Ask the Author: Patrick McCusker
Answered Questions (13)
Patrick McCusker
Dear Lissa: The 'what if' is always important in writing medical mysteries in particular. I recently wrote a novel - Then There Was Certainty. This is about cloning. Starting off on this the idea seemed a bit too far fetched but now two years later it is a lot less so. I have read recently that scientists can now evolve both eggs and sperm from skin. We live in exciting time: a time of imagination for writers
Patrick McCusker
Yes, writing is therapeutic. Writers who write and write again but never get published should realize the benefits to their good mental health in what they are engaged in. I wrote a book - Planet Dancing - This is about the need to conserve species. I got nothing but delight in the two years it took me to write this book.y
Patrick McCusker
Dear Lissa and all other writers with the same dilemma. For most writers they are incapable of turning off. It can be the case of a writer looking out a window and been accused of doing nothing when in fact he or she is actually trying to work out some writing problem that they have.
I have heard that writing can be compared to getting a sexually transmitted disease in that the more you try you will eventually succeed! The need to write is a compulsion - and that means writing or editing something every day. If circumstance prevents that the writer can actually feel unhappy that the day has been wasted. So yes, the need to write is always there.
Other than Lissa are their other writers out there who have the same experience? I'm sure that both of us would love to hear from you. So how about it? Regards. Patrick.
I have heard that writing can be compared to getting a sexually transmitted disease in that the more you try you will eventually succeed! The need to write is a compulsion - and that means writing or editing something every day. If circumstance prevents that the writer can actually feel unhappy that the day has been wasted. So yes, the need to write is always there.
Other than Lissa are their other writers out there who have the same experience? I'm sure that both of us would love to hear from you. So how about it? Regards. Patrick.
Patrick McCusker
Dear Caroline: It is extraordinary the different approaches writers take to their work. You seem to have worked out a way that works for you and that's great. I tried, over the years, keeping notebooks of ideas but none of it worked for me. My approach is to sit down with blank pages - and hope something comes to mind. With my medical thriller FEAR I started off from an idea by watching drops of water fall from an icicle. Not much to go on but then the heroine of the story, a young Japanese-American doctor walked onto the page and just about wrote the story. Where she came from I have no idea but this is the wonderful thing about writing.
Do others out there have similar stories, or indeed different approaches to how to get started?
Best wishes Caroline with the writing. Patrick.
Do others out there have similar stories, or indeed different approaches to how to get started?
Best wishes Caroline with the writing. Patrick.
Patrick McCusker
Dear Lisa: Character-led novels are a dream. I don't know where such characters come from but they seem to just sit down beside you and take over the plot. The young lady doctor, the heroine in the medical thriller - FEAR - was such a character. She had me sitting down every morning at the computer as though i had no choice in the matter and seemed to be shouting at me to get on with it as though her very existence depended on it. And in a way it was.
Other characters can be wooden and refuse to come to life. At an early stage it's best to dump these because unless you like your characters they won't work. That lady doctor, the heroine in FEAR I need you back. Where are you?
Other characters can be wooden and refuse to come to life. At an early stage it's best to dump these because unless you like your characters they won't work. That lady doctor, the heroine in FEAR I need you back. Where are you?
Patrick McCusker
Dear Lissa: My first draft of a novel is always handwritten. i think that that allows the author to get closer to what she/he is trying to say. I then pulverize this draft with red and green corrections to the point that some pages become unreadable. Only then do I type the story up on a computer.
You write great books on horse racing. To do that you must keep great amounts of notes to get the authentic feel that you project in your work. I suspect that you too write everything out in longhand before putting your stories onto a computer.Maybe I'm wrong here but let me know if everything you do is first done as longhand? Indeed it would be interesting to know how many other writers start out their stories in pen and ink. If there are other writers out there who write in longhand it would be great to hear from you and share how we all approach this devil of writing books. Patrick.
You write great books on horse racing. To do that you must keep great amounts of notes to get the authentic feel that you project in your work. I suspect that you too write everything out in longhand before putting your stories onto a computer.Maybe I'm wrong here but let me know if everything you do is first done as longhand? Indeed it would be interesting to know how many other writers start out their stories in pen and ink. If there are other writers out there who write in longhand it would be great to hear from you and share how we all approach this devil of writing books. Patrick.
Patrick McCusker
Dear Lissa: I see that you are a writer yourself with some wonderful books on horse racing to your name. You will therefore know that reading widely across many subjects is essential to a writer. I read lots of books about nature and indeed have written one myself - PLANET DANCING. I read books about volcanoes, art, religion, history, antiques, entomology, astronomy etc. Most of what you read may not prove of use in your writing but some of it will and will stimulate imagination. Indeed in my medical thriller FEAR I described an insect with a revolting nature. I had been reading about it two years before writing the book but never thought I would find what I had read to be useful at a later date.
I am sure you must find the same need to read widely. Such seems to be an essential requirement if one is to be a writer. You might wish to come back on this and tell me what you read and how you have managed to acquire such a wide knowledge on horses and horse racing.
Regards Patrick.
I am sure you must find the same need to read widely. Such seems to be an essential requirement if one is to be a writer. You might wish to come back on this and tell me what you read and how you have managed to acquire such a wide knowledge on horses and horse racing.
Regards Patrick.
Patrick McCusker
Dear Lisa: In answer to your question something first triggers the idea. Then imagination kicks in with a bunch of 'what ifs'. Only then does research and tramping through the streets of cities to gather information come into play.
The archaeological thriller called THE EXTRAORDINARY TEMPTATION was triggered by me driving on a long journey in Winter with neither heater nor radio working. Without warning an idea flashed into my head. With all the science available to us now - would it be possible to clone Christ? I have no idea where that fearful idea came from. But two years later I had a novel to hand. Most of the settings are in Boston and in Texas with a bit also at a monastic settlement in Ireland. The novel is both frightening and I hope inspirational in that it offers the possibility that God does indeed exist.
The thriller - FEAR- came about by watching water drop from an icicle. How such a simple observation like that could lead to a medical thriller I do not know. But within eighteen months I had a thriller entwined around a love story. In this case the settings were China and America with a young lady doctor the heroine.
Both of these thrillers are now on Amazon and can be read on tablets. And I am pleased that both are receiving four plus star recommendations.
Regards Patrick McCusker.
The archaeological thriller called THE EXTRAORDINARY TEMPTATION was triggered by me driving on a long journey in Winter with neither heater nor radio working. Without warning an idea flashed into my head. With all the science available to us now - would it be possible to clone Christ? I have no idea where that fearful idea came from. But two years later I had a novel to hand. Most of the settings are in Boston and in Texas with a bit also at a monastic settlement in Ireland. The novel is both frightening and I hope inspirational in that it offers the possibility that God does indeed exist.
The thriller - FEAR- came about by watching water drop from an icicle. How such a simple observation like that could lead to a medical thriller I do not know. But within eighteen months I had a thriller entwined around a love story. In this case the settings were China and America with a young lady doctor the heroine.
Both of these thrillers are now on Amazon and can be read on tablets. And I am pleased that both are receiving four plus star recommendations.
Regards Patrick McCusker.
Patrick McCusker
Hello readers. I am most appreciative of you throwing an eye over anything I have to say.
So, what am I currently working on?
I have written three books to date and I am just about finished the fourth. This new work has taken me a long time to write with a lot of put-asides followed by re-visits. It is written with several layers of meaning. Above all it is a humorous book - on first appearance. But under the surface there is the story of a murder. It too brings to life the interweave of characters in a small village and that of a mysterious stranger that comes among them. An event, over the concluding chapter, drives many to their knees.
Now where is my editing red pen! Time to scrutinize two more chapters and then to feed the cat.
Best regards to all.
Patrick McCusker.
So, what am I currently working on?
I have written three books to date and I am just about finished the fourth. This new work has taken me a long time to write with a lot of put-asides followed by re-visits. It is written with several layers of meaning. Above all it is a humorous book - on first appearance. But under the surface there is the story of a murder. It too brings to life the interweave of characters in a small village and that of a mysterious stranger that comes among them. An event, over the concluding chapter, drives many to their knees.
Now where is my editing red pen! Time to scrutinize two more chapters and then to feed the cat.
Best regards to all.
Patrick McCusker.
Patrick McCusker
This is a question often asked. Writing can be most odd. You are having a cup of coffee or half asleep in a chair and an idea just floats into your head. Three years later you have a finished novel of 300-400 pages. Where such ideas come from is a mystery. Mystery or not grab at such ideas with both hands.
I have mention this somewhere else but it is worth a mention here in this context. On a winter's night I was driving a long distance when both the heater and the radio mysteriously stopped working. I was left to my imagination with the rain hitting the window.
Then a fragment of a thought - What if the true Crown-of-Thorns was discovered? And what if a tiny piece of mummified skin was found on one of the thorns? Through that journey little more came to me but I had the unsettling sensation that that thought had been implanted in my imagination. On the basis of that, several years later, the religious thriller -The Extraordinary Temptation - came into existence.
So I would say to new writers worried about what they might write about to stay relaxed and let an idea rise up and slap you in the face. When it does, grab at it and write down the fragment that has come to you before it falls away again. Now you have something to work with. A bit more on this in a youtube interview I did might help some. At least I hope it will.
Best regards
Patrick McCusker.
I have mention this somewhere else but it is worth a mention here in this context. On a winter's night I was driving a long distance when both the heater and the radio mysteriously stopped working. I was left to my imagination with the rain hitting the window.
Then a fragment of a thought - What if the true Crown-of-Thorns was discovered? And what if a tiny piece of mummified skin was found on one of the thorns? Through that journey little more came to me but I had the unsettling sensation that that thought had been implanted in my imagination. On the basis of that, several years later, the religious thriller -The Extraordinary Temptation - came into existence.
So I would say to new writers worried about what they might write about to stay relaxed and let an idea rise up and slap you in the face. When it does, grab at it and write down the fragment that has come to you before it falls away again. Now you have something to work with. A bit more on this in a youtube interview I did might help some. At least I hope it will.
Best regards
Patrick McCusker.
Patrick McCusker
I have never had a real problem with writers block. That is not to say that it does not come from time to time to sit on my desk like a great grey boulder. So what does one do?
You are on page 70 and the writing comes to a screeching halt. Now what? Not another thought comes. On rare occasions I have sat hunched over for two hours in such a paralysis. Thankfully such situations are unusual. But what does one do?
I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said that he had a good day of writing in that he added a comma in the morning and in the afternoon he took it out again. So even the great ones are not immune.
The one piece of advice I can offer, from my own experience, is to get up and away from your desk for the day: you have hit a wall and you are not in a disposition to dismantle it. So take a day off. The problem seems to be that you have written yourself down a cul-de-sac from which there is no escape so you must back up the car and go a different way. To do this back up, if necessary 50 pages, and start editing/rewriting what you have done. Why? This will fire up your imagination once more and drive you onto a different road and away from the road block of the day before. That works for me. I hope it does for others too.
I wish you all good writing and may you not experience too many grey boulders sitting on your desk.
Best Regards
Patrick.
You are on page 70 and the writing comes to a screeching halt. Now what? Not another thought comes. On rare occasions I have sat hunched over for two hours in such a paralysis. Thankfully such situations are unusual. But what does one do?
I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said that he had a good day of writing in that he added a comma in the morning and in the afternoon he took it out again. So even the great ones are not immune.
The one piece of advice I can offer, from my own experience, is to get up and away from your desk for the day: you have hit a wall and you are not in a disposition to dismantle it. So take a day off. The problem seems to be that you have written yourself down a cul-de-sac from which there is no escape so you must back up the car and go a different way. To do this back up, if necessary 50 pages, and start editing/rewriting what you have done. Why? This will fire up your imagination once more and drive you onto a different road and away from the road block of the day before. That works for me. I hope it does for others too.
I wish you all good writing and may you not experience too many grey boulders sitting on your desk.
Best Regards
Patrick.
Patrick McCusker
WRITING A NOVEL:
A novel might be seen as a fine boat cutting through water towards a distant destination. Fine - but it needs a crew to guide it. The crew members are the characters. You need to come up with characters that come 'alive' for the reader. Let readers love them, hate them, despise them - that is fine but never let your characters be dull.
There is debate about Point of View: that the story should be told from the position of one character, normally the main character. I generally subscribe to this though the POV of view can also be transmitted through others. But what should not happen, and this is a common fault among beginner writers - the POV should not flit from character to character in a needless way. This would throw your novel into confusion and diminish the forward movement of the boat.
The main character will take responsibility to drive the story forward. But who is this person? Always give them a background so we know where they are coming from. This need not be in the first chapters but it should be early on in the story. I did this by chapter two with my main character Pearl Fujiaka in the novel FEAR. I have seen other writers not introduce this information until much later in the story. The choice is up to you but I would favour you doing this early rather than late.
Hope this is of some use to writers starting off. I try to cover a bit more on this through Youtube Patrick McCusker.
Best regards
Patrick.
A novel might be seen as a fine boat cutting through water towards a distant destination. Fine - but it needs a crew to guide it. The crew members are the characters. You need to come up with characters that come 'alive' for the reader. Let readers love them, hate them, despise them - that is fine but never let your characters be dull.
There is debate about Point of View: that the story should be told from the position of one character, normally the main character. I generally subscribe to this though the POV of view can also be transmitted through others. But what should not happen, and this is a common fault among beginner writers - the POV should not flit from character to character in a needless way. This would throw your novel into confusion and diminish the forward movement of the boat.
The main character will take responsibility to drive the story forward. But who is this person? Always give them a background so we know where they are coming from. This need not be in the first chapters but it should be early on in the story. I did this by chapter two with my main character Pearl Fujiaka in the novel FEAR. I have seen other writers not introduce this information until much later in the story. The choice is up to you but I would favour you doing this early rather than late.
Hope this is of some use to writers starting off. I try to cover a bit more on this through Youtube Patrick McCusker.
Best regards
Patrick.
Patrick McCusker
My most recent book is a religious thriller called - THE EXTRAORDINARY TEMPTATION. How did the idea come about?
I live in Ireland and was driving one winter's night with rain lashing against the windscreen. Simultaneously the radio went out as well as the heater. I drove for hours with no heat and no radio. In the silence half a thought entered my head. a sort of 'what if' question. what if someone were to discover the true Crown-of-Thorns of Jesus Christ? I almost got the eerie impression that the idea had been implanted in my head in the silence of that night. A weird feeling.
Now three years later I have finished the manuscript and put it out into the world. Most writing starts with that initial 'What If' but how it progresses from there is a mystery. I have spent 4-5 hours at a session of writing and thought that no more than half an hour had passed. Those are great days when the imagination spins. Anyway that is how The Extraordinary Temptation came to be written.
Regards to all.
Patrick.
I live in Ireland and was driving one winter's night with rain lashing against the windscreen. Simultaneously the radio went out as well as the heater. I drove for hours with no heat and no radio. In the silence half a thought entered my head. a sort of 'what if' question. what if someone were to discover the true Crown-of-Thorns of Jesus Christ? I almost got the eerie impression that the idea had been implanted in my head in the silence of that night. A weird feeling.
Now three years later I have finished the manuscript and put it out into the world. Most writing starts with that initial 'What If' but how it progresses from there is a mystery. I have spent 4-5 hours at a session of writing and thought that no more than half an hour had passed. Those are great days when the imagination spins. Anyway that is how The Extraordinary Temptation came to be written.
Regards to all.
Patrick.
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