Author Bio:
P.D. Workman was born and raised in Alberta, Canada. She writes riveting young adult and mystery/suspense books dealing with mental illness, addiction, abuse, and other social issues. She has won several literary awards from Library Services for Youth in Custody for her young adult fiction. She currently has over 30 published titles and can be found at pdworkman.com. She has been married for 25 years and has one son.
What inspires you to write?
I have always loved to write. There is nothing quite like creating a world of your own right out of your head. The stories that tend to inspire me are news of injustices and/or that provoke compassion. I'm a very empathetic person, and I'm always writing about the underdog.
I write a lot about mental illness, addiction, abuse, disabilities, poverty, foster care, and other gritty subjects. Even in my cozy mysteries, this issues seem to work their way in!
Tell us about your writing process.
For the first thirty years, I was a pantser. Any time I attempted to outline, I'd become bored with the story and never finish it. But I kept working at it, and for the past few years, I have been writing mostly with an outline.
My outlines are loose and allow for lots of room for invention and adaptation as I work through them. I rarely know the ending when I start. Sometimes I have several possible endings and see where the story leads me.
I love Scrivener for outlining, keeping my writing organized, tracking my word goals, producing my books, etc. Such a great package!
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
After the initial outlining of the plot and character description, I have each (major) character introduce themselves to me in first person POV, even though I write in third. This includes murder victims, even if they never appear live in the book.
During the drafting of the book, I don't talk to them, but they are very real to me. It's a bad idea to talk to me after something terrible has happened to one of my favourite characters; I can be very emotional.
Who are your favorite authors?
J.R.R. Tolkien
Agatha Christie
Lee Child
James Patterson
S.E. Hinton
Kristen D. Randle
Alexander Dumas
How did you decide how to publish your books?
For a lot of years I refused to publish and said I'd just let my estate publish them after I died. I had done a little querying, but whenever I did, I lost my motivation to write. I wrote mostly for myself and wasn't ready to release my babies into the wild.
But I wrote a couple of books that I started to get excited about putting out there in the world, and my changing life circumstances made it an ideal time to start publishing and see whether being a published author was something I could earn an income from. I read a couple of books about independent publishing, and decided to give it a go.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
It's an exciting world. There are always challenges, but I think it's a great time to be publishing.
What genres do you write?
cozy mystery, mystery/suspense, thriller, young adult contemporary
What formats are your books in?
eBook, Print, Audiobook
Website(s)
P.D. Workman Home Page Link
Follow P.D. Workman On Amazon
Link to Author Page on Kobo
Author’s Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
All information is provided by the author and is presented as it was submitted so you the reader get to hear the author’s own “voice” in their interview.
