Q: So, John, how does a surgeon end up being a novelist?
A: Looking back, I see four influences that ultimately led
to my late-start writing career: my parents, a hard-nosed English teacher, an
essay contest, and, weird as it seems, Christmas letters. My quite literate
parents, both published authors in non-fiction, critiqued my writing efforts
for school assignments. I had an English teacher as a freshman in high school
who drilled the rules of grammar into me and gave me an appreciation of what
makes for good literature. As a senior, I won a school-wide essay contest. But
by then, I'd already decided on a medical career, and I took only the bare
minimum college English courses to meet the med school admission requirement.
After that, my career did not allow the focus or the time for writing. I did
have papers published in surgical journals, but they had to follow strict
formatting guidelines, and, of course, they couldn't be fiction! But I had the opportunity
for creativity in my annual Christmas letters. Some of the recipients of those
– friends and family, mind you – said I should write a book. So I started one.
The unfinished manuscript then sat in my closet for years while my day job
occupied me. When I retired, I finished it.
Q: You're the first author I've met who said Christmas letters inspired you to write. So you went from Christmas letters to completing a novel. What happened next?
A: I soon found out that writing a book is the easy part.
Getting it published is something else entirely. I, of course, thought my novel
was great. I sent the manuscript to scores of agents and was amazed at the
rejections. And only about half of my queries ever got a response. I finally
got disenchanted with the “system” and self-published State of Mind in
2009. But I had the bug now, so I wrote another novel, Get the Picture? Much better than than the first, I thought. Bound to attract interest in the
publishing world. Again, the rejections came back. I self-published that
one in 2010. But I didn't give up. My third novel, The Side Effect, was
picked up by Whiskey Creek Press and was published this year.
A: A German anthropologist working in New Guinea in the
1930s discovers a plant with amazing properties. Eighty years later, two
pharmaceutical companies are competing to bring a miracle drug developed from
that plant to market. One of these firms was founded in Switzerland by a
scientist involved in the medical experiments of Nazi Germany. The other is an
American company that hopes to expand. And then, too late, a possible deadly side
effect of the drug is discovered. While the American company investigates, the
Swiss one tries to prevent the truth from coming out. This battle, involving
wealthy European businessmen, a white-supremacist militia group in this
country, and a determined American physician, is the crux of the plot.
Q: Sounds like an intriguing medical thriller. Are all your novels in the same genre?
A: Thrillers are what I most like to read. Nelson DeMille
and Michael Connolly are two of my favorite authors. So that is what I like to
write. Following the axiom of 'write what you know,' all my protagonists are
physicians. But The Side Effect is my only medical thriller per se, to
date. And it's the only one with international scope. Growing up in New Jersey
and Vermont, and now living in North Carolina, my stories mostly involve those
locales.
Q: Yay, I like that the protagonists are people you know well. What else have you been working on?
A: I've completed two novels since The Side Effect.
One, The Flame, is a femme fatale-type of story in the vein of Body
Heat. The other is a sequel to my two self-published novels, featuring the
inimitable Jack Lansing. M.D. - The Sincerest Form of Flattery.
Publication dates for these novels have not been finalized. Meanwhile, I'm
working on a manuscript which tells the story of four high school football
teammates who, decades later, must deal with the consequences of a tragic event
involving them as teenagers.
Jack Lansing, M.D. sounds as touch as Jack Reacher. that femme fatale story sounds interesting too. You'll have to come back some time and talk about them. It seems you are also dipping into coming of age book too. It was nice meeting you and I hope to see you again.
Thank you, Rachelle. You are providing an important service
for your readers, and I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the writing/publishing
process and to highlight my books.
Readers can find out more about Dr. DeBoer at Dr. John DeBoer's Author Page
The Side Effect is Available at Amazon.com.
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Readers can find out more about Dr. DeBoer at Dr. John DeBoer's Author Page
The Side Effect is Available at Amazon.com.
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