The Proverbial “Novel in the Drawer” by Topper Jones

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The Proverbial “Novel in the Drawer” by Topper Jones

MUSE MONDAY

Talk about putting your muse on hold. Topper did just that, but wow did he pen a novel once he started down the path. Welcome my guest Topper Jones with tale of idea to book.

When I tell people I’m a novelist, one of thequestions I’m often asked is:

“How long did it take you to writeyour first book? A couple of months? Six maybe?”

“Longer,” I say. And then Itell them All that Glisters was 45 years in the making.

I got the initial idea for ATGin 1977 after reading Robin Cook’s medical thriller Coma. I thought: Ifa physician can write a bestseller, why can’t a certified public accountant? Wewere both professionals. All I needed was a preposterous premise.

Rather than have myprotagonist discover [Spoiler Alert] human organs being illegally harvested forthe black market as in Coma, I decided to have my main charactersdiscover “something” equally chilling regarding the financial markets—adisturbing “something” that would upend everything. Total economic meltdown andthe consequences! Banks failing, riots in the streets, and breadlinesstretching from coast to coast.

A few years later, whileworking as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, I penned the firstdraft of ATG on my morning commute into downtown Boston. Fortunately, thatdraft never found a home. The writing was amateurish and unschooled. So, I tookclasses in creative writing and kept plugging away at craft.

When I retired from my day jobsome forty years later, I pulled out my abandoned proverbial “novel in thedrawer” and with the help of a developmental editor specializing in mysteries,I rewrote the thing from scratch. All except the preposterous premise.

What’s the premise, you say?

You’ll have to read the bookto find out. 😉

FurtherExploration

Foranother writer’s perspective on what to do with that novel you may have tuckedaway in a drawer somewhere, see The Novel in the Drawer by Gayle Abrams (Jul20, 2018). Click the highlighted link or point your browser to:

https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/the-novel-in-the-drawer

Book Blurb:

All That Glisters is anedgy contemporary whodunit involving financial skullduggery, high-levelpolitical intrigue, and a behind-the-scenes view of cyber sleuthing. Here’s thepitch:

When the facts don’t add up inhis surf buddy’s bizarre death, forensic consultant (and daddy-to-be) ThaddeusHanlon investigates, volunteering to go undercover to pick up where best friendRafi Silva left off in a secret probe of the U.S. gold stockpile—every lastbullion bar.

Rafi’s spunky fiancée, Bri dela Guerra, has suspicions of her own and soon joins Thad on the hunt foranswers. Together, the two amateur sleuths delve deep, stumbling onto afinancial a-stock-alypse in the making, triggering a brutal manhunt along theEastern seaboard meant to silence anyone looking to set the ledger straight.

Book Excerpt:

Rafi, Bri, and I hadbeen good friends throughout college. Marissa entered the picture a few yearslater but was no less committed to our bond as besties. There was nothing fakeabout our relationship. It was solid. Genuine.

“Okay, Bri,” I said.“You made your point. You feel Rafi had too much to live for, that suicide isimplausible.”

“Impossible. And I canprove it, Thad.” Bri sounded certain like she possessed facts in evidence, thatwe didn’t have.

Marissa picked up onBri’s assuredness, following up with questions of her own. “So, Rafi wasmurdered? You can prove that?”

“Not directly.” Brileaned forward and got as close as she could to Marissa and me. “What I saidwas that I can prove Rafi did not kill himself.”

“We’re listening.”Marissa pointed to herself and then at me.

I made the left-handturn from the Pacific Coast Highway onto the California Incline, a slanted roadthat connects PCH with Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.

Bri started fidgetingwith her engagement ring again. “Remember the Dodge Whitney staffer whoconference-called us Thursday night with the news?”

I nodded. Marissanodded. In my mind, I replayed Jenny Yu’s livestream of the crime scene. Herfailed CPR attempt. And then my crazy request for her to rummage through Rafi’spockets to look for a suicide note or some kind of clue.

“That night Jenny saidsomething that didn’t quite make sense,” Bri said.

Book Link: https://topperjones.com/product/all-that-glisters