A while back, fan Keith Johnson asked a deceptively simple question: “How has your writing changed from your first book to the last one?” As I’ve explained elsewhere, my first published novel, The Sword-Edged Blonde, was an idea I’d nursed from 1980 to its publication in 2007. My second novel, Blood Groove, as well as my most recent, Wisp of … Read More
How Long Should a Series Run?
My friend (and fan) Richard Garrison asked me, “Kevin Smith of Clerks fame has stopped making movies, claiming the ‘tank was empty.’ A lot of writers continue a series well past it’s arc in some cases to meet reader demands, in some cases to pay the bills. When you start a series, do you see the end of the arc, … Read More
The Return of Miracleman!
I haven’t been a serious comic fan in a long time. It’s nothing against the form–graphic, visual storytelling is as valid as the novel, the short story or the TV series–but my own life changed in such a way that the tales being told in the medium stopped speaking to me somewhere in the 1990s. But when I read that … Read More
The First Drop of Blood: A Dream of Dracula
It’s now possible to find gazillions of non-fiction books on Dracula, novel or historical character or cultural figure. I recommend anything by Elizabeth Miller. But in the early 70s, there was really only one: A Dream of Dracula: In Search of the Living Dead, by Leonard Wolf. It’s a long-form meditation on what vampires and Dracula mean to people in the … Read More
Hearing Voices
A while back, Facebook friend Diana May-Waldman asked me, “When you write, do you ever get stuck in character for a little while?” My initial response was an instantaneous, “no,” but then I got to thinking about it. I write two series in first person: my Eddie LaCrosse novels, and the Firefly Witch short stories. When you write in first … Read More
Guest blog: Steve McHugh on Changing Times
My friend novelist Melissa Olson put me on the track of Steve McHugh. He’s the author of the Hellequin Chronicles series, about an immortal sorcerer who still battles evil in the modern day. I asked him to talk a bit about how he chooses the flashback scenes for the novels, which jump back and forth through time, much like the … Read More
An Average Day in the Word Mines
A while back, I asked for blog topic suggestions, and my pal Bill Bodden actually gave me three that were related. So I’m answering this trio of writing-related questions as one blog post. Thanks, Bill! How much time do you spend writing in an average day? Do you set word count goals, page goals, or do you not set goals … Read More
Writer’s Day: A Visit to the Tufa Library
Recently I had the honor of being invited to Rugby, TN, to do a reading and signing as part of their Appalachian Writers series. Rugby is the inspiration for Cricket* in the Tufa novels, and the real Thomas Hughes Library shows up as the Roy Howard Library. Here’s a glimpse inside. [media url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkiEk3nGJqY”] *because I don’t work any … Read More
New Anthology: FLYING HIGHER
I’m not a poet. I feel I should say that at the outset. But I have written a poem, “O Captain! America’s Captain.” It’s now part of this anthology: It’s a labor of love, as they say. Editors Michael Damien Thomas and Shira Lipkin loved the idea, and they approached me and the other authors, asking us to channel our love … Read More
Location, location, location
“Memphis is in a very lucky position on the map.” –Steve Cropper Facebook friend and fan Paula Cassidy recently asked me, “What’s the most difficult thing about using Memphis as a setting for some of your books?” For those unfamiliar with them, I wrote two vampire novels set in 1975 Memphis, Blood Groove and The Girls with Games of … Read More