Two Steps Forward, One Step Back?

Today's Word Count: Who Cares?
Overall Word Count: Who Cares?

I've been dealing with a bit of writer's block - in the middle of a scene, no less. One evening it was there, clear and fresh in my head, and the next evening it was gone. I found I didn't know what came next. Everything was muddy and foggy. I went from effortlessly tossing off hundreds of words a day to a trickle, then to nothing. I never stopped thinking about the story - if anything, I've thought about it more obsessively than ever as I tried to figure my way out of this hole - but there simply seemed to be no good way forward.

By itself, that would not have been the end of the world: a speed bump, maybe, but not a brick wall. Yet I allowed it to become a brick wall, one that stopped me in my tracks for over a month. And in hindsight, the problem (and solution) were so obvious that I feel silly for having let it become such a problem.

An author friend of mine has said, both directly to me and on his blog, that writer's block is usually the result of the narrative taking a wrong turn somewhere, and that un-blocking oneself is usually as simple as retracing one's steps to find the point where a character, or plot development, caused things to go off the rails. Once the false trail is found, it's simply a matter of excising or rewriting the offending part, then going forward again. I have actually had that advice in mind since before I even sat down to begin writing this novel. Yet over the weeks and weeks that I've been here unproductive and frustrated, I never allowed myself to take that advice.

Then, in the course of an email conversation this week with a friend who was kind enough to check in on me and my apparent lack of progress, it hit me in a flash.

If you've followed this blog, you know that I've opened each entry with a word count of that day's work, and a running total so far. Word count was how I measured (and proclaimed) my progress. In light of that, I was very resistant to the idea of doubling back mid-course (and I'm actually further along than mid-course; I'm in the final act for sure) and maybe deleting some of my precious, obsessively counted words. In effect, I was embarrassed to have to come here to this blog and admit that my word count for the day was -4000, because I'd had to go back and chop out a whole chapter that didn't end up fitting.

It sounds silly, but there it is. And the more I think of it, the more puerile it seems to me. I'm writing a story, after all, not laying bricks. A story isn't done when you get to 50,000 words, or 100,000 or 300,000 for that matter. It's done when the story is done. To think otherwise would be to say that I'm not done growing yet, just because I never made it to six feet tall.

So that realization was a big weight off my shoulders. For the last two days I've been going forward and backward with equal vigor, moving the narrative ahead while also spending time revising past events to fit better with what I know now about my setting and story. Couldn't be easier.

I have two friends to thank for this: one who has gently but insistently pushed me forward this whole time, and another who's reminded me it's OK, necessary even, to go backwards sometimes. When this work is published, I fully intend to embarrass both of them by name in my acknowledgements.

Until next time, thanks for reading!

Where Did I Go?

Day 122
Today's Word Count: 1,766
Overall Word Count: 72,864

"I don't enjoy writing. I enjoy having written." - George R.R. Martin

Not George R.R. Martin. Joe Strummer.

For the longest time; i.e., until I started writing, and even then, only really until a few weeks ago, I could not understand this quote by Martin. Even in the first two months of writing this book, I found myself continually thinking, "How can you not enjoy writing? This is a blast! I love getting this stuff onto the page! I love surprising myself!"

But as I get into the fourth month of this draft, I can start to feel it. It can be a drag. I'm still really happy with what's coming out, and it's going the way I wanted and hoped but...it's hard. It feels like work now. I think, and I confirmed with my wife, that this feels the same way she feels when she takes on an overly ambitious knitting project: a large blanket, say. It starts fun, starts to become a grind by the end, and then she gets to be thrilled with the end product.

I can understand now why Stephen King says he tries never to take more than three months for the first draft of a novel, even a long one. The narrative can lose its bright shiny edge, the characters can start to feel like characters, and all of a sudden it becomes work rather than play. On the other hand, maybe that's why Martin doesn't enjoy writing; how dull must that edge get when you're working five or six years on the same manuscript?!

Anyway, today was very productive. The last three weeks, I've been caught up in a project at work that involved a ton of writing: I wrote basically every single word of copy for a six-page newspaper ad that's going to go out in a couple of weeks. Whenever I'm writing that much at work, it's extra hard to come home and write. I think I have 1,000-2,000 words a day in me, and sometimes I have to spend them all at the office.

Still in the home stretch. Back on the horse. First draft done...soon.

Rounding Third

Day 105
Today's Word Count: 1,050
Overall Word Count: 68,291

I'm definitely in the home stretch here, know what's happening, and just need to write it. Yesterday and today have both been really productive. Incidentally, while I've fallen a bit off the ridiculously prolific early weeks, I'm still averaging about 650 words per day since I started. I think that's pretty solid. I'm excited to wrap up this first draft, put it away, and not think of it for a while. I'm excited to read it.

At a guess, I'd say I'll be done with this draft in two weeks.

Oh, and it's my birthday.

Her skin was like the inside of a freshly cut turnip.

Day 89
Today's word count: 1,262
Overall word count: 61,608

Ugh, I feel like crap. I have a horrible summer cold. Sore throat, can barely talk, everything aches. On the bright side, that made for a very productive day today.

My wife, ever-helpful in my quest to write a book that doesn't suck, recently shared with me the following Buzzfeed article:

__________________________________________________________________________________

If White Characters Were Described Like People Of Color In Literature.

1. He looked at her longingly, as he imagined her exotic, mashed potato skin laying gently against his.

2. She took off his shirt, his skin glistening in the sun like a glazed doughnut. The glaze part, not the doughnut part.

3. His eyes looked like eyes because they were eye-shaped, not almonds.

4. Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall-person, handsome features, and his crust of a Shepherd’s pie complexion.

5. “What’s your name?” he asked. “Mary,” she replied as the strap of her dress slipped off her marzipan shoulder.

6. She didn’t know it yet but the girl of her dreams had just walked in. Her eyes were radiant and her skin glowed with mozzarella undertones.

7. She was beautiful, elegant. Like a tall clear glass filled with raw pasta.

8. His body had the color and shape of raw ground beef.

9. He traced his fingers along her supple, cauliflower skin.

10. She stepped out of the car and and was delighted by the cool summer breeze that brushed against her legs. She had been sitting in the sun earlier and welcomed the relief of this fresh air on her mayonnaise legs.

11. She had brown, wiry hair and skin that can only be described as the color of the inside of an apple. The mushy ones not the cool, crisp ones.

12. She dove into the ocean, the blue waves enveloping her tapioca skin.

13. She was transfixed by the gleam of his uncooked chicken breast skin. So raw, so lumpy.

14. His bones were as brittle as a vanilla wafer.

15. Her beauty was indescribable, which means she’s white.

16. For the first time in his life, he found himself imagining a future together with someone. He was embarrassed to tell her this but he had never really been in love with the women he had dated. “Well who would play me in this rom-com of your life?” she teasingly inquired. “You have such beautiful olive skin,” he crooned, “so you can be a person of color or racially ambiguous in the book but definitely a white woman in the movie.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

I laughed, then I cringed, then I went scurrying back to my work in progress to make sure I had done nothing so risible as the kind of thing being parodied here. I'm pleased to say, in 230+ pages of copy, that I only had to zap one reference to a character whose skin looked like "coffee with a splash of cream."

Until next time. By the way, if I don't feel better tomorrow, I'm calling in sick to work. I look and sound like shit. And in that case, I shall write a lot of words.

Describing The Known

Day 82
Today's word count: 494
Overall word count: 58,648

500 words today, 1,700 yesterday. A solid weekend.

I've noticed something, a difference between fantasy and non-fantasy novels. Writing a non-fantasy novel allows the writer a bit of shorthand. If a character is stuck in line at the driver's license bureau, I can say, for example:

Brett stood in line at the DMV, clutching his papers, waiting for his number to be called. The air was hot, close, and thick with the flat gray odor of nine dozen sweaty bodies. The fluorescent lighting lent a surreal look to the room. One bulb flickered and guttered, casting the surroundings in a sickly strobe light that was gradually giving Brett a migraine.

...and the reader's imagination will fill in a lot of the rest. Are the walls cinderblock? Are they flat white paint, stained with a million handprints? Are there highway safety ads plastered all over them? Is the floor made of linoleum tiles, or plain concrete? Are the clerks wearing street clothes, or khaki-colored pseudo-cop, pseudo-Boy Scout shirts, armpits darkening with sweat? Those details will vary according to each reader, but each reader is likely to see something in his or her mind's eye upon reading. Most of us have, after all, been in at least one DMV, waiting in line, wishing for death. And with a fixed image in the reader's mind, I can get along with my story. In essence, I'm using images that are already in the reader's mind (and they're vivid, because they're your own memories or imaginings) to make description easier.

In contrast, if I'm introducing you to the lobby of the White Tower of High Sorcery in the Alabaster City of Rel*, I feel pressure to describe it to you in much greater detail. Are the walls covered in scales scavenged from the carcasses of fallen dragons? Is the light in the room emanating from bat-winged imps holding magical glowing stones in their claws? Are the clerks wearing long white robes trimmed in elaborate silver needlework? HOW CAN I MAKE SURE YOU AREN'T PICTURING THE DMV WHEN YOU READ THIS SCENE?!

Luckily, I'm not in that boat, at least not too badly. My characters are real-world people stuck in weird situations, but no Towers of Sorcery. Writing high fantasy would be hard business, I think.

Also, I'm starting to think I need to get focused and finish this bad boy. All the threads are pointing in the same direction. A month. Less than a month, maybe.

Until next time! Random music video! Awesome 80s pop!

* Reference from my hilariously failed first attempt at a novel, fifteen years ago.

The Illusion of Control

Day 77
Today's word count: 668
Overall word count: 55,825

Page 225, by my rough count. All the storylines are now careening towards what I imagine will be the climax, denouement, and aftermath. But as always, I leave myself open to being surprised by what my characters choose to do, and what external events might plausibly happen. In all of this process, I feel like someone riding a never-before-ridden roller coaster. Sure, you assume it will all work out fine. But do you know?

Obligatory vid: 

 Love Graffin's lyrics, and the whole song is amazing. Harmonies = win. Talk to you soon!

1,000

Day 66
Today's word count: 1,000
Overall word count: 52,460

I blog today, not out of any particular sense of achievement, but simply because I logged exactly 1,000 words today. How weird! I typed what I had to say, hit CTRL+SHIFT+C to count my words (hey, working in Google Docs here), and lo and behold!

So, since I had not intended to write a blog today, here is an unintended video to go with:

One great songwriter (Bruce Springsteen) covering another (Jimmy Cliff). Also, Bruce has a battered Telecaster, or perhaps even a Nocaster or Esquire, with Joe Barden Pickups. And a wrist brace. If I could trade my day job for a battered, souped-up Telecaster and a wrist brace, I would in a heartbeat. Duh.

Such tension!

Day 65
Today's word count: 1,538
Overall word count: 51,460

Yeah, I'm back. There was a week and a half, close to two weeks, where I had family in town. My mom, and all my siblings and their kids, all in the same place for the first time in years. Bit of a family reunion. So not only did I not write anything, I didn't re-read anything, either. But I did keep thinking. Can't help but do that. Which is good, because I was coming up on a bit of a roadblock anyway. A spot where I knew what should probably happen, but couldn't visualize the place or the conversation, and I kept refusing to fake it. As it happens, a two-week break was forced upon me right then anyway, and by the time I was ready to write again (i.e. yesterday), the image was in my mind.

Now that things are more or less back to normal, yesterday and today have been pretty productive days. I have a general feel for how things are likely to play out going forward. Not well for my protagonist, to be honest. But I'll follow the story line wherever it goes.

Thanks for reading!

"Ow" is not an acceptable kiai in this dojo, Mr. Larusso.

Day 46
Today's word count: 3,304
Overall word count: 46,299

(WARNING: Hideously gory clip)

So, after two quiet days, I cranked out a large chapter today in its entirety. Good feeling. And most of the chapter is a confrontation, then a fight, between two important characters, both of whom I think are pretty sympathetic. I think it's good stuff.

I also think I may be past halfway done at this point. When I think of what's happening now, and what I think is going to happen, I feel as though I may be on the downslope. Hard to tell, though.

A hobby of mine - my only hobby, really, until I started trying this writing thing - is music. I've been playing the guitar for 25 years, and I've been in bands for all that time. I've recorded five or six full-length albums, a handful of EPs, and a single for an independent film soundtrack. All of that is simply to say that I've spent hundreds of hours of my life in recording studios. And one thing that a musician will often do, when recording, is bring along some albums that he or she really likes the sound of. That way, whether during recording or mixing, there's a standard to check back against. Stuff like: "Does our snare drum sound like John Stanier's? Well, if that isn't possible, does it at least sound close?"

When I finish the first draft of this novel, I intend to do something similar. I plan to read a couple of books that I think are really well-written and paced, so that when I go back for rewrite, I have a good feel for what's exciting or boring, what's overwritten or underwritten, what's plausible or laughable. Kind of like a palate cleansing sorbet for the ol' language centers.

Oh, the pronounity!

Day 44
Today's word count: 1,252
Overall word count: 42,991

Hey! (Click the video. Always click them. They're meant to be background music and images.)

A solid day today, after a few relatively quiet ones. But even the quiet days involve quite a bit of reread and rewrite.

In writing, I have to go back, periodically, to remember what happened, or who said what to whom, so that the current writing agrees with the previous. And in doing so, I try not to perform too much serious rewrite. I leave the plot, setting, and characters alone as much as possible. Those can wait until the second draft. But I do correct small things as I read. I can't stand not to: I'm a proofreader by trade, after all. And they are things that would have to be fixed sooner or later anyway, so all I'm doing is saving myself that much time later on down the line, right?

And many of the little fixes have to do with pronouns and their antecedents. It seems to me, in reading as well as writing, that so much of the rhythm of prose involves the subtle interchange of nouns and pronouns. I'll reread a paragraph, trying to figure out where "she" is adequate and understandable, and where "Emma" is needed to remind the reader who is speaking and who is hearing. As with so many other elements of writing prose, a balance must be struck between boring the reader with unnecessary detail, and leaving him or her in the dark. With pronouns, in particular, I intend to ask my first readers: in the dialogue, can you always tell who is talking, or do you ever have to read back to figure it out?

So, anyway. Writing a lot, reading a lot. This is a killer story, I believe firmly. Also, Schoolhouse Rock is amazing. I belong to that generation of Americans who have those few dozen songs, the Schoolhouse Rock songs, embedded in their heads. For me, I always retained the grammar and math songs and kind of disregarded the history ones. But having said that, the song about the Preamble to the United States Constitution has been stuck in my head for over three decades.

I remember hearing the urban legend that John Sebastian, of The Lovin' Spoonful and Woodstock fame, was the singer on a bunch of these. Not so: it was jazz and session vocalist Bob Dorough. Only difference is I'm raising a toast to you tonight, Bob instead of John. Cheers.

This TV show subliminally taught me English syntax. Thank you, Schoolhouse Rock. To everyone else, good night.

I'm Back!

(Click "play" on the video, then go ahead and read.)

Doesn't that feel better?

Day 41
Today's word count: 1,260
Overall word count: 40,689

Fourth of July on Friday, then kids back in town for Saturday, meant not a ton of words produced this weekend. But still plenty of thinking going on. So tonight I cranked out some rewrite and half of a new chapter, which I'm setting aside really only because my brain is tired and I have a conference call (with my own family, of all people) in half an hour.

Tomorrow, I suspect, will be a pretty solid day, as I have lots of action and exposition up on deck. They tend to go faster for me than dialogue does. I also realize that I think I have a pretty solid idea of how the rest of this story is going to turn out. I am open to being surprised by things my characters say or do, and am happy to adjust on the fly, but I think I generally know what's coming up, and I'm excited. Because it's badass.

Who Cares?

Day 36

Today's word count: 511
Overall word count: 38,797

Who cares who is on the horse-drawn coach with the asshole protagonist? I don't. Skip ahead to the destination. If it ends up mattering in hindsight, insert a chapter later.

I Wrote This Blog With My Thumbs...

...while sitting in the doctor's office. (No, not the doctor's office where I work. The one where I'm currently sitting and waiting.)

By the way, I upgraded my phone last weekend, because my stepson's phone had died. So he got my iPhone4S, which was and still is a fine device, and I got a new Samsung Galaxy S5. It was my first venture outside Apple's smartphone range in five years.

Chief among the differences is that the screen of the new phone is freaking huge. Which makes the part of this work that I do on my phone, namely review, revision, and some bits of furious writing, much easier. Thank you, Samsung.

Something I find myself doing as I get further into the story is having to decide which plot thread to pick up next. I have three main bits going, defined by three main characters (or sets of characters) that were set forth in the first few chapters, but it takes a bit of finesse to figure out which one to work on next. Because while I feel I have a pretty good idea of what's happening everywhere right now, it makes my own life easier if I prioritize the three as I go. Or will make my life easier, once I'm done with the first draft.

Oh, and:

Day 34

Today's word count: 1,291
Overall word count: 38,091

Thanks for reading!

Making Up For Lost Time

Day 33
Today's word count: 2,104
Overall word count: 36,800

Yesterday my lovely wife and I were kid-free, so we spent most of the afternoon up in Park City, where I was quickly reminded of the swift, hammer-like arrival of beer to the brain at 7,000 feet above sea level. We also took the tour of High West Distillery and ate at their excellent on-site restaurant. And picked up a bottle of this Shakespearean libation:

Didn't crack it open, though. I think it'll be more of a special occasion tipple. Anyway, I didn't get anything written yesterday. But I did keep thinking, which made today's writing rather effortless. Lots of conversation, lots of exposition, little asskicking.

A month in, I'm closing in on 150 pages. I could end up being surprised one way or the other, but if the plot threads I've thrown out there end up the way I think they will, I think I'm just a little under halfway done. Say 350 pages. We'll see.

OH SHIT, said the monks.

Day 29
Today's word count: 1,746
Overall word count: 32,355

Yesterday I said that writing this story feels like riding a roller coaster. Also, my story has yellow-robed monks in it. Therefore, I offer up this photo without comment:

I'm still very much rocking and rolling down the track. I know what's happening, but I'm frankly too exhausted to type any more of it out coherently tonight. Which means tomorrow will probably be an even bigger day than today. I know ol' Steve King gets out 2,000 words a day, but I have a day job, y'know? On some days, my brain is already half-fried by the time I sit down to write.

Further concerns include my characters. I don't think I have much, really, in the way of purely good girls/guys and purely bad girls/guys. I mean, I've already mentioned that my protagonist is an asshole. I'm trying to have people, with plausible thoughts and wants, whether they're the most loathsome characters, or really sweet individuals who have been pulled into the plot by forces beyond their control. But I do wonder if my good guys are good enough, and my bad guys are bad enough.

I'm considering posting a few passages or short chapters here on this blog, earlier ones that I feel pretty solid about.

Until next time, thanks for reading! Nobody is commenting except for my good friend Joe, but I can see from the Google analytics that people are reading. Assuming that not all of you are bots...hello!

The Roller Coaster

Day 28
Today's word count: 1,130
Overall word count: 30,609

Well, the wymynz be done talkin, for the moment at any rate. And more things are about to happen.

OMG OMG OMG I'm excited for people to read this. I felt today as though I were in that autopilot mode where I knew exactly what was going to happen, what needed to happen, and the only thing I had to worry about was getting it typed out properly. That's the fun part of all this.

Thinking about it now, writing this book feels like a roller coaster.

There's the part where I'm thinking about the world, the characters, and the situations. What happens now? What should happen now? What's plausible? And how would people react to it? That's the hard part. Those are the days where I squeeze out 300 words. That's where the roller coaster is ratcheting itself up the track: k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack, k-chack...

And then there are the days where there's a flash of insight, of inspiration, where I see clearly what is going to happen next. And it's awful, or awesome, or hilarious or badass. Days where I effortlessly toss off 1000, or 2000 or 3000 or 4000 words, and the only concern is my 70 WPM fingers keeping up with a brain that is not only 100+ WPM, but has also been working on this all day while the rest of me was in meetings. And it feels like the first big drop on a roller coaster: hands in the air, screaming, adrenaline up, knowing cognitively that everything's going to work out fine, but being freaked out and exhilarated all at once.

YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

And, much like a roller coaster, even the so-called hard part is pretty cool. I just hope there's someone at the end, trying to sell me a grainy photo of myself writing for $8.00.

Wymynz Be Talkin

Day 26
Today's word count: 1,043
Overall word count: 28,994

Well, whatever else this novel may end up being or not being, I now know it definitely passes the Bechdel test.

Both Sides Now

Day 24
Today's word count: 1,456
Overall word count: 27,427

A good, strong day. Hit it, Joni.

Formatted as I have it (and I'm aiming for about the same words-per-page ratio as a book), I'm on page 113. That's halfway to the end of a short novel, a third of the way to the end of a decently-sized one, a quarter or a fifth of the way to the end of a long one. I let my wife read the manuscript so far, and she scoffed at the idea that I could be halfway done at this point. I agree. Big world, big story. I've totally bitten off more than I can chew here. Yet I keep grinding out the pages, and I think they're pretty good so far.

One thing I did today is retell a scene from earlier in the story, only this time from the point of view of one of the other characters who was there. I didn't really intend to, but it just came out. I really, really like it, but my head is so far up the ass of this story that I have zero perspective. I have no idea whether it's actually cool, or just ham-handed. The task of determining that will fall to the people I ask to read the first draft, once it's done.

Take care! Thanks for reading.

Blood and Alcohol

Day 20
Today's word count: 675
Overall word count: 24264

Whoa! Some words and a new character. Not sure where HE came from. But I'm a bit tipsy and he seems like an interesting fellow, so I'll be back for more of him tomorrow. I wonder if Stephen King's edict of "I write 2000 words a day, but you can do 1000 if you're a sissy" is going to work for me at all. Because I feel pretty accomplished about today, despite getting only 600-some words.

Then there were those days where I did 4000+ or 3000+. I dunno.

Also, my wife is watching Game of Thrones on Netflix on her laptop. I can see it out of the corner of my eye, so I better close my Google Doc before I just decide to kill all my cool characters and leave the assholes.

See you next time!

In Which The Shit Gets Real

Day 18
Today's word count: 1775
Overall word count: 22710

BOOM! goes the roadblock.

I stalled out for a day or two. I think it's because I got to what feels like the end of "Act 1." Some early conflict worked its way out, and opened the door to bigger conflict. Most of the story lines hit kind of a hump. I had to think hard about what comes next.

This world is getting bigger and more complex in a hurry. I think I chose a pretty tough setting for a first novel. The imagining isn't hard; I've been building imaginary worlds in my head for as long as I can remember. The hard part is the exposition: how much to show the reader, and when and how. I want people to be curious about what's around the corner, and about what things mean, but not to feel completely in the dark.

I'm excited to keep going! I'm excited to find out what happens next. And if I'm going, "Oh man, how the hell are they going to get through this," I can only hope that someone reading will feel the same way.

Aim High!

Day 15
Today's word count: 213
Overall word count: 20507

Don't let today's meager word count mislead you: I feel as though I got a lot done today. Most importantly, I realized what needs to happen next; the only plausible thing that could happen, given what the main characters want. So that's good.

If you're reading this as I write, as opposed to after the finished product is published, you probably have no idea what the hell this book going to be about. Allow me to tell you.

I have a ton of...I won't even call them influences, but things that have gone into the literary melting pot between my ears. Legendary authors (Melville! Marquez! Hemingway!). Classic authors (Somerset Maugham! Rudyard Kipling!). Really good contemporary authors (Stephen King!). Contemporary genre writers (Neal Stephenson! Brandon Sanderson!). Best-selling authors of my lifetime (Grisham! Cornwell!). Mediocre authors who nonetheless sell a shitload of books (I won't name them!). They've all wormed their way into my brain, and whatever worms its way back out is probably due, in some way, to them.

Having said that, I find myself referring back, over and over again, to two of my favorite living writers. One is, if not the, one of the world's most successful authors. The other is a writer whom you might not have heard of, even though he's flirted with mainstream success in the past.

They are Stephen King and Richard Herley.

Stephen King, I trust, needs no introduction from me. Speaking personally, I avoided his work religiously well into adulthood, thanks to two factors: one, his reputation as a "horror writer"; and two, the almost uniformly awful quality of the films based on his books. Because of those two facts, I didn't read anything by Stephen King until 1998 (age 25) or so. Since then, I've read close to 30 of his books.

Richard Herley is a ridiculously talented novelist who, in spite of being an award-winning and Hollywood-adapted author, toiled in obscurity for many years. I first encountered his work, ironically, not too long before I read my first Stephen King.

With inspiration from these two, I'm crafting the book I'm working on right now.

Stephen King has quite a bit of range as a writer, but my favorite books of his involve normal people, in a nominally normal world, dealing with inexplicable or supernatural situations. It's almost as if he takes the real world like a pond, tosses in a single supernatural pebble (Some people are psychic! or Johnny can see the future! or This town is full of vampires!), and documents the ripples that result. What makes him believable, what makes him unputdownable, is that the people in his books react to these situations like you and I would...or would like to. The vividness of his imagination is what I love.

Richard Herley is an absolute master of the craft of writing. Whether he's writing brainy thrillers, razor-sharp action novels, immaculately researched period pieces, or one of my five favorite novels period, his prose is sheer magic. He's experienced a bit of a resurgence in the last two or three years, topping the Amazon e-book charts, but nonetheless he remains a relative unknown compared to some far, far inferior writers who have commanded far more attention.

From Stephen King, I'm taking the kind of story I like to read: a story where a regular person, or regular people, are thrown into a new world, and get to know it, and react to it, right along with the reader. I refer back to King every time I ask, "What would ________ really do in this situation?" King gives me the view from 30,000 feet.

From Richard Herley, I'm taking the kind of story I would like to write: full of elegant clarity, crafty sentence structure, and sublime word choices. I refer back to him every time I find myself trying to convey an action sequence clearly and vividly, or trying to decide exactly how much to describe a new setting. Herley helps me down in the trenches, where I'm digging towards my goal one sentence at a time.

I fully expect to fall far short on both fronts, but I could fall far short of these two and still come up with a pretty damned entertaining yarn.