INTERVIEW WITH GUEST AUTHOR
​BEN HAMMOTT
Q: What does your writing process look like?

A: It all depends on the type of book I am writing. My fantasy adventure A Gathering of Dwarfs, started with the question: What happened to the Seven Dwarfs after Snow White rode away with her charming prince? And though I had no idea what I was going to write, I just started and let my imagination run wild. The result was a humorous fantasy adventure that was to be the first book in a series about the search for Dead Dragons Gold.
My action adventure books, so far, usually start with a range of ideas concerning a single theme and my writing involves linking them altogether. My two books, the Tomb, the Temple, the Treasure, Beginnings and The Priest's Secret--and by far my bestselling books--were written with information learnt while hunting for the lost treasure of the Knights Templar. I based them on my non-fiction book, Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar. In fact, the caves and tunnels that feature in the France part of the book actually exist and I have been in them. Also myths and legends linked with the area and the Knights Templar were incorporated in the book.
I actually began writing it before the Da Vinci Code was published using the priory of Sion as some of the baddies in the story, and though the two stories are completely different, I had to find another secret mysterious group to replace the Priory of Sion. Luckily there were quite a few to choose from, but it meant changing the story.
Lost City 1 & 2 and An Insatiable Thirst for Murder, though fiction, are based on real people, so when writing historical books, I always carry out thorough research.

Lost City 1 & 2  was inspired by the story of Colonel Fawcett, a Victorian explorer who entered the Amazon jungle in 1925 to search for a lost city, but was never heard from or seen again. I thought that was an ideal premise for an action adventure novel. I began my research into Fawcett, and after about 2 years had gathered so much research material, including some never posted on the web before, I created a website for others to learn about Colonel Fawcett and his disappearance. www.fawcettadventure.com.
​An Insatiable Thirst for Murder is the dramatization of America's first documented serial killer, H. H. Holmes. Holmes built a hotel in Chicago full of secret passages, stairs and murder rooms to murder his victims and dispose of them in the grisly basement. This was a difficult book to research, not because of a lack of information, but because there was so much that was unverified. It was hard to separate the fact from fiction and some of the dates in which events were said to have happened contradicted other events that were said to have taken place at the same time.

Luckily there is a book written in 1896 by the detective in charge of the case, Frank Geyer. The title is a long one, The Holmes Pitezel Case. A History Of The Greatest Crime Of The Century and the Search For The Missing Pitezel Children. 
Though the book is out of print, I managed to track down a copy and it is now available on kindle and includes two other books, Holmes Confessions and The Murder Castle, both written in 1895. These, as well as original newspaper reports from the time, were sifted through to create a timeline of events and the murders Holmes committed. There was so much information I wrote each snippet on a post-it note and stuck it on the wall in the correct sequence. This was then used as a basis for my dramatization of the Holmes story. There was so much information it was impossible to include it all without confusing an already event-filled story. I also contacted some serial killer profilers to help fill in the gaps of what Holmes might have done with his victims once he had them securely imprisoned in one of his hotel's murder rooms.

​Q: How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose a name based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? Do you have any name-choosing resources you recommend?

A: I think choosing the right name for the main characters is important for any author and not always an easy process. The way I do it is to give my characters nicknames--Bob, Pete, Kate, etc. As the individual characters evolve during the writing process, a fitting name usually presents itself. If this fails, I will look at a name list on the Internet, old movie cast names, etc., until I hit upon a suitable name.
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One piece of advice that might seem obvious—never use your author name as a major fictional character. Because my Beginnings novel was based on my non-fiction book and only meant for a small audience, I was advised by two authors who had written many successful books in the genre to use my author name Ben Hammott in the book so the small audience it was intended for would know it was based on my Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar book. However, Beginnings grew into my best seller and has reached a much wider audience than I originally thought possible. I now cringe every time I think of it and often think of changing the name, but I am worried about jinxing its success.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

A: Probably resting in my coffin regretting many of the things I have done and the many more I should have done.

Q: Were you already a great writer? Have you always liked to write?

A: Well, I have always had an overactive imagination. Even when I was a child—and some say, I still am—I was always out with friends having an adventure of one kind or another. I turned these adventures into comic books for us to read. While at school, I distinctly remember writing a story in my English class that was so emotional it made the teacher cry. Now, I always thought it was the emotional content that had caused her tears, but when I started writing books as an adult and realized how atrocious my grammar was, I now suspect that may have been the real reason.
Q: What writing advice do you have for other aspiring authors? 

A: Never give up and ignore the rule, show don't tell. But if you have to use it, use it sparingly.
Q: Do you read your reviews? Do you respond to them, good or bad? Do you have any advice on how to deal with the bad?

A: I used to check my reviews every day, but now go perhaps once a week or longer, depending on what I am doing. Bad reviews are good. If you have no bad reviews, I'd be suspicious of the quality of your good reviews. To me the best reviews are good 3- and 4-star reviews on Amazon. If I am choosing a book, I NEVER look at 5-star reviews, but go straight for the 3- and 4-star ones and perhaps glance at a couple of 1- and 2-stars. Readers are intelligent people. I am sure many also ignore the rave reviews, and I think they like to see a few critical reviews. My Beginnings novel has more than its fair share of bad reviews, although admittedly some were for the bad grammar and spelling, which has been fixed, but others are quite mean. Yet the book sells hundreds of copies every month. So, to sum it up, be glad if you have a few bad reviews as long as you also have some good reviews to balance it out.
Q: Do you write naked?

A: Not when the cat's in the house.

Q: What is your biggest failure?

A: There have been so many it's difficult to chose a favourite, but writing interesting answers to these interview questions could probably join the list.

Q: What is the biggest lie you've ever told?

A: This one: I have never lied!
​Q: Do you drink? Smoke? 

A: Most definitely!

Q: What is your biggest fear?

A: That I will no longer be able to afford cigarettes and booze.

Q: What do you want your tombstone to say?

​A: He is not really here, but living in some exotic country as a wealthy well known author drinking cocktails on a white sandy beach and listening to the sound of waves gently lapping upon the shore.
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