Bill Mesce
This weeks Author of the Week is Bill Mesce.
So is there a main thing you love and hate about writing?
I can’t remember who said it, but one of my favorite quotes about writing is, “I hate writing, but I love having written.” There is a sense of accomplishment afterward, but the actual process – for me, anyway – can be tedious. Somewhere about halfway into a manuscript I can’t wait for it to be done because it increasingly feels like a chore.
The sense of accomplishment is something special when you finish a book. Who is the worst villain you’ve ever written, and why?
I don’t write villains. I have written characters who do bad things, but it’s usually rationalized in their own minds. I find it more interesting – and more realistic – to write people whose judgment has been corrupted by circumstance. I know that there are truly evil people in the world, but I find that most bad things are done by people who don’t think they’re doing bad. I like writing in that grey area where someone does good for a bad reason, and/or does something bad for a good reason.
The grey area interests me too, a man who kills is a murderer, but if he's killing to save a victim, is he really that evil? So many grey areas out there. What is next on your list to write/publish?
I’ve been very fortunate that almost everything I’ve completed to date has been published. I don’t have much left on the shelf. I tried giving romance/mystery a whirl, and I have a manuscript under consideration at a house so I’m waiting to see what happens to that. I also have a noirish manuscript that I’ve been working on off-and-on for quite some time and would love to finally get that done and off my back; it’s sort of a companion piece to Median Gray – same era, same general location, but the other side of the law. Other than that… I often find myself feeling I’ve come to the end, but then some projects I never anticipated come up. That’s happened frequently with my nonfiction work, and I’ve had a few ghost writing gigs; in fact I’m on one now. I’ve never really worked with a plan.
To read Bills full interview please go to https://www.elizabethnharris.net/post...
So is there a main thing you love and hate about writing?
I can’t remember who said it, but one of my favorite quotes about writing is, “I hate writing, but I love having written.” There is a sense of accomplishment afterward, but the actual process – for me, anyway – can be tedious. Somewhere about halfway into a manuscript I can’t wait for it to be done because it increasingly feels like a chore.
The sense of accomplishment is something special when you finish a book. Who is the worst villain you’ve ever written, and why?
I don’t write villains. I have written characters who do bad things, but it’s usually rationalized in their own minds. I find it more interesting – and more realistic – to write people whose judgment has been corrupted by circumstance. I know that there are truly evil people in the world, but I find that most bad things are done by people who don’t think they’re doing bad. I like writing in that grey area where someone does good for a bad reason, and/or does something bad for a good reason.
The grey area interests me too, a man who kills is a murderer, but if he's killing to save a victim, is he really that evil? So many grey areas out there. What is next on your list to write/publish?
I’ve been very fortunate that almost everything I’ve completed to date has been published. I don’t have much left on the shelf. I tried giving romance/mystery a whirl, and I have a manuscript under consideration at a house so I’m waiting to see what happens to that. I also have a noirish manuscript that I’ve been working on off-and-on for quite some time and would love to finally get that done and off my back; it’s sort of a companion piece to Median Gray – same era, same general location, but the other side of the law. Other than that… I often find myself feeling I’ve come to the end, but then some projects I never anticipated come up. That’s happened frequently with my nonfiction work, and I’ve had a few ghost writing gigs; in fact I’m on one now. I’ve never really worked with a plan.
To read Bills full interview please go to https://www.elizabethnharris.net/post...
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