Michael Santos is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is an Amazon bestselling novelist specializing in suspense genres, such as crime fiction and, most recently, horror.
Michael has a Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte and is a proud Tarheel from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Q&A with Michael Santos
Learn more about Michael’s crime thrillers in this interview:
Q: Your style is a unique feature of your writing. What’s the idea behind it?
A: My style is based on my characters’ rhythms of speech. I place every scene in the perspective of a character. The narration in each scene is in that person’s voice, not mine. In effect, the entire novel reads like dialogue. My own narrative voice is absent, which I think is great for immersion. It lets the reader be with the characters, without a writer in between them. My goal is to let the reader forget that they’re reading a novel at all. That’s my own favorite way to experience a story.
Q: Why set gritty crime novels in a sweet southern city like Charlotte, NC?
A: I’m from there and I’ve seen it grow a lot over the years. It’s a wonderful place to live and visit. But it’s a big city now, with big city crime. In many ways, Charlotte is having a crisis of identity: is it a sweet southern town or a major metropolitan center? How do you reconcile heritage and progress? And, as a crime fiction author, I’m curious to see how that struggle plays out on the mean streets, as traditional southern crime and national or even international crime meet. Charlotte is an untapped setting in this genre, with stories that nobody else is really telling.
Q: What interests you most as a creative?
A: I always love learning more about law enforcement and crime. The subject matter of the genre is one of my main interests. From a craft perspective, the sound of the writing is important to me. I spend a lot of time on point of view, dialogue, and style. As a reader, I tend to gravitate toward writers who have a great ear for the spoken word, such as Elmore Leonard and George Higgins. When you’re working with casts of cops and crooks, the dialogue is a lot of fun to write.
Q: Which authors would you say have influenced you the most?
A: Elmore Leonard, George Pelecanos, David Baldacci, George Higgins, and many more. All four have interesting styles and are excellent writers of dialogue. When I was a kid, Ian Fleming first got me hooked on reading with the James Bond novels. I started out writing spy/political fiction in high school and then gravitated toward crime novels, where I found my niche. Honestly, I consider myself a fan of the crime genre first and a writer second, because I love finding great new books and authors. As a writer, I try to learn from every book I read.
Q: How do you write so well about criminals and law enforcement?
A: I do a lot of primary and secondary research for each book to make sure I’m getting my facts right… or at least close enough to work within the context of a fictional story. Sometimes you have to fudge details for the sake of the storytelling, but there has to be enough accuracy to draw the reader in and immerse them. Credibility is important. I pay special attention to the rhythms of speech of different types of characters when I’m researching their real-life counterparts, whether they’re LEO’s or criminals. It’s fascinating to see what I learn with each new novel.
Q: What’s next?
A: I’m currently working on two projects: a heist novel and a nonfiction site, called BCP Journal, to publish essays and articles on a variety of topics. I’m preparing Bad Cat Press to publish others’ work.
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