An Interview with William H. Coles: Author of McDowell

William H. Coles is a literary fiction writer, winner of multiple awards including finalists The William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition, The Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, among others. His fiction publications include five novels, collections of short fiction and three books on the writing of literary fiction stories.

To learn the art of writing fiction he studied in more than 100 courses and workshops with instruction from more than seventy-five authors, editors, and teachers and created storyinliteraryfiction, a website with resources for fiction writers, illustrators, and avid literary-fiction readers.

He was an ophthalmic surgeon specializing in ocular-injury repair and reconstruction, a professor and chairman at SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine, served on the Board of Regents for The American College of Surgeons, was president of the Association of University Professors in Ophthalmology.

He plays jazz piano, was former President of the Gibbes Art Museum in Charleston, SC, and has lectured internationally on ophthalmic research and surgery, jazz, and, at Emory University, valuing antique Georgian and Federal furniture and 18th and 19th century European and American paintings. He won a Mayor’s award for contributions to historic preservation in Charleston, SC. and the Conrad Berens Award for best film on a medical subject. He lives and writes in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Tell us about your book.

McDowell, an arrogant, selfish, uncaring surgeon – except with his three children whom he ineptly tries to council as they come of age – loses his career, wealth, respect, and fame when his grandson goes on a killing spree and then fails in a suicide attempt living in a vegetative, braindead state.

When the boy dies under suspicious circumstances, McDowell is convicted and jailed for second degree murder. He escapes to become a fugitive pursued by authorities, an investigative TV reporter eager to interview him before capture, and his daughter who is trying for a retrial. McDowell’s family members struggle to find meaning in their lives but each is thwarted at every turn by their father’s reputation.

McDowell keeps on the move to prevent his capture and establish a new life. He is forced to gingerly reenter society at the lowest levels and with each new acquaintance, he must learn a new sense of humanity to survive.

A finalist in the William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition.

Why did you choose to self-publish?

Expediency.

What tools or companies did you use, and what experience did you have?

Ingram. Editors. Artists.

Would you self-publish again?

Yes (I have for >12 books and editions).

What do you think are the main pitfalls for indie writers?

Marketing and publicity.

As a writer, what is your schedule? How do you get the job done?

I write fiction and maintain a website every day.

Tell us about the genre you wrote in, and why you chose to write this sort of book.

Literary fiction. Character-based, dramatic lot, emphasis on characterization, and writing for the purpose to inspire through stories about the human condition.

Who are your biggest writing inspirations and why?

Chekhov, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Conrad, Forster, Brontës, Austen, Lamphari, Doctorow, etc.

What did you learn on your journey as an author?

It takes work to write fiction well.

What’s next for you as an author?

New novel. Podcast of my stories, in process. Newsletter and blog.