Darden North

1. What genre(s) do you write?

Mystery & Suspense/Thriller

 

​2. Do you have a newly released novel? What is the title and a link to buy the novel? 

           

Released May 2025 - ROOFTOP in Hardcover & Softcover print and in eBook

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3. Are there any other social media links, websites, or other places to learn about you that we should add?  

 

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4. If you are traditionally published, who is your agent? If you are self-published, what publishing software do you prefer/ who is your publisher?

 

I am currently unagented but my last four novels, WIGGLE ROOM, THE 5 MANNERS OF DEATH, PARTY FAVORS, & ROOFTOP are published by independent/commercial publisher WordCrafts Press. WordCrafts accepted pitches from authors without agent representation .Prior to signing with WordCrafts Press, I self-published HOUSE CALL, POINTS OF ORIGIN, and FRESH FROZEN.

5. What is your favorite part of being an author?

 

To express the imagination and creativity of being someone else in a different place, time, and/or situation.

 

6. What is the most fun and most difficult part of the writing process for you? Eg. first draft, editing, researching?

 

Editing has to be the answer to this question for most authors because reality hits that the novel is entering perpetuity and has to be as polished and perfect as possible. Of course, even fiction writers need to do research (Just because a story is make believe, the person, place, or thing has to be accurate and plausible.) With the availability of the Internet and telephone or ZOOM calls, research has never been easier.

7. Wiggle Room (2013), 5 Manners of Death (2017), and Rooftop (2025) follow the lives of Diana Bratton and Brad Cummins. Are the rest of your novels connected to them somehow or are they standalones?

 

These three novels are standalones from my other four novels and even though a trilogy they are standalones within themselves.

8. Who is your favourite author/s? And why?

 

Gillian Flynn, Lee Child, Harlon Coben, & Donna Tartt. Their novels are filled with the type of conflicted characters and the fast-moving drama and dialogue that I strive to include in my own work. Also, I believe they are interesting, talented individuals I would like to know better and chat with. 

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9. Which character in Rooftop do you relate to the most?

 

Dr. Brad Cummins (husband of protagonist, Dr. Dianna Bratton)

 

10. How do you use your knowledge as a gynecologist in your novels?

 

Not so much my knowledge as a gynecologist, but I use my general experience as a clinical physician and surgeon to get into the heads of my physician characters in my thrillers. However, my first novel HOUSE CALL (2005) starred Knox Chamblee, a young, great-looking, highly qualified male gynecologist. Knox played a very minor role in my second book, the mystery POINTS OF ORIGIN, but was back on the front lines in thriller FRESH FROZEN.

11. What are two fun facts about you?

 

#1 I was the first male inducted into Mortar Board at Ole Miss (the University of Mississippi) in about 1977, then a traditionally female-only undergraduate academic and leadership honorary.

#2 I played the clarinet, oboe, and percussion cymbals in my high school band in Cleveland, Mississippi

(Maybe a #3 is that I’m an only child, but when peers and other people I work with learn that fact, they are not surprised.)

12. If you could give any advice to a new writer/author, what would it be?

 

Move forward everyday with your writing career goal–make a positive step daily, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant and never, never let anyone tell you “no.” Make a commitment to yourself that proving that “negative person” wrong will be … oh so very sweet!