JAMES D. SWEAT 

Vietnam POW and former professional football player James Sweat's past has been riddled with violence and various run-ins with the law. With an MBA in mechanical engineering and now happily married, he has turned his penchant for crime to writing. He and his wife live in Daytona Beach Shores, Fla. Visit James online at http://www.jtsnovels.com

 

 

 

 

 

PageOneLit.com:  Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?  I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and read voraciously. I read everything-cereal boxes, Michener, Wouk, Conrad- everything I could get my hands on. Fiction, non fiction, didn't matter. I read to escape.  

JAMES D. SWEAT: My father was a regular guy who thought he was a gambler. He was horrible at it and consequently we moved a lot, most of the time in the middle of the night. I was always the new kid. Making matters worse, I tested really high and skipped a couple of grades early on. Moving often, I had no real friends and was younger and smaller than the kids in school. When you're younger, and smaller, you either sit in the back of the class quietly or you become very aggressive. I was aggressive. I fought a lot. I was a tough kid in tough neighborhoods.

My teachers encouraged my writing and I used comedy to entertain and fit in with my older peers. Later, I caught up with the other kids in size, went crazy with weight lifting and excelled in athletics, but I still used my creativity to entertain the other kids.

PageOneLit.com:  Why do you write?  Why did you write "OUR FRIEND JIMMIE"? Where did the idea for the plot come from? I write for pure pleasure. I enjoy telling stories. Now, I outline to a certain degree but when it's going good, I absolutely don't know where it comes from. I completely lose myself in the story. It just flows.   

JAMES D. SWEAT: I wrote "Our Friend Jimmie" because I'm always for the underdog. I enjoy real life situations where the little guy wins. In reality, it doesn't happen often so you cherish it when it does.

I spend a lot of time studying people and the plot for "Our Friend Jimmie" came while I was in a bar in Manhattan. The bar was frequented by a lot of mafia types as well as people from the major networks and was a gold mine for studying different types of personalities. Most of the dialogue in the book was pieced together during conversations I either had or overheard.

 

PageOneLit.com: "OUR FRIEND JIMMIE" is a story of friendships and loyalty - Friends coming together for one friend - Who are your best friends and why? What is something you have done recently for a friend. My best friends are my brother and my wife. It sounds odd because my brother and I, due to a six year age difference, weren't close as kids. As we grew older we became close. My wife and I started out as friends before we became lovers. Loyalty is key. I'm friends with other people but not to the point that I am with my brother and wife.

JAMES D. SWEAT: Recently, my wife and I helped each other to quit smoking. That will definitely test a marriage.

PageOneLit.com:  "OUR FRIEND JIMMIE" is set during September 11, 2001 -- How did you select this date/period for this story? Or did the story select this date?

JAMES D. SWEAT: The story actually selected the date. I did the initial draft during 9-11. I was writing when a friend called from the south tower and asked me what was going on. I turned on the news and was standing on my balcony on West 58th Street and saw the second plane hit. I told my friend to get the hell out but unfortunately she was told to stay. She did and died when the tower fell. Her body was never recovered.
 

PageOneLit.com:  "OUR FRIEND JIMMIE" is very well written. It is part mystery, part comedy, part action with a hardboiled tone -- Can you describe your writing style and what part of this book entertained you the most while writing it? And why? I think my writing style is raw, very real and from the heart. I write the way people talk. I love dialogue.

JAMES D. SWEAT:The way Jimmie interacted with the other characters was the most fun to write. The mafia toy drive, his match making with Terri and Nathan, the scene where Jimmie, Nathan and Ray are searching for Gail. Jimmie was real and did real things. He was the friend we all would love to have. 

PageOneLit.com:  Plot or character? Which do you feel is more important and why?

JAMES D. SWEAT: Definitely character. Good characters drive a plot. I enjoy writing dialogue much more than narrative so it's always going to be characters for me.
 

PageOneLit.com:  "OUR FRIEND JIMMIE" would make a GREAT motion picture -- If you are able to select the actors for the lead roles in Holllywood who would you select and why?

JAMES D. SWEAT: I really see this as a movie so this is an easy question. Robert De Niro is Jimmie. Danny DeVito with slightly elevated height is a perfect Ray. Randy Quaid or a taller Bruce Willis could do Nathan. Kim Basinger would be great as Gail and Helen Hunt a terrific Terri.

These actors are mature and successful, much like the characters in the book.

 

PageOneLit.com:  What's next?

JAMES D. SWEAT:I am working on a fourth draft of Family Retribution, a sequel to "Our Friend Jimmie". I also have three other books (fiction) in first or second draft stages.

PageOneLit.com: What was the last book you read?

JAMES D. SWEAT: "The Afghan" by Jeffrey Archer. I am currently reading "Two Faces of Islam" by Stephen Schwartz.

PageOneLit.com: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance your writing?

JAMES D. SWEAT: I study people. I can spend hours at a mall, in an airport or a bar watching people and how they act and interact. I then weave an intricate story about those that really fascinate me.