REVIEW ~~ ‘The City’ by Dean Koontz (5 out of 5 quills)
True to Dean Koontz’s style he starts the reader off with a great tale of a musical family….Grandfather is a ‘piano man’ , mother is a jazz singer and eight year old Jonah is a wanna be piano man without a piano. You see, Mom is a single parent, married to an absent, then back again, no good, shiftless man. Theirs is a tight-knit lower middle class family squeaking by.
Then on about page 100, the weird stuff starts to happen and you know you are back in another of Koontz’s scary plots. ‘The City’ does not disappoint; you’ll love the characters in the story, good and bad. The story is written in first person from Jonah’s point of view and it certainly took me back to being just a kid with very real monsters under the bed and in the bedroom closet. And Jonah Kirk is a great kid; not too good, he’s still a kid and isn’t above lying to get out of potential trouble. He has a mentor who becomes an unlikely but loveable friend when he needs a friend the most.
As always, it’s a chilling, terrifying tale where you hope that good triumphs over evil but, not until the last few pages, will you know if Koontz sees it your way.
I first met Lee while publishing my interview with Janet Evanovich. He recently co-wrote The Chase with Janet. His two careers, novelist and TV writer, merged when he wrote the eight books in the Diagnosis Murder series of original novels, based on the hit CBS TV mystery that he also wrote and produced. He followed that up by writing fifteen bestselling novels based on Monk, another TV show that he worked on. So I was delighted when Lee agreed to be interviewed.
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? (please upload a photo/s of your shed, room, closet, barn….)
A. I have an office in my house where I write surrounded by books and James Bond posters (I alternate the posters every month or so). But I can, and do, write just about anywhere.
This is my one year anniversary of interviewing best selling authors and I’m amazed at the success of it!! Authors have been so generous with their writing process and their time. The interviews are on-going and currently we are booked through April, 2014. It’s always a thrill for me when busy, well-known authors are so generous with their answers that I must break it up into ‘parts’. Continue reading “Interviewing Best Selling Authors…looking back!”
TS. ‘This photo speaks loudly about the rewards of overcoming procrastination, doesn’t it??’
Part 2 of 3 ** My Interview with Raymond Benson
Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
A. If you don’t have a real deadline from an employer, then make one for yourself. Just tell yourself, “I’m going to finish this by the holidays,” or whatever, and stick to it. It takes discipline, and you might have to work at it, but hey, being a writer is, after all, a job.
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?
A. Never, because I take care of all the instances of getting lost during the Outline phase. I’m a firm believer in outlining a novel prior to writing it. I know many writers don’t, and that works for them, but for me, I find it to be an invaluable tool. I spend a month or two on it, and it’s in that document I work out the plot, the twists and turns, the red herrings, and I structure the story into a dramatic piece, the entirety of which I can look at with a bird’s-eye view. It’s like doing a prose storyboard for the novel. Believe me, it’s easier to throw out a few paragraphs of an outline when you don’t like the way the story is going, than it is to throw out two or three chapters. So I do all of my hair-pulling and angst-spouting during the Outline phase, which then makes the longer, more tedious phase of Writing much easier. Continue reading “A Chat with Raymond Benson, Author (part 2)”
RAYMOND BENSON is the internationally-acclaimed author of thirty published titles. The third book in his most recent thriller series—THE BLACK STILETTO: SECRETS and LIES— was released today. He took out time to interview with me and generously talked at length about his writing process and world.
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?
A. I have an office at home, and it’s exclusively used for that purpose. It’s full of books and filing cabinets, artwork, trinkets, a CD player, and of course, my desk and computer. There’s even a lava lamp, although I don’t use it as much as I should! On my desk is a photo of my wife, an “action figure” replica of the black monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and a pebble from the beach at Goldeneye, in Jamaica, the home where Ian Fleming wrote all the Bond novels. And a slinky, to play with during the times when I have to sit there and ponder.
Okay…here’s some tough love! Get your butt in that chair and write something………..or finish something !!! You’ve read my interviews with famous, best selling authors for about a year now. And the recurring theme is DISCIPLINE!!
Forget what others might think of your scribbles…they’re yours and they’re PERFECT! And what if they aren’t perfect? So What!!?? If I thought I was going to get perfection when I first began writing, I would never have written a word. All I hoped for was to grow as a writer and keep growing with every new project. Still not perfect………….
Write a short story. Write a poem in prose. Write a play. Finish your novel. WRITE SOMETHING!!
Now, here’s the tough part. You have to be selfish to be a writer. You have to tell your spouse, or kids or friends that you aren’t going to be available for a couple of hours. And mean it!! Then go lock yourself in a room and WRITE!! Then tomorrow (or this weekend) do it again. Continue reading “New Year’s Resolution for Writers!”
Peter Armstrong, co-founder of LeanPub, recently lectured on UTube about writing a book (in progress) on line….in a blog or on UTube or on your web site. This is called ‘progress writing’ or ‘progress publishing’. He claims you will get great reader feedback and gain traction for your final, finished book.
And this might be right for you. It may give you the stimulus, the poke in the rump that you need to either start writing or to continue writing.
Here’s how I feel about it:
‘Progress writing’ makes it too easy for someone to steal your idea/story. Even if you have covered yourself with a ‘poor man’s copyright’ like I’ve told you how to do or even if you’ve sent it partially written to the Library of Congress, your idea can be plagiarized and you may never know it. And what if the person who took your idea for a story gets it finished before you do. They are published and now you look like you ‘borrowed’ their idea. Continue reading “A Rebuttal….Wiz Kid encourages ‘Progress writing’. This author Doesn’t!”
Five out of 5 quills A Review of Cathy Lamb’s new release, ‘If You Could See What I See’
Every time I read one of Cathy’s amazing stories I think to myself, “this is the best one yet!” And I’ve read them all! Once again Cathy has out done herself with her characters and her story line. I understand from my upcoming INTERVIEW with her, featured here August 22nd, (and runs in three parts) that this author fills journals full of story treatments, characters, and plots before she begins to write her novels. In my opinion it certainly ‘shows’ and we, the readers, benefit from this meticulous work.
Her latest offering ‘If You Could See What I See’ is about a family of women who own and run a lingerie company. Set in current times with a failed economy they struggle to find a way to keep the doors open and their employees working. The grandma, the mother and the three sisters are wonderful, unique in their own way, and quirky to say the least. The teenagers, that make up the fourth generation of this wacky family, lend a charming and fresh angle to an already wonderful novel.
Be ready to cry, laugh, sigh, and feel outrage.
A real page turner, you won’t be able to put it down!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don’t miss my Interview with Cathy Lamb August 22, ,27, and 29. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWSwith other best-selling AUTHORS! “The Writer’s Corner”
I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview once a month . These authors have already responded and you can read their interviews by clicking on their name:: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Karen Robards, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Caroline Leavitt, Heidi Jon Schmidt, Walter Mosley, Loretta Chase, Nora Roberts, Raymond Benson and many others.
So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create! Sue Grafton is August’s author with a bonus chat with Cathy Lamb. and September will feature Tasha Alexander. Jeffrey Deaver is November’s author and slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. Loretta Chase will be featured later this year. Raymond Benson is my January author. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Part II ** Interview with Sue GraftonIn Loving Memory
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?
SG. On occasion, but not nearly often enough. I love that feeling but most of the time it’s just struggle, hair-tearing, whining, and complaints. I’m easily distracted. If the work is going well…call it twice a week…then I’m happy. Most of the time I’m sitting here because that’s what it takes. Comfortable or uncomfortable doesn’t make any difference. I suffer because I feel stupid and clumsy and blocked most of the time, but so what? That is all part of the process. If you’re not willing to sweat it out, you’re in the wrong business. No short cuts.
Q. When did you begin to write seriously?
SG. When I was eighteen. I wrote seven full-length novels from the ages of twenty-two to thirty-eight. Novels four and five were published. The others have never seen the light of day. The eighth novel I wrote was ‘A’ IS FOR ALIBI and that was after a long stint in Hollywood where I wrote pilots, movies for television, and the occasional film script.
Q. How long after that were you published?
SG. My first novel was published five years after I began teaching myself how to write long form. ‘A’ IS FOR ALIBI took me five years to write. I’d say ‘five’ is the magic number. It takes fifteen years of being published before you can support yourself with the writing. This is not a career for sissies or cowards. You better get used to hard work. And rejection and frustration. That’s what teaches you. You can’t side-step the anguish.
Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?
SG. As I’ve often described, I keep a series of journals or notebooks on my computer for every novel I write. The journal is where I keep plot possibilities, ideas, research notes, character sketches, dialogue when it occurs to me. The collective journals for ‘V’ IS FOR VENGEANCE came to 967 single-spaced pages. The journals for ‘W’ came to 1298 single-spaced pages on the day I finished the book, which was February 21, 2013. It took me a year to settle on the storyline . I work by trial and error which is why it takes me so long. After a mere thirty years at this, I know what doesn’t work but I don’t always know it in advance. I write and then I think, no. I write some more and think, don’t think so. I write some more and think, are you kidding me? I write some more and I think, well that stinks. And on it goes.
Q. Where/when do you first discover Kinsey and your other characters ?
SG. I am Kinsey Millhone so that was easy enough. Other characters I discover as I go along. Character and plot can never be separated. Both have to be developed at the same time, in tandem, or a story won’t come to life.
Q. What inspired your story/stories ?
SG. Sometimes a germ of an idea will come to me. In fact many times I have the germ of an idea. That’s the easy part. What’s difficult is figuring out what you can do with an idea, figuring out how you can develop it to the point where it will carry 660 manuscript pages. You need heft and complexity and major muscle. Not every idea will yield a novel. One of my big lessons, always, is learning when to let it go. I’m ruthless when it comes to that. I might work on an idea for six months. Once I realize it isn’t working and that I don’t know how to make it work, I dump it.
Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre?
2017
SG. I’ve written in other forms and formats; movie scripts, television scripts, short stories and novels. I’ve never written science fiction or erotica or romance or horror or westerns. I don’t know those forms and I wouldn’t do a good job of it. I love the hard-boiled private eye novel and I love crime fiction, which is…as it turns out…where I belong.
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Biography: I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky where I graduated from the University of Louisville in 1961 with a degree in English. I worked in a variety of jobs in the medical field, writing after the family was down for the night. Sold a ‘mainstream’ novel, KEZIAH DANE, that was published when I was 27 and then a second novel, THE LOLLY-MADONNA WAR, that was published when I was 29. Altogether, before the alphabet novels, I wrote 7 books . The eighth novel I wrote was ‘A’ IS FOR ALIBI. Guess what I’ve been doing every since?’
MY BLOG features INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? December: British writer, J.G. Dow. January: In Memory, Sue Grafton.
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