Tuesday, February 25, 2020

5 Questions with Paul Midden, Author of 'Riley'



Paul Martin Midden is the author of five previous novels, each of which explores different writing styles. He practiced clinical psychology for over thirty years. Paul’s interests include historic restoration, travel, fitness, and wine tasting. He and his wife Patricia renovated an 1895 Romanesque home in 1995 and continue to enjoy urban living.
Q: What’s inside the mind of an adult fiction author?
A: Most importantly, I think, is a desire to create something. Something that has not been done before, at least not in the way I would do it. Then there is the desire to create characters and let the lives of these characters unfold. For me, this means not overplanning my work or worrying too much about how they will turn out. Once a book is populated with believable characters, events take on a life of their own. It’s a matter of suspending left-brain thinking and respecting the characters that have been created.
Q: Tell us why readers should buy Riley?
A: For those who are interested in how relationships work (or not) in contemporary American life, this book would be of especial interest. It would also appeal to readers who sympathize with normal, even typical, people and how they navigate their lives in often difficult situations. The characters are not meant to be idealized versions of humans; they are living, breathing, mistake-making humans. Like all of us.
Q: What makes a good general fiction book?
A: The writing must be appealing and readily understood. Beyond that, the virtues of a good novel are clarity, candor, and representing the world as it is. Authenticity on the part of the characters is essential to a compelling read.
Q: Where can readers find out more about you and your work?
A: My website at http://www.paulmidden.com
Q: What has writing taught you?
A: Writing fiction enables me to reach beyond the everyday world to create something that reflects that world and allows me, and, it is to be hoped, the reader, to see it in another way, from another perspective. It has deepened my appreciation of the complicated issues that we humans struggle with. It has also taught me the importance of letting events unfold, listening to the characters as they come alive on the page, and developing a greater perspective on life and relationships. And mostly it has taught me to savour the precious human experience.
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Author: Paul Martin Midden
Publisher: Wittmann Blair Publishing


About the Book:

Riley, a young writer, finally divorces her husband and begins a novel about a fictional couple in conflict. Supported by her best friend, Jennifer, she begins her life of freedom. In a complicated turn of events, she meets and beds Edward, a shy young man who falls for her instantly. She does not want to continue the relationship, however, and her refusal lays the groundwork for a series of dangerous events. Her conflicts and those of her characters play out in this psychologically intriguing story.

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