Ask the Author: Don Phelan
Answered Questions (6)
Don Phelan
It's working title is "The God Particle: Annihilation."
It is a story about what would happen if the government knew of impending doom based on a Stephen Hawking theory, but kept it secret from the public to prevent mass hysteria. But one young, PhD candidate who discovers the secret threatens to blow the whistle and collaborates with her mentor to save the day. Of course, the intelligence agencies are hot on their heels to silence them ... permanently.
It is a story about what would happen if the government knew of impending doom based on a Stephen Hawking theory, but kept it secret from the public to prevent mass hysteria. But one young, PhD candidate who discovers the secret threatens to blow the whistle and collaborates with her mentor to save the day. Of course, the intelligence agencies are hot on their heels to silence them ... permanently.
Don Phelan
I look for an interesting location -- a city like New Orleans, an inner city of any major city, a seashore. Then I watch the people within that environment and begin developing characters.
Don Phelan
I have always enjoyed weaving stories. In my 20's and 30's, I had the opportunity to work with some of the most brilliant creative minds in the advertising business. I realized that, although they had a pretty fair head start, I had a talent for writing I had not realized.
It is gratifying when someone says, "I laughed, I cried, I fell in love with the characters."
It is gratifying when someone says, "I laughed, I cried, I fell in love with the characters."
Don Phelan
I once attended a seminar where Larry McMurttry (Lonesome Dove) spoke. His advice was an acronym: "AIC -- A** In Chair." Put your backside in the chair every day for at least an hour. Even if you type nothing more than "A quick brown fox" during that time, do it every day.
That may not be realistic if you have a full-time job, children, etc. But at least do this: Create a schedule for your writing and live by it. No excuses. If it is to write two hours every weekend, your book will eventually get written.
That may not be realistic if you have a full-time job, children, etc. But at least do this: Create a schedule for your writing and live by it. No excuses. If it is to write two hours every weekend, your book will eventually get written.
Don Phelan
I imagine the characters in a setting. A place that fits and drives the story. Then I get them talking, writing dialogue. Then I go back and paint the environment around them.
Don Phelan
More than 40 years ago, I, as so many others did, carved my initials in the beech tree, a tree known by tourists and townspeople alike as the place to share their loves, their lives, their hopes and dreams beneath the tree. The tree toppled in a freak storm in 1998 but I didn't discover that until more than a decade later when I went looking for the tree. Is just sat there, on the ground where the tree once stood, and wondered, "Whatever happened to all those people; the ones who carved their initials in the tree? What were their lives like? I wonder if I ever met any of them in passing and felt a "Don't-I-know-you-from-someplace?" moment, never realizing that we had been at the same place at different times ... The Beech Tree.
So I wrote a chapter Then another. Then 46 more.
So I wrote a chapter Then another. Then 46 more.
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