Whitefish author creates characters to bring readers through the story

When John Zaiss submitted his first novel, a financial thriller, to publishers the rejections came back with a lesson he took to heart.

“It was a failure,” he said. “They loved the stories, but didn’t care about the characters. I decided that no matter what, my next book is going to be character driven.”  

At the time he was working a full-time job with three young children at home, writing at 4 a.m. before work and while traveling on airplanes and in hotels.