Kyle Mills
Code Red
DOSSIER: The Dossier has dusty intel that in you’re a notorious book plotter. Is it true that when you finish planning out your story, you can make unbreakable plans for the next cycling trip to Mallorca or an extreme mountain climbing adventure because you’ll know the exact time and date you’ll be finished?
MILLS: Pretty much, yeah. After the outline’s done, I know I can write a chapter a day and that it’ll likely work out. The problem is that I have no idea how long it will take to finish the outline itself. That’s the truly creative part of the journey and creativity is unpredictable. Sometimes you have a day where everything flows and other times you discover you wrote twenty words and deleted nineteen of them.
DOSSIER: When you came up with the full three part structure for ENEMY OF THE STATE on a trail run, were you surprised at how quickly it came to you? And based on how you keep topping yourself year after year, what are you going to do next for inspiration, an extreme SCUBA trip to the Great Barrier Reef or the Galapagos?
MILLS: I was definitely surprised because that never happens to me. I have a really plodding mental process. It’s like burying a seed and then having to slowly nurture the plant until it’s full grown.
Trail running in Arizona is ideal for thinking, though. I typically listen to podcasts when I do long mountain runs, but one day realized that I was unknowingly running right past beehives and rattlesnakes without hearing them. So, no more earbuds. The secret to creativity is boredom, which is hard to come by in the modern world. It’s one of the reasons people get great ideas in the shower. There’s not much to do but stare at the tile.
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Music/silence/a killer tapas bar in a Grenada, Spain suburb?)
MILLS: I’m not very picky. A comfortable spot to lounge and a laptop. I typically don’t work in bars and such because I’m too easily distracted. Having said that, I always listen to music. Usually, an Internet radio station called Bagel Radio. But sometimes when I’m writing action sequences, I put on something thrashy. Dead Kennedys. Queenadreena, Ministry. Something to get the blood pumping.
DOSSIER: With handing over the reigns of the Vince Flynn series to the gifted Don Bentley, how hard has collaborating on EVERYTHING been? Don’s a great guy, but there are stories you’ve wanted to tell for yourself for a while now. Since you’re essentially handing him the keys to a Ferrari, you’re holding on to at least a car emblem for the next Kyle Mills thriller, right?
MILLS: Oh, absolutely. Vince and I have really different writing styles, so the nine books I’ve penned in the Rappverse hasn’t affected the direction of my writing going forward. These ten years have been more like a super entertaining detour from my highway.
Right now, I’m working on a series built around a character that I created years ago named Fade. He has the same skillset as Rapp but a very different personality. Fade’s a man on the very thin edge whereas Mitch is always squared away.
DOSSIER: What has splitting your time in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Grenada, Spain done for your writing inspiration with both the Mitch Rapp series and what you have cooking up next? Can we expect a western-style novel where a retired flamenco star with a Mitch Rapp jawline roams the countryside mesmerizing herds of bison to the beat of Bamboleo?
MILLS: Probably not. You have to be careful not to make books too autobiographical or you can end up being something only your mother would want to read. Fade will likely live in southern Spain, though. I had him in Greece, but it’s much easier to research something closer to home.
Oddly, I don’t think I’ve ever set a scene in Jackson Hole. Too out of the way for a “big” thriller.
Website: kylemills.com
Jeff Circle 