Russell G. Little is a writer and practicing divorce attorney. Murder for Me is a fictionalized compilation of the many people he’s encountered over his lifetime and thirty-two-year career. He lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife of thirty-two years, Melinda.
Q:You are a practicing divorce attorney. What inspired you to transition into the role of Author, and what Was it about the cases that you felt would make compelling fiction.
My love for fiction and writing predates my time as an attorney. I always aspired to be a writer, I just transitioned to attorney as a part of my life journey. As you move through your life, you come across a few, a very few individuals, unlike anyone else. I remembered those people as I came across them. And a few of those, I marked as potential characters in a book someday. During my legal career, I started my first book maybe twenty times. After my last child left for college, I finished Murder for Me.
Q: From the time you started writing until you finished, what obstacles did you face?
Ignorance was the first and most powerful. Ignorance of the work it involved. Of the necessary planning. The time. The Process. So many things. And I was able to overcome them by work and a refusal to give up. By continuing to fail, get angry and about it, and then to get back to work. That’s why I tell aspiring writers to get to work. Don’t wait.
Q: What is your writing process like?
I have intellectual goals with each book. I have the story in my head, list my characters. I then outline the story. As I do it, I’m making lists of characters, traits, and side stories. I then re-outline. This goes on awhile as I form the story, and then I begin. I must say as I develop characters, I re-outline. I actually love that stuff.
Q: What is the appeal to the reader for murder mysteries from your point of view?
The tension and conflict. There’s something so exciting about a story that feels like a puzzle. I’ve heard that it’s a safe space to explore intense, relatable experiences.
Q: If you had to start over, what would you do differently?
I’d start earlier. I’d finished my first book in college, not in my fifties. That’s why I tell young people that ask me this question to get to work.
Writing is a skill that must be developed, and you have to work at it every day. The sooner you start, the better you can be.
Q: How does being an attorney help you as a writer?
If you read either of my books, you’ll see that the law is integral to the story. The unspoken rules that those in the real world work by are also included. It’s how the story is guided like a stream through the land. And it’s how the characters struggle and manipulate each other. I frankly can’t imagine how a non-attorney could writer this kind of book.
Q: Where do you see yourself in five years?
My purpose right now is to finish the third book, Murder by Trial. To write a character that the reader cannot forget even as the characters personal traits shock the reader. That’s my purpose. A whole different level of character development. Serious multi-dimensional development. This is what I’m working on and will for the foreseeable future.
Learn more about Russell Little at www.russelllittleauthor.com
Find his books on Amazon HERE.
About the Author
