Q & A with Summer Festival Sponsor Linda Griffin and San Diego Writers Festival
SDWF: What inspired you to write Guilty Knowledge?
LG: As often happens with me, two different subjects I had been considering fit together for the plot. In this case one was a witness who claims to be psychic. The other would be a spoiler, so I won’t reveal it here. The real trigger, though, came when a TV character asked a question, and I imagined what my answer would be. I gave that answer to Sariah, and her character grew out of it. When I began to imagine who Jesse would be, I happened to see an attractive black man, and that became part of the character. I hadn’t intended it to be an interracial romance, but it gave me an opportunity to say something I had always wanted to say on the subject.
SDWF: What books are on your nightstand or stacked next to your bed?
LG: I don’t read in bed but keep a stack of library books in a nearby bookcase. Currently Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman, A Psalm for Lost Girls by Katie Bayerl, Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George, Never Let You Go by Monica Murphy, and Baby Doll by Hollie Overton. I’m currently reading another Elizabeth George mystery,The Punishment She Deserves.
SDWF: What do you wish you’d known before you started out as a writer?
LG: I’m sure it wouldn’t have resonated with me when I started out, since I was only six, but I’ve found a quotation by Richard P. Brickner in his memoir My Second Twenty Years very helpful. He said. “A novel…is, to its author, as huge as an ocean, no matter how mere a glass of water it may be to a reader.” It reminds me that the criticism or indifference of others relates to a mere glass of water (and they may not be thirsty), but it’s still my ocean and I’m enjoying the swim.
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SDWF: Thank you, Linda!
