Interview Questions

As a freelance writer, I've interviewed dozens of authors in the past few years. This week I have a deadline to come up with interview questions for a romantic suspense author, whose book I just finished reading. I really enjoyed her book. The story is fresh and suspenseful. It kept my attention and interest until the end. I've interviewed this author in the past, so I want to keep my questions fresh.

The writer in me wants to focus my questions on her writing process: where she gets her ideas, how she develops her characters, does she outline or plunge ahead, how does she research the technical parts of the book, and the like. My editor wants the focus to be on the author's present book. Generally, I try to do both; weave in writing-related questions while bringing out highlights of the current novel. That's not always easy.

Without mentioning the author's name, I'd like your opinion:

1. If you were interviewing a romantic suspense writer, what questions would you ask?

2. Now for the big question: If you could interview any writer (living or dead), who would it be, and what would you ask them?

One dead writer I would like to interview is Mark Twain. I'd want to know what he thinks about the rewrite of Huck Finn to make it more politically correct. I bet he would come up with a zinger of an answer.