Originally posted on ThrillersRus 7/8/11
Today's interview is with Daniel Clarke Smith, author of Win or Go Home.
I met Dan at a mystery writers conference at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis a couple of years ago. We were talking and I invited him to check out our writing/critique group and he's been a member since.
Dan has recently published his book and I wanted to let you all get to know him a little better and learn about the book.
Doug: Dan, can you tell us a little about you?
Dan: I grew up in many places because my dad was a career Naval officer. I arrived in Minnesota in 1968 to attend college and never left. I make my living as a family practice physician. I started practice in 1982.I’ve got a family of three wonderful daughters and I met the love of my life, Cathy, eleven years ago at the turn of the century. Adding her two daughters gave us a pretty cool extended family.
Doug: What can you tell us about Win of Go Home?
Dan: Rick Parker is a physician turned bounty hunter who is on the verge of losing his second career as the story begins. His boss, an ex-pro wrestler called Angel, likes him enough to give him another chance. He’s supposed to find a bail skipper named Michael Norton, a sales rep for a large pharmaceutical company who’s accused of stealing the formula for a blockbuster drug the company has developed. The secret is worth billions to unscrupulous overseas interests. What’s more, Norton’s wife Samantha has offered a reward for his capture, an unusual move for someone related to a fugitive. Samantha acts more than a little interested in Parker, complicating a romantic interest he’s developed with another character. Samantha has a daughter named Emily, who is an autistic savant with remarkable abilities in music. She doesn’t say much, but Parker realizes she knows a lot about the case. To get her cooperation he enlists the help of a de-frocked priest he met on the streets of Tacoma, Washington. The reader gets to observe what Norton is doing on the run and the people helping him evade Parker but there are numerous twists and plot misdirections to keep the reader guessing a bit.
Doug: How did you get to this point? What was your writing history?
Dan: I wrote a 100 page thriller when I was in the eighth grade but aside from a few false starts as an adult, I didn’t buckle down until 2007 when I encountered the internet event called National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I wrote 50,000 words in one month and added a few more afterwards. That book will never see the light of day, but it made me realize I could find the discipline to finish a writing project, which is half the battle. I took a novel writing course at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis the following winter under the guidance of the talented David Housewright. I read writing and agent blogs, produced a couple more forgettable thrillers, went to a couple of conferences and met you, which is how I got into a critique group. Being a member of a supportive group was the catalyst for starting WIN OR GO HOME in November 2009.
Doug: What about critique groups, people feel differently about them?
Dan: Critique groups: very important for new writers. It has several benefits, first being accountability. The group expects you to write, so you write instead of making excuses and sloughing off. Second, you learn to spot good (and bad) writing in others and then turn the microscope on yourself, but not in a negative way. It's like the old adage that holds the best way to learn something is to try to teach it. Third, the members bring new information about writing and publishing to the group to share it. The potential downside is having the group become an echo chamber of mutual praise rather than honest criticism. I think our group has a pretty good balance.
Doug: Are you a plotter or seat of the pants?
Dan: It’s a combination, but I lean more toward seat of the pants. I always start with a general outline and an opening hook, but I let the characters dictate how the story progresses. It has led to some blind alleys and major re-writes, but I function better that way. I guess it’s up to the reader to decide how successful I am.
Doug: Advice for other authors?
Dan: First and foremost: Finish the book. I heard it from Housewright and every other author. A blank page will never be published. Second, make the opening so strong the reader will feel compelled to turn the page. It won’t help if the interesting stuff happens on page two. Finally, it doesn’t hurt if you write for a genre that is about to explode, like Stephanie Meyer, Amanda Hocking or JK Rowling, but we all can’t be that lucky.
Doug: Marketing and promotion plans that have worked or you have planned?
Dan: That is the daunting part. There are so many books out there, how can I get readers to look at mine? I’m on Twitter and Facebook as well as having a blog, but those are simply tools and I need to use them to best effect. I try to do something every day in the way of marketing, however small. I appreciate your giving me the chance to show my work to your readers. I’ve signed up for a service called BookRooster.com that will send copies of my book to potential reviewers. If my writing is good enough to garner good reviews it can only help.
Doug: What's your favorite book, that isn't yours?
Dan: I might have a different answer on another day, but I remember “discovering” SHOELESS JOE by WP Kinsella before it became the movie FIELD OF DREAMS. I was captivated by its magical qualities and the fabulous inclusion of JD Salinger as a character. Plus, I love baseball.
Doug: Kindle or nook?
Dan: Funny--I own a Sony Reader. I prefer to keep books on my hard drive, but I have Kindle for PC on my computer.
Doug: Anything else coming out or available for your readers? What's next?
Dan: The next book features Rick Parker and is titled WINNER TAKES ALL. Parker is chasing a fugitive who turns out to be half of a set of twins separated at birth. One of them kills the other, but who killed whom?
Thanks, Dan. Great to see the quick follow with another in the series.
You can all find Win Or Go Home on kindle, nook or smashwords and learn more about Dan at some of the links below.
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058B9JIA
Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/kLeTNr
Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/68568
Check out my blog Pulp Free: http://danielclarkesmith.blogspot.com/
Find me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/danclarkesmith
Check out my Smashwords Author page: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/golfdoc50
I met Dan at a mystery writers conference at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis a couple of years ago. We were talking and I invited him to check out our writing/critique group and he's been a member since.
Dan has recently published his book and I wanted to let you all get to know him a little better and learn about the book.
Doug: Dan, can you tell us a little about you?
Dan: I grew up in many places because my dad was a career Naval officer. I arrived in Minnesota in 1968 to attend college and never left. I make my living as a family practice physician. I started practice in 1982.I’ve got a family of three wonderful daughters and I met the love of my life, Cathy, eleven years ago at the turn of the century. Adding her two daughters gave us a pretty cool extended family.
Doug: What can you tell us about Win of Go Home?
Dan: Rick Parker is a physician turned bounty hunter who is on the verge of losing his second career as the story begins. His boss, an ex-pro wrestler called Angel, likes him enough to give him another chance. He’s supposed to find a bail skipper named Michael Norton, a sales rep for a large pharmaceutical company who’s accused of stealing the formula for a blockbuster drug the company has developed. The secret is worth billions to unscrupulous overseas interests. What’s more, Norton’s wife Samantha has offered a reward for his capture, an unusual move for someone related to a fugitive. Samantha acts more than a little interested in Parker, complicating a romantic interest he’s developed with another character. Samantha has a daughter named Emily, who is an autistic savant with remarkable abilities in music. She doesn’t say much, but Parker realizes she knows a lot about the case. To get her cooperation he enlists the help of a de-frocked priest he met on the streets of Tacoma, Washington. The reader gets to observe what Norton is doing on the run and the people helping him evade Parker but there are numerous twists and plot misdirections to keep the reader guessing a bit.
Doug: How did you get to this point? What was your writing history?
Dan: I wrote a 100 page thriller when I was in the eighth grade but aside from a few false starts as an adult, I didn’t buckle down until 2007 when I encountered the internet event called National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I wrote 50,000 words in one month and added a few more afterwards. That book will never see the light of day, but it made me realize I could find the discipline to finish a writing project, which is half the battle. I took a novel writing course at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis the following winter under the guidance of the talented David Housewright. I read writing and agent blogs, produced a couple more forgettable thrillers, went to a couple of conferences and met you, which is how I got into a critique group. Being a member of a supportive group was the catalyst for starting WIN OR GO HOME in November 2009.
Doug: What about critique groups, people feel differently about them?
Dan: Critique groups: very important for new writers. It has several benefits, first being accountability. The group expects you to write, so you write instead of making excuses and sloughing off. Second, you learn to spot good (and bad) writing in others and then turn the microscope on yourself, but not in a negative way. It's like the old adage that holds the best way to learn something is to try to teach it. Third, the members bring new information about writing and publishing to the group to share it. The potential downside is having the group become an echo chamber of mutual praise rather than honest criticism. I think our group has a pretty good balance.
Doug: Are you a plotter or seat of the pants?
Dan: It’s a combination, but I lean more toward seat of the pants. I always start with a general outline and an opening hook, but I let the characters dictate how the story progresses. It has led to some blind alleys and major re-writes, but I function better that way. I guess it’s up to the reader to decide how successful I am.
Doug: Advice for other authors?
Dan: First and foremost: Finish the book. I heard it from Housewright and every other author. A blank page will never be published. Second, make the opening so strong the reader will feel compelled to turn the page. It won’t help if the interesting stuff happens on page two. Finally, it doesn’t hurt if you write for a genre that is about to explode, like Stephanie Meyer, Amanda Hocking or JK Rowling, but we all can’t be that lucky.
Doug: Marketing and promotion plans that have worked or you have planned?
Dan: That is the daunting part. There are so many books out there, how can I get readers to look at mine? I’m on Twitter and Facebook as well as having a blog, but those are simply tools and I need to use them to best effect. I try to do something every day in the way of marketing, however small. I appreciate your giving me the chance to show my work to your readers. I’ve signed up for a service called BookRooster.com that will send copies of my book to potential reviewers. If my writing is good enough to garner good reviews it can only help.
Doug: What's your favorite book, that isn't yours?
Dan: I might have a different answer on another day, but I remember “discovering” SHOELESS JOE by WP Kinsella before it became the movie FIELD OF DREAMS. I was captivated by its magical qualities and the fabulous inclusion of JD Salinger as a character. Plus, I love baseball.
Doug: Kindle or nook?
Dan: Funny--I own a Sony Reader. I prefer to keep books on my hard drive, but I have Kindle for PC on my computer.
Doug: Anything else coming out or available for your readers? What's next?
Dan: The next book features Rick Parker and is titled WINNER TAKES ALL. Parker is chasing a fugitive who turns out to be half of a set of twins separated at birth. One of them kills the other, but who killed whom?
Thanks, Dan. Great to see the quick follow with another in the series.
You can all find Win Or Go Home on kindle, nook or smashwords and learn more about Dan at some of the links below.
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058B9JIA
Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/kLeTNr
Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/68568
Check out my blog Pulp Free: http://danielclarkesmith.blogspot.com/
Find me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/danclarkesmith
Check out my Smashwords Author page: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/golfdoc50
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