novel story - Detective novel about a Stradivarius violin

Please welcome my special guest Gerald Elias, author of the novel musical mystery, Devil's Trill, who recently published by Minotaur. He was kind enough to take time from his schedule to my questions about writing and publishing to answer.
Thank you for this interview, Gerald. You're a violinist, conductor, and composer. Whether you are entered in writing?
I remember in the second year we had a mission to write a comic book, and I had a horse with a pump JFK national program of physical fitness. My teacher was impressed by my work, asked: "Is it original?" I do not know the meaning of the word, so dark, I shook my head and said, "Oh, no!" My father loved writing as a sideline and in his later years, for writing letters to editors of local newspapers known. He liked to write poems - the kind that rhymes - so I think the writing is in my genes.
Tell us what your inspiration for Devil's Trill there? I understand the story is based on the experiences that you have developed for students of the violin?
Some of the most boring things I had read as a student learning the violin, were tomes on music and the violin. I decided I have to stay awake for future generations of musicians the ability and experience some of the challenges thrust upon us in the world of music, and although each chapter of my book was a violin lesson of all kinds (it's on issues like how you are choosing a violin, as for an orchestra to audition, and the aesthetics of music, there was an overlap, fictional story was about a legendary Stradivarius that theft was at Carnegie Hall. originally "Devil's Trill" as "violin lessons" and the story was a bit flat and the main character, the violin teacher Daniel Jacobus blind, not fully developed, but over the years, the book to a full investigation, has been transformed, the maintenance of these aspects of the violin and the music necessary to the story to move.
It was back in full and outlined the history before you start writing?
Quite the contrary. I had a general idea of where I wanted to, but since my first book, it is only after many writes that everything came together. In the meantime, have several characters have been added, which turns, and of course every time you make a change like everything that came before will be brought in line with the new hardware. I'm just glad I had walked a full-time job as a musician while writing the book that gave me the luxury of learning than I am.
The protagonist Jacob is quite eccentric and unstable. It is certainly distinctive. How did you build around him?
At first it was much less, although I find it always blind. There have been two reasons for his blindness. First, the idea that sense gaps are the other four improved. This course has enabled him to hear music and see the world around him with more clarity. The second reason is more of a metaphor. Music is obviously something that is heard, and yet so often in the music profession takes the visual primacy. As a blind, Jacobus had the ability to recognize the "truth" of the music in a way, those who keep up with her. His qualities were most aggressive, however, the result of discussions I had with his friend and author, Katharine Weber, that a character like James should not only proposed multidimensional had, but also the development on the road book. You will notice that his crotchetiness is a little less nervous at the end of the story.
I love how you bits of information about violins and violinists in history. Was it a conscious decision? Was your intention to educate and entertain the reader?
I think the mark of a good mystery writer, has allowed the reader to the special world of the author. Whether a story by Walter Mosley, Donna Leon, Dick Francis or John Le Carre, the reader can learn much about this world, but not a conscious effort. I tried to write, "Devil's Trill" so that even people who have never experienced the world of classical music can enjoy the story. I certainly hope that buy millions of people and enjoy the book, and I do not want to sound like a missionary, but if taken after reading "Devil's Trill," people the opportunity to go a little further and listen to the music discussed in it, they learn to have done so much richer.
How long did it take to write this book?
Ten years!
How was your schedule, as work on the novel?
I started the book in Italy in 1997 during a break from my work with the Utah Symphony Orchestra, so this year I had a lot of time. Then I have more dreams from my desk in the morning before work and spent the rest of the day for improvement.
Would you like to share with my readers a little more about the publishing process? How was it? Do you have the researcher easy step?
When I had finished the first draft of the book, I absolutely knew nothing about how to publish it. Some people have told me that you have had an agent. Others have said the hell with the agent, go directly to the publisher. Others say self-publishing is the right way. I finally sent the manuscript to publishers and agents, and random response was unanimously negative. I wanted to give up when one day I read "The Music Lesson" by Katharine Weber, lives on the jacket (at the time), she taught at my alma mater, Yale. So I wrote to him and asked if they so kindly, my book would be read. Miraculously, not only does she endorse it as not, she has offered wonderful constructive criticism, and between her and MJ Rose, I was connected to a wonderful agent, Simon Lipskar at Writers House.
This is not the end of the story, but because, even though Simon and I revised the book, which we have not received the unanimous rejection of the publishers, like Simon, also a musician, said he was too close to it, and handed me his expert secret, Josh Getzler, now with Russell and Volkening. After more than we write again "Devil's Trill" to publishers, and voila! a positive response by St. Martin's Press. It was a beautiful day.
I hear you play Devil's Trill in your signings. Tell us about it and what you do to promote the book.
My thought would be a new experience (no pun intended) for readers who took the trouble to go to the autograph session for a special preview of the book, and I was pleased to be able to offer. The Devil's Trill Sonata by Giuseppe Tartini is one of several pieces, I played the signature pounds, and I explained how each of them an important role played in the plot. Tartini Sonata is the title of the book for a very specific reason. Back in the 18 Century, he tells how, when he awoke in the middle of the night, the devil was at the foot of his bed. He gave the devil his violin, which was then played with such breathtaking virtuosity that Tartini was stunned. He tried to write what had played the devil and ends with the Devil's Trill Sonata, perhaps the best thing he ever wrote, but he felt it was reported that the devil had played inadequated. While at the foot of his bed, Daniel Jacobus, so Tartini devil face 250 years later, his personal demons was in the form of diabolical Stradivarius Piccolino.
If the second book out?
"Danse Macabre", in early September will be open in 2010. It is again Daniel Jacobus and his friend, Nathaniel Williams, as they try, the secret of the beloved violinist who was immediately after his swan song at Carnegie Hall, brutally murdered by a young rival to unravel. Or was it?
Is there anything you would like to share with my readers?
After I are pretty much my whole life a professional musician, I feel deeply honored and blessed to have received such a positive response to my letter. It is a common denominator there. The music and literature as forms of communication we can in a world where obstacles seem increasingly to mount every day to unite. My goal is to collect to help us.