DORIEN GREY

I had the great pleasure of meeting Dorien Grey one wintry afternoon on the outskirts of Chicago . I was handling some family business… uh, wait, that isn't… I was there for a conference, yeah, a conference. That's why I was in Chicago . It was a cold February weekend and there was snow in the air. But that doesn't deter the likes of Dorien Grey who has braved much more than Chicago frostbite.

Dorien made the long trek out to the hotel and once inside and out of the cold, he was able to thaw out and we had a wonderful lunch. He's an amazing person with a great sense of humor. More than that he's a warm person who truly cares about others; he does what he can to bring people together and get them where they want to go.

This is an interview you'll enjoy.

DG: Hi, Joe, and thanks for the invitation to talk with you and your Mysterical-E readers.

JD: Glad you could come. How about a little introduction for those who may not know you yet.

DG: Well, my real name is Roger Margason, but when it comes to my writing I am Dorien Grey, a totally separate being. I currently have twelve books out: the eleven-book Dick Hardesty mystery series, and a western/adventure/romance, Calico. And there are three more sitting in the publisher's pipeline.

JD: Ah, yes…I want to ask you about them a bit later. But where can people find the ones already out there?

DG: Right on cue: bless you. They're available either in or on order from any bookstore in the country, as well as Amazon and most other online booksellers. And if I could, I'd like to put in a plug for independent bookstores. They've supported gay writers for years before the chains would even deign to acknowledge our existence, and now they're increasingly being put out of business because people can save a few cents by going to the chains. I'm not knocking the chains, but I do think we owe it to the independents to do whatever we can to support them.

JD: Good point.

DG: Sorry to ramble. What else can I tell you?

JD: Well, for starters, you write because…?

DG: Primarily because I can't not write. My main goal as a writer is simple: to get you to read my works. I'll readily admit ego is a factor, but ego's far outweighed by my firm belief that by my putting so much of myself out there for public scrutiny, the reader might find bits of himself or herself in my words and realize that what unites us as human beings is far greater than what separates us.

JD: So it's not the money?

DG: Surely you jest: unless you're Stephen King or J.K. Rowling or a handful of other biggies, even thinking about making a living by writing is an exercise in fantasy.

JD: So why do you think you became a writer rather than a botanist, say.

DG: I began retreating into books at a very early age, as a method of dealing with a world in which I did not feel I belonged. It was much easier to create my own worlds than to try to figure this one out. I've always hated most of reality. Writing is a way to circumvent it.

JD: So how much of yourself do you put into your books?

DG: A lot! Bits and pieces of me are in everything I write. I think that's probably true of every writer.

JD: And how much of you is in Dick Hardesty?

DG: Oh, I am Dick Hardesty. Or perhaps I should say that Dick Hardesty is an alternate-universe me. He's who I would really like to be.

JD: Where and why did you come up with the name 'Dick Hardesty'? Talk about double entendres!

DG: Yeah, that's true. I had no idea, when I wrote the first book in the series, that it was going to become a series, and I frankly wrote it for gay men. But I've now got a much wider audience, and Dick Hardesty is simply the character's name, with no double entendre involved. And I have no doubt whatsoever that there are many real people named Dick Hardesty.

JD: So if you're Dick Hardesty, who's Jonathan, Dick's partner, or where did he come from?

DG: I'm delighted that you asked that. I love telling the 'Jonathan story', because I think it tells a lot about my mental processes when it comes to writing.

JD: Tell away.

DG: Well, Jonathan is sort of my own fantasy fulfillment. He's part Ray, my ex, and part Dorien. Odd to say, but I look on Dick's relationship with Jonathan as being rather like my—Roger's—relationship with Dorien. I don't have a partner, and along about book #5 in the series, I must have been thinking that Dick should have one. I honestly had no specific idea or plan or timetable to give him one, but when Dick walked into Hughie's bar to pick up a paper in The Good Cop, there Jonathan was, sitting at the bar, and that was it. He caught both me and Dick totally by surprise, as so many things in my books do. And I love it when that happens.

JD: So I gather you don't outline a book first? How about keeping files and piles of notes?

DG: No to both. I never outline or block out. I get the basic theme/idea of the novel and then just let my mind take it from there. I honestly don't so much write my books as sit there and read what my fingers type. It's rather like walking through a thick fog: something will appear in the distance, and I just move toward it. I always know where I'm going to end up, however. And in the Dick Hardesty series, especially, I know my characters well enough to just give them pretty much free rein.

JD: What are some of the tricks, pitfalls, etc. that you keep in mind when writing a mystery?

DG: First and foremost, I never forget that the book is a game I'm playing with the reader, and that the reader is often sharper than I am. I'm very careful never to plant a clue that isn't followed up on somewhere later in the story.

JD: How have you grown as a writer? What has gotten better? What things have you dropped along the way?

DG: Now, that's a most interesting question, and one that I simply have to refer to my readers. I hope, in the Dick Hardesty series, that my characters have grown and evolved over the course of the series, but as for myself, I feel that I never change; that I am still exactly the same as I was when I was six or sixteen or thirty six or…Hopefully, I know a lot more now than I did, and that I've been able to hone whatever good qualities I started out with. Writing is a lot like an apple: the more you polish it, the nicer it looks.

JD: What are the three most important pieces of advice you'd give to anyone wanting to be a writer?

DG: Only three? Well, let's see: first, never forget that while you are free to play God with your characters, you can't with your readers. You're just one human being talking to another, so always talk to your readers, never at them. You need them a lot more than they need you. Second, never expect a reader to know as much about your story as you know: if something can be confusing, it will be. Third, re-read everything you write, aloud if necessary, and if you wouldn't say something in a certain way, don't write it that way. When you're comfortable with it, chances are the reader will be, too.

JD: Have you ever figured out where the ideas for a book come from?

DG: Nope. A total mystery--no pun intended. My mind is sort of like a downed power line, whipping all over the place, shooting off sparks. Usually I think first of a situation around which to center the story, or a theme—most of my books have themes woven through them—but sometimes I'll start with a title, or even a last line.

JD: How long does it generally take you to complete a novel from conception to completion?

DG: Well, I probably write quite a bit faster than most, mainly because I spend so much of my time at it. I have averaged two books a year for the past six or so years.

JD: How many revisions do you normally go through on a book?

DG: It's an ongoing process. I often find something that comes up as I'm writing requires my going back into the text to add or change something to make it all flow more smoothly. I might, for instance, say something about a character's brother, then remember I'd never mentioned the character's even having a brother, so have to go back to put in some sort of casual reference to him so that when he shows up later, the reader won't wonder where the devil he came from.

JD: Do you ever have writer's bloc?

DG: Occasionally, but not very often.

JD: And how do you get over it?

DG: When I hit a wall of some kind, what I usually do is go back several pages and start reading from there, and by the time I get to the place where I'd hit the wall, I usually sail right past it.

JD: What do you think is more important in writing: plot, characterization, or style?

DG: Style, no question about it. Every good writer and poet has a magic ability to blend words together to spin intricate webs of language and vivid mental images. In that regard, novels are a lot like poems. I don't think it is possible to separate style from characterization. Plot is a somewhat different thing, but if a writer has a good style, chances are it can carry a plot as well. I think of style as being the truest reflection of a writer, and I'd like to think that's true in my case.

JD: So what about current and future projects?

DG: Well, just a second here while I drag out my soapbox and my flags and trumpets. At the moment I have three finished books waiting none-too-patiently in my publishers' production pipeline—His Name is John, the first in a new series; The Angel Singers, book # 12 in the Dick Hardesty series; and A World Ago, a compilation of letters written to my parents while I was in the Navy shortly after the South rejoined the Union . And I'm halfway through the second book in the new series. I've got my website, which I'd very much like to have Mysterical-E readers visit at http://www.doriengrey.net I'm working on making video book trailers for all my books…there are three done now, and I have a number of blogs going: A World Ago at http://www.doriengrey.blogspot.com, Dorien Grey and Me at
http://www.doriengreyandme.blogspot.com,
and a brand new one, Dorien Grey: A Life in Photos at http://www.doriengreyphotolife.blogspot.com

JD: Sounds like you're a busy man.

DG: Yeah, and I'm thinking of becoming an astronaut. That, or a fireman.

JD: Well, then, I'd better let you go. Anything you'd like to say to Mysterical-E readers first?

DG: Just thanks for reading/indulging me. And, hey, why not try one of my books? Or, better still, all of them? Or, drop in on one of my blogs? Or visit my website? Or…

JD: Good bye, Dorien.

DG: …oh. Uh, yeah. And thanks again.