Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Since I was ten I’ve wanted to write. In fifth grade the teacher told us write a poem about Spring. I can’t say exactly how I knew it was legitimate not to rhyme but I did. My poem was very different from the other students and was published on the first page of school book. I was thrilled.
It wasn’t long after I found a huge Underwood typewriter in my parent’s basement. I carried it up to my room and started right in. I didn’t need any instruction. It was a most natural thing. My first narrative style was modeled on Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. Technically, I knew what I was doing but my plots were really terrible. My surprise endings considerably lacked punch.
In high school I fell in love with literature, poetry, and painting. I went on to study them in college. The idea of being an artist was always there but when I got out into the real world I found I was not very well equipped to support myself on a teacher’s salary living in New York City. On a girlfriend’s advice I studied computer programmer and switched careers. Suddenly I was the author of COBOL programs and technical documents rather than poems.
Through it all I always read, wrote, and painted. After a while I learned to play the tenor saxophone. Playing music has to have been my greatest joy. Practicing, trying to improve every day, was very much like Zen teachings. The end was not important, only the road. I played so much I damaged my ears and had to quit. I’ve got bad case of tinnitus!
After music there was a void for a while but then I started to get interested in French. I gave up reading English and only read Conversational French and Grammar books for three months. At the end I read Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince and now love reading Emile Zola and many others in the original.
It was then I discovered Ruth Rendell. Her work inspired me to start writing fiction seriously.
I have now published four books. Two novels, a book of three novellas, and one of twenty-one short stories. There’s nothing like being deeply involved in writing a novel. At night I don’t know if I am asleep dreaming of my plot or if I’m really awake. All I know is that when the creative process is really going well it is indeed like a muse has taken you over.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent book is the novel, Maid of Honor. It’s been well received and got over 7000 Kindle downloads and was number three in suspense at one point. There were a few events that inspired it. It’s hard to talk about without giving away the plot, but I love stories where I find that what I thought was so wasn’t quite right. That’s all I’ll say on that count.
As far as the narrative style I can say, that without realizing it, I was influenced by John Fowles’ narrator in The Magus. He is a cad and so is my protagonist. Some readers have complained he is unlikable because he is an opportunist and an adulterer while others have realized that’s what makes the story work. I’ve always appreciated honesty, even in unreliable narrators. That sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? I guess you’ll have to read to see what I mean.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When writing dialogue I talk to myself and act it out in my chair. When rewriting I always read aloud. This helps me hear the flow of my prose. Reading silently can make me think it flows when it really doesn’t.
I wouldn’t call this unusual but I always have a notebook nearby to write ideas in. They can come while I’m reading or even in a dream. It’s amazing how fleeting they can be. If I don’t write them down immediately they’ll be lost.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have read many authors and was first inspired to write in grade school. But the author who has inspired me most to want to write is Ruth Rendell. Like Joseph Conrad, Rendell is always good regardless of what she is writing: novels, novellas, or short stories.
Though she wrote in the Mystery Suspense genre I found that the quality of her work transcended it. While reading her short stories I experienced an epiphany. A simple suspense story published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine was at the level of high literature. Yet it could be appreciated by anyone.
Reading Rendell made me get much more serious about my own work. Sorry to say she died last year. I miss her.
What are you working on now?
I’ve been writing some short stories while searching for an plot for a novel. Short stories help to get the juices flowing. And a short story could even turn into a novel. With my first two novels I was lucky enough to know the basic plot, the beginning and end, before I started writing. That was boon. Right now I struggling with some important details regards to novel plots, so I’m writing short stories to help sort things out.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think it’s very important to have Kindle free giveaways to get my book out there. They help generate sales and reviews. I use Twitter and Facebook, but the best way is submitting it to a site like Awesomegang who may include it in their newsletter where it will reach countless readers.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read everything you can. The great authors and the not so great to learn the craft. Be inclusive and read international writers. Do not confine yourself to reading only the type of things you wish to write. If you want to write fiction you should still read non-fiction for education and ideas. Some of our greatest writers like Kurt Vonnegut and Saul Bellow studied anthropology.
Also, read as much as possible about the craft of writing. You will be surprised how much you don’t know.
Learn a foreign language. It will help you understand your native language better. I’ve learned much about English by studying French.
And simply try to write every day. When revising your work come up with certain standards for yourself and adhere to them so as not to confuse the reader. By this I mean mundane things like how you express time. Don’t write 1:00 p.m. on one page and one o’clock on another. Or O.K. followed by Okay. Having standards will keep the reader in the fictive dream you are trying to create for them.
Finally, remember you are writing because you want to be read. Be friendly to the reader. Make him want to read the next word, sentence, and paragraph. Make him want to turn the page.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
When you can’t write, sit down and write. Don’t make excuses to avoid it. When working on a first draft do not be very critical of what you get down. Writing is all about rewriting.
What are you reading now?
Ruth Rendell’s One Across, Two Down, Peter DeVries’ Reuben, Reuben, and Emile Zola’s L’Assommoir.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ve got a lot of things in progress. A book of short stories, a novel, and also some literary essays on two of my favorite books, John Fowles’ The Magus and Alberto Moravia’s Contempt. I’ve published the essay on Contempt on my blog which follows.
http://john-king.wix.com/author#!The-Unspoken-in-Alberto-Moravia’s-Contempt-Why-does-Emilia-Despise-her-Husband/c1q8z/55784dbb0cf219f17734b0f6
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?
John Fowles’ The Magus, Dostoyevsky’s Devils, Alberto Moravia’s Contempt, and Keigo Higashima’s Naoko. Tolstoy’s War and Peace would be nice too.
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