You’ve published a great deal of academic works on social and political theory, but this is your first novel. Did you always want to write fiction?
More as time went by. I’ve read a lot of fiction, and I guess at some point, you decide that you have to give it a shot. In 2020, when COVID-19 started, that was a catalyst because I had time on my hands and nothing to do. I don’t like to think of it as a COVID project, but it was the right time to be serious about a novel, so I just started writing.
Were you inspired to write a detective novel from your criminology background and all your research over the years?
The inspiration to write is because you want to tell stories, I think. But it occurred to me that I have a significant criminology background. I did a lot of research on police and worked alongside the cops in the Annapolis Valley for a number of years, doing interviews, ride-alongs, and participant observation. I thought, well, I have a heck of a lot of information about cops, and so, maybe a mystery novel focusing on the local police would be a good way to go. would be a good way to go. So, I came up with the main plot line and the themes I wanted to develop, what I wanted to include, what I wanted to do with it, and started writing.
How much did your experience as a professor influence the story?
Being a professor had a lot of influence on it, because it’s set in a university and the protagonist is a professor of criminology. I’ve read all kinds of novels, but I particularly like fiction that has serious, realistic ideas underlying it, and I can grapple with those.
How did you come up with “About Face” as the title for your book?
Face becomes a multi-purpose theme in it. There are so many uses for face: the two-faced, face the facts, etc. There’s so many uses for face as a metaphor, and so, that’s why it has that title. It’s not just the notion that the protagonist is going to go down one direction, and he’s going to find that it leads nowhere, so he has to switch directions. It’s much more of a sociological concept of the presentation of yourself and others, and not just a metaphor.
The cover of your book is really interesting. Where did you come up with this idea?
Our son, Devon, did the artwork for it. He’s a BFA graduate of Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. We came up with a very simple idea of a young woman looking into a mirror but sees someone very different from what she looks like. It has something to do with projecting who you think you are, and who you want to be. Then he added all of the background artwork, which makes it look quite dark. It think it’s a cool cover.
Did you find the overall publishing process difficult?
I’ve never found writing a grind, including my theses and other research. I wouldn’t say it was hard to write. Editing, that’s a different story. Getting the first draft completed took me about eight months, and at that point, it was about 30,000 words longer than it is now. Telling the story and making up dialog and characters, that wasn’t difficult. I thought I was done. I sent it around to people I know first, to try to get some impressions, and people you know are always very kind. Then I sent it to publishers and agents and ended up with a drawer full of rejections. After that, I got in touch with other writers, who were very helpful. They spared their time, read chapters, and gave advice. The in-house editor at Moose House Publications was very good. They found so many different varieties of the way that I use the passive voice. I was astounded by it. I was quite creative in doing the wrong thing, but the editor was very helpful. My wife, Heather, also went through it about three times and was very helpful in making suggestions and adding to it as well.
You’ve had a little while to digest your first work of fiction. Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
The only thing I regret leaving out was a bit of the backstory for the main character in terms of his marriage and his own family. I cut that out, and I think that would have been useful to have in there as a reference point for where I’m going next with the story. I cut it out to reduce the length of the book, and I think it is better this way. Every time I pick it up, I still want to edit it. But there comes a point in the writing process when you’ve gone over it a number of times and you’ve get the damn thing just about memorized, and you have to let it go.
What would you say are the biggest difference between writing fiction and all of your academic works over the years?
The liberating thing about writing fiction is that you make it up. You have all kinds of references, all kinds of experiences, all kinds of things that people have said, people you’ve met, all kinds of things enter into it, but you mix them up, and you create characters who are composites and don’t exist. It’s the liberation of your writing, mind, and imagination that’s the big difference. I’m looking forward to putting more words on paper again. It’s a great journey. There’s nothing quite like it. It’s an amazing experience to write fiction.
How did you feel when you picked up the first copy of your book?
Shocked. It was amazing to have it in my hands. It’s something you can’t believe. I’ve written books before, and it was nice to see them in print, but this one was different because there’s more of me in it. It’s something that I invented, as opposed to my discussion of another person’s ideas.
Are you working on a second book in the series?
It’s mostly only in my head so far. I’ve written much of the first chapter several times, but I’m more focused on planning for the second book than I was for the first one. The first was more spontaneous as it unfolded. I’m doing more planning now, trying to develop characters, develop incidents. I have a timeline and themes. I know where it’s going to go.
What else are you writing these days?
I’m still writing political and social theory. I’m also writing about my family history, which is something I got into when I retired. I also enjoy writing reviews of books that I’ve read.
How are finding the marketing aspects of being an author?
It’s the worst, absolutely the worst (laughs). I think that’s normal for writers. Writers want to write. I like talking to random people, but I don’t like talking about myself to them, or about what I’ve done. I’m much more interested in talking to people about what they do and what they think. That’s more my style. Honestly, I don’t think I have the right elevator speech yet. Elevator speeches are fairly simple, although you want them to be pointed and brief. Another challenge I have is choosing a passage to read during a book signing. Those are all tricky for me.
To learn more about Tony Thomson and About Face, visit: www.moosehousepress.com/product-page/about-face.
