David Grace's Blog: David Grace Author Blog - Posts Tagged "new-book"
Started New Book
After spending a long time thinking about the next book (number 13) and working on the character backgrounds, the plot and the detailed outline, I have finally started writing.
I just finished Chapter Nine, about 14,000 words.
I looked up "cognitive dissonance" on Google a few minutes ago. They list a quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald -- “The true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time.”
I guess I must have a first-rate mind because I'm certainly feeling that way about this book.
On the one hand, I think I am doing a great job. I think the writing is terrific, that the characters are admirable (or despicable), that the dialog is true-to-life and I feel an emotional tug when I read the scenes.
On the other hand, I think that many people who like mystery novels will not much like this book which means that I'm doing a terrible job. Why do I think that?
Instead of starting with a crime or an action scene, which is the convention, I start with a lone detective in a squad room. To make it worse, by the end of Chapter Nine I still have not included a single action scene -- no depiction of a murder, no gunfight, no car chase. Neither have I introduced the villain, leastwise let the reader in on the villain's plans for his next evil deed if the hero does not succeed in thwarting him.
If all of that wasn't bad enough, I cannot summarize the story in one sentence, or in two, not even in three. Four? Maybe four.
This is practically a primer on how NOT to write a crime novel.
So, here are my two simultaneously held conflicting beliefs:
1) that this will be a terrific book and that I am thrilled with the work I have done so far
2) that I am doing a bad job, -- that crime-novel readers will not like this book, not a simple enough idea and not nearly enough shoot-outs and car chases.
My only option is to keep writing.
I just finished Chapter Nine, about 14,000 words.
I looked up "cognitive dissonance" on Google a few minutes ago. They list a quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald -- “The true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time.”
I guess I must have a first-rate mind because I'm certainly feeling that way about this book.
On the one hand, I think I am doing a great job. I think the writing is terrific, that the characters are admirable (or despicable), that the dialog is true-to-life and I feel an emotional tug when I read the scenes.
On the other hand, I think that many people who like mystery novels will not much like this book which means that I'm doing a terrible job. Why do I think that?
Instead of starting with a crime or an action scene, which is the convention, I start with a lone detective in a squad room. To make it worse, by the end of Chapter Nine I still have not included a single action scene -- no depiction of a murder, no gunfight, no car chase. Neither have I introduced the villain, leastwise let the reader in on the villain's plans for his next evil deed if the hero does not succeed in thwarting him.
If all of that wasn't bad enough, I cannot summarize the story in one sentence, or in two, not even in three. Four? Maybe four.
This is practically a primer on how NOT to write a crime novel.
So, here are my two simultaneously held conflicting beliefs:
1) that this will be a terrific book and that I am thrilled with the work I have done so far
2) that I am doing a bad job, -- that crime-novel readers will not like this book, not a simple enough idea and not nearly enough shoot-outs and car chases.
My only option is to keep writing.
New Book -- The Concrete Kiss
I have just released my latest, 13th, novel, "The Concrete Kiss." This is a crime novel set in Upstate New York with two plot threads -- a metro detective and an FBI agent on the trail of a cartel hit-man and an injured girl who escapes a predator but whose trouble is not over.
It is currently available on Amazon, Apple and Smashwords. It will be on Barnes & Noble in about a week. The trade paperback edition ($8.99) will be available from Amazon and Wildside Press around September 1st.
It is currently available on Amazon, Apple and Smashwords. It will be on Barnes & Noble in about a week. The trade paperback edition ($8.99) will be available from Amazon and Wildside Press around September 1st.
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