Doc Ford Gets To The Bottom Of Florida Mysteries

REBECCA ROBERTS, host:

While I'm keeping the studio warm for Neal Conan, he is keeping warm in Fort Myers, Florida. And Neal is with us right now from the studios of WGCU in southwest Florida. Welcome to your own show, Neal.

(Soundbite of laughter)

NEAL CONAN, host:

Rebecca, you're sounding great. It's wonderful to be with you.

ROBERTS: Oh, thank you. I understand you brought us a little piece of the Gulf Coast.

CONAN: Absolutely right. We're here on the edge of the Everglades in Fort Myers. Of course, that's amid an extraordinary complex of islands and rivers and back channels. It's the perfect breeding ground for mysteries as well as for alligators and skeeters.

Randy Wayne White lives nearby. He's the author of the Doc Ford mystery series. But for 13 years, he was also a fishing guide here. Randy is with us here at the studios at WGCU. Thanks very much for coming in.

Mr. RANDY WAYNE WHITE (Author, Doc Ford novels): Great to be here, Neal.

ROBERTS: And let me invite callers. Randy Wayne White went from fishing tour guide to best-selling author. So if you're an aspiring writer, whatever your day job is, give us a call: 800-989-8255. Our email address is talk@npr.org. And you can join the conversation at our Web site. Go to npr.org and click on TALK OF THE NATION.

CONAN: And Randy Wayne White is the name you publish under now but�

Mr. WHITE: It's a terrible name, Neal. It's the Elmer Fudd Hall of Fame name.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. WHITE: You know what? I grew up in - all my family is from the Deep South.

CONAN: Uh-huh.

Mr. WHITE: Richmond County - Rockingham, North Carolina. And my mother would call me Randy Wayne. My aunts would call me Randy Wayne. And so when I wrote my first book under my own name, there was a famous football player named Randy White. I thought, well, he's too big to mess with. I used my whole name. Neal, I had never tried to say the name aloud.

CONAN: Right. Just don't ever have your hero out hunting wabbits.

Mr. WHITE: And the first time I said, hi, I'm Wandy Rain Wright(ph).

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. WHITE: �and just - it was heartbreaking. I wish I could do it over.

CONAN: Well, let's ask about that other name you wrote under, Randy Striker.

Mr. WHITE: Randy who?

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. WHITE: Yeah. When I was a fishing guide - I was a fishing guide at Tarpon Bay on Sanibel for 13 years. I did more than 3,000 charters. And I suspect my clients are very relieved I'm no longer in the business because I wasn't a brilliant fishing guide. But I badly wanted to write. And it's - was an obsession, in fact.

And so a New York editor called me, and her name was Joni Hitsy(ph) and she said, you know, I read a story of yours in Outside magazine, and I liked it. And New American Library - we're going to come out with this thriller series, four books at one time, all the same character, etc. But we have three other writers to write three of the books. We're looking for a fourth writer to write the fourth. Would you like to try it? And the pen name: Randy Striker. I said, I'd love to try it.

CONAN: Sure.

Mr. WHITE: And she said, but we need at least two sample chapters within 10 days. Well, Neal, we had a bout of bad weather. I wasn't fishing. I wrote the entire book in nine days.

CONAN: But this was almost - you were handed the characters, were you handed the plot?

Mr. WHITE: No, no. The plot - I'm not sure there is a plot. But�

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. WHITE: �I was handed the characters, and I wrote the entire book on nine days in an old, Underwood Black Standard typewriter and mailed Joni this manuscript. And she called me, a bit taken aback, and she said, do you think you can do this again? I went, heck, yes. And she fired the other three guys.

CONAN: Really?

Mr. WHITE: So I wrote the seven thriller novels under a pen name: Randy Striker.

CONAN: And then what convinced you that you needed to change tack?

Mr. WHITE: Money. My marina, the Tarpon Bay, closed to power boat traffic in 1987. And I'd been there 13 years - gave us two months' notice, and I was out of a job. And Neal, I am not qualified to do anything. That's true. I didn't go to college, but I had a captain's license. But - so I had two young sons, a mortgage and by golly, I had to do something and I had to succeed at it, and had always wanted to write seriously. And so I wrote a book called �Sanibel Flats� and�

CONAN: Introduced your character.

Mr. WHITE: I did, indeed. Yeah. And I'm so glad that darn marina closed. That's worked out swell.

(Soundbite of laughter)

CONAN: Your character is an unusual man, not the greatest physical specimen in the world�

Mr. WHITE: Hey.

CONAN: Hey. Not also the sharpest knife in the drawer, though no dummy.

Mr. WHITE: Well�

CONAN: You call him competent, and that is a word you use carefully.

Mr. WHITE: He's a competent man. Yeah. The two protagonists, one is a marine biologist, Doc Ford, yeah. I was a fishing guide for so many years. I found that emotionally and intellectually attractive. The other main character is a left-handed, left wing, unrepentant hipster.

CONAN: Mm-hmm.

Mr. WHITE: And so I wanted one character who is purely linear and intellectual, non-spiritual. I wanted another character who was purely intuitive and spiritual. Because - well, I can't speak for everyone. I think, me, I am made up of those two main, cerebral components, and they're always at odds.

CONAN: Mm-hmm.

Mr. WHITE: Intellectual, the wistful spiritual. And I thought if I had these two characters, I can say essentially anything I want to say through one or the other and get away with it. And it's worked well.

CONAN: It's interesting though: Writing is a very solitary profession. Being a charter boat captain, that's a gregarious profession. You're trying to engage your customers so presumably, they'll come back and go out with you again.

Mr. WHITE: Particularly when you don't catch fish. I had to be real gregarious.

CONAN: Yeah, real charming. Yeah.

Mr. WHITE: Yes. I was darn charming. But yeah. And writing is solitary. It's that which I like least about writing, because I do like people. I'm a sociable guy. But I believe if there is a key to writing successfully, whatever successful is�

CONAN: Mm-hmm. Making a living is�

Mr. WHITE: �that's one of the yardsticks. Yeah.

ROBERTS: We have a call from Matt(ph) in Denver. He joins us now on the line. Matt, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION.

Mr. WHITE: Matt, how's Denver?

ROBERTS: Let's try Linda(ph) in Portland. Linda, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION.

LINDA (Caller): Hi. Good afternoon.

Mr. WHITE: Linda, how's Portland?

LINDA: It's wonderful. Sunny today.

CONAN: First time for everything.

LINDA: Yeah.

(Soundbite of laughter)

LINDA: Hey. I had to agree with you that writing is sort of a solitary profession. I've just decided that I wanted to write a book - and finding that it's something you do have to spend time quietly doing every day.

CONAN: It's interesting, Linda. I did write one book a few years ago and having spent my whole life in newsrooms or press boxes, I was unused to being alone. I really got to know my mailman very, very well.

LINDA: Well, being a stay-at-home mom, I already know my mailwoman.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. WHITE: Oh.

CONAN: So what kind of book are you writing?

LINDA: It's an inspirational, motivational book about a journey after grief I had with my father doing a thousand acts of kindness - a thousand misses.

CONAN: And so this is a very personal book?

LINDA: Yes, it is.

CONAN: And how is it going?

LINDA: It's going well. I think, I - in earnest, I began in the fall starting to sit down and really work on it after attending a writers conference, and I'm enjoying the process immensely.

CONAN: And do you have an advance?

LINDA: Not yet. But I'm definitely going to be for - getting one soon.

CONAN: Well, Linda�

LINDA: Or looking for one, I should say.

CONAN: �I wondered what would motivate me to write a book, and it turned out to be get an advance and then spend it.

ROBERTS: Well, or for Linda it sounds like being home with small children and really needing to do something else.

(Soundbite of laughter)

CONAN: And maybe make some money too, yeah.

Mr. WHITE: Well, first of all, congratulations to Linda.

CONAN: Thank you.

Mr. WHITE: It's - I hear from so many people: I want to write a book. There's a book I can write. And they're right. They can write the book. By virtue of living beyond the age of 21, we all have a story to tell. We all have a book to write. The key is, as I was saying, is to go into the room alone. Close the door and do your work, because if you don't do it, those words, your life�

CONAN: Mm-hmm.

Mr. WHITE: �vanishes. And it vanishes very quickly. Can you imagine, Linda or Neal, had your great-great grandmother or great-great-great grandfather had written just one paragraph, one honest paragraph about their lives, how valuable that would be?

CONAN: And you'd know so much more about them than you actually do.

Mr. WHITE: And yourselves. Yeah.

CONAN: Yeah.

Mr. WHITE: So it's very important. I think the written word is our only anchor in what is an absolute rocket sled of a life. Photographs don't do it. If I see a photograph of me taken 10 or 15 years ago, well, for one thing, it's just painful.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. WHITE: But the other is, it may key a few memories. But that's not me. That's a husk. That's a shell. That person is long gone. But if I read something I wrote 10 or 15 years ago, Neal, it's a lot.

CONAN: We had Walter Mosley on the show. He wrote a book about how to write your - �This is the Year You Write Your Novel.� And he said, the key to it is to make sure you write every single day. Would you agree with that?

Mr. WHITE: Momentum. And if people out there who want to write have not done this, I urge you to give yourself this opportunity. Write on your story at least 14 days in a row, 14 to 21 days in a row. An hour a day is fine. But at some period during that time, 14 to 21 days, if you write every day, something magical clicks. Something magical happens. And the story comes to life. It takes on its life. Momentum is a huge factor in writing.

ROBERTS: We have an email, actually - I want to cut in and read here because this is from, apparently, a high school classmate of Randy's. Candice, who says, greetings. Randy was a journalist in the old days and was a big help to the Tidal Waves staff at FM high. You're not writing fast enough for me, Randy. And Neal, be sure you eat at Doc Ford's on Sanibel.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. WHITE: That must be one of my cousins. I didn't go to high school in Fort Myers, but I probably lied to some young lady years ago and told her I did.

(Soundbite of laughter)

ROBERTS: Your pick-up lines are coming back to haunt you on the radio.

Mr. WHITE: They were never very good. I went to high school in Davenport, Iowa, Davenport Central. And by golly, I'm proud of it.

CONAN: Home to Bix Beiderbecke.

Mr. WHITE: Yes. Yeah, yeah. And I played baseball there and was a springboard diver and a football player and not good at any of them. But in that rural Midwestern community, those terribly long, dark January, February days, boy, if that doesn't make a writer out of you, nothing will.

ROBERTS: Let's hear from Matt(ph) in Denver. Matt, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION.

MATT (Caller): Thank you. Good afternoon. I've got a quick question about the establishment and the way, you know, books tell you, you should be writing. You should develop a plot outline and flesh out all your characters before you start writing. Or do you just sit down and actually start writing and see where it takes you, and go from there? And I can take my question off the air. Thank you.

Mr. WHITE: Matt, very good question. Yeah. You know, Matt, we're all different. Steinbeck would begin his books, I've read, by writing a letter to a friend, talking about the book he wishes to write. Some people make very detailed outlines. I wish I could do that. I wish I knew what was going to happen. Because for me, it starts, first, with the characters, then the setting, which is a character itself. And then, there's an event. And after that, it's one terrifying day after another for me, because the characters take control - which sounds like schizophrenia, doesn't it? But so be it. But that's the way it works for me. But Matt, I would urge you to find your way into that magic room that is writing.

CONAN: Once you've written it, do you rewrite it?

Mr. WHITE: I rewrite constantly. Every morning, I rewrite all the work from the previous seven to 10 days, which takes a fair amount of the day. And then, I write new stuff. So, it's continually being rewritten. So by the time I'm done with the book, it's done. And I send it off to my incredible editor, Neil Nyren at G.P. Putnam's. And he's just terrific. And he's not a chatty guy, and I'm not particularly chatty on the phone. And he'll just say, Randy, you need to cut XYZ. And I will say, well Neil, I kind of like Z. Well, you still need to cut it.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. WHITE: And sometimes I do and sometimes - usually I do.

CONAN: Well, Rebecca, we never have that problem in live radio.

ROBERTS: No, certainly. We get to take the mike and say whatever it is we want, including: You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.

And Randy, I wanted to follow up on the emailer who urged us to eat at Doc Ford's in Sanibel. There are restaurants named after your character?

Mr. WHITE: Rebecca, where are you? I don't see you around here.

(Soundbite of laughter)

ROBERTS: It's the magic of radio. You've got to go with this.

Mr. WHITE: Radio is magic. Yeah, my - the main character of my books is Doc Ford's. And through just some nonsensical, crazed good luck, I started importing hot sauce from Cartagena, Colombia. That hooked me up with restaurateurs who - brilliant restaurateurs - who wanted to start a restaurant - actually, at a restaurant where I used to sell fish when I was a fishing guide. So, it's amazing synergy. And they started this restaurant. I do none of the thinking. It's perfect. It's�

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. WHITE: There are two restaurants - one on Sanibel, the other at Fort Myers Beach - gigantic successes. And all I have to do - and I really don't even have to but I'm just so dedicated - I go in around sunset, and I have a margarita.

CONAN: Boy, that's brutal.

Mr. WHITE: It's not an easy life I have, Neal.

CONAN: I'm just sitting here with a bottle of Captiva Sunrise Mojo Rojo(ph) and also Tomlinson's Oro Colombiano(ph), named after one of the characters in your books.

Mr. WHITE: I came up with those titles myself, Neal.

CONAN: Really?

Mr. WHITE: Well, I'm a writer.

CONAN: Yeah.

Mr. WHITE: Words are my business, by golly.

CONAN: Yep, we could tell. You could tell.

(Soundbite of laughter)

ROBERTS: I think we have time for one more call. This is Jerry(ph) in Oklahoma City. Jerry, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION.

JERRY (Caller): Well, thank you. And I wanted to say from - a fishing guide is much more glamorous than a state mailman. But I wanted to say thanks for your inspiration. I actually try to jot notes in-between mail stops. It's not quite as relaxing as a margarita, but I don't think the state would approve if I carried a margarita with me. So�

(Soundbite of laughter)

JERRY: But I�

CONAN: It does raise the question of, how many writers do you think are out there who would really like to become fishing guides?

JERRY: Good point.

Mr. WHITE: What do you think, Jerry?

JERRY: Well, I think I'd definitely rather be a fishing guide than a state mailman, but you know, I don't want to knock it. It's a paycheck.

Mr. WHITE: Well, I played baseball with guys, several of whom were - worked for the postal service, and they were terrific. And I think you do far more good than I did as a fishing guide. That's my opinion.

(Soundbite of laughter)

ROBERTS: So Jerry, when you're taking notes on your route, are your notes about your customers?

JERRY: No. Actually, I'm still trying to finish up - I had several poems that I had written while I was in Iraq. And I'm actually trying to finish that and hoping to maybe do something with it. But the toughest thing is finding someone that, you know, a publisher that doesn't want money up front since I'm an unknown, first-time writer. And poetry is a little harder to sell, too.

Mr. WHITE: Yeah. Jerry, that - there are some shysters out there. And in the field of writing, there are probably a few.

JERRY: Yeah.

Mr. WHITE: And one of the oldest gambits is: We love your book, and if you pay us X amount of dollars, we'll publish it. And please don't do that, in my opinion. And Lord knows, I am no business guy.

JERRY: Well, I appreciate that.

Mr. WHITE: In my opinion, you're better off publishing on your own and just keep at it. For one thing, if you publish on your own, it's for your family. It's for yourself. And you will build an audience of readers.

ROBERTS: What do you mean by publish on your own?

Mr. WHITE: Self-publish. And I would normally recommend against self-publishing, particularly fiction. But poetry - look, if you have the urge to write, however you can get published, get published. But don't fall for those side gambits that prey on people. And for one thing, you're too smart. You work for the postal service.

ROBERTS: And Neal, thank you so much for bringing Randy to meet with us. And it sounds like you've got a really rough gig down there in Fort Myers.

CONAN: You know, we may have to go try one of those margaritas.

(Soundbite of laughter)

ROBERTS: Yeah. I'll have the virtual margarita over the radio line.

(Soundbite of laughter)

ROBERTS: Neal Conan is, of course, host of TALK OF THE NATION. And Randy Wayne White is the best-selling author of the Doc Ford mysteries, among others. His newest book is called "Deep Shadow." It'll be released in March of 2010. In the meantime, you can read an excerpt from his novel "Dead Silence" at our Web site, npr.org.

Thanks so much to you both.

Mr. WHITE: Thank you.

CONAN: Thank you.

ROBERTS: This is TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. I'm Rebecca Roberts in Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.