Aaron Patterson's Blog: stephen king

Write what you know? I say write what you want to know.

Every time I hear someone use this line I cringe. Not because it is not true but because the one saying it most the time has no clue what it means or how to explain it to others.

If it was true that a good writer has to write what he or she knows, there would not be young writers, or what about people who write about dragons and wizards... did they grow up on a dragon ranch and study magic?

Now in crime fiction or a story that has to be real this rule gets to be even more misunderstood. So I shall give you my 29 cents about the subject.

Write what you know: What most writers mean is if you were a doctor write medical thrillers or the like. If you were a cop write police procedurals. This is NOT what you should do, yeah it might be easier but you can write whatever you want.

I am not a cop, doctor or dragon wizard. But I write about cops, time travel, angels, demons, and sometimes romance.

Write what you know: The correct way to view this rule is to write what you know--what do you know about heartbreak? What do you know about fear, love, hate, greed, truth, lies, and revenge? You ever get that feeling you are being watched, the fear that someone might be in the house in the middle f the night?

This is what it means to Write what you know. Old or young we all feel and have life experiences. Even children feel shame and loss when one of their friends says their mean and that they don't want to play anymore.

Stephen King said in his book On Writing: that a great writer writes without fear. I never understood this till I understood that it takes courage to look at a painful time in my past and draw from that pain to write a scene about that same feeling. It is hard to let myself feel again the feelings I may have buried and transfer that to my story. But to go from a good writer to a great writer you must feel.

Now that you know what this old saying really means, can you Write what you know? No matter if the book is about dragons or cops it is all the same thing, feelings and how that moves the story.

What are some examples you may have had with your own writing? Did you draw from your past or maybe what you are going through now in your own life?

Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

I did a post with J. some time back and I wanted to do an update. She has been on fire and yesterday she was #1 on the Amazon Bestseller list for Kindle with her novel, "The Shop". She is a great lady and so without much more from me, here is the interview.

P.S. Here is her author page on Facebook, she has a cool app you should check out: HERE

J. Carson Black:

1. So, we all want to know and I could ask after some small talk, but what is the fun in that? What is with T&M? We want details, juicy and the behind the scenes!
How do I feel about T & M? What’s not to love? I kiss the hem of their garments.

They have been with me every step of the way, and involved me in everything. Maybe it’s because they’re new. But here’s an innovative idea: they actually listen to the author who wrote the book! For the first time in my writing life, I’m not at the bottom of the food chain.

They are responsive, organized, smart, and generous. They’d make a great husband. Here’s an example. My editor asked me to send ideas about the cover of my book, ICON. I went looking on Amazon at “Thrillers”, and saw the book cover/movie poster for ONE FOR THE MONEY by Janet Evanovich. And it hit me—hard—that when you’re talking about a man who is an icon, you have to put him on the cover. I could see it. I described him walking toward the camera on a desert road (a scene in the book) and he’s got to be both handsome and dirty. T-shirt, jeans, desert boots. And mad. Mad as hell. It’s got to come off him like testosterone. He’s holding a gun and he’s had enough. So they did that. And then they made it “one louder.” They made the words “ICON” huge! It looks like a movie poster.

T & M gave me a five-mile-long questionnaire, even asking me to describe my ideal reader (which I did, right down to the capri pants—middle-aged women love thrillers, they love Coben, Crais, Koontz, Child and Connelly. Which means they love the “k” sound, too). T & M asked me about my style and vernacular, so the copy editor wouldn’t try to change it.

They included me on everything, including the jacket copy and copy-editing and page proofs--a completely different experience than I’d had with a traditional publisher.

And, since they own the company, they know how to push the book.

They have been generous with me, too. We have the coolest app called Odyl on my J Carson Black author page. This allows me to incorporate a website Glenn and I built together called http://www.whokilledbriennecross. It’s the pre-story, of sorts, to the murders in the Aspen house at the beginning of the book. We can do giveaways, polls, quizzes, and provide additional “exclusive content” for the reader.

2. The Shop is making waves, again. How do you feel about the future of your books?

Honestly? I have no idea. I believe they’ll be a steady stream of income. But how much that will be? I don’t know. It’s a bit unpredictable. I’m feeling my way along like everybody else. I listen to people who have put in the time and learn from them. Vin taught me to raise the prices when the books started to go on. Smart stuff like that.

I think we’re all learning as we go.

3. Are you planning on doing some of your own books or will you do them all with T&M?

I kept my Laura Cardinal series, and plan to write a fourth when I get some time. I have one more book with T & M, tentatively titled THE SURVIVORS CLUB. I also have kept a bunch of books that were previously published to little or no acclaim, and I like them, although they won’t be burning down any barns. They’re a source of steady income. I plan to put up my two historicals next—I’m very proud of them. I think it’s good to have your own books, books you can always depend on to keep you going. I’d love to sell more books to T & M, but I think it’s good to diversify.

4. Can I publish one of your books? Hey, I had to ask!

Who knows? I may come crawling to you, and it might not even be too long from now. You’ve done a great job with your authors, that’s for sure.

5. Amazon, B&N, bookstores, what do you see in three years, is the future bright or dull?

I think Barnes & Noble is already stepping away from the Nook – as I recall, they are outsourcing that part of the business. Amazon is a monster, and right now it’s bigfooting everyone in sight. But Kobo may be the wave of the future—or not. I think it’s good to keep your ear to the ground and be flexible and willing to make judgments on the fly—and hope they’re for the best. Like this KDP Select thing. Is it good for the author or not? The jury is out. What might be great for us now could kill us later. I’m hoping that independent and specialty bookstores will start coming back. I’m seeing some growth there. For instance, Mysterious Galaxy http://www.mystgalaxy.com/ in San Diego just added a second store. And other bookstores are opening across the country as well. I read a news report that even Amazon’s opening a bookstore.

6. Freestyle, tell me something we may not know?

You probably already know this, but there are few overnight successes, even in this ebook craze. There are people who have been working on their careers for 20, 30 years. They may have been traditionally published, but some of them never had a publisher; they kept submitting and maybe they only came close. But one thing the majority of these folks have in common is mileage. They’ve put a lot of miles on their writing craft. They’ve developed themselves as writers whether they’ve actually sold books are not. (Selling books in NY is a crapshoot, and has been for some time.) Writing isn’t a static thing. You get better, but you also get worse. Sometimes you have to hit the dip before you start improving. Taking chances can really foul you up, but it can also make you better. And perhaps that actually hurts some writers, because the audience for ebooks is massive but somewhat amorphous. You can sell a lot of books, but a goodly number of those books may go to people who don’t like the kind of stuff you write. It’s great to get a huge audience, but it’s even better to reach a targeted audience who will get what they want. I try to aim my books toward the crime-fiction and thriller kind of crowd, and make “a concerted effort”, for lack of a better term, to brand my books with the covers and product descriptions. Tastes are different. The greatest urban fantasy book in the world will probably never reach me, because that’s just not my taste. Same for sci-fi. So I try to dance with them that brung me.

7. What is one thing you would say to a new writer and one thing you would say to a guy like James Patterson or Stephen King?

To a new writer I would say, find your bliss in the kinds of books you want to write, and study the best. Learn from them. Their lessons are there for anybody—all you have to do is open their books and open your mind.

I’d say to Stephen King, “Good on ya!” In my opinion, his latest book, 11/22/63, (based on the few books I managed to read this year) is the best damn book of the year. In that book, he taught me that I need to reward the reader more. It’s all about the internals of a book. He brings things full circle several times in that story-- puts the periods to the sentences--and that satisfies a reader and makes him smile. They’re gifts, pure and simple. Readers are smart, and they like to feel smart.

To James Patterson, I’d say, “congratulations on your franchise.”

8. With new stuff coming out and the potential for some green, cash, money! What is one thing you might buy or do that is kind of a splurge?

Oh, shoot. I don’t know. I would like to be a partner in a racehorse. But then if anything happened to the racehorse, I’d be a basket case.

I’d like to take a small ship tour into the Sea of Cortez. Yeah. I’d like that.

9. Biggest fear?

Being broke again. Or getting sick. One of the two. Or both at once. Ick.

10. Funniest thing that ever happened at a book signing?

I signed my first book, DARKSCOPE, at a B. Dalton in the local mall. I got my Masters Degree in vocal performance (opera singing) and the ladies of the local Opera Guild helped me out in a number of ways. I was young and thoughtless then. To be honest, they all kind of blurred together, lovely people though they were. And the signing was about five years later. So one of these ladies came up to me and I thought I knew her name, and I said, “Rita! How good to see you!” and hugged her. I signed the book to Rita and she left, smiling. (I think she was smiling.) Ten minutes later, the real Rita showed up. I’d gotten them mixed up. I still can’t believe the non-Rita let me sign the book to “Rita”. Now that’s polite!

Thanks for everything!