An interview with D. J. Swykert

D. J. Swykert

The Death of Anyone  -  2013

Mr. Swykert,

Thank you for taking your time for me,

Who are your influences?

This may sound very corny, but my first idea that I’d like to write was a short poem by Lord Byron: Flower in the Crannied Wall.  The theme of the poem really struck me and made me want to be able to produce writing that would impact other’s like Byron’s work did.  As far as writers, I read Hemingway and Updike when I was pretty young and liked their style.  The best advice I ever got on writing, and anyone can find them on the internet: Elmore Leonard’s ten rules of writing.  Most concise course in creative writing you can take, and can complete in about three minutes.

When did you begin writing?

Around my junior or senior year in high school.  I had a good literature teacher in the tenth grade who stirred my interest.

How do you come up with your stories, characters, character names, POV, etc.?

I’ve drawn a lot of them from real life, modified the characteristics of people I’ve met and known.  I worked in law enforcement, and I met a lot of very, let’s say “unusual” people.  The female detective in The Death of Anyone is modeled after a female officer I worked with.

If you could actually meet one of your characters, who would it be?  Why?

Jack Joseph from The Pool Boy’s Beatitude.  He has some interesting ideas on time and the uncertainty of the electron, and everything else including love and romance.

Do you work from an outline?  

No, but I do make myself notes as I go along, and during the second edit.  Which I then will look at and follow in the final edit.

Tell me about your favorite scene in your novel(s).  

The scene where Detective Neil Jensen gets shot and killed in The Death of Anyone.  I think it’s the best “death” scene I ever wrote.  And his partner’s reaction, killing the shooter, which even at the end of the book you don’t know if she had to kill the shooter or not, whether she meant to or not. Even Benham isn’t sure.

Can you tell us a little about your writing philosophy?

Keep the writing direct and to the point.  I don’t believe in showing off my vocabulary skills.  I don’t use ten dollar words if a ten cent word will do. 

Have you ever tried writing in any other genres? 
 
I have already written in a couple of genres, mystery, crime noir, historical, romance and literary.

Do you have any interesting writing-related anecdotes to share? 

I sleep with my editor.  Okay, she’s also my life partner and we’ve been together for a decade.

Do you listen to music as you write?

I have listened to music, a variety of artists, Van Morrison is a favorite of mine. But my listening goes all over the place, mostly, though, classic rockers. Big fan of the Stones and Pink Floyd.


DJ, on the behalf of my reader's, I would like to say thanks again.  I agree with your ten cent word logic too - why confuse your audience if your speaking consistently at one level.  Though, then, the times where your character might/has a parsimonious need to sound above everyone.  Personally, and have a hunch your Ladylove would agree, let those slide - for flow.

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About the author  ~

Author D. J. Swygert

 Connect with DJ

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http://magicmasterminds.com/djswykert/

I am a former 911 operator writing fiction.  I have a mystery/forensics/thriller novel, The Death of Anyone, Melange Books, that deals with two unstable homicide detectives who begin a relationship as they pursue a serial killer.  The novel also explores the use of Familial DNA in criminal investigations and the potential Fourth Amendment issues that arise.

D. J. Swygert has appeared in The Tampa Review, Detroit News, Monarch Review, Lunch Ticket, Coe Review, Gravel, Zodiac Review, Barbaric Yawp and Bull.

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BTW folks,  DJ is a wolf expert

 ✒    Also by  D. J. Swykert     ✒ 

 Children of the Enemy

Alpha Wolves

The Pool Boy's Beatitude

Maggie Elizabeth Harrington


 There is a real case involving Familial DNA Searches playing out in Los Angeles.  LAPD caught Lonnie David Franklin, aka The Grim Sleeper, using a Familial DNA Search.  It took five years to get him to trial.  My fictional prosecutors and officers face similar challenges in The Death of Anyone.

Unique DNA Search Catches the Grim Sleeper

The underlying theme in The Death of Anyone, Melange Books, poses the Machiavellian question: Does the end justify the means?  Bonnie Benham, the lead detective in my story, has her own answer.  But the legality of this question was answered in a real life courtroom in the California trial of a serial killer dubbed by the media: The Grim Sleeper.

Lonnie David Franklin, the Grim Sleeper, was caught because his son’s DNA was the closest match to DNA collected at the crime scenes in the database.  Investigating Franklin’s son led them to investigate Lonnie Franklin.  But there was no direct DNA evidence that linked Lonnie to the crime scene until they obtained a sample from him after his arrest.  Lonnie Franklin is the first person in the U.S. to ever stand trial for murder based on this type of evidence, and its admissibility issues were thoroughly tested by defense attorneys.

Only two states at this time, California and Colorado, have a written policy concerning the use of Familial DNA in an investigation.  The admission of Familial DNA, with its potential Fourth Amendment violations, has never been tested in court.  The California trial of Lonnie David Franklin will become a landmark case for the future use of Familial DNA Searches by law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Lonnie David Franklin, AKA, The Grim Sleeper, was arrested on July 7, 2010.  The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office charged him with ten counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and special circumstance allegations of multiple murders in the cases.  A grand jury indictment was issued on March 23, 2011.  The Grim Sleeper has been resting comfortably in jail since his arrest awaiting trial; the large quantity of evidence in this case, some dating back thirty years, has caused a lengthy pretrial discovery.  The trial was originally scheduled to begin the summer of 2014, but was put on hold.  It was rescheduled for June 30, 2015, but that didn’t happen.  On Monday August 17, 2015, at a pretrial hearing, the trial was rescheduled for October 14, 2015.  Finally, in the late spring of 2016, The Grim Sleeper was convicted in May of 2016 and received the death penalty.  The death sentence was later upheld by the court in August of 2016. A long appeals process, which might ultimately end up with the Supreme Court, is expected.

I first heard of the technique while working as a 911 operator in 2006.  It came up in a conversation with our CSI investigator in the department.  I thought at the time it would make an interesting premise for a book.  I began writing the mystery some three years later after leaving the department.  I had just finished editing a first draft of The Death of Anyone in the summer 2010 when news of The Grim Sleeper’s capture in Los Angeles was released.  I read with interest all the information pouring out of L.A. regarding the investigation and the problems confronting prosecutors.  All of which are explored in The Death of Anyone.

In my fictional story Detroit Detective Bonnie Benham has been transferred from working undercover in narcotics to homicide and is working the case of a killer of adolescent girls.  She is a straight forward investigator who describes herself as a blonde with a badge and a gun.  CSI collects DNA evidence from the scene of the latest victim, which had not been detected on the other victims.  But no suspect turns up in the FBI database.  Due to the notoriety of the crimes a task force is put together with Bonnie as the lead detective, and she implores the D.A. to use an as yet unapproved type of a DNA Search in an effort to identify the killer.

  

The Death of Anyone is available on the Melange Books website and also on Amazon.com in Kindle and print, Barnes&Noble, and Kobo

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