Q & A with Owen Sullivan, Author of "Liquid Gold"

Owen Sullivan is one of two authors who will be in for the Meet and Greet this Saturday, at 2pm.  He is discussing and selling "Liquid Gold," the sequel to "The House's Money."  He writes mysteries focused on real estate and finance and in "Liquid Gold." 

Q:  How was the sequel different to write--harder or easier? 

Owen: The sequel was easier to write as I had a better understanding of how to write after writing the first novel and going through the editing and re-writing process. I had never written a novel before The House's Money, so everything was new and I didn't have an understanding of what it tales to write something that people might actually enjoy reading. After going through many re-writes I got a better handle on that.

Q: In what way has your work history inspired your writing?

Owen: My work history has been very instrumental in my writing. I am very comfortable talking about real estate and the inner workings of Wall Street and large deals. I tried not to get to into the weeds about high finance and real estate because I didn't want o bore the readers. But I also wanted the readers to come away with knowledge about the industry that they didn't have before they read my book.

Q: What is the most common question readers ask you?

Owen: The most common question I get asked is what inspired you to write The House's Money? My answer is Around 2008 when the real estate market was crashing I found myself trying to workout projects with banks and tried to do some short sales on a couple of my properties. I've been in this business fro 35 years and I couldn't believe how difficult it was to get anything done with banks or to even find someone who could answer a question. I figured if I'm having this much trouble and I'm in the business, what about the millions of people who aren't in the business and are struggling. There had to be a story there and I felt I could tell it.   

Q: What is the question readers never ask, but you really badly want them to--and what is the answer to that question?

Owen: I want my readers to ask after they've read the books; are there really people out there in the real estate industry like your characters? Those are people you love to hate. The answer to that question is absolutely yes! My characters are fictional of course, but they are a compilation of people I've know and dealt with in the industry over my career.