AB Plum - Intense Psychological Thriller and Action Packed Adventure

AB grew up in a huge extended family in Southern Missouri. Everyone told stories at night so writing and reading became passions at an early age. She now lives, plays, and writes in Silicon Valley. Early morning walks and aerobic dance balance the hours at the keyboard. While she can write anywhere (indoors, outdoors, by longhand, on her laptop), she prefers her office surrounded by books, cat tchotchkes, and blooming orchids. Psychopaths hold a special place in her imagination--though she has known a few working in high-tech. As our Author of the Day, she tells us about her book, No Little Lies.

Please give us a short introduction to what No Little Lies is about.

The title tells all … Sooner or later, little lies become big lies. Secrets become known. The past is inescapable. The three collide and lead to betrayal. Distrust. Murder.

Tell us more about Ryn Davis. What makes her tick?

Ryn’s past, which she has buried so deeply that she has forgotten her worst secrets, comes back when she least expects it. Her crippling, chronic insomnia too often drives her to make rash judgments. Denial is a first copy technique (after compartmentalizing). Learning to trust people who love her is her biggest challenge.

Was there anything in particular that inspired the story?

In third and fourth grades, my best friend’s mother was rumored to sleep with men while her husband served in the Air Force in Greenland. The whispers and gossip by our classmates—especially by the other girls—was crushing for my friend. I’ve never known how she survived the day-to-day humiliation and ostracizing because I moved away. In the days before email and cellphones, we didn’t stay in touch. I often wonder what happened to her, her mother, and her bastard baby brother. The Scarlet Letter always stirs memories of that family.

Why did you include a psychopath in this story?

The thin line between wanting to murder someone and committing murder fascinates me. From extensive reading, I’ve come to believe that getting by with murder is exhilarating—addictive, even. I’m always ambivalent about whether the psychopath’s neural wiring is wrong from birth (probably in utero) or goes off kilter because of his/her family environment. In Lies, the psychopath shows signs early on of social maladjustment. His father’s response to his bad behavior serves only to put the boy further outside the circle of normal relationships. His upright father’s obsession with a prostitute definitely fuels the boy’s attitude as an adult toward women. Pit him against Ryn Davis, daughter of a prostitute, a tension explodes.

You grew up in a huge extended family in Southern Missouri. How has this influenced your writing?

Storytelling (gossip, really) filled in a lot of long, hot days and nights among aunts, uncles, cousins, outlaws, and in-laws. Some stories were grim; some hilarious. All speculated on the human condition and often blurred the line between truth and lies. I learned quickly that daily life in my small, unsophisticated world was not as straightforward as it seemed. Drama and the outrageous often rose to pre-occupy us … and maybe … to entertain us when boring screamed for exciting.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

What a tricky question. If I tell you, the skill won’t be secret anymore, right? So, I’ll just hint at my wizardry in the kitchen. Cooking for me is a lot like writing: take a few basic ingredients, mix them together, add seasonings, cook, and create something surprising—and maybe even memorable.

Is there an underlying message you wish to relay about basic human nature through your characters?

Oh, my. Another quicksand-question. But … Everything I write comes back to family. Of all the characters I’ve created, only 1 grew up in a “happy, normal” environment. As a result, he has a high level of trust—although he has recently committed an act that shakes the trust he has in himself. That struggle will play out in the next few Ryn Davis books. So, for me, being human is about trusting ourselves enough to trust others as well.

You write about some heavy themes—things that many of your readers have probably never experienced—yet it's very easy to identify with your characters. How do you make them so relatable?

I hope I give them enough universal flaws that readers can see themselves or someone they’ve known in the character. Not too many readers have known a psychopath, but most have known or know someone a little too cocky or too slick or too cruel or too lacking in empathy. Reading lets us admit, deep down, that we’ve felt mad enough at one time or another to kill someone. Nearly all my characters feel that way at times. Like most of us, they’re all misfits in some way. I imagine all of us have felt like a misfit at least once in our lives.

Where do you get your best ideas?

From everywhere. Clichéd, but true. I never know what will spark in my brain. Something I’ve read or seen years ago. Or something that happened minutes ago. Something I did or didn’t do and wished I’d done or didn’t do. Jokes often stir an thought that explodes into an idea—even if nothing but a character’s name. Admittedly, these comments are guesses. I don’t know where my best ideas come from. Friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers often question if writing about psychopaths is a good idea.

Tell us more about the cover and how it came about.

Mysteries are puzzles. Beau, one of the characters in the Ryn Davis Series, loves puzzles. He’s adept at putting the pieces together. Ryn doesn’t much like working physical puzzles, but she likes the mental challenge of stringing the clues of a murder together. An alligator features prominently on this cover because alligators appear frequently in the book.

Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?

I write word by word without an outline (because I was traumatized in Freshman English when I couldn’t work out the outline before I wrote my essay).

Do you have any interesting writing habits, what's your average writing day like?

Interesting writing habits such as wearing a good-luck shirt or article of clothing? Listening to music? Drinking coffee and keyboarding? No. My day is pretty blah ordinary. I can write anywhere, but I love my office with my books, pictures, pottery, and tchotchkes. I prefer to write in the morning before I do anything else. My goal is to finish 1,000 words in two hours at the keyboard (with a ten-minute break in there). Monday, Wednesday, Friday I write 150 words before my dance class begins at 9:30. On alternate days, I try to get 150 words down in the first fifteen minutes of that 2-hour stint. After that, I reread what I’ve written, go for a walk, and work on the marketing plan for the WIP.

What are you working on right now?

The fourth Ryn Davis Mystery/Thriller. Entitled Disrupted, it is contemporary with the COVID-19 virus figuring very much in the story. Yes, there is a murder most foul.

Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?

Leave me a note on my website: abplum.com

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