Clyde Ford with Wendy Hinman

 Interview: 
Clyde Ford with Wendy Hinman
 

Clyde, I first met you at the Seattle Boat Show selling nautical mysteries, but I didn’t realize the breadth of your career until I heard an NPR interview with you about your memoir THINK BLACK. The Writers Connection is delighted to have you share your literary experience with our readers.
 What were your first literary influences?

Well, I mean my very first literary influences came from the stories my mother read to me as a child and I was particularly fond of Peter Pan. I think that story gave me a sense of wonder and fueled my imagination to create fictional worlds.

Can you describe your writing process?

I’m not sure I have a specific writing process. I generally let a goal of five pages per day. If I finish those five pages by 10 am, then I have the remainder of the day to myself. But if I don’t finish those five pages until 6 pm, it becomes a long day.

How do you conduct your research?

I like to consult primary sources. Fortunately, the internet makes that easy today. For my most recent book, “Of Blood and Sweat” I was actually able to find primary sources—original books, articles, and manuscripts online. Prior to the internet, I spent a lot of time at libraries and often hired research assistants to help me.

What made you switch to writing fiction? Was it a difficult transition? How did you adjust your writing style to write mystery stories?

After my book, “The Hero with An African Face,” which was about the mythology of Africa, a friend said to me, “Clyde, now that you know about how great stories were told throughout the ages, you should write your own stories.”
It was a very challenging transition, and the first two novels I wrote were not very good, and fortunately they were not published. My third novel, a thriller, was the first novel to be published, and to my great surprise it won the Hurston-Wright Literary Award in fiction, the highest honor granted to a Black author.
I want to make an important distinction here between mysteries and thrillers. A mystery is a “whodunit,” whereas a thriller is a “whydunit.” There’s a gray area between them but my novels are probably closer to thrillers.
The most challenging aspect of writing fiction for me, regardless of the genre of fiction, was finding my voice as a writer, and that came through most clearly in how I wrote dialogue. I now am very clear about what kind of dialogue I like—short and largely without attribution and adjectives and adverbs. I start with just enough attribution for the reader to know who’s speaking, then I quickly transition to “he saids” and “she saids” and will often drop even those attributions.

What advice or instruction or practice did you find most helpful in developing your skills as a fiction writer?

Write sketches of characters in a journal or notebook like an artist draws sketches on a pad. Experiment with different styles of dialogue until you hit on one that speaks to you. Write what you don’t know, as much as what you do know. Don’t write because you think you will get published, write because you can’t imagine yourself doing anything else.

What was your first big break? What were your biggest pitfalls? (You mentioned your mystery series publisher had gone under. Would you care to comment on that, how you addressed the issue, and share what you learned?)

I’ve been very fortunate in my career. I mean, the first big break was realizing just how much I loved writing. Other big breaks have centered a lot around attitude. I practice a form of Buddhist meditation in which non-attachment is a central goal. It’s a very good attitude to have as a writer: being non-attached to a particular outcome. You never really know if your agent or publisher will like what you’re currently working on. You never really know if the public will appreciate it. So, having an attitude of non-attachment allows you to continue working in the face of the vicissitudes of this profession.
Pitfalls always present opportunities. You mentioned one of my publishers going out-of-business, which happened, but ultimately that led me to my current publisher whom I am very happy with.

What has most surprised you in your literary career? Or what do you wish you’d known earlier in your writing career?

What’s most surprised me is the number of awards my books have received over the years. Each of the awards was unexpected.
What I wish I knew earlier in my writing career was the importance of taking a step back and relying on the skills and professionalism of others. Letting an agent do their job. Letting an editor help you improve a manuscript. Letting a publicist inform you of the best way to promote a book. My job is writing. Their job is getting my writing sold, shaping it as best possible, and getting as many people as possible to consider acquiring the book.

You’ve written a lot about race. Are you glad to see broader discussions of race in mainstream media? Does it feel like real progress?

I wish I could say that I feel like there’s real progress in the discourse on race in America, but I actually feel just the opposite has taken place. The crazy efforts by some to ban books by authors of color, or rail against Critical Race Theory, when they can’t even define the term, shows me that not much progress has been made.
We do not have a truth and reconciliation process around race in this country. Take Juneteenth, for example. There’s a national holiday based on a day about which everyone thinks they know the history. Yet, when you actually delve into the history of Juneteenth, as I have done in my books and writing, you find that absolutely none of the popular narratives about the day are true. In any truth and reconciliation process truth comes first. But I see in this country a sense that truth is fungible, particularly inconvenient truths that may not fit your worldview. The history of race in America presents many inconvenient truths that a lot of people would rather avoid.

What advice would you give aspiring writers? Is your advice different for fiction writers and non-fiction writers?

Build relationships and never ever burn bridges. Let’s say an editor you really want to work with rejects your book or your proposal. The worst thing you can do is send a nasty email to them out of the rejection you feel because you never know when you might meet that person under different circumstances in the publishing world. I always send ‘thank-you’ notes to editors, agents, and publishers even when they have rejected my work. That has paid off tremendously for me. Yesterday’s editor may be today’s publisher and they may remember the circumstances under which they first me you. Something similar has happened to me over and over through my writing career. 
 Thank you so much, Clyde, for your insightful interview. www.clydeford.com