Bill Conrad's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"

Writing fiction is supposed to be fun. The great part is that you can do anything you want. Write a about a big space adventure? Sure! How about a crime drama set in the old west? No problem, knock yourself out. But what about writing fiction for money? Well, it’s still supposed to be fun. You can still write about anything you want. One would imagine it’s like being a race car driver. You get to race around the track and they pay you to drive an expensive car. It’s the same thing. You pen something up and then other people ohh and ahh over your fantastic words and then you collect a check. Simple. Right?
I got into writing for profit for a seemingly unlikely reason. I was laid off. Sunstrand [Pratt and Whitney] [UTC] dissolved their San Diego location. I could see what was going to happen long before my coworkers suspected there was a problem. The company was in such poor shape that I sent my resume out six weeks after I started working there. There were rumors and all kinds of plans to keep the place going. In the end, I worked there for just two years. The work was good I made several friends.
After I was laid off, I began working part time for a medical product development company. This work was sparse and there is not a lot of money in it, but it keeps me sane. For many years I had several stories that I wanted to write and I thought about them often. One day I just decided to write up my best three ideas. At the time, I great hope that these three books would lead to instant cash. I was quite naive on how publishing worked.
When I first started, I was under no delusion that I was an accomplished writer. My background is Electrical Engineering. I know that I am good at being an Engineer and I know that in general, people only get one bite at the talent apple. My plan was to write three books and then figure out what to do.
The three ideas I had were completely vetted in my mind and the words just flowed out. The process took 3-4 weeks each. My last story did have some minor issues wrapping up the ending, but I figured it out. I would not describe the process as fun, but it was satisfying.
It was now time to get them published and I started with my first one, Interviewing Immortality. [Hey, quick authors tip. Always put your book title in Italics, it makes you look sophisticated.] After I wrote the three books, I had my mother edit them. She has a lot of English talent and this helped me immensely.
And so my financial quest began. I three books and surly one of them would be popular. This process was supposed to be simple and the Internet should now make this easy! Just send the word document off to hundreds of publishers, one of them would like it and they send me a big fat check. There is probably a website that will do all of this for you! Instant payday!!!
Well, sending your book off to publishers no longer works that way. In fact, I probably never really worked that way, but it is a nice dream. The reality was that publishers “do not accept unrepresented manuscripts.” [Hey, quick authors tip. Publishers call your book a manuscript. It makes them sound sophisticated.] Getting someone to represent your work is at best expensive and generally impossible. After you do get a book represented, they want at least 20% of your profit.
It was pure luck that I got connected with a self-publisher helper and she convinced me to try self-publishing on Amazon. The problem was that I had to put out a lot of my own money up front to get the ball rolling. And again, I thought that after I did this simple self-publishing step that the fat checks would magically appear. I quickly learned that Amazon self-publishing doesn’t work that way. A smart individual like myself would probably have suspected this and done a bit of background research.
So, now I had a book on Amazon and I needed to get the word out. In my natural state, I’m a quiet person. I didn’t have a Facebook account or any other kind of online presence. [Well, a few patents… But that is another painful story.] I quickly understood and began building my outward personality. There were ~100 sites for promoting books and I found ~30 of them that were free. That was a start, but that was not a solid connection to the audience I was attempting to connect to.
I had always wanted to start a blog. This seemed like a fun thing to do. When I signed up for Goodreads, there was a blog section. This seemed like a good idea and I decided to give it a stab. With some luck, people will enjoy my ramblings and want to learn more. BUY MY BOOK!! ITS LIKE THIS BLOG BUT MUCH BETTER!!!
However, this does not answer the main question. Knowing what I know now, why do I write? I am now fully aware that writing for profit is a long road. I have three more books ready for editing and publishing. Getting this done is an expensive process [$5-7K each] and that expense comes right from me. I’m not sure how many more times I can keep self-publishing books with no light at the end of the tunnel.
But again, this still does not answer the question that is in the title of the blog. Why do I write? For me, coming up with an idea is easy and I have the ability to put it down on paper. For the moment, I also have the time.
Do I get any joy out of the process? That is a more complex answer. How cool was it when I did an internet search and came up with my name as an author. The answer was: so-so. There was also not much joy in telling my friends about my book. I wrote for two years and they didn’t know what I was really doing until I showed them a copy. One friend shook my hand and this was actually a really nice gesture.
The true answer to this question comes from a strange place. After I have written a book, I do many self-edits. Tighten a sentence, add a concept, clarify, delete and re-arrange. Each time I go through my book, there is a new application of the story. It may sound strange, but I get a lot of happiness while I am doing this. The story is familiar and I completely know what is happening within the words. I can fully picture what the character is doing and feeling. There is a really strange comfort level to the editing process. I guess it is sort of like putting on shoes that you have had for a long time. They fit, they work, they get you to where you are going and I know for an absolute fact that they will protect my feet.
There was an unexpected end to this warm feeling. At some point, I had to let the book fly out of the nest. The edits had to stop and then your work gets to be enjoyed by others. Will they like it? Will they hate it? In my case, I have generally gotten positive feedback with my book, Interviewing Immortality. [Hey, quick authors tip. Mention your book a lot. Repetition leads to sales.] Granted, this feedback was from my friends, but still they liked it. The real issue is getting others interested and then having them tell their friends.
Well, there you have it. I like to re-read my work and that’s probably the strangest answer for why a person wants to write. It makes me wonder if other writers are like that. I read an interview of an author when I was in high school and this author said he was in love with one of his characters. At the time, I thought this was really weird. As I was writing my three books, I thought a lot about this statement and it now makes more sense. I do have an attachment to the characters I create, but I would not use the word love. A better word is “understanding.”
Now, Interviewing Immortality is available for sale and the edits have completely stopped. When I was writing the sequel, I went back to the first book a few times. It was a good experience to get back to the original story, but it was not the same. I absolutely couldn’t make any changes and this was a letdown. I suppose in a way it was like meeting an old girlfriend after she was married and reliving old romantic times knowing that you can never kiss her again.
Strange way to end my first blog entry. With some luck, there will be many more blogs to follow. One last thing. BUY MY BOOK. Seriously, not having full time work is killing me. I need the money! Spending $2.99 will really help me out. Putting a review online will help me out even more.
You’re the best -Bill
September 10, 2017

Wikipedia defines dystopia as “an imaginary community or society that is undesirable or frightening. It is literally translated from Greek as ‘not-good place,’ an antonym of utopia.” For as long as there have been fiction writers, they have been envisioning a dystopian future. We see it today in stories such as Mad Max, Enders Game, Blade Runner, The Walking Dead, Book of Eli, 1984 and many others. The dystopia future allows writers to paint the picture of a bleak future where people run amuck. This allows writers to have the plot freedom that cannot be achieved in the present “normal” world.
There is a twofold reason why people are drawn to this kind of plot. Let’s use the Mad Max franchise as an example. The characters in Mad Max are on the brink of starvation and they drive around in crazy cars attempting to survive. Why do we like this? Because society does not allow this this kind of outlandish behavior. If somebody were to drive a “non-street legal” car around while committing many crimes, it would be big news and the person would be arrested. This is a good thing because bad driving and crime is detrimental to a pleasant society.
When we let our imagination wonder away from our normal society and enjoy the Mad Max story, it’s kind of fun. How cool would it be to drive around in a super charged monster car? Breaking everything in sight and overcoming adversity? That is precisely why we like the Mad Max dystopian future. There are no rules and this helps us cope with the rules we don’t like in our society. The result is essentially an entertaining pressure release.
The second aspect we like about dystopian future is to compare this horrible future world to our own. For example, we might think, Meatloaf again? Well, that is not as bad as when Mad Max was grateful to eat a can of dog food. This terrible future reminds us how good our present lives are.
The only problem with dystopian future stories is that the envisioned dystopian future simply does not come true. Sometimes the readers panic over what they think might happen. For example, The Walking Dead inspired a LOT of people to buy guns.
When writers attempt to predict the future, the results are lofty and creative. If we rewind back to the 1950’s, it was predicted by many writers that in the 1980’s, there would be: flying atomic powered cars, robots walking among us, space travel, oppressive governments and nuclear wars. Obviously, none of these basic predictions came true. Of course, there were more realistic [conservative] writers that did a much better job of predicting the future such as Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. Their stories predicted such ideas as satellite communication and realistic computer usage.
Another aspect of the dystopian future stories from the 1950’s that has not come true is an oppressive society. Let’s take for example the George Orwell book 1984 written in 1949. It predicted a tightly controlled state where all people are closely watched all the time. Any crime is instantly detected and severally punished. May people have said that this dystopian future is here today. The point out that there are millions of security cameras along with millions of computers that automatically monitor our everyday activities. In addition, they point out an effective criminal system that uses technology such as DNA resulting in an unfair trial.
I do not disagree with the abundance of cameras, spying computers and unfair trials. However, our present is not even close to the dystopian future that George Orwell predicted. Few of these cameras are actively monitored. The cameras images are generally only looked at after a crime has occurred. In some public places, the cameras are actively monitored by security people. It is also true that in these places, the security people have abused the public’s trust. Has the abundance of cameras really stopped crime? Arguably, yes. Has it made our world better by stopping crime? Arguably, yes.
As for the computers monitoring our every move? Yes, there are sophisticated computers automatically monitoring us and sophisticated computers are even other computer systems. Are big government organizations monitoring me? Yes, but I am a nobody. The government doesn’t have the resources to prosecute my little crimes that are caught by cameras or computers. What about the computer monitoring? The main aspect of computer monitoring that truly affects me is that companies gain an edge for advertising and better marketing. [Do I really know what I am talking about? Check out patents 09/589,552 and 13/507,371] Is this computer monitoring wrong? Ya, probably. What effect does it have on me personally? I buy more stuff. Some of that stuff makes my life better and some of it is junk. Most of what I buy, I need or at least that is what I convince myself.
Have I lost all kinds of freedoms as the result of all this computer monitoring? Probably. Does this really affect me? Not really. Are computers listening to my phone conversations? Technically yes, actually no. Criminals spend a lot of time on the phone and computers and are generally not caught in this manner. Are my rights being violated by computers? Ya, probably. What is the worst aspect of this dreadful violation? The worst (in my opinion) is identity theft. Do I like it? I have been the victim of identity theft several times and I think the people that perpetrate this crime should be shot without trial. Why? When they took on my identity and in the process, they lost their own identity so technically they don’t exist. Will my punishment ever occur? Absolutely not. What does this have to do with government and society? Not much. Identity theft is just a new way for criminals to operate. People will always look for short cuts and identity theft is the new short cut.
What about AI? Will it destroy us all? It’s very unlikely. Computers are programmed by people and people still want to live peaceful lives. If we rewind back to the 1950’s there was a big scare with robots and computers. Robots first entered the factories and started taking the jobs from welders. What percentage of the factory did they take? Up to 1%. How about today? Now robots may have taken up to 20% of the assembly line jobs. But that’s misleading. Who builds and maintains the robots? People. Robots have just moved the jobs around.
Computers in the 1950’s took away jobs from people that worked with numbers. Today, computers take away jobs like: supermarket cashiers, bank tellers, newspaper printers/paperboys and record/tape/CD manufactures. However, like the factory robots, these jobs just got moved around to places like Facebook and Google. The overall result is that some jobs have been permanently taken away by computers. One could just as easily argue that increased government regulation, taxes, economic changes and worldwide labor shifts [jobs moving to different countries] are far more responsible for job loss than AI, robots or computers.
What about the oppression of the poor and disadvantaged? People will always be taken advantage of and this has been going on since before even writers could put words on a printed page. The good news is that the poor and disadvantaged now have many more options. For example, a person can get an accredited college degree online for nearly free.
Dystopian future writers have envisioned a world where the poor and disadvantaged rise up against “the man” and overthrow society into chaos. I would argue that this is actually occurring, but in a different form. It turns out that the poor and disadvantaged can vote just fine. It also turns out that they can use the internet/media to organize and their votes are now a force to be reckoned with. It also turns out that people can use internet/media in countries that you cannot vote to make effective changes in the government and society. So, in many ways the revolution has been going on for a long time with great results.
The point of this blog article is that the dystopian future predictions that all of these writers made in the 1950’s never really came true and that present dystopian future predictions are not likely to come true. Now let’s look at some things that did happen. There have been horrific events since the 1950’s that have deeply disrupted our lives. This included wars, natural disasters, manmade disasters, terrorist attacks and great social shifts due to technology.
Take for example, the horrific 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. This dreadful natural disaster was so big that it actually changed the maps of Japan. After the horrific incident, the proud people of Japan, mourned their losses, cleaned up, rebuilt, learned some lessons and got on with their lives. The point is that the people of Japan did not turn their country into anarchy like The Walking Dead where everybody killed to survive. Their society naturally dwelled toward getting back to a peaceful existence. Why did their society not turn into anarchy? The people of Japan wanted a peaceful society. They liked having safe streets, clean water and their children going to school. This horrific situation is a great example of how all the makings of a dystopian future were present and yet the people went far out of their way to make sure that they went back to a peaceful boring existence.
Our world is going to have wars [as I write this, North Korea looks like they might even start a nuclear war] and epic world changing natural disasters such as: super volcanos, comet impacts and plagues. Humans are survivors and it is in our core values to get through the bad times. It won’t be easy and there will be significant losses. However, it is in our “human” nature to return to a peaceful boring existence. When the next tragic event occurs, we will tough it out and get back to the way we are now.
My point in writing this blog article is that there is a natural drive within humans to live quiet boring lives and that’s just fine. There will always be writers that write about the dystopian future and that is also just fine. I personally like the Walking Dead and never miss an episode. We like stories that have excitement/drama/conflict and this is why the dystopian future stories were invented.
However, we must keep the concept of the dystopian future in check. These dystopian future stories are farfetched predictions are simply not going to come true. If you watch an episode of the Walking Dead and decide to build an underground survival shelter, you may want to reconsider your motives. History simply does not support that kind of possibility.
I was just about to post this blog and I noticed something. When I was in college at WPI in 1993, there was a student paper and this paper had an anonymous writer who went by the name of Froto. He took this penname from the Lord of The Rings character. Every week, Froto had a new rant that went on and on. Nothing was ever good and he whined about all that was bad while offering no solutions. I was annoyed by all of Froto’s writings and I generally skipped over that entire section of the paper.
It began to dawn on me that this blog post was kind of in the same vain. Here I am complaining about some minor aspect of our wonderful world. This made me think back to Froto’s endless complaints and it gave me time to pause. We are privileged to have the extra resources to employ writers and bring their visions to the wide screens. As proof of this; not a lot of North Korean fiction writers out there. What I have written in this blog is a simple observation. In essence, the dystopian writers envisioned a bleak dystopian future that never materialized. I am hoping that the people who read this blog do not feel that I am whining about dystopian future works. There are plenty of specific examples of fictional dystopian future’s that did indeed come true and I enjoy reading/watching dystopian future stories.
Now for the important part. BUY MY BOOK. PLEASE!!! MY CHECKBOOK IS LONELY! MY BOOK IS ONLY $2.99 ON AMAZON!!! Putting a review online will help me out even more.
You’re the best -Bill
September 24, 2017

Sorry for not posting in a while. Life has been a bit complex and it has taken me some time to get back into blogging.
From my perspective, there are a few ways to write a fictitious story with regard to the setting/timeline.
1) Nonsense. This is a story that is set in complete fiction like in the movie Star Wars. You can make up any rule you want. Trump was never elected in this universe because there is no earth.
2) Close to home. In this universe, reality is far away like in Star Trek. Trump was elected, but he died a long time ago and nothing he did matters to the story.
3) Parallel. In this time line, the story takes place and nothing major changes. This is easy to write for, because all the history is available. How did WWII end? Just look it up in Wikipedia. Trump was elected and he did what he did.
4) Skewed. In this reality, things are skewed. Think that awful Watchmen movie where America wins the Vietnam war because the naked big blue guy smashes everything. Trump is probably elected unless the big blue guy smashed his house.
5) Time travel. Everything can change. Trump who?
6) Tom Clancy Universe. In this universe, everything is normal up until the first book takes place. Tom Clancy’s character Jack Ryan enters in the 1984 and he steals a submarine. By the 90’s, Jack Ryan is president. In this universe, Trump could never be elected.
7) Sort-of Tom Clancy Universe. In this universe, there is a major event and then everything turns back into normal. For example, the JFK assassination isn’t successful. JFK finishes his term and eventually, Trump is elected. This type of story is an attempt to slightly re-write history, yet bring everything back to normal.
Let’s look at the specifics of the Tom Clancy Universe. There was a split in 1984 and we entered an alternate timeline (the Tom Clancy Universe.) The characters grow along a similar path to our reality. Some things didn’t change and some did. For example, Apple still invented their iPhone. However, some things get murky. Did 911 occur in Tom Clancy Universe? This is more difficult to answer. A lot of political events helped build the powerbase that created the circumstances to allow this unfortunate incident. Afterwards, there was a huge political response that completely changed the world.
In the Tom Clancy Universe, President Jack Ryan or his successor would be president 911 occurred. Thus, everything would be different. The powerbase or response might have been subdued or amplified. The answer is: This tragic event was simply not covered by a book. This has major consequences. For example: Would the Patriot Act have been approved? Hard to say.
All of this makes the Tom Clancy Universe an interesting place to write it. Once a writer chooses this path, it’s a slippery slope that’s full of traps. This makes it hard to get back to reality. The best way to navigate through the Tom Clancy Universe is to avoid writing about it. For example, President Jack Ryan’s Secretary of Defense is not actually named in any of the books. In this way, we cannot compare this person to a real person such as Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.
The good part of the Tom Clancy Universe is that it allows the writer to have a big story that isn’t bound. President Jack Ryan can increase taxes without protest. He can even have WWIII with full public/media support and not worry about how to pay for it. Tom Clancy wrote 3 books where this occurred. The problem is that the further down the Tom Clancy Universe we go, the farther we are detached from reality.
For example, who was the last president? We all know it was Obama. In the Tom Clancy Universe, who was the last president? Well, we have to read the last three books to find out. Who started Facebook? Was Facebook mentioned in the last Tom Clancy book? No. OK, the answer is Mark Zuckerberg. The result is that in the Tom Clancy Universe, all recent political “facts” are now in question.
Is the Tom Clancy Universe bad? I guess it depends on your prospective. My answer is that you just have to accept the Tom Clancy Universe when you start reading a Tom Clancy book. My point is that the more books in the Tom Clancy Universe that are written, the farther away from reality we get. This can lead to issues when a dramatic political event occurs such as 911, the Gulf War or Trump unexpectedly winning the presidency.
When I wrote Interviewing Immortality, I decided to take the parallel approach. I felt that the Tom Clancy Universe was too complex. I even went one step further and set this book slightly in the past. This allowed me to have some leeway to grow and be sure of the facts. For example, I know what TV shows were on 5 years ago. That will never change. I found that this was easier than the present, because the present is actually part of the future.
In my upcoming novel Cable Ties, I did enter the Tom Clancy Universe. All the political leaders were made up and the story flowed from there. I was careful not to mention what political party was associated with the characters and limited their background. I also intentionally didn’t mention any dates in the story. This prevents the reader from comparing the story to current events. All of these decisions allowed me the freedom to make huge political changes. In Cable Ties, the Vice president and President were both accused of major crimes and several politicians were arrested. In addition, the world was nearly taken into WWIII. When the novel concluded, I did my best to bring everything back to normal. This was to allow the reader to imagine that this story could have [or will] taken place and they were not aware of it. In my opinion, this is easier for the reader and it allows their mind to easily transition into believing that the farfetched story could have occurred (just under different circumstances.) If I had used real names such as Trump and Obama, then Cable Ties would have gotten crazy, complex and dated.
Now comes the hard part. I am writing a sequel, Cable Pairs. This will involve several of the main characters on a new adventure. Like the Tom Clancy Universe, I have declared a fictional character as president. Also, like the Tom Clancy Universe, I purposefully didn’t include the media reaction and all the crazy probing that people naturally do.
For me, this sequel is going to be difficult to write for because I will have to be very careful how to treat the characters. Readers can be really sensitive and if they find inconsistencies with the previous book.
Overall, a writer has to make a choice about how what setting they want to place their fictional story in. The Tom Clancy Universe is challenging and fun, but there are drawbacks as more details are added to the story. It is going to be interesting to see how my sequel pans out. Thanks for reading.
PS, Please buy a copy of Interviewing Immortality!!! It’s really a great read! I’m going major crazy here.
You’re the best -Bill
December, 12, 2017

When I decided to become an author, I had to make a minor decision. Should I use the name Bill Conrad or William Conrad? Growing up, everybody called me Bill and to me, that was my name. However, my birth certificate has my name as William and this is what I put on documents. It is also how I sign my name. Funny side story. 10 years ago, I was a contractor going onto a military base, Port Hueneme in Oxnard, CA. Due to paperwork confusion, my contractor identification listed my name as Bill while my driver’s license listed my name as William. The security guard manning the gate actually wanted to arrest me. When he told his supervisor what he had “discovered” and the supervisor biffed him on the side of the head. I was free to go.
For me, the decision of who my identity should be was an obvious choice and I became Bill Conrad, the author. Obviously, my decision didn’t make any headlines. In my mind, there simply was no other option and using a pen name would be a lie. To me, my work is a line in the sand. This is my book. If you don’t like it, that’s your opinion. I’m proud of the effort that I made.
Well, that should have been the end of this simple topic. As I began reading some of the posts on Writers Helping Writers, I could see many authors fretting over how their pen name sounded. Bob Smith posted, “How does the name: Randolph Drake sound? Is it too charismatic? Will it attract women to read my book? Will men be too emasculated to buy my book?” I couldn’t believe what I was reading and I hoped it was just a onetime post. But then I read more posts just like it. Then I thought, wait a second. Bob Smith just confirmed he was actually Randolph Drake! Wow, I just learned a big [open] secret! Then to my great surprise, people responded to Bob Smith’s pleas for help. “As a man, I would buy a book written by Randolph Drake.” “Randolph Drake does sound kind of sexy. How about Julian Drake? I always liked the name, Julian.”
The more I read these posts, the more confused I became. Were people ashamed of their own name? Did a pen name somehow elevate their reputation? The great books I like to read were by Tom Clancy, Neil Gaiman, and Ken Follett and they all used their own names. However, we all know authors who used pen names such as Joanne Rowling, AKA J. K. Rowling, and Robert Galbraith. Now, part of this I do understand. For example, if a person were writing about sensitive material where keeping one’s identify a secret is important. Also, if a man is writing romance novels which are traditionally written by women. There is even the case where a name just will not be taken seriously like Maynard Smellmore. Or if your name actually is Tom Clancy, you obviously have to have a pen name to keep your work from being confused with that popular name.
However, I still don’t understand why authors fundamentally want to disguise a perfectly valid name. I hit the random name generator and came up with: Tom Drake? Judy Collins? Not exciting names, but I would buy a book from Tom Drake or Judy Collins. These “plain” names certainly don’t offend me. In order to better understand this issue, I began searching the Internet to see if I could find the answer. I located many articles on the subject and read through them. The majority of them seemed to encourage authors to accept their choice of using a pen name. One of the articles did give a clue. It seemed that a pen name was kind of a safety net. If your first book was a flop, you could always change your pen name and nobody would know. I then read another account where Bob Smith leads a boring life, but Randolph Drake was liberated! Bob Smith had an escape and the freedom to write. This was the very definition of an alter ego. Bob Smith is a boring guy, but he turns into the fantastic writer Randolph Drake and bangs out incredible works. Somebody once told me, “Authors are a secretive bunch.” Was that it? You have to be alone to effectively write and a pen name helps get you into the mood?
The more explanations I read, the more confused I became. To me, my name is my name. Writing under a different name would not be honorable. An author should be proud of what they created. If they cannot be, then don’t publish. After a few hours of contemplation, I began to calm down. It all reminded me of what Bird Person said on Rick and Morty, “Wubba lubba dub dub which means, whatever floats your boat.” I guess I still don’t get it. Writing is just something from within and a pen name is something that other people use. A person has the words or they don’t. How the words flow is just another mystery like how one painter can really capture a stoic face in oil.
Would I ever use a pen name? What if my books all flop? What if next week a serial killer named “Bill Conrad” does something terrible? What if I decide to write a deeply controversial book about Area 51? The answer will be that “Bill Conrad wrote this book.” If I cannot be happy with my humble life being who I am, then that is my fault and nobody else’s.
As for other authors using pen names? I guess I still don’t get it and that’s alright. Being an author is difficult enough and if an author feels that a pen name will somehow give them an edge, then more power to them.

In the beginning, before people were even called people, they had intercourse. At that time, people didn’t even have a word for intercourse or understand their own biological mechanisms that were driving them. Over time, people came out of the caves, made clothing, formed societies, built cities and became civilized. Along with this development, the subject of intercourse went from a basic human utility to a deeply controversial, personal topic that holds a special place in our society.
Because intercourse is a controversial subject, it is difficult to write about. For me, I felt like writing such an intimate description would somehow stain my writing reputation or offend everybody that read my works. Books, magazines or newspapers that discuss intercourse can be considered “dirty” or at the very least, forward. However, mass media now provides an overwhelming amount of intercourse descriptions with the result being that the subject is less shocking. The problem with this is that our children are absolutely overwhelmed with intercourse information.
As a father, I have mixed feeling about this somewhat recent development. When I was growing up, it was difficult to get any information on the subject. Now with this information freely available, it will make it easier for my daughter to learn about the topic. However, I don’t want my daughter to be bombarded by intense graphic descriptions that are now in every corner of modern life. For example, we allow our daughter to watch the television program, Family Guy. There are intercourse references in almost every episode. I find it amusing that as we are watching television together, she isn’t even interested in the topic. In short, the topic of intercourse no longer holds the same special place it once did. It has become buried in the noise of everyday life.
In my second book (tentatively titled Kim and Gabe Survive,) a romance develops between the two main characters. When I had the idea of the book, I thought that writing an intercourse scene would be easy because I knew the plot. The words flowed into my computer and the result was a very steamy description. Overall, it was passionate and showed a lot of intense emotion. When I finished the book, I went back and self-edited my creation. Upon reading the intercourse scene, I was shocked. It was a very graphic adult description that wasn’t appropriate for what I was trying to achieve.
I toned down the scene to make it more mainstream. Unfortunately, I want a bit too far and the description was almost mechanical. Essentially, I had taken out all of the good stuff. I realized that I needed to better understand who the reader was. Was the reader expecting a graphic adult description or were they expecting a timid rated G description?
I went back over my description several times and made many changes. My goal was not to offend the reader while at the same time, keeping the passionate emotion present. One of my main writing rules I set for myself was not to use 4-letter word descriptions. To me, this is the definition of crossing the line between intercourse and filth. Instead, I used commonly accepted words to describe the intimate anatomy and the feelings shared between two loving people. I struggled with the exact wording to achieve this careful balance. The physical result was in-between an adult and textbook anatomy. The emotional element was in-between Playboy and a courtroom dialog. There is a lot of distance between these stark realities.
I have read a few romance books, and they generally take a different approach. They use lofty words to describe intercourse. For example, the male anatomy would be called something like, “his personal area” or a made-up word like, “gobble horn.” It is then left up to the reader to decode these cryptic descriptions into something understandable. There are hundreds of articles, web pages and writing books to help out romance writers in this effort. Yet, I decided not to take this path.
My reasoning is that the world has changed. Mass media has educated people and they are now mature enough to handle the reality of an intercourse description. In addition, birth control has turned intercourse into a fun normal activity as opposed to onetime privilege. This new level of acceptance is why the book 50 Shades of Grey was so popular. Was it a breakthrough book? In my opinion, it wasn’t. Graphic intercourse descriptions have steadily become more mainstream and 50 Shades of Grey surfed this news wave of reality. Did 50 Shades of Grey somehow help me out? Not really, books/tv/movies have been heading in this direction for a long time.
What will the future hold? Unfortunately, mass media has made the topic of intercourse so mainstream that the impact is nearly gone. The result is that this deeply personal experience is less special to the reader. I think that for many older books, the intercourse encounter was the apex of the story. Now, it’s simply a task. This me that is a bit depressing. At the same time, some people will still remain in past and the topic of intercourse will still be offensive to those people.
The good news is that it is becoming easier to write intimate scenes because there is less pressure to be timid. The bad news is that in the near future what used to be considered XXX rated will simply an unimportant part of all television shows or required reading for our children’s children.

In the movie/book, The Princess Bride, there is a great quote, “Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” There is much wisdom in these words. Like all great quotes, there is more than one interoperation and more than one lesson.
The truth is that I will probably never be a big-time author. I accepted this fate long before I started writing. That is not to say that I will not strive to be my best, but rather, I know the reality of the situation. With this knowledge, I put aside my self-doubts and self-published a book that I worked really hard on. In doing so, I learned a lot and I felt that the experience has helped in many ways. I also have enjoyed the experience. The few people who have read my work been kind with their sentiments, but a few haven’t. Their criticism was simple. I was too descriptive. I immediately wanted to yell, “What does that mean!!!” How can a book be too descriptive? The point of a book is to describe something. That’s why it’s called a book and not a rainbow!
I moped for a week and eventually got out of my negative funk. I accepted responsibility for my failings and agreed with their assessment. At my core, I’m an Engineer. I’m not an artist who is full of flowery words. I’m meticulous and my descriptions are precise. Simply put, when I write, there are no extra words. But then I go back over my work several times and try to flower it up as much as I can. An example of an initial attempt is, “The man walked into the room.” Clearly, this simple statement is boring and it evokes little in the reader’s eyes. However, it is a perfect description of what is occurring at that exact moment. With a lot of effort, my words evolved, “Bob noticed a man enter the room. He was approximately 5” 8” tall with blond hair and smartly dressed. It was clear that this man had a lot of intent as he scanned the assembled people. The fact that the man didn’t seem to recognize anybody worried Bob, but there was little he could do about it.” Wow, much better. Yet it still reads like an Engineer might have written it. Sorry. Best I can do.
Even with all my effort, comments from my beta reader (Mom) and updates from editors, I still got complaints after it was published. Honestly, they really hurt. Granted, I should have expected some pain. Haters have to hate, but that’s not the real story. This was my first work and there was bound to be a painful learning curve. Otherwise, everybody would be writing books. Being a logical person, I had planned for a learning process and only released 1 of 3 books that I had written. I wanted to test the waters and see what it was like to publish.
As an Engineer, I always had known that negative feedback is more important than positive. It takes more energy to be negative. For example, I could immediately give 10 compliments about the show Rick and Morty. That effort would be easy and fun. This is the definition of a positive experience. What would those compliments tell you? Obviously, I appreciate Rick and Morty. While my compliments are nice, they would only confirm that I am a fan of the show and that information would mean little. What do the creators of Rick and Morty gain by reading my compliments? My words wouldn’t help them improve their work other than to give them a warm feeling and perhaps the drive to continue.
Alright, let me try to be mean. Recently, I started to watch the Liam Neeson movie, “The Commuter” on Netflix DVD. I just couldn’t get into the story. Maybe it was the mood I was in or that I just was not into that kind of story. After 15 minutes, had had enough, I ejected the DVD and gave it 2 out of 5 stars on the Netflix site.
So, Mr. Negative. What feedback would I give the writers of The Commuter? How can I crush their dreams? Send some negative waves their way? Alright, challenge accepted. The Commuter should have been edited to shorten the beginning. This would allow viewers to get to the action scenes faster. Secondly, this plot was farfetched. There needed to be a better reason for Liam Neeson’s character to overcome his good morals. The outside mystery person influence was distracting to the overall plot and the result was a frustrated viewer.
How unfair was that? I just trashed a movie that hundreds of people put a lot of effort into. My flippant statements were all based on watching a movie for 15 minutes. Do I feel good about trashing their movie? No. Why? That’s not my personality. I don’t like to be a hater and it’s not good karma. There is already too much negativity in the world without me filling the Internet up with more. I felt my comments were honest and were intended to be constructive, but I would never post them on Netflix.
Now, hold on Mr. Wonderful. I have written a few reviews on Netflix and one was really bad. I completely trashed the movie, “The Thin Red Line.” I called my review, “Yentl meets Hamburger Hill.” Funny. Right? Why was I so cruel? I was looking forward to The Thin Red Line and I went to the theater opening day to watch it with my father. By the end of the movie, half the audience had left and the ones that remained loudly spoke of how bad the movie was. To me, it was two vastly different movies slammed together. One was an awful poetry movie and the other was a so-so WWII action-drama. The result made me upset over how much time I had wasted. I was so angry, that I took the time to write a scathing review on Netflix. I went even further to tell 4 of my friends not to see The Thin Red Line under any circumstances. They ignored my sound advice and 2 out of the 4 actually liked it.
Did that angry review make me feel a bit better? Absolutely. My venting made me feel much better and this relieved some of the pain of paying for this movie in the theater. The knowledge that my words might help somebody skip renting this awful movie is a good feeling. Let me be clear. It was my direct intent to tell others [people I had never even met!] never to watch The Thin Red Line. That is the very definition of hate.
Going full circle. What would the people involved in The Thin Red Line and The Commuter feel about me? As I read my own insults, I am beginning to wonder. I think that if I were them, I would be proud that I was part of a movie that many people know about. How would I feel about a person mocking my movie with the words, “Yentl meets Hamburger Hill?” I would probably think that this person was being mean and had no real knowledge of my great movie.
But then, I would have to take a step back and wonder if that person had a point. Eventually, I would realize that this mean critic indeed had a valid point. In time, I would realize that I should be grateful for their negative words. Yes, the pain would sting (really badly) and it would force me to try much harder. I recall a scathing criticism of my favorite band Rush. The critics call them, “tragically un-hip.” What would a person write such an unfair statement? Rush used that statement as a badge of honor. I guess that is what I need to do. So, bring it. Call me out and trash my work. All I can say is that I’m trying my best and I will continue to try my best even if I am being too descriptive.

In this wonderful world, there are certain people with special knowledge and we love it when they write a book. They could be astronauts who know what it’s like to live in space. Or they could be doctors who have a revolutionary theory of weight loss. Or, they could be famous people who we are so enamored with that we want to know everything about them. Side story. Did Linda Carter ever write a book? She probably has some great stories. Back to the blog.
Then there are people who have worked hard to make themselves interesting like an author that has written 5 wonderful books and we are on pins and needles waiting for book number 6. Or a person who spent their life learning about spiders. I bet they would know why spiders have 8 legs. Why not 6?
For some people, fate intervened and overnight some people became extradentary. I watched a video today about a man that climbed up the side of a multi-story building to save a baby. What a hero. I bet he could get a book deal. Others fell into it. The child of a famous person could easily get a book deal even if they have nothing to say. Or the person who lived next door to that famous/terrible/fun person. They certainly have stories to tell.
Tragically there are awful people and we want to know the terrible reason why they made so many bad choices. Do they just decide to be evil one day? Are they completely unaware of how bad the world perceives them? What was their true motivation for hurting so many people? Why did they claim to be innocent when it was so clear that they were guilty?
Then there are those who we wish would tell us about themselves. What happens in area 51? Are there really aliens living there? What really happened to Jimmy Hoffa? Could he still be alive? That guy at work who’s always happy. What’s his secret? Is he faking it? That lady that just walked past me. Why did she smile at me? Why is she wearing different colored socks? These deep dark secrets somehow remain out of the printed word.
Readers flock to purchase books that have this special knowledge about special people. The result makes for enjoyable reads and readers are filled with wonderful knowledge. This is one of the many sparks that makes life worth living and it drives the publishing world to reach new heights.
Yeah, I got none of that. Here are my best life experiences: I was scuba diving off the coast of San Diego during an earthquake. I knew something strange was happening and watched as the sand moved off the seabed. There was a strange dunk-dunk-dunk sound above me; like a large ship’s propeller. Only a few people ever have been diving during an earthquake. It’s likely that more people have been in outer space.
I climbed a rock face at the Gunks in New York. While every day at least 100 people climb the exact same rock, I considered this achievement to be one of the highlights of my life. I passed my second Electrical Engineering course on the first try. Not many people at my school did this because it was a gatekeeper class. I went skydiving once. I got really dizzy and wanted to barf. Never again. And finally, I got married. It was a really big day that had a lot going on. How did I feel about my best life experiences? Good at the time. Now, I don’t think about them much. In short, they don’t define me.
It appears that my life isn’t too exciting. Please do not misinterpret my words as being negative. I enjoy my life very much and appreciate every day that I’m privileged to be alive. My health is good, my family is normal, my friends are normal and my chosen profession isn’t too adventurous. I grew up in a nice part of San Diego with wonderful parents and a great sister. I have never been in jail, never been in a major traffic accident, never gotten into a major fight and I make a strong effort to be a pleasant person. The area where had low crime and not much happens. Not that I’m complaining, it is just that there are very few readers who would purchase my autobiography. In fact, you have just read all the major highlights. Presenting, average guy.
Now you might be tempted to think, “Hey, you just haven’t hit your stride. You can still do something great.” Not likely. I actually like living a boring life. I have no desire for fame and I go out of my way to be just a normal person. I never want to post a YouTube video, do something to get on the news or act in a movie. That’s just not my personality. I really don’t want to be recognized for anything other than being a good writer and potentially a good business person if I ever get back into trying to get something started.
In some ways, it is easier to be a normal writer doing normal things. Readers aren’t expecting something great. Hey, you won 4 Olympic skiing medals and you wrote about painting flowers? Boring! You lived through the great depression, fought in Iwo Jima, built a successful business and your book is about raising chickens? One-star review! With me, it is just some guy trying to write a book that I hope a few people will enjoy. I think that my work is easy to relate to because it is the product of my humble experiences in life.
In my opinion, it is a good realization that I understand my fate. In the Facebook group “Writers Helping Writers” I often read posts about people wanting to write their autobiography. I find that the vast number of these people are trying really hard to write something very big out of their very normal life. Often, I write the comment, “What is your hook? Lots of people have books like this. What would make me want to read it?” I understand that many of these people had bad childhoods or traumatic experiences. However, I feel that the vast majority of these soon to be writers have nothing exceptional to offer readers other than a depressing read or a desperate need for fame. I guess it is sad fact that so many people want to be recognized and loved by people they have never met. I realize that I’m fortunate that I need no recognition other than perhaps enough people to buy my book so that I can break even on my editing costs.
What I do have on my side are some basic life experiences and I read a lot. The works that I create take from this limited knowledge base and I try to write an interesting and plausible story. I hope that readers will relate to my “down to earth concepts” and this makes for a more tangible story. I fell a lot less pressure to succeed because readers aren’t expecting something amazing. Hopefully, they will be pleasantly surprised.
My lack of major life experiences does limit me in many ways. For example, I have an idea for a book where a princess in modern Japan has an adventure. What do I know about the royal Japanese, Japanese society or Japanese women in general? Nothing. Probably not going to write that story. In my first book, the main character is Russian. It took a lot of research to make her background believable. Fortunately, I was able to use the Internet and a Russian name generator to help me out. I also didn’t get too deep into her background. Hopefully, as more people read it, they will not find too many flaws.
What about the aliens in my second book? That is a perfect example of something that I have no knowledge about. Do aliens exist? The odds say that they defiantly exist. Physics dictates that it is very difficult to travel from a distant world to earth. As such, there has never been any real proof. The result was that I did my best to create a story that I feel could have happened with the little knowledge I have.
What will my writing future hold? I will keep doing my best with what little life experiences I have. What would happen if I were part of something really big and people wanted to read about it? Well, at least I now have the basic skills to write an autobiography.

I like to write fiction and I have no desire to write non-fiction. Non-fiction requires a lot of research that has to stand up to intense scrutiny. The really hard part about writing non-fiction is uplifting dull facts so that they are entertaining while keeping them 100% correct. I have also learned that there isn’t a big market for non-fiction unless your subject is really special. That kind of writing is probably not going to happen for me. Granted, I do have an amazing non-fiction idea that would defiantly be a best seller, but the research would take far too much effort. Wait a second. A few blogs ago, I wrote all about book marketing and writing. All true. But that was a minor amount of writing and not many people follow my blog. Something to work on…
When I write fiction, I get into this mental area where I’m free to make my characters do or be anything. I mentally move them through all kinds of possibilities and try every angle to see how they react. I imagine an entire backstory and create a complete existence for them. I mentally go over this made up reality several times and then create an outline. I put a lot of effort into tweaking the final story in outline form. Then the typing begins where I hammer out all my thoughts into Microsoft Word. In time, the results come close to my mental images.
For months after I have completed my first draft, I self-edit. My second book actually had over 30 cover to cover self-edits before it went to my beta reader (mom) for review. During this long duration of editing, I think a lot of the mechanics of the story and the specific logic. This effort uncovers plot errors and other flaws. I do my best to make my stories believable so that the reader can really put themselves into the story.
There are a few exceptions to keeping my plot in the real world. For examples, the aliens in my second book. It is difficult to write about something that doesn’t exist and I do my best and try to keep the plot remotely possible. However, I’m aware of one major plot hole in my third book. To get my story moving, I took some liberties in how a modern air conditioning system works. Apparently, there is a vent on the roof of every modern office building that sucks in a massive amount of air without a filter. My bad… In my defense, they do this in movies. A publically accepted lie?
I like to stay as close to reality for a few reasons. The first is that the story is much more relatable. The second is that I have no idea how to picture a character that is outside of my domain. For example, a comic book type superhero, a soldier in jungle combat, a child fighting against a drugged out parent or a homeless man trying to survive in China. To me, those stark realities are a bridge too far. I know that readers would immediately have strong issues with the imaginary characters I have no knowledge. An example comment would be, “This author clearly doesn’t know how a child would realistically defend themselves against an abusive father. This book is not worth reading!” The result would prevent my works from ever becoming successful and they would permanently tarnish my already fragile reputation.
In my carefully constructed mental world, I have all my characters organized and I picture what they would be doing in my made-up plot. As I get really into the process, my mind becomes focused and I try to see all the possibilities. While still in my made-up world, I do my best to capture my thoughts into my word processor. When the typing is done for the evening, it’s back to reality. The real kind of reality with family, friends, coworkers, and other normal people.
The problem is that my mind is not fully switched off and my characters are always trying to get out. For example, I want to add to the dinner conversation, “(Fictional characters name) did the craziest thing today…” I catch myself in this thought line and it takes a lot of effort not to add to the conversation with my delusions. I also get hung up in the real world. Why can’t it work like my fictional world? In my world, the people all do the right thing until the plot needs a twist. In the real world, there are long-term consequences, responsibilities, true evil, laziness, and corruption. In my fictional world, all of that negativity is there, but it’s a plot device. The people are really not really evil, just misunderstood.
I have been fortunate that I have never actually talked/posted about my characters as if they were real. Well, I have never been caught doing this. However, I feel the pull of my imagination and I know that it has led to decisions in the real world. An alternative perspective could be that I want the world to work like my imagination. I want the word to work better than it does. I want people to get along and the only conflict that exists is in my words. When I get off this blissful line of thinking, the real world is a bleak landscape where people make bad decisions.
I have read many interviews with writers and they often have lofty views on how the world works. I suppose that this is part of the creative process and this is what a writer wants to see. Their interviews sometimes show their imaginary world peeking out. They have quotes like, “(Fictional characters name) would never have voted for Trump!” Statements like that make me laugh. Is the logic not obvious that a fictional character cannot vote? To me, a statement like that is a testament to being a dedicated author that actually believes how their made up character would behave.
I think overall there is a fine line between being a sane dedicated author and a delusional author that needs professional help. Perhaps the best authors jump into this delusional world while they write and then jump back into reality for the rest of their day. Perhaps some of them have made one jump too many. History is full of amazing artists and writers who were truly mad.
For me, I will keep trying to keep my imaginary characters inside my head. I know they are safely contained and can do no harm. The good news is that I know the difference between my imagination and the real world. Well, at least I think I do. We have to remember who is writing these words. The bad news is that one is better than the other. Hopefully, the two never meet.

When people find out that I’m an author, they immediately ask, “What’s your book about?” A reasonable question and I cheerfully answer, “It’s about a 500-year-old woman forcing an author to interview her.” The people seem to understand this premise and their next question is, “How did you come up such a far-out idea?” I tell them that I thought up my concept up a long time ago and worked on it for many years until I had the confidence to write about it. They then say, “I have always wanted to be an author. How did you go from your idea to a book?”
That is a complex answer. In my first three books, I mentally modified the story hundreds of times over many years. When it came time to actually write them, the words just flowed. However, that approach created a big problem. When my beta reader (mom), editors and book helper read my story and they had big concerns. The basic plot had several major issues. In just about every area, I was missing the motivation. A big part of this missed motivation was the “critical decision.” This is when a character decided to do something and the author has to pull their thoughts out of the characters heads. For example, “Bob killed Fred.” Why did he do this? What happened afterward? How did Bob feel about his actions? What did he tell people? Well, I just kind of assumed that the reader had been paying attention and magically knew what was in Bob’s head. Oops.
Overall, I was missing was the basic flow of a good story. A character gets into trouble and then either get’s out of trouble or they don’t. When I’m writing, I like to resolve issues as quickly as possible. A character simply cannot remain in indeterminate trouble over several chapters. I guess that’s a part of my engineer personality. Everything I have control over in my life is neat and organized. The problem with a logical approach is that it doesn’t build conflict and sustain the reader’s interest. Readers like to have a good long read about how a conflict starts and then have their hand held through the resolution. That is how a good writer builds a great story and this is the difference between a news report and a novel. One is presentable and the other is enjoyable.
Not all stories have to have deep conflict in order to be great. The book, The Zen and Art of Motorcycle Repair has a very basic story. A dad takes his son on a motorcycle road trip. There’s no controversy, adventure or radical concepts. However, it is an astounding book that everybody should read at least once. Why? Because of the way the simple story flows. This book goes far over the top to expand the characters and their motivations in a very mellow way. The plot builds over several chapters and then slowly settles with a gentle conclusion.
There is a genuine art to developing a flow within the plot. There has to be an overall plan and I have only recently begun to formalize that approach. I do this with an outline that allows me to really craft the story. With a basic outline, it’s much easier to tie story elements together over multiple chapters. For example, a person can have a mysterious health issue for the first 90% of the book and then get it resolved at the end. Readers generally like this approach when they read a story. However, I still prefer to get the major issues resolved quickly. The good news is that using outlines is helping me resist this trend. The bad news is that I still hate when a character is in trouble.
The next book I’m going to work on is a spy drama. This sequel to my third book Cable Ties (in the editing process now) and the overall plot while straightforward has many elements. I’m going to try to have a few unresolved conflicts, open-ended questions and other areas that leave the reader confused. I’m also working much more on the motivation behind each of the characters to give the reader a better perspective.
The problem with this new book (which is still in the outline stage) is that the plot isn’t too strong. While there are some really good ideas, I’m not sure it will hold the reader's interest. Overall, it’s a messy plot without a core focus. I have been going over the plot for a while and come to no revelations. I think the overall problem is that there is no central adversary with a central agenda. However, this is often the case with real-life spy stories. This type of story is about one big government organization versus another with thousands of individual people making their big goals happen. Their overall plan (with regards to spying) is to keep their country safe and ahead of the other country. I am trying to keep it real with a focus on the many little people who are diligently doing their job. The important part of the plot behind this book is to weave through the characters’ lives. They are going to have real dilemmas and have to work hard to resolve their conflicts. For me, the worst part is going to be that I am forcing myself to make this happen over several chapters. I still have a lot of work to do before I start writing. The outline needs a lot more tweaking and I know that I need to make several big changes. That’s why this book is still at the outline stage for the last 6 months.
What will my future plots hold? Well, I have many ideas that I want to explore. I also have wondered about a book of short stories. One of them is a great idea about time travel involving Amelia Earhart. The good news is that I am getting much better at crafting the overall story. The bad news is that I still want to solve my plot too quickly. Got to work on that.

Books often try to break new ground to gain the public’s interest. Just about every single plot concept/type has been tried and every character type has been explored. The result is that it’s getting harder to be unique and really stand out as an author.
One of the ways that an author tries to stand out is by writing about a controversial topic. This generates buzz and excites readers. It also benefits society by bringing exposure to these unspoken topics. For example, writing about a character that has an alternative lifestyle. Initially, this shocked readers and was considered very taboo. When I was growing up in the 70’s, I remember the big controversary about men wearing small earrings and the huge significance of their outrageous choice. Is it on the left or right side? Since that time, many authors and the media have had characters with alternative lifestyles. Now, this very controversial topic doesn’t raise an eyebrow and men wear all kinds of earrings without a second look.
An example of a very old controversial topic is scary monsters. When Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein came out, it was explosive. People were afraid to go to sleep because scientists might have created a monster out of body parts. At the time the book came out, this concept was truly terrifying and it generated a huge amount of interest. Now, the concept of a scientist sewing a monster together out of random body parts is timid and evokes little interest. Unfortunately, this added exposure eventually makes controversial topics bland and authors must keep trying to push the envelope. That is both the power of the press and its curse. Topics such as this are longer special. The result is that a book that focuses on an outdated controversial topic will no longer automatically sell due to shock value.
For me, I take the opposite approach and try not to write about controversial topics. My biggest controversial topic is in my second book, Kim and Gabe Survive which is now in the editing stage. In that book, I write about a 17-year old female and a 34-year old male who get together. Originally, her age was 15 and this writing choice wasn’t intended to evoke shock, but instead, it was an important part of the plot. After talking to some friends about my book, their negative opinion of her age made me uncomfortable. I felt there was no other choice and changed her age from 15 to 17. The result was that it deluded the controversy. Well, in my opinion, it made the story less dramatic. Did I bow into the pressure that society places on a writer? I caved in without a whimper! Honestly, it was just too uncomfortable. I wanted my work to stand out because it was a good story and not because it was controversial.
My conservative personality has always put blinders on my life. However, there’s another aspect to my personality which wants to avoid criticism like, “That was a terrible book. A 34-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl. How shameful!” While some writers would live for stirring up this very kind of trouble, that’s not my personality. Is that bad tactic for an upcoming writer? Tragically, yes it is. A writer needs to be bold in order to make an impression. Really good writers have figured out how to write about a controversial topic in such a way that they get positive reviews. For example, the book 50 Shades of Grey had a plot full of controversy. The result was great sales and a movie deal.
In my case, I do my best to push the envelope while remaining conservative. For example, I wrote several intimate scenes in Kim and Gabe Survive. I did my best to do craft these scenes in a dignified manner and tried to focus on the passion, emotions and inner thoughts. I couldn’t bring myself to deeply describe their naughty body parts, outrageous exploits, and lusty emotions. My description was very basic and wouldn’t have even been a footnote in 50 Shades of Grey. However, their intimate interactions were critical to the plot and in my humble opinion, the scenes [the concepts surrounding the scenes] broke a very small amount of new ground in the writing world.
In my upcoming third book, Cable Ties, my story involved FBI agents. I have never met an FBI agent and I did a lot of guessing as to what their culture was like. I put a lot of effort into making the story exciting and relevant. However, my efforts with regards to the FBI were not supposed to be controversial and I treated them as dedicated people who were diligently doing their job in a professional manner. The problem is that in writing a book about the FBI, I may have messed up a critical aspect of how an FBI agent actually conducts themselves. This may have unintentionally made my work controversial by my lack of direct experience. Accidental controversy is something that most authors try to avoid. Granted, any publicity is good publicity. In my case, the FBI was simply a basic plot device and the last thing I want is a comment like, “This book trashes the FBI. What an awful story!”
So where does my lack of controversial topics ultimately leave me? Well, I will probably always go out of my way to avoid controversy in my writings (and my life.) This conscientious choice of avoiding all types of controversy was present from a very early age. Does this mean that my books will never be bold, take risks or push the envelope? Tragically, yes it does. To me, this aspect of my writing is just fine. I can sleep at night knowing that my work isn’t upsetting people. In some ways, I wish this wasn’t the case. But that’s my choice and it’s a choice I can live with.