Interview With Author Thomas Keech

Today I have an interview for you, with talented author Thomas Keech, who stops by to chat writing and his latest crime thriller, Doc Doc Zeus: A Novel of White Coat Crime. Enjoy!

Interview With Thomas Keech

Why don’t you begin by sharing a little about yourself.

I’m one of those people who always wanted to write – and do everything else too. I started a novel when I was ten in which “an eerie something” came out of the night fog and ran down a high school football player. I gave up because I couldn’t think of any suspects except the football coach (who was the only other character). I would have loved to have stopped writing and lived a normal life, but even as I worked as a juvenile counselor, Legal Aid lawyer and lobbyist, state administrative appeals judge and Assistant Attorney General representing my state’s medical board, I kept trying to write at night, on weekends and on vacations. I’m happy to report that I’m now retired and have been speeding up the writing process a lot in recent years.

Could you tell us a bit about your latest book? 

Doc Doc Zeus: A Novel of White Coat Crime is the story of a narcissistic physician who sexually preys on his women patients, including sixteen-year-old Diane, even while being pursued by the medical board’s investigator.

How long have you been writing, and how many books have you published to date?

My first success was with The Crawlspace Conspiracy, a novel about an old, poor, sick laborer whose dream house gets caught up in a struggle between two warring state politicians. Prey for Love was about two suburban teenagers from broken homes who get caught up in a web of suburban corruption. Hot Box in the Pizza District was about three twenty-year-old guys finding their way in life.

Why did you write this book? What was your inspiration?

I wrote this for two reasons. I wanted to dramatize the critical work of medical boards and the many obstacles they work against to bring miscreants to justice. Then I wanted to do something with the character of Diane. She was a minor character in Prey for Love, but I liked her so much I felt she deserved a novel of her own. And I couldn’t just leave her hanging out there, fourteen and pregnant, without finishing her story.

What did you hope to accomplish by publishing your book?

I hope people will read it and enjoy it. I hope they’ll understand a little more about how sexual predation by authority figures works and also appreciate that the medical boards are there to help, although sometimes in a slow and clunky way. I hope they like the character of Diane half as much as I do.

When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

I read my first adult book, Our Virgin Island, when I was seven and bedridden for a week with poison oak. It was about a couple who bought a tiny island and tried to build a house on it. It wasn’t very exciting for a seven-year-old, but I knew I was into reading then. The writing bug came soon after that.

Can you tell us about your writing process? Where do your ideas originate? Do you have a certain writing routine?

When I’m in the middle of a novel I write for five to eight hours a day. My plots are always complex, and if something isn’t working out in the last chapter I’ll go back and change the whole thing, plot, characters, tone, whatever. And I’ll do it again and again. At the end of the process, I go back once more and try to take out every word that is not absolutely necessary. I’m not a great literary stylist, so I try to make believable characters and a plot that moves along.

What advice would you give beginning writers?

Read.

What’s your next project? Any upcoming book secrets you care to reveal?

No secrets will be revealed here. I try really hard not to write the same novel over and over again. I want everyone, including myself, to be surprised.

Thomas Keech is a retired Assistant Attorney General for the state of Maryland having represented the State Board of Physicians for sixteen years in its attempt to discipline doctors who were sexual predators, perpetrators of insurance fraud, violators of self-referral laws, and many other types of misbehavior. Currently, Keech is a contractual consultant to the Maryland State Board of Physicians, where he helps write regulations, coordinate with other boards and agencies, as well as participate in investigations. 

Learn more about Thomas Keech  on www.realnicebooks.com or by connecting with him on Facebook or Goodreads.