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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Writing


While preparing for the release of my third book in the HARD CASE series, VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED, I’ve been hard at work on the Rick Cantelli, P.I. sequel. I can’t really call it work, because it is simply a lot of fun. The idea I hinted around at in the first book about the contract killer, Trish Rocha, and her infatuation with Rick can now be pursued. Rick and Lois put Rocha behind bars in the first book, but she makes her way into the sequel with very funny results. Funny in my head anyway, because none of us know for sure if something we write will be entertaining to readers or a complete miss. I do realize how obsessed an author can become with the hand wringing anticipation of releasing a new novel. I mentioned my new Rick Cantelli sequel in these past couple of posts, because writing a new novel is how I deal with it. Yes, I believe VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED to be a very entertaining pulp fiction installment for my character John Harding and his crew, but who knows? Only writing cures publishing angst. Diving into new Rick and Lois adventures, where another world opens up for me to interact in, cures publishing anxieties completely.

 

The obvious plus side for dealing with publishing release in that manner is a new novel moves along toward its own release. By the end of today, I’ll be nearing 30,000 words in my Rick Cantelli sequel, approaching nearly a third of the way to completion. I don’t write novellas, because I’m not comfortable with short fiction. I have a set of scenes floating around in my head, and they are stark enough in there already. I like reading action and character interaction, especially with humor. I write the same thing. I don’t write from a formula. My characters are larger than life denizens of pulp fiction. I don’t write real life. I escape from it when writing. I actually laugh when a reviewer critiques one of my novels with the dreaded words ‘this is completely unrealistic’, ‘unbelievable’, or ‘this could never happen’. Well, I beg to differ. It happened in my head. I liked it, I laughed while writing it, and became so involved in the action as to picture watching the scene as it traveled from my head to the computer. Now, it’s time to leave the blog world, and reenter Cantelli land, a place of darkness and shadows, violence, and of course humor.  :)

4 comments:

Vesper said...

I have to quote twice from this post.

One is Only writing cures publishing angst. - you are so right, Bernard. I feel exactly the same.

The other is: I don’t write real life. I escape from it when writing. I do the same. Real life is all around us. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but rarely or never as interesting or spectacular or adventurous as the fictional one.

I think I saw those reviews you're mentioning and I was surprised by them. They were for "The Protectors," weren't they? I guess those people were expecting a very realistic crime novel and not entertaining pulp fiction. Maybe you should make it a bit more clear in the blurb of the book. For me, even the blurb says enough because I've been reading your blog and your fiction for a long time so I know what to expect -and this is the type of fiction that I like-, but for newcomers it might not be that obvious...

BernardL said...

Those choice critiques are on a few of my books, V. The blurbs have to attract the readers who realize they will be entering my fictional world. For the people reading fiction, but expecting nonfiction I have to hope they'll read Amazon's lengthy preview, and avoid being disappointed. Reading the previews is the key to a more friendly Amazon market place, but even a lot of the regular readers, rather than 'book killers' skip the previews for some unknown reason.

Charles Gramlich said...

You've got the idea. Keep riding the dragon, so to speak. :)

BernardL said...

It sure has been easier and fun this past year than any I can remember, Charles. :)