The Evolution of a Novel – “Swan Song”

December 27, 2012 at 7:53 pm (Books, Writing)
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Why do writers write? It is the fascination and obsession with the Word. Their connection, their sound, their emotional weight. We are story tellers and we tell our stories with words.

This is the story of “Swan Song”, my debut novel published by Deadly Niche Press. {The Kindle Edition is available at Amazon.com; the print version will be available after the first of the year.}

In 2007, I won a prize in the Adult Poetry Division of the Kansas Writer’s Association’s yearly contest. At the presentation and corresponding reading at Watermark Books in Wichita, KS, I talked with Storme Maynard who told me about a strange thing called NaNoWriMo. All you had to do was write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. No problem, right?

The stress of the thing was palpable. Writing poetry in Boston in the mid 1990′s was a thought-provoking, emotional, and at times intellectual process. But we took our time until we got it right. This thing was literary insanity. But I finished it; I completed a “book”, such as it was. However, looking over my effort in December was out of the question. The holidays were approaching and I didn’t want my sloppy 50,000 words to depress.

I did work on it. Many times through several years. Eventually I came up with a piece of neo-noir hardboiled fiction that still captures my attention and creates striking images in my mind. Keep in mind that it is still nothing more than a manuscript at this time.

That is until I met Dan Case of AWOC.com. He was a speaker at the KWA Scene Conference in 2012 and a panelist for Pitchapalooza, sponsored by The Book Doctors, David Henry Sterry and Arielle Eckstut. In a what-the-heck kind of moment I decided to pitch my Transgressive novel, Weekend Getaways, or Adventures in Contract Killing. I got an honorable mention for my pitch and some additional people looking in my direction, one of whom was Dan Case.

I ran into him at the OWFI Conference in May. We talked; he said he was interested and so was I. I sent him the manuscript for both. Knowing that the Transgressive piece might be a harder sell, he opted to start with “Swan Song” which has just been released as an e-book.

I am thrilled and pleased and know that the work has just begun. But consider the evolution: writing contest to casual conversation to online writing event to writer’s conference to pitch session to another writer’s conference…

There are those who say that NaNoWriMo is silly and it’s not really about the art and craft of writing. There are those who say that writing conferences are a venue for published novelists to garner attention. There are those who think that an e-book is somehow not a “real” book.

Whoever those people are, I do not agree with them.

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I Write Transgressive Fiction; Does That Make Me a Bad Guy?

August 14, 2012 at 9:48 pm (Personal, transgressive fiction, Writing)
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I got a Tweet from David Henry Sterry, one half of The Book Doctors. I had met him and his wife, Arielle Eckstut, at the KWA Scene Conference in March of this year while competing in Pitchapalooza. I pitched my dark comic Transgressive novel Weekend Getaways, or Adventures in Contract Killing and was well received.

The Tweet from David was “what exactly is transgressive fiction?” I responded “Main characters who feel confined by the norms of society. Think Fight Club & American Psycho. (was this a test?)” He came back with “not a test. just curious. is curious george transgressive character? cat in the hat? certainly max from wild things, right? ” Interesting. I hadn’t thought about it from that perspective. I clarified: “Got to add drugs, sex, violence and other taboo subjects into the mix. For the characters, THAT’S normal.” Sometimes the Socratic method does work best.

For my own interests, I looked researched on Wikipedia and found this definition by LA Times literary critic, Michael Silverblatt:

“A literary genre that graphically explores such topics as incest and other aberrant sexual practices, mutilation, the sprouting of sexual organs in various places on the human body, urban violence and violence against women, drug use, and highly dysfunctional family relationships, and that is based on the premise that knowledge is to be found at the edge of experience and that the body is the site for gaining knowledge.”

I looked back at my novel and the other collection I put together, Unemployed and Dangerous: A Trilogy of Transgressive Novellas. Was my work really like this? It was true that I explored very dark themes. The approach was offbeat, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, somewhat lyrical. There was an off-handedness to the extreme behavior, as though it were all just normal.

I have worked in customer service or retail for the better part of thirty years. I am certain that my life experience has informed my writing. I have always enjoyed film noir from the 40′s and 50′s, especially with the deep and dark psychological undertones. There is more than just crime in good crime fiction.

I had to go very deep within myself for that collection of novellas, scaring me at times and my wife just enough, before we both realized that I was lowering myself into a well but also pulling myself back up. And yet I know it’s there.

So, I conclude that I am NOT a bad guy but one who recognizes the possibility of badness, madness, degradation, and despair. Just as it is within all of us. And it is daring and scary to dive into those waters for the sake of a piece of writing and it is a dangerous journey to come back to stable ground. It creates an understanding of duality. It forces self-examination, which is necessary on both a personal and artistic level. It broadens the scope of character and literary skill.

I choose to go there knowing that I have the strength of will and the love of my wife to get back. I would not be satisfied any other way.

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2012 OWFI Conference

May 8, 2012 at 7:59 pm (Writing)
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If there was a writer’s conference but there was not a single editor or agent in your genre, would you attend? Heck, yeah. It’s not always about you and your book but the kind of insight you can get, the tidbits of minutiae, the alternate perspectives, that added to your writing and your writing life.

This was my first conference of the Oklahoma Writer’s Federation, Inc. and it was rather impressive. Held at the Embassy Suites hotel not far from Will Rogers Airport, it featured several speakers, an editor/agent panel, two dinner banquets (one with keynote speaker Steven james and the other the contest awards presentation), and various late night buzz sessions.

The highlights for me were:

C. Hope Clark, whose newsletter Funds For Writers, provides practical insight into venues for freelance writers. Her maxim, “You have to be known as a writer first before you are known as a novelist” really hit home.

Dan Case of AWOC Publishing. I had already met Dan at the KWA Scene Conference in March. His enthusiasm and laugh is contagious. He’s reading one of my pieces now, the hard-boiled crime fiction “Swansong”. So, we’ll wait and see.

Chuck Sambuchino, whose blog Guide to Literary Agents is one of the most useful tools out there. i had a one-on-one with Chuck while he reviewed my pitch for the Transgressive fiction piece, “Weekend Getaways, or Adventures in Contract Killing.” Very perceptive feedback plus additional directions that might help me secure and agent.

Thomas B. Sawyer, screenwriter, novelist, teacher, and one heck of a storyteller. He was entertaining OUTSIDE of the session. I was very fortunate to have he and his wife sit at our table for breakfast the next morning.

No, i did not secure an agent or a three-book deal or any of those other fantasy illusions we have of attending such events. I met some very talented industry professionals who were accessible and met me on an equal level. I met some really wonderful folks who did seem impressed by some of my louder Hawaiian shirts.

More importantly, I retained and expanded on the main things it takes to be a successful writer. Hope and confidence. Add to that my enduring desire and I can assure you this thing ain’t over yet.

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They don’t tell you about dinner.

March 14, 2012 at 7:43 pm (Blogging, Personal, Writing)
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It is only two days away from the Kansas Writer’s Association’s Scene Conference. It’s time to think about what it means to be a writer.

I’ve known, ever since first grade when the teacher had us put those ten vocabulary words into ten sentences, that words were a source of fascination. This notwithstanding the extensive library my parents maintained. And, in grade school, high school, college (where my second major behind film-making was creative writing). Training to be a writer.

Going from a “portable” Smith Corona typewriter to a Brother Word Processor. Identifying the hardware and being able to use it. Falling behind the computer generation and then feverishly catching up. Reading and expanding my reading list. Immersion in the Boston Poetry Scene in the early 90′s. Classic Greek and Roman poets and a few Dadaists and Surrealists thrown in for good measure.

Trying to get back to screenwriting while making a home in Kansas. Turning my attention back to the start, back to fiction. Crime fiction. And then discovering Transgressive fiction. Allowing myself to dare to experiment and be different. Or be myself, as the case may be.

Membership in the KWA. Subscription to Writer’s Digest. Teaching myself all the computer skills necessary, still being behind the curve, but catching up slowly. Learning about blogging and websites and creating a platform. My wife got me Ariel Gore’s book “How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead” and other such books. They’re great. Great insight, fantastic suggestions, good feedback into becoming a better writer and getting published.

And then there is that shake of the head. I’m spitting distance from turning fifty, a married homeowner with a full-time job, and just as many personal responsibilities as artistic desires. I’m not young enough to drop everything and go on an extended book signing/reading tour of colleges in a five state area. I’m not old enough and retired to attend writing conferences on either coast and expand my social and professional networking circle.

I’ve got to go grocery shopping and make dinner and take out the trash and pay bills and show up to work often enough where they do not doubt my sincerity of working there and allow me to keep making a living so I can pay my bills.

The bottom line is that I take everything I read and hear and discuss about writing and becoming a published writer and having a career as a writer with a grain of salt. I’ve got to fit everything that is MY life into an intricate jigsaw puzzle, sometimes daily or weekly or monthly or yearly. Whatever happens to be the priority of the moment.

I squeeze in some reading during two fifteen minute breaks and a half hour lunch. I post a blog when the urge strikes. I check up on the social networking as much as my limited resources allow. And I write when there is some new story to tell or some old story to revise.

And my wife, who is also my editor and biggest supporter, knows that the door open is an invitation and the door closed is a sign of immersion. I try to remind myself of the definition of ‘discipline’ every time I am at my desk in my office and when the laptop is turned on.

I keep reading the sage wisdom of published writers and what worked for them, hoping to come across someone EXACTLY like me. Because anyone else is either older or younger or a different gender or in a different profession or a different state. I haven’t found that person, as you may have guessed. Thankfully, at least for my wife’s sake, there is no one exactly like me. Therefore I am charting my own path.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go clean up the dishes from tonight’s dinner.

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Hidden Treasures

June 23, 2011 at 8:41 pm (transgressive fiction, Writing)
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I talk to other writers and read other writer’s blogs about writing and revision/editing. Everyone seems to say that writing your first draft is the easy part and that editing is where the real work starts. I do not disagree. My police procedural, The .9 mm Solution, is being completely restructured while my dark comic Transgressive fiction, Weekend Getaways, or Adventures in Contract Killing, is getting expanded into even weirder extremes.

It is tedious and detailed work. It requires an almost re-thinking of the project, attempting to separate yourself from the original impulse that caused you to start writing the piece while at the same time not lose the spark of that impulse. Frustration can lead to satisfaction.

What I am finding as I delve into each of these disparate pieces is that there are hidden treasures, sections of description, turns of phrase, foreshadowing, interesting characters or locations. I am finding aspects of my writing that were not there five years ago, much less in my formative years. Experience in life and practice of craft do yield positive results.

Yes, the actual work of editing and revision is still fraught with fright and requires the ultimate in patience and concentration. But if we look in closer, avoid for a moment “The Bigger Picture”, those hidden treasures are our rewards and the signposts toward the completion of our work.

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The value of paper

June 1, 2011 at 8:24 pm (Writing)
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We live in a digital age. There is no avoiding that. We have our computers and our external hard drives and our thumb drives and there is e-publishing coming up fast to challenge traditional publishing…

I’m breathless. I still remember my “portable” Smith-Carona typewriter. As heavy as a bowling ball. Heavy keys creating strong fingers (and perhaps a pre-cursor to carpal tunnel syndrome.) Was it why I became a two-fingered hunt-and-peck typist?

Ahh, but when it comes to editing and revision, there is still nothing better than paper. I recently printed out the most recent version of my transgressive novel Weekend Getaways, or Adventures in Contract Killing. I had made some significant changes and additions. Since typography is a major component of the work, I knew that I had to SEE it in its totality, page after page, and not merely scrolled down through a static computer screen.

The primary method for determining where it stands at this moment in time is to read it as I would a book. Not an e-reader. It has to pass THAT test first. Its uniqueness lies in the typography and the almost disjointed narrative and the inclusion of side pieces and commentaries (akin to Melville’s passages on whaling in “Moby Dick”).

So, after all the digitizing, I’m back to good old-fashioned paper. Of course, it’s an HP Photosmart printer but it’s still paper.

Thank goodness that some things never change.

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“Trash” by Irvine Welsh

April 28, 2011 at 7:51 pm (Books, Writing)
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I just finished reading this book by the same author of the more popular work “Trainspotting”. I chose this newer piece because I didn’t want to be influenced by having seen portions of the movie version of the earlier work.

I came across Irvine Welsh originally when I was finding writers of Transgressive fiction. This work certainly fits the bill. The blurb on the back says “…in an Irvine Welsh novel nothing is ever so bad that it can’t get a whole lot worse.” It is also a highly challenging piece for a number of reasons.

First, it is written in predominantly Scots dialect. I hadn’t read anything of that ilk since studying Robert Burns. It took a while to get used to the vernacular and the accompanying slang.

Second, like Brett Easton Ellis’ “American Psycho”, the main character does not have a lot of redeeming features. Bruce Robertson, a Scottish police Detective Sergeant is racist, misogynistic, a manipulator of his friends, a heavy drinker and cocaine user, and since he doesn’t do his own laundry, his stench emanates from the pages.

He is investigating the murder of a black man and he doesn’t really feel it is worth his time or effort to solve the case. The reasons are revealed later in the book.

And third, the book employs an intriguing typographical feature of showing a parasite (a tapeworm) living inside his body. It places itself directly over the text you are trying to read. Initially there are small fragments until much later in the book, the parasite becomes Robertson’s voice of conscience while, at the same time, hoping that Robertson (the Host) lives so that the creature will as well.

I was enthused that such a work was indeed published because my own Work In Progress (“Weekend Getaways, or Adventures in Contract Killing”) also is rather dark and employs elements of unusual typography for visual as well as emotional effect.

I enjoyed the work largely because Welsh keeps Robertson grounded in a real world of the working class and giving some indication that the character feels justified (which is the point behind Transgressive fiction.) I was up for the challenge of reading something that seemed more like a connection of anecdotes than a traditional Three Act formula. I was caught up in the descriptions of location despite the fact that I’d never been to Scotland. And finally, I could see behind all the darkness a sense of humanity, one that might have been different under other circumstances.

If Irvine Welsh can write these kinds of work, I am encouraged to know that my dark comic Transgressive work just might have a place as well.

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Choice

April 13, 2011 at 3:21 pm (Writing)
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As a writer, do you choose what to write or does it choose you? There is a possibility that both can happen.

Of my two works in progress, I came up with the first line to my dark comic transgressive piece, Weekend Getaways, or Adventures in Contract Killing, simply out of the blue.

“I never gave much thought to killing people, outside of the usual.”

There was no character or plot or theme. It was simply a line. A greeting, if you will, to a new friend who I have had to get to know over a long period of time.

On the other hand, my procedural, The .9 mm Solution, was developed over a long period of time by discussions with my brother-in-law who had some unique perspectives on the justice system which seemed to coincide with my theories on the penal system. Between the two of us, conversion at various family gatherings, the story took form. Yes, as with all revisions, it has evolved. But there was at least a conscious effort involved.

So, as a writer, do you choose or are you chosen?

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Validation

April 12, 2011 at 9:11 am (Writing)
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One of my Works in Progress is Weekend Getaways, or Adventures in Contract Killing. It is a dark comic piece of Transgressive fiction that tells the story of an unnamed forty-something man who no longer finds fascination with the trappings of modern life. Upon meeting an unusual older man, he embarks upon a new avocation of contract killing.

Thematically and stylistically, it has echoes of other contemporary Transgressive writers like Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk. But it employs unique typography and is designed to be as much of a visual assault as a literary one. I’ve been working on it quite a bit, expanding it, fleshing out the themes, and, well, making it even “crazier” than when I started.

I’ve always felt it would be a tough sell, especially as a new unpublished writer. (Although Jessica Regel of the Jean V Nagger Agency did give me a 4-week read on the first three chapters.) Nevertheless, I keep plugging away at it because it is both a challenging and rewarding piece and then I work on a more standard police procedural Work in Progress.

In my efforts to absorb more of the Transgressive style and intent, I bought Irvine Welsh’s Trash. He is the writer of Trainspotting but I decided to start with this (to me) unknown book first.

Excuse the cliché but…Lo and Behold! Unique typography. A parasite living in the main character’s body is represented on the page covering up whole portions of the text. A chapter, written from the wife’s perspective, in boldface with a different font. The language entirely in Scots dialect.

Wow!

Now I am NO Irvine Welsh, that is for sure. However, good writing trumps all and there ARE publishers and agents out there who understand, accept, and appreciate the genre. Yes, I will still work on the police procedural. BUT I am plowing forth with my Transgressive work.

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What’s in your mind?

April 6, 2011 at 9:19 am (Personal, self-publishing, Writing)
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I read somewhere that Bram Stoker wrote “Dracula” due to his unhappy marriage. He was attempting to create a powerful romantic hero (or anti-hero) that was the opposite of his personality. Psychiatrists refer to this as “sublimation.”

For better or worse, writers sublimate aspects of their personality into their writing. Fantasies or delusions that would never see the light of day in the real world. Hopes and aspirations that seem unattainable. We can read all the books on craft, go to all the seminars and conferences that we can attend and we still wind up being intricate human and emotional creatures.

For the past six years or so, I have been writing more crime fiction and have dabbled extensively into Transgressive Fiction. And I know why. I have been in the customer service field for about thirty years, the last fourteen in a call center. These are perfect venues for the consumer to have a feeling of anonymous control over a representative or an entire company. This is a delusion. For all the venom that they exude, the company still maintains control and the representative has the power (but not the legal ability) to completely jack with their account.

Now, see, you got me started. You found out what’s in my mind. It got no better when I was terminated from my previous position after thirteen years over ONE customer service complaint. The sense of loss was profound; the sense of anger ran deeper. I set about writing a set of three Transgressive novellas, the likes of which were far darker than any other piece of crime fiction I had written or contemplated.

But, by doing so, I was able to release an awful lot of negative feeling and re-focus on what needed to happen in Real Life in order to survive. My wife, who is also my editor, recognized this but understood.

The pieces were published as collection on Lulu as Unemployed and Dangerous: A Trilogy of Transgressive Novellas. Recently, I made each of the individual works available as ebooks on Smashwords. They include:

Malfeasance
Day-Trippin’
The Ballad of Justin Thieme

There will always be the craft, the desire to revise and correct and perfect the Word. The plot and theme will come through because of attention to detail in the construction of the story. But beneath all of that, for better or for worse, there is me.

So, what’s in your mind?

{As an additional side note: I have been taking notes for the last ten months for a non-fiction piece about my termination and my dealings with the state regarding unemployment compensation (a success) and the union who would not escalate my case for arbitration. Thoughtful deliberation has guided me toward a non-fiction piece as it might be more publishable and would have a more striking effect than the Transgressive ramblings of a so-called “disgruntled employee.” As I progress, I will update.}

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