels, it was once-again time to become a respectable member of the workforce. It's not like I was a total slug, mind you. During this time I had been doing quite a bit of freelance work for some of the video production houses in the area. When one of the multimedia firms offered me a full-time position, I took it.

Now instead of training programs for the automotive industry, I write training programs for the government. It's still writing…but…well, it's still writing. I tell myself that, anyway.

Bev: When I picked up Encore for Murder, I expected a sequel to Stream of Death and Hickory, Dickory. Tell us about your decision to dig into Ed McAvoy's past for this novel. Is it basically the same story as your play by the that name?

You always remember your first love. Encore to Murder (the play) was my first venture into writing after I left industry. It received a showcase production at a small teaching theatre in New York City (no money, just the production) and never went anywhere. But it was my firstborn, so to speak. It was in that play that Ed McAvoy and the other Peekamoose Heights characters were created.

I liked the play. I like the characters. I liked the setting. So when I decided to transition from playwright to novelist, I tried turning Encore into a novel. That first attempt failed. I was still too close to the play and it turned out to be just one long stage play instead of a novel. However, I still liked the characters and setting and used them for Stream of Death, Hickory, Dickory, and Wash and Wear. But each time I wrote an Ed McAvoy or Caitlin O'Rourke Mystery novel, I came back and revised Encore (the novel). I released it as the third book in the Ed McAvoy series and called it a prequel, simply because it took so long to get it to where I was happy with it as a novel.

Bev: Do you still write plays? You have won awards for your plays. Could you tell us about that?

A Tradition of Service, my second play received a showcase production in the LA area (again, no money, just the production) and a dreadful production it was. They added two characters and a monster in the floor. The reviewer wrote: "Every play deserves a traditional production so that the playwright can see his work, learn from it and grow. Unfortunately, Bill Stackhouse never got that opportunity. A rather amusing little play, A Tradition of Service, was completely engulfed by the director's rather surrealistic vision."

Years later, a completely revised version won the New Play Program, sponsored by the Waterloo Community Playhouse, and gave me sort of a 'hat trick' in playwriting (four different plays had been winners in local, statewide, regional, and national contests). And in all of those I had won less than $500 total and had a pile of rejection slips from play publishers. (Remember what I said about Reality?)

However, I still enjoy playwriting and have a play out for consideration in this year's round of playwriting contests. It's entitled Sand-Mountain Mary, and it's about the effects of a supposed apparition of the Virgin on a rural Southern town.

Bev: Your road to becoming a published novelist has been a long one. Tell us about your quest for publication.

And a bumpy one. It was after I had already gone back to work full-time that I received the publication offer for Stream of Death from Poisoned Pen Press (after twenty-some rejections from other publishers). I had hoped that it might resurrect my career as a novelist, but despite my promotional efforts and those of PPP, and twenty-some very nice reviews (excerpts of which are published on my website), Stream didn't do all that well sales-wise.

PPP wrote that "after much soul-searching, we have decided not to publish anymore books in this series. To be blunt, sales for Stream of Death have remained quite low and there just doesn't seem to be an audience out there waiting for this combination." The combination referred to was the small village/Mafia combination.

The advice given to writers is keep writing while you're shopping the first manuscript. In the years it took to garner those twenty-some rejections, I had done just that—kept writing. I now had three more Ed McAvoy mystery and a Caitlin O'Rourke mystery on the shelf.

My choices, at this point, were:

1. Let them remain on the shelf
2. Look for another publisher
3. Self-publish
4. POD (print on demand) publish

It seemed a shame to let them rot on the shelf; however, I didn't see much point in trying to convince another publisher to pick up the series after PPP had given it the boot. And self-publishing (genuine self-publishing) takes too much of an upfront investment. (After all, if Stream had sold only 1,600 copies nationally with the name of a good house like PPP on it, without their name, the next book would probably sell an order of magnitude fewer.

That left me with only one choice—POD.

So here I am-back on the farm.

Bev: Scriptwriting for a multimedia firm and novel writing are really worlds apart, but are there similarities too?

Story-telling—it's the common denominator. Whether it's a Novel, stage play, or script for a promotional video, it's all about telling a story. With the novels and plays, it's my story as I want it told. With a promotional video, it's the customer's story as he or she wants it told. But, regardless, all the various forms require story-telling and I enjoy telling stories.

Bev: How much time do you spend in the research and planning stages for your novels?

I've been up to the Catskills on two different occasions to get the flavor of the area where the Ed McAvoy Mysteries are set. And I live only about two-and-a-half hours from Nashville, where the Caitlin O'Rourke Mystery Series is set, so I get up there quite frequently.

As far as technical details—guns, antiques, drugs, counterfeiting, and the like—I find the internet an invaluable source of information.

With planning the actual book, it depends on how long it takes me to figure out the ending. Deciding on the beginning of a work and the premise is easy for me, but I can't get started until I know how I want the story to end. I tried it with a play once, and meandered around aimlessly for a few weeks before setting it aside and writing something else. Once I had figured out the ending, though, I was able to pick it up again, delete a bunch of pages, then write with a direction in mind.

Bev: Do you plan to write the story of Ed McAvoy and his police work in Detroit? Only bits and pieces of it have come out in your current novels.

McAvoy's past will continue to come out in bits and pieces. We didn't find out until Encore about the details of his injury. And there's a character from McAvoy's past who is only briefly mentioned in Encore who will be more fully revealed in Wash and Wear, and who we will actually meet in Thin Ice.

Bev: Most novels today are filled with graphic sex and violence. Tell us about your decision to keep your novels free of the graphic stuff.

Maybe it's my age, but, again, I'd like to think it's about story-telling. Graphic sex and violence don't move the plot forward in the types of books I write. In fact, if anything, they'd bog them down.

McAvoy and his love interest Stevie Henderson go though the door marked Private at the rear of the pub which she co-owns with her brother, and you know where they're headed and why. No point is served by going into detail if only to titillate and contribute nothing to the movement of the plot.

What violence does occur is not, in my opinion, gratuitous. And the sometimes rough language is in character for the characters using it.

Bev: Your upcoming novel is about Caitlin O'Rourke. She seems to be one tough gal. This novel is written in first person from Caitlin's viewpoint. Tell me how you were able to get into the head of this 6' 1" - 178 pound female, ex-world class volleyball and basketball athlete?

How do I know about what goes on in the heads of tough gals? I've been around tough gals all my life.

My folks were divorced when I was very young and my mom was a single working mom in an era when that was looked down upon by a lot of people. Also, for seven years I was raised by the nuns—a tough bunch of women by any measure. And my wife is a Senior VP at a bank, who got started in her career before there was such a thing as affirmative action.

Back then a woman had to be at least twice as good as the best of the men to get ahead. My wife was one of only two women who graduated from the School of Business Administration at Wayne State that year, having received a Uniroyal Scholarship to attend college.

The scholarship was always presented at a Detroit Athletic Club luncheon and Uniroyal had to get special permission to have their award-winner at the luncheon because women were not allowed in the DAC.

Later, as the first female commercial loan officer in the city of Detroit, she had to use the side door to attend luncheons at the Economic Club of Detroit. Women were not allowed to use the front entrance back then.

And the president of one of the banks for which she worked was quoted as saying, "What more can she want? She's already the highest ranked and highest paid woman in the organization." Like I said, it was long before affirmative action.

Even now, pushing 60, she's back at work in less then a month after having a total hip replacement.

Tough gals? I've known some mighty tough gals.

Bev: What's the status of your writing now and your future plans? Do you have other novels in the works?

Wash and Wear, the fourth book in the Ed McAvoy Mystery Series will be released this coming fall. There are two more in my mind (Candle Snuffer and Thin Ice), but we'll have to wait and see on those.

I've started a second Caitlin O'Rourke Mystery, but its completion hinges on how well the first one, Black-Irish Setter, does. I'm putting quite a bit of money into marketing for this one. If it pays off, I'll have some incentive to finish the new one. Otherwise, it'll have to wait a few years for retirement. It's awfully tough to be creative all day long for someone else and then come home and keep those creative juices flowing.

Bev: What advice do you have for our readers who would like to be writers?

Marry well!

Bev: Oh, that's funny...but it probably says more about wanting to become a full time writer than any advice I've heard yet. Do you have any other thoughts that you would like to share with us?

First of all, remember that although Common Courtesy is a most uncommon commodity, not getting it is no excuse for not giving it.

Secondly, while we may think of what we're doing as 'art,' publishing is a business. To get a book (or play) accepted for traditional publication, the publisher has to believe that he can turn a buck on it. A manuscript rejection isn't a personal rejection, it simply reflects the publisher's view of the marketplace. I'm sure the people at Poisoned Pen Press don't dislike me, Bill Stackhouse. They just don't think that the Ed McAvoy Mystery Series is economically viable. And from what I've seen so far as a POD-published author, they're probably right.

Thirdly, on reading fees: You'll get enough rejections for free. You don't need to pay for them. For a publisher or agent, reading manuscripts is a cost of doing business. For a contest, they usually get arts council grants to begin with. And, even if contests don't charge, if part of the prize doesn't include publication (for a novel or short story) or production (for a play), why waste the postage submitting to it?

Fourthly, many people are reluctant, and rightly so, to shell out close to $20 for a book by an unknown author—especially a POD author. The first few chapters of all my books are available for download from my website http://www.billstackhouse.com. Take them for a test drive and then make up your mind. Also, if you sign my guest book, each quarter I send you a recipe featured in one of the books (after all, being married to a tough gal, one of us had to learn how to cook).

Finally, my thanks to you and Myshelf.Com and all the other reviewers and websites who accept material from and help promote POD authors. God knows we can use all the help we can get.

Bev: Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions, Bill. We wish you the best of luck in your publishing endeavors.

I want to be sure to tell our readers to go sign Bill's guestbook... the recipes are wonderful. My favorite so far is the Dijon Rosemary Chicken!