Hurtin' Heroes

All right, quick quiz: who's the prolific, (180 books) manly, adventurer/author pictured above? If you guessed Thriller Guy you're forgiven, it's an understandable mistake, but you're wrong. That's Lester Dent, author of the Doc Savage series, books that were also made into a radio show, movies and comic books. And which are still available today.

TG recently finished reading and reviewing an excellent thriller (sorry, contractually I cannot name this book for several months), where the hero had by page 67 been badly beaten up three times, stabbed and generally mistreated by friend and foe alike. After finishing the book, TG realized that these days most heroes are getting off pretty light when it comes to being on the receiving end of physical mayhem. Sure, there are exceptions like Ray Banks' characters and a few others, but most big-name authors are letting their guys off easy. They might pick up a flesh wound toward the end of a book, but generally they win all their fist fights and escape relatively unscathed after other attempts are made on their lives. It was not always thus.

When the young folk gather at TG's knee and ask for help with their cute little novels, TG always counsels: “Make the best possible characters and then do the worst possible things to them.” Actually, TG thinks he stole that line from John Irving, but John will never notice this little blog and he wouldn't care anyway. Actually, many years ago, John slept with one of TG's old girlfriends, but that's another story and TG never carries a grudge. (Big shout-out to John -- Still living in New Hampshire and writing about bears?)

Anyway, until recently heroes had to work hard and take a lot of punishment to come out on top of the villains. Lester Dent knew that, and Doc Savage, while fabulously tough and smart, took his lumps and more with every adventure. Note the torn shirt, which was de rigeur on all of this series' pulp covers. Doc wasn't a superhero, but, well, let's let Wikipedia do the explaining...

“Doc Savage's real name was Clark Savage, Jr.. He was a physician, surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer, researcher, and, as revealed in The Polar Treasure, a musician. A team of scientists assembled by his father deliberately trained his mind and body to near-superhuman abilities almost from birth, giving him great strength and endurance, a photographic memory, a mastery of the martial arts, and vast knowledge of the sciences. Doc is also a master of disguise and an excellent imitator of voices. "He rights wrongs and punishes evildoers." Dent described the hero as a mix of Sherlock Holmes' deductive abilities, Tarzan's outstanding physical abilities, Craig Kennedy's scientific education, and Abraham Lincoln's goodness. Dent described Doc Savage as manifesting "Christliness." Doc's character and world-view is displayed in his oath, which goes as follows:

“Let me strive every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it. Let me think of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice. Let me take what comes with a smile, without loss of courage. Let me be considerate of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything I say and do. Let me do right to all, and wrong no man.”

At this point, you may be saying to yourself, That's a very fine credo, but what the hell is the point here, TG? Sorry. The point is that Lester Dent wrote an instructive short essay on how to plot a 6000 word short story. It's a useful instruction for not just short story writers, but novelists as well. Perspective authors and professional authors alike would do well to read the essay and apply its lessons to their own writing, particularly Dent's repeated instructions on how to treat your hero: “Introduce the hero and swat him with a fistful of trouble.” “Shovel more grief onto the hero.” “A surprising plot twist in which the hero preferably gets it in the neck bad.” and again: “Shovel the difficulties more thickly upon the hero.”

So let's get with it, thriller writers; time to start beating the crap out of your heroes.

Insiders; Guns

Wasn't it Lenin who famously said, “Whenever I hear the word 'culture' I reach for my gun.”? Well, whenever Thriller Guy reads a press release or jacket copy that blares, “Written by the ultimate insider!!," or, "Only an insider could...” TG reaches for his gun. Actually, all of TG's guns are locked up in the gun safe, far from the hands of curious kiddies, except the one he keeps in the bedside table, locked and loaded for when the Bad Guy creeps in, (Cue sound of window breaking downstairs) bent on revenge for that day long ago when TG put him down or away. But those are other stories from the distant past.

You wouldn't believe how many books TG receives for review that are penned by government, agency, spy, military, whatever, Insiders!

Warning bells always go off when inserted publisher's material promises that the page-turner TG is about to read has been penned by the “ultimate insider” and is filled with never-before-seen details of some secret government agency. The problem, with a few exceptions, is that most of these books just aren't very good, that the newcomer insiders don't really know much about thrillers or the writing of thrillers, which results in poor structure, broken genre rules and just plain bad writing. I believe the scenario probably goes something like this:

Top level, usually government employee retires, having risen to the top of his/her field after a long professional life. Someone, a friend, spouse, family member, agent, random person at a cocktail/dinner party, says to the retiree, “You really know a lot about (fill in the field of expertise), I'll bet you could write a great thriller. You could make a lot of money. Tom Clancy did it, and he was only an insurance guy. You must have a million stories you could tell!”

The retiree thinks, Tom Clancy, he made a ton of money. How hard could it be? I'm as smart as any writer. And I do know a million stories. Besides, I can always hire someone to help me if I get stuck.

TG is one of the guys who is in the business of ghosting these books, the guy who is hired on when the Insider gets stuck. And they always get stuck. (Contact TG through his Alter Ego's website, www.appelworks.com for competitive rates).

TG was once asked to a meeting by a literary agent to talk to a female Secret Service agent who had “A hell of a tale to tell.” TG was perfectly willing to take the meeting, especially since it was being held at an old Washington landmark restaurant, The Guards. From experience stretching back over many drunken years, TG knew that The Guards sells perhaps the finest blue cheese burger in Washington. And excellent martinis. And the agent was buying.

TG arrives at the restaurant. The Secret Service Agent was obviously getting along in her career, but still seemed mildly attractive and fit. The first thing they, the agent was there as well, told TG, after he had ordered his usual Tanqueray martini, (with a twist) was that the agent was carrying a gun in her purse, which was prominently placed on the table. TG assumes that he was supposed to be impressed. Please.

“She's going to retire in a year or two. She's got a ton of great stories,” the agent says. “Funny stuff. Really, fabulous stuff. It's going to make a great book.”

How many times has every professional writer heard this line? Usually it's at a party of some sort, a guy leans over and says something like, “You're a writer? I worked for the gas company for thirty years! I got a million great stories. Tell you what, I'll tell you the stories, you write 'em up and we'll split the money fifty-fifty.” Hey, whatta deal!

TG is drinking his martini, (OK, he's on his second martini) the literary agent keeps yakking away, the Secret Service lady just sort of sits there, nodding, looking kind of sad. Every once in awhile she cracks a tiny smile.

By now TG is tucked into his cheeseburger. “Tell me a funny story,” he says, around a mouthful of blue cheese and beef.

“One time,” the Secret Service lady begins, solemnly, “Early in my career, I show up for work in the morning at Secret Service headquarters (wherever the hell that is) and on my desk, open to the centerfold, is a Playboy magazine. I look around the room, which is full of guys, and no one is looking at me. I pick up the magazine and throw it in the wastebasket and start my day as if nothing had happened.” At this point the agent is laughing, semi-hysterically, “Great story,” she crows, slapping her meaty thigh, “Really great. You showed those guys.”

TG finishes his burger and has another drink. There were more stories, but TG can't remember any of them. They weren't any better than the first one. Truth be told, TG was pretty drunk by then. Things just sort of petered out. The agent paid the bill. TG left, promising to think about an angle for a possible book.

The next day TG sat in front of his computer trying to put some sort of a good face on the meeting, but it was not easy. Make no mistake, TG is perfectly willing to whore in his ghost personae, particularly if there's the hope of decent money. But there wasn't anything on which to hang a proposal. The SS agent wasn't the first female in the service. It sure didn't sound like she had been seriously harassed by her male counterparts. (Excepting the horrendous Playboy centerfold incident.) Her years in service sounded routine and fairly boring. The point is, just because you work someplace interesting doesn't mean you are interesting. Even if you carry a gun. And it sure doesn't mean you have a story to tell, or the imagination to spin your knowledge into fiction, or the ability to write it in any format. Even if you've hired a ghost to do the heavy lifting.

TG doesn't tell this story because it's the exception; in fact it is the rule. Every professional writer has been through some version.

Oh, TG was going to report on the latest Insider thriller he has reviewed. Actually, it was damned good.

Stay tuned.

Richard North Patterson

Thriller Guy recently read and reviewed the latest RNP thriller, Honor, due out in June. TG likes Patterson's books, particularly because he always weaves a compelling story around contemporary, difficult themes, in this case the war in Iraq and the damage PTSD inflicts on our returning service men and women. People often write to TG and ask for help in coming up with a good idea for thriller and TG's advice is always the same: read the newspaper. Patterson obviously does, then he thinks long and hard on how he can turn a Ripped from the front pages of the newspaper! plot (God, TG hates that line and will never use it in a review) into a thriller that will instruct while it thrills.

TG's favorite Patterson book is Eclipse, which is based on the real life of Nigerian human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa who was hanged by the brutal dictator General Sani Abacha. In Eclipse, Patterson's fictional hero Bobby Okari has been captured and imprisoned in the fictional country of Luandia. Bobby's American wife calls her former boyfriend lawyer Damon Pierce to defend Bobby in a dramatic show trial. The action is violent and riveting, the legal stuff fascinating, and the end is moving far beyond the effects of most thrillers. TG thinks this is an important book and urges you to read it. It is now out in paperback.

TG interviewed the accommodating Richard North Patterson, here's a bit of that interview:

Q. Your books seem intended to teach as well as entertain. Is this true and has this always been your goal?

A. That depends on my ambitions for a particular book. But I do believe that if you can deeply engross a reader with a dramatic story and vivid characters, you can enrich their experience by exposing them to issues they have not considered.

In the last decade, I’ve written about such issues as the viciousness of presidential politics, the law and politics of abortion, gun violence and the gun lobby, capital punishment, the tragic conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and, in ECLIPSE, the geopolitics of oil, where the addictive needs of superpowers tramples any concern for human rights. What is gratifying to me is the volume of appreciative letters I get from readers, many of whom thank me for changing their mind or opening their eyes with respect to the most contentious subjects. While I don’t compare myself to these great writers, the wonderful tradition of such fiction includes novelists like Emile Zola and Upton Sinclair.

I think a novelist is free to write about whatever subject he or she cares about. I also believe that to combine the values of good fiction with a hard and realistic exploration of the challenges that face us is one of the finer expressions of the fictional art.

Q. Do you think novels can bring about change?

A. I can’t know what impact a book may have. I can only write a novel as if it matters, hopeful that if I care about a subject, others will as well. I do know that I’ve changed individual minds, and caused readers to look at some of our most visceral controversies in a different way. I also believe that when any individual speaks out—including a novelist—it sends ripples throughout a society. But in a country as complex and contentious as ours, there’s simply no way to measure the effect of an individual book.

One of my goals in writing issue-oriented fiction is to present different points of view, set out the complexity of a problem, and acknowledge the emotional and psychological aspects of public controversies, whether abortion, capital punishment, or the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy. Our media frequently simplify and vulgarize issues, turning what should be reasoned and compassionate analysis into vituperation which demeans the other side. While I have my own point of view, I try to make fairness a value of my fiction.

Q. What do you think of the term “legal thriller,” “political thriller,” or even just “thriller” in relation to your books?

A. I certainly like being known as a writer who imbues his books with considerable suspense—that’s part of my intention. But I don’t like at all the tendency to categorize novels, because it tends to type or diminish them in the minds of prospective readers. To me, I’m a novelist—period. My concerns as a novelist are to deploy the classic components of good fiction—an engrossing story, engaging characters, a vivid setting—to engage a reader’s mind and emotions.

Q. You have had a number of interesting jobs as a lawyer. What influenced you to give that up and write fiction?

A. One reason was to spend more time with my kids—the travel and hours for a lawyer can be brutal. But by far the most important reason is the wonderful freedom given a novelist. It is the ultimate in self-assigned work—you can write about anything you care about, and learn about any subject that intrigues you. For someone like me, curious by nature, it’s the perfect job.

Hard to Speak Ill of this Dead and The Last Part of the Randy Wayne White Interview.

Dick Francis died today at the age of 89.

Thriller Guy's email has been flooded by messages from his writer pals, most with variations on the theme, “I thought he died five years ago?” No, it only seems like it because his wife Mary died in 2000 and she was the one who wrote all his books. Oh, you didn't know that? Well, that's what Graham Lord said in his 1999 Francis bio, A Racing Life, and the evidence is pretty strong that it 's the truth. After all, she was actually a writer and a publishing person and he was, well, a jockey, a great jockey mayhaps, but one with a limited education. He knew the business, but it was the racing business; she was the writer in the family. If you'd like to read an interesting article about the subject this 1999 piece in The Independent tells all.

TG has read a ton of the Dick Francis books, and is pretty sure that most thriller writers worth their salt have delved deeply into this particular canon. TG must admit, he grew a bit weary of them after about twenty five or so, and then began to fall behind. TG reviewed one of the later books, written with Francis' son Felix (taking over where Mary left off) and it was OK, but, well, kind of lame, if truth be told. TG would have liked to have given it a fabulous review out of respect for Mr. Francis, but that's not the way it works in TG's ethical world: a book must stand on its merits alone, no extra author points for being a good guy or a legend.

So raise a glass to Dick Francis, or maybe to his wife, Mary. The books were terrific and they had a hell of a run. Cheers!

And now to finish up the fabulous Randy Wayne White Interview.

Here's RWW on where he does his writing, his writing day and that all important writer's topic: drinking. One of these days TG is going to go into drinking in depth (Mrs. Thriller Guy thinks he's already there) as it pertains the the Writing Life. Look for that future entry under the title: Gin, the Writer's Best Friend?

RWW:

You spent 13 years working as a fishing guide. How and why did you make the leap to writing fiction? I was a full time guide, did almost 3,000 charters, and was on the water 300 days a year. Since childhood, however, I always wanted to write books, perhaps believing that, if I wrote a book, I might become a part of the magic I found in books. I worked very hard at writing in my spare time and, in 1978, got a big break with Rolling Stone founded Outside Magazine, and published a piece by me. While guiding, I began to publish regularly in some of the country’s premier magazines. In 1987, Tarpon Bay Marina was closed to powerboat traffic, and I was out of a job. As much as I miss the marina – Mack, Nick, Jeth, Alex, Graeme, Carlene plus all the fishing guides – it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I had to make my living as a writer, I had two young sons, and failure wasn’t an option.

Where do you do your actual writing? It’s hard for people to believe, but I don’t have what most would consider an office or a set writing space. It’s hard for me to believe, at times but writing, for many years, was a secondary part of family life, so a decent office was always way down the list of personal requirements. At my home on Pine Island, I have a tiny (8’ by 8’) shed where I write; on Sanibel a tiny little loft that’s way too hot in summer. Sometimes, I write at the restaurants early in the morning, or at a stilt house on Captiva (it’s the photo on the jacket of DEEP SHADOW.) I carry my Mac laptop everywhere I go, and I write anywhere I can.

Can you give a description of your writing day? I write daily. As I near the end of a book, I write around the clock, working, then dozing, breaking only to workout, then have a beer at sunset, but only one or two. I can’t write and drink alcohol – thank god.

More from Randy Wayne White and His New Doc Ford Novel

OK, Thriller Guy has more from RWW about writing in general and his new Doc Ford novel in particular. Read the man's words and take heed.

What's the Doc Ford schedule? Do you try for one a year?

I am a working writer, and I work every day, seven days a week, with rare exception. My deadlines are set by me, not my publisher, but I believe that a full year of research, writing and editing are required to produce what I hope are literate and literary popular novels. I could produce books much faster, but I doubt if they would be of the quality that I demand of myself as a professional. Back when I was a full time fishing guide, and also working hard in my spare time to learn the writing craft, I wrote a penname thriller in nine days. Yep, 45,000 words or so in nine around-the-clock days. I have a close friend, Don Carman, who was a brilliant pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, and he signs baseballs: “Be relentless.” I can think of no better advice to an aspiring writer: Be relentless.

An important part of the plot of Deep Shadow revolves around the search for “Batista's Treasure Plane.” Is this a true story? Maybe. It’s certainly possible. I first went to Cuba in 1978, and have returned many times, including 1980 when I returned from Mariel Harbor on a 55-foot fishing boat carrying 147 refugees. When we raised Key West, every refugee aboard took up the chant, Libertad . . Libertad! Liberty. It was a powerful experience, and I have been fascinated with the island ever since. In recent years, I have played baseball there, distributing gear to kids, and, most recently, I played a small role in officially twinning the Freemasons of Cuba with the Freemasons of Florida in a formal ceremony at the Gran Logia de Habana – another very powerful experience. I have close friends there, but Cuba is a police state – whatever your politics may be, this is a fact beyond debate – so I am ever mindful that I must be careful when I refer to anything regarding Cuban history as fact or fiction. It is a well documented fact, however, that Batista fled Havana after filling several Tampa-bound cargo planes with cash and historical treasures that still, rightfully, belong to the Cuban people. Some of these treasures are still on display in a Daytona Beach museum.

Besides having to deal with a pair of homicidal maniacs, Doc has to fight a terrifying dragon-like creature. Does this animal actually exist in Florida? I found out long ago that, if a reader catches even a single factual error, it damages the credibility of the entire storyline, so I take research seriously. To the best of my ability, data regarding biology and history in my books is accurate, including DEEP SHADOW’s reference to the thriving population of exotics that are reproducing in the Everglades. These include king cobras, iguanas, 400-pound boa constrictors and also predatory Nile Monitors that do, indeed, hunt in packs. There are no documented sightings, however, of the Nile’s close relative, the Komodo monitor.

OK, Thriller Guy here again. As stated in the last entry, writers interested in how to structure a thriller could learn plenty from RWW's new Doc Ford novel.

This novel is unrelenting. I could not put it down.

Randy Wayne White: The Perfect Thriller

Well, damn near perfect.

Randy Wayne White's new thriller, the 17^th in the Doc Ford series, Deep Shadow, goes on sale March 8. Mark your calendars, thriller writers, Thriller Guy thinks this is the book to read and study if you're interested in structure, pace and a general how-to example for writing in the genre.

If you're not familiar with this excellent series, Doc Ford is a marine biologist who lives on Florid'a Mangrove Coast where he spends his time studying marine creatures and solving crimes. He's a tough guy, but fairly sensitive when he needs to be. Deep Shadow finds Doc, his hippie boat pal Tomlinson and crotchety old friend Arlis Futch in central Florida, diving a hidden pond where Arlis is sure a treasure awaits them. Along for the fun is teen Will Chaser, who was first seen in White's last book, Dead Silence. What the fellows don't know is that hiding out at the lake are two really bad guys who are on the lam after killing a family of five in a burglary. That's enough for most thriller writers right there, but White shows how it's done when he tosses in a near mythic creature who inhabits the pond and is stalking all of the above. You just know that this thing is going to eat someone, probably more than just one someone, before the ride is over. White cranks this baby up on the first page and doesn't let up until the last.

Buy it, read it and learn.

TG was so impressed he contacted RWW and interviewed him. Parts of this interview will be spread out over these pages for the next few entries. Every answer includes tips on how he writes, tips that TG knows will interest readers of this blog. White's website is also well worth a look. Besides interesting info about himself and the books, he has a series of writing exercises that will be useful for any of us who are either already writing or want to write. Check them out.

Let's get to it. Here's RWW.

This is the 17^th Doc Ford book since 1990. How do you keep the character fresh?

For me, intellectually and emotionally, Ford and Tomlinson are living entities, so there is never a need to effect a sense of “freshness”, because they evolve naturally, on their own, each man (along with the characters at Dinkin’s Bay Marina) following his path, sometimes slowed or goaded along by his personal flaws or strengths. If this sounds like schizophrenia, so be it (although it makes me a tad uneasy to remember the same was said about Son of Sam). The characters are real in my mind not only because of our long association, but also because, prior to writing the first novel, Sanibel Flats, I spent months writing very lengthy bios and personality profiles of four main characters. When I say long, I mean more than thirty or forty pages on each person; profiles so detailed that they contained information that has yet to be made known to readers, even after seventeen books. I knew from the beginning that, if I was lucky enough to publish more books, Ford and Tomlinson were to be involved in a complex death dance that would pit two very basic human elements against the other: intellectual versus spiritual. I can only speak for myself, but those two cerebral forces are forever at odds in me: the wistful, romantic right side of the brain battling the no-nonsense, existential left hemisphere. I hoped that if I created one character who was purely spiritual, another purely linear, that I could address just about any topic, say anything I wanted, and get away with it.

I wrote such detailed bios because, from the beginning, I approached my writing hoping to achieve what I thought of as an “Iceberg effect” and I still use the same approach to the research required of all my books. Simply put, the Iceberg effect is this: If a writer carefully weaves together a mountain of details, he will become so comfortable with his subject that he can portray that subject authentically with only a few vital strokes. If a writer is secure in his knowledge of a subject, readers need see only the iceberg’s tip to be convinced a mountain floats beneath. My pal Peter Matthiessen told me long ago that good writing is the careful elimination of details, and I still believe that omission, when done with a sure hand, is among the most powerful techniques in the writing craft.

As importantly, I created characters who I like and respect personally. Fun, independent men and women who (like most people I know) live quiet, brave lives despite the painful, pain-in-the-ass hurdles life throws in front of all of us. I am always dubious of so-called artists and pundits who write from an everyone’s-an-idiot-but-me platform. Hate-mongering is the easiest way to draw an audience, it provides a greasy conduit to the cheapest, easiest brand of humor. In high school, we all knew some untalented goof who got attention by screaming “The principal’s an idiot!” I don’t find the Michael Moore-Glenn Beck types interesting, or admirable as people, nor very important in the universal scheme of things, and so I avoid them as characters in fiction (although, villains occasionally demonstrate Moore-Beck gifts for manipulation, particularly in DEEP SHADOW).

Speaking Ill of the Dead

So, Robert Parker dropped dead at his desk this week. Lots of writers are saying that's great, that's how they want to go, sitting at their desks working. Are they crazy? Jeez, TG can think of plenty of other ways to die that sound like a hell of a lot more fun than working at one's desk.

TG has been reading the obits about what a terrific guy he was and how great the novels, in particular the Spenser books were. Not being one to keep his yap shut, TG would like to pause for a moment to remember how terrible the Spenser books were in his middle period, when Parker's marriage foundered and he began writing the Susan Silverman character as a love letter to his wife. Or at least that's what everyone said had happened. In the obits there was mention of a memoir he had written about his marriage, a book that TG has not read nor does he intend to read, but the obits said was a pean to their 50 year marriage, which seems at odds with everything TG has heard over the years. Supposedly the guy lived downstairs and his wife lived upstairs in the same house, which doesn't sound like a happy situation to TG. But all this being pure speculation, let us leave the land of gossip and turn to the Spenser books themselves...

TG, along with plenty of other readers, loved the Spenser books. The PI was tough, smart, and at at the same time could turn out a pretty good gourmet meal (not unlike TG himself) and the sidekick, Hawk, was terrific. But then things went wrong with Susan, the girlfriend, and Spenser started kissing her ass in ways that were shamefully embarrassing and then they brought in that stupid dog Pearl, and it got even worse. All of TG's writer pals were mortified for the man, and the books became virtually unreadable. No one is mentioning this in the obit's are they? TG does not mind going where angels fear to tread.

Eventually, Spenser and Susan got back together and the series got better but, at least in TG's estimation, they never reached the heights that the earlier books inhabited before the breakup. The several new series, the Jesse Stone books, were good, but they weren't Spenser.

TG also heard stories that made it sound like Parker was kind of a jerk. So TG would like to extend a hand to the Parker community and ask that anyone with stories and reminiscences about what a great guy he was, send 'em in, TG will gladly put them all up. TG doesn't like to speak ill of anyone, alive or dead, but it does kind of get to him when just because a person dies everyone says good stuff about that person, even if it was undeserved.

So, Robert Parker stories, let's hear them. TG will put them up anonymously, so don't be afraid. Hey, the guy is dead, he won't care.