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:
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...
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.
You've got the idea. Keep riding the dragon, so to speak. :)
It sure has been easier and fun this past year than any I can remember, Charles. :)
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