An Interview With Best Selling Prison Author Glenn Langohr

An Interview With Best Selling Prison Author Glenn Langohr

Posted on March 28, 2013by lockdownpublishing

How much of yourself is hidden in the characters in your books? A lot. I lived a life as a drug criminal for many years. It started as a runaway at the age of 12. It continued for 20 more years. Through writing, I found a spiritual way to deal with it in a positive way.

How much of a story do you have in mind before you start writing? I usually have the story already done before I start. Of course a few new twists and turns can happen but for the most part, I see the story as if it is a movie.

How do you develop and differentiate your characters? I paint with the true colors of life, with real characters, so they are divided by different drug gangs, different races, different sides of the law and different motivations.

Do you have specific techniques you use to develop the plot and stay on track? At times, my writing turns to fiction to transition the story from point A to point B and that Is when it gets hard to stay on track. Sometimes I have to throw away sections and start over.

How (or when) do you decide that you are finished writing a story? In the beginning that was hard because I wanted the perfect ending. My first novel, Roll Call: A True Crime Prison Story of Corruption and Redemption is 700 pages but I got the perfect ending! Kirkus Discoveries from NY Nielson Media reviewed it and called me a “Master Director” and said, “A Harrowing-Down-and-Dirty Depiction of the U.S. War on Drugs” they also related it to my favorite drug war movie “Traffic”.

Now all my books are way shorter. I figured out how to end them a little easier.

Is there a message in your writing you want readers to grasp? I have nine drug war and prison books that are meant to do two things. I strive to shine a light on how “tough on crime” political platforms are hurting us as a society because they aren’t “smart on crime” and we need more compassion in relation to the drug laws. My books show human beings being sent to prison who are addicted to drugs and fighting poverty the only way they know how. While in prison, the readers can see for themselves that the addiction is bred into an affliction much harder to escape, where gangs, tattoos and violence are the solution to the pressure. What do you think that does for the community when those petty drug criminals are released without any new skills or way to live, starting over from scratch, without a job, or a place to live?

What are you working on right now? The TV show “Lock Up Abroad” interviewed me for the upcoming season that is going to focus on U.S. Prisons. They want me to write a story without any fiction at all about my time in prison toward the end of my sentence when some crazy stuff happened.

Have you always wanted to be a writer? No, I never imagined it until I was in prison for 10 years and stuck in a cell in solitary confinement.

At what age did you discover your love of writing? I was 32 years old at the time.

What was the first story that you wrote? Roll Call: A True Crime Prison Story of Corruption and Redemption.

When were you first published? How were you discovered? I published in 2009 after sending my manuscript to a bunch of publishers.

What is the most difficult part of the whole writing process? Going over it again and again to make it perfect. The rewriting can be overwhelming and it takes other professional readers and authors to add their thoughts.

What do you like to read? I love suspense thrillers, romance, young adult, crime anything, mystery and Westerns.

What writer influences you the most? There are so many it is hard to name one. Lee Childs is fantastic. James Patterson writes short chapters the way I do. James Clavelle writes culture the way I do.

If your book was made into a TV series or Movie, which actors would you like to see playing your characters? I envision making stars out of real prisoners who are in my books. Why have someone pretend to be a Mexican Mobster or Hell’s Angel when the real thing is available?

Where can people learn more about you and your books?

rollcallthebook@gmail.com

To purchase Glenn’s books in print, kindle or audio in the UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00571NY5A

In the US http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00571NY5A

To contact Glenn on facebook~https://www.facebook.com/glennlangohrcalifornia

To contact Glenn on Linkedin ~ http://linkd.in/ZH8lc7 Glenn’s audio books for a free sample on Amazon~ http://amzn.to/Yi9Uxo 

http://www.lockdownpubishing.com

http://www.audiobookprisonstories.com

Glenn Langohr: The Path Into Solitary Confinement in Prison is Wide and the Path Out is Narrow

Glenn Langohr: The Path Into Solitary Confinement in Prison is Wide and the Path Out is Narrow. Glenn Langohr spent over 10 years in some of California's worst prisons on drug charges, with 4 years in solitary before turning it into research as a writer and expert on prison culture. For a complete list of his drug war and prison thrillers in audio go here- http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=glenn+langohr%27s+audio+books You can also download the books to your phone, tablet or computer in minutes for free and buy them in print as well here- http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00571NY5A

"The path into solitary confinement is wide for this reason. We have to many laws and send to many people to prison these days. It used to be, in the 1980's, that you only went to prison for murder, rape and robbery for the most part. Tough on crime political platforms and the drug war took over and now we are paying the price with a prison population that is exploding at the seams.

To expand further, now that we send people to prison for poverty crimes like stealing to survive "Petty theft", and not being able to pay for probationary costs, and for being addicted to drugs, we have an overburdened prison system that frankly, has a lot of mental issues. Imagine being in prison as a drug addict or an orphan of poverty, on a packed prison yard, where the inmates are comprised of every race, color and creed. Now mix in hundreds of different street gangs and some predators. But please don't forget to add in a percentage of outright mental cases. Add all of that up and you have a recipe for violence, the slippery slope into solitary. This is where you have to look deeper. As an inmate trying to fit in, and avoid that violence in a predatory environment, one of the easiest masks to put on is in the form of tattoos. Human beings often enter the prison system as innocent, young drug addicts, and out of fear, try to fit in by blasting their bodies with ink to look formidable. This is the main reason that the path out of solitary is narrow. Since the path into solitary confinement and the path out aren't regulated by a court of law, dubious evidence is used that has to do with certain tattoos meaning certain things. Other dubious evidence is second hand information from other prisoners, and the one that hurts my heart the most, self admission.

What most people don't understand is that as a new arrival to a prison, the prison administration has to run a check to clear the inmate for mainline population on the "Big Yard". During this process the inmate is under the microscope like an insect under a magnifying glass. He or she is asked questions like, 'What gang do you run with? What do they call you? Do you have any enemies?' These questions make a new inmate feel like joining a gang is the answer! A great percentage of lost misfits pass the tipping point and claim something. In my case being a White inmate they asked, 'Are you a peckerwood or skin head?' I saw the verbal bait on a hook and responded, can't I just be a White man without any affiliation? For those who take the bait and claim where they're from in the form of initials to their county like S.J.C, for San Juan Capistrano, just gave someone's pen the power to keep them self in solitary forever.

Glenn Langohr's Video Trailer For His Drug War and Prison Novel Roll Call, A True Story Crime Prison Story of Corruption and Redemption

Glenn Langohr's Video Trailer For His Drug War and Prison Novel Roll Call, A True Story Crime Prison Story of Corruption and Redemption. Available in print for 16.99, kindle for 2.99 and audio book for 13.97 all found on Amazon here- http://amzn.to/nxQt3A http://