Learning from others

Being a writer, I read what I write. Most of my library consists of Mickey Spillane, Lawrence Block and others who write in the first person. I love writing this way, what the eyes of the detective see are things that only my mind can conjure up. Oh, there are places and a few people I have seen appear in my tales, but not forbateum. Just bits and pieces of their personality, descriptions and attitudes. The majority of my fiction is made up. Imagination is a wonderful thing.

I also have a research library. Books on the mob, both past and present. Other things I want to find out about I hunt for on the internet, somethings explained in detail, others not so much. Yet I dig until I find what I am looking for, sometimes not finding it. I have a few friends who help, some people in the field of medicine, others in various jobs which lend to the common side of life. They are the one’s I talk to the most, their views of life and other things always fascinating me. And no two are alike, which makes for diversity in my stories worth the listen.

But just reading crime fiction is not all I do. I venture out into other areas of the written word and sometimes get inspiration from them. I first started out writing horror, a few were published in small press magazines (now defunct) and one I actually got paid a whole four dollars for. My first sale and I was proud. I still read in the horror gene, not the slice and dice or splatter, but the authors who know how to scare one without shedding volumes of blood. The build up is the key, The slow, steady hinting that something is lurking around the corner, something dark and evil, something that will, if it catches you will drag your soul to hell. Lovecraft is one of those authors I like. His stories hinting at the evil around the corner, the unseen things in the darkness that whisper to the weak and greedy.

Things that some call bumps in the dark. Many authors have tried to imitate him, I for one did and a few of my stories sold. But he is the master of the macabre, his stories giving me an idea for a book that will be written in the future. I also like Lee Child’s novels. His character Jack Reacher a tough no nonsense fellow who slowly and surely puts all  the pieces together and decimates the bad guys. I am now reading a book by James Elroy, L.A.. Confidential, the book made into a movie where most of the story was cut out, bits and pieces strewn together to make a crime drama. The movie is alright, the gist of the book is there but if one wants to get the full impact of what the writer is saying, they need to read the book and then they will find out that there is more to the story than what the movie told.

I also like Sword and Sorcery tales. Conan and a few others being my favorites. Also I like to read the detective tales of past writers, the pulp writers, their style called hack but when one reads the stories they find that they are not lacking in twists and turns and action. Chandler, Hammett and others that don’t come to mind at the moment, all started in the pulps, the payment barely making the rent and putting a few groceries on the table but it was a payday and it was getting published. As for me, I write for the sake of writing. The craft one that I have favored for a long time. I have done many things, played music, did artwork, even did some acting in a wild west club that I and a few other fellows started. But writing seemed to stick with me, maybe on the back burner for a while but as of late, it has taken full charge.

To date, I have two novels published, a third ready to be published and a forth a work in progress. I plan to do a few short stories also when I can, get back into the magazines, or ezines as they are these days and get more recognition. As I said in an inspirational paragraph I wrote, Ink is My Blood and I intend to keep it that way.