A Side Of Writing

The great independent author Roger Colby from the blog Writing Is Hard Work emailed me earlier this week. This is a great idea for aspiring writers like us. A quick self done interview about a current project. Roger told us about his novel This Broken Earth at his blog. You can find the post here. When he mentioned passing this on to other authors my mind immediately jumped to some fine gentlemen that I have had the oppurtunity to meet: Pete Denton, Craig Hallam and Mark Schuster. Each are amazing writers and have great things in the work. Their blogs contain  excellent insights into writing and life as a writer in general. So here we go… my currently project:

What is your working title of your book (or story)?

Honestly I am never very good at working titles. Most of the time my stories end up with something either incredibly absurd or incredibly simple. The big problem in my mind with working titles is I am a combination of an outliner and a discovery writer. I love the structure of the outline but inevitably end up going in a different direction with the overall story by the end of it. And that makes me cringe when it comes to working titles at least until the first draft is done and I can see where the whole story needs to go in revisions. That being said my current story that is starting revisions this month is titled “Max Bear: The Case of the Queen Bee”. Like I said absurd and simple.
Where did the idea come from for the book?

I have always loved detective novels and often lean toward having mystery in my stories. This particular story came from an idea for a urban fantasy mystery that turned into more of a straight mystery when I stripped it all down. The idea for my main character is probably a more interesting one than the idea for the story. Max is the name of my teddy bear from childhood. He accompanied me on all of my toddler adventures. And I still have him. He can normally be found in my daughter’s crib. When trying to come up with a basis for my hero I looked over and saw him sitting there. I had a flash of good old quirky Max as a police detective solving crime. And my mind was off to the races.

What genre does your book fall under?

Originally it was a supernatural mystery. But the more I worked on it the more it got overly complex. My glorious wife suggested that I just write it as a straight mystery. She said it would work better that way. And she was so right. So walking into the first round of revisions we have a straight mystery genre novel.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Absolutely no idea. Most likely I would prefer going with complete unknowns simply because it would allow for a fresh and new slate to build a picture upon. Granted if this would get optioned for a movie I would hope I had some say in who got cast. I doubt that would happen.(The say in casting not the optioning. You never know.)

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A cynical detective takes on unusual murder so he can save his career only to discover that the murder is the tip of a drug ladened iceberg that stretches from the city back into ancient Greece and he must learn to rely on his fellow detective and the system to bring down the Queen Bee of the drug network.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Right now I am looking at working this from both angles. A huge goal of mine is to get published through the traditional route. But in the same vein the most important goal is getting a story written and in the hands of readers. If this book finds its ways into the hands of a reader through self published means or traditional publishing then I say mission accomplished.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Grand total I would say it was about 7 months worth of work. While that sounds very short to some people I have to admit that my first drafts are always very short and in need of serious fleshing out during revisions. My main goal on my rough draft is to get the skeleton of the story written. After that I get my descriptions bulked up and my scenes filled out in the next few drafts. So I fully expect the revisions to take forever.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Originally I would say some good comparisons would have been The Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson and the Mongo series by George C. Chesbro. Both are excellent gritty detective series that have a supernatural flair that rides just below the main plot line. So I would say that if you took those series and  their feel and just a taste from their supernatural subplot.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I love to write. I have a passion for it. I love telling stories and crafting plots. There is a thrill and an excitement for me when I have a story running through my head and what might happen next. I am inspired to write because writing and storytelling is a part of life to me.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

This story has evolved from some complicated beginnings into something streamlined and clean. Now that I have gotten the first draft written the layers that make a story a good mystery amazing can be woven through the main plot line. The months of research and careful outlining can be brought into the mix. This is going to be a wild ride that takes the reader by the collar and pulls them straight off their feet.