James P. Sumner - Fast-Paced Adventure With Pulse-Pounding Action and Clever Twists

James P. Sumner has been writing thrillers since 2013. In his career, he has published 16 novels — including 15 bestsellers and 1 international bestselling — and 6 short stories. His writing has gained cult-like status among his readers and is known for his expert blend of gripping action, award-winning dialogue, and dark humor. Outside of writing, he has become a spokesman in the indie publishing community for mental health awareness.  As our Author of the Day, he tells us all about his book, Blowback.

Please give us a short introduction to what Blowback is about.

Blowback is a story of revenge, where we find Adrian doing his best to enjoy another attempt at retirement. Ever the assassin, he takes low-level, easy contracts to keep boredom at bay. But when he stumbles into the middle of a Yakuza turf war, he finds himself fighting enemies on all sides… including a ghost from his past hell-bent on vengeance for something they believe he did years earlier. Adrian must fight for his life if he is to see another sunrise.

What inspired you to write an adventure featuring an assassin?

I’ve always been fascinated with stories about assassins and their lore, as well as with more action-orientated thrillers. It felt natural to tell this kind of story and to try and put my own spin on something I’ve grown up reading.

Tell us more about Adrian Hell. What makes him so special?

If you were to ask him that question, he would say nothing at all! Adrian is a former soldier and a highly-skilled assassin, but it’s not so much what he can do that makes him special… it’s more about who he is. The stories put you inside his head, which means you get to see what he thinks and feels, as well as experience what he goes through, as he’s going through it. I think what makes this character stand out is, that despite his seemingly extraordinary abilities, he is ultimately human. He has the same vulnerabilities and mental health issues as the rest of us. What makes him special is his conviction to do what he believes is right, no matter the cost, despite being just as human as we are.

This is book 8 in the Adrian Hell series. Can it be read as a standalone? How do the other books in this series tie in with this one?

Each entry in the Adrian Hell series follows on from the last, certainly in terms of the chronology. The series is the story of his life. Some storylines continue, others start and end in the same book. There are, however, what I would call “soft reset” points in the series, where the character goes through a new beginning, of sorts. I’ve done this in such a way that you don’t need to have read what came before in order to enjoy what happens next… but it will add to the experience if you do. Those reset points are True Conviction (Book 1), Deadly Intent (Book 4), and Blowback (Book 8).

Why did you pick Tokyo as the backdrop for your story?

I’ve always loved the city from a creative standpoint, and I’ve been planning to base a book there for a number of years. This was the perfect story, as it focused on the Yakuza, and tied in perfectly to the story arc of the ghost from Adrian’s past coming back to seek revenge.

Blowback contains quite a couple of twists and turns. Did you plan it all out before you started writing, or did some of it just "happen" along the way?

A lot goes into planning my novels, not just because I want to make each one as good and as exciting as possible, but also because there is a bigger picture to think about. The individual series has a direction I want to go in, and there are MCU-style links to my other series that I need to make sure always work how I want them to. I will typically spend a couple of weeks plotting out each chapter in detail before I start writing the first draft, to ensure I’m not just telling the story, but also hitting every subplot, every beat, every hint at the future that I need to.

Have you always wanted to be an author and was there a specific aha moment where you realized that you have fulfilled this dream?

Being a writer was always the dream, ever since I was a kid. For me, the “a-ha” moment came after reading ‘Lethal People’ by John Locke. I loved how different it was from other books in the genre, and when I discovered John was self-published and very successful, I realized then I could make this dream happen for myself. That was 2013, and I’ve been working on it ever since.

Your books are quite fast-paced. How do you pull this off?

I learned the art of storytelling from Aaron Sorkin, the screenwriter behind shows like The West Wing and The Newsroom. In an interview once, he pointed out that real life doesn’t have a narrator. You progress through each day by talking to people, and by doing things. That really stuck with me, so I write my books in a way that probably 80% of them is either dialogue or action. Some narrative is required, but I try not to weigh the story down with too much description. That’s for the reader to fill in the blanks, so each person that reads my books has a unique experience. The stories progress through dialogue between characters, or, in the case of Adrian Hell, through his own inner dialogue, which kind of functions like a narrative at the same time.

What did you have the most fun with when writing Blowback?

Honestly? Finishing it! Blowback is a special book to me. I started writing it in the summer of 2018, but then real life got in the way, and I went through a very difficult time personally. It wasn’t until spring 2020 that I picked the manuscript back up again and finished it. This book is without a doubt one of the strongest entries in the series, and will always symbolize me coming out the other side of one of the toughest times of my life.

You include quite a lot of dark humor in your books. Why do you take this approach?

I think every author will admit there is usually an element of themselves in their protagonists. I have a pretty dark/sarcastic sense of humor, and typically use humor as a way of coping with difficult situations. It made sense to me that Adrian would do the same. His life is filled with challenges many of us couldn’t imagine. Part of his character is his mental strength, and to me, it felt natural that he would try to laugh off the dark times with an equally dark, yet humorous mentality.

When starting on a new book, what is the first thing you do?

As I write a couple of ongoing series, I usually have a good idea of where the story needs to end up before I even start planning. The process of planning tends to escalate for me. I start off with a one-line summary of the plot. Then I start asking myself questions about it, then answering them. One line becomes one paragraph, which becomes one page… then before I know it, I have 10,000 words outlining almost every aspect of the story. I then split that into individual scenes, which allows me to look for gaps or dips in the progression. I will build that out until I have a breakdown of each chapter, beginning to end — usually, around 1,000 words, detailing what happens, who’s involved, what they’re thinking, what it means going forward, etc. Actually writing is the easy part, because, by the time I get to start the first draft, I don’t really need to think about what I’m doing. I just look at the plan, see what the next chapter needs to contain, then just do it.

What are you working on right now?

Right now, I’m working on the Book 10 of the Adrian Hell series, called Become Death. This has taken me a lot longer than normal to get down, as I needed to do some significant rewriting, so I’m still in the middle of that.

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

You can check out my website, jamespsumner.com for details about me and all my books, including the all-important purchase links.