When Wendy and I first began writing together, we decided on the characters and setting of our first book, Old Bones. We only envisioned it to be a stand-alone mystery about a ranger and his daughter. As we got deeper into the story it became obvious to us that the characters had much more to tell us, and it would require several books. To do that we went back closer to the beginning of their story and began Keepers of the Sandbox. It is out of order to publish in that manner, and we realized that it might cause some readers confusion, but it couldn’t be helped. I figure if Nevada Barr can do it, so can we. However, if you happen to pick up Keepers of the Sandbox first, this is irrelevant for you. With luck, future books will be sequential and, so far, we have four more in the works...but you never know what the characters may tell us to do, or how and when they will tell us to do it.... I guess that’s the point of all: Never constrain your writing because of some silly idea about the rules of how you are “supposed to do it.” Where would we be today if our predecessors had all followed that dictum!?
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I’ve been making some changes lately. They are the kind of changes that most people cringe when they have to make them…moving. Not just from the kitchen to the living room couch, but from Colorado to Arizona. The experts (whoever they are) say that moving is one of the most stressful events one can go through…I agree. The process is messy. It usually entails packing and unpacking unless you leave everything behind and start over. If you are filthy rich or your employer pays the mover to do it, then packing can be easier. You also have to make decisions about getting a new place to move into and getting rid of the old one, but worst of all you inevitably have to decide what things to take a what things to get rid of as you pack. You see, we all accumulate clutter. I usually fill a four yard dumpster with my clutter after three or four years of living somewhere. I was thinking today as I pulled up to a stoplight about how over the last 30 years traffic lights have changed. Now, almost everywhere you have a left turn arrow to make sure traffic flows logically and safely instead of having people take risks and demand the right of way when they shouldn’t. Smart move on the part of highway planners, if you ask me. I’ve heard authors talk for years about “how” to write a book, especially a fiction one. The controversy is between doing a “plot outline” and “pantsing” (which frankly sounds vaguely embarrassing!) I remember reading one “expert” who was detailing how he wrote over three hundred pages in his novel outline plan. Good for him, but I’d be so over the idea by 50 pages that I’d give up, I’m sure. On the other hand, the idea of having some vague notion of what you might write and just starting out with “It was a dark and stormy night…” usually leads to frustration and failure. I love living in the mountains. Four seasons keep life interesting, especially in winter. As I walked in the snow on the trail this morning I felt the wind tease at me gently and freeze my breath as I huffed uphill. The snow underfoot crunched and popped as I read the tracks of those who had been here earlier. Two dogs and two sets of shoes…margins not sharp, but still easily readable. Likely from yesterday then. I’ve been asked at times, “who are your favorite authors.” After all, a writer should above all, first and foremost be a reader of books. Even though it’s sometimes tough with my writing schedule and all the rest that goes on in life, I do get to read other writers. Among them my favorites are pretty predictable because they write like I do. C.J. Box, Nevada Barr, Craig Johnson, and Tony and Anne Hillerman lead the pack for me. In the past, I’ve spent a lot of time reading thrillers and Dean Koontz hooked me into reading everything he wrote, even the old Richard Bachmann books he published under that name, because he was too prolific for his publisher’s liking. I just finished his book Good Guy, which has been out for quite a while, and I really loved it. Many don’t know that he also wrote a rather Zany semi romantic humorous story (the title escapes me right now) and I also took to heart his short book on writing and how to be an author. You wouldn’t think just sitting for two days would be exhausting, but it can be. It can also be exhilarating fun. I recently spent two days at the Fall Festival on the Courthouse Square in Prescott selling and signing our books. I have to give a shout out to the organizers of the event from PWP: You did an amazing job!! I got to meet some of the most interesting folks who stopped in to look at what the Professional Writers of Prescott’s booth had to offer from the dozen plus authors who participated. I also got to know authors on a different level and discovered some interesting things that surprised me... I’ve been thinking a good bit lately about a newspaper article a friend from my park service days forwarded to a bunch of us. The essence of the article was that having parks that provide natural wild areas to spend time in is important to maintaining mental health and normal mental and emotional development. The changes in our society have brought us into intimacy with our devices and second hand video experiences more than providing unstructured reality to learn and benefit from. |
Greg
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