Ask the Author: Joe Clark
Answered Questions (12)
Joe Clark
Like all writers of fiction, I draw on my memories as a source of my creations.
Three of my four novels have been set in the Greater DC metropolitan area where I have lived for over 40 years.
The Walshes are Catholics - practicing but not deeply committed. April is a struggling writer and her world view most closely mirrors mine (at least in my opinion). Husband Joe is a career engineer like me. He played varsity sports in college - like me. Their daughter Becky was based in part on my daughters.
Jack Edward's physical appearance is based on a cop I had a run in with while a grad student at VPI.
The setting and some of the characters carry-over to Demented,
Physical confrontations in the two books are informed by my decades as a martial artist - Shotokan Karate and Kung Fu
MacGregor's Final Battle is partly biographical Mac is an elderly, retired engineer - many details of his early life and career are borrowed from my life. But my second wife and I are still chugging along and we have a great relationship with out children. Kate Graham was inspired by a friend who is a nurse and Eddie Flores is modeled on my son-in law. The road trip was inspired by my own experiences driving across country.
Three of my four novels have been set in the Greater DC metropolitan area where I have lived for over 40 years.
The Walshes are Catholics - practicing but not deeply committed. April is a struggling writer and her world view most closely mirrors mine (at least in my opinion). Husband Joe is a career engineer like me. He played varsity sports in college - like me. Their daughter Becky was based in part on my daughters.
Jack Edward's physical appearance is based on a cop I had a run in with while a grad student at VPI.
The setting and some of the characters carry-over to Demented,
Physical confrontations in the two books are informed by my decades as a martial artist - Shotokan Karate and Kung Fu
MacGregor's Final Battle is partly biographical Mac is an elderly, retired engineer - many details of his early life and career are borrowed from my life. But my second wife and I are still chugging along and we have a great relationship with out children. Kate Graham was inspired by a friend who is a nurse and Eddie Flores is modeled on my son-in law. The road trip was inspired by my own experiences driving across country.
Joe Clark
Thank you, Sara. I have been giving some thought to this question. I cannot pinpoint one book - either as a life guide or as influencing my writing. Certainly no one book influences both writing and living.
As to writing, Stephen King's "On Writing," is a strong influence but it doesn't give specific guidance. "Fast Fiction" by Denise Jaden, the first book I read when I started writing novels, was more helpful. "Revision and Self-editing" by James Scott Bell introduced me to those processes. Finally "Conflict and Suspense" by Bell was my bible while I was writing Demented. Each of those books strongly influences how I approach my writing.
As to life, I believe I am more influenced by people real and fictional. Bret Maverick is my culture hero. Rhett Butler is another icon. I can't stand characters like TV MASH's Major Burns. I have read a great many books covering many aspects of life. Two stand out. The Tao Te Ching attributed to Lao Tsu and a book I can't find on Amazon. Back in the 70's, I read a book about a new way to look at living. Somewhat like The Power of Positive Thinking and PsycoCybernetics. I believe there were three main principles: Define your life goals in a way that gives you the best chance of winning; stay focused on your goal - don't let side issues get the best issues; create a garbage dump where you can dispose of the negative crap that gets dumped in your lap. I try. But like almost everybody else I find it difficult to focus on draining the swamp when I'm up to my ears in alligators.
As to writing, Stephen King's "On Writing," is a strong influence but it doesn't give specific guidance. "Fast Fiction" by Denise Jaden, the first book I read when I started writing novels, was more helpful. "Revision and Self-editing" by James Scott Bell introduced me to those processes. Finally "Conflict and Suspense" by Bell was my bible while I was writing Demented. Each of those books strongly influences how I approach my writing.
As to life, I believe I am more influenced by people real and fictional. Bret Maverick is my culture hero. Rhett Butler is another icon. I can't stand characters like TV MASH's Major Burns. I have read a great many books covering many aspects of life. Two stand out. The Tao Te Ching attributed to Lao Tsu and a book I can't find on Amazon. Back in the 70's, I read a book about a new way to look at living. Somewhat like The Power of Positive Thinking and PsycoCybernetics. I believe there were three main principles: Define your life goals in a way that gives you the best chance of winning; stay focused on your goal - don't let side issues get the best issues; create a garbage dump where you can dispose of the negative crap that gets dumped in your lap. I try. But like almost everybody else I find it difficult to focus on draining the swamp when I'm up to my ears in alligators.
Joe Clark
Writing any story in two sentences is a burdensome undertaking and a horror story by someone who does not write in that genre would be doubly demanding probably resulting in nothing more than a horrific maudlin romance between a giant and her elfin lover who could not satisfy her with his tiny thingie which might nonetheless strike some aficionados of fine writing as a real horror as opposed to a mere fictional horror. So I doubt my ability to write a horror story in two sentences even if I were to ignore punctuation and make the sentences run on for thousands of words.
Joe Clark
I would pick medieval Ireland where I could ride horses and sail the ocean on wooden ships and fight back the British incursions. Of course, Rhett Butler's world in "Gone with the Wind" would be a close second.
Joe Clark
Generally, I get ticked off or really pissed about something. I just wrote a short story taking issue with drunk sex as rape. Drunk sex is very common and 42% of reported rapes involve two drunks and it is almost certain that the woman is going to be the victim. So I wrote a story in which the woman was the aggressor just to see what kind of reaction I would get.
I wrote my first novel, "Survive", as a protest against the myth that science is making our lives better. The science of nuclear energy for example has had many positive benefits but it has produced some really bad fall out. Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Chernobyl are starters. The situation is getting worse as nuclear weapons continue to proliferate. Even nuclear power has produced nearly 70,000 tons of deadly waste that we cannot realistically dispose of. In "Survive", terrorists get their hands on some of that waste and make bombs. Fortunately, God and the good guys are able to keep the mayhem to a minimum.
My new novel picks up the action 16 years after a gang rape that was the basis for a Law and Order SVU episode. In "Return of the Rapist", the lives of the victim and her attackers are brought together to resolve some issues that were swept under the rug by the TV show.
I wrote my first novel, "Survive", as a protest against the myth that science is making our lives better. The science of nuclear energy for example has had many positive benefits but it has produced some really bad fall out. Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Chernobyl are starters. The situation is getting worse as nuclear weapons continue to proliferate. Even nuclear power has produced nearly 70,000 tons of deadly waste that we cannot realistically dispose of. In "Survive", terrorists get their hands on some of that waste and make bombs. Fortunately, God and the good guys are able to keep the mayhem to a minimum.
My new novel picks up the action 16 years after a gang rape that was the basis for a Law and Order SVU episode. In "Return of the Rapist", the lives of the victim and her attackers are brought together to resolve some issues that were swept under the rug by the TV show.
Joe Clark
I am putting some time into developing ideas and writing short fiction. I just developed a preliminary outline for a crime novel tentatively titled "Return of the Rapist." It will a follow on to "The Walshes". Eve and Jack Edwards and friends will deal with an attack on a woman by one of the men involved in a gang rape 16 years earlier. One of the men got off with a slap on the wrist. The other man has just finished serving 15 year prison sentence and is trying to rebuild his life. When the lives of the victim and her attackers suddenly come back together bad things begin to happen.
Joe Clark
At the moment- as Summer approaches - I am reading two unpublished novels and trying to learn marketing.
The goal I set at the beginning of '17 was to expand my reading by incorporating women authors, romance and mystery. I have a Patricia Cornwell novel, "Dust" and a Catherine Coulter novel, "Insidious" on deck. But for my sanity, I also have David Baldacci's "The Escape." I have some reading on human behavior and building conflict and suspense into my stories.
The goal I set at the beginning of '17 was to expand my reading by incorporating women authors, romance and mystery. I have a Patricia Cornwell novel, "Dust" and a Catherine Coulter novel, "Insidious" on deck. But for my sanity, I also have David Baldacci's "The Escape." I have some reading on human behavior and building conflict and suspense into my stories.
Joe Clark
On the night of January 7. 1985, my wife began complaining that she didn't feel well and needed to go to the hospital. I put it off because she was a hypochondriac. When I woke the next morning she unresponsive. Then I called for an ambulance. She was taken to the hospital. Two days later, after thousands of dollars in tests, she was pronounced dead. The doctors were never able to explain what happened.
PS: I have subsequently learned that certain combinations of common pain medications can cause a catastrophic break down in people suffering from Lupus. This is the most likely explanation of what happened to my wife
PS: I have subsequently learned that certain combinations of common pain medications can cause a catastrophic break down in people suffering from Lupus. This is the most likely explanation of what happened to my wife
Joe Clark
I am not sure how you define crazy. Beside I am just finishing my second book and even with two more on the drawing board, the sample size is too small for a real answer to your question.
I think my characters will always be off-normal to some extent. The main characters in "Survive" are a very bright, wounded warrior, with an engineering degree and a love of flying but no legs; a reservation Indian trying to make it as an FBI agent in white society and a moxie African American woman who has a future as an FBI agent - they are tasked with preventing an attack on our Capitol with a nuclear bomb made out of nuclear waste and hidden in a Winnebago. There is certainly some craziness. My second novel stars a suburban housewife, with a good-looking, intelligent husband (software engineer), two kids and a slightly unusual family of Irish relatives. There is some craziness but the tenor is more serious.
The other two books will probably be similar. But it is hard to tell. In both of my novels walk-on characters that I had not planned on develop into major players. FBI agent Amy Watson started out as a courier and ended up shooting the terrorist before he could set off the bomb. In this novel, the daughter, Becky, is much stronger than I expected. Hattie Stewart was brought into this novel to drive April Walsh around at night but she ends up with a much more important role. In one of the two novels that I have started, a Catholic Priest rescues a woman who has been beaten, robbed and raped and left for dead. She turns out to be a Morrocan Jewess who ghost writes for a living. I am sure that the two of them are going to end up married but I have no idea where the journey will take us.
I think my characters will always be off-normal to some extent. The main characters in "Survive" are a very bright, wounded warrior, with an engineering degree and a love of flying but no legs; a reservation Indian trying to make it as an FBI agent in white society and a moxie African American woman who has a future as an FBI agent - they are tasked with preventing an attack on our Capitol with a nuclear bomb made out of nuclear waste and hidden in a Winnebago. There is certainly some craziness. My second novel stars a suburban housewife, with a good-looking, intelligent husband (software engineer), two kids and a slightly unusual family of Irish relatives. There is some craziness but the tenor is more serious.
The other two books will probably be similar. But it is hard to tell. In both of my novels walk-on characters that I had not planned on develop into major players. FBI agent Amy Watson started out as a courier and ended up shooting the terrorist before he could set off the bomb. In this novel, the daughter, Becky, is much stronger than I expected. Hattie Stewart was brought into this novel to drive April Walsh around at night but she ends up with a much more important role. In one of the two novels that I have started, a Catholic Priest rescues a woman who has been beaten, robbed and raped and left for dead. She turns out to be a Morrocan Jewess who ghost writes for a living. I am sure that the two of them are going to end up married but I have no idea where the journey will take us.
Joe Clark
The basic impetus for my new novel, "The Walshes", comes from a Susie Bright's "How To Write a Dirty Story." I wanted to get out of my comfort zone so I put my main character in a setting where she would have lots of opportunities for sexual encounters. I sent her on an undercover exploration of the sex for entertainment industry. I did a lot of on-line research but many books that I have read over the years - going all the way back to Polly Adler's "A House is not a Home" and "The High Cost of Loving" by an author whose name escapes me up to Rachel Moran's "Paid For" - contributed ideas. As the story evolved, it became more about families and relationships - many of which are based on my own personal experiences and the stories friends have told me.
Joe Clark
For me the best thing about being a writer is working with the stories. I like being able to fix things when I come across something that bothers me. The worst thing is that I need to share my stories which means that I have to market them.
Joe Clark
Any answer to this question is going to be disappointing. There are millions of fictional couples that I have not yet encountered and there are a bunch more that I cannot think of a the moment. Lucy and Desi or Nick and Nora Charles probably fit what I am looking for - a couple that makes life work. I would like to see a couple that bottles Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords or Barack and Michelle Obama. But my first gut choice has to Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler - if only the two of them had actually gotten back together.
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