My Guest this week is a seasoned writer giving birth to a new series this month. She's here today, however, to delve deeply into the underlying mystery behind almost every author. Intrigued? Read on... Ladies and Gentlemen...
Judith Lucci
Hidden Meanings for Authors:
Why
I Write
People
often ask me why I write, so I tell them I like to drink coffee, make up stuff
and write it down. Then they then ask me
why I write what I write, so I respond that most of my novels are developed
from my many life experiences. Their next question is whether I have nightmares
(I don’t) from writing the thrillers I publish, or whether I’m ever scared (I’m
not) of my characters. Finally they ask what exactly keeps me writing.
After
four years as a full time author, I find myself asking the same question: What keeps me writing? It’s hard,
laborious, time-consuming and frustrating. I certainly don’t write for the
money it brings in, and I don’t write because it brings me great fame or
celebrity status (I still grab my own bags from the luggage carousel at the
airport - my definition of celebrity status).
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Writers
write for a variety of reasons. Some write for the excitement, because it
heightens their senses and makes them feel alive. I plead guilty, as I live vicariously
through my characters and never feel more alive than when I’m writing or
plotting diabolical scenes or building tension in my books. Paradoxical and a
bit macabre, isn’t it?
Others
write because it’s cathartic and liberating. Guilty again! The murder of a
hospital patient I wrote about in the psycho-thriller The Imposter, actually happened on my watch as an administrator. Finally,
after completing the book, I was able to view the murder from the outside
looking in.
Sometimes
when I write, my characters encounter difficult times and situations, and I can
look at their experiences and make decisions about my own life. Getting advice
from my characters - do I sound committable yet?
Writers often express their values, morals,
ethics, and dreams in their writing. Writing allows me the opportunity to create
a world as I would like it to be. Architects design buildings, but writers
design whole worlds and civilizations, creating those worlds in their preferred
image. Writing lets me control my characters (this is cool because I certainly
can’t control the ‘characters’ in my life), educate my readers, and advocate
for others while entertaining them in the process.
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Many
of the situations and scenes in the Alex Destephano medical thriller series are
based on true life situations I’ve encountered in my years as a clinician,
professor and administrator. Currently, I see fewer patients and have less time
for teaching, but I still have a lot to say. I use my books as a platform or springboard
to present readers with new situations and information they may encounter in life.
For
instance, in Chaos at Crescent City
Medical Center, I incorporated some of the changes that would arise due to the
Affordable Care Act. In a fictionalized
but true-to-life Obamacare health environment, the characters dealt with cost
constraints, shortages, decreased care and significant changes in quality, and
my protagonist advocated for the needs of physicians, nurses and the safety of patients.
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In
The Imposter, I present the unsafe, global
health environment for psychiatric patients and staff and discuss how the rights
of the mentally challenged are ignored, compromised, and negated. In the US, hospital chains are eager to build
Orthopedic and Cancer Centers and Heart Pavilions, or any type of specialty patient
area that is associated with high reimbursement by insurance companies. I’ve
not seen many new psychiatric facilities built or marketed in recent years
other than private pay ‘Memory Care Centers’ for the increasing dementia
population that costs upwards of $5,000 per month. The Imposter keynotes unsafe practice issues
in psychiatric hospitals and institutions for both patients and staff. Now we
admit a newly diagnosed psychotic patient or a suicidal individual to an
inpatient facility and discharge them a few days later on medications that may
or may not work. Medications with many unsafe and undocumented side effects.
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In
Viral Intent: Terror in New Orleans,
a political-medical thriller, the same characters, Alex, Jack, Robert and
Monique grapple with the uncertainties of life, and realize how the heinous
work of a few can affect the lives of thousands, perhaps millions, forever. I
discuss the importance of government agencies, including the CDC, FBI, and Secret
Service, working together to safeguard the welfare and health of Americans and
the world.
Also
of interest in Viral Intent is the
questionable ethical and convoluted history of the Salk-Sabin Polio vaccine
administered to Americans in the 1950s. I discuss the vaccine’s relationship to
spiraling tissue cancers and the failure of the American government to inform
the public about the virus and its association with organized crime in New
Orleans. Nurse-lawyer protagonist Alex Destephano, NOPD Commander Jack
Francoise, and psychiatrist Dr. Monique Desmonde bring these polarized and
ethically-charged issues to life.
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Finally,
in Toxic New Year: The Day that Wouldn’t
End, the reader is confronted with the complexity of character Jacob Stark,
a former CIA operative who cooperated with terrorists and co-authored a massive
plot against Alex’s grandfather, Congressman Adam Patrick Lee, at his Virginia
estate. Jacob Stark’s treason and ethics are clearly wrong, but as the book
progresses, readers report liking Jacob Stark, and understanding and forgiving
what he’d done. Stark’s character truly
represents a portrait of moral ambiguity.
In
my new series, Irish-born Michaela (Mic) McPherson, a retired Richmond homicide
detective and pub owner, works with her retired police dog, Angel, and close
friend, 82 year-old Countess Dottie Borghase, to solve crimes and punish
offenders.
In
the first book, The Case of Dr. Dude, nefarious
characters abduct and kidnap to profit from human trafficking. The book presents
the crime of human trafficking in an effort to draw the reader’s attention to
this horrific, global crime that affects all genders, races, and socio-economic
levels - the poorest poor to the richest rich. I knew little of human
trafficking before I began my research for Dr. Dude, but what I learned has
impacted my life forever.
Through
my character Dottie Borghase, an aging Italian Countess, I hope to teach my
readers to appreciate, support, and value elders as national treasures in all
cultures. Retired police dog Angel shows my love for canines and the amazing
heroics performed daily by military and police working dogs across the world
often incredible unsung heroes.
These
dogs put their lives on the line daily, and are treated as equal partners in
combat. These canines have saved thousands of lives at home and abroad. Dogs have
an acute sense of smell five to ten
times stronger than that of a human. Working dogs are able to detect minute traces of
explosives or drugs and alert their handlers of their presence. Few people
realize the amazing abilities of these canines.
Well… I guess I write for all the reasons
above. I write because I love to, and I
value the opportunity to talk about and advocate for people who make a
difference in our complex world.
Bio:
Dr. Judith Lucci is an Amazon bestselling author who writes what she knows. She is the author of the Alex Destephano Medical Thriller Series and the soon to be released Michaela McPherson, Private Eye, a series centered on a retired homicide detective from Richmond, Virginia who really can’t retire.
“Before I wrote fiction, I was an academic writer who published research, theoretical works, text books and just about anything a clinician or college professor needed to publish to survive in the ivory tower. The differences in academic writing and writing fiction are dramatic. Writing what I know propels me to pull from my clinical experiences, some good, some not and use popular fiction as a means to teach and advocate for others. My books have three purposes, to engage the reader, to entertain them and to educate about healthcare and perhaps, the darker side of hospital life.
"I am a nurse and hold graduate and doctoral degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia. I have always been a reader and a writer and I love it. I am a member of the Virginia Writers Club, The Gulf Coast Writers Association, The Shenandoah Valley Writers and Sisters in Crime.
"When I’m not writing I’m probably teaching, painting on silk, canvas or watercolor. I am a multi-media artist with five dogs.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/judith.lucci
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudithLucci
Thank you once again, Judith, for gracing this blog with your southern charm and allowing us a peek behind the curtain at the motives that drive your thriller writing. I've already had the pleasure of reading an advanced copy of The Case of Dr. Dude and it's characters are superb and its story one to chill your hearts; don't miss it!
