AUTHOR INTERVIEW: 'THE SOLICITOR' SEAN KEEFER @thetrustnovel

While growing up in South Carolina, Sean didn't realize it, but he was absorbing the styles, mannerisms, idiosyncrasies, dialects and the culture of his home. Add to this the time he spent traveling the other Carolina for school and then North America for work, he collected a vast array of experiences and observations from which to draw upon and bring together in his writing.

After studying law in North Carolina, Sean settled in Charleston, South Carolina and instantly became enamored with the people as well as the city.

One day he started writing and the words, generally, kept flowing. A page became a chapter which ultimately became a book known as The Trust. After this the process started again and The Solicitor was the end result. Hopefully, if you are reading this you either have, or soon will have, your very own copy of one or both.

The experience of taking two novels from conceptualization to print has been one of frustration peppered with increasing amounts of reward. Each step from the first words hitting the page to ultimately holding a book in hand has been a personal reward.

When Sean is not writing he practices Family Law and works as a Domestic Mediator and lives with his Wife and an ever-expanding pack of rescue canines – the current count is 4. As well, Sean can frequently be found wandering the lowcountry of South Carolina with his camera, playing guitar in assorted venues around Charleston or exploring the underwater world of the southeast.

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Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? When did you come up with the idea to write your book?

The Solicitor is the second book in the Noah Parks Mystery Series and it picks up where the first, The Trust, leaves off. It starts with the main character, Noah Parks, being arrested for the murder of a dear friend.

A number of years back in Charleston, South Carolina where I live and write, there was an election for county solicitor (the South Carolina term for district attorneys or prosecutors). The campaign was as contentious as I can recall such an election, particularly a local one, having been. The entire experience made me consider a situation where one of the candidates was murdered leaving the new solicitor’s first case being the prosecution of the accused murderer of his former political rival.

From this, The Solicitor was born. To make it more interesting, rather than a legal thriller about the main character attorney defending the murderer, I decided to make the main character attorney the accused.

Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

My writing method has, and continues to be, ever evolving. For this book, I started out with an outline that I expanded until I had enough to begin writing. I also revisited the outline frequently and made modifications as necessary. This gave me a road map that I generally followed – there were detours along the way, rabbits that appeared that I chased – but I stayed on track and largely followed the initial plan.

I realize this approach may not work for everyone, but since I sometimes go a couple of weeks without writing, it allows me to keep the story organized and flowing.

I think for new writers I would say experiment a bit to find what works best for you, even if it is something someone told you not to do. As long as you are writing, and as long as it works for you, that is a large part of the equation.

Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

I formed a publishing entity and that entity published my book.

Q: Is there anything that surprised you about getting your first book published?

No one told me the gargantuan task of actually writing a book was just the tip of the iceberg. There are a number of things that go along with the writing that are ongoing and just as important as the writing process. For a new writer, I would say spend a lot of time learning about social media and marketing. Never be afraid to talk about your book and develop a 90 second “elevator pitch.”

Q: What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

I am working on book three of the Noah Parks Mystery Series and hope to have it out in about a year to 18 months. This book will be a prequel to the first to as I have become curious about Noah Parks’ backstory and his early years as a lawyer.

Q: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

While I am a lawyer, I don’t write about any matter in which I am actually involved. I work in the domestic law arena limiting my practice to work as a mediator. In this role, I am involved in numerous cases and I specifically make any legal matter in which I am involved 100% off limits as to plot lines in my work.

Q: Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

My genre doesn’t really lend itself to conveying a message, but if there is anything I am trying to convey it is trust yourself and your friends. My main goal in writing the book was to explore how things could change for an attorney when that attorney is charged with a serious crime. It is one thing to represent clients, but what would be different if the attorney was the one in the Defendant role?

Q: Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?

Please feel free to drop by SeanKeefer.com for news, giveaways, updates and appearances.

About the Book:

Title: THE SOLICITOR
Author: Sean Keefer
Publisher: Four Hounds Creative
Pages: 386
Genre: Mystery

BOOK BLURB:

When you make your living fighting for justice, the last place you expect to wake up is behind bars.

Attorney Noah Parks has spent his life keeping people out of jail. When he’s charged with the murder of a candidate for Charleston County Solicitor he finds himself on the wrong side of the law for a crime he says he didn’t commit.

No longer fighting for others and now relying on the help of the few people he does trust, Noah must fight to clear his name and find the real killer before it’s too late.

His search will lead him through a maze of deceptions, lies, family turmoil and treachery that spans generations.

The Solicitor is set in historic Charleston and the surrounding South Carolina Lowcountry where under the surface things are not always as genteel as they appear.