Ed Lynskey's Blog: Cracked Rearview Mirror - Posts Tagged "writing"

Some people do better late at night while others prefer to work in the morning. When I worked a 4 p.m to 12-midnight shift, I liked the hours just fine. That was then, some years ago. Now I'm more of a morning person, liking to hit the keyboard before the sun comes up. If I can get 500 new words before dawn cracks, I call it a good day. For me, reading is better suited to do at night. It looks like next year will see many pre-dawns with the new projects in the pipeline. Night owl or riding the dawn patrol, which is better for you? Different strokes.

This week I finished reading Craig Johnson's newest (and terrific) Sheriff Walt Longmire title, JUNKYARD DOGS, and the author includes Walt's pet dog named, simply, Dog. That got me to thinking about how pets are used in fiction. The thinking goes that including a pet makes our hero more humane, sensitive, or well-rounded. I'd tend to agree. A couple of years ago, we had to put down our cat after 21 years with us. It was a heart-breaking event. Stinky was one of the family. Why? I don't know. She just was. So, I think pets do play an important emotional role in our lives (if not our sanity). By the way, I'm happy to report we got a black-and-white cat, and Frannie has made herself right at home.

A couple of years ago, I went in for my annual physical, and my doc told me I was "obese." She didn't sugar coat it, just said it. Overweight? Me? Then my wife heard the news. Well. Some lifestyle changes were on tap. So, it was adios to the greasy tacos, howdy to salads. Actually I like salads. Look, I write books. That means I sit and sit and sit. My office is like a jail cell if I never leave it. My theory is my best writing will result if I stay in good physical shape, a bit like an athlete in that regard. Anyway, I shed 40 lbs. over a few months (sounds like a weight loss ad plugged on TV), and I've kept it off. Walking each day appeals to me. I used to jog, but I'm not keen to blow out my knee or hip. So, I better scram out of here and go pound the pavement. Again.

Some folks like the summer heat, while others are more drawn to the winter cold. I usually have to side with the summer folks. For some reason, I seem to do my better writing on the balmiest days when I should be outdoors, not at my desk working. You'd figure the beautiful weather might be a big distraction, but that isn't the case for me. In the winter, having to shovel snow off the sidewalk and driveway is more diverting than having to mow the lawn. I try to save doing my novel revisions for the wintertime, and do my first novel drafts during the summer. Sometimes it helps me to set the novel during the season in which I'm actually writing the story. I just finished reading Daniel Woodrell's WINTER'S BONE which is, obviously, set in the wintertime. The scenes are so bleak, vivid, and cold, I wondered if he wrote WB while sitting beside a red-hot woodstove.

My debut got published by Mundania Press. The Dirt-Brown Derby has done okay for an indy press. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine reviewed it. Linda Fairstein and John Lutz blurbed it. So, do I regret seeing it in print? Well, it's rough-edged, as noted by a couple of critics. I'd agree with that much. But the thing is you have to start from somewhere to make the journey. Dirt-Brown, a male private eye story, was my launch pad. Somebody said the first effort, be it in music or books or whatever, took a lifetime to create. The second and next efforts are when turns hard. A few more books down the line and I'd also agree with that thought.

I used to get compliments on my neat penmanship. My signature had flair. Now it's a different story. Using the keyboard has made the hand go lazy. Or forgetful. But it's faster, and easier (less hand cramps), pecking on a laptop to write my books. It's nice to know I can fall back on my writing by hand if, say, the power goes out. It's like knowing how to drive a clutch. When you need it, it's there. I read in the newspaper the local schools have dropped teaching our kids cursive writing. What's up with that? How do they sign contracts on the dotted line? Texting is the new norm. Email messages have replaced letters. Well, however you choose to do it, writing is still writing.

I'm something of a klutz. True story. In the 10th grade, I had a free elective to fill, so I registered for a typing class. I knew going in that it'd be a train wreck. But I'm stubborn. Back then, we only had manual typewriters. We took typing tests, graded on how many words per minute plus counting the errors. All thumbs, I was flunking. Luckily, I'd two pals who typed like virtuoso pianists. They offered to do my typing tests. No dummy, I agreed, and I passed the course. Now you might think such behavior would only hurt me in the long run. Today my pals are a carpenter and lab technician, respectively. I've easily typed a million words and, the Good Lord willing, there's more to come.

Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey

It all began as a routine trip to our local vet. It ended with me as a bloody mess. The vet--who isn't important--had taken our cat--she's Frannie--into a back room to do a procedure that's not too pleasant to watch.

The trouble was we'd stayed in the first examination room, waiting. And waiting. Fifteen minutes later, the vet returned to grab a flashlight, muttered something, and left. Then like my PI character, I wandered back to snoop in the second room. Frannie had escaped and crawled up under a cabinet.

The vet and his two assistants were trying to use a broomstick to dislodge her. She was frantic, hissing and crying. So, I bent down and reached way under there and grabbed her. Not a good idea.

She turned on me, and a cat's teeth can do a wicked number on your hands and wrists. But I dragged her out and caged her. We left. My doc put me on antibiotics for two weeks, and I healed up fine. Fortunately Frannie turned back to her sweet, former nature.

Oh, and we also found a new vet.

By Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Satisfying."
The Rap Sheet/Kirkus Reviews

As a reader, I generally take my crime fiction with its meat cooked to a rosy glowing pink. Medium rare, I suppose.

As a writer, though, the question of the violent content drives me batty. How much is enough? How much is too much? When do I cut a scene? Do I cut the entire scene? The bottom line always comes into the deliberations. Will the reader throw my book across the room in disgust? Will he or she never want to read another book authored by yours truly?

Violence, of course, has been a part of our stories forever. The Old Testament has some choice moments. The old pulp noirs penned in the 1950s I've read are saturated in blood. John D. MacDonald's early noirs are nasty, at times. Read Cry Hard, Cry Fast from 1955.

When I was in grad school, Harry Crews at the peak of his powers was my favorite writer. His books are hard living, hard drinking grit lit. Try A Feast of Snakes about a rattlesnake round-up that goes south fast. I just finished up reading James Dickey's lyrical backwoods potboiler, Deliverance, and he wrote it in 1970. Dickey taught at my writing school, so the violence in my fiction stems, in part, from my higher education.

Intolerant readers will just skim or skip the lurid paragraphs until the main story picks up again. Does violence, like sex, do little or nothing to propel the plot? Then why include it at all? It builds suspense, I suppose.

One thing I've noticed is the older I grow, the less interest I have in the violent scenes. It's like been there, done that after I've read so many books over the decades.

Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles and Quiet Anchorage

Hello, my name is Ed, and I'm addicted to verbs. There. I admitted it. Of all the parts of speech, I seem more drawn to verbs than anything else. Action verbs, that is. I can't pinpoint any reason. Maybe it's because the rest of the sentence hangs off the verb.

This is a useful thing when it comes to the writing noirs and suspense novels, since their characters and plots depend on action. When I'm revising my fiction, I like to key on the verbs in the sentences. The verbs can tell me if the story is right, if the description is precise.

Lawrence Block offers the editing idea to change the verbs in the sentences in order to inject more spice and variety (my paraphrase). I don't know if I'd go that far. Verbs are about voice and style. If you're writing hardboiled or noir, your verbs are hard and mean. If you're writing a cozy, your verbs are soft and nice.

Sometimes my verbs connect with the readers, and sometimes they don't.

Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles and Quiet Anchorage