Chris’s Comments (group member since Dec 28, 2011)

Chris’s comments from the Q&A with Chris Orcutt group.

You're too kind, Clare. As for the love-hate Shay debate, most women I've heard from are split down the middle on this issue. The classic femme fatale causes good men to do dumb things, and most women of substance can't stand them.

Initially Shay was meant simply to come off as an unstable, sexy artist, but then, before my very eyes, she became manipulative. Combining this behavior with her "dangerous" red hair (a small obsession I share with Dakota) turns Dakota into putty.

In essence, you hit upon exactly what I was going for in Shay Connolly--sexy, overconfident, manipulative--the kind of woman guys get sucked into and decent women hate. I wanted the reader, as s/he sees Dakota falling for her, be like, "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

It's clear from your post that we share a mutual admiration of Chandler for the language. In A Real Piece of Work, I wanted to do an homage to Chandler, but I also wanted the book and the voice to be its own. My feeling is that just as Robert Ludlum (Bourne) doesn't have a monopoly on writing engaging action sequences, Chandler doesn't get to have a monopoly on literate narration with interesting language and smart analogies, etc.

I'm so gratified that you, a fellow mystery writer, enjoyed it as much as you did. Now if only sales would rise to meet the reviews! I raised the price from its original $2.99 because several marketing people I respect, as well as fellow author Dick Peterson, thought it best for me to get out of that very crowded price point. Ultimately I think it was the right decision.

I imagine I don't even have to ask you this, but it would help me a lot if you told all of your GR friends about the book. I'm finding that the only "advertising" worth a damn is word-of-mouth. Period.

Thank you again for your praise and encouragement. I wish you the best with the Bella Street series!

—Chris

In case any readers don't believe that I work on a typewriter, here is a short film entitled "Equipment Test: Typewriter" in which you see me working on my Royal and my Hermes. The "equipment" referred to is my filmmaker friend Jason Scott's new film equipment, *not* my typewriters. Anyway, through marvelous editing Jason manages to make a great short film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pdTz6...

Dick,

As always that was an incredibly generous post. I think we're both a little taken aback at the transition from print to ebooks. I know I am. And I have to say, the empowerment of the ebook platform is marvelous. (For the record, Dick was one of the first writers to encourage me to publish on Kindle.)

In addition to the Dakota series, I've written a lot of short stories and memoir over the past few years and plan on releasing Kindle collections of them this year.

This isn't to say that I've given up on traditional/mainstream publication, because I haven't. It's just nice to know that there's a legitimate (and potentially more lucrative) option available to me and other writers now.

I've been reluctant to invite people to this forum, Dick, because I feel they could perceive it as purely self-serving. Maybe you'd be willing to get the word out to any of your dozens of reader-writer friends?

In case we don't hear from each other beforehand, I wish you and yours a Happy New Year. May 2012 be filled with health and prosperity for you and the whole Peterson clan.

Sincerely,

Chris

My literary influences are many and varied.

Among mystery/thriller/noir authors, my favorites are Raymond Chandler, Robert B. Parker, Jim Thompson, Ian Fleming, Charles Baxter, and Charles Williams. These authors are the most responsible, I believe, for developing my appreciation of, and skill with, narrative drive.

My other influences, however, are more literary in nature—real writers' writers:

Anton Chekhov
Vladimir Nabokov
Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald
John Cheever
Raymond Carver

From these literary writers I developed a deep appreciation for good sentences, and I've done my best to bring a level of literary quality to A REAL PIECE OF WORK that is often missing from genre novels.

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I am open to any questions about other ways in which these influences have affected my work. Thank you.

Rather than reinventing the wheel, below is the book description text from Amazon.

For more information about the novel or its protagonists, Dakota Stevens and Svetlana Krüsh, visit my website or theirs:

http://www.orcutt.net/weblog/a-real-p...

http://www.dakotapi.com

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A REAL PIECE OF WORK delves into a world of forged and stolen art, secret identities and murder.

In a case that leads from Manhattan to the Catskills to Washington, D.C., what begins as the simple recovery of a painting soon reveals an international art scam and a chilling secret hidden for 70 years.

DAKOTA STEVENS is a modern PI, medium-boiled. As a former FBI agent with experience in the field and the lab, Dakota combines the wit and grit of PIs Marlowe and Spenser with the ratiocination of Sherlock Holmes.

However his Watson is anything but. A Ukrainian-American chess champion with runway legs, predator eyes and fluency in seven languages, SVETLANA KRÜSH brings worldly panache to their cases, or, as Svetlana would have you believe, she “solves the crimes and handles the money.”

National Bestselling Author Dave King describes A REAL PIECE OF WORK as “Stylishly written—nods to the classics of the detective genre—with great characters and plenty of wit and originality.”

It's a well-written page-turner that appeals to readers who simply want a good story as well as those for whom literary style is important.

Chapters of the novel read almost like stand-alone stories. Intriguing chapter titles like "Fifty-Three Calls to Shanghai," "A Shapely Vixen Whose Hair Smells Like Mint" and "The Unburned Briefcase" will keep you turning page after page. You can see the complete Table of Contents on the Dakota Stevens website.

* The novel is based on historical research, and the author consulted over 2,000 pages of government documents and articles to ensure that elements of the book are accurate.

* The novel contains a password, giving buyers access to research *bonus* material on the Dakota Stevens website: www.dakotapi.com

* At 75,000 words, or approximately 300 pages, the novel will provide hours and hours of reading enjoyment.

* The second novel in the series,THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT, is already complete and will be released when sales of A REAL PIECE OF WORK exceed 1,000 copies.

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I am open to any questions readers may have about how I wrote the novel, but I ask people who post not to post spoilers. Please. Thank you.

I consider myself an unusual hybrid writer between the old and new technologies. I write most of my first drafts without a computer (I am very picky about my tools), using one of the following three methods:

1. In pencil (my preferred pencils are the Palomino Blackwing 602, the California Republic Palomino, the Mongol 482, and the Musgrave HB).

2. In pen (either my Mont Blanc 4810, my Waterman, or a Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen).

3. On a typewriter (I have 5: a Royal Quiet Deluxe, an Hermes 3000, an IBM Selectric III, an Olympia SG-3N and an Olympia SM-9).

When the first draft is finished, after it has sat for a while, I type or scan it into my Mac, where I work on the next drafts using Apple's Pages program.

As for working habits, I am like W. Somerset Maugham, who said he only wrote when he was inspired, but luckily inspiration came to him at nine o'clock exactly every day. In other words, I write every day, usually VERY early in the morning, when there are no distractions.

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I am open to any questions about my working process, as well as the process I employed when writing A REAL PIECE OF WORK.

Hello, and thank you for dropping into my Q&A Forum. Let me introduce myself:

My name is Chris Orcutt, and I have been a professional writer for 20 years. Recently I published my mystery novel, A REAL PIECE OF WORK, on Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, and it's receiving rave reviews from readers.

My short fiction has appeared in literary journals including Potomac Review, The Griffin, Timber Creek Review, Snake Nation Review, The MOTA 3 Anthology, and the 2003 Dan River Anthology. Published stories include “The Bootlegger,” “Whose Van is That On Fire Out There,” “Descent,” “Security Guard,” “All the Young Fellas Are Linin’ Up” and many more.

As a playwright, I have had some plays performed, including the following done as staged readings with the Penobscot Theatre Company:

+ Dark and Stormy Night
+ Microbrew
+ Kansas City, This Is Former Air Force One

In 1992, I received a New York Press Association award, and in 2002 I won both the 55 Fiction World’s Shortest Stories competition and placed second in the MOTA 3 Emerging Writers contest. My nonfiction has appeared in several magazines and online publications including Writer’s Digest.

My writing day jobs have been many and varied:

+ Newspaper reporter (my first love)
+ College writing instructor
+ Technical writer
+ Corporate scriptwriter
+ Web content author/editor
+ Speechwriter (a fascinating world, seriously)

Currently I don’t have a day job, choosing instead to focus all of my energies on 1) becoming the best writer I can and 2) going after the top fiction markets.

I write most first drafts in pencil or on a typewriter, then I scan the pages or retype them, and finally edit them on a Mac. Every writer has his own process. Mine is laborious, but it works for me.

I live in Upstate New York with my brilliant wife, Alexas.

Thank you for visiting.

— Chris Orcutt

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Now, who are you? Introduce yourself!