Blood Moon has taken a new turn. I am up to 60,000 words and last night, around 2:30 a.m. Blood Moon took a leap in a different direction. When you let a character have his own way, he will sometimes surprise you. That's what happened last night as Cooper was chasing the dealers in body parts down the East coast of Florida.
Cooper now has a new partner in the chase, A Russian strongman, whose daughter has been kidnapped by his enemies. The Russian along with Richie, the mafia hit man, Huck, the Old Florida cowboy, and Cooper are in pursuit of viscious psychopaths who make a living off other people's bodies. It's a gruesome world that they are entering, dangerous and full of traps. I will be releasing a passage from Blood Moon sometime in the near future. Keep an eye out for it.
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My agent (Tris) has suggested that better genres for Cooper's Moon and Blood Moon are Thriller and Crime. Thus the title for this blog. The issue of genre gets into the issue of the writing process as well. What it says about the process is something that I've discovered earlier: namely, that the process of writing is a fluid one. The genre drives the story.
As I am writing Blood Moon, the story line has changed several times. You're probably surprised at that. When you read a book, you don't think about the process that the author went through to create it. I never did. I have already dumped about 30 pages (at least) of Blood Moon and will probably dump some more. That's the bad news. The good news is I like the story more. Hope you do too. I will be posting a new selection of Cooper's Moon in the next several days. So stay tuned for Cooper's latest Miami adventure. I'll look forward to your feedback. Tris is sending out Cooper's Moon to more publishers shortly. Keeping my fingers crossed. All the best, Connie One thing I have noticed about the writing process is that characters, like Cooper for instance, have a life of their own. And once the writer has given birth to them, he/she doesn't have much control over them.
I never pictured Cooper focusing on missing persons in his work as a private detective when I conceived of him. But the disappearance of his son led to his obsession with finding missing persons. No control over that. I'm finding out that's the case with the evolution of a story as well. I have a general idea about where the story is going, but it's a developing process. Someone might get killed that I hadn't planned on. Too bad for him or her. But that's how life is anyway, isn't it. I asked Tim Dorsey, who writes about nefarious and colorful characters who populate Florida--and there are a lot of them--about his writing process. He said he writes from an outline of sorts, but that he leaves the story open as well. I think that makes it more interesting for the writer and the reader. And after all, our own lives are in the making as well, aren't they. Those are my thoughts for tonight as I continue writing my second novel, Blood Moon. Cooper and his friends, including a mob hit-man, a Russian strongman and gator trapping, Florida cowboy, are in pursuit of dealers in body parts. A gruesome business for sure. Someone's going to get killed. In the meantime look for an installment of Cooper's Moon. My web page designer, Ryan, will be posting it as separate page on this site. It's the Prologue to Cooper's Moon. Hope you like it. Let me know what you think. I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts! Connie I wrote for another two hours tonight--I read what I had written to my wife. She said it was so scary she wouldn't be able to sleep. That happens when I write late sometimes. I can't sleep. Last night I fell asleep at about 3:00 a.m. That seems to be my best time for writing though. But tonight..it's going to be an early night---1:00 a.m.
Signing off. Another installment of Cooper's Moon coming shortly. If you're checked out the "Author" page and seen my picture there, you are seeing the work of Martin Lipschultz, friend and photographer extraordinaire! Thanks, Martin, for the great picture. It was the product of a night of shooting and many glasses of wine.
I want to send out a special thanks to my daughter, Cathleen Elliott, who just finished a haunting book cover for Cooper's Moon. It is the perfect addition to this web site. With Ryan as the designer of the web site and Cathleen as the book cover designer, this site is truly a family project. Add in my wife, Karyn, my muse and constant support in all things, and the site is coming together. I was happy that Tris Coburn (my agent) thought that it was "fabulous!" Thanks, Tris!
The new book cover should be up in several days. Check it out and let us know what you think of it! You can comment below. I am looking forward to sharing it with you. Connie The last few nights I have been writing less and researching more. I am learning that the writing process is a simple one really: write, write, write. Writer's block disappears in the face of plowing on.
Cooper is changing somewhat these days as the distance lengthens between his son's kidnapping and the present day. The frustration of the search is wearing on him. Cooper's Moon is really a story about a philosophy professor at a small liberal arts college in Ohio whose son is kidnapped one morning while he is teaching, an event that changes his life dramatically. His wife leaves him, he quits his job, and he becomes a detective so he can focus on finding his son. Everything that happens after that is driven by that single event, the kidnapping of Maxie. Stay tuned! It's the new year, and I've been up every night writing--my New Year's resolution is to write at a decent hour. For me the best time is late at night--there are no distractions then.
IBlood Moon Rising, my second novel in the Cooper's Moon trilogy, is finished. We are waiting for the artist to render her cover and interior work. Cathleen Elliott, the designer, is magnificent. www.flyleafdesign.com -- Check out her book covers when she was art director at Oxford University Press, NYC. Now she is doing indie work for various publishers. I'll be sharing with you experiences that I have on the way to writing the Cooper Series--the good, the bad, and the ugly. Mostly it's been a good trip. I hope you'll enjoy it with me and share your ideas along the way. I will look forward to your comments. By the way, many thanks to my agent, Tris Coburn, for his hard work in shopping my books to selected publishers. He has always given me sound advice, and for that I thank him heartily. Finally, a special thanks to my wife, my muse, as I write each evening to the music of Leonard Cohen. She is my inspiration and my untiring reader. Richard |
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