Buy the Book:
Amazon
add to
Goodreads
Guest Post
Why
do we write to begin with?
By
Robert J. Emery
The simple answer to why we write is we have stories to tell. The trick is to come up with an interesting one and tell it well enough to attract positive reviews which leads to readers. With the advent of self-publishing, just about anyone with an idea can write and publish a book, whether it be fiction or non-fiction. That’s a wonderful thing, because fresh voices, who may never attract a traditional publisher, are being discovered all the time.
Every
author has their own way of going about structuring and writing their books.
I’m a firm believer that there is no one right way. There are certain rules
about formatting that we have to follow, of course, but as far as I’m
concerned, that is where the rules end. If you doubt that, read Cormac
McCarthy’s ‘The Road’. The book was a smash success and was made into a movie.
But McCarthy breaks just about every rule of writing and punctuation—read it,
see for yourself. He proves my point.
Creatively
cannot be constrained within the confines of a bunch of rules, nor, in my
humble opinion, can creativity be taught. One either has it, or not. I can’t
sing, for example, nor do I tap dance or paint beautiful pictures, although I
wish I could because I set out in life to become an artist until I discovered I
wasn’t very good at it.
What
I do is write. I have from a young age. I will continue until my wife places my
ashes in a Tupperware container and stashes them in a closet.
My
current novel, Midnight Black, is a revised and expanded version of my original
novel Midnight Black – The Purge. I wrote the first version prior to the
pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, the volatile pollical atmosphere, and
how all of those events have affected not only America, but the entire world. I
chose to go back and include all of those events plus a few more in the revised
and expanded version simply titled Midnight Black. I believe it is some of my
best work.
In
choosing how I would tell the story, I made the brave choice of writing it in first-person
stream of consciousness through the eyes of my protagonist, Billy Russell.
Billy, a former DEA officer, is released on parole after serving 17 years in
isolated confinement for committing a revenge killing. He is paroled three-year
early on the condition he serve out his sentence with the Drug Enforcement
Bureau in Boston, MA. Little does he know what he’s getting involved with.
First, he finds society is on the verge of social collapse under an autocratic
World Government. Then he learns of the Bureau’s real mission, one he wants no
part of, which leads him to become involved in the wildest conspiracy he could
have ever imagined.
Now,
writing in first-person stream of consciousness is a challenge, to say the
least. I’m not sure I would try it again. But after much struggling with that
choice, it worked well enough in Midnight Black - The Purge to receive The
International Review of Books Bronze Award. Here’s hoping my expanded version
wins many more.
Back
to business. The trick in writing in first person stream of consciousness is to
keep your tenses straight. If not, some of what is going on inside your
character’s head will come out sounding like third-person narration. I admit
that there is a bit of that in Midnight Black, but my editor and my publisher,
God love them, felt that I nailed it and it works.
From
the very beginning, I never thought twice about writing the story in first
person. I wanted readers to feel what Billy was feeling, what he going through
in his own words, not some unknown third-person narrator.
I
would leave you with this thought. If it is early in your writing career, think
twice about writing in first person. No, I take that back, think three or four
times.
On another subject unrelated to writing is how I spend much of my free time. I love to cook. My Sicilian mother took the time to teach me and my sibling how, and if I say so myself, I’m pretty good at it. Just ask my wife, our kids, grandkids, and our friends.
Enter the Giveaway:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.