writing | Michael A. Ventrella

Interview with Author Peter Prellwitz

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Michael A. Ventrella

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: I’m pleased to be interviewing Peter Prellwitz, one of the most successful writers at my publishing house, Double Dragon. His web page is http://shardsuniverse.net/ . Peter, what made you sign up with Double Dragon, and do you regret going with a smaller press?

PETER PRELLWITZ: Double Dragon Publishing (DDP) was pointed out to me by a friend who was looking to start up his own publishing company. He’d read my novel Shards back when it first appeared in serial form on the CompuServe Writers Forum and became a supporter to see it published. (I’d originally written the novel just for my own enjoyment, with no intention of publishing it.) At the time, Double Dragon was conducting its first – and sadly, only – Draco Writing Contest, so I entered four of my finished novels, Horizons, Promise Tide, The Science of Magic, and The Angel of St. Thomas. I didn’t enter Shards because the four books making up the novel totalled three hundred thousand words and I knew better than to submit something of that size, having never been published. All four books fared well in the judging, with Horizons selected by finalist judge Mike Resnick as the Winner for Best Science Fiction.
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I have never regretted going with a smaller press, primarily because that smaller press was Double Dragon Publishing. I have always been treated cheerfully, professionally and politely. This can be tempting to think, “Sure, they treat me that way because my sales are pretty good.” But the undisputed truth is the company treats all its contributors that way.

VENTRELLA: Given the cutbacks at the big publishing houses, would you advise other starting writers to “build a portfolio” by having success with a small publisher or is it better to keep holding off for that big potential deal?

PRELLWITZ: Having just crowed over the joy of being with Double Dragon doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges and downsides to being signed by an ebook publisher. One of the biggest is the “stigma” that comes with it. The sad truth is that there are a LOT of ebook/small publishing houses out there that have poor business practices, very low standards for accepting materials, and are about as real as faster-than-light travel. The mainstream publishers and associated agents, editors and such have maintained for years that ebook/small press publishing was no better than vanity press, and not to be taken seriously. Sadly, more often than not, they’re absolutely right. There’s an overabundance of – forgive me – poor quality writing that is being published by ebook/small press publishers that has little or no merit to it and is seeing print only because of their publishers’ inexperience, vanity or outright greed. That means that real publishers like DDP, who have high submission standards, a winnowing process, and sustainable business/publishing models, are unfairly lumped into the same group as so-called publishers. Because of this, while the idea of “building a portfolio” with a small publisher sounds good, it can actually hurt you in the respect of building a reputation among the larger, more conventional publishing companies. And literary agents won’t even look at work you’ve published with ebook/small press publishers.

But there a many positives to going with the right small publisher. One is the self-realization that you’re a serious writer; you’ve tried to get your work published. Another is that your chances of getting read and signed are greater with an ebook or small publisher. Just be sure you go with a reputable publisher. I do believe the time is coming when there will be a blending of some elements in the ebook publishing and mainstream publishers. The ebook and small publishing companies are far more efficient; not wasting paper but rather using print on demand (POD) or electrons to put out books, as opposed to the tried and true but increasingly expensive and wasteful mass publishing model that the larger houses use. Being a known, respected author with a known, respected publishing house, be it ebook, POD or mass, is a good thing.

VENTRELLA: What’s your writing process? Do you use extensive outlines? And do you plan out the series or just work one book at a time?

PRELLWITZ: I’m afraid I’m a nightmare of an example when it comes to the writing process. I’m what you would call a “seat of the pants” writer. I no idea how a novel is going to end, nor even what’s going to happen in the next chapter or even the next page. Oh, I’ve tried to do the outlines, plot summaries, character direction, and etc. For ten novels now, though, it hasn’t worked. I introduce my characters to the initial conflict that needs to be resolved, then just write down what happens. If I ever try to step in and direct things, they either smack me down for meddling in their lives or they stand around and go on strike like a bunch of prima donna actors. In one novel, TAU (which stands for Those Above Us), I set up one character to be the penultimate bad guy; then traitor everybody wants dead. I built this massive case of evidence against him and then, one chapter before the end of the book, he dies a noble death. He’s NOT the villain I was certain he was. Which left me completely in the dark as to who WAS the traitor. Took me a couple weeks to figure it out, and when I did, I couldn’t believe it. But when I read through the novel, there it was. I’d laid out – rather, recorded what I saw – everything that was needed to prove the guilt of the traitor and I’d missed it all.

As for planning out series, I do and I don’t. Oftentimes when I’m working on one novel I’ll write a reference to an event or person that has only tangent relevence at that moment but promises to have a good story on its own. Several novels and a couple dozen short stories have come about that way. I will start and work on more than one book at a time, however. Generally, I don’t recommend it. In my opinion, it’s far better to focus on one novel. Right now I’m writing a Shards Universe novel and a Martian Western novel and a fantasy novel. They’re all moving forward, but slowly. They’ll probably all be finished about the same time, which will be cool because I’ll have three completed novels. But until they’re finished, I don’t have anything to offer my readers. That’s okay before you get published, but once you establish a fan base, you owe them more than vague progress updates.

VENTRELLA: What’s your writing background? Did you begin with fiction?
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PRELLWITZ: I did. My first “published” work was a Thanksgiving play I wrote in 4th grade. My teacher was so impressed that I’d written completely on my own (it wasn’t an assignment or anything), that she produced it and it played to the entire school. It was an awful play. Elements of Gilligan’s Isle and F-Troop, poor dialogue, no logical progression to plot, and a cookie-cutter ending. My mom saved me a copy of the play, so I was able to refresh my memory about it. Yep, it was awful. But it was produced and it was my creation.

I was hooked.

I wrote another, much better Thanksgiving play in fifth grade, which was also produced, this time by my fifth grade teacher. After that I started writing short stories and started about six different novels that I never took more than a hundred pages. I co-wrote a melodrama in my senior year that was produced and played in nine libraries around Orange and Los Angeles counties in 1978. We got our fist official reviews from that; two thumbs up from both the Orange County Register and The Los Angeles Times. I continued writing fiction and non-fiction through the years, my break coming in 2003 with Horizons.

VENTRELLA: Is a web page important for a starting writer?

PRELLWITZ: Yes.

Hmm… let me rephrase that:

YES!!

One trap an author can fall into is that his or her “job” is to write and only write. Indeed, in the past – say, the 19th Century – a well-known author need only send his completed manuscript to his publisher, then sit back while other people did the rest of the work. Marketing, publicity, etc. The author had only to keep writing and occasionally show up at lecture.

Not only are those days gone, I wonder how much they really ever existed. If you look at Samuel Clemons’ life, you’ll see it was nothing like that. Today, however, the author must also be the main source of publicity. Also, simply writing a novel isn’t the only option. There are so many opportunities to add to the novel’s audience and reach, that NOT taking advantage – especially when so many other authors are using the chances – that an author is really short-changing the novel’s life.

Web sites are a critical opportunity that should not be passed up. And I don’t mean a typical “Buy My Book!” vanity web site. Having a living, breathing web site that you update regularily, store plenty of free stuff on, and just generally increase a readers involvement in your writing, can be the difference between your book just sitting on the shelf and your book gaining a following.

For the starting writer, I would recommend having a web site up and running at the same time you’re writing your first novel. When I was writing Shards back in 1996, I started the ShardsUniverse.net site mostly for myself. I kept my research, connecting short stories, maps, and everything else there. I didn’t let anyone really know about it. When I’d finished Horizons in 1998, I did more of the same. It wasn’t until 2003, when Horizons was first published, that I began pushing my web site. By then, however, it was a wealth of information on my universe, with a free library of short stories, novel excerpts, research, and current news on conventions and the like. Since the majority of my novels occur in the same universe, the web site helped tie everything together.

A tip… I put up my first web site all by meself. I wish I hadn’t. Even though I’m a professional IT person, I’ve never been big on web design. If you have a couple hundred bucks, PAY a professional to set up your site if you’re seriously going into the writing world. I’m doing that now, but it’s an ugly, slow process since I have a lot of content to move over.

VENTRELLA: How does writing for comics differ from writing standard fiction?

PRELLWITZ: As you know, I’m currently working with Steve Bennett, the anime artist, in turning my young adult novel, The Angel of St. Thomas, into a web comic of the same name. It’s been challenging. Since the medium is so very different, illustrated as opposed to written, rewriting is an absolute must. Where I could use the reader’s imagination to help me tell the story in the novel, as a web comic I’m more compelled to provide visual story-telling. While this forces me to provide more detail in the form of instruction to the artist, the result is a universal representation of what I’d envisioned when I first wrote the story, as opposed to my letting the readers’ imagination fill in the blanks.
ShardOne510

Pacing is also a huge challenge. The novel can be read in two or three hours. The web comic, which only posts one page twice a week, will need three years to tell the same story. Because of that, action scenes need to be enhanced while exposition and transition sequences need to be condensed. Taking three paragraphs of exposition in a novel is a one minute read, filled with useful information. But drawing three paragraphs of information might take four or five pages, which is two weeks worth of web comics in which nothing is happening. So adjustments are needed. Sometimes major adjustments. For instance, one chapter has the main character telling the origin of the “Angels” to another character over dinner. In the web comic, we’ll be having her showing the story; the reader will go back and watch things as they occurred from three centuries earlier.

The other primary difference is also the most exciting and, yes, at times challenging difference. The story is mine. The characters are mine. But the art is Steve’s, and he’s as much a creator of the web comic as I am. What I try to convey in a script isn’t necessarily what he’s going to draw. Not one single page has been exactly as I thought it would be. But at the same time, every page, while different, has been better. He’s the artist, after all. What he doodles in two minutes I couldn’t draw in two weeks; Steve is that good. So we always have an exciting and sometimes energetic exchange of ideas. That’s forced me to better see things as an artist does, which has helped me become a better writer when it comes to scripts. And being able to write scripts is always a useful skill.

VENTRELLA: You make regular appearances at science fiction conventions as a guest author; do you find these to be a useful process to promote yourself?

PRELLWITZ: Yes, and I think your question touched on the often overlooked main point. Conventions are a great place to promote MYSELF. Almost all other means of promotions, youtube, web sites, even book signings, are to promote the book. And my books are certainly the reason some people want to meet me. So when I’m at a convention, I’ll have a table in the Dealers Room and talk about/sell my books. But this is primarily the way my readers – and potential readers – get to meet the person behind the stories. To hear my opinions and my life experiences, as well as witness my reactions to and interactions with events as they occur at the convention.

Of course, it’s a two-way street. I also get to observe, interact, and learn from readers; those who’ve already read my novels as well as those who have not. Of all the genres that exist in fictional writing, science fiction is the fastest moving target. All other genres are limited by time, be it past or present. Even fantasy – which occurs in universes significantly different from ours – can’t go into the future, since it’s the future of a universe different from ours. But science fiction has no such limits. It can – and does – cover past, present and future. And it can cover multiple realities. And anyone who reads and enjoys science fiction is going to have a mind that has been stretched and exercised by a scope of endless possibilities. Those are people I want to know and with whom I want to interact

VENTRELLA: Here’s the question I’ve asked everyone so far: What’s the biggest mistake you have made?

PRELLWITZ: : In all honesty, I don’t think I’ve made it yet. I’ve had a very fortunate career as a writer to date. I continue to write, though not as much as I should, which is a common Biggest Mistake for authors. Though I do wish I hadn’t started playing World of Warcraft. That’s eaten up hundreds of hours I could have spent adding to my universe.

A lot of my readers often ask, “Why aren’t you in all the bookstores?” which is to say, “Why aren’t you with a mainstream publisher?” But I never for one moment think of my loyalty to Double Dragon as a mistake. Yes, I might have been able to get published with a big publishing house. But I DID get published with DDP. And now that I’ve proven myself to me and to a growing number of readers, I am trying to go mainstream with my next novel, Redeeming The Plumb. And I have DDP’s blessing and support. And if I have my way, DDP will always have my ebook contracts.

So, this is the only question I guess I’m dodging, because I really haven’t made my biggest mistake.

Yet.

VENTRELLA: What is the best piece of advice you could give a starting writer?

PRELLWITZ: My advice is three-fold.

1.) Buy, read and KNOW “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk and E.B. White. This slim book is a must for any writer.

2.) Constantly improve your skill with your tools; namely grammar, vocabulary and style (see above). If you have the greatest novel up in your head, but cannot communicate it, the story has value only to you. Don’t cripple your imagination because of poor writing skills. Mark Twain said it best: “Use the right word, not its second cousin.”

3.) Write crap. If the aspiring writer accepts that he or she will be a better writer in ten years, then the writer must also accept they are a POORER writer now. Don’t wait until the perfect inspiration comes along. Flowers can grow alone and by themselves, but a truly beautiful flower requires fertilizer to grow from, as well as less beautiful flowers nearby with which to be compared. The same is true for writing. Start writing and keep at it. You will write junk. But you’ll learn. And you’ll get better.

Filed under: writing | Tagged: convention, Double Dragon, e-book, new writers, publishing house, web page, writing advice | Leave a comment »

The Curse of Enthusiasm: “Don’t Get Cocky, Kid.”

Posted on June 15, 2009 by Michael A. Ventrella

You’ll never get anywhere in this business if you don’t have a healthy ego and believe that you are indeed producing good work that people want to read.

But in the words of a famous pilot, “Don’t get cocky, kid.”

The biggest mistake I made when I began was in being too confident in my abilities.

A few years ago, I finished writing my novel ARCH ENEMIES. Filled with enthusiasm for my baby, I rushed it off to every agent and publisher listed in the traditional resources. Surely they would see it for the masterpiece it was! How would I decide between the multiple offers that would flow my way? ArchEnemies-510

As you have guessed, I spent a year collecting rejection letters.

One reason for this, which shall be discussed in a future blog, was due to poor query letters (an art in itself, I have discovered). But the real reason was that the book deserved to be rejected.

After some time, I went back and re-read it. And found that while the characters and plot were fun, the writing itself was clumsy and pedestrian. I was so excited about my story that I had basically submitted my first draft.

I rewrote it, almost line by line, and not wanting to embarrass myself further, submitted it to the small (but growing rapidly) publisher Double Dragon, who accepted. It has since done quite well with them. But even now, I want to rewrite sections.

So today’s lesson is this: Slow down. Don’t be so enthusiastic. Take your work and set it aside for a while until you calm down, and then go over it line by line. Get that first draft out quickly to get the right feel and flow for the material, but never forget that it is a first draft.

Coming to a later post: Ideas aren’t everything. Everyone has them.

Filed under: writing | Tagged: Arch Enemies, first draft, new writers, rejection letters, writing advice | Leave a comment »

Interview with Alan Dean Foster

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Michael A. Ventrella

I am pleased to today be interviewing Alan Dean Foster, someone whose work I loved long before we ever met. Alan was one of the first subscribers to my magazine Animato, published in the 80s and early 90s, and later worked Animato into one of his novels (Quozl). I was quite honored!

Besides sharing the name “Alan” (mine is in the middle), Alan Dean Foster is also a political science undergraduate, but there we split; Alan went on to get a Master in Fine Arts in Cinema at UCLA. Behind all that was, of course, a love of writing, and after some short stories were published, his first novel THE TAR-AIYM KRANG was published in 1972, and many more soon followed. Among his series include 14 novels in the “Pip and Flinx” series, the Commonwealth novels, and (my favorite) The Spellsinger novels.

His Star Trek “Log” books kept fans entranced between the end of the animated series and the start of the movies, and his Star Wars novels include the hugely popular SPLINTER OF THE MIND’S EYE.

He has written the movie novelizations for (among others) Alien, Clash of the Titans, Outland, Starman, Alien Nation, and the most recent Star Trek movie.

Alan lives in Arizona with a beautiful wife and a beautiful house (well, I’ve seen pictures anyway). They love to travel the world.

I really shouldn’t have to go into too much detail about Alan; if you don’t know who he is, you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog!

His web page is www.alandeanfoster.com.

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: Alan, your first published work was with the Pip and Flinx series (unless I am mistaken) in the 1970s. How has publishing changed since then for beginning writers trying to break into the field?

ALAN DEAN FOSTER: First publications were a couple of short stories in 1971. I don’t believe it’s that much more difficult for new writers trying to break in, but the advances have shrunk and there’s more competition, thanks to the use of computers. More importantly, and especially for SF, the short story market has contracted enormously even from the ’70’s. So writers are almost forced to break in with an entire novel, which is obviously more difficult.

VENTRELLA: Too many starting authors get frustrated with trying to obtain an agent and/or publisher and turn to self-publishing as a way to get noticed. Is this wise, in your opinion?

FOSTER: Fifteen years ago I would have said no. But the line between “real” publishing and self-publishing grows more blurred every day. Now you have sites like Scribd that allow writers…and would-be writers…not only to self-published, but to do so easily, cheaply, and still get paid for their production. No one knows what the future will bring for this new technology, but it’s very exciting for published as well as newbie authors.

VENTRELLA: Similarly, do you advise starting authors to go with small but reputable publishers in order to gain some attention first before approaching agents and editors?

FOSTER: Not in the case of writing. Always start at the top and work down. If your work is good, why not have the best markets and the best people see it first?

VENTRELLA: Do you personally plan out series in advance or concentrate on each book on its own? Do agents and publishers want to know that a beginning author has ideas for sequels or a series?

FOSTER: It depends. With the Commonwealth and Flinx & Pip books I had no idea it was going to turn into a series…much less one that is still on-going after thirty-seven years. It just kind of growed. But with a trilogy, the entire story arc is indeed planned from the beginning. And yes, publishers are always interested in knowing if a new author has ideas for further stories in the same setting.

VENTRELLA: What really pushed your career was being approached by George Lucas for the Star Wars novelization. How did that come about?

FOSTER: Actually, my career got its first real push from the publication of a book called ICERIGGER, which went through several printings right away and spawned two eventual sequels. As to the SW novelization, my agent was contacted by Lucas’s representatives. I met with George, who though somewhat busy gave me a fair amount of his time, and all went well from then on.

VENTRELLA: You’ve done dozens of movie novelizations. Do you have your agent approach Hollywood agents for these or do they call you these days?

FOSTER: They contact me. Quite unintentionally, I’ve developed something of a reputation for them.

VENTRELLA: What’s the biggest mistake you have made professionally?

FOSTER: I’m not very good at promotion. I’m much better and more comfortable praising someone else’s work than my own. And I probably am too polite when it comes to matters that affect publication of my work. But it’s just the way I am. My wife says I have no taste…that I like everybody.

VENTRELLA: When people look back on your work, what would you like them to remember you for? What are you particularly proud of?

FOSTER: That I never sacrificed story for the sake of “art”, and that I managed to slip in one or two thoughts about the nature and future of humankind without lecturing the reader or otherwise belaboring the audience.

Filed under: writing | Tagged: Alan Dean Foster, novelization, Pip and Flinx, Star Wars, writing advice | Leave a comment »

Interview with Award Winning Author Jonathan Maberry

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Michael A. Ventrella

JONATHAN MABERRY is the multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author of novels (PATIENT ZERO, GHOST ROAD BLUES, etc.), nonfiction books (ZOMBIE CSU, THE CRYPTOPEDIA, etc.), comics (BLACK PANTHER, PUNISHER: NAKED KILL and WOLVERINE: GHOSTS), and over 1100 magazine articles. Jonathan is the co-creator (with Laura Schrock) of ON THE SLAB, an entertainment news show for ABC Disney / Stage 9, to be released on the Internet in 2009. Jonathan is a Contributing Editor for The Big Thrill (the newsletter of the International Thriller Writers), and is a member of SFWA, MWA and HWA.

Visit his website at www.jonathanmaberry.com or on Facebook and MySpace

Jonathan Maberry author photo 2009

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: Jonathan, thank you for being the first to submit to the interrogation, which I promise will be free from “enhanced techniques.” To begin, can you discuss how and why you made the transition from non-fiction to fiction?

JONATHAN MABERRY: I was doing research for a vampire folklore book –VAMPIRE UNIVERSE (Citadel Press, 2006) and realized that popular fiction rarely mines the richness of folklore for source material. Most takes on vampires are variations of Dracula, and Bram Stoker was by no means a folklorist. His vampires different considerably from most European vampires, and even from Transylvanian vampires. There are hundreds of different kinds of vampires in world myth and few of them every appear in fiction.

I thought how interesting it would be to read a novel in which the characters realize they’re up against vampires but everything they try fails because all they know about vampires comes from novels and movies. The more I thought about how much fun a book like that would be, the more I wanted to see if I could write it myself. My only previous attempts at fiction had been a couple of shorts stories way back when that sold to magazines that pay only in contributor copies. But…I decided to give it a shot anyway.

When I set about it, I was consciously writing the kind of book I wanted to read. I had no expectations of it actually selling. After I had the book roughed out I realized that it was a much larger story than I thought and it would have to be a trilogy. That really stacked things against me because until then there had been no horror trilogies.

I went through the process of scouting for an agent, got the book into her hands, and she was able to place it –and the two other as-yet-unwritten books—with a major house. That book, GHOST ROAD BLUES, was published as a paperback original by Pinnacle Books in 2006 and went on to win the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel and was in the running against Stephen King and Tom Piccirilli for Novel of the Year. As you can imagine that was a pretty strong dose of validation.

And, just writing the book gave me the bug. Now I’m totally hooked on writing fiction and am work (simultaneously) on my 8th and 9th novels, one for St. Martins Griffin and one for Simon & Schuster.

Ghost Road Blues

VENTRELLA: You have also not limited yourself in your writing, having produced novels, short stories, plays, and comic book scripts. Do you advise a starting writer to concentrate in one area first?

MABERRY: Always start with your strength. I started with magazine feature writing about martial arts. I’ve been practicing jujutsu since I was a kid, so when I pitched my first article at age twenty I was able to speak with some authority. From there I went to how-to pieces, and later I wrote martial arts textbooks while teaching Martial Arts History, Jujutsu and Women’s Self-Defense at Temple University. Once I had myself established as a writer I went outside my comfort zone and started pitching on what I liked.

This doesn’t always apply to fiction, though. If I was just starting out now, with no writing credentials, I’d probably tackle a novel in the genre that I read most. Knowledge of your favorite genre –its history, its greatest works, its best writers—creates a comfort zone that lends authority, confidence and passion to your own work.

VENTRELLA: What’s the biggest mistake you made when starting out? What’s the best piece of advice you got?

MABERRY: I made two whoppers. The first was believing that I was skilled enough to represent my own books. That came back to bite me on the ass when I published with a small press owned by a lawyer. Looking back, that had red flags all over it, and I got bent over a barrel. Then I wised up and got an agent. She looks after the legal end of things, and she does a hell of a lot better job of it than I ever did.

The other mistake was believing that old propaganda that creative people are bad at business. Once I got burned by the small press shark, I made sure that I learned everything I could about the writing business. I found that learning the business side of things was just a matter of research, and writers are good at research. It also helped me identify the kinds of people I needed to work with —agents, accountants, etc— and learning how the business works. One of the first things you learn is that publishing IS a business, and everything that occurs within it is part of business. Art is the product, not the method.

VENTRELLA: Your latest series involves Joe Ledger, who works for a top-secret government agency and who has all sorts of advanced training. While it is true that you have a martial arts background yourself, what sort of research did you do to get into the mind of your character?

MABERRY: I talk to pros in the field. Like most writers I love research. I’m a knowledge junkie. I want to know how things work, how people do their jobs, and so on. To get into the head of Joe Ledger I spoke with SWAT operatives and people currently or formerly in Special Ops. Always ask the pros. Find out what makes them tick, what drives them…and find out what they know about their job that Joe Average doesn’t know.

Because of that research I have a strong fanbase among present and former soldiers, cops and agents.

VENTRELLA: Do you think it is better for starting writers to, as they say, “write what you know” and create a main character with the writer’s experience and background?

MABERRY: At first, sure. If you build on your strengths you imbue the character with passion, confidence, and reality. But don’t discount the value of paying attention to people around you. I draw on a lot of people I know, or have known, when creating characters. Rarely is a character made completely from whole-cloth…most have elements of real people.

VENTRELLA: What’s the best way to grab the attention of an agent? What’s the biggest mistake you can make?

MABERRY: Start with things in motion. Don’t lead up to it (that’s a page waster and an interest-killer). I like to jump in and make the characters scramble to catch up to something big and nasty already rolling.

VENTRELLA: Do you have a favorite of your own work? Which, and why?

MABERRY: So far it’s a tie between PATIENT ZERO and the second in the series, THE DRAGON FACTORY. I delivered that a couple of months ago and my editors tell me that it’s better than the first…and they loved the first. Patient Zero SMP

In truth, though, I’m always in love with whatever I’m currently writing.

VENTRELLA: PATIENT ZERO also has the unusual (to me) technique of being written both in the first person and third person, depending on the chapter and the main character’s point of view. How did you decide to adopt this technique and is it being used in the sequels?

MABERRY: It’s a thriller, which means it’s a race against the clock. In most thrillers that have a political or military angle the hero seldom gets to meet the bad guy behind everything. I wanted Joe Ledger to tell his own story, but I wanted the reader to get to know the villains in the piece and learn who they are and why they do what they do. So I switch from first to third. A few other writers do this effectively. John Connolly, Robert Crais, and others. It works well if you stay on top of it and make sure the voice of the first person sections is different than the voice of the third person sections.

VENTRELLA: Just because I want to know: The “zombies” in “Patient Zero” were not supernatural in the traditional sense of the word; will the Ledger novels continue in this vein?

MABERRY: First off…zombies in most fiction aren’t supernatural. In Night of the Living Dead it’s suggested that radiation from a returning space probe caused them to rise. In many other stories they rise as a result of toxic spills, a mishandled bioweapon, or a mutation of some naturally occurring pathogen. My take is that the pathogen is deliberately re-engineered to make a doomsday weapon for reasons that will benefit the villain, a pharmaceutical mogul named Sebastian Gault, who intends to profit from the panic and the resulting rush to create and distribute treatments or cures.

The other books in the series focus on different bio-threats. In THE DRAGON FACTORY, a cabal of scientists are using cutting-edge genetic science to create pathogens for ethnic cleansing and to further the Nazi master race program. In the third book, THE KING OF PLAGUES, a scientist discovers that the Tenth Plague of Egypt –the death of the firstborn from the story of Moses—was actually a pathogen; he recovers it and attempts to weaponize it so he can sell it to terrorists.

I have little faith in the sensible use of extreme science. I like science, but research, profit and morality seldom occur all at once in the same people. To me, that’s far more frightening than zombies!

Filed under: writing | Tagged: Comic book writing, Jonathan Maberry, new writers, Patient Zero, writing advice, zombies | 3 Comments »

Resources for new writers

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Michael A. Ventrella

After a nice talk with Jonathan Maberry (whose new book “Patient Zero” is excellent!), I have decided that perhaps the focus of this blog should change.

I am still in the process of learning all about the publishing industry, and it occurs to me that I am not alone. Perhaps instead of just discussing my own personal writing I should instead be discussing the processes I have taken in order to get a book finished, find a publisher, locate an agent, and traverse the strange world hidden behind the curtain.

To that end, I will begin with listing a number of very reliable source of information: blogs for starting writers. Future blogs will discuss the query letters I have used (what worked, what didn’t), what I’ve done to promote myself, ways to get reviews, and so on.

I also plan on having interviews with agents, published writers, and editors where I can ask their advice.

If you follow, you can learn along with me, and perhaps avoid my mistakes while capitalizing on my successes.

So let’s start by giving a list of resources. This list was compiled by Janice Gable Bashman. Thanks, Janice!

A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing – http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/

Alice’s CWIM Blog – http://www.cwim.blogspot.com/

Anthology News and Reviews – http://anthologynewsandreviews.blogspot.com/

BookEnds, LLC – A Literary Agency – http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/

Buzz, Balls & Hype – http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/buzz_balls_hype/

Crowe’s Nest – http://acrowesnest.blogspot.com/

by Ken Levine (more TV writing) – http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/

Editorial Ass – http://editorialass.blogspot.com/

Evil Editor – http://evileditor.blogspot.com/

Guide to Literary Agent’s Editor’s Blog – http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/

Janet Reid, Literary Agent – http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/

Nathan Bransford – Literary Agent – http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/

Pub Rants – http://pubrants.blogspot.com/

Query Shark – http://queryshark.blogspot.com/

Tess Gerritsen’s Blog –http://tessgerritsen.com/blog/

The Blood-Red Pencil – http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/

The Kill Zone – http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/

The Rejecter – http://rejecter.blogspot.com/

The Renegade Writer Blog – http://therenegadewriter.com/

There Are No Rules – http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/

Weekly List of Anthologies – http://writersreliefblog.com/post/Anthologies-Contests.aspx

C. Hope Clark – http://www.hopeclark.blogspot.com/
(and don’t forget to sign up for her free newsletters: Funds for Writers and Funds for Writers for Small Markets)

Jonathan Maberry’s Big, Scary Blog – http://jonathanmaberry.com/

Editor Unleashed – http://editorunleashed.com/

Don Lafferty’s – Practical Social Media Strategies and Tactics for Connecting with Your Public – http://www.donaldlafferty.com/blog/

Seth Godin’s blog (not writing but excellent info on marketing) –http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Filed under: writing | Tagged: new writers, resources for writers, writing advice, writing blogs | 1 Comment »

Using outlines before you write

Posted on May 23, 2009 by Michael A. Ventrella

I often speak to aspiring writers and commonly hear “Oh, I never use outlines.”

Maybe that’s why they are still aspiring, because every published writer I know of certainly does some sort of outline beforehand.

While ARCH ENEMIES was my first novel, it was not my first writing assignment. As a practicing trial attorney, I write many briefs. I have also written for various magazines and newspapers over the years, as well as many events for my game. And if there is one thing I have learned, it’s not to turn your computer off before saving your work. No! Wait! I mean, never write without using an outline. See, if I had used an outline here I wouldn’t have made that mistake. writing

My outline for ARCH ENEMIES (film rights available) was not organized in numbered paragraphs, with roman numerals for each section like they might teach you in writing school. Instead, it was the story in the most basic form:

Chapter One: Terin is about to perform when he is grabbed by the Duke’s squires and told he has been ordered to appear. In fear, he tries to escape, causing pandemonium at the tavern. After being captured, he is dragged to the castle. Along the way, a barbarian sees him and runs in fear, much to Terin’s wonder…

You get the idea. I tried to end each chapter on a cliffhanger to encourage those “I couldn’t put your book down” reviews, and whenever a great new idea appeared, I worked it in and was able to set it up with some foreshadowing.

I also knew that I wanted to pace Terin’s evolution properly. What good is a story that has no effect on the main character? His transformation from absolute coward to accepting his fate grudgingly to becoming the reluctant hero had to make sense. People don’t change without the proper stimulus, and by looking at my outline, I could plant the seeds and pace it accordingly.

Using an outline is especially important in my writing because ARCH ENEMIES and its soon-to-come sequel THE AXES OF EVIL rely so heavily on unexpected plot twists and mysteries that don’t explain themselves until the very last chapter or so. In fact, I write the ending first and then place the clues along the way; without an outline, this just wouldn’t work.

At the same time, I’m never tied to the outline. Scenes I thought would take one chapter end up lasting two. Exposition that I imagined working well early in the book proved to be stronger later. But at least I had a guide to make sure everything I needed was mentioned and in basically the order I wished.

So for those of you aspiring writers out there: trust me. Use an outline.

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Batman gets arrested!

Posted on May 3, 2009 by Michael A. Ventrella

I had a great time this week with the annual Monroe County Bar Association’s so-called “Fairy Tale Trials” in which the local lawyers put on a fake trial for 5th graders at the courthouse so they can see what a trial is like. For example, Goldilocks was put on trial for breaking and entering. Batman on trial

They’ve been doing this long before I moved here, but I took over as chair of that committee a while ago and have had a great time writing the trials. I’ve written ones based on Robin Hood, Harry Potter, and this year Batman, who is accused of trespassing when he breaks into a warehouse to arrest the bad guys.

There are five courtrooms at the local courthouse, and different teams perform the trial before different schools.

I played the Joker with this one, and had a great time! I’ve been in the local paper many times for cases I am working on, but usually not pictured. Of course, this time, my picture makes the paper — but in complete costume and makeup.

Here’s the short script we use. It is written in such a way that each team can decide which bad guys to use. We had Jokers, Riddlers, Catgirls, Poison Ivies, and Penguins…

GOTHAM CITY v. BATMAN

PARTS TO ASSIGN:

District Attorney

Two Batman enemies (Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Catgirl, etc.)

Defense Attorney

Batman (defendant)

Commissioner Gordon (defense witness)

THE CASE

This is a criminal case because we find the kids understand “guilty” and “not guilty” better than they do comparative negligence. Remember as well that for most of these kids, they will know Batman from the recent movies and not the campy 60s show.

THE FACTS

Batman broke into the secret hideout of enemies (Joker, Penguin – depends on who you get to play the parts) where they were planning a new bank robbery. Crashing through a plate glass window and miraculously not getting cut, he swooped in and engaged in a fist fight with these villains and their henchmen.

Soon after the police arrived. Surprisingly, after interviewing everyone, they arrested Batman on charges of Trespassing and Assault.

Don’t get too complicated so as not to confuse the kids. Let’s not get into definitions of whether the bad guys were already “conspirators” and whether character evidence should be excluded.

Before calling Commissioner Gordon as a character witness, the defense should first call for “Bruce Wayne” who will, for some reason, not show up. “I don’t understand it,” the Defense Attorney can state. “I spoke to Mr. Wayne personally and he assured me that if Batman showed up, he definitely would be here.”

EXHIBTS

You are encouraged to come up with whatever exhibits you can create; it never fails that when we write these things, great ideas we never thought of come out of the teams. If you do come up with a great idea for an exhibit, please share these with the other teams.

Some exhibit ideas include:

A rap sheet for the prosecution witness (probably on a long roll of paper)

Message from the Riddler

A map of the bank with escape routes and other notes

We will try to provide many of these but make no guarantees; they are not necessary for the case but will help explain to the kids how a trial works.

Coordinators should distribute this entire packet to all their actors since there is information in everyone’s testimony that will be important.

THE CONCLUSION

It might be fun to have something happen after the verdict is read. If Batman wins, the bad guys can get upset and attack him and if Batman loses, well, the bad guys can attack him anyway just to taunt him. Batman music should play and a fight can break out, accompanied by signs saying “Bam!” and “Pow!” The deputies can eventually grab the bad guys and haul them away. We do have an mp3 of Batman fight music you can play.

BATMAN (DEFENDANT)

I am The Batman. I must keep my identity secret in order to protect myself and those I love. I wear a costume in order to strike fear into the hearts of criminals, a cowardly and superstitious lot.

Since I started patrolling Gotham City, crime has fallen greatly. I have been able to accomplish things the police never could. The police thank me for helping them and in fact sometimes use the “bat signal” to let me know if there is something important I need to do for them.

I do not work for the police however and accept no compensation or assistance from them.

Recently, I received a message from the Riddler which said “Riddle me this, Batman: What is it that has hands and a face but no body?” Well, I knew at once that it was a clock! Obviously, he was telling me that the First Bank of Gotham was going to be robbed that night, since that is where the biggest clock in Gotham is!

I knew that criminals often hid in abandoned warehouses down by the docks so I hopped in the batmobile and headed to the waterfront. Sure enough, I found a building where I could hear plans being made for the robbery! They were gathered around a table with a large map of the bank, with escape routes planned out.

The doors were all locked, so I broke in and was immediately set upon by the bad guys and their goons! They were no match for me, and soon they were all knocked out and tied up with my batrope.

It was then that the police arrived and I was arrested. I of course did not fight the police, and have appeared voluntarily for my trial today, knowing that the good citizens of Gotham will never find me guilty – for that would guarantee that the criminals would run rampant over the city!

COMMISSIONER GORDON

I am Police Commissioner Gordon. I have known Batman for years, and often call him using the batsignal. He is honest and trustworthy.

The District Attorney wanted to make a name for himself and told other officers to arrest Batman the next chance they could get. I never approved of this.

Yes, Batman does technically break the law when he does these things but we have never prosecuted him because the benefits outweigh the negatives. Besides, it’s only breaking the law because he is not an officer. If one of my officers had been outside that warehouse and heard what was going on and then broke in, there would be no problem at all.

It would not be a good idea if everyone was allowed to go around being a vigilante. People can be wrong after all. We don’t want people breaking into other people’s homes trying to arrest everyone.

It is true that technically, none of the evil bad guys that Batman tied up that day had broken any laws at that point. It’s not illegal to talk about robbing a bank, it’s only illegal to do it.

BAD GUY #1

This is a generic guide for the two Batman villains who will testify. Each group may have different ones, and the actors portraying them should ham it up appropriately for each character.

I am (Batman bad guy). As a purely hypothetical intellectual exercise, my friend and I met in an abandoned warehouse to discuss a game we are planning to produce called “Bank robber”. You use a map, and you roll the dice, and you see if you can steal the money. It’s just a game. We’re hoping Milton Bradley takes an interest.

We didn’t want anyone to steal our game idea, so we met in the warehouse. Since so many criminals hang out in the docks, we hired bodyguards to protect us and gave them all matching costumes. We do have class, don’t we?

We were working on the rules of this game when this crazed crusader broke the window and starting attacking us for no reason! We tried to protect ourselves but he beat us senseless and then tied us up! What is this city coming to when innocent people get attacked for no reason?

Well, yes, technically we were trespassing I suppose, but no one has used the warehouse for years, and even if we were, that means Batman was too! And we’re not on trial here.

Yes, I do have a long record of crime but I’ve done my time and I’m off parole now. I’ve mended my ways! Trust me.

BAD GUY #2 (PROSECUTION WITNESS)

Bad Guy #2 should echo the same information, with a different personality, but at one point should let something slip:

Well, (Bad Guy #1) had this great idea that if we didn’t want to ever get in trouble any more, we should get the new District Attorney on our side! So we told the DA that he should arrest Batman and he’d be sure to get lots of publicity for his re-election campaign! So we had the Riddler send Batman a message and then we pretended we were going to rob a bank, knowing Batman would show up! It’s brilliant plan! But don’t tell anyone.

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How the Grinch Stole Gay Marriages

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Michael A. Ventrella

Recently, right wing nutjob William Murchison had a column in which he argued that gays should not be allowed to get married because they cannot have children, and children is what marriage is all about.

I was so angry at this outright stupidity that I wrote a Letter to the Editor about it, which was printed today in my local paper. Here it is:

Columnist has a sadly limited view of marriage

April 16, 2009

Editor, the Record:

My wife and I have been happily married for more than 26 years now. We’ve helped each other out through thick and thin, including years of cancer treatments and a current handicap because of it. We’ve never needed counseling, never cheated, and never separated. I’d like to think we are an example of what all good, loving marriages should be.

So imagine my surprise when I discover that, according to your columnist William Murchison, our marriage is a sham because we have no children. Apparently marriage “is all about children” — or at least that’s what he claims in order for him to deny marriage to people in love. This would apparently include those who get married later in life, past child-bearing age — so for all of you seniors who are reading this: Forget about marriage. Love, according to Murchison, has nothing to do with it.

I do admit that I am confused by those, like Murchison, who stand Grinch-like above it all, sneering down haughtily while trying to prevent others from having joy. Shouldn’t we be encouraging happy couples in stable relationships? Isn’t that really the goal of marriage — not producing offspring (which unfortunately seems to happen a lot without marriage)?

In the meantime, I guess my wife and I will continue in our strange belief system that marriage is, despite Murchison’s view, all about love.

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090416/NEWS04/904160313/-1/NEWS0401

The responses so far have been wonderful. When I walked into court this morning, the security guards there clapped their approval. I received good emails from friends and a call from a judge thanking me as well.

My only worry afterwards was that I didn’t make it clear enough that this was about denying gays the right to marry. That’s the mentality I really can’t understand: How does it hurt you in the slightest to allow others to be joyous and happy? This puritan “I don’t like this so therefore no one can do it” attitude is just completely foreign to me.

Fortunately, the US is changing, and I’m optimistic; people are beginning to see this as a true civil rights issue.

Disclaimer: I know this blog is supposed to be about writing, but hey, I did write something and it was published. Doesn’t that count? (Insert cliche smiley face here)

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Bloodsucker: A vampire runs for President

Posted on April 11, 2009 by Michael A. Ventrella

Every politician has some skeletons in their closet, but for only one is this literally true. Presidential candidate Norm Palmer’s road to the White House is progessing smoothly but for those crazed right-wing fanatics who are accusing him of being a vampire! Their accusations are the laughing stock of the campaign, until one investigative reporter stumbles across some very interesting evidence — but who would ever believe him?

“Bloodsucker!” It’s the West Wing meets the bat wing.

Yes, I’ve started work on my next book. More on this later.

At the recent Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ writers conference here in the Poconos, I had the pleasure of meeting a number of great writers, agents, and editors. As one of the few in attendance who wrote Young Adult novels, I sometimes found that I had little in common with those who wrote children’s picture books, but it was still a learning experience especially since the things we did have in common (finding agents, dealing with publishers and editors) provided fuel for conversations.

I was honored to be asked to participate as a moderator for a group of aspiring unpublished writers and to join the other published authors in a question-and-answer period.

There were seminars and group sessions where we had our work critiqued, and I was able to pitch the idea for Bloodsuckers to other writers and editors, where it was well received — well, except for the “Oh, not another vampire novel” comments.

I’ve never been a huge vampire buff. I haven’t read or seen “Twilight” or “True Blood.” But I am a big political junkie. I graduated cum laude with a degree in Political Science before going off to law school, and have worked as a lobbyist and political reporter as well as spending a summer as a campaign manager for a state representative up in Boston. I’m still actively assisting local campaigns.

Anyway, when someone made a comment about all those “bloodsuckers in Congress” recently, the proverbial comic light bulb illuminated the brain. I expect this will end up more as a political novel than a supernatural one.

In some ways, I plan on making fun of those extremists who believe in every conspiracy about a candidate. Of course, this time they happen to be right…

I see this on the political boards I visit. The right wing crazies who hate Obama attack him for the stupidest things: He wasn’t born in America! He is a closet muslim/socialist/drug dealer! He wants to create a North American monetary system and work toward a world government, making us all subservient to the UN! — You know the type.

The problem with this kind of “Chicken Little” hysteria is that when they finally have a real issue to criticize him on (and there are real issues, of course) no one pays any attention to them.

So what if these same loonies uncovered the fact that the candidate was a vampire? I mean, they’re crazy already, but this is going too far, right?

I should have a lot of fun with this!

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Help! I’m being pursued by an albino monk!

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Michael A. Ventrella

In my last blog, I mentioned that I always attempted in my writing to not handle character development the way Dan Brown handles character development, which is to say “not at all.”

It has been brought to my attention that speaking ill of one of the biggest selling authors of all time is probably not a good way to endear myself in the writing community as I attempt to interest an agent and publisher for future works…

So allow me to state, in all honesty, that I have read three of Dan Brown’s books and enjoyed them quite a bit. In fact, in some ways, I have tried to copy some of his techniques (if not his “character development”).

What Dan Brown does great is set up secrets and mysteries and twists, which if you have read my work or at least the reviews, I obviously love. I enjoy books and movies where the reader/viewer is not spoon-fed the plot at the start and can be just as surprised as the main character when mysteries are revealed.

One of my favorite SF series is James P. Hogan’s “Giants” series, which begins with INHERIT THE STARS. Mr. Hogan writes that hard SF that I could never do, and is also a very nice man I have had the pleasure of meeting in the past. In this series, a scientific mystery erupts (what is a 10,000 year old human skeleton in a spacesuit doing on the Moon?) and the main characters attempt to scientifically solve this mystery. At the end of the first book, you say to yourself “Ah! Glad that was solved!”

Then the sequel begins, and something new is added and suddenly the mystery is renewed and the earlier theory is abandoned. And throughout the books, I am thrilled to be confident in my understanding of the situation only to discover that what made absolute sense earlier now is meaningless.

It’s the scientific method at its finest.

In any event, I attempt to do that with the Terin Ostler books. Terin has mysteries he has to figure out, and he comes up with theories that are perfectly logical and make absolute sense — until he learns something new and his world turns upside down.

And that’s something in which Dan Brown excels.

The other thing I like about Dan Brown’s books are that they are action-filled, as if he knows they are going to be movies. Now, there is such a thing as having too much action, but it’s better to err on the side of keeping the reader anxiously continuing than to bore them with too much descriptive prose.

So, to those Dan Brown fans, forgive me. I am merely a writer hopeful, with one minor novel with a minor publisher, and I should not have maligned his work without also acknowledging his strong points.

But seriously, dude, have the characters develop, OK?