TK

Thriller Guy is turning the blog over to his alter ego, Allen Appel, for this installment. Don’t screw it up, Appel! TG wants this blog back in the same shape it was in when he handed it over.

Geez, relax, TG, it’s going to be OK. Today’s subject under discussion is Mark Twain and the wonders and dangers of research. Why? I'll get to that in a moment. Well, as always, it will probably take longer than a moment.

As some of you may know, I’ve been working on a new entry in my series of novels featuring Alex Balfour, a time traveling history professor who has drifted back in time to a number of interesting historical periods, among them the Russian Revolution, the American Civil War, the Old West and WWII. In his adventures out West in Twice Upon a Time, he befriends Mark Twain and the two of them

have a exciting time floating down the Mississippi River on a raft with a pair of American Indians who are escaping back to their homelands. Also on the raft are two homicidal maniacs. Blood, justice and redemption flow like the swift current of the river.

Aside:  I’m often asked, as are all writers, “Where do you get your ideas?” Stephan King has a mildly amusing response on the order of “from the mom and pop writing store down on the corner,” but the book with Twain as a character, Twice Upon a Time, came about because of a comment from a film producer. My first book, Time After Time received very nice reviews when it first came out, especially in the New York Times Book Review ((January 26, 1986). What happens when this occurs -- a good Times review -- you get a lot of interest from Hollywood. My agent was flooded with requests from filmmakers for a copy of the book, which he dutifully sent out. Unfortunately, no one bought it. Why? Not because they didn’t like it, they did, but because it was set in Russia during the days of the revolution. Too expensive to produce, they all said, adding: tell Mr. Appel to set his next book in the United States. OK, I could do that. So I settled on opening the next one, Twice Upon a Time, at the great Philadelphia Exposition of 1876 and ending it high on hill overlooking the final battle known as Custer’s Last Stand. I figured you couldn’t get more American than that. The Exposition might cause a few difficulties as far as re-creation goes, but surely all the western scenery was still there for the taking. The upshot of the story is while Twice Upon a Time garnered nice reviews, no one bought the film rights for this one either. So much for doing what a film producer advises a writer to do.

Using Twain as the “buddy” in Twice Upon a Time did not immediately spring to mind when I was blocking out the book in outline. It was only when reading about the exposition did I find that both Twain and Custer attended the fair. Did they meet? Who knows? I found no record that they did, but it wasn’t important to my story. The idea was planted and would soon grow into an entire novel. These two famous men might not have known each other, but they certainly met my time traveling hero, Alex Balfour.

Aside: Readers who frequent the Thriller Guy blog know how important research is to TG and to me, and any other genre of historical novelist. TG has warned of the dangers of spending too much time wandering the labyrinthine byways of the Internet, but do I take TG’s advice? Not always. So after writing the above paragraph about Custer and Twain meeting, I thought I would look around and see if they ever did meet. It seems the answer is no, but along the way I discovered a fascinating  historical fact that is more than enough to spark an entire novel in some fertile writer’s mind. I am resisting the pull of this factoid, as I have my own book that must be written. Here it is.

In a Wikipedia  article about Manor House, a stately home in Soho, London, which was built in 1678…    The White House brothel. In 1776 the house, known then as The White House, was bought by Thomas Hopper, who, between 1778 and 1801 styled it as an hotel although all contemporary accounts point to its real business being as a high-class magical brothel. The White House is described as being garishly decorated and had lavish themed rooms including the "Gold Room", "Silver Room" and "Bronze Room", a "Painted Chamber", "Grotto", "Coal Hole" and most famously the "Skeleton Room" which contained a mechanized human skeleton designed to scare the staff and patrons alike. Henry Mayhew called the White House a "notorious place of ill-fame" and wrote: “Some of the apartments, it is said, were furnished in a style of costly luxury; while others were fitted up with springs, traps, and other contrivances, so as to present no appearance other than that of an ordinary room, until the machinery was set in motion. In one room, into which some wretched girl might be introduced, on her drawing a curtain as she would be desired, a skeleton, grinning horribly, was precipitated forward, and caught the terrified creature in his, to all appearance, bony arms. In another chamber the lights grew dim, and then seemed gradually to go out. In a little time some candles, apparently self-ignited, revealed to a horror stricken woman, a black coffin, on the lid of which might be seen, in brass letters, ANNE, or whatever name it had been ascertained the poor wretch was known by. A sofa, in another part of the mansion was made to descend into some place of utter darkness; or, it was alleged, into a room in which was a store of soot or ashes.”

This scenes this paragraph calls to mind just scream to be written into a BBC series. If anyone picks up on this idea, Thriller Guy gets a cut.

What was I talking about? O, yeah, Mark Twain. Because Twain is a character in the book I’m now working on, whenever I see his name mentioned I read what the reference is to. In this case, it was a small notice saying that the only footage ever made of Twain, a small piece a few minutes long, shot by Thomas Edison, had been reworked and cleaned up using modern techniques so the movement was more natural. (Because something is preventing me to imbed the video,) That piece of film can be found here, and I recommend looking at it. I had seen the original footage when I was working on Twice Upon a Time, many years ago, but it was difficult to make out because of the deterioration of the film stock and the herky-jerky movement. While there are still problems, the new version is vastly improved, and I find, fascinating. It’s not often that a historical novelist comes across such a valuable artifact. While the details would probably not interest most people, I was fascinated to note things like how Twain’s famous white suit, which you always see in photographs as being pristine, is beyond rumpled, and Twain looks kind of seedy in it. His hair is likewise not the glowing corona that it appears in official photos, but sort of like the suit, kind of rumpled. Even though the film was made in the year before Twain died, he seems full of life and an easy vigor, which was a surprise. In the early frames Twain walks around the corner of his house, Stormfield, and past the camera and then, magically, appears coming around the same corner and walks towards the camera once again. Why? Then he sits at a table having tea with his daughters Clara and Jean, who laugh at something Twain is saying to them. Jean spends some time putting on her hat and securing it with a hat pin (who sees that in this day and age?) and then they all get up and walk off screen. As I said, invaluable to a writer who is writing about Twain.

It is also interesting to note that we have no recordings of Twain’s voice. Edison made some, but they were on wax cylinders and melted during a fire, and a cylinder made by Giani Bettini (a pioneer audiophile)  was destroyed in WWII. The closest thing we have is a recording from Twain’s famous frog story being read by a noted actor and accomplished mimic of the time William Gillette, who grew up next door to Twain and knew him well. Here is that recording.  He sounds like Hal Holbrook, who must have referenced it when putting together his one act play about Twain.

The point here? Beware of research; it is a wonderful thing for a writer, but a great thief of time. And also a wonderful excuse, as in: “I’ll start my book once I feel I really know my material.” It’s nice to have that confidence and I applaud writers who can work to achieve this mastery and then start right in on their book, but I, and Thriller Guy, think that what you need to do is jump right in on the writing and do the research as you go, or after you finish a draft. Journalists have a wonderful device, the letters TK, which when inserted in a work in progress mean that more information will be added later, TK = “to come.” Use this device whenever you’re really rolling and don’t want to stop and break the flow. You can always look something up and put it in later, but you can’t always regain momentum when you break your train of thought. 

Crisis of Confidence

Recently, Thriller Guy has been advising several pals who are writing thrillers. As most readers of this blog know, or possibly not, TG does this advising for money, as a job. He can be hired through The Appel Store, and anyone looking for a writing coach and general wisdom dispenser can find TG there or at his private, super-secret email, appelworks@gmail.com.

These writers are facing one of the most common problems a writer, either seasoned pro or just-born newbie, encounters at one stage or another of the novel-writing process: this is the dreaded crisis of confidence. There are several areas where a crisis of confidence comes into play and we’ll eventually get to the others, but this particular crisis occurs, usually, sooner rather than later in the process of writing a first draft, most often around page 150 or so, when doubts begin to seep in as the confidence of tackling a new project bleeds away and the writer wakes in the night, bathed in flop sweat, his brain screaming… who the fuck am I kidding? My stuff sucks! To counter this panic, the novel-writer then decides to send out his manuscript or partial manuscript, to someone, a family member or trusted friend -- ideally another writer -- and ask for a quick read to see what this person thinks. Dear _____, could you be a pal and take a look at these pages? It’s just a first draft, but I’d like to know if you have any thoughts on what I’m doing and how I could improve what I’ve got. Love ya, babe, and I’ll return the favor some day!

(Or, the writer gives the pages to his or her spouse, mother or father. This is the biggest mistake of all; the parent is going to think they’re great no matter what, and the spouse is going to bring a whole lot of baggage to the table that doesn’t belong in a literary craft discussion. Trust TG on this.)

The problem is, most times the readers who are asked to review the pages hardly ever give the writer the response he was hoping for. This can be frustrating and discouraging.

Which is why Thriller Guy says that a writer should never show his or her novel to anyone except TG. (There are exceptions. Often it’s wise to have an expert read over areas in his specialty to check for mistakes the author has made. That’s a different thing than what TG is talking about here.)

  

All writers come to this particular crisis on some level at some point. Maybe they don’t see these worries about their abilities as an actual crisis, but if a writer doesn’t have these very human doubts about his work, he’s probably an asshole. What the writer isn’t looking for, even though he probably is not going to say it, is editing, technical writing tips, plot help or philosophical discussions,. He’s really just hoping that the recipient will read the pages, pat him or her on the back and say, “I really loved it!" Period. That little bit of encouragement usually puts some wind back in the writer’s sails, so he can continue what TG has said over and over is one of the most difficult tasks in the world, particularly one of the most difficult artistic tasks in the world, completing a novel. That means 500 pages or more of gut busting, brain bleeding, original words put down on the page in a way that readers will think is wonderful. Wonder-full.

The problem is, most people who are the recipients of the pages and the request -- being friends and good people -- think the writer is actually asking them for their honest opinion and for suggestions on how the writer might further his or her novelizing and make it better. But really, what does anyone know about what is in someone else’s head, about what the writer is going to do in the rest of the book or even what will be done after the draft is finished and the rewrites begun? They can only guess at what's there and what will come from the pages they have been given. And, they are also carrying their own prejudices and opinions (both good and bad) about themselves and about the writer. So the way it usually goes, is the writer gives out what is most often a partial first draft, probably uncorrected pages, and the person who reads the pages almost always thinks that they have an obligation to offer suggestions and honest opinions. Because, as TG has noticed in general and in writing in particular, everyone has a goddamn opinion.

Picasso once said that the only thing an artist really wants is to be loved. TG can assure his readers that the only thing any writer wants when he hands out his work for peer review is to be told that his work is loved. Or at least that it doesn’t suck. Because if it doesn’t suck, it can eventually be finished. And that’s enough to quiet that screaming voice that wakes one in the night, that calms the fires of doubt.

It’s an impossible situation. Everyone involved has the best intentions, it’s simply that the process almost never achieves what anyone wants it to achieve.

And how, you may be asking yourselves, is it possible for TG to accomplish what mere mortals cannot? How can he, a man among men, know how to put together an opinion that’s actually useful? Easy.

Because he is a professional.

Would you go to a pal and ask him or her to check out a lump in your abdomen and tell you if he thinks it’s cancer? Would you take a friend who’s an English major to court as your lawyer and expect him to defend you in a murder trial? Of course not. But TG, after years reading and reviewing novels from many genres, from years of reading unpublished manuscripts for money, friendship and love, knows what works and what doesn’t. Can TG always tell a writer what he needs to do to fix his problems? If truth is to be told, not always. Neither can anyone else. But he can make sensible, workable suggestions based on what he has learned from critically reading and writing over many years. And from having published many novels and written even more that weren’t published. From being in the business. From holding hands, patting weeping adults on the back, handing out hugs (OK, maybe TG doesn’t really hand out hugs) from dishing out his hard won wisdom, TG has learned to be the consummate professional: calm, dispassionate and wise.

Especially when he’s being paid for it.

So will this lone blog, this cris de coeur aimed at writers everywhere, imploring them to stop sending work out to friends and family asking for an honest opinion actually stop anyone from doing so? And feeling rotten when they get back lame tips on how to improve story and style? Probably not. So what’s a poor writer to do? Besides hire a professional. And it doesn’t even have to be Thriller Guy. There are plenty of us out there.

Shake it off, put the comments in the drawer or better yet throw them away and don’t look at them again and get back to work. Or not. There are very few working writers whose lives depend on writing a novel, except the guy in Stephen King’s Misery. (Excellent book and movie for writers.) And it’s always a realistic choice to either continue writing or not. It's a damn big rock and the hill is extremely steep and usually no one is paying you to push it to the top. The smart thing to do would be to apply one’s time to a more immediately fruitful project, to stop beating one’s head bloody, but no one ever said writers were smart. They continue to toil beneath their own, painfully conceived rocks, scrabbling and scribbling their way up the hill, gaining two feet, falling back one, because they are stubborn, stupid, proud, unfailingly hopeful, filled with resolve and good stories, determined to tell their tales and make us love them.

And we do.

Even if their first drafts are crap.

Note: Thriller Guy is headed out soon to an artist’s colony for several weeks where he will be cosseted like an emir while working on several publishing projects, one of which is the writing book, Sit Down; Shut Up; Get to Work, which will contain not only the above advice, but much much more. There is no Internet availability at this retreat, so the blog is suspended in the interim. Readers are advised to while away their time until TG’s return by downloading Allen Appel’s eBooks from Amazon.

Allen Appel

Thriller Guy is taking off for a week and won't be able to blog so he has a few suggestions on how to occupy your visits to this site. First, you might cast back into the archives and find any entries that you may have missed. If you're still mourning Elmore Leonard, check out the first couple of entries where Elmore commented on one of TG's rants. If you haven't read enough articles on Leonard's passing, here's an interesting one by a guy writing in Road and Track magazine about how he learned to hot wire a car from a Leonard book... 

Plus, there are plenty of tips in the archives for those of you who are writing or contemplating writing a thriller or any other book. TG is going to soon start his long awaited Sit Down, Shut Up and Get To Work, the definitive work on the subject.

And why not cruise over to Allen Appel's many eBooks as listed on Amazon. TG is sure you'll find some great reads at bargain prices. Start your odyssey into the world of Alex Balfour, time traveler, with Time After Time, priced at a paltry $.99 or if you've read through the entire series (plus the never-published Sea of Time) you can go to the stand-alone first of a projected series featuring the young Abe Lincoln as a detective. Then there are three terrific novella written around the theme of chickens. TG bets you don't think anyone could write about such a prosaic subject and turn out suspense fiction and heartwarming stories of this order.

So have fun in the archives, show your support by reading Appel's fiction, and TG will see you in a week or so.

More Shades of Grey: The Husband

Thriller Guy reviewed E. L. James Fifty Shades of Grey some months ago, saying that he

thought the book was perfectly good and that all the literary types who were savaging the writing were pretty much jealous ninnies who were full of crap. Harsh words perhaps, but steady readers of this blog know by now that TG doesn’t pull his punches and if namby-pamby literary types get beat up in the process, so be it, that’s just the way TG rolls. So when one of TG’s legion of readers passed along a recommendation for the website and blog written by James’ husband, Niall Leonard, TG took a look and agreed: he’s a funny, talented guy. Leonard is a long-time UK television scriptwriter with an impressive resume. He recently published a YA crime novel called Crusher, which has received nice reviews. On Leonard’s blog and website he pretty much sticks with his own views and business, but there are a few entries about what it is like being Mr. E.L. James. One of them was written as a piece for The Guardian and can be found here.

Niall Leonard’s website can be found here. Check it out for his blog and his excellent writing advice. He aims it mostly at screenwriters, but much of it applies to novel writing as well. To get you started, here’s the first paragraph of his funny piece in The Guardian, mentioned above, which can be found on his blog as well.

“If on entering your local bookshop you can find your way past the teetering stacks of EL James' Fifty Shades trilogy, you might come across a slim new crime novel, Crusher. That one's mine. Perceptive reviewers have noted that the hero's father, Maguire, is an embittered Irish hack consumed with envy of his peers. That must be you, they insist. What modern novelist doesn't envy EL James, the 40-something TV executive and mother of two who has outsold Dan Brown and Stieg Larsson, turbo-boosted the turnover of UK bookshops, and left men the world over begging for less sex and more sleep? But my book is a gritty urban murder mystery; Fifty Shades is an erotic romantic fantasy, and I couldn't have written it in a million years. I'm the least romantic fecker that ever lived – ask my wife Erika, aka EL James. Our first Christmas together I bought her a tin opener, and my earliest experience of kinky sex was her trying to shove it up my arse...”

Like TG said, he’s a funny guy. Do TG a favor, somebody out there read his novel Crusher and let us know what it’s like.

A Correction and Big News

In Thriller Guy’s recent review of 50 Shades of Grey he stated that after the first big sex scene (which occurred on page 112, not on 120 as he mistakenly reported) there were only five or so more sex scenes in the book. After reading other reviews of Shades, TG has found there were 15 more sex scenes, which is a number significantly higher than five. TG regrets this error and admits he may have been reading rather hastily and hopes that those seeking a heap o’ sex scenes in the novel didn’t pass it up just because TG said there wasn’t all that much more meat in the freezer. (Meat in the freezer? Where the hell did that image come from?) But onto The Big News…

TG is announcing that he and his alter ego Allen Appel have put up a New Website, The Appel Store, where readers and writers can find a plethora of goods relating to Allen Appel, his writing and his rants. At the store, visitors will find a list of Appel books and novellas now available for purchase and access to writing services provided by Appel and Thriller Guy. If you’ve got a book that you want to write, a book that you’ve already written that you’re not happy with, or other writing projects that you need help with, this is the place for you.

Why The Appel Store? We’ve all seen the stories: Unknown author writes book, puts it up on the internet and makes a gazillian dollars. Hmmm, that pretty much describes 50 Shades of Grey right there. There are other stories, though, about authors who have published successfully in the industry in years past and now are rejected because they weren’t successful enough (meaning they didn't sell enough copies) to keep publishing with the big boys, writers who have a large backlist that they put up as Kindles and find new life as eBook authors, tales that fuel imaginations and give hope in an industry where there is precious little hope. But are these stories just anomalies, or is there really a future for writers outside mainstream publishing? Thriller Guy decided to work up an experiment and see what’s truth and what’s pie-in-the-sky. Enter, The Appel Store.

So check it out. Buy a book. Buy a novella. If you need first class help in your writing endeavors, contact us. Let us know what you think. Thriller Guy will keep a running diary of how the enterprise fares and try to discover just how the eBook, independent publishing business really works, if it works at all beyond putting up vanity works. Check it out, there's some excellent stuff here.

THE APPEL STORE.