Interview with:Kenneth Passan [kpassan61450]
WRITING
 | What did you first read? How did you begin to write? Who were the first to read what you wrote? Well you're talking about when I was four years old. I don't know for sure but I think my first book I ever read was a Hans Christian Andersen children's book. I don't believe I ever read it but I enjoyed the pictures. That's when I started becoming a bookworm.
As for the second question, if you're referring to writing articles or books, I got my first article in a magazine published in 2003. The first persons to read what I wrote was my wife and grown children. After that, it was the magazine editor. |
| What is your favorite genre? Can you provide a link to a site where we can read some of your work or learn something about it? My favorite genre is nonfiction-forensic science, true crime and anything to do with law enforcement. My publishing company is currently preparing my first book for publication in the near future. It's called Forensics and the Violent Criminal Mind. Once I receive the ICBN # on it, then I will be establishing a website. In the meantime, those who are interested or curious can go to www.forensicnursemagazine.com to see several articles I wrote. |
| What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write? First of all, I have to think long and hard about what I want to write. Because my writing projects in the future will be book-length, I have to be sure that what I want to write about, I'll want to continue it into a book-length piece and not change my mind in the middle of it. Once I decide, I'll start to write what I know, what I've learned, and when I've written as much as I could based on that, I'll start the research project. For my next book, I'll need to get special permission from the legal and political powers that be in my state in order to do the extensive field studies and research that will be required of it. Much of the time, I'll take notes on printouts of subjects I've obtained and create some of my writing based on those notes.My next book will involve interviews and tapings. |
| What type of reading inspires you to write? What readings that inspire me to write are those involving true crime, new forensic technology, and criminal cases involving violence where profiling was required during the investigation. |
| What do you think are the basic ingredients of a story? a good story line that's original,makes sense, and can strongly the reader's interest, a good plot that's been well thought out, characters that a reader can identify with or become familiar with, a smooth flow from one chapter to another without constantly jumping around that can cause confusion, and a good ending-not necessarily a happy one, but one that can be evitable from the story itself. |
| What voice do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? I've used both in my writings, but I prefer the third person if related to true crime. If it's related to my past experience, then of course, I would use the first person. It all depends on the subject matter and how I want the book to read. |
| What well known writers do you admire most? In regards to nonfiction, I enjoy Ann Rule the most. I would have to say that she's my favorite in the true crime category. Other well known writers I have greatly enjoyed include John Douglas and Roy Hazelwood, as well as M. William Phelps. In regards to fiction, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, and John Grisham are my favorites. |
| What is required for a character to be believable? How do you create yours? I haven't written fiction books where the characters are most important. However, I have included a few brief, narrative scenarios in my book to more or less illustrate the nonfiction subject of the chapter. The two or three characters I created were realistic in how they talked based on their location of residence and their activities. In my opinion, for a character to be believable to the reader, what a character is involved with in a story must be believable; in other words, it could happen (or has happened) in real life. The character must instill a sense of reality to the reader. Unless it's a science fiction story, the character must be similar in human nature to real people, and what he or she does must relate to what a real person might do, whether in the same or similar circumstances. |
| Are you equally good at telling stories orally? I used to be when I was a kid. Haven't done this since then; that is, telling stories orally. |
| Deep down inside, who do you write for? I guess I have to say myself, although I hope others would benefit from my writings. |
| Does reader feed-back help you? I've never received reader feedback so I don't know. I would imagine that if I did, I'd read what the person had to say and, whether it's negative or positive, I might take it into consideration for future writings, depending on what the person says in his or her feedback. |
| Do you participate in competitions? Have you received any awards? No, I've never been in any competitions or received any official writing awards. Not surprising, since my first book is still being prepared for publication. |
| Do you share rough drafts of your writings with someone whose opinion you trust? Not usually. My rough drafts are really rough, so I need to smooth it out quite a bit before I would let someone else read it, usually my wife, read it. |
| What discipline do you impose on yourself regarding schedules, goals, etc.? No specific discipline, except to not give up on something I'm writing. I can only write when I have the time, but do my best to continue writing at least several times per week. I try to get a few more pages done each week. |
| Do you write on a computer? Do you print frequently? Do you correct on paper? What is your process? Yes, I write on a computer. I don't print what I've written so far because it wastes a lot of paper and ink, unless I have to. I don't correct on paper, unless I've printed out a segment of what I've written that I need to take somewhere that I can't use a computer. After I make any corrections, I take it back to my computer and make those corrections on it. |
| What has been your experience with publishers? Nearly all had rejected or not bothered to answer. One, last year, was going to buy the book, but after talking to me on the phone, the editor misperceived me as not one that could promote my book, so she changed her mind. That misperception was a big one because she really didn't understand that I was ready to take to the air to promote the book. May have been the way I sounded when I talked. Haven't tried to talk that way since. My current publisher is giving me the chance that none of the others would. |
| What are you working on now? I'm working on a tentative third book about speeding and serious traffic violations. That description, I know, doesn't sound like much, but there's much more to it than it sounds. It's lighter reading than my first and has a bit of humor in it. But the subjects discussed we all can relate to. My second book, about the state police in my state I'm planning to write after I get the necessary authorizations and permissions necessary to conduct the field research, ridealongs, and interviews. It will be much more involved than my third and a bit more than my first. |
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Kenneth Passan
Uncasville, CT. USA
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