Scott A. Clark Interview Published on: 27, Feb 2025

I never aspired to be an author, so failing English in college didn’t bother me much. I didn’t do poorly in classes, but I didn’t see the importance of learning how to write essays again, so I stopped going to class. It was my overactive imagination and the wild, vivid dreams I have that got me writing. One dream in particular demanded I write it down, and it was ultimately the seed for The Duchess and the Accidental Thief.

At first, I thought they must have made a mistake or gotten the wrong Scott Clark. I was honored, of course, but it felt very unreal. I think, if anything sets the series apart, it’s a unique blend of genres, moving from thriller to mystery to sci-fi to humor. My characters are so real in my thoughts, and I think their wholeness shows on the page.

As a debut, the biggest challenge was believing I could publish and that it was good enough. My editor was probably the biggest advocate for the work, and I’m forever in her debt. It helps that she’s also been my best friend for almost 30 years.

Probably the biggest upgrade between books 1 and 2 has been the telling of a complete story end-to-end, rather than just a series of events. Not to say that the first book wasn’t cohesive, but it was a lot of introduction and exposition, and that really changed in book two.

The greatest resource you have is time. I see so many authors in a rush to publish or to write constantly and bang out 3 or more books in a year. If you can do that, fantastic, but don’t hold yourself to a standard you can never achieve. Write your story at your pace, and never, NEVER settle for “good enough.”

My second book, The Duchess and the Indigo Child, talks extensively about The Duchess’s private jet, The Silver Speedwell. I like to sprinkle my diverse interests into everything I write, and I’ve found new interests through the course of developing the series. Now, in the midst of writing book three, I’ve started learning the Welsh language, because it’s relevant to the story.

Many people can guess that there’s a strong correlation between aviation and weather. What most people probably don’t think much about is what the weather is like at aviation heights. There’s an entire field of study dedicated to upper air phenomena!

We’ll pass on this one. ?

I label my series as techno-thrillers, because one of my primary characters is an IT engineer, like me. They always say to write what you know, and I have 27 years in the industry, so it would honestly be harder NOT to incorporate it.

Without question, it’s Mentour Pilot/Mentour Now, presented by Petter Hörnfeldt. Fantastic research, well presented, and in simple language that doesn’t require a pilot certification to understand.

As an avid sci-fi fan, even though I write thrillers, I would absolutely focus on the technology that allowed cities in the sky and try really hard not to copy Star Wars. ?

I think the only thing failing those courses taught me was that I always had the words and the skill to put them together, but I just needed a reason. Lacking a reason, I lost interest and flunked. When I got the idea for my first book, I didn’t have to think too hard about it anymore.

Definitely The Duchess, because her manners are impeccable and she’s quite a good chef in her own right. I’d have to invite Martin Alcott, because…well, he’s me in a lot of ways, and I think I’d learn a lot. And I’d invite Maureen Abernathy, just to keep us all honest.

Really all the feedback surprises me because I’m stunned people want to read it. That said, I recently got a very detailed write up by a reviewer who called my writing “incredible,” and I was blown away.

I probably haven’t taken as much advantage of the platform as I should, but the cover of the month contest really got my first book noticed. Again, I was tremendously humbled, as an indie, self-published author, to wind up in the top 20 among some big name, major-published authors. It speaks to how platforms like AllAuthor can level the playing field for indies.