A: I was always creative as a youngster and won a few writing contests in elementary school. As a teenager I wrote all the time, and have several cardboard boxes of stories, poems, and essays from that time. I have have a lousy Kurt Vonnegut-type novel I wrote when I was seventeen. I got out of it for a while to pursue music, then decided I wanted to do it again. I started writing seriously in 1996 and have done it more or less daily since.
Q: How long have you been writing?
A: I started writing seriously in 1996 and have done it more or less daily since.
Q: What advice would you give to writers just starting out?
A: First, try to put something, anything, on the page. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It does get better and easier over time, so try and write steadily, whatever your pace is. Don’t try to write to impress other writers. Don’t even worry about the readers until you start getting some. At that point it becomes communication, and the simpler and more clearly you can make your point or tell your story, the better it will be. The other piece of advice is have some goals in the back of your mind, whether it’s writing just to finish something or to send it out for publication. Also have some long-range goals so that you’re always challenging yourself to improve.
Q: Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?
A: I’ve always worked on multiple projects at the same time, though I usually have one main interest going. I simply don’t have enough time to write all the things I want to do, much less afford to have writer’s block. Some people seem to suffer from it as a true psychological barrier, but I can’t count that one among my numerous nueroses. Plus I work as a reporter in my day job, and having writer’s block isn’t allowed there. My brain has trained itself not to stall. Again, it all comes with experience. If I were giving advice to someone who was stuck, I would say switch over to something completely different, whether it’s poetry, a journal, or an essay. Isaac Asimov was said to have three tables, each with a typewriter, forming a cubicle in his office. When he was stuck on one thing, he would simply swivel his chair and work on whatever page was rolled into that particular typewriter. It worked pretty well for him.
Q: Who is your favorite author and why?
A: As with musicians, this changes depending on the era or point in my life. Generally I stick with John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, William Goldman, Ira Levin and Ray Bradbury as my favorites, though there’s a whole list of authors I keep coming back to. I try to read broadly instead of trying to keep up with everything a certain author has written. I also read older stuff, 10 to 20 years gone for the most part. No matter your chosen genre, I think it helps to sample what’s going in in every field.
Q: How did you deal with rejection letters, if you received any?
A: I still get more rejections than acceptances, and I’ve probably had 400 or 500. I’ve saved them all. Only the first few bothered me, then I figured out that was just part of the game. I also kept a lot of stories in the mail, so even when I got a rejection letter I still had hope for the other dozen or so that were making the rounds. Yet another instance where steady production will benefit you, because your emotional investment will gravitate toward the work in progress rather than the discretion of some faceless editor.
Q: What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?
A: Clear prose. I hate to be confused as a reader, and the more experience and success I’ve had, the simpler I’ve tended to write. Say what happens and why, as straightforwardly as possible. Don’t use a thesarus. Use words and language that you know, use dialogue that real people use, and write as if what you have to say matters. Because it does.
Q: How do you develop your plots and characters? Do you use any set formula?
A: I work almost totally on instinct, without outlines. I usually have a vague idea of what’s going to happen, but on the first draft I’m just trying to see whats going to happen next. I tend to deal with certain types of themes, but that’s subconcious stuff that you can only see when you’re done, not something you should try to cram in there or sneak past the reader. As for characters, I just love getting into the heads of strangers and let the story happen to them. More than anything, I hope readers can relate to my characters, whether they love them or hate them.
Q: What were your feelings when your first novel was accepted/when you first saw the cover of the finished product?
A: I had a small press story collection published, so I’d been through that before. My first thought was, “Great, what happens now?” Since I knew it would happen sooner or later, I was delighted but not totally surprised. I already had a plan to write ten novels whether one sold or not. When I saw the cover, I was pleased with the presentation, particularly when other people said it looked like something they would pick up. So far, things have gone well, and it’s been both a lot of fun and a learning experience. I still have a long way to go, though.
Q: What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers?
A: Physical tools, obviously a computer, or else you aren’t reading this interview. You need the Internet and once you get some sales or reach a level where you feel serious, you need a website. Writing organizations help some people, but that’s a personal decision. Beyond that, you need the basics of grammar and punctuation. Then it’s all a matter of sitting down and doing it over and over. The rest happens from there.
Q: What do you do to unwind and relax?
A: I swim laps about three times a week. That’s about it for exercise, besides home maintenance and occasional basketball. I like to read at the end of the day I don’t watch much television besides football and some of the “Law & Order” shows, but I love movies. Writing is relaxing to me, so it becomes a sort of meditation.
Q: Are you working on any books/projects that you would like to share with us? (We' d love to hear all about them!)
A: I’m currently revising “The Harvest,” a speculative thriller which will be my second mass market novel. It’s due out in September 2003. I’m also working on a new psychological thriller. My third novel will go under the knife this winter before I turn it in, though I wrote it in 1998. The working title is “Frost and Fire,” and it’s a contemporary supernatural thriller that makes use of Appalachian folk magic
Q: Tell us a bit about your family. Your adoring public would like to know!
A: I have a wife and two children. Other details are off limits because I’ve always tried to keep that part of my life separate from my writing persona. I haven’t attracted any deranged fans yet, but I know others who have.
Q: what dreams have been realized as a result of your writing? Any special memories that you would like to share...please, oh, please?
A: I can still remember getting a phone call from the editor who bought my first story. I had 105 rejections before that. I’ve been able to meet a lot of great writers, mostly thanks to my job as a reporter. Several have helped me along the way by providing blurbs, advice, or encouragement. I guess the moment when I finally felt like a real writer was when I was drafting a letter to send to Dean Koontz. His agent and mine are good friends, so I was requesting a cover blurb for my next novel. It struck me that I was writing to Dean as an equal, certainly not in terms of sales but as people who share the same profession.
Q: If you could leave your readers with one legacy, what would you want it to be?
A: “He did his best and cared about his work and about his readers.”
Thank you for gracing us with your presence. Your words will be a help and an inspiration to writers everywhere.
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