Steven Konkoly
Wide Awake
DOSSIER: When you started considering colleges and settled on the U.S. Naval Academy, was it because of their epic English literature department or did you just want to learn how to help blow things up? Wouldn’t your first choice, West Point, have been a good place for that?
KONKOLY: You bring up a few good points here, which I’ll tackle in no specific order. First, Annapolis has a fantastic English department. It’s just kind of jammed into the oldest building on campus, overshadowed by Mordor…the engineering department. Interesting that you mention West Point. That most dark ages looking campus, hidden away somewhere on the Hudson River (presumably for a good reason) was indeed my first choice for the reason you mentioned. I fancied myself in an Abrams tank…cooking off enemy turrets with sabot rounds before dying a fiery death from an anti-tank missile. Fortunately, my congressman offered me a spare appointment to Annapolis. He must have known something I didn’t, and not being one to turn down free stuff, I took it. And good thing I did, because West Point turned me down. I think I was overqualified.
Back to the English degree? Long story short—I figured it would be the easiest degree for me at Annapolis. And believe it or not, that statement contains both equal parts laziness and strategy. Strategy first. Class rank (back in my day) at Annapolis determined your job upon graduation. We literally stood in line according to class rank and picked jobs from a massive board of available slots that the Navy needed to fill. So why go with a challenging major? Here comes the laziness. I’ve always loved to read and write…so I picked what I considered to be the least burdensome degree path at USNA, so I could pretty much choose any officer billet offered in the Navy. Ironically, I probably averaged lower grades in my English classes than all the calculus, engineering and science forced on us!
DOSSIER: While you were working at Pfizer you wrote a book about a pandemic. Being a naval officer has certainly influenced your writing. What kind of books do you think you would have written if you had gone into, say, long-haul truck driving or art collecting?
KONKOLY: If I had gone into long-haul trucking, I’d be writing School Bus Massacre. Book 87 in the Tesla Driverless Vehicular Manslaughter Series, part of a wider collection titled Why You Shouldn’t Replace Human Drivers. As far as art collecting? I see a title—Art Collecting: Book 23 in the I Have Money To Burn Series.
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Absolute silence/music playing/a mountainside retreat?)
KONKOLY: I prefer to write in a construction site. Nothing keeps me more focused on my work than unpredictable drilling, sawing and hammering. I particularly find solace in a dozen or more interruptions to ask questions about the construction. If you haven’t guessed…we’re in the middle of a kitchen renovation. On a serious note, I write in a home office with music on a speaker. I have a set of dumb bells in front of my story board, to get some exercise during breaks. They might have fused to the carpet this year. I wouldn’t know.
DOSSIER: You use a lot of news articles to help feed your mental idea factory, but when it comes down to writing a fictional story, what do always look for to make sure you have all the necessary elements for a good thriller?
KONKOLY: The news articles serve two purposes. To keep my stories relevant or slightly ahead of the news, but most importantly—to form a deep and expandable conspiracy from a subject that most readers will hopefully not expect. One that can drive the first few books in the series but leave me with room to shift or “upgrade” significantly enough to support continued books.
I wrote the last two series for my publisher with a two-book run in mind, leaving plenty of room to expand into a third without robbing early books in the series. The Ryan Decker story lasted four books and the Devin Gray series ended with three books, which were logical ending points in both cases. I honestly don’t understand series that last twenty or more books. At some point the main characters will be fighting from wheelchairs!
Other elements? Compelling characters with questionable or unorthodox backstories are an absolute must. I hate black and white characters. Gray area is my specialty. That and a diverse cast of characters with different specialties. Last but not least—ACTION! I would never write a novel that didn’t include at least three epic action sequences. Several chapters for each sequence…at least. I like to keep readers so mentally exhausted that they don’t realize they’re coming to the end of the series.
DOSSIER: How much has your writing changed from when you first wrote THE JAKARTA PANDEMIC in 2010 to when you finished COMING DAWN in 2022? Were there some specific influences that made you a better writer?
KONKOLY: The mechanics of my writing has changed significantly, but the inclusion of the elements I described in the previous question hasn’t changed. Working with a top-notch publisher for the past several years has “forced” some good habits. It’s hard to categorize everything they’ve taught me, so I’ll just say this. My writing is far more concise today than it was during my self-publishing days. Much of this boils down to the fact that I’m no longer free to write 500-600 page books. So, to spend more time on action sequences, where I’m strongest, I’ve learned to trim lengthy narrative and be judicious with descriptions throughout each book.
And for the record, my far better half has been working on the brevity issue and other writing “ticks” from day one. If only I had listened from the start!
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Jeff Circle 