Author Interview~ Robert Whitlow Part II

Robert Whitlow is the best-selling author of legal thrillers set in the South and winner of the prestigious Christy Award for Contemporary Fiction. A Furman University graduate, Whitlow received his J.D. with honors from the University of Georgia School of Law where he served on the staff of the Georgia Law Review. A practicing attorney, Whitlow and his wife, Kathy, have four children. They make their home in North Carolina.



Interview 2006 via telephone.

Gina: When we talked about your journey to publication, we didn’t get very far.

Robert: Okay. So I picked the book back up in ’98, and sent it off. I found a guy in Nashville that had sold one book, he was really in the music business, and he agreed to submit it to Word Publishing, Ami McConnell. He didn’t read it, but he dropped it off.

Gina: Brave soul.

Robert: And three months later, Ami called him and said she couldn’t find the last page of the book. She found the last page and that was it. I’ve never been turned down by a publisher.

Gina: How about if I just smack you?

Robert:[laughs] My wife told me after I finished writing The List that I need to write another book. So, I started The Trial. The List was contracted as a two book deal with an option for a third. I’m on my third contract now.

Gina: That’s such an incredible story. I know there are a few people like you, Deborah Raney comes to mind, whose first book is bought and never have to plow through rejection, but most of the stories are like Ted Dekker’s and Randy Ingermanson’s where they’ve written a pile of books before one sells. That’s amazing to me. Usually first books are pretty bad.

Robert: [Laughs] Well...I still like that book, but I can’t read it now because I just want to correct it. You know we’re doing a movie on that one.

Gina: On The List? I didn’t know that. Have you started filming?

Robert: Yes, in Wilmington North Carolina.

Gina: How did this come about?

Robert: The producer is a guy named Gary Wheeler and co-producer Kevin Downes. Their site is www.christiancinema.com I’m also co-producing it because we raised a lot of the money. We had screenwriters, but I was involved in editing the script.

Gina: Whose idea was this?

Robert: My wife.

Gina: [Laughs] If she isn’t your agent, she ought to be.

Robert: She’s amazing.

Gina: Sounds like it.

Robert: When I first wrote it she told me, “This is going to be a movie”. So, we’ve waited and prayed on it.

What happens on these things is people will contact you to option it. You make a little money, not much, but usually the movie doesn’t get made. But, I never did that because I was always afraid someone might really make it a movie. I waited until I met someone who really understood what the story was about.

I’ve been very pleased with it so far. Everyday I work on it. Something’s either going on the business side or the creative side. Every day.

Gina: Did the producer contact you or did you contact him?

Robert: I contacted him based on something my friend said. I contacted him and he got a copy of the book and then he contacted me.

Gina: Where will this film show?

Robert: At least a limited theater release. Select markets depending on how it does, we’ll move it around, provided it doesn’t sell.

Gina: Are you hoping it gets picked up by a major motion picture company after it sees its release?

Robert: No, beforehand. We have some interest now because people know we have a real product here.

The main character is going to be played by a guy named Chuck Carrington who plays on JAG. The main female character is played by a lady named Hilarie Burton an actress who played on One Tree Hill. We were looking for clean actors, you know? Will Patten is going to be in it. He was in Remember the Titans and Armageddon. He’s a well known character actor.

Gina: This is exciting for you.

Robert: Oh, this is cool. I’ve really enjoyed it. It is a Christian film, but it’s subtle.

Gina: So you see this appealing to the general market?

Robert: Yes, that’s our intention. Hopefully the people who read the book will want to see it. It will appeal to the CBA audience too I think.

Gina: Speaking of CBA, [Christian Book Assoc.] Why did you choose to write for CBA? Why not ABA [Secular/other]?

Robert: You write what you know and you write your passion. I could write a book that didn’t mention anything spiritual in it, but I don’t want to.

Gina: What about being classified as an author of Christian fiction?

Robert: You know, I’m not on some big crusade, but I don’t like the ghettoization that’s taken place within the Christian community of our work. That’s what happens to CBA stuff.

Moby Dick talks about God. The Scarlet Letter has a lot of things about God, so does Ben Hur. That’s about as Christian a novel as you’re going to get. But those things are just out there as works of literature. We write something and mention the name of Jesus and we’re labeled. If you mention the name of Jesus, but cuss then we’re out of the CBA.

Gina: Aha, the secret to cross-over success.

Robert: There you go. I understand the label makes sense. People want to buy a book that they know is going to be something they can read. My sister the librarian has to categorize books, I understand that.

I just like to write and let the spirituality of the characters come forward as it would in real life. If it’s not imposed then a reader can accept it. You create a credible world with believable characters then things like this happen. When you write what you know, if you’re a Christian and have a real relationship with God, then you can write about things that you know and avoid stereotypes that someone who didn’t have a real relationship with God couldn’t.

Gina: Any advice for aspiring writers?

Robert: Read a grammar book. Read Self-Editing for Fiction Writers...and finish a manuscript. Get something in your hands. A lot of people never do that.

Gina: Parting words?

Robert: Not really. You can come up with something.

Gina: How about Gina, you’re incredibly talented, a publisher better snap you up fast.

Robert: [Laughs] You know what, I’ll say this, you really can’t take yourself or success too seriously.

Gina: Those are good words.

Robert: You really can’t. I’ve been a successful lawyer before I wrote a word. I’ve learned you have to hold that success with an open hand. You can’t grasp it too tight. You have to be willing to let it go. You’ve got to have a genuine humility and focus on others.

Jimmy Mitchell knows he's different from the other teenagers in the little town of Piney Grove, Georgia. He's what people call "slow," which means he doesn't always understand what he sees and hears. But Jimmy sees and hears a lot, even the occasional "Watcher" (his mama calls them angels). And Jimmy remembers what he sees and hears with uncanny accuracy - which is why his lawyer father asks him to testify as a defense witness in a criminal trial.