Marc Liebman's Blog, page 52

Torn in Different Directions

Now that Forgotten is out, I’m no longer a one trick pony with just one book published. There are three more, in case you’ve forgotten – pardon the pun – Big Mother 40, Cherubs 2, and Render Harmless.

So what’s next and that’s where I’m torn. Right now as I look at my writing projects, I’ve got five more books coming:

Retribution – I’m about two thirds of the way through the first draft of the manuscript and hope to finish it by the end of the year.

            Manpads – My first pass is about sixty percent complete and I need to finish it. That effort has been put off until 2017.

Flight of the Pawnee – After I read it out loud to one of my dogs, it’ll be ready to go to a publisher.

The Kurile Wedge Incident – Ditto Flight of the Pawnee. In fact, it’ll be the next one to be sent a publisher.

Moscow Airlift – I’ve massaged/edited it several times and it is probably one more revision before it’ll be ready. That work comes after Manpads is finished and I’ve done an edit of Retribution.

So again, why I am I torn in different directions? Book sales! I want more of them which means I have to spend more time on promotion. Marketing takes time, it takes money and it doesn’t always work. In a perfect world, I’d just write the books, the publishers would bring them to life and you, the readers would by them in droves.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Unless you have an agent, PR agency and are with a major publisher who has a distribution engine and/or lots of money to spend, you got to do a lot of it yourself. That means reaching out to editors of publications for reviews, contacting organizations to see if they are interested in me as a speaker, selecting trade shows and association events to see if I can rent a booth, and the list goes on and on.

It all takes time. Lots of time. Most of it has to done during the day because that’s when people are in their offices. Unlike workaholic writers and former consultants/business executives like me who seemed to be glued to their laptops, you have to spend time on the phone between about 0830 and 1730. Emails can be written at night and in between calls, but the tracking down the right people has to be done during the day.

So, again, for the third time, why am I torn? Here’s the rub. I’m retired. I left the business world so I wouldn’t have to work 60 – 70 hours a week. I was hoping to be able to write a few hours a day and make a few calls to set up promotional events.

The ugly lesson is that it can’t be done part time if the goal is to sell more than a couple a books a month. I’m good for 3 – 4 hours a day at the creative part of writing a book. I can go for 5 – 6 if I am just editing. I’m finding that the promotional effort comes and goes, but it averages about 2 – 3 hours a day. So, let’s say I spend four hours writing and editing and two working on promotional stuff, that an average of seven hours a day which is at least 35 a week. Not exactly part time! And, I’m not accounting for ‘honeydos’ and stuff that my wife and family want me to do.

So, again, where do I spent my time, assuming I only want to work half-time, i.e. 20 hours a week? The compromise is that until the first of the year, or at least into January, I’m going to focus on two things – promotion and working a couple hours a day on Retribution to finish it. If I only have limited time, promotional efforts will win. That way I won’t feel guilty that I’m not spending the time I should promoting my books.

Marc Liebman

November, 2016

Changing the Working Title to an Unfinished Manuscript

When I started working on the manuscript which had the working title of Hannenkamm, it was supposed to be a novel with ski racing as a backdrop to the stories about four men, their families and how they eventually cross paths. Now that I’m about two-thirds the way through the first draft, I had a major blockage. And, so a few days ago, I took a God’s eye view of the manuscript, just as I described in a prior blog.

So what did I learn? One, ski racing will still be in the background of the final third. What wound up on the cutting room floor was a sub-plot involving internal politics and payoffs/corruption within the U.S. Ski Team and the romance between a coach and an underage female racer. This story line may be part of another book.

Two, I have to move the plot along in big chunks of time. In the past, scenes followed each other in days, weeks, or even months. Forgotten takes place over twelve years and there are passages to provide insight into what happened between scenes. In this book, the plot covers the twenty-five years 1945 to 1970. Writing every event in the lives of four families would turn it into War and Peace.  What I am doing is modifying outline and story line and only including what As I create the story what is important in the context of the character’s lives and how history is shaping the story. Some passages that I think are interesting, a few scenes later get deleted because they don’t add either drama or conflict or tell the reader something new that adds to what they know about the characters.

Lesson three was a tough one – the title had to change. The Hannenkamm race for men in Kitzbuhel Austria race was significant during the novel’s time line and still is one of the most important in the ski racing circuit.  The course is one of the toughest, most difficult, and dangerous races (even when it is not icy) on the ski racing circuit.  However, the challenges of being ski racer are now secondary to the budding romance between an American boy and an Austrian girl.

So the working title Hannenkamm had to go.  As the story is evolving, the book is about holding people accountable for their actions even at time when the world doesn’t. Not revenge, not necessarily justice, although that plays out, but paybacks.  And for some, paybacks are hell. So the new working title of the novel is Retribution.

Marc Liebman

November 2016

God’s Eye View of a Manuscript

When you write a novel, it is hard to separate yourself from the characters and the plot. I’ve often said that when I’m writing a scene, I think and act like the character. In other words, I become the character.

Let’s call that the linear view. In other words, I see what the character sees and what you, the reader also see.  So as the plot twists and turns, you get to see more and more of the character as the story unfolds.  And, there has to be some surprises along the way.

But, there is another view of the story and that’s what I call the “god’s eye” view. Think of a novel’s plots and sub-plots as a maze. Some of the story lines lead nowhere. So my job as a writer is to help steer you through the maze, but also allow for some interesting detours. To do that, I have to look down at all the story lines from above, see how they flow together and then make sure they flow. In other words, I can let you the reader wind up at a dead end.

The hard part is even though I start with an outline, I really don’t know where the characters will take me. Often, the story takes me far afield of what I originally thought it might go based on the outline.  Yes, in the ‘god’s eye view,’ I have an ending in mind, but often, the characters lead me to a different spot. Every time they’ve done that, it has been better than what I planned.

So back to the ‘god’s eye view.’ Once the manuscript is completed, I often look down at it from this perch to see what needs to be added and what needs to be taken out. Trust me, after writing a scene and putting blood sweat and tears to say nothing of hours researching elements of it, it’s hard to cut something. Editors do it as a matter of course. For them it is simple, they say “it doesn’t fit….” For them it is easy, for me, well….  Let’s just say its harder and sometimes painful.

More often than not, the ‘god’s eye view’ reveals gaps in the story, i.e. more emotion or background or context is needed. Another gap that I see is that there isn’t enough conflict. One of the things I’ve learned the hard way (from editors) is that subtle is not always the best way. Readers may miss it, so I just lay it out there and let the characters deal with it.

Looking down from the top reveals a lot of faults with a manuscript as well as its strengths. Another lesson learned is that as I’m writing, to stop every few chapters and take a god’s eye look at the story. Every time I’ve done that, I’ve added something that made the story better.

And, in a prior blog, I talked about eliminating blockages. Another lesson learned is that when they happen, what the story is telling me is that I need to take a god’s look. Once I see how it flows together and what’s missing, then I know what to write.

Marc Liebman

November 2016

Clearing ‘writing’ blockages

Right now, I have two manuscripts that are “works in progress” to use a business term. By that I mean I’ve started writing the first draft of the manuscript, but have not finished it. In both cases, I’m probably 50 – 60% of the way to end, but I’ve stopped. For each book, the reasons are different.

The working titles of the books are Manpads and Hannenkamm. Manpads, when I started working on the outline was conceived as the last book in the Josh Haman series. It got its title from the acronym – man portable air defense system – or Manpad. In it, one of Josh’s sons – Sasha – is a Navy SEAL and is in Afghanistan hunting for the bad guys’ stash of man portable anti-aircraft missiles that Al Qaeda wants to use as part of a massive attack on the U.S. that shoots down airliners and disrupts our electrical grid to paralyze American businesses and disrupt everyday life.

So far, the plot is fleshed out, but in my writer’s mind, it is missing something. Where I stopped, Sasha and his cohorts have identified one of the bad guys, an Army missile technician with experience overhauling Stinger missiles. He became a Muslim and is updating the guidance software from Stingers acquired by the Taliban. Where I’m struggling is a role for Josh, who is now retired from the Navy.

Hannekamm is my new passion. It’s a stand alone novel with its own cast of characters. It’s a story about four men and the families. It starts at the end of World War II and will end during the years of the Vietnam War. That’s a long period of time and right now, I’m struggling with how to jump a few years at a crack. So what I think I’m going to do is use the narrative to provide insight into what’s gone on and then have some action or key dialog that further develops the character, creates tension or conflict. In my next blog, I’ll give you a short synopsis of the four families.

Getting through a block is easier said than done. There are mini-block which I can work through in a few days and then, there are the major ones like I am facing with Manpads.

            From what I’ve learned talking to other writers, we all do it differently. What I’ve found successful is I let my mind wander when I am either working out or when I’m walking our three dogs.

Over a few days, the next plot element or scene comes to me and then I sit and write it. The one constant is that the story keeps diverging from the original outline. To me that’s O.K. because I am letting the characters evolve and act out the story line.

The reality is that I never know how the book will end. That’s determined by the characters and what I think are their logical actions. They tend to take me where they want to go and as the writer, I have to make a judgment call – do I want to let them go or do I want to rein them in and bring them back to the original outline? The reality is that it’s both and sometimes, after I write the passage, I realize that it wasn’t worth the effort. Other times, it leads me off into new directions.

That’s, I’ve learned, part of the creative process. Stay tuned.

Marc Liebman

October 2016

Creating a Book Cover

During the final phases of a book’s editing process, one of the most important parts of the book occurs – designing the cover. So, now having worked with three publishers and with three books out, one about to come out next month and one coming out in January 2017, one would think that its easy…. Au contraire!!!!

For each book, the process is the same. It started with the publisher asking me if I have any ideas about what the cover should look like. In other words, what’s my vision for the cover? Keep in mind that the cover is what initially attracts you – the buyer/reader – to the book. The tried and true works – striking, visually appealing, attractive, etc. – all apply. But they don’t get the job done so, let’s get past that.

For each book, I’ve given the cover designer “elements” that I thought should be included in the cover design along with a synopsis of the plot.  Sometimes this works well and the first concept is spot on or pretty close. Other times, a conversation is needed. One one occasion, I got a spectacular cover that did not represent the story.

For the cover of Cherubs 2, we needed period helo helmet so I photographed the helicopter helmet I wore for many years.  It made the cut and you can see it on the cover of Cherubs 2.

To get a great design, I rely on the expertise of the publisher and the designer. Theoretically, they know more about what will work than I do and, after five covers, so far so good.

            Whatever the design looks like, the nagging thought in the back of my mind is always would it attract potential readers. What I like really doesn’t matter. And therein lies the rub. What’s the best cover design? Who really knows?

What spurred this blog is that at the time this is published we have a bit of a disagreement about the cover for Inner Look. The first pass was spectacular but its design was, at least to me, misleading. It made it look like a book about computers and it’s a spy novel in which the heroes hunt for a spy in the CIA.

As of the moment, we’re getting there, but it is still not “right,” whatever that is. Who knows, we may go back to the original concept or use something different. To me, it is always feels like a crapshoot!

Marc Liebman

September, 2016

My Favorite Male Characters in My Novels

I’m often asked who is my favorite character I created and why? It’s a great question and I’m going to take Marty Cabot, Josh Haman and Derek van der Jagt out of the discussion because they’re in every book.

Sooooo, with three books out – Cherubs 2, Big Mother 40 and Render Harmless out and Forgotten scheduled to be released by the end of this month and Inner Look sometime in January 2017, I’m going to stay with the three that are published. As a teaser, Forgotten has one of my all time favorites but more about this individual in a later blog after the book is published.

Each of the characters listed have an internal conflict that affects their behavior. Here’s seven who may surprise you in alphabetical order by last name:

            Heinrich Grenfels (Render Harmless) – He was too young for World War II and there were things in his childhood that didn’t make sense or what he suspected, not told. Grenfels doggedly pursues the investigation of Dieter Stiglitz and Red Hand and is stymied mostly by a lack of evidence. Slowly but surely he finds out that Nazis are involved and it is not until the end, after Red Hand is put out of business does his mother come clean about her past and his ancestry.

            Stephen Higgins, (Cherubs 2) – After he graduated from Annapolis, he realized that the Navy and flying wasn’t for him. Now he’s stuck. He allows his internal anger at himself, his situation, the Navy for sending him to Southeast Asia and the war to warp his view of the world. Higgins is a martinet and his OCD about neatness is simply a symptom of what is wrong with him. In the end, it ruins his life. The rest of the Higgins story will play out future books.

            Alexei Koniev (Big Mother 40) – He’s disillusioned with the Red Army and the Soviet Union. He sees it as a failed state through the lens of the death his wife and daughter to a flu epidemic. In the back of his mind is how could a country that could put men in orbit fail to provide adequate medicine for a common disease. Koniev is brilliant at what he does but he is stuck in a world he does not like. Josh Haman, in the raid on Venom Base gives him a way out.

            Nguyen Thai (Big Mother 40) – He’s war weary, wounded, burned but still an effective leader. Thai is given a plum assignment but deep down, he knows his karma is that this base will ultimately kill him. Like Koniev, he’s got to deal with the pressures of their individual governments who have different agendas for what Venom Base is supposed to do. While the stated mission – shoot down American fighter-bombers – each government has a different interpretation on how it should be executed. It leads to conflict between he and Koniev, the base’s co-commanding officers.

            Friedrich Starkeholz (Render Harmless) – He was a policeman before World War II and captured in France in 1944 while he was a lieutenant colonel in an SS Panzer Grenadier division. Starkeholz was never associated with any war crimes and after the war, he is reluctant to associate with his SS comrades. Their values are no longer his and does not hesitate to bring them to justice.

            Klaus Von Ritter (Render Harmless) – He was a Fallshirmjäger (parachutist) in the Wehrmacht’s 1st Parachute Infantry Division which was one of the Wehrmacht’s most elite units, even more so that Hitler’s favorite SS panzer divisions. Von Ritter finishes the war honorably, but the only way he can make money is to become a mercenary before he joins the new post-war German army. After he retires, he still needs money and takes on work as an assassin for whom, he comes to realize are Nazis who are killing their political opponents. He likes the new, democratic West Germany and turns on his employer. Von Ritter is an honorable soldier who loses his moral compass, does some things he regrets and the rights the ship so to speak.

So why so many from Render Harmless? Actually, I could have added two more – Colonel Grünewald from the Stasi and Colonel Krasnovsky from the KGB – from that book. And, Rebekah Haman (Render Harmless) and Natalie Vishinski (Big Mother 40) along with another female character will be covered in another blog.

That’s the list. I could add more. And like I said, there are some in Inner Look and Forgotten that would make this list if it was written in about six months.

Marc Liebman

September 2016

9/11 – – It’s a Beginning Not an Event By Itself

There’s a lot being made of the fifteenth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack to ever strike the United States. So at the risk of piling on, this is my two cents.

Many have likened the attack to what the Japanese did on December 7th, 1941. Yes, there are similarities, but they are mostly superficial. Japan was a nation and the attack came without warning. That’s where the similarities end. Al Qaeda is a loose federation of shadowy organizations who struck without even the pretense of formally declaring war. That’s because the war started several years ago.

Like many, I lost an acquaintance on the airplane that hit the Pentagon. But the impact on me personally was much deeper. I felt violated, attacked and I wanted revenge. Unlike many, I knew why we were attacked.

Fundamentalist Muslims want to re-create the Caliphate and/or want to turn as much of the world as into an Islamic Republic based on Sharia law. The U.S., along with other countries is in the way. And, we’re a soft, easy target.

Other attacks have followed in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. Are they coordinated, good question? Some are directed from shadowy organizations in the Middle East and elsewhere. Others are carried out by individuals who martyr themselves for a cause they believe in.

To me, before 9/11 it was not a question of if Al Qaeda was going to strike, but when. Nevertheless, I was dumfounded by the attack. It was bold, brilliant and effective. It provoked a reaction but one much stronger than Bin Laden expected. So I look at the events of 9/11 differently than most. It was an escalation of a war that was already underway. 9/11 brought the violence to our shores.

The war against Islamic terrorist is a war different from any other we’ve fought. There’s no country to attack. Other than ISIS, you need a long sheet of paper to list all the organizations who have claimed to have conducted terrorist attacks. Some attack and disappear or are wiped out by the response. Others like Abu Nidal, Abu Sayyaf, Al Qaeda, Ansar Al Islam, Hamas, and Hezbollah are relatively well known. The rest are just names on a list. And is a very long one. If you don’t believe me, look at this unclassified list on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...) that was last updated two years ago. Their members hide in the disaffected populations of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, the Sudan, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Pakistan and elsewhere.

It is going to take a long time, i.e. decades or generations to defeat these organizations. Some say we can “manage” them because they will always be around. However, we can attack them to reduce the threat by removing much of the underlying causes. People who have:

A job and hope for a better future;
Medicine for their kids when they are sick;
A roof over their heads that is safe and secure;
Food on the table so they are not hungry; and
Schools that educate their children for a better life

are a lot less inclined to strap a vest with two pounds of plastic explosive and a thousand ball bearings onto their chest and walk into a crowded marketplace and blow themselves up.

To win, we have to have a different, long term strategy. First, we have to help governments of countries that spawn terrorist be less corrupt. The stealing from the people as well as from those who donate foreign aid has to end. Second, the madrassas that teach nothing but religion and hatred do little to prepare their students for the world in which we live have to change their curriculums or be shut down. The countries where the schools reside know where they are and which ones teach hatred. The government’s need to send a message that such behavior is not tolerated.

And last, we must root out the terrorists wherever they are. While their acts may be considered criminal by some, they are also mini-battles in a larger war. And in war, a different set of rules apply. The terrorists are counting on the fact that we’ll absorb the blow, arrest, maybe kill a few, talk about tolerance and understanding and won’t fight back. They need to know and their benefactors whether they are governments or wealthy individuals must understand there is a price to pay for supporting these terrorists. The message is simply this – we will hunt your down and kill you and if needed, your wives, children and grandchildren. There will be no on this earth where you can be safe. It may take days, weeks, months or even years, but we will find you.

All of this won’t be pretty and many will squirm. It takes a political commitment and a national will. And it will cost money and lives from the countries who want to join the fight. The governments and the populations of the countries that harbor these bad actors need to join in the fight. If they do, ending the war will take less time. If they don’t we’re in for a very long battle that may take generations and I worry that the United States doesn’t have the stomach for it.

Marc Liebman

September 2016

What’s in a Title?

We’re probably about 75% of the way through the publication process for a manuscript called Forgotten POWs. In May of this year, I sent the original – at least from a publisher’s perspective – novel to Deeds Publishing. The owner of the company read it over the weekend and said he couldn’t put it down.

Within a week or so, I was under contract for the novel and production started. We’ve been through a couple of iterations and now are in the proofreading process. My guess is that the novel will be out by the end of September or early October.

Last week, we had a discussion about the title. The book has two main plot threads – six Americans who got left behind and the end of the Vietnam War and what happens to them between the time they were captured and when they are rescued in 1982.  Now that they are back in the U.S., to some they are career or even life threatening. That’s thread one.

Thread two is about the wife of one of the POWs. Before she married one of the Naval Aviators who got shot down, she was an anti-war activist/revolutionary. Now a de-facto widow that became official when her husband was declared MIA – presumed dead, she is well into a career as a free lance assassin.

The two threads and supporting sub-plots weave back and forth until the conclusion. The story line led to an interesting discussion with the publisher, the company’s creative and marketing directors and me about the cover and the title. The conversation started with what thoughts I had on a cover design.

My response was that I wanted a face with a vacant, haunting look staring out at me with a map of Vietnam in the background. At the time I said it, I envisioned a man.

What evolved was a picture of woman’s face, half in shadow staring out at me. It is, truly haunting.

That led to a discussion about the title. Because it is about the POWs and a woman, the name has been shortened to simply Forgotten. I like it. In itself, it is haunting.

By the way, this book has one of my all time favorite characters. She is the woman who becomes an assassin. In a later blog once the book is out, I’ll tell you why I like this character so much.

Marc Liebman

August, 2016

You can’t write just one chapter!

Many of you may not remember the 1983 Lays Potato Chip ad that had the slogan “Bet you can’t eat just one?” Well, let me tell you, it applies to writing a manuscript. You can write just one chapter!

Here’s what happened. I started conceptually outlining a book that has a working title of Hannenkamm. The plot has a whole cast of new characters and it’s a tale about two families – one American, one German who immigrated to Austria. The two men cross paths near the end of the war and then their children – the American’s son and the Austrian’s daughter – start dating. The kids are both ski racers trying to make their respective national teams.

Unknown to everyone, the Austrian has a past that he’d rather not let out. He ended the war as an SS-Standartenführer – the equivalent of a lieutenant colonel – assigned as the commander of the SS guards at the Buchenwald concentration camp.   Before he was wounded in the Ukraine, the German was head of an Einzatatzgruppen which were ordered to find and kill Jews, gypsies and partisans. His actions put him on the list of war criminals.

Ultimately, the plot – at least as how I have conceived it at the moment this blog is being written – will revolve around a World Alpine Ski Cup season in Europe. For those of you who don’t know, the Hannenkamm race course is in Kitzbühel, Austria and is one of the longest at just over two miles, steepest (in terms of vertical drop from the start to the finish) and one of the most difficult. Typically, the course is icy and very, very fast with ski racers back in the 70’s easily speeding downhill in some sections at close to eighty miles an hour. Racers average about 66 mph.

So, I’ve got the conceptual outline done and then I started doing a chapter-by-chapter outline. I got about five chapters into the outline and decided to write the first chapter just to start developing the characters.

That led to another one and another one and now I’ve got four done and starting on five. And, I’ve already have deviated from the outline because the characters told me so!

Over the next few months, I’ve decided to finish the first draft. It already has me intrigued. Captivated is probably more like it. What I have to do is keep the writing of the manuscript from being a compulsion.

Marc Liebman

August, 2016

One Book or Three?

Forgotten POWs will probably be out in a month or two. It’s a story about six Americans – Ashley Smith, Randy Pulaski, Jeff Richey, Karl Kramer, Greg Christiansen and Hank Cho – who did not come home when the Vietnamese returned American POWs after the U.S. agreed to leave Vietnam.

In the story, all but Smith and Cho were seen to be captured in 1970 by the North Vietnamese. By 1973, they no longer knew of their existence. Their captor, a corrupt North Vietnamese Army Lieutenant Colonel Pham uses the Americans as laborers in his heroin factory.  His goal – keep them alive and ransom them for millions.

It wasn’t until 1982 when a Laotian colonel is captured during an incursion into Thailand that the U.S. learns of their existence. After they’re in rescued, two men, one a former POW and the other a CIA operative want the POWs dead because what they know will, for different reasons send them both to prison.

While the Americans are stuck in never-never land, Janet Pulaski was an anti-war activist and a member of the Student for A Democratic Society’s Action Wing before she married Randy. She makes a trip to Cuba to learn how to further the organization’s revolutionary goals.

The timeline is based on four key events:

1970 – the Americans are captured;
1973 – 561 American POWs are repatriated and the six are declared MIA, status unknown;
1978 – the six are declared MIA, presumed dead; and
1982 – U.S. involvement in the first joint U.S. Thai military exercise known as Cobra Gold.

Twelve years is a long time for a novel. The publisher and I discussed splitting the book into three manuscripts. One would begin with the capture of the six Americans in 1970 and end with their rescue in 1982. The second starts with their return home only to find out that a former POW and a CIA operative want them dead. Janet’s story becomes the third.

Dividing it would have required adding info from the other two so that the stories made sense. That was the easy part. The hard part would have been adding new plot lines in each of the books and connecting them.

In the end, we – the publisher and I – decided that the book shouldn’t be broken up because all the threads work well entwined together. The stories of:

The six POWs;
The collaboration and treason by a fellow POW who came home in 1973;
The fear of the CIA’s head of its POW/MIA desk that his corruption will be exposed; and
Janet’s unique career.

All combine to make Forgotten POWs a captivating, fast moving novel. I can’t wait to get it out so y’all can read it.

Marc Liebman

August 2016