Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Jeffrey A. Cooper

Book Title: Out to Get Me

Released:  10/20/23

Genre:  Dark Crime Thriller

Interview by Heather L. Barksdale

What inspired you to write “Out to Get Me”?

Cooper: I was inspired to write "Out to Get Me" while I was driving on a Los Angeles freeway.  I was stuck in some construction-related traffic.  There was a woman in her mid-thirties ahead of me, driving a Toyota Tercel.  At a freeway interchange,  a Jeep Wrangler tries to get in front of the woman in the Tercel.  For whatever reason, this woman doesn't let the Jeep Wrangler merge, and the driver of the Wrangler loses his mind.  For the next 3 miles the Wrangler cut this woman off, brake-checked her, and rode side by side hard-eyeing this terrified woman.  Finally, another freeway interchange took the Wrangler and the Tercel into two different directions, but the damage was done.  The driver of the Wrangler terrorized the woman in the Tercel over nothing, a simple traffic error.  I thought to myself, "Wow.  What if someone just couldn't give it up?"  And I was off.

How did you come up with the names of your main characters?

Cooper: My wife is Maori and is from a large family ("whanau", pronounced 'fah-no') in New Zealand.  I make it a habit to name characters after members of my whanau.  "Out to Get Me" has characters named after two nieces,  my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law, and two nephews.  I will probably run out of books to write before my whanau runs out of names to give me.

Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?

Cooper: I write the kind of books that I like to read; dark, funny, fast-paced, character driven crime thrillers that don't always go the way you expect them to go.

If "Out to Get me" was adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?

Cooper: I've worked in Hollywood for over twenty years.  My cynical answer to this question would be, "I would like to see an actor cast who could actually get this movie made."  My non-cynical answer would be, "I'd like to see someone new; strong actors and actresses who have strength, toughness, and vulnerability.  I'd want them to look like real people, which is to say, they don't have to look like cover models.  But then again, I do want to get the movie made, don't I?  

When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?

Cooper: I clean.  I do laundry.   I work in the yard.  I cook.  I organize things.  My wife loves when I have writers block.

Are there any tips that you would like to share with other aspiring authors?

Cooper: Stephen King said it best in his excellent book, "On Writing".  "A writer writes."

What is your favorite genre, book, and/or author?

Cooper: My favorite genre is crime fiction.  My favorite book in the genre is "The Hunter", written by my favorite author, Richard Stark.  Richard Stark is also my favorite author when he's Donald Westlake.  Picking my favorite Donald Westlake book is like asking me which one of my dogs I've loved the most.  (I'll do it, but don't tell the others).  It's "God Bless the Mark", which may have one of the funniest Page 1's ever written.

What are you working on next?

Cooper:  I finished the first season of a YouTube show called "Crime Novels to Film" which takes on the book versus movie debate for crime novels and crime films, and am knee-deep into writing the sequel to "Out to Get Me".  I envision this will be about a 3-4 book series.  In between each book, I intend to produce another season of "Crime Novels to Film".  My wife doesn't mind, as long as I keep cleaning the house.

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