Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
David-Michael Harding is a life-long writer whose novel, How Angels Die, continues to receive critical acclaim. A former semi-professional football player, his writing is hard hitting and passionate. He holds a master’s degree in education and is an adjunct professor of writing. His latest work is his fourth full-length book and there are innumerable shorts, plays, and novellas. Most of his days are spent writing from the cockpit of his sailboat, Pegasus, somewhere off the Nature Coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Cats of Savone – 8 Short Novels for Busy People. Cats is the first installment in The Completely Abridged Series. The release of Completely Abridged grew out of David-Michael Harding’s teaching and letters on The Art & Science of Writing. This collection contains examples of what he refers to as newborn novels. “Most novels begin their lives as short stories. Consider Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, or John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony. Though in their entirety these classics are short in comparison to other works of the masters, each began life as a true short story. Writing, much like any gift, skill, habit, or hope, is strengthened through practice, training, and exercise. The short story is the stretching and dedication to a running regime long before the marathon. It is the repetition of scales on the piano, years before the recital.”
Writers should learn with each exercise and compiling this collection was no exception. The myriad of topics – from baseball (My Boo Radley) to war (Forever Beneath the Celtic Sea) to music (The Jazz Bridge) – and genres – fantasy (St. Alden’s), contemporary (My Boo Radley and The Junket), and historical (Black Men in Bright Blue and The History of West Texas) – exposes the reader to an assortment of writing techniques. The commingling of topics and genres also proves highly entertaining for the reader as they weave through the far flung reaches of stories.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t write from an outline. I know the destination, but little of the journey. I spend a great deal of time internalizing the characters and their strengths and weaknesses. Then I set them loose to explore and react to the situations and circumstances that develop in the storyline. My writing style is best classified as eavesdropping. I don’t so much write dialogue as I set my characters in the story and listen and watch what they do. As they work through the piece and make decisions, I write down what happens and what they say.
If I am not at work on a novel, I pen short stories to stay in tune and crisp. It is in the practice – the honing of the craft – that skill is developed. If I have a habit it is that by design I am always looking and listening for seeds of stories. Seeds are blown in on many types of breezes. Stories may come from the remnants of a dream. Or a snippet, a line, a scene in a film. Perhaps the dangling prose in another novel or a hint of the story beneath the words of a song. Often it is the thoughts of the forgotten people who lived at the center or through a historic event. It is the wish to show the perspective they had. The key is to have prepared the soil – practice – and have a fertile imagination to accept and nourish the seed.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Steinbeck and Hemingway. I always come back to the simplicity in which they practiced the craft. They do not tell a story so much as they allow a story to be revealed. They show, not tell. Their works are about the growth of the characters based on the decisions they make on the page. The story is their journey. The writing is straightforward and they don’t waste words and lines. The intent of each page is to drive the story forward.
What are you working on now?
The next scheduled release will be the much anticipated sequel to Cherokee Talisman (2012), Losing St. Christopher. The novel continues the saga of the Cherokee Indian Nation through the lives of the shaman Totsuhwa and his son Chancellor. The impact of the murder of their wife and mother from Book 1 is reflected in their choices as the infamous Trail of Tears approaches. Losing St. Christopher is in its final stages of editing and is scheduled for release in the spring of 2014.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Informed, experienced, knowledgeable reviewers. They have existing fan bases who place great stock in their judgment. People use social media to track reviewers who have similar tastes as themselves. Readers can then use reviewers to filter out material they would not enjoy. One of my greatest rewards is to have a reviewer say, “This isn’t my standard fare, but I couldn’t stop turning the pages!” They will convey that sense of discovery to their readers.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write write write! As I mentioned earlier, authors need to exercise – and the short story and novella is the training necessary in preparation of the elusive next Great American novel!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
From Hemmingway – never empty the well. I end my writing day with a very good notion of what the next line, paragraph, or scene will be. He wrote that he seldom experienced writers block by using this very simple ploy. As with so many things, he was correct. I seldom am at a loss for the next words. This augmented by the fact that I cheat – my books are full of my character’s voice, not mine. I am merely the scribe holding the pen.
What are you reading now?
Thomas Steinbeck’s short story collection, Down to a Soundless Sea. Wonderful visual writing. You can feel and smell the sea breezes of the coast. When the protagonist is cold, you shiver. That is good writing.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Following Losing St. Christopher, I will be stepping away from historical fiction in the purest sense by completing a much more contemporary piece. It is in the early stages, but I am very pleased with the story’s progress. The characters are whispering in my ear to get back to them and get their dialogue down on the page!
There has also been tremendous interest in How Angels Die as a film. The novel is very visual and would translate very well to the big screen. I hope to craft the screenplay following the publication of the contemporary novel I referenced. Several years ago I wrote teleplays for public television so I’m excited to stretch myself back into that field.
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?
The Bible – for the religious connotations, but also because it is full of fascinating stories which are often overshadowed by the tremendous message.
The Complete Oxford Dictionary – I have read most of it and though I can’t explain how, wonderful words pop up in my writing from it that I have utilized nowhere else.
Steinbeck’s Short Stories – pure entertainment
Any incomplete novel of my own. On the island I would have time to do a masterful re-write!
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