QUESTIONS FROM READERS

Will Lavender answers readers' questions about how he plotted his debut novel, OBEDIENCE, and what he has planned for future books.

Janis from Maxwell Air Force Base, AL: How did you come up with the story idea? Did you have the whole story from the beginning, or did you develop it as you wrote?

Will Lavender: I came up with the idea as I was trying to figure out what to teach my students that particular term. I was getting bored and trying to come up with new ideas, and I thought, "What if I go into class and tell them that there's been a murder?" I could give them forensics readings, mystery short stories; we could write essays about solving puzzles and deductive reasoning. Of course, that was crazy; I would've been run out of town. But then I thought, "What a great setup for a thriller." And I had the major events --- the assignment, the Deanna Ward story, Williams's disappearance --- in my head when I began. I revolved all the smaller events around those big events and came up with the whole.

Phyllis from Louisville, MS: When will your next book be published? Will it be another psychological thriller?

Will Lavender: The next book is still unfinished, so I don't know its publication date. And yes, it's a psychological thriller. I'm comfortable writing thrillers, although I want to see how far I can push the genre. I am not interested in writing straightforward thrillers using those old tropes like private detectives and government agencies, although I love some of those books. I want to write books that do things and explore ideas that thriller readers have never seen before.

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