It ain't literature. But I had fun writing it.
First, the financials weren’t working. Dividing payment for each story by the number of hours I put into it, it worked out that patrolling city streets for lost change was probably a more lucrative use of the time. Second, I became convinced that fewer people were reading the magazine than were reading this blog (and that’s saying something). Finally, I had to admit I wasn’t really adding anything to the genre of crime fiction. My stuff seemed pretty dour and derivative, which is not the sort of thing people enjoy reading. I know I don’t. Ditto with writing it.
I don’t think any of those things has changed, but I’m going to hit it again anyway. We all have our precious few talents, and it’s probably better to use them than complain that they’re not enough. This time I don’t think I’m going to think so much about selling — maybe that will clear away the vague inhibitions that have surely been blocking my true genius. I’m kidding.
If you have time, click on the image above and read my 2008 story “The Gray Lady.” It was my first stab at a ghost yarn and I’ve been thinking of bringing back one of the characters in it.
Meantime, if you have an interest in detective fiction, check out the blog of my friend and former colleague Peter Rosovsky. He focuses on international writers, because that’s where all the best stuff is being written. In the U.S., it seems, all the best crime writers are concentrating on TV.
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I recognize a certain tongue-in-cheek quality in this post, but I still think you are way too hard on yourself. I found this blog because I enjoyed your stories in EQMM so much that I wanted to find more of your writing. The only other authors I’ve done that for are Steven Saylor, Peter Turnbull, and Janwillem van de Wetering. You are in good company.
I know you’re not kidding about how hard writing is. One year as an English major in college, plus a couple of my own attempts at writing stories, convinced me of that long ago. I just don’t know how somebody like Terry Pratchett produces such good stuff and (at least according to him) enjoys the process of writing it.
I’ll post more later about why I like your writing. For now, take it from a 46-year-old lifelong reader of mystery stories: your stuff is good.
Thanks for the kind words, John. I’ll try to keep them in mind as I struggle through this current project.
What John said!
I followed your link and read “The Grey Lady” and enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to reading more of your fiction. Your writing has grown and matured quite a bit since you wrote that story, and I can’t wait to see what you will come up with this time!
Great news, dad. Get on that fiction pony and ride, that is, write. Life is short — go for it.
Here is my followup: I took some time to consider exactly why I like your writing, and came up with these things. Some apply just to fiction or non-fiction, some to both.
– Believable characters: besides a certain amount of necessary exposition, people in your stories act and speak like people in the real world. Judging by the number of stories I read where this is not the case, it’s easy to describe this, but hard to write that way.
– Believable plots: I’ve reached the point where I stop reading as soon as the words “serial killer” appear. Your plots feel like stories that could actually happen, and when who done what is revealed, that’s believable (but not predictable).
– Dry sense of humor: this comes through especially in your blog entries.
– Command of language: you know what words mean, and you use them well. Also, you don’t misuse words. I was reading a Sue Grafton novel recently and noticed (again) that her main character sometimes misuses words. It’s annoying, but I’m starting to wonder if it’s deliberate – some editor must have noticed the problem by now. Still, I can’t help wondering if “Kinsey” is really the one who doesn’t know the correct meaning of the word. Anyway, you don’t do that.
– Subtle references: this is more of a personal thing for me. You occasionally include references to other works, but you don’t hit us over the head with them. For example, the last line of “Strange Days” recalls the line from John Lennon’s song, “Nobody Told Me”. But I can’t see you writing a story called “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, about a serial killer who keeps his victims’ hands as souveniers.
As far as dour and derivative go, if we get rid of everything dour, that eliminates half the mystery novels currently being published. And don’t worry about derivative – you have your own voice.