Twenty one questions with author Rob Cummings about his book Moonlight Sacrifice.

Hello readers. My name is Frank Dunn and Rob has asked me to conduct this interview. Rob is with me now so let’s get started.

Hello Rob.

Hello Frank.

Question one: Who would you consider to be the ideal reader of Moonlight Sacrifice?

Although you could put the book in the mystery genre, I’d have to classify it as a “how done it” rather than “who done it." So anyone wanting to solve a murder mystery will not like this book. However, if you like to read a book with lots of character interactions and development, you’ll like this.

Question two: What sparked the idea for the book?

That’s a little difficult to pin down to one thing. There usually isn’t one thing that gives me an idea for a story. More often than not, it’s a cumulative thing. Several ideas come together to create an idea that sort of forms like a little storm in my mind, and before I know it there is a story brewing. As for Moonlight, it started out years ago as a short story of some four thousand words. The idea was to create a character that wanted to leave a mark on the world, but due to circumstances was unable to make the mark he wanted. So that was one point. Another point was the question of suicide and the idea of if it would ever be okay to sacrifice oneself for the greater good. Add to that the idea of considering his death an act of euthanasia. One final ingredient for this story was having the character’s death prevent the committing of a crime. The goal was to make all of these seem plausible.

Now having said that I need to say the idea of making my short story titled Luna into a full-blown novel didn’t come about until October of 2011. I needed something to write about for the National Novel Writing Month challenge (NANOWRIMO) which takes place each November. I decided I could take the short story and make a novel out of it. It took me two years to complete the work so it is actually twice as large as it needed to be, but when the 2011 challenge ended I felt I was only half way through the story and so I completed it the following year in 2012.

Question three: What does your writing process look like?

Well, I usually begin with a title, and I try to write to make the work resemble as closely as possible what it says. At one point in time, I toyed with the idea of calling the book Moonshine, and although that would have worked just fine, it wasn’t quite right. When I hit upon Moonlight Sacrifice, I immediately had the feeling it was the way I wanted to go.

Now for the actual physical process, I write best in what I call immersion. What I mean by that is I’ll select some music from the music player on my laptop and put in the earbuds and start writing. Most people would think it would be a distraction, but the distractions come from outside the world I’m creating. All the music does is set a tone or pace for the story and provide soothing noise to write by.

Question four: Would you consider yourself a plotter or a pantster?

Although I’d have to say I’m really a pantster I can’t get away from having some idea of where the story is going. So I don’t script or plot the story as A to B to C to D but I do know where it begins at A and when I’m done the story will be at D but the middle is wide open for my muse to form as he sees fit. I find if I don’t restrict him to stay on a planned path he’ll come up with much better ideas than I could have on my own. Not all of his ideas are good, but I find most of them are. Also, not knowing which path the story is going to take leads to some amazing surprises for me and in that way, it’s almost as if the story is unfolding before my eyes and I get to experience its birth on the page. For me, that’s the best part of writing.

Question five: What is your favorite scene or chapter in the book?

My favorite chapter is seventy six. It's the next-to-last chapter and the one that was the hardest to write. The reason for that was through the previous seventy five chapters I got to know Rocky Moon almost as a person. When you kill a character that you've come to know and love it can be very personal. It can touch you heart in ways you never thought would be possible. I guess you could say my favorite chapter is when we say goodbye to Rocky.

Question six: Would you share some of that?

Sure.

Rocky’s arm grows heavy and crashes down to his side. He wants to watch Randy go, but is suddenly unable to remain upright. He falls back into the chair. Overhead the moon’s softness becomes austere and harsh. Rocky looks one last time at his namesake, and as he watches, the edges of his sight begin to close in on the circumstance of the orb. It squeezes the emptiness around the heavenly light until it touches all around. In that instant, Rocky Moon can only see his beloved moon and in the next, he sees nothing.

Question seven: Is it difficult to kill a character you have come to love?

For me it is. I had quite a bit of blood flying in this book and only had difficulty with Rocky’s death. It took a while to write that chapter, and I tried to write it in a way that would put some distance between us. It was less hurtful that way.

Question eight: What authors inspire you?

I have an extreme admiration for Stephen King. The first book of his I ever read was The Dead Zone. I can still remember the feeling of having the story draw me in so much that I almost became part of that world. I saw the story instead of read it. It was a surreal experience.

I also enjoy the works of Nicholas Evans, Clive Cussler, and Richard Russo.

Question nine: Which character in the book do you relate to most?

That’s an easy question. The answer is Officer Frank Dunn.

Why do you relate to me?

I needed you to be someone who would do the right thing. Rocky needed to rely on your desire to be true to yourself and above all honest. So I tried to make you, me.

Question ten: What was your favorite quote from this character?

In the prison when you spoke to Dennis you said: “Dennis, I hope you realize you’re on the wrong bus.”

Okay, Rob thanks for your time. We’ll have to finish the other half of these questions later if that’s okay with you.

You bet.

Thanks again.

No, thank you Frank.

Until next time, keep reading. : )