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Note: Bob gives many hard-hitting truths in this interview with Dallas Franklin, owner of SellWritingOnline.com. He firmly believes, "The rules for the writing game are clearly defined. If a person wants to play this game, grab a copy of 'Writer's Market,' learn the rules, and play. Else don't bother to write." Read on...

Dallas: Writers are encouraged to write daily and find their voice. Do you feel you have more than one voice in your writing?

Bob: This is really two questions to me, Dallas. Let me respond first to daily writing. I think it's a must.

If you lay your work aside for a time, you'll find it more difficult to "hear" your characters as they interact, to "feel" as they do about whatever. This can lead to some awkward, even kind of silly, inconsistencies in character. All of which tends to weaken a piece.

While I often take a day off. I work at least 30 minutes each day on any major piece in process. For me, I find two hours each day just about right.

This keeps me in close touch with the characters. And keeps me thinking about them on and off during the day.

I'm a strong believer in the effectiveness of the unconscious mind. If you ponder over your characters throughout the day, even fuss some as to what should come next, you'll find that without conscious thought, new and better ideas will constantly emerge.

As to voice, I'm afraid I can't be as helpful. I've heard too much about the need to "create" a voice. To me, it's all utter nonsense.

We all have a voice. Period. There's no need to go looking for one. When an author makes such a move, the results inevitably seem contrived, even phoney in some cases. Those who have tried to imitate a voice, such as that of Damon Runyon, failed miserably.

Just write. You have voice. And as your skills improve, your voice will become more clearly defined to you and your audience.

Style has also been talked of in this way. More nonsense. You have a style. Let it be and enjoy it.

As to writing in different voices, there may be merit here I don't see. I think of this in different terms. For me, my focus is upon who I'm writing for. This brings massive changes in the way I write.

In these notes, I'm trying to communicate ideas about writing to folks interested in this task. I would say what I've said quite differently, if I were speaking to non-writers, simply interested in how I work as a writer. When writing a web page, I'm trying to sell something to my potential customer. I will speak to this person quite differently than I am speaking here.

When writing a fast paced action novel, I'm talking to readers who like this kind of tale. When writing a critique of public education, my target is those interested in this topic. So I "talk" differently according to my audience, but I have never found thinking of this as "voice" to be helpful.

Dallas: When did your passion for writing begin?

Bob: Certainly not in public schools; English classes were always a pain. For me, it began in college where I was fortunate to run into some bright teachers who knew what they were about. I've been writing ever since in lots and lots of areas.

Dallas: What inspired you to keep writing while collecting rejection letters or struggling with writers block?

Bob: Dallas, I'm going to have to argue against the thrust of this question. "Inspiration" has never been a part of it. The rules for the writing game are clearly defined. If a person wants to play this game, grab a copy of "Writer's Market," learn the rules, and play. Else don't bother to write.

I suppose I've received two, or maybe even three thousand rejection slips. I had a folder of over 500 when I sold "Fatal Games" (1989) to Pageant Press.

My only response to a rejection slip is to file it, figure some place else to send the manuscript, then turn back to the story I am working on. Patience is required. There's nothing of inspiration in working to sell a finished work.

As to writer's block, more nonsense. Sit down. Start writing. And keep at it. Maybe the whole session will seem wasted. But you were writing. And if you look closely, you're bound to find at least a couple ideas worth keeping. Enough to continue with tomorrow.

Dallas: How do you come up with ideas for your writings and why do you feel you choose some over others?

Bob: My stories are character driven. So once the characters have been defined, it's only a question of putting them into conflict, to see what emerges.

If nothing seems to be happening with the characters I'm using, I lay them aside and turn to others. I'm often able to return to something I worked on earlier, and make better progress.

I have notes tucked away on every thought that has grabbed me. Some date from my college days. The computer has greatly simplified the task of collecting and organizing notes.

If I see a guy arguing with a gal, I'll study them both as time permits. And as soon as possible, jot down a few words about vocabulary, if I could hear what was said, gestures in any case, and all I can of body language.

No topic is off limits. I just made a note the other day about two bucks who locked horns in my back yard. One day I'll use what I saw, heard, and felt about this happening, to describe an interaction between characters.

Then again, maybe I won't get to it. I have over two million bytes of such notes, and of partial story ideas. So I never find it difficult to find a notion that will fit into what I'm working with. Or even to rough out at least the beginnings of a plot.

Dallas: Are you a daily disciplined writer? Do you find it difficult to stick to your schedule? Do you have certain tricks you use so that you don't stray from your writing?

Bob: I pretty much answered this above, Dallas. I'm uncomfortable with schedules. It's kind of like New Year's resolutions. I seem anxious to bust them just as soon as possible.

What works for me is to work a bit each day. As suggested above, it keeps the tale and characters in mind. But I may get carried away on a given day, and pound away for hours.

As for "tricks," sorry, but I have nothing to offer. I love to write. So my struggle is always generating the time to do so. Given any time at all, I'm too busy writing to think of much else.

Dallas: How much time do you devote to marketing your book/s and what kind of marketing do you recommend?

Bob: Dallas, this is not the place for a complete answer to the above. For your readers who are interested, check out "Only For Authors" at http://actiontales.com. We're only getting started here, so we've a long way to go. But a good answer to the above question requires a comprehensive site or book.

But the short answer is that having written a book, all time available not required for further writing, is devoted to promotion. A website helps in this, for it can go on selling while I write!

Marketing fiction to me is selling offline. And as mentioned, it entails endless submissions and the filing of rejection slips. Once a book is out there, promote, promote, promote. No publisher will help much in this. It's going to be up to the author.

Dallas: How do you prepare for a writing idea for fiction? Do you outline the characters, setting, plot, etc. before you begin to write?

Bob: Absolutely. All of the above and more. Again, I could write a book on this alone. To be brief, I prepare in depth bios on all major characters, write some stuff to get these characters interacting, then produce an extensive scene by scene outline. Particularly in the outline, I include at least a note of everything I'd like to consider using in this scene or later. Anything not used, is moved down to the next scene. Not as required material, but to be used as possible. In general, my preparatory notes are much longer than the finished book will be.

One trick I use is to let a guy I call Aut, interview each major character. Aut asks hard questions, and I "listen" carefully to what the character says, and the motivations and feelings that lay behind the response.

I've found this a powerful tool. For as I begin writing the tale, my characters are already yelling at me, telling me what to say. Great fun, actually.

Dallas: How many rewrites do you usually write before submitting to a publisher?

Bob: With my pre-planning, I've never found a revision helpful. If a piece just isn't going to work, I scrap it and start over. The only rewriting I do is at the sentence or paragraph level. And occasionally I'll rewrite a scene if I come up with something better.

But for me, the rewriting, editing, and polishing generally takes longer than it took to write the tale. And I always ask a critical type to read it before even attempting to sell it. If I must, I pay for this service.

Publishers are being pressed to cut costs. So editors are being laid aside in droves. If you don't submit clean copy, you won't sell. Even the major houses do not offer the editorial support available even a few short years ago.

Dallas: Have you had any bad experiences in working with a publisher/agent or failed publication/payment of writings done? If so, how did you handle it?

Bob: Not in the sense you've asked the question. But I did have one bit that broke my heart.

An editor at Dell sent me some suggestions about "Fatal Games." Wow, did I move it. 14 hours each day. I made the changes. Returned the script by courier five days later. And he bought it. I've always thought it was because he was impressed with my willingness to listen. Whatever, it was an unbelievable high.

A week later my agent called to tell me Dell had dropped the genre in which I was writing. So my book got dropped as well. What a downer. Awesome.

Still I did get it sold a year later.

But no, I've had no problems such as suggested by your question. I can say that among those I have known, some writers get into trouble by expecting too much from a publisher. This can lead to friction, and all sorts of non-positive happenings.

It helps me to keep in mind that once my book is in the hands of a publisher, it has become a commodity, not unlike a bar of soap. The publisher will promote a book selling well. And drop another that is not. Like it or not, it's called business. And if you wanted to succeed in business, you'd have to do the same.

Dallas: Who are your favorite authors, and why do they inspire you?

Bob: I've an awfully long list. My all-time favorite is John D. McDonald. In my view, while successful, he was terribly underrated. He was in fact a great writer.

I've learned a lot by studying the way in which he handled various situations. Creatively and imaginatively.

And Philip Wiley, he's a winner. While noted for his non-fiction work, grab one of his novels and you're in for a treat. I like the way this guy's mind works.

And the search for good words is a never-ending task to me. For this, I often turn to Carl Sandburg. He knew people, and used words magnificently to talk of them.

I grew up with Ernest Haycox and Luke Short. Also underrated. And I like a lot of older works. Charles Dickens amazes me. And Mark Twain made it possible for the first time to write about people as they really are.

I best break it off here. I could chat for hours on this point.

Let me wrap with a key point. Reading good books has always been a great help to me. However, nothing has helped me strengthen my work more quickly than writing.

If you love to write, you will. And if you do, your work will improve. The converse is also true.

About The Author:

Bob McElwain enjoys working with online businesses demanding top notch website performance. While continuing in this role through SiteTipsAndTricks.com, he is a partner in ActionTales.com, a site devoted to publishing and selling quality fast paced action novels. The site makes an exciting and unusual offer to authors who produce top quality work. To check it out, visit http://actiontales.com/authors/ Bob has published a number of non-fiction titles. "Fatal Games," a novel, was published in 1989 by Pageant Press. He is currently working on another.

Dallas Franklin
Sell Writing Online - An interactive newsletter for writers. Discover Paying markets, Writing/marketing Articles, and more.
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