Pump Up Your Book Chats with Shelly Frome

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Shelly Frome is a Professor Emeritus of dramatic arts at the University of Connecticut. A former professional actor and theater director, his writing credits include a number of national and international articles on acting and theater, profiles of artists and notable figures in the arts, books on theater and film and mystery novels.

His books include The Art and Craft of Screenwriting, Tinseltown Riff, Lilac Moon, The Actors Studio, Sun Dance for Andy Horn, Playwriting: A Complete Guide to Creating Theater and his most recent, The Twinning Murders.

Q: Thank you for this interview, Shelly. Can you tell us why you wrote your book, The Twinning Murders?

A dramaturge at the Hartford Stage Company once told me you shouldn’t write unless some basic assumption is being threatened. I thought that once a number of people in my historic town of Litchfield, Connecticut got together to voice their disapproval of an invasive development project citing the harm it would do to wildlife, woodland and open space, the developers would move on. Instead, the developers wore the planning commission down with their army of experts and bottomless pockets, the land was cleared and a huge, totally unwarranted condo complex was erected.

Q: Which part of the book was the hardest to write?

The only hard part was making sure the reader could visualize each and every setting including a trek in the moors of Devon, England.

Q: Does your book have an underlying message that readers should know about?

I would hope that readers would sense there are ties that bind and an irrepressible need in all of us to right a great wrong even though, on the surface, we have no business getting involved in detection and trying to convince the powers that be to take action.

Q: What was one of your favorite books as a child?

Admittedly I read a lot of comics along with books about intrepid young men like The Hardy Boys.

Q: What is your favorite book as an adult?

I have no absolute favorites but have to admit I was greatly influenced by the writings of J.D. Salinger, Hemingway, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and the fanciful tales of Ray Bradbury. I moved on to the great Russian novels and other of the world’s classics, the works of Thomas McGuane, the WWII novels of Alan Furst, the mysteries of P.D. James, the Southern crime stories of James Lee Burke, Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and on and on and well beyond.

Q: What are you reading now?

I’m reading a lean, hard-hitting first novel called The Ghosts of Belfast.

Q: Do you remember when the writing bug hit?

In junior high school in Miami when I started writing to-be-continued adventures and passed them on to my classmates.

Q: Besides books, what else do you write? Do you write for publications?

I write profiles of artists, writers and theater people for publications along with movie reviews.

Q: Do you have a writing tip you’d like to share?

Write when you can’t help it, when you’re at odds with something out there or have some inner issue that can’t be resolved unless you create a set of circumstances and characters that are bound to proliferate and play the whole venture out.

Q: Would you like to tell us about your home life? Where you live? Family? Pets?

I live in Litchfield Connecticut with my wife who also writes essays and movie reviews. Our two sons are involved in the field of education and have children of their own. We’ve had two golden retrievers, one of whom figures prominently in my current mystery.

Q: Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

At the computer, in our study, overlooking open country.

Q: What do you do to get away from it all?

Go to an intriguing movie with my wife or just plain light out for England, L.A., Portland, Oregon, New York City, the deep South and places in between.

Q: Were you the kind of child who always had a book in her/his hand?

Either that or a comic book.

Q: Can you remember your favorite book?

Again, there were no particular favorites but I do remember reading Classic Comics instead of plowing through a whole hard cover book.

Q: Do you remember writing stories when you were a child?

Imagining them and telling them instead of writing them down when I was very young.

Q: What was the first thing you did as far as promoting your book?

I contacted the local media.

Q: Are you familiar with the social networks and do you actively participate?

I just registered with Facebook and, aside from contacting a few people I haven’t seen for years, I’m not sure it’s going to be very helpful.

Q: How do you think book promotion has changed over the years?

The author has to do most of the work.

Q: What is the most frustrating part of being an author?

Finding an agent or publisher who cares about your work aside from weighing it in terms of today’s market.

Q: What is the most rewarding?

Reaching out and touching people’s lives and hearing them tell you they had a truly rewarding experience.

Q: How do you think book publishing has changed over the years?

It’s become electronic and highly dependent on the Internet.

Q: If you had one wish, what would that be?

That people would drop their masks, stop playing games, reach out and care about one another or at least make actual contact face to face.

Q: If you could be anywhere in the world other than where you are right now, where would that place be?

Somewhere in the west of England or the Caribbean or Hawaii.

Q: Your book has just been awarded a Pulitzer. Who would you thank?

My incorrigible muse, my incurable need to tell stories and, most of all, my wife Susan for putting up with me all these years.

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Maria Andrade, DEFIANCE AND REDEMPTION

"Everyone did an excellent job. The blog pages were beautiful, and the trailer was so clever and funny. Thanks for sending these lovely "souvenirs" from my tour. I will be able to use all of these posts on Twitter. I enjoyed this so much and look forward to my next tour!"
Irene Woodbury, HONEYMOON ROULETTE

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Arabella Sheraton, THE LORD BLACKWOOD REGENCY ROMANCE SERIES

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Wendy Leighton-Porter, THE SHADOW OF ATLANTIS

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M.B. Lewis, THE PILATE SCROLL

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Kathleen Shaputis, HIS KILT DROPPED HERE

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Joni Ankerson, TO KILL OR BE KILLED

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Aiken Brown, SON OF A SOLDIER

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Laura Preble, ANNA INCOGNITO

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Lena Gregory, GRAVE CONSEQUENCES

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Jennifer Chase, FLOWERS ON HER GRAVE

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Elysia Strife, A PROMISE IN ASH

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Miri Leshem-Pelly, SCRIBBLE & AUTHOR

"I think you did an excellent job last time, thank you!"
Shami Stovall, KNIGHTMARE ARCANIST

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Suzanne M. Hurley, THE TEDDY BEAR EYE CLUB

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Sharon House, BRIMSTONE AND WATER

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Michael Allan Scott, GREY DAZE

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Bacon Press Books

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T.M. Wallace, WINTERGARDEN

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Deborah Serani, DEPRESSION AND YOUR CHILD

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Mary Lawlor, FIGHTER PILOT'S DAUGHTER

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Lee Papa, TEMPLE OF ALL KNOWING

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Madeline Wynn, DAUGHTER OF THE FALLEN

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Mary Lawlor, FIGHTER PILOT'S DAUGHTER

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Karen-Anne Stewart, ASH TO STEELE

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Lauren Carr, Best-Selling Mystery Author of Mac Faraday, and Lovers in Crime, Mysteries

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Monique Roy, ACROSS GREAT DIVIDES

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Kaylin McFarren, BURIED THREADS

"Thank you for a great virtual book tour. I thought it went really well and it was great to have a wave of PR that flowed through the two month period of my book release. I'm working on my next book - and will definitely reach out to you when it comes time to market! You were a delight to work with and really made me feel looked after. As I've mentioned before, I just don't know how you do it all."
--Deborah Serani, DEPRESSION AND YOUR CHILD

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--Carol Nicolas, THE SIXTH POWER

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--Jo Sparkes, THE BIRR ELIXIR

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

-- Sheila Roberts, Author of Winter at the Beach