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Anyone learning of author Tee O’Fallon’s background in law enforcement, at both the local and federal level, would expect her to be incredibly interesting to talk to - and she is that, and so much more! Ms. O’Fallon not only has fascinating stories to share, she’s also got a wonderful sense of humor, loves cooking and food, and is, herself, a bookworm. Dive into this feature article to get to know the lady behind the wonderful and addicting Blue and Gold, Federal K-9, and K-9 Special Ops series

InD: Thank you for a taking the time out of your day to talk to us. We’re excited to have you be a part of our next issue.

TOF: Thank you for the invitation.

InD: So interviewing authors is a pretty new thing for me, but I think it’s so much fun to get to know authors and who they are behind the pages. We get to see the finished book, but we very rarely get to see the person who wrote it, so being able to talk to you and find out who you are, your experiences, where your inspiration comes from… it makes you more real, and it’s really nice to know a little bit about who you are outside of the fabulous books you write. So tell us a little bit about yourself. Where did you grow up?

TOF: I grew up in a suburb of New York. After that I moved to New Jersey for about seven years, then out to Colorado for about five years, and now I’m back in New York.

InD: Wow, what is it about New York that keeps pulling you back do you think? Is it just a case of “that’s home”?

TOF: It’s home. I came back here from Colorado to be with my mom and help her.

InD: I grew up in the UK, and I remember the first thing we all thought of when we heard New York was “oh, Manhattan!” and we’d forget there’s a whole state outside of that one massive city.

TOF: I once saw a map of the country, and Manhattan took up the biggest part of the map, while the rest of the country was tiny. The main focus of the country always seems to be on Manhattan.

InD: It’s funny and kind of sad because so many other parts of the state have so many interesting things to see and do as well, but the focus always goes back to Manhattan! Did you have brothers and sisters growing up?

TOF: I did. I have an older brother who lives in Maryland. We stay in touch.

InD: What’s your personality like, do you think, compared to your brother?

TOF: I was very different from my brother – still am. He’s pretty quiet, and yet, when he has an opinion, he’ll let you know! I’m not really outspoken, I’ve just learned to come off that way. I think it comes from public speaking. I had to do it for the job, giving presentations. And then as an author, I started doing seminars and book conferences, so I got more experience, but it’s not something that comes naturally to me.

InD: Me neither. The first time I had to interview an author I was terrified! I mean I love talking to people about books, but I think the hard part is trying not to come across as a crazy, geeky fan – especially when it’s an author whose books you love.

TOF: You know though, we all come across as geeks. We’re dorks! [both laughing]

InD: Were you a big reader when you were a kid?

TOF: I was. I remember in elementary school, there was a book publication that came out. I forget what it was called; maybe RSA, and all the kids got to take this form home and check off all the books we wanted – then our parents had to pony up a check. My stack was always one of the top three biggest stacks in the classroom, so I guess that’s where it started for me.

InD: And you still like reading now – when you have time?

TOF: I do! The problem though, is time! I work during the day, and then unfortunately what happens is – maybe this sounds familiar to you – I’ll go to bed and start reading, and get maybe five pages into the book, then my eyes start closing! It’s a little embarrassing, but lately I haven’t even really read that much. There are so many amazing books out there, and so little time!

InD: Oh yes! It does get frustrating. I mean you work in the book world, whether that’s writing, editing, or working at a magazine that’s all about books, and you still enjoy reading, but the more involved you get in the book world, the less time you have to read!

TOF: Sad, but true.

InD: What was your favorite kind of story when you were a kid?

TOF: Probably books about horses. Well, really anything about animals. My favorite series back then was Walter Farley’s Black Stallion series. I think they made one or two movies out of them. I still have those hard copy books down in my basement. I should probably re-read them; it’s been a while. Did you have a favorite series growing up?

InD: Oh gosh, I love Nancy Drew; I had that whole series. And then there was an author back in the UK called Enid Blyton. I’ve never seen her books here in the States, but she had multiple series, and my favorite was called The Famous Five, which she wrote back in, I think, the 1950s – maybe even earlier. It was about four cousins and their dog, always getting into mischief, and there was always a mystery they managed to solve. So a lot of the books I read when I was younger had some sort of mystery or shenanigans go. Even even now, if I had to pick just one genre, I probably read Romantic Suspense the most.

TOF: Mine too. You sound like me. You need a little something else going on in the background of a romance novel, something to keep you going.

InD: Yeah, it’s definitely something that gets you hooked in. The relationship is awesome to see, but when there’s that mystery or a threat, or just something nefarious in there, it just adds that extra hook into you. You’re fabulous at doing that by the way. Every book of yours I’ve ever read… which is all of them… have that wonderful balance of plenty of relationship on the page, yet also plenty of whatever the mystery or threat is, whatever is going on at the time. Like with your newest one, “‘Burning Justice". It had that almost enemies-to-lovers sort of thing between the two main characters, but then they also had that really interesting case they were working on.

TOF: Well thank you for reading them.

InD: Your characters are always so relatable, and very dynamic. They’re the kind of people you could see yourself hanging out and having a conversation with, or thinking “I could be friends with him/her.”

TOF: I think that if you can’t be friends with the heroine, why would you want to read about her?

Why would you be rooting for her to get together with this awesome guy? ‘Cause you know if you don’t like her, you’d be thinking more like, “Nah, she doesn’t deserve him!” [both laughing]

InD: I totally agree! And then you add in this page-turning mystery that adds so much tension to the story. You have a wonderful talent with this – that tension building because you know something bad is going to happen, and then the two main characters wind up in a situation that seems impossible to get out of, yet you always find a way!

TOF: “Burning Justice” (Book 2 in the K-9 Special Ops series) is interesting because it’s probably my most plot-heavy book. I think the plot was a more involved than I usually go, and it wasn’t that I planned it that way. The story dictates where I go with it.

InD: So are you a plotter, a pantser, or some mix of the two?

TOF: I definitely outline. I hate getting somewhere and not knowing where I’m going, so I usually write a pretty extensive outline, somewhere between 50 and 75 pages, and that helps keep me on track. But at the same time, sometimes I get somewhere and realize oh there’s a problem, or this isn’t going to work, or wow, I’ve got an even better idea, or I come up with something extra to throw in between two chapters. The good stuff doesn’t always come to you when you’re outlining. I think as an author, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t at least allow for the possibility of making some changes along the way.

InD: Have you ever run across times or places where your characters just don’t cooperate with where you thought the story should go and you’ve had to change a lot of it because it’s just not working with how your characters have developed?

TOF: Once in a while I get stuck, and I struggle to move on to the next chapter because I just don’t like the way the chapter I just wrote is working. Like maybe there’s not enough of a connection between the characters. Sometimes, I have to sit back and figure out how to dig myself out of a hole.

InD: Do you have to sit down and talk to someone to help talk you through it? Or do you just sit there and read through, or doodle on Post-Its, something like that, to help get you out of the hole?

TOF: Sometimes I’ll pour a cup of coffee and literally walk around the room with it. It helps to pace, so I do it and I talk out loud to myself, thinking, “okay this is happening here, and that’s happening here, why can’t I get passed step two?” Sometimes it helps when I’m driving, sometimes working out or running… For whatever reason, those activities help get my brain thinking about the problematic issue. And that, very often, helps me move past that brick wall I can’t get over.

InD: So what’s weirdest place you’ve ever had that stroke of lightning, “oh that’s what I can do!” I have a friend who was making toffee or something like that, it was very temperature sensitive, and she got that “aha!” idea, went to write it down and totally forgot something was on the stove. She wound up losing her whole pot to that idea! [both laughing]

TOF: I did that once with a wine reduction sauce! There was something on the TV and my boyfriend called me in to see it. I got so captivated by it… and then I started to smell something. It was the wine burning. So yeah, that happens! I would say a book I wrote – I won’t say which one – someone suggested that the who-did-it was a little too obvious and suggested I do something else. I had no idea who else to make the bad guy. I started talking with my editor, and as we were discussing it, like you said, a lightbulb went on, and I realized oh, I’ve got it! It didn’t take much rewriting, and it was the easiest villain change I’ve ever had to do. And I can tell from the reviews of that particular book that everyone else who read it was pleasantly surprised.

InD: Oh, now everyone is curious as to what book! [both laughing] Your author bio says you worked in law enforcement for over 20 years. Thank you for serving that way; I can’t imagine it was easy. What made you turn to writing after working in that field? It seems the polar opposite thing to do.

TOF: Like you, I gravitated from straight-up romance to other genres. For a while it seemed Historicals were the only thing out there, then Contemporaries came along, and then the entrance of Romantic Suspense. Every year, my boyfriend and I would go down to the Carolinas and spend the week on the beach. We found a great book store, and one of the first things we’d do is go down to the book store, grab some books, then go sit on the beach and read.

InD: That sounds like the perfect vacation!

TOF: It was! I remember one year, reading a Romantic Suspense by a well-known author – who shall remain nameless – a big name. I was so disappointed with this book I literally threw it into the sand. It was definitely a DNF for me. We went back to the bookstore and I got a different book. My boyfriend said to me, “You know, Tee, I’ve read your work reports, you can write. You have so many ideas, why don’t you just write your own book?” He bought me this nice little leather-bound notebook with blank pages. So now we’re on the beach with murder mysteries and this notebook in hand, and I start brainstorming with him. We came up with some ideas and started hand-writing them, (we didn’t have a laptop at the beach) and I started outlining a book. I did write this book… but it has yet to be published. I think it’s a great story, so I’ve made it part of a new series that I hope to publish one day.

InD: That’s awesome! Will it involve law enforcement in any way?

TOF: Yes. And that’s how I got started writing!

InD: That’s a great beginning. So as you worked in law enforcement, do you ever pull snippets from some of the real-life cases you worked, that you can work into your stories?

TOF: Sure. Sometimes they’re little investigative tools, things I used on the job. Sometimes I’ve met a person who I thought was really interesting, so they wound up in a book. Or maybe they were a jerk, to put it kindly, and I made that person the evil supervisor. In Federal K-9 book 7 (Above ’N’ Beyond), which is coming out this month, there’s a case I reference that was an actual case that happened. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but you’ll know it because I give credit for it in the acknowledgements.

InD: I can’t wait to read it! Now, your first published series, your Blue & Gold series, takes place in New York. Tell me about it.

TOF: I came up with the storyline first, then I thought, “What kind of law enforcement officer would be undercover for six months?" Unless you’re working some sort of organized crime case, it’s pretty rare for a federal agent to be undercover for that long. It doesn’t happen often, so I decided the heroine should be a New York City police officer for that series.

InD: Where did you get your inspiration for that one?

TOF: You know, I don’t even remember! I always loved to cook, so that figures into the story about who the heroine is, and what she becomes. And I love dogs so much, even though the NYPD Blue & Gold series isn’t a K-9 series, there’s definitely a lot of doggage on the pages!

InD: What made you switch from the NYPD level of law enforcement to the Federal level? Was it just that your Blue & Gold trilogy had come to an end and it seemed like a natural progression? Or was there something else that made you want to switch it up?

TOF: I have to give credit to my editor at the time, Karen Grove. I got to the end of my first contract with the last book in the Blue & Gold series, and she said, “You know, Tee, I see you’re posting a lot about your dogs on social media. Have you ever thought about writing a K-9 series?” And I said “No, the thought never even crossed my mind!” [laughing] So that’s how it all came to be, then she and I worked together to come up with a theme for the series, and we decided on federal K-9s, which made sense since that was my background, too.

InD: And so you were able to pull on a lot of your own experiences from maybe working with K-9s, or how all of the different branches of federal law enforcement work together to make things very realistic.

TOF: Yes, in the federal world, the protocols are pretty much the same. There are rules of federal criminal procedure, and no matter what agency you work for, those rules are the same, and we all report to the US Attorney’s Office in whatever district we work in. It was easy for me to get the protocols and tactics accurate even though I was writing about six or seven different agencies. But I never worked for the CIA, and I never worked with a CIA agent, so I definitely needed to do some research there.

InD: Did you ever have to work with a K-9 or partner with a K-9 officer on any of your cases?

TOF: I did work on some drug cases where packages were opened and containers were sniffed by dogs. We did a roadblock on the border at Niagara Falls, and I was working with a state police officer. He pulled over a truck, and called in a dog because the back of the container was full of drums. The dog hopped up into the container and started walking all over the tops of the drums like it was just a walk in the park! Toward the end of my career I worked at JFK airport, and there were dogs around all of the time. They were mostly explosives detection dogs.

InD: The K-9s and their handlers in your stories always manage to add a little bit of humor. I mean when they’re working they’re completely focused and on point, they don’t mess around, yet they always manage to add some humor. Did you find that happening in real life at all with the K-9 units you’ve been around?

TOF: Somewhat, yes. I do take a little bit of literary license to add some levity to my stories in places, because even though I’m writing serious plots, I can’t help but inject a little humor in there.

InD: And I imagine your own dogs give you some inspiration for that!

TOF: Oh, yes. They’re total hams! I think everyone who has a dog will experience something humorous every single day!

InD: I have to agree! Our dog is the funniest thing, and we have hardwood floors so he’s always sliding everywhere which is hilarious.

TOF: Does he sleep in your bed too?

InD: Oh heck no! He tried the first night we had him, and I was eight and half months pregnant at the time, and I was definitely “no no no!”. He got down and gave me the saddest eyes! I’ve never felt so bad for kicking a dog out of bed in my life! [both laughing]

TOF: They really know how to play on our emotions.

InD: So true! What kind of dogs do you have right now?

TOF: I have two Belgian sheepdogs.

InD: Those are pretty big dogs, aren’t they?

TOF: They look bigger because of their hair. My male is probably about 56 pounds, and he’s on the cover of Honor ’N’ Duty (Federal K-9 Book 6).

InD: Oh that’s a beautiful dog! I’ve always loved the dogs on your covers. They are very handsome, almost regal looking dogs.

TOF: That’s not an accident! My publisher is Entangled Publishing, and they send out a form to the author asking for input on the cover. They even suggest that if you have links to specific things you want on a cover, to send them in. If it works, they’ll use it. I can usually find a dog that has the right look, meaning it’s a beautiful dog, he/she has upright ears, it has the intensity I’m going for. Entangled has published most of the dog photos I’ve selected for the covers.

InD: Oh that’s awesome! Outside of your Blue & Gold series, I’ll always expect to see a dog on your covers – especially as they’re almost the third starring role in each story! I mean in all of your stories there’s the hero and the heroine, and then there’s the dog. Whatever you story is, the dog is always so important!

TOF: What did you think about the fourth character in Burning Justice?

InD: [laughing] Are we talking about the **spoiler alert**!! (Go and read the book. It’s fabulous!)

TOF: Yes, that one!

InD: I laughed so much when I read that! My husband actually asked me what I was laughing at and I explained it was your book, and so-and-so had a pet, and he didn’t understand why it was funny… and then I told him the name for this pet and he laughed as well!

TOF: That was another thing that popped into my head while I was writing “Burning Justice” –the name of this pet!

InD: It’s so comical because you can’t help but picture this type of pet in your head and add in the name… and well, it’s just so funny it can’t help but make you laugh. Out of all the characters you’ve written, and you’ve got quite an amount now when you count all of your series, have you got a favorite?

TOF: That’s really hard to pick! I guess because there are favorite things for me in each of the stories. “Burnout” (NYPD Blue & Gold Book 1) was my first published book and will always be the book of my heart. It started my career, and in that book, the dog was based on my female Belgian Sheepdog, the first one I’d ever had. That’s another reason that book is the book of my heart. I also love the interplay, the banter, between the hero and heroine (Mike and Cassie). There’s a bit of that in “Armed ’N’ Ready” (Federal K-9 Book 2) as well as others I’ve written. And you know, it shows up in reviews. I think readers really like that kind of back and forth, push-and-pull, I love you-I hate you.

InD: I think it makes it even more gratifying to the reader when the characters finally get over that will-they, won’t-they, okay I actually love you more than I hate you, and finally get together and manage to work things out.

TOF: Exactly.

InD: Do you ever put parts of yourself into any of your characters? Any particular trait or hobby, anything like that?

TOF: I think there’s probably a little part of me in all my books, even if it’s just one little snippet. There’s probably more of me in “Burnout” than any of the others, because it was my first book. However, in “Lock ’N’ Load” (Federal K-9 Book 1), Trista, the heroine, is completely different from me. She’s a total computer geek, and she doesn’t have any real awareness of her sexuality, her inner beauty, or her inner strengths.

InD: I actually love that about Trista because it makes her happy ending even more gratifying since she was so clueless as to who she was outside of the computer geek that the CIA relied on. I think how she got pulled out of her shell by the hero (Matt) and his team throughout the story is so well written and honestly delightful to see.

TOF: That’s why I really liked her story. He helped her see who and what she was, and who she could be.

He saw it almost immediately, even through her dour and dowdy grey clothes and glasses, her boring shoes and tight hair bun… I liked creating a quirky heroine.

InD: It is nice to see someone who is not your stereotypical heroine. I imagine that in some ways you can have more fun when you start them off a geek, or completely clueless, or very fashioninhibited, and you get them to change and see who they are as you develop the story.

TOF: She was a lot of fun to write. Her strength was in her brain.

InD: Okay, I have to ask because the curiosity is killing me, does “Tee” stand for something, or is it a nickname?

TOF: Tee is basically my first initial spelled out. It’s a nickname people in the past have called me, so I decided that if you call me Tee, I’m probably going to turn around!

InD: Do you have a favorite time of day to write?

TOF: The morning – with a big cup of coffee in hand! [both laughing]

InD: Ah, caffeine to get your juices flowing so you can think! Alright, let’s find out some favorites! What’s your favorite food?

TOF: That’s easy, pizza.

InD: What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not reading or writing?

TOF: Probably cooking.

InD: What’s your favorite thing to cook?

TOF: Fresh pasta.

InD: Is that as hard as it looks?

TOF: No. My brother got me a gadget you insert into a KitchenAid mixer, so when you turn it on, it will turn the rollers instead of you having to crank something. It’s so much easier.

InD: Favorite dessert?

TOF: Ooh… probably key lime tart.

InD: Do you bake it yourself or do you have a favorite place to get it from?

TOF: I bake it. I still love chocolate, but I think my tastes changed a little bit, and I started to like sweet-tart things, like lemon and raspberry.

InD: What, do you think, is the best advice you’ve ever been given in your professional life, whether it’s before you became an author or afterwards?

TOF: My advice for aspiring authors is to join a group, like a romance writer’s chapter, somewhere you can go where there are people at your writing level, below your level, and above your level. We’ve all been where you are, and we’ve all had someone who was at a higher place in their writing career who helped us. I think most of us want to pay it forward the best way we can.

InD: That’s wonderful advice, thank you for sharing it, and again, thank you for taking the time to talk to us today. It’s been a pleasure!