earlemerson.com

There are a lot of theories for how to write novels. One says to write what you believe the masses want, even if you have to pander. Another says to write the most high-falutin stuff you can imagine, hoping to attract the art crowd. Another says to look at what is at the top of the bestseller lists and copy it, maybe put your own spin on it, but use the template.

I never believed in any of those theories. My attitude has always been to write the type of book I wanted to read, the type I did, in fact, spend my time reading. This is easier said than done because if you craft your books the way I do, it takes a long time to get to square one and an even longer time to frame the house up and get the wiring just right and then the floors and the paint and all the trim and then you put the numbers over the door and by that time you’ve got every nail and word and comma memorized. It can take a long time. By the time I’ve finished a book, I’ve written and re-written it a dozen times. Add to that all the read-throughs with the editing, copy-editing, line-editing and reading the proof pages and by the time a book comes out, I might have read it thirty or forty times. Often more. It’s hard to judge whether I would like it if I was coming upon it cold. I’ve often yearned for a memory pill that would allow me to read one of my books cold, as if I hadn’t written it. That memory pill has finally come to me in the form of time.

We’re proofing the Fontana series for e-book formats and guess what? I haven’t read one of them in over twenty years. So I’m reading them almost as if I hadn’t written them. I can remember a few lines, where they came from, how they were devised, but the plots and many of the characters are coming as a surprise. Wow!

Two things strike me. One is: I like these characters and I like this writing. The second thing that strikes me is that I don’t write like this anymore, or not much like it. All writers evolve and I’ve evolved more than I ever thought I would. Still, it’s a joy to read these books as if I’m a stranger and do not know the man who wrote them. I find the experience  enlightening. It makes me want to write another Fontana, which would be the sixth in the series. Just a thought for now.

So far Black Hearts and Slow Dancing is in Kindle format. Close on its heels will come the other four Fontanas in Kindle. Then the other formats.