Be Brave Enough to be Boring

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There are worse things than being bored.  You could be trapped in a cavern of horrors behind a green door. You could lose a year of your life in which you might have committed murder.  You could be stuck in a heat wave, staring at a swimming pool that isn't clean enough to swim in.

I want my writing to be interesting, clearly, and as a writer of thrillers, a certain amount of excitement is rightly to be expected.  But if being bored isn't the worst thing in the world, why should I be terrified of it in my writing?  Do I want to write a boring story?  Um, no.  But do I need to fret over every little passage, afraid it might bore some readers?

No.

There aren't many books that I don't skip passages in.  I'm a terrible reader in some ways.  I have such a poor visual imagination that I skim through or skip over most lengthy descriptive passages.  I can't conjure the image in my mind, so I bore easily.

And what do I do when I'm bored?

I don't put the book away.  I don't stop reading the story.  I skim or skip.   I only give up reading if there seems to be no hope for a pay off.  If I don't have an investment in the story -- if I don't see an end to the boredom -- if I feel trapped by tedium -- then I might stop reading.

So, if being bored isn't the worst thing in the world and I know that my own boredom of the moment doesn't kill an entire work for me as a reader, why should I be afraid of it as a writer?

A couple of years ago, I entered a content that encouraged courageous writing.  My piece, "I Need This," was honored and I was able to publish, "Terminal Instar," in the Notes from Underground anthology.  It took some guts.  Some of it was what Rachel Thompson and Lorrie Moore would call, "writing something I would never show my mother or my father."  Some of it, though, was writing minor little digressions that might risk boring some readers.

In the end, it's often times the digressions that get me my most positive feedback.  It's taking a moment, amidst the adrenaline and emotional trauma, to philosophize a bit that I think gives my writing its special character.  I don't just write thrillers.  I write thrillers that linger and contemplate.  No, I don't linger in the moment like RJ Ellory does.  Instead, I linger in the ideas behind the scenes like Chuck Palahniuk might.  It's a recipe that I think serves me well, but it's a recipe that risks boring people.

And that's really the point.  It doesn't even matter if you're a writer.  For that matter, it doesn't matter if you're a creative person at all.    If you're an athlete you can't always go for the home run or the knock-out punch.  If you're a salesman, you can't always play for the big deal.  If you're an archaeologist you can't wait until you get a Phase III excavation.  If you're a forensic anthropologist, you've gotta do your metrics.

Whatever you do, if you put your all into it, if you try to own that thing you do, you need to show courage.  That doesn't just mean the adrenaline junkie kind of daring.  That means being brave enough to risk boring people.

You will probably manage to do just that.

But you will also reap great rewards.  And the truth is, most of the time, if you're good at what you do, you bore yourself more than you bore other people.

So.  As readers -- what do you do when something gets boring?  And, as followers of whatever path life has taken you down -- do you shy away from doing those things which might bore your clients?

.Nevets.

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"It can be difficult to aspire towards someone's quality without thinking you need to mimic their qualities."

I said that on twitter today. It might be something someone else has said. I'm not sure. I just know it reflects an occasional struggle of mine as a writer. There are many writers whom I admire for one reason or another. In a very general sense, I hope to be writers like them. Because I am a top-down thinker, this often means that I start with that vague sense of how good they are and deduce from it all the particulars that must somehow go into that quality. That's a perilous path, for it leads to comparisons that ultimately have less to do with the big-picture quality of the writing and more to do with specifics of style.

Within my own genre, over the past year, I have been particularly struck by the work of four different authors: award-winning standouts RJ Ellory and Ryan David Jahn, and newcomers Michelle Davidson Argyle and Jennifer Hillier. Each one exemplifies something that I would to achieve, but each one is very different from one another, and very different from my own work. Ellory's writing broods and relishes in the moment. Jahn takes brooding and turns it into physical and emotional violence that pushes each moment into the next. Argyle writes with the soft touch of a poet. Hillier's novel Creep moves like a thriller that lives messy, streaky fingerprints in its wake.

As much as I admire these writers' craftsmanship, and even those specific attributes, my own writing is very different. Ellory's writings feels, for all its exploration of American culture and history, like it has deep European roots. Jahn has a neo-noir flair. Argyle comes to genre writing from the literary world. Hillier's work reflects contemporary American thriller-writing with all its cross-media influences. My own writing is grounded in the shades-of-grey action thrillers of Jack Higgins (The Savage Day) and the fast-clip conspiracy novels of Robert Ludlum (Chancellor Manuscript) and plays in the surrealistic, philosophical world of Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Choke). 

As a result, my fiction runs at a face pace, and gets bogged down if I try to force too many lingering moments. Violence is part of the context and setting, rather than a propulsive force. My descriptions are clean-cut and matter-of-fact, and my arch language owes more to philosophy than to poetry. If the end result is like non-written media, it's far more like Japanese suspense drama than it is like CSI or Law and Order: SVU.

What I often need to remind myself is that it's not those specifics that I need to strive towards. What I want to be is fearless. I want to write evocatively and effectively. I hope that my readers feel a rush of adrenaline, and then stop to think. I hope that my readers feel the darkness, and grasp for the little fragments of light shining through. In their own way, these broad characteristics are part of what mark Ellory, Jahn, Argyle, and Hillier as quality. These are things toward which I can strive without sacrificing my own unique style and voice. These are measuring sticks that are independent of context and individual technique.

This isn't a writing thing. This is a living thing. Whatever your goals are. Whoever you want to be. Whatever you want to achieve. Aim for quality. Work with your own qualities.

.Nevets.

Cheers, Mates

All---

Among the many things that have lapsed by the wayside while I've been too busy to keep up with this blog, is the need to congratulate a lot of my writing friends on recent milestones, and to, at the same time, let you readers know about some great new reading opportunities.  In my defense, I also haven't had time to keep up with their blogs, and am still catching up on the news myself.

Here's my best attempt at some highlights.  If I've missed something, please let me know!  I will be happy to edit and modify.  Going in roughly alphabetical order by author's first name (arbitrary -- holla) . . .

Davin Malasarn just published an anthology of short stories entitled, Wild Grass (also available in Kindle format).  If you're not familiar with Domey's writing, he writes literary fiction, though he sometimes wonders why it's called that.  In his case it's clear: the mark of literary fiction is the painful attention to craft that goes into every word, phrase, sentence, and paragraph.  His writing is shot through with sharp details poke and prod the reader until, in the end, all the details fade away into some something more bigger and more true than you realized you were reading.

Jennifer Hillier's news may have me the most excited.  No offense to any of my other writing friends, but the fact that Jennifer's debut thriller Creep (also available in the UK) is about to hit the shelves (July 5th!) from Simon & Schuster has me bouncing up and down.  (In a dark, sinister, introspective kind of way, of course.)  I am so excited for my sister in the shadowy places of American genre fiction.  I can't wait to get my hands on her book, and I look forward to watching it explode onto the scene!  July 5th!  Can you believe it?  I can't!

Michelle Davidson Argyle is just full of writing news.  Her short story, "Signs," was picked up by Suspense Magazine.  ARC's are hitting the street for her September 2011 release Monarch, and the book is now available for pre-order.  Monarch is soft psychological suspense at its best; I cannot recommend this book enough.  As if that weren't enough, her self-published novella Cinders is having a $0.99 celebration event, and has had its best month of sales.  If you like literary fantasy with a dark, character-driven engine, you need to read Cinders.  After you have, we can argue about whether it has a happy ending or not.  (I vote yes.)  On top of all that, of course, she and JC Martin have just edited the Stories for Sendai anthology.

RJ Ellory's A Simple Act of Violence is now available in US markets.  If you're not tied down to US Markets, you should also know that the paperback release of Saints of New York (due in September) is now available for pre-order, as is the hardcover debut of Ellory's newest novel, Bad Signs (due in October).  If you're not familiar with his writing, RJ Ellory writes psychological suspense with an incredibly human voice and a deep investment in the humanity of humanity.  He and I write very differently, and from very different perspectives, but if I ever feel a kindred authorial spirit when reading another author's work in my genre, it's when I read Ellory.  He sets the mark of quality psychological suspense to which I aspire.

Ryan David Jahn's UK award-winning thriller, Acts of Violence is now available in the US, where is has been released as Good Neighbors.  I read the UK release and still, to this day, cannot shake this book from my head.  Told in a voice-rich, intimate third person POV, the brutal physical and emotional violence in this story is not for everyone.  It's worth the read, though, for its unlikely bleakness and its even unlikelier hope.

Tim Stretton, whom you may may remember I consider a master of fantasy world-building, has at long last published The Last Free City, the sequel to The Dog of the North, and it's available on Amazon.com in the US or Amazon.co.UK across the pond.  Shortly before time slipped completely through my fingers, I ordered an early LuLu release of the book.  Rose pounced on, devoured, and enjoyed the read, so even though I haven't had a chance to catch up with my TBR pile yet, she would attest to its quality.

If you have writing news that should be shared with the world, the only reason I haven't done so is that I missed it.  Please, let me know about it, and I'll be happy to update the post with your scoop.

Readers, if you've read any of these releases and would like to chime in about what you thought, please do so!  For that matter, readers, if you know about a new or upcoming release that you think plays well in the Nevets universe, let me know!

.Nevets.

It's Like a Casserole

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So tomorrow morning I've got the next author-overcoming profile.  You will not want to miss it.  Seriously.

But because I  posted on Sunday, I didn't post yesterday, so I feel like I should post tonight.  But I don't want it to be anything too earth-shattering since I have another post going up in the morning.

In that light, here is a casserole of random goodness:

Don't forget to like my Facebook page.  Next week there will a contest, and at least one prize will only be available to Facebook fans.

Speaking of contests, if you never read how I Nevetsized a moment of Deb Markanton's life, you should.  Not only is it a fun story, but there will be a new opportunity soon to possibly have a moment of your own life re-written as if it were part of my dark, twisted tales.

In news unrelated to Nevets-QST, I would point you to the two give-aways that Michelle Davidson Argyle is having on her blog right now.

In other news, every time I watch Deep Space Nine, I remember why I used to write sci fi.  All benefits to focusing on my genre duly noted, there's just something powerful about being able to manipulate an entire universe against your poor hapless characters.

Back to books for moment, it's recently been announced that RJ Ellory's next release in the US will be A Simple Act of Violence.    RN Morris has released a small teaser of the cover for his next book, The Cleansing Flames.  And while there's no cover art yet, you can pre-order Jennifer Hillier's debut thriller, Creep.

Okay, Tex Mex Hotdish.  This is what Minnesotans would eat if Minnesota were in Mexico.  In a baking dish, one layer of ground beef, browned with diced onion.  Next, a layer of corn, rotel, and green chiles.  Next, a layer of cheesy salsa.  Finally, the layer of tater tots.  Then bake per the tater tot directions.  It's not health food, except for putting a smile on your face.

Random enough for you?

.Nevets.

RJ Ellory: In the Den of Arbitrary

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Many of us are tangentially aware that there is an element of the arbitrary that runs strong in the publishing world, as in any other realm where the choices of individuals are of high importance.  Bestselling British author RJ Ellory is aware of this more keenly than many.  He has kindly offered this recounting of his struggle to kick start his now award-winning writing career:


I started writing on November 4th 1987, and between then and July 17th 1993 I wrote something every day except for three days when I was going through a divorce.  I completed twenty two novels in that time, something in the region of three and a half million words, and at different times I was in discussion with a couple of agents, with one or two publishing companies, but nothing ever really got as far as I would have liked.  I wrote first of all in longhand, and then I got a typewriter, and finally ended up with an Amstrad dedicated word-processor that took about half an hour to warm up!  


I spent those six years sending the material I was writing out to British publishers, and received about five hundred  complimentary, very polite, Thanks, but no thanks letters.  I also have two lever arch files with something in the region of three or four hundred straightforward format rejection slips.  This is just from companies that didn’t even look at stuff.  I understand the sheer volume of work that a handful of people have to wade through in a publishing house.  People have given me figures on just how many unsolicited scripts come to the major publishing houses each week, and that figure is astounding.  


It wasn’t that British publishers didn’t like my work; they just felt that they couldn’t ‘sell’ an English writer writing US-set novels.  They advised me to send my work to the US, and I dutifully complied.  I then received many, many letters from the US publishers saying that they liked my work, but they didn’t feel they could sell an English writer writing US-set novels!


Despite this Catch-22 situation, my belief was that if I just kept on going I would eventually find the right person in the right company at the right time.  I had this datum from Disraeli who said, Success is entirely dependent upon constancy of purpose.  Nevertheless, after six years of doing this I finally thought ‘Enough’s enough’, and I stopped writing.  I then studied music, photography, all manner of things, and didn’t go back to writing until the latter part of 2001.  


It was then that I wrote ‘Candlemoth’.  I sent that to thirty-six publishers, thirty-five of whom sent it back.  All except Bloomsbury, and an editor there gave it to a friend who gave it to a friend, and it wound up at Orion with my current editor, and we have now worked together through eight books.  Despite his initial enthusiasm for the book, it still took him four moths to convince his colleagues that they should publish the book!  Since Orion signed me there have been a couple of comments made by a couple of publishers I have met about how they should perhaps have pursued things with a little more tenacity back in the early days.


The earlier unpublished stuff will probably stay right where it is in the loft.  It was a different genre, more supernatural in a way, and I write better now anyway.  I think the time away from it between 1993 and 2001 made me more succinct, gave me a greater clarity about what I wanted to say.  I have gone back recently and read some of my earlier work and it was a little verbose.  But hell, it was good practice!


Now it’s a different game.  Now I know the things I write are going to be read, and that makes a lot of difference.  It has its own issues, its own obstacles, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.  As John Lennon said, Find something you love, and you’ll never work another day.

R. J. Ellory

Ellory's books, which are all available in the United Kingdom, include A Quiet Belief in Angels and The Anniversary Man, which are also available in the United States.  (His other books often be found in the Amazon.com marketplace in the US, as well.)  His latest release is The Saints of New York.

Ellory writes psychological suspense with a literary touch and human warmth, and a voice that echoes around your imagination until it lands in your heart to stay.