Prior to a long finance career, including a 16-year stint as a senior executive and board member of an NYSE-listed company, Joseph Badal served for six years as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army in critical, highly classified positions in the U.S. and overseas, including tours of duty in Greece and Vietnam, and earned numerous military decorations.
Joe is the author of twelve published suspense novels and a two-time winner of the Tony Hillerman Prize for Best Fiction Book of the Year (“Ultimate Betrayal” in 2014 and “The Motive” in 2016). He earned “Finalist” recognition for “The Motive” and “Borderline” in 2017 from the International Book Awards. The Military Writers Society of America awarded Joe two Gold Medals in 2017 for The Nostradamus Secret and The Lone Wolf Agenda, its Gold Medal in 2016 for “Death Ship,” its Silver Medal in 2016 for “Terror Cell,” and its Silver Medal in 2015 for “Evil Deeds.””His “The Lone Wolf Agenda” was named the top Mystery/Thriller novel in the 2013 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards competition.
Website: http://www.josephbadalbooks.com/
BMH: What is something you wish someone would have told you before you became an author?
JB: As a beginning writer who had never taken any creative writing classes, I thought it was enough to tell a really good story. Unfortunately, I had no idea about the mechanics of writing, about characterization, tension, POV, etc. Learning about those mechanics turned out to be a painful, laborious process.
BMH: You can go back in time, meet and chat with anyone, who would it be? What would you talk about?
JB: Great question. I think it would have to be Leonardo da Vinci. The man was an artist, writer, inventor, scientist, engineer, etc. He may have been the greatest genius of all time. I would ask da Vinci one question: What have you learned from life? Then, I suspect, I would just sit back and listen for hours.
BMH: Why crime fiction?
JB: I started out writing international thrillers because that was the genre I most enjoyed reading and because my time in the military gave me plenty of material to write about. I added crime fiction to my repertoire when a friend told me a story about the death of his sister. The story was so engaging that I decided it had to be written. Now, I enjoy switching between thrillers and mysteries as a way to cleanse my literary palette.
BMH: What is something you’ve never written about, but hope to some day?
JB: I am shocked at the amount of human trafficking that goes on worldwide today. I have done a lot of research on the subject and would like to write a book about trafficking.
BMH: How big a part did your upbringing have on your writing?
JB: Story-telling has been a part of my family’s history. Stories told to my father by his parents and grandparents have been passed down to my siblings and me. I am the oldest of five children and can remember many evenings when my father would put all five of us in one bed, sit beside the bed, and tell stories. Each of us, from one evening to the next, would play the role of the protagonist. These stories were always about the triumph of good over evil and would encourage us to be forces for good.
BMH: Who is you hero/heroine? Why?
JB: I’ve written 12 novels, so I’ve had many heroes, heroines. But there has been a common trait in all of my heroes and heroines: they are everyday types that the reader can relate to. They are never super-heroes who leap tall buildings in a single bound, nor do they dodge bullets the way the protagonists in many suspense novels do. They tend to be patriots and forces for good.
BMH: What two words best describes your writing style?
JB: Tension filled.
BMH: How do you create your characters?
JB: My characters tend to be amalgams of people I have known. Obviously, I write fiction, so, when I introduce a character, he/she might be based in some respects on real people. But I then expand on that character in order to support the plot.
BMH: Outliner or seat-of-your-pants writer?
JB: I never know where I will go with a story when I begin. If I were forced to outline a book, I think I would take up painting. Outlining would take most of the fun away from the writing process.
BMH: How much editing do you do as you write your first draft?
JB: I do very little editing while writing a first draft, except where I change direction in a storyline. However, once I finish a manuscript, I go through an intensive editing process, rewriting my manuscript at least 6 times.
BMH: How do you use social media to promote yourself?
JB: I spend at least one hour a day on social media, putting out notices about my books and my appearances, recommending other authors’ books, etc. Social media is a vital part of how I promote my work. I primarily post on Twitter and Facebook, and also send emails to the 1,500 people on my email list.
BMH: What do you think of the new faces of publishing….ebooks, POD, indie-publishing?
JB: One thing I’ve learned since my first book was published in 2003 is that there aren’t enough agents and publishers to manage the careers of quality writers. Although I have been fortunate to have an agent and a traditional publisher, I know dozens of very fine writers who would never have been published were it not for platforms like CreateSpace, for instance. Indie-publishing has given exposure to many quality writers. And eBooks are a function of society’s interest in convenience and saving money. The new faces of publishing have been boons to writers and to readers.
BMH: Do you blog?
JB: Yes, I write a blog titled Everyday Heroes, which synchs with the protagonists in my books. I write about subjects that range from heroic animals to military heroes and everyday citizens.
BMH: What comes first for you, characters or plot?
JB: I build my stories around characters. My plots revolve around those characters. Many of my stories are based on real events that happened to real people. It is those events and people that form the foundations for my stories and plots.
BMH: What did you do to celebrate when you signed your first book contract?
JB: Signing my first book contract was celebration in itself. I was ecstatic; all I wanted to do was go to my computer and write my next novel.
BMH: Where was your first appearance as an author?
JB: What a trip that was! My first appearance was a multi-author signing at the Mystery Bookshop’s booth at the 2003 L.A. Times Festival of the Book on the UCLA campus. I was seated between Elmore Leonard and Stuart Woods. The store had hundreds of Leonard’s and Woods’s books for sale and all of 12 of mine.
BMH: What authors influenced you the most?
JB: The authors who influenced me the most were those I read as a young man. Robert Ludlum, James Clavell, Elmore Leonard, Tony Hillerman, and others played a role in inspiring me to become a writer.
BMH: Research?
JB: I spend an incredible amount of time on research before, during, and after I complete a first draft of a manuscript. My research includes studying geography, weaponry, psychology, and customs of an area.
BMH: Why did you become a writer?
JB: I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was in grammar school. I can’t think of anything I would rather do. I was pushed into a finance career because my parents thought that would be a good way to make a living. Despite the story-telling tradition in my family, neither of parents saw writing as a career or a way to support a family.
BMH: Do you have a daily writing routine?
JB: I write every single day for at least 3-4 hours. Whether I am at home, on vacation, or on a business trip, I never fail to put in time at my computer on editing, writing, and/or researching.
BMH: What do you do to cut loose and have some fun?
JB: I love people and thoroughly enjoy sitting with friends and listening to their stories and experiences. I try to play golf twice a week because I meet many new people on the golf course Again, I love to hear their stories.
BMH: How about some hard-earned advice.
JB: Edit! Edit! Edit! Sloppy writing and poor mechanics will quickly turn off a reader and, as a result, not only will the reader abandon a book, but he/she may never pick up another book by the author.
