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Neil Plakcy is the author of nineteen novels, including the Mahu series of mysteries starring openly gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka, and the Have Body, Will Guard romance adventure series. He edits erotic anthologies, including Surfer Boys, Hard Hats, The Handsome Prince, Skater Boys, and the forthcoming Model Men.  His newest release is The Russian Boy, a story that follows the history of a famous and scandalous painting of a young Russian noble created in the early 1900s as well as the modern day adventures when the painting is stolen.  

Could you give us some background info?  Where are you from?  What first triggered your interest in writing fiction?

I grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, and my interest in fiction was sparked by a 10^th grade English assignment to rethink A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, from Finny’s point of view. This story of a strong emotional friendship between two high school boys during World War II struck a deep chord with me, and having to reimagine it showed me how amazing it felt to write something. I also fell madly in love with those two boys, through both the book and the movie, and writing about them was a way to get inside them.

I’ve read that you studied fiction writing under authors such as Philip Roth and Carlos Fuentes, and one of your fellow students was Dennis Lehane.  What was it like to be in such company?  Do you feel those instructors still influence your writing today?

I honestly didn’t learn much about writing as an undergraduate. But in graduate school, where my professors were published authors writing mystery novels, I learned a tremendous amount about what makes a story (conflict between characters), how to structure a plot, how to fold in description, and so on. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that several of my classmates (including Dennis, Vicki Hendricks, and the late Barbara Parker) became stars in crime fiction. We were taught that this form of literature was just as valuable and meaningful as anything in the canon of English lit.

You’re now a professor yourself.  Has teaching affected your own writing habits or style?

It has certainly affected my writing habits. I used to sneak time during my office day to write, always keeping an eye out for the boss, and my writing schedule was very erratic. Now that I don’t have to be at an office from nine to five, I can organize myself to suit my creative process. I write every morning for at least an hour on my way to school, where my classes are scheduled for late morning or early afternoon. I have some terrific teaching colleagues who are also talented writers, and it’s great fun to share ideas with them. I also find that now that I’m teaching grammar regularly, I’m more aware of correct grammar in my own writing.

You also edit anthologies, mostly of gay erotica.  What kind of satisfaction do you get out of editing other authors instead of writing your own work? 

It’s very satisfying to see a work in progress and help the author shape it—to say “you’re rushing this point,” or “you’re losing the timetable here, or confusing the reader” and then see the author fix those problems and come up with a better story. It also helps me see similar problems in my own work. I also learn when the author does something right—recently I read a whole paragraph about a kiss and it opened my eyes to how much better I could be describing such an encounter.

When acquiring stories for an anthology, what characteristics make a story feel right for your books?

First of all, it has to match the call for the anthology. For example, in Model Men, I got a few stories in which a male model was a character—but being a model was peripheral to the action. It has to be well-written—bad grammar isn’t sexy! It has to have an erotic component, too. The men have to have sex at some point in the story. If they don’t, it’s not erotica. My favorite stories are ones that have a narrative to tell about the characters as well as leading up to hot man-on-man action. I want to feel like these are real guys with real problems, and the action of the story leads them not just into bed but into some connection or resolution. The shy guy who gets drawn out of his shell or the Lothario who discovers an emotional connection. Two men who realize they can learn from each other. That kind of thing.

Setting seems to be of primary importance to your mysteries.  What about Hawaii for your Mahu series and Tunisia for your Aidan and Liam books made you choose those locations?   Do the respective cultures and their attitudes towards gay men come into consideration as much or even more than exotic scenery?

I live in South Florida, where climate and setting are so important to life, so I look for places like that. I’m interested in multi-cultural places where there are lots of opportunity for different people to rub up against each other (in all kinds of ways!) When I moved to Florida in 1986, I fell in love with the place, and started reading novels, particularly crime fiction, to learn about it.

Then when I visited Hawaii in 1992, I wanted to do the same thing—but there weren’t many mysteries set in the Aloha State back then, though there had been TV shows like Hawaii Five-O and Magnum P.I.  It took a long time for Mahu to come into focus for me, and certainly part of the book grew out of the attitudes toward gay men there.

I chose Tunisia for the Have Body, Will Guard series because I wanted a very different location, one that could be romantic and dangerous at the same time, and because of the Arab countries I considered Tunisia was the most liberal. As I’ve researched I’ve tried to incorporate specific elements of the settings (whether Hawaii, Tunisia or South Beach) into the plot and the character development.

I’ve seen an interview that author Anthony Bidulka did with your character, Kimo Kanapa'aka, and it’s obvious you know Kimo so well that readers feel like he’s a real person.  What aspects of his personality (if any) did you not originally plan on giving him?  Are there times when characters you’ve lived with for years still surprise you? 

Characters are always surprising me! When I started writing Mahu, I thought Kimo would have lots of aunts, uncles and cousins who could help him solve the crimes. But instead I’ve focused most on his nuclear family—his parents, his two older brothers and their families, and his family of choice, his partner Mike. In Mahu Blood, I learned that Kimo’s detective partner, Ray Donne, can sing when he suddenly announced it. Kimo has a lot of my own interior life, so it’s easy for me to figure out how he feels. Right now he and I are debating whether or not he’s going to invite a child into his and Mike’s life, and how that might happen if it does. I honestly don’t know how that’s going to resolve itself.

Your new novel, The Russian Boy, focuses on different stories that are connected through one painting in a similar vein as the wildly successful Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland.  Are there specific paintings, artists, or museums that helped you conjure up your plot?  What kind of research did you have to do to create a young Russian nobleman in 1912? 

I first visited Nice, on the French Riviera, in 1972, as part of a summer study program in France. Now that I look back I can see why I liked it so much—I’m drawn to those hot, sunny climates. But it made a huge impression on me, and I’ve been back several times, including spending two summers there writing. One of the things that has fascinated me is the position of the Russian nobility in the waning days of the Romanov empire, when the wealthy often wintered in Nice, and built a massive Russian Orthodox cathedral there. I’ve wanted to write something about that time period for years, and finally found a way to do it with The Russian Boy. I studied art history in college so I had some very basic background, and I studied up a bit on painting technique to make the characters more realistic. I envisioned the painting to be a kind of male odalisque—a reclining nude with a sensual air—and the story grew from there.

If you could have three famous people—contemporary or from any time in history—over for dinner, who would you choose? 

My three literary idols: Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, and Jimmy Buffett. I love the way all three built lives that grew out of their art, and how all of them demonstrate a passion and inventiveness with language. I think we’d have a rollicking good time!

If there’s a question you’ve always wanted to be asked in an interview, could you tell us about it and, of course, answer it? 

Here’s a question: Did I know or envision that bringing a dog into my life was going to have such an impact on my writing? And the answer is no—it wasn’t until I fell in love with Sam, my golden retriever, and found him infiltrating every aspect of my life, that I knew I wanted to make sure that I was writing about dogs and demonstrating the unconditional love that they offer. Kimo and Mike have adopted a golden, and so has Steve Levitan, the hero of my golden retriever mystery series (In Dog We Trust and The Kingdom of Dog, with a third on the way.) Even Liam and Aidan have adopted a small mixed-breed dog named Hayam (which means madly in love.)

Interviewer’s Note:  The first book in the Have Body, Will Guard series is Three Wrong Turns in the Desert (Loose Id Press).  The first in Neil Plakcy’s Hawaiian mystery series is Mahu (MLR Press).  His latest erotica anthology, Model Men, will be released by Cleis Press in November 2011. 

To learn more about Neil, his fiction, and his anthologies, visit mahubooks.com.