Finish the Book: Author Interview with Charles Levin

If you're a fan of thrillers and suspense novels, come read this author's writing journey. And if you're interested in self-pubbing your books, you'll find some good tips here as well.

I love the titles of your thriller novels, as they definitely tell you the genre without even seeing the covers. What inspired you to write that first novel? 
I wanted titles that were short and memorable. That makes them stand out in a small thumbnail on Amazon or in a bookstore window. It also helps that the title is ironic—how is it possible to be not so dead? It’s the kind of a question that makes you wonder what the story is about and hopefully, want to read it. It helps too that the title Not So Dead was unique at the time I published, so when you Google Not So Dead, all the listings that come up relate to my book either on Amazon, my website, or Facebook.

The idea for Not So Dead came from an article I read about 10 years ago. The story was about how Google, Facebook and other tech companies were investing billions of dollars in what they called longevity engineering. Basically, the idea was to figure out how to digitize our brains so that we could live digitally forever. Now that's pretty darn intriguing, and I had to ask the question, what could go wrong with that? That led to my story Not So Dead and some of the quirky, engaging characters that inhabit the physical and digital worlds of my books.

Did you start with the idea of doing a series? Or did that come later?

I never imagined writing a series when I started on the first book. I mean, the first book for any author is a daunting mountain to climb. There is so much to learn about writing and publishing the first time out. Just finishing that first book is a big deal. However, the characters in my book took on a real life personality and befriended me as the author. So, I felt I owed it to them to continue their story into book number two. Then my readers kept asking me what happens next? And that led to books three and four. I’m now working on book 5.

Your college degree was in philosophy and ancient Greek. Your career was in marketing and consulting. What made you decide you could write books?
The first book I ever read just for pleasure as a kid was On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming. I think I have been hooked on thrillers and fast-paced reads ever since. My interest in philosophy and Greek was a happy accident in college that taught me to think about the BIG questions that have made their way into my writing. For example, where does consciousness really exist? And does love survive extreme trials and even death? For me too, reading Plato in the original Greek was a life-changing experience. As for my writing, I started writing poetry as a teenager and learned how to be more precise in my writing when I attended law school. When I wrote Not So Dead, I wasn't sure if it was any good. However, when I got my first five-star Amazon review from somebody who wasn't a relative, I felt that now I am an author.

Your books are indie-published. What’s the hardest part for you in publishing and marketing your own books?
I am a big believer that you should do what you are good at and hire others to handle things where you are not so talented. So, I do hire a professional editor, a professional proofreader, and a book cover designer. But I handle all the publishing aspects myself since those require the technical skills that I do have.

As for marketing, unlike many authors who prefer just to write, I enjoy the marketing and selling part as much as I do the writing. Perhaps it's a result of the many years I have spent in business and sales. Also, the act of writing is a solo pursuit. Whereas getting out with people, selling books, and doing book events is fun and very social.

Probably the hardest part of the entire process for me is writing the first sentence every morning. Once I can get started and not be distracted by social media or handling trivial other things to avoid doing my work, then it all flows. But writing that first sentence is the hardest thing to me about the entire writing and publishing process. If you have a good suggestion as to how to overcome that, please let me know.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? 
As I said above, the hardest part for me is starting and writing that first sentence. However, the rest is pretty equal in its joys and frustrations. I will say that my favorite part of writing is creating dialogue. That probably comes from my love of movies. I admire writers like Aaron Sorkin who develop their characters through clever, emotional, rapid-fire dialogue. Many readers tell me they should make my books into a Netflix series. I think they are responding to the preponderance of dialogue in my books, which make them read like movies.

What type of research do you do to create a believable thriller?
Research is a lot of fun and important to my stories. Since what I write is very much fact-based, even though it is fiction, I really want to get the facts and details correct. I know that if I fail to describe a gun or a particular location or street or vehicle correctly, I will hear from my readers.

Part of the fun in research is interviewing experts in various fields. For example, in the current novel I'm writing, I have interviewed a former police detective and narcotics undercover agent. On another occasion, I spent a day with the ATF and learned directly from a sniper how she approaches her work (she landed up in my third book Not So Done). Maybe one of my more interesting engagements was an interview I did with a psychiatrist and a psychologist (married couple) about multiple personality disorder. One of the touching stories they told me made its way in a different form into my second book, Not So Gone.

And research can lead to adventures. I spent three days at sea, 100 miles out and 600 feet down in an armed nuclear submarine. The details of that experience are not available online or in books. I could learn directly from the men and women who protect us under the sea and oversee the Atlantic fleet how it's done. Not surprisingly, I have a passionate interest in submarines and that reflects itself as an element in every book that I have written.

What do you know now about writing you wished you had known sooner?
If I knew how much fun writing and being an author was, I would have taken it seriously many years earlier. But I have no regrets, because I think the richness of my long-life experience contributes greatly to making my stories deeper and broader, both contextually and philosophically. Sorry, that's a mouthful!

What is the best writing advice you’ve received or could give?
The best advice I ever got was from the well-known author Dennis Lehane, who wrote Mystic River and Shutter Island. The advice is… FINISH THE BOOK! So many talented writers I know are afraid to show their writing with others or lose momentum or lack confidence in their work. So many outstanding books are left unread in the drawer. If I could tell you anything I would say finish the book!

Are there any other points about writing you would like to add?
There are so many things I have learned over the last several years that I would be happy to share with your readers. I periodically teach a free workshop called “How to Write Your First Book and Get It Published.” If any one of your readers is interested, have them contact me and I would be glad to share information on that workshop and other videos of talks I have given on the subject—full of suggestions and ideas to make their/your writing experience fun and profitable. I am also happy to speak at book clubs either in person, if local or by ZOOM anywhere. Just contact me at the link below.

What is the next book coming out? Can you give me a short synopsis?
I am in the middle of writing the 5th book in the Not So Dead: Sam Sunborn series. It's called Still Not Done(working title). In the book, our heroes Sam and Monica face tough decisions regarding their son Evan’s health and safety while juggling threats from an escaped terrorist and a technology that may not just threaten us physically, but alter our entire reality. It should be a nail biter with some great new characters. I hope you have time to check it out. It will be available later this year. Still, you may want to catch up by reading the first few books in the series first.

If you'd like to learn more about Charles' writing, here are some links to get you started.

Website: https://charleslevin.com/
Not So Dead Series on Amazon—eBook and Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087JHZDPS
Paperbacks: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087JHZDPS
Audiobooks: https://charleslevin.com/audiobooks/
Contact Charles Levin: https://charleslevin.com/contact/

Writing is Rewriting - Again and Again: Author Interview with Steve Haberman

Your career was in law and stock trading. What made you decide to write that first novel?

Before I wrote my first novel, Murder Without Pity, I had visited Europe and its historic sights a number of times.  I had also read a fair amount of history about France and Germany during WWII.  That got me to thinking about how the offspring of Nazis, whether French, German, or Italian, dealt with this family sigma.  Some weren’t bothered by it; in fact, they embraced it. Others, those with a conscience, were horrified by this stain.  

So I wondered how someone, who fell into that latter category, would deal with it. To add to his question, what if that someone with a conscience was a French criminal investigator, whose grandfather was a pro-Hitler Frenchman?

 I was also interested in the fact that in France, a country that suffered greatly during two world wars, the past is hardly dead.  It lies just below the surface. WWII was fought literally in many people’s front and back yards, so that tragic history remains vivid in their collective memory.  

To show you what I mean, in 1993, nearly half a century after the end of WWII, in Paris a Frenchmen killed Rene Bousquet, a major French Nazi, responsible for arresting thousands of Jews.  That assassination caused newspapers headlines and stories and TV commentaries. In Murder Without Pity, a Paris criminal investigator, grandson of a French collabo, comes face to face with someone from that war and must decide how to deal with it.

What made you choose the indie route to publish? 

I’ve never really liked having someone over me, but I put up with it when I was out in the work world. Not so with my writing. I’ll listen to what someone says, but I don’t want to feel pressure to accept.  I’ve got to be my own man. I also don’t want to feel pressured to write.  I think that jams up the subconscious.  I have to relax, proceed at my own pace, let the ideas bubble to the surface.

Furthermore, I don’t want to jump through all the hoops, which you must do in traditional publishing.  Go to conferences. Make an elevator pitch to a complete stranger.  Write the query.  Make endless changes to my manuscript at the demand of perhaps some unreasonable agent. Put up with the egos and the pettiness and at times the meanness, and there can be lots of all three in publishing, a world that can be brutal, in my opinion, where poor sales could mean out the door for you.  

What was the most challenging part about putting together the book?

The hardest part is finding an editor.  Some might be good, but charge an arm and a leg. You plunk down a sizeable amount of dollars, then you have less to spend on publicizing, cover design, etc. Other editors might nit-pick you to death. Still others might find problems in the manuscript where none existed; they just didn’t read closely. Still others might give good comments, but be patronizing. Most editors I’ve had, though they added value, didn’t add enough to justify the price paid, and didn’t impress me.

Nevertheless, I did find one good editor on Fiverr, believe it or not, Cate Hogan. She critiqued part of one manuscript and was respectful doing it, which I find refreshing in an industry filled with big egos.  I might very well use her again.

How did you choose your book cover designs?

 I forget what search terms I put into Google long ago, but in any event, I found Vila Design and have used it twice.  Tatiana, its owner, is talented, her rates are reasonable, and she’s easy to work with.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? 

Probably creating tension that’s organic, that flows from the story.  It’s especially hard these days to do because of the virus.  Traveling to Europe, the locus of my stories, is impossible for the time being. That fuel for the imagination, the raw material that makes the mind take off, is temporarily cut off. I can’t walk the streets, watch the people, see the dramas, take in the smells, notice the colors.  I make do here in San Diego, but it ain’t the same as being in Berlin, Paris, London, or any other cosmopolitan city.  But one of these days, when Europe reopens, off I’ll go for maybe three months or so.

What does your editor remind you to do most often?

Tighten my writing.

What's the best encouragement you've had in your writing?

Two things. First I read reviews from time to time as long as they aren’t vicious.  A few have been a little extravagant, but it’s still nice to hear. Helps me hang in there. Secondly, through Voracious Reader a fair number of people have expressed interest in being on my mailing list for writing-related notifications.

Who helps you with publishing?

I’m a one-man shop.  I do the research, come up with the cover concepts, read in my preferred genre, edit, write, plus publicize. I can only devote so much time to these activities because I have other interests like studying foreign languages and planning for my return European trip. 

What do you know now about writing you wished you had known sooner?

 I can’t think of any answer to that.  Even before I started writing thrillers, I had done a fair amount of writing in college.  So I understood, even way back then, that writing is nothing, but rewriting, then re-re-writing, and so on.  Always polishing, always editing, always taking out words, looking for synonyms. To an outsider, that process might be tedious.  But for me, it was simply something that came naturally without effort, without a second though.  So when I started writing thrillers, I was already emotionally ready.  

What is the best writing advice you've received or could give?

 Be very, very careful of any read-and-critique group you join.  I don’t know why but some people feel they have license to be ugly in a context like that.  If you get one where everyone respects each other, go for it. Other advice: go to the writing desk daily to keep your story going.  Write in the genre you enjoy reading.  Read quality writers only.  If you read bad ones, you might pick up bad habits. For instance, I read John Le Carre, Alan Furst, Robert Harris, Joseph Kanon to name a few.

Are there any other points about writing you would like to add?

Two points. Write because you enjoy it, not because you expect to get rich and famous. Marquee authors are few and far between. 

There are many sharks out there (see Writers Beware website). Before you buy any service, investigate.  Google it to see what the reviews are like, or if there are even any reviews.  And check with any writers’ group you belong to for feedback. 

What is the next book coming out? Can you give me a short synopsis?

Where the Bones Lie, is due out this year.  It’s the sequel to Winston Churchill’s Renegade Spy.  It’s 1946 Berlin. WWII has been over for several months.  A famed American woman reporter goes missing in the shattered German capital.  Her lover, who did undercover work for Churchill, sets out to find her.

Having read Winston Churchill’s Renegade Spy it intrigues me that you have a sequel. If you like to learn more about Steve's writing, here are some links to get you started.

http://www.murderthrillermysteries.com/

https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B0082A6E5K

https://books2read.com/u/mY7RvG

The Importance of Creating a Storyboard: Author Interview with Caroline Klug

You recently published your debut novel. How did it come about?

Stolen started with one, simple Scripture, Colossians 1:13-14: "For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Would you please give my readers a brief synopsis of the plot?

It’s about a runaway abducted by a serial killer who holds her captive in a remote prison in the woods. Alternating chapters weave her story around a woman riddled with questions about her own past, who suspects the man she lives with may not be what he seems. 

As the stories unfold and connect, there’s a twist. Stolen is a thriller that will take the reader on a journey of pain and terror, as well as an unexpected journey of redemption.

What drew you to write about the gritty side of being a runaway?

I love scary movies, books, and thrillers. As a Christian, that’s hard to navigate sometimes, and God put a passion in my heart to create fiction thrillers that not only entertain but leave the reader with an inspiring message.

My goal is to accomplish this through thrillers that are also biblical allegories. When I started the storyboard (characters, chapter outlines, etc.) for my first book, it was a completely different book than Stolen, but God kept nudging me in another direction. I would be trying to write the outline for this other book, and scenes from Stolen would flash through my mind. So I took the hint, switched gears, and started putting those thoughts down.

How were you able to write the darker parts of your story? 

I do not have personal experience with some of the darker parts of my character’s lives, such as the prostitution and drugs, so writing those parts required a lot of research to make sure it was accurate. I’ve been through a lot of hardships in my personal life, so I drew from that when connecting my characters with challenging thoughts and feelings.

After writing them, did you need some time to re-center yourself?
I never found myself needing to re-center. I knew there was a deeper message of redemption just waiting around the corner, and that energized me to keep going. God gave me some really cool pieces of the allegory, which also made writing the challenging parts easier - it was light shining in the darkness.

How long did it take you to write your first book? How many rewrites did you do on it?
It took me about six months to write Stolen. Writing a book was something I had wanted to do for a very long time, but my job always seemed to get in the way. I was working as a full-time Program and Portfolio Manager, which typically demanded much more than forty hours per week. It got to a point where my passion outweighed my busyness, and I decided to re-prioritize and make a plan.

I limited work on the weekends and, instead, worked on the storyboard. Once that was complete, I committed to writing one chapter every weekend. In total, storyboarding and writing took me about five months. I spent the sixth-month editing until I was comfortable with it. I then handed it off to a professional editor to do line edits.

Outside of general editing, I did one rewrite to the first chapter after receiving some great early reader feedback.

Are you active with any writing critique groups?
As for writing groups, I’m active within several online groups, but currently only meeting in person with a few individuals. I would like to make time to participate in more live groups, as I can see the value that interaction would provide any writer, at any stage of their career.

What made you choose the indie route to publish?
I considered going the route of an agent and even did some initial queries early on. It’s an arduous process at best, and I kept feeling that wasn’t where I should spend my time. I needed to spend time writing.

I felt strongly I needed to move forward and get the message out, so that’s what I did. I certainly would never close the door to interest from an agent or publisher, but for now, I'm content in continuing on the self-published path.

Did you ever want to give up on publishing the book?
I understand first-hand how frustrating the whole process can be but, despite that, I never felt I wanted to give up. There was a message burning in me and I continue to feel that passion pushing me to create more and more.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? I think the hardest part for me is being disciplined to finish the storyboard before jumping into the writing. Whenever you’re trying to create twists in your plot, it’s important to have that all thought through from beginning to end. I get excited sometimes and I want to start bringing the scenes in my head to life on the pages. Doing this too soon creates re-work, so I’ve tried to hold my horses a little and at least get through the preliminary draft of the storyboard. For the record, I love twists, and I’m a big fan of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies.

What’s the best encouragement you’ve had in your writing?

After publishing my second book, The Waiting Room, which is a non-fiction inspirational book designed to encourage while you wait on the things you’re praying for, I had a woman contact me. She told me reading that book transformed how she was thinking about the struggles in her own life, and how much it helped and gave her peace during her wait. It was changing how she saw things, how she prayed about things, and she was even seeing the benefit of that change already in her life. 

Reading that one email made every minute of working on that book worth it. It also made the difficult times in my own life, which that book was born from, worth it. Things like that encourage me to keep going and keep writing.

What has surprised you the most in writing/publishing?

I hire out the line editing and graphics, but I do all of the formatting, publishing, and marketing myself. When I formatted my first novel, Stolen, it was definitely a learning process, and I was initially frustrated. What later surprised me was, once I figured it out, the part I most dreaded - the formatting - became one of my favorite parts.

After I finished my second and third books, I found myself getting excited to roll up my sleeves and start formatting and publishing. Rather than look at it as a laborious and tedious task (which it is) I looked at it as the culmination of a lot of work I was getting ready to put on display, and I was proud of that. Sometimes a little change in perspective can go a long way.

What do you know now about writing you wished you had known sooner?
That if you’re using IngramSpark to distribute your paperback beyond Amazon, you don’t need to get a separate ISBN and upload to Barnes and Noble :)

What is the best writing advice you’ve received or could give?
I’ll credit the best advice I’ve ever received to God. I felt Him ask my heart one time, if I wrote a book for one person - if only one person was touched or changed by that book - would it all be worth it? My answer was yes, and always will be yes. I ground myself in that truth whenever I feel frustrated, and it re-centers me.

As for what I would say to others - a lot of people like to tell new writers they should manage their expectations of never being successful. Don't let that type of negativity influence your motivation to pursue your passions. The definition of success is relative. If you invest the time into writing, and if it makes you happy, then that sounds like success to me. Whether you journal for yourself or you publish a book - just be true to yourself on why you want to write, and be confident in that.

Are there any other points about writing you would like to add?
I recently gave up my 20+ year career to be a full-time author. That was a big step, but this has been a life-long dream for me, and my amazing husband, Jim, is incredibly supportive. Every morning I get to wake up, make a mug of coffee, and pull my Mac in front of me, feels like a gift. So, the best thing about being a writer is feeling like I've been handed a gift. Every morning I remember I get to write and help people. My heart is full, and my goal is to make others' hearts full.

My Christian faith is the primary source of my inspiration. I use it to take things that are hard in this world and create both thrillers and non-fiction that will entertain and leave readers with something meaningful.

Are there other books in the works?
Yes - two of them! The first is a very special non-fiction project. I’m not ready yet to say more about what this is, but as soon as I am, my subscribers and followers will be the first to know! It’s going to be, well, out there. Let’s just say, I’m already predicting it will be the most difficult book I will ever have the privilege to write.

The other is my second fiction thriller, What Lies in Wait. It will be a psychological thriller and, in the spirit of the twists I love, I’m going for a last chapter gasp in this one. You may even meet up with a character or two from Stolen.

Sounds like a "wow" ending. Anything else you'd like to add? 

Another teaser? Ok, why not. One of the main characters, a work from home psychiatrist, is being modeled after our very own Robert Downey Jr. One might say I have a small dream of him playing this role in the movie someday. I’m targeting to have this book out Fall 2019.

That’s always fun when you can picture actors in the roles of your stories! If you’d like to learn more about Caroline’s writing and buy a book or two, here are some links to get you started. 

www.CarolineKlug.com
Twitter: @CarolineNKlug
Instagram: @CarolineNKlug
Facebook: Facebook.com/CarolineNKlug

Sweat Equity Writing: Author Interview with M.A. Rothman

You’ve already published several novels, but what made you decide to write your first novel?

I started mostly as a bedtime story for my kids. It got out of control and I decided to write it down ahead of time. Things spun out from there.

Has that first novel been published? Or is it in the tucked away like many first novels?

Oddly enough, it’s out there somewhere, but not under M.A. Rothman.

Who encouraged you along the way?

I have several friends who are NYT bestselling authors, so I got encouragement from there. My wife thought I was nuts, but she thought I was nuts before that, so - no change there. ;-)

Are you active with any writing critique groups? 

No critique groups. I found that all too often, especially if the critique group is composed of inexperienced or unproven writers, your feedback may be unreliable. I tend to have beta readers and I look for common trends in the feedback. If someone says too much X and another says too little X, I figure I’m probably doing okay. However if the feedback seems to poke at some of the same things, it’s something I’ll pay careful attention to.

I see in your bio notes that you’ve considered Bruce Willis for the lead of Primordial Threat if it becomes a film? Do you picture actors as you develop your characters?
Rarely do I do that. However, I do tend to have some idea of what kind of person a character represents, and sometimes that translates into an actor we might all recognize. For instance, one of the main characters in Primordial (in fact the hero) is a black gentleman who I always jokingly thought of an anti-Urkel. Urkel, being the nerdy smart kid from TV, my character was brilliant - certainly, but not awkward, upstanding, and somewhat buff.

What kind of research do you do for writing your thrillers to make them more

believable? 

I'm a research scientist, so for me, I have some advantages in that I have a strong background in the sciences. And having advanced degrees in anything doesn't mean much, to be frank. It means you have a strong clue about a very narrow thing, and a good grasp of the way things generally works, but all specialties require research in some sense.

Even a physician, when faced with a new disease, goes to reference manuals. In this case, Google is a godsend. Most of my work has a good bit of science in it, but I've also had security clearances in the past and am pretty familiar with how some aspects of our IC (intelligence community) works, so I can make things pretty realistic.

What has surprised or frustrated you the most in writing/publishing?

I spent a tremendous amount of time trying to get published. Let's just say there are barriers involved where it really comes down to finding the right person for the right story and to do that, it often takes a long, long time. I've had an agent, I've fired an agent. After getting sick and tired of the hassles, I self-published and my first book hit the USA TODAY bestseller's list. So much for the whole traditional publication thing.

What do you know now about writing you wished you had known sooner?
I wish I wouldn't have spent almost five years knocking on the doors of traditional publication. I know almost everyone there. And let's just say that I've soured on the process.

What is the best writing advice you’ve received or could give?

Write what you know/love. I actually started writing epic fantasy, and frankly, it was okay - I did it mostly for my kids, and they enjoyed it, and heck, I even sold probably 25,000 copies over a year or two, but it wasn't what I loved. My true love is technology/thrillers/ current-time hard-SF.

Are there any other points about writing you would like to add?
Writing is about 99% sweat and 1% skill. Most people don't put in the time needed to learn the craft. I call it "sweat equity". Without sweat equity, you're basically saying that you're brilliant and can write something without any study whatsoever and beat everyone who has been honing their skills for years.

That's akin to a 20-year-old going to an NFL training camp, never having played football, and expect to get a position. It takes work. 10,000 hours is what they say before you get proficient at something. And for those who do it quicker, I'm jealous as hell. ;-)

What is the next book coming out?
I have a book 2 coming out in the Levi Yoder series on April 4th.

Can you give me a short synopsis?

As a member of a New York Mafia family, Levi Yoder's role is unique: he's a fixer, a solver of problems, a man whose code puts loyalty above all else, yet he's a man with a conscience.

In THE INSIDE MAN, Levi's search for the kidnapped grandchild of a Japanese

mob boss plunges him into a world filled with chaos.

When he's falsely accused of a heinous series of crimes, the FBI makes Levi an offer he can't refuse: use his mob connections to help investigate the murders of several undercover agents or find himself in jail awaiting trial, without a way to clear his name.

With the threat of incarceration hanging over his head and the life of a five-year-old at stake, Levi finds himself tracking a serial killer who he fears might lead him to suspects that are very close to home. Jail or the life of an innocent little girl, Levi's left with no choice.

That’s all for today’s interview. If you’re looking for a new thriller to read, here’s the link to learn more about Michael’s books:  michaelarothman.com