About Me
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Can you keep a secret? I’m not sure what kind of writer I
want to be. I’ve recently put out a Sci Fi novel and I have a suspense book in
my creative pipeline, meanwhile, I’m also editing a comedy, but I’m feeling
like I have to declare myself! Frankly, I’m a little put out with having to
make the choice, you know? Current wisdom is, you have to find a niche, pick a
genre and then define yourself within it, “Oh yeah, he’s the guy that writes
the Zombie/Vampire love stories, but not the one with time travel, the other
one.” It seems a bit ridiculous. Here, I’ll show you what I mean.
This is my latest fiction endeavor, and readers are loving it! I'm having fun and I hope it's financially successful and the story gets told in a million different ways, but I'm not sure if I would be happy just finding new stories to tell in that same genre.
I spent almost twenty years as a theatrical director and
once I had directed a couple of successful shows, no one would have ever said, “Yeah,
but that’s a comedy, are you sure, I mean, all he’s directed so far have been
suspense.” I know how to work with actors to tell a story for a live audience,
in fact, I’m damn good at it.
Or, how about this. I was also a carpenter on the side
through all of those years and after, no one ever said, “Well, I see you can
build a fireplace mantel, but a fence? I’m not buying it.” It is presumed, as
is the case in most professions, that if you are a competent doctor, attorney,
accountant, plumber or delivery driver, that slightly changing the parameters
of a single project would not be enough to turn you into a bumbling idiot, but
not so with artists.
This is also somewhat true for actors and musicians, but
with writers it’s hard to convince an audience to give you a chance. After all,
picking your next book is a fairly intimate commitment. It’s not like watching
a movie on Netflix, or even at the cinema. It’s more personal, it’s inside the
mind and if you are going to let my characters in there to romp around, you
want to make sure they are going to respect your space, I get it.
But, here’s the problem, I’m not, strictly speaking a “sci
fi fan” and by that I don’t mean I don’t like it, I do! I love a good Sci Fi
movie and the occasional novel. I especially like speculative fiction that asks
big philosophical questions, but I’m not a fan of this genre to the exclusion
of others. I am just as likely to follow up my next sci fi experience with some
slapstick comedy, or a suspense story. I love things that make me laugh, or
question myself, or feel deeply and I don’t give a damn what kind of costumes
the characters are wearing or what the scenery looks like (they have to be good
and appropriate, don’t get me wrong, I mentioned I’m a theater guy, right?) I just want you to
tell me a good story.
So, to that end, I’m trying to decide, do I fall into peer
pressure and try to establish an audience for a specific type of book, or, like
a professional chef running a dinner club, do I challenge readers, “Trust me,
you’ll love it, have a seat we’re going to give you an evening to remember.”
Being the Libertarian type, I’m inclined to try the latter
and see how it goes. That being said, I have three novellas built into a novel,
and two more sets of those coming in the same series that are already mapped
out and ready to be finished, so, I’m in Sci-Fi mode for the foreseeable
future. So, what do you think? Are you a genre specific fan, or do you fall in
love with story? Is it the setting and the gadgets and the rhythm of your
favorite brand of fiction, or the characters and situations? Tell me, what do
you think I should do?
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Over the past few days, I've been spending a lot of time in book publishing world, that little hole in the internet where indie authors have to go to get their product out into the world. I've been doing this for over 10 years, and I can tell you the options that exist now are way beyond anything that was available with my first attempt.
I've gotten Jacked up on Amazon and CreateSpace and Lulu.com and I've been sharing it around a few places, just kind of getting the ball rolling. This is the hard part and the fun part combined. I've done two interviews, fun part, I've waited for sales to start, the hard part.
But, I know it's a good story. I have other readers who've said so, so I know I'm not delusional and it will find any audience. I just have to treat it like a job and keep slugging away! I've found a couple of great tools that have helped some and I'll be sharing them all with you in time.
For today, I am going to enjoy my morning in the coffee shop, then head back to my office to work on an edit for another writer, and start outlining some projects for a big political writing gig coming up, but mostly I want to take the time to be grateful for my wonderful life.
I don't say a lot about my life here, normally, but I should. I'm forty-five, been married a quarter of a century in Dec. to my high school sweetheart, who still tells me she loves me. I have eight kids, two are grown, six at home and I have four dogs, three cats and on of my kids has a lizard. This makes me one of the most loved men in the history of the planet and I should feel happy to be alive every day.
Anyway, didnt' have much of importance to say today, except that Jacked Part One is finished and ready and I'll be sharing it here very soon.
I've gotten Jacked up on Amazon and CreateSpace and Lulu.com and I've been sharing it around a few places, just kind of getting the ball rolling. This is the hard part and the fun part combined. I've done two interviews, fun part, I've waited for sales to start, the hard part.
But, I know it's a good story. I have other readers who've said so, so I know I'm not delusional and it will find any audience. I just have to treat it like a job and keep slugging away! I've found a couple of great tools that have helped some and I'll be sharing them all with you in time.
For today, I am going to enjoy my morning in the coffee shop, then head back to my office to work on an edit for another writer, and start outlining some projects for a big political writing gig coming up, but mostly I want to take the time to be grateful for my wonderful life.
I don't say a lot about my life here, normally, but I should. I'm forty-five, been married a quarter of a century in Dec. to my high school sweetheart, who still tells me she loves me. I have eight kids, two are grown, six at home and I have four dogs, three cats and on of my kids has a lizard. This makes me one of the most loved men in the history of the planet and I should feel happy to be alive every day.
Anyway, didnt' have much of importance to say today, except that Jacked Part One is finished and ready and I'll be sharing it here very soon.
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