Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been a storyteller since I learned to speak. Writing came easily, but there were some years during which I had to come to grips with learning to write well. I eventually learned that a manuscript is sort of like a diamond. It doesn’t matter how large it is before it’s cut, and nobody will appreciate it until it is polished.
While a very young man, I fantasized about making a living as a musician. Looking back, I realize that was good training for a foray into the 21st Century, where everybody with a word processor is suddenly an ” Amazon novelist” in much the same way we can all be filmmakers on Youtube.
I began writing professionally in the 1990’s. Living in Seattle, a city on the shores of Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, I developed an interest in recreational boating. A local boating magazine published a few of my articles, and then offered me a job as editor. The magazine folded 15 years later, but not before I learned a great deal about writing. During the 90’s, I published a non-fiction book, “How to Choose your First Powerboat”. It was picked up, with an advance, by the first publisher to look at it. I have to say, that fostered some false conclusions about the relative ease of landing a traditional publishing contract.
I spent a few years working on a novel about William Kidd. I got discouraged when several books about Kidd appeared in the course of just a few months. I will finish that manuscript someday, but my writing has evolved and the earlier work will need a total revision.
My first two (self) published novels were Summertime, Book One (2014) and Summertime, Book Two (2015). Summertime falls into the magical realism genre. A wealthy businessman makes an impulsive pawn shop purchase of an old saxophone. He is unwittingly caught up in a cosmic battle between good and evil. His life changes in unimaginable and alarming ways while he struggles with ego and moral choices.
“The Rabbi’s Gift” is my latest novel. It is “traditionally” published by an emerging press, Neoteric Publishing. Prior to acceptance by Neoteric, I emailed scores of literary agents. The almost universal response was what I came to call the Simon and Garfunkle treatment – (The Sound of Silence). Like most other authors, I found it frustrating to have a book rejected by people who never read even a single word of it. I was almost ready to pull the “self-published” trigger again, when Neoteric actually read “The Rabbi’s Gift” and offered me a contract.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“The Rabbi’s Gift, (Retelling an Ancient Tale)”
I do a lot of reading about spiritual and mystical subjects. I started down the rabbit hole that dumped me into the wonderland of The Rabbi’s Gift when reading about the folk history of Glastonbury Abbey in Britain. Perhaps hundreds of thousands of British Christians believe the abbey was established in 37 AD by Joseph of Arimathea. In the Biblical accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea donates one of his family tombs to receive the body taken down from the cross. It is not unusual for British Christians to believe that Joseph of Arimathea had an avuncular relationship to Jesus. Some theorize that he was Mary’s uncle, and others that he was the direct uncle of Jesus.
“The Rabbi’s Gift” adopts the premise that Joseph of Arimathea was the uncle of Jesus. Unless a family had two sons and named them both “Joseph”, then Joseph of Arimathea was the brother of Mary. Following that thread, along with information from two (inconsistent) geneaologies for Mary in the New Testament, it’s possible to make certain assumptions about Mary’s very wealthy family and her early childhood.
“The Rabbi’s Gift” is not a religious book, nor should it be considered a Christian book. There were no Christians on earth until more than 30 years after the events in “The Rabbi’s Gift”. As the back jacket blurb concludes, “The Rabbi’s Gift” gathers shards of Roman history, Jewish mysticism, and Babylonian astrology to craft a speculative backstory for two of the most recognized figures in western literature.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Several.
Perhaps most unconventional; I don’t outline. I often wade into a novel not entirely sure where the plot and characters are going to take the story. Before a scene is converted to manuscript, it’s been mentally replayed dozens upon dozens of times. Even then, the final details often emerge while still typing the rough draft.
I concentrate a lot on sentence structure. Each sentence in a story is like a brush stroke in a painting. One can’t create a compelling story with boring sentences.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Authors:
John Steinbeck
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Frost
Dan Brown
Stephen King
Books:
Works by the authors listed above.
“Rocks of Ages” by Stephen Jay Gould (no relation)
“The Golden Bough” by James G. Frazer
“The Gnostic Gospels” edited by Robert Miller
“Secrets of the Code” by Dan Burstein
“The Language of God” by Francis S. Collins
“The Gifts of the Jews” by Thomas Cahill
“The Metaphysical Poets” a Penguin Classic
What are you working on now?
“Booth”
A historical novel examining the entire life of John Wilkes Booth, culminating with his suicide in Enid, Oklahoma, in the very early 1900’s.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The Facebook Pages for both of the Summertime books and so far for “The Rabbi’s Gift” have been cost effective.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing. It’s like practicing the piano. You need to log a walloping number of hours to become proficient.
Stay humble. The moment you delude yourself into believing that you have “arrived”, you know it all, and your work is at some exalted level is the moment you stop evolving into the best writer you could become.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t do it for the money. Don’t expect to make any money, at all.
Write for the joy of it. Write because you are a story teller. Write because your soul will explode if you can’t share your plot and your characters with the world. Write at the highest level possible, and never be satisfied. Those are choies we can make. Becoming rich and famous isn’t a choice, it’s more of a lucky accident that seldom depends on talent alone.
What are you reading now?
“The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth” by Finis L. Bates
“The Conspiracy Between John Wilkes Booth and the Union Army to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln” by Dr. Robert E. Arnold
What’s next for you as a writer?
Some surprises, no doubt. We look ahead, we plan, but our plots don’t always unfold as we imagined they would. As our characters interact, new possibilities unfold before us.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Desert island with wifi? A Kindle. ๐
Author Websites and Profiles
Chuck Gould Website
Chuck Gould Amazon Profile
Chuck Gould’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile