Ask the Author: Chris Beakey
Answered Questions (7)
Chris Beakey
Who's the Guardian Angel who kept me alive in the midst of all of those bad things that happened back then? I might know . . .
Chris Beakey
First, I'll just say this is one of the most terrifying things. I've had to deal with it waaaaay too often in my day job, when I feel like I'm strapped into a runaway car speeding toward a deadline (represented by a towering brick wall that the car is going to crash into). I've also had to deal with it less often during the novel and story writing, when it feels as if an equally fearsome wall is blocking all of my creative energy.
What both cases have in common - at least for me - is the combined challenge of trying to figure out what I want to say AND how to say it in the most compelling way.
I deal with the challenge sequentially, first by clearing my screen and simply telling myself: "write down what you need to say. What's the point you want to make?"
In my day job as a writer of speeches and other persuasive communications that kind of thinking might play out like this:
"The point I want to make is that people are a lot less likely to become involved in crime if they're well-educated enough to succeed in the workforce."
I know that's a dull way to start. It's telling, not showing, and is just a statement. But I've already relieved some of the Writer's Block pressure by at least putting down the point I want to make.
From there I'll think about 3 key pieces of evidence that will support that assertion or statement. Due to the nature of my day job that usually means referencing research or facts that prove the assertion is true. Once I do that I'm even farther along. I've come up with an argument and figured out how to win it.
At this point I can feel the pressure easing . . . After a few more minutes of thinking . . . and perhaps a 2 minute break to watch puppies or tennis on YouTube or gobbling a handful of french fries . . . I'll go back to that statement and think "what if I said it this way . . .?"
And then I might finally be able to write, in the first-person voice of a tough old police chief:
"Some of my worst days are when I look into the rear view mirror of my patrol car and see the faces of angry and often frightened teenagers on their way to jail. For most of these young men and women, that journey started not with the crime, but with the first of many moments in the classroom as they fell further and further behind."
While that opening isn't a head start toward a Pulitzer, it does represent a solid first step for telling a story - in this case a truthful one - and helping me see where I need to take that story from here. I'm probably still going to be a bit anxious, but not nearly as anxious I was when I was trying to think of what I wanted to say and how to say it in a creative, memorable way.
The process also works for me in fiction. Years ago, as I stared at a blank screen and contemplated how to start Fatal Option, I knew I had to tell the story of a suburban dad who's worried about the disintegration of the bonds between himself and his two teenage kids. I thought and thought and thought about this, considering all sorts of ways to start the story.
Until I finally just wrote down "Stephen Porter is about to do a very bad thing in an effort to save his family - a bad thing that he wouldn't do if not for the state of his mind."
I then realized what might contribute to that state of mind: a night of hard drinking. A raging snowstorm. And a shaky sense of vulnerability that Stephen cannot overcome.
At which point I wrote:
"The blizzard winds hit the bedroom windows with brute-force, the WUMP sounds registering in the recesses of Stephen Porter's mind as he hugged the extra pillow and yearned for a blackout sleep to take the sad night away. His arms and legs were heavy, his sinuses swollen from the emotions that had struck the moment he had climbed into bed. From downstairs he heard the faint chimes of the grandfather clock - a lonely sound resonating through the sparsely furnished rooms of his sprawling suburban house.
"WUMP"
"The windows shuddered again as he slipped into a deeper doze. He sensed a vague threat in the sound - a notion the glass might break as it persisted -
"Wump WUMP"
"- louder now, nudging its way into the dream-space between wakefulness and sleep, still a part of the physical world of his bedroom and his house . . . but with a reverberation of the past."
That's only a few paragraphs, but it reminds me of the simple wisdom reflected by E.L. Doctorow when he said, "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."
This resonates so well with me because even though I always knew exactly how Fatal Option would end, I didn't know exactly how I was going to get there. But I did get there by focusing on what was illuminated by those headlights and continuing on, slowly but steadily, until I was able to write the story's final words.
So . . . to summarize . . . when you're facing Writer's Block . . . the best way to loosen the bindings that are keeping you from being creative is to ease the pressure you're putting on yourself. Calmly think about what you want to say first, and then just say it. Then let your mind wander a bit until you figure out the words that will convey it in the most compelling way.
What both cases have in common - at least for me - is the combined challenge of trying to figure out what I want to say AND how to say it in the most compelling way.
I deal with the challenge sequentially, first by clearing my screen and simply telling myself: "write down what you need to say. What's the point you want to make?"
In my day job as a writer of speeches and other persuasive communications that kind of thinking might play out like this:
"The point I want to make is that people are a lot less likely to become involved in crime if they're well-educated enough to succeed in the workforce."
I know that's a dull way to start. It's telling, not showing, and is just a statement. But I've already relieved some of the Writer's Block pressure by at least putting down the point I want to make.
From there I'll think about 3 key pieces of evidence that will support that assertion or statement. Due to the nature of my day job that usually means referencing research or facts that prove the assertion is true. Once I do that I'm even farther along. I've come up with an argument and figured out how to win it.
At this point I can feel the pressure easing . . . After a few more minutes of thinking . . . and perhaps a 2 minute break to watch puppies or tennis on YouTube or gobbling a handful of french fries . . . I'll go back to that statement and think "what if I said it this way . . .?"
And then I might finally be able to write, in the first-person voice of a tough old police chief:
"Some of my worst days are when I look into the rear view mirror of my patrol car and see the faces of angry and often frightened teenagers on their way to jail. For most of these young men and women, that journey started not with the crime, but with the first of many moments in the classroom as they fell further and further behind."
While that opening isn't a head start toward a Pulitzer, it does represent a solid first step for telling a story - in this case a truthful one - and helping me see where I need to take that story from here. I'm probably still going to be a bit anxious, but not nearly as anxious I was when I was trying to think of what I wanted to say and how to say it in a creative, memorable way.
The process also works for me in fiction. Years ago, as I stared at a blank screen and contemplated how to start Fatal Option, I knew I had to tell the story of a suburban dad who's worried about the disintegration of the bonds between himself and his two teenage kids. I thought and thought and thought about this, considering all sorts of ways to start the story.
Until I finally just wrote down "Stephen Porter is about to do a very bad thing in an effort to save his family - a bad thing that he wouldn't do if not for the state of his mind."
I then realized what might contribute to that state of mind: a night of hard drinking. A raging snowstorm. And a shaky sense of vulnerability that Stephen cannot overcome.
At which point I wrote:
"The blizzard winds hit the bedroom windows with brute-force, the WUMP sounds registering in the recesses of Stephen Porter's mind as he hugged the extra pillow and yearned for a blackout sleep to take the sad night away. His arms and legs were heavy, his sinuses swollen from the emotions that had struck the moment he had climbed into bed. From downstairs he heard the faint chimes of the grandfather clock - a lonely sound resonating through the sparsely furnished rooms of his sprawling suburban house.
"WUMP"
"The windows shuddered again as he slipped into a deeper doze. He sensed a vague threat in the sound - a notion the glass might break as it persisted -
"Wump WUMP"
"- louder now, nudging its way into the dream-space between wakefulness and sleep, still a part of the physical world of his bedroom and his house . . . but with a reverberation of the past."
That's only a few paragraphs, but it reminds me of the simple wisdom reflected by E.L. Doctorow when he said, "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."
This resonates so well with me because even though I always knew exactly how Fatal Option would end, I didn't know exactly how I was going to get there. But I did get there by focusing on what was illuminated by those headlights and continuing on, slowly but steadily, until I was able to write the story's final words.
So . . . to summarize . . . when you're facing Writer's Block . . . the best way to loosen the bindings that are keeping you from being creative is to ease the pressure you're putting on yourself. Calmly think about what you want to say first, and then just say it. Then let your mind wander a bit until you figure out the words that will convey it in the most compelling way.
Chris Beakey
I'm never bored. I can live inside my head for decades at a time, with all of those stories spinning round and round . . . :)
This actually isn't a smart-ass answer. It's the way it is.
This actually isn't a smart-ass answer. It's the way it is.
Chris Beakey
I'll answer this question by recounting a conversation I've had countless times, most often around the publication of my first novel, DOUBLE ABDUCTION, in 2007, and these days as FATAL OPTION heads to press in February of 2017.
Friend: "I really liked this book. I read it in three hours. How long did it take you to write it?"
Me: "About 30 years. Because it took that long to figure out how to do this. That's 30 years of getting up a 5 a.m. every morning and writing for two hours before heading off to the gym and then to my day job as a ghostwriter. 30 years of imagining 'what-if' and then thinking through and writing what came to mind. 30 years of rejections, with a few memorable moments of praise. 30 years of reading everything I could, focusing largely on the work in my thriller/mystery genre . . . reading and also thinking about what made the stories work. And 30 years of talking about this stuff with other writers and editors and agents and publishers. In other words, living the writing life."
You can probably guess where this is going. My advice to people who really feel the need to write and who are dedicated to the craft is to write every day, or at least every day that you possibly can. You'll probably do better if you know your own body clock and are aware of the times of the day when you're most creative and inspired. For me, it's in the early morning hours, before my head becomes to cluttered with the crazy (but fun) amount of writing I do in my 9 to 5 day job. These are the quiet hours when the phone won't buzz and when no one will interrupt my thoughts. I have writer friends who find their magic time in the late night hours because that's when their imaginations and inspirations are firing on all cylinders. What's most important is that you find YOUR time - and commit to writing, or thinking about your writing, every day that you can.
My other advice is to not put too much pressure on yourself in your day-to-day writing life. Some days I'll write 1,000 words or even more, and other days I'll simply sit at the keyboard for two hours without writing much of anything but still thinking, imagining, wondering . . . that's as much as part of the writing process as what you actually put on the page. This is the thought behind one of my favorite phrases "writing is NOT typing." The typing is the means for transmitting what's in your imagination to the page. It can take a lot of imagining before anything gets transmitted.
If you really feel you must do this, you must believe in yourself and commit the time to doing your best. I'll also tell you that I went to college with people who had 10 times my level of talent (which, honestly, isn't abundant) but who didn't have the will. I think they've all done well, but not in careers that have anything to do with writing. I shaped my life differently, making sure I always made the time to do this. That's the main reason it's working for me now. That, and my everyday gratitude for the power of imagination and the support from my family and friends.
Friend: "I really liked this book. I read it in three hours. How long did it take you to write it?"
Me: "About 30 years. Because it took that long to figure out how to do this. That's 30 years of getting up a 5 a.m. every morning and writing for two hours before heading off to the gym and then to my day job as a ghostwriter. 30 years of imagining 'what-if' and then thinking through and writing what came to mind. 30 years of rejections, with a few memorable moments of praise. 30 years of reading everything I could, focusing largely on the work in my thriller/mystery genre . . . reading and also thinking about what made the stories work. And 30 years of talking about this stuff with other writers and editors and agents and publishers. In other words, living the writing life."
You can probably guess where this is going. My advice to people who really feel the need to write and who are dedicated to the craft is to write every day, or at least every day that you possibly can. You'll probably do better if you know your own body clock and are aware of the times of the day when you're most creative and inspired. For me, it's in the early morning hours, before my head becomes to cluttered with the crazy (but fun) amount of writing I do in my 9 to 5 day job. These are the quiet hours when the phone won't buzz and when no one will interrupt my thoughts. I have writer friends who find their magic time in the late night hours because that's when their imaginations and inspirations are firing on all cylinders. What's most important is that you find YOUR time - and commit to writing, or thinking about your writing, every day that you can.
My other advice is to not put too much pressure on yourself in your day-to-day writing life. Some days I'll write 1,000 words or even more, and other days I'll simply sit at the keyboard for two hours without writing much of anything but still thinking, imagining, wondering . . . that's as much as part of the writing process as what you actually put on the page. This is the thought behind one of my favorite phrases "writing is NOT typing." The typing is the means for transmitting what's in your imagination to the page. It can take a lot of imagining before anything gets transmitted.
If you really feel you must do this, you must believe in yourself and commit the time to doing your best. I'll also tell you that I went to college with people who had 10 times my level of talent (which, honestly, isn't abundant) but who didn't have the will. I think they've all done well, but not in careers that have anything to do with writing. I shaped my life differently, making sure I always made the time to do this. That's the main reason it's working for me now. That, and my everyday gratitude for the power of imagination and the support from my family and friends.
Chris Beakey
Right now, I'm doing something I've always loved, but with a lot more energy . . . and that is spending time with other writers and other people who love to read. One of the things I like most about Goodreads is the opportunity to learn which books are captivating people . . . which books they finish and immediately want to talk about. Because I read and write thrillers I tend to pay the most attention to what people have to say about these types of books. But I also enjoy stories about families, and about people confronting major obstacles in an effort to make the world a better place.
I also write reviews of my favorite books on my blog at blog.chrisbeakey.com . . . which currently describes thoughts on some of my favorite writers, including John Lescroart, Neely Tucker, Joseph Finder, Lisa Unger, Jeffrey Stephens, Louis Bayard, Gillian Flynn, Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Ed Markham, Kathleen Antrim, A.J. Tata, Doug Johnstone and the amazing Peter Swanson (who wrote The Kind Worth Killing - one of 2015's best). I also write reviews for the New York Journal of Books (nyjournalofbooks.com). In recent months at that site I've reviewed John Lescroart, Doug Johnstone, Peter Swanson, Melodie Johnson Howe and Steve Mosby.
The only thing I like more than thinking and talking about books is writing them . . . which is why I'm also allotting time almost every day for my next book, which I expect will be published about a year after Fatal Option is released in February. I'm about two thirds of the way through . . . my working title is DOUBLE DEATH. It's about a psychic in the Witness Protection Program who keeps outsmarting the guys who keep finding her - and who can't possibly be guilty of everything the U.S. Marshals suspect her of.
I also write reviews of my favorite books on my blog at blog.chrisbeakey.com . . . which currently describes thoughts on some of my favorite writers, including John Lescroart, Neely Tucker, Joseph Finder, Lisa Unger, Jeffrey Stephens, Louis Bayard, Gillian Flynn, Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Ed Markham, Kathleen Antrim, A.J. Tata, Doug Johnstone and the amazing Peter Swanson (who wrote The Kind Worth Killing - one of 2015's best). I also write reviews for the New York Journal of Books (nyjournalofbooks.com). In recent months at that site I've reviewed John Lescroart, Doug Johnstone, Peter Swanson, Melodie Johnson Howe and Steve Mosby.
The only thing I like more than thinking and talking about books is writing them . . . which is why I'm also allotting time almost every day for my next book, which I expect will be published about a year after Fatal Option is released in February. I'm about two thirds of the way through . . . my working title is DOUBLE DEATH. It's about a psychic in the Witness Protection Program who keeps outsmarting the guys who keep finding her - and who can't possibly be guilty of everything the U.S. Marshals suspect her of.
Chris Beakey
I love this question but always feel like I'm not answering it in the way people expect. For me, inspiration hasn't ever been a problem. I'm always inspired by the need to write (I was going to capitalize "need" but don't want to sound obsessive, or whatever :). I'm an ordinary person living a fairly ordinary life, but the storytelling gears are always working in the back of my brain. This can be a good thing, as a story unfolds from my mind to the page, and it's certainly a lifetime thing since I can't imagine ever not being inspired, or running out of stories to tell. But I admit I sometimes wonder what it would be like to not hear those gears cranking in the background when I'm simply trying to live that ordinary life. I'm not special in saying this - I hear the same thing from so many of my friends who are writers. It's a quality that creates the whole kindred spirit thing.
Chris Beakey
While I'm a happy person living a great life, I spend a lot of time worrying about bad things happening to good people. I'm also mindful of the value in cherishing your life when it's good, and as it's happening, because so much about that life can change in an instant.
As I describe it in the foreword to FATAL OPTION, I experienced one of these "what-if" moments about 10 years ago as I drove through freezing January rain on a narrow road that twisted its way through the forest. I tapped the brake, which immediately sent my Jeep into a sideways slide . . . in that moment there was nothing but the sight of the car spinning toward giant old growth trees and the certainty that my life was going to end in a smash-up of glass and steel.
Fortunately, Ronnie, the guardian angel I've been acquainted with since the age of 17 (speaking truthfully here) once again reached down, this time with a hand that brought me to a stop across that road. for several seconds I couldn't move. I just stared out at the darkness, thinking of the two teenage kids I would have had in a parallel life, and a good man who might do a very bad thing, for the best of all possible reasons.
I couldn't get it out of my mind. I still can't. Because in my mind this is exactly how it happened.
As I describe it in the foreword to FATAL OPTION, I experienced one of these "what-if" moments about 10 years ago as I drove through freezing January rain on a narrow road that twisted its way through the forest. I tapped the brake, which immediately sent my Jeep into a sideways slide . . . in that moment there was nothing but the sight of the car spinning toward giant old growth trees and the certainty that my life was going to end in a smash-up of glass and steel.
Fortunately, Ronnie, the guardian angel I've been acquainted with since the age of 17 (speaking truthfully here) once again reached down, this time with a hand that brought me to a stop across that road. for several seconds I couldn't move. I just stared out at the darkness, thinking of the two teenage kids I would have had in a parallel life, and a good man who might do a very bad thing, for the best of all possible reasons.
I couldn't get it out of my mind. I still can't. Because in my mind this is exactly how it happened.
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