1. What type of books do you write? Genres used to be for the convenience of
bookstores trying to place books logically in their racks for customers, but
the public seems to like to pigeon-hole authors too. All my books so far fall into a fictional
future universe I’ve created, running from near future to far future. I call them all sci-fi thrillers, but people
will probably prefer to label the near-future ones as thrillers or
techno-thrillers, while the far-future ones are more in the hard or dystopian
sci-fi or space opera category. Smack in
the middle is the Chaos, a postulated social singularity in human future
history when leadership is not able to solve the complex social problems that
society faces; empires like China, E.U., and the U.S. break into more
homogeneous, almost tribal and fundamentalist units; and international
corporations establish order via mercenary armies they finance. The big picture is complex, but each novel is
a tale taken from this future history.
2. What is your newest book about? The most recent release, The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan,
takes place in 2030. DHS agent Ashley
Scott witnesses a murder. She teams up
with Eduardo Ortega, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, to solve the murder
and uncover two government conspiracies.
Ashley, when younger, was a secondary character in the first two books
in “The Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series,” The Midas Bomb and Angels
Need Not Apply. I hope to release the third book in that
series, Teeter-Totter between Lust and
Murder, by the end of May.
3. What inspired you to write it? I wrote a short story, “Retiree 114 of Pine
Hills Manor,” which studies a futuristic government retirement program. It seemed a nice vehicle for Ashley, who had
been clamoring for her own novel since Midas
and Angels. So did my muses (aka banshees with tasers),
who know I have all these tales in my head and “encourage me” to write them
down. Virginia Morgan was born.
Similarly, those same muses who challenged me to write the YA novel The Secret Lab, challenged me to write a
mystery instead of a thriller. Teeter-Totter will be my first one,
although I’m an admirer of the mystery genre and those who write in it. Caveat emptor: Teeter-Totter
is not a cozy.
4. What is the writing process
like for you?
Probably not conventional. I see
story writing and content editing as part of one writing process—I can write
5000 words, delete 2000, and move 1000 somewhere else. I can’t imagine writing a novel on a
typewriter or a legal pad for that reason.
Plot, the story I tell, is the main thing, but I try to create 3D
characters readers can identify with, both comfortable and exotic settings, and
dialog that complements narrative and vice versa (the sci-fi end of my opus
tends to be more narrative because of world-building, and the thriller end has
more dialog). Copy editing is a pain,
but I spend about the same time on that as writing the novel. I have two wonderful people, Donna and Sara
Carrick, who took pity on me and give me more time to write by doing my ebook
formatting (Donna) and ebook covers (Sara)—Donna is a great mystery writer in
her own right (The First Excellence),
so I feel a bit guilty about taking her time.
We’re a team. Like those old
vaudeville troops, our goal is to entertain.
5. What did you do before you became an author? You mean to ask, “How long
were you a frustrated writer suffering in a day job?” Well, I actually didn’t suffer. As a professional physicist, I first taught
and did research and then just R&D, but writing was always my first love
since I was thirteen (when I wrote my first novel). I have no regrets. You do what you have to do. In fact, my previous work allowed me enough
free time to continue my people-watching and jotting down notes to help me
remember story ideas, not to mention having some life experiences. I think young graduates from journalism or
MFA programs shouldn’t jump into writing fiction right away, even if they’re
the next Hemingway, because they can’t possibly have those life experiences. I’m not implying you write about those
experiences. But your characters are
humans and you can’t really understand human beings when you’re only twenty.
6. How does it feel to be a published author? Hmm, the $64K question. My history with traditional publishing is one
of continuous frustration. After over
1000 rejects from agents and traditional publishers and a few agents that
wanted to read my MS and then sat on it for months to later say, “Sorry, just
not for me,” I was ready to throw in the towel (my muses didn’t have their
tasers yet). Along came POD to save the
day. But that becomes expensive. Along came ebooks. I release ebooks. I don’t know whether people call that
“published” or not, and I don’t really care about labels. People read my ebooks and are entertained,
with a few exceptions, I suppose (you can’t please everyone). And I have almost as much fun writing down
the stories. Isn’t that what it’s all
about? I won’t go into the pros and cons
of self-publishing. Each author must make
his own choices. As time goes on,
readers are finding out that a self-published author’s book can offer solid
entertainment for a fraction of the cost of a traditionally published book. That might drive the market in the
future.
7. Any advice for struggling
writers? Keep
writing. Don’t be a one-book
wonder. Did you receive a bad
review? Ignore it. Write the next book. If you go traditional, ignore the agent’s
litany (but try more than one). Shelve
the MS. Write the next one. A writer following the traditional route
often pulls those shelved books out later after agents and publishers finally
realize he’s a sure bet. Tired of all
the agents who feel their role in life is to pass only the sure bets on to the
publishers? Self-publish your book and
begin writing the next. Don’t wait for
1000 rejections like I did? If you can’t
write, you will find out in the long run.
Meanwhile, have fun realizing your dream.
8. Where do you see book publishing heading? I’m not going to dwell on
this. In many respects, we’re already
there. We have a mix of pbook (paper
book) and ebook authors, traditional and self-published authors, and publishing
houses from the Big Five down to small shops putting out only a few quality
books a year. Big barn bookstores are
dying, mom and pop bookstores are finding new ways to reach out to the public,
and online book sales keep increasing.
It’s an exciting times. I’m more
worried about all the different formats of ebooks, but that will soon be
resolved, just like the old betamax v. VHS battle—one format will win. Bottom line: not everyone can write a book or
should, but, if you have one in you, the democratization of publishing will
allow you to release it once it’s written.
Self- or traditionally published, just make sure your product is the
best it can be so as not to reflect negatively on other authors.
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Brian
Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and
not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow
him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when
discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©
2013
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