Carter Wilson's Blog, page 7
October 1, 2020
Unveiling a New Cover
Cover reveal! I normally begin each newsletter with an essay of sorts, but I just received my batch of advance reader copies for my upcoming book, The Dead Husband (coming May 2021) and can’t wait to show you the cover. There’s nothing like opening a box of your books for the first time…watch the video to see how they look!
There’s both art and science in creating book covers, and my publisher always sends me an analysis along with their proposed design. They look at other books in the same space and analyze what works, what doesn’t, and most importantly consider how the cover would look on both large computer screens and small phone screens. So if you see a lot of books in the same genre that all seem to share a general look and feel, that’s because there are teams of people researching trends, patterns, colors, and fonts, and all that research gets paired with very creative cover artists to find that perfect look.
Isn’t she a beaut?
After I wrote The Dead Husband I spent the last year writing another book, which I recently sent to my agent, Pam Ahearn. This was the 12th book I’ve written, which includes the first three that never sold and one I rewrote to such an extreme I count it twice. And in all those books, I’ve never typed the words “The End” on that last page. There’re two reasons for this. One, it just kinda seems stupid. Two, those words make it seem that the book is done, and I know better than that.
A book is never done, it’s simply a work in progress that I have to ultimately let go of. After giving my current manuscript to Pam she’ll have comments—good ones—and changes will need to be made. In the process of making those changes, I’ll find other stuff, bits and pieces I didn’t notice before that need some editing. And then I’ll think about the ending all over again, second guessing myself. And that first page…it could certainly be better, can’t it? And how complete was that character arc, really?
And don’t get me started on what happens when it goes through the publisher’s editorial process.
A book is never done, not really. It’s certainly never perfect. But at some point, I just have to let it go, knowing it represents the best I could give it at that particular point in time. I know a fair number of writers who struggle to get anything finished because they try to make every sentence perfect along the way, which is asking for the impossible.
Just let go.
Now, those are words you’ll find in my books, time and time again, as my main characters often find that surrendering to situations they cannot control is just as important as mastering the situations they can.
Let go.
That just might be my next tattoo.
One more thing…
I send Pam printed manuscripts, never electronic. And I always include a little treat along with the manuscript, usually a piece of chocolate or something that has some relevance to the story. In this case, I created a logo for Tuli’s Gourmet Grocer, a fictitious store that plays a small role in my story, and used it to create a food label. Printed that label out, slapped it on a nice little can of pistachios. Voilà!
What I’m Listening To
I’m not the best sleeper. I never have trouble falling asleep, but frequently I wake up around 3am and start tossing and turning. Then, if my mind starts racing, I’ll grab my phone and play a sleep meditation. I don’t always fall back to sleep by listening, but at least it keeps me from being alone with my thoughts. My recommendation? Download the Calm app and subscribe. There are a ton of sleep meditations as well as sleep stories. Yup, just like when you were a little kid. If you weren’t already madly in love with Matthew McConaughey, wait until you listen to him reading you the bedtime story “Wonder” with his soft, gentle drawl. Alright, alright, alright.
What I’m Watching
The Last Dance (2020, Netflix) I’m not a basketball fan, but I do love a good sports story, and one of the best I’ve seen is this ten-part docuseries that chronicles Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the 1997-98 season as they chase their sixth championship. What’s amazing is that a camera crew was embedded with the team that season, but for some reason that footage was never aired until it became part of this series.
Because of the length of the series, there’s plenty of opportunity to delve into the history of several of the star players and view their rise to fame. Of course, no one is more spectacular or enigmatic than Michael Jordan himself. I think my favorite quote in the entire series was made by one of Jordan’s biographers who said:
“His gift was not that he could jump high, run fast, shoot a basketball. His gift was that he was completely present, and that was the separator.” -Mark Vancil
Side note: I actually got to see Michael Jordan and the “Dream Team” play in the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona, and I don’t think I took a single damn photo.
Bits of The Dead Husband
Up until my book launch next May, I’ll be sharing snippets of The Dead Husband in this space. This month’s passage:
Update From My KidsBeing a parent means you get to live some of the great wonders of life all over again through the eyes of your children. Like watching the horse head scene from The Godfather for the very first time.
Update From My CatGuff is a bit of an asshole but he sure is a good looking cat.
Reader MailI received the following email from a reader who wanted to thank me for bringing attention to Lyme Disease and those who suffer from it.
Carter, I hope this message finds you well and doesn’t get lost in other messages I’m assuming you get on a regular basis.
I just finished reading Mister Tenders Girl and it’s now my favorite book. The story itself is amazing and I love your writing!
I’m actually sending this message to thank you though.
When I found out that Thomas has Lyme Disease in this story, I had to stop reading for a minute in shock. I have had chronic Lyme my entire life and it rarely ever gets recognized as a legitimate illness even to doctors.
Doctors that try to treat patients for Chronic Lyme can actually get their licenses revoked.
Some private doctors will still treat it, but are unable to take insurance for Lyme treatment they give, leaving people to pay big money just to find relief. Doctors are made to treat Lyme like an infection that will be fixed with antibiotics, not something that may cause lasting damage for life.
So to hear that you bring awareness in this book with a character that has lasting damage just like I do, is a giant shock, but also a breathe of fresh air and i cannot thank you enough for that!
Good luck with all future writing!!
I have to say, when I gave my character of Thomas Lyme Disease I didn’t realize I was helping anyone, but I’m happy to see my words having an impact in ways I never expected. Thanks for writing, and stay healthy and happy.
Want to write to me? Email me HERE.
September 1, 2020
On Writing Violence
I’ve killed. Countless times.
I’ve shot, stabbed, tortured, burned, bludgeoned, and amputated. Hell, I’ve even crucified people.
In my six published novels, many of my characters meet a bad end. In fact, one of the main reasons I don’t write a series is I always want the ability to kill off a main character at any time. Keeps everyone on their toes.
That being said, I don’t approach violence lightly, nor should any writer. The last thing I want in my psychological-suspense books is a bored reader, and nothing evokes ennui faster than unnecessary, over-the-top violence. It’s lazy writing. I always think about the movie Jaws, and how, during filming, the mechanical shark constantly broke down, so Spielberg had to craft much of the movie without actually showing the shark. The result was far more suspenseful and menacing. The threat of the monster in the deep. The thing lurking just beyond eyesight.
I’ve certainly evolved as a suspense writer and I’m much more mindful of violent scenes than I used to be (maybe that explains the first three books that never sold). Now, as I approach a scene that could potentially involve violence, I always first contemplate the following five rules I’ve crafted around violence.
Rule # 1: Know my audience
Am I writing suspense or horror? I have to know the type of person who tends to read my work. Now, I certainly don’t need to forgo my creative desires in order to placate the masses, but if I want my books to sell, I need to understand my average reader’s sensibilities. I’m still finding that some scenes I write, though I think of them as fairly tame, elicit more shock than I expect. The writer always has a higher tolerance for violence than the average reader, so if I’m wondering if a scene is too much, I’ll ask someone I trust for a second opinion.
Rule #2: Better to be creepy than gory
Of my 2018 novel Mister Tender’s Girl, Kirkus wrote, “Wilson turns the creep factor up to 11, balancing his prose on a knife’s edge.” In fact, “creepy” was one of the most-employed adjectives in all the reviews for that novel, and that suits me just fine. The book, in fact, has very few scenes of actual violence, but the mood of violence is always present. I even described melting snowflakes as “corpses.” Sure, I can write a scene that encompasses graphic descriptions of someone being disemboweled, but is that giving my readers enough credit? When you stop short of showing the violence, the imagination of the reader will take over, creating a far greater impact. The reader will infer what happens, and what they imagine can be far scarier than anything I may have written.
Rule #3: Write the scene two different ways
When approaching a scene with violence, sometimes I’ll write it both with and without graphic descriptions (side note: this also works with sex scenes). Then I let the two scenes sit for a while before I go back and read them. As I re-read, I’ll ask myself: which scene feels smarter? Which has greater resonance? The answer might not always be the non-violent version, but you’d be surprised how often it is.
Rule #4: Make violence matter
I tend to write about ordinary people in extraordinary situations, and those situations are usually unpleasant. But I can’t forget these are ordinary people, and as such violence isn’t a common occurrence in their lives. So when I do write a violent scene, I want it to matter. I want the reader to say, “What if this happened to me?” If I’ve spent enough time developing my characters properly, when the time comes that I need to plunge them into a kill-or-be-killed fight, the reader’s empathy levels will be soaring. On the other hand, if my main character gets into fights every chapter and always comes out winning, my readers will quickly grow tired.
I always try to keep in mind that less is more. (Another side note: the same can be said of profanity. I’ve actually charted my use of profanity in my books, which has helped guide my writing style as well.)
Rule #5: Be real
Finally, when approaching violence, I strive to make it real. I consider all consequences, both physical and psychological. When someone gets punched in the face, they rarely shake it off. If they’re shot in the leg, they don’t counter with a roundhouse kick. If one of my characters is abused as a child, I need to think about how that could affect their decisions years later. It doesn’t actually take much to damage a person’s body or mind, so I try to avoid falling into the trap of making my hero a superhero. One book that’s been helpful in portraying the reality of violence is Rory Miller’s excellent Violence: A Writer’s Guide. Above all else I focus on making my violence real, and when I do, it’s amazing how a little goes a long way.
Sure, I’ve left a lot of bodies in the wake of my seventeen-year writing career, but I like to believe I’ve developed a sense of when violence is necessary rather than frivolous. It’s a fine line to walk, but when I do it right, it resonates with my readers, which in turn makes them feel what the character does. Though that may be an intense experience, if I can make a reader truly feel, I’ve done my job.
How cool is this? I received a letter from my congressperson congratulating me on my Colorado Book Award.
Thanks, Joe! Now, just let me know if you need some help with all that lawmaking stuff…I have some ideas.
What I’m Reading
The Catcher in the Rye (1951, Little, Brown, and Company) I hadn’t read this since high school but found myself wanting to see if my initial impression (not great) remained. This time I enjoyed it, finding vast more amounts of depth and sadness than when I was 17 (a bit ironic, since that’s the age of the main character). I remember Holden Caufield being just too damn whiny, but in reading this book as an adult what really came through was the struggle of it all. The struggle of having to figure out life while having little direction or inspiration. The struggle of being surrounded by phonies, which seems so relevant today. And the futile struggle of trying to stop time in order to preserve childhood innocence, be it your own or someone else’s. My buddy, Chris, reads this book every year, and now I know why.
What I’m Watching
Salinger (2013, Shane Salerno) So while we’re on the subject…
I actually watched this documentary right before re-reading The Catcher in the Rye. I knew that Salinger was famous for his reclusiveness, which was the driving force behind the filmmaker’s attempt to find out everything he could about the famous author. The doc employs the use of hundreds of in-depth interviews with everyone but Salinger himself to craft an image of the man, which proves frustrating because you don’t really end up with much more information than you already knew going in. Still, it’s an engaging watch, and in particular its account of Salinger’s combat time in WWII (which began with D-Day and ended with the liberation of Dachau) makes you appreciate all of what the author witnessed that surely bled through into his future works.
Bits of The Dead Husband
Up until my book launch next May, I’ll be sharing snippets of The Dead Husband in this space, starting with this:
Anyway, wear your f-ing masks!
Update From My Kids
Ili and Sawyer went hiking and he asked her to put some sunscreen on his back, which she did…in the shape of a penis. Then she texted me the photo.
Update From
This is Tuli, who doesn’t get enough attention in this newsletter. She’s beautiful and sweet and has a head full of rocks. She was also the inspiration behind the fictitious grocery store in my upcoming book, The Dead Husband. I even made a logo and everything!
What’s In My Backyard?This is the bastard who taunts Guff, making him lose his mind. I feel like this squirrel needs a name. You got a name?
Reader QuestionsHas COVID affected any of the stories you’re writing now?
I think all novelists are going to have to think about any of their work set in the present day. Do you address the pandemic? Do you outright ignore it? For my book coming out next May, it very clearly takes place in 2020, but of course I finished writing it in 2019. Now that we know what the landscape of 2020 actually looks like, I didn’t think there was a way of keeping my timeline and not addressing the pandemic. I mean, there’re scenes with people out in restaurants and everything! So I had to backdate everything to 2018.
Have a question for me? Ask me something interesting and I might just answer in my next post. Email me HERE.
February 13, 2018
Launch Day for MISTER TENDER'S GIRL!
Thanks to all of you early readers for providing such tremendous support and helping generate a buzz around the book.
Here's my latest newsletter, detailing where you can find the book, a list of my events, and more stupid things I've done lately.
And for those in Denver, I'll be at the Tattered Cover Colfax tonight!
https://mailchi.mp/dfa70a0591ba/carte...
August 1, 2017
E-book deal
The award-winning THE COMFORT OF BLACK was selected by Amazon as a Kindle Monthly Deal for all of August. Only $.99! I'm sure other e-platforms will be matching.
https://www.amazon.com/Comfort-Black-...
Thanks.
June 30, 2017
EW Cover Reveal
http://ew.com/books/2017/06/21/read-a...
June 1, 2017
REVELATION an Amazon Monthly Deal!
https://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Car...
May 22, 2017
Colorado Book Award winner!
December 14, 2016
New Release!
Publishers Weekly gives Revelation a starred review, calling it "an enthralling thriller” and adding, “Wilson infuses his terrifying plot with intricate twists and turns, all totally credible." Booklist calls Revelation “a sledgehammer of a novel…a powerful story...an intense experience for those who can take it.”
If you like dark, psychological thrillers, check it out!
https://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Thr...
June 15, 2016
New book!
https://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Thr...
August 23, 2015
Starred reviews for THE COMFORT OF BLACK
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Gritty, unflinching, and sometimes violent, this thriller is
reminiscent of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and the television
series The Equalizer."
—Library Journal, starred review
