Writer
Sometimes a title makes all the difference. It’s like this sprinkle of magic that makes a project come together and suddenly it all makes sense. And that is true for Unfinished Business: The Cases of Walter Anchor Ghost Detective. Unfinished Business encapsulates the journey of an earth bound spirt (i.e. ghost) perfectly. And especially Walter Anchor as he tries to solve his own murder. As I was finishing up Walter’s stories earlier in the year, …
2020 has been a difficult and unusual year. You all are living through it too, so you know what I’m talking about. The COVID-19 pandemic alone would make it a very unusual year much less the racial tensions, political madness, unprecedented wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, and economic disaster (and a bunch more has happened since I started writing this post a couple of weeks ago). This new reality changes things. The obvious huge things (illness, death, …
It’s release day! The Red Arrow Murders is out! It’s been a long journey with Walter Anchor. The idea for a ghost detective came to me when I was working on To Be a Fool, which came out in 2013. I started his first story while that novel was finishing up. I was having so much fun with it that he and Emily have a cameo in To Be a Fool. The initial thought was …
With the series I write, I always think of them in terms of the wider story arc, and in the case of Neutrinoman and Lightningirl in terms of Seasons. I call them “Seasons” for a reason. There is a larger story being told across all the episodes. And, yes, “Season” and “Episode” sounds like a TV show on purpose. It’s the way I think of this. These three books (Off Book, Hard Times, and Elemental …
Okay, Walter Anchor used to be an actor so why not have him solving a murder in a Hollywood? A murder with a particularly Hollywood kind of vibe. He’s a ghost after all and moving about is easy. That is the starting point to this unique murder mystery. Long ago when I was in high school and then again briefly about ten years ago, I did some acting. As a teenager it was plays, lots …
I am ending the Stir Crazy Story program, for now at least. I am leaving Meteor Attack! up for free for a while seeing how there are six episodes in the series now, but it feels like this program has run its course. When I started this, it was just COVID-19 and the world was on lock down. It’s a lot more complicated now with the economy, the racial unrest, and political madness all on top …
Today I am wrapping up Season 2 of Neutrinoman and Lightningirl: A Love Story with Elemental Factors. This season delighted me because in the writing it took so many interesting turns that I didn’t expect (yeah, I know it sounds strange, but it’s the way I write. I follow the characters and they sure surprised me here). I don’t have a timeline yet, but there will be a Season 3. There is a lot more …
I have no words for what’s going on right now in our world (writing this in early June, 2020), at least ones that seem useful. Except be kind. We are all on this planet together and kindness seems needed more than ever. The book choice for this slot was made before the particular madness descended, but it somehow feels right. “Toxic” is a good way to describe our current situation. And while I don’t think …
There’s are best practices for writing a series and then there are… what I did with this series. It has been an education on what not to do. My wife once jokingly called this story (in a different form with a different name) my “white whale.” She cast me as Captain Ahab on a quest to exact my revenge on Moby Dick. It wasn’t quite that bad, but it was a struggle. An unusually difficult …
Back in 2017 when I was doing my Short Story Marathon, stars kept coming up thematically. Or, more specifically, that feeling I get when I look up at the Milk Way on a cold clear night. Over and over stars appeared in those stories. There was this feeling I wanted to convey, this thought, this concept. And while a lot of the stories benefited from the idea, I knew it wasn’t quite there. Until I …