Sean Parnell Talks About Writing His New Book, Being a Single Dad, and His Embarrassing Tattoo

Sean Parnell is a New York Times bestselling author, combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient. I recently got to chat with him about his new book, All Out War, among many other things.

Lisa: First, let’s talk about what it was like writing a novel versus your first book that was about your own experience. I did a novel just because I wanted to do it and my favorite thing is writing dialogue. It’s easy because I feel like I know the characters, and I’m not even writing. Like they’re just talking to each other, and I don’t have to actually think. I’m just transcribing

Sean: Oh my gosh, I wish I had that problem. I struggle with dialogue. I mean, I’m kind of an introvert, so I don’t really like talking to people that I don’t know.

Lisa: Oh no, I’m the same way in real life. I like writing the characters though

Sean: I just feel like I’m not good at it, and I struggle with it. It’s painstaking for me to paint dialogue in any way. But what I do like is, I love plotting out the story. I love creating a compelling story. I love the dynamics that create a dramatic story. All that’s super fun to me, but in the process, dialogue is definitely my least favorite part.

Lisa: That’s so unexpected.