Interview on the Writing With Red Book Blog

Note:  This interview was conducted by Red Thomas and posted on his Writing With Red blog - you can read the original here and check out his other excellent reviews and author interviews.

Interview with Authorpreneur Mike Wells, the Master of Unputdownable Fiction     

NOVEMBER 9, 2015 / THINKTANKRED91

Welcome to a special interview with the self-published author Mike Wells, a multi-genre writer whose books are consistently rated four stars and above by readers, publishing what he calls “unputdownable” stories. Wells’s focus has been on pushing his content to a cheaper, more readily available media format, and as such he is an advocate for eBooks in today’s market. I previously reviewed several installments of Lust, Money & Murder my blog and found them to be fast-paced thrillers packed with action and drama.

Now that you know a little about Mike Wells, let’s see what he’s working on, as well as his thoughts about his work, trends, and new media.

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What are you working on now?

Right now I’m focused on the next trilogy in my Lust, Money & Murder series—Books 7, 8 and 9. This story has snowballed and taken directions I never could have predicted back when I wrote the first trilogy five years ago. My latest experiment was to post the newest book I was working on, the sixth, serially on my blog, as a free read for anyone who was interested and was willing to join my VIP Reader List. This advance review copy proved to be quite a success, with around 1,000 people reading it by the end, and I plan on doing this with all my future books. It has a lot of advantages for both me and my readers—they give feedback as I go, catch typos and continuity errors—but at the same time it gets the book into their hands a few months faster. Of course I will also publish the books the usual way when the serialization is complete, for those who don’t care for that approach or would simply rather download the whole thing at once.

What was your favorite piece to write?

I don’t really have favorite pieces, any more than a parent could have favorite children. If any part of a book is not fun to write, I simply don’t write it, or stop writing it and delete that part. If it is no fun for me, or feels laborious or like a struggle, then it will probably feel that way to readers, too. There is no place for this in any book if you are trying to produce gripping, “unputdownable” fiction.

You have quite a few books and series. If someone hasn’t read your work before, where do you think should they start?

Probably you should start with Lust, Money & Murder, simply because Book 1 is free. This is my most popular series, and if you like it, there are more books in that series to enjoy than in any of the others.

You offer free advice on your website to help other writers. I do know other writers who are willing to help each other out, but usually it’s strictly people they work with—This way they know when they’ve made an impact or can better control the flow of information. You’re a different case, giving away bits of information you’ve had to work for from the bottom up. What makes you want to share?

Well, I think what you may be getting at is why I don’t not want to share or hold my cards close to my chest. I have been a creative writing teacher for a long time, and what I’ve found is that the vast majority of people don’t ever do anything with this sort of information anyway, no matter how good it is, and the few who are going to do something with it figure it out anyway, so why not help them along? Besides, writing down what I know to share it with others clarifies the principles in my mind and helps me, too.

What made you decide to self-publish, and how did you go about doing it?

Hard to say exactly where the publishing industry is heading. The advent of eBooks and the ability to self publish, digitally, for free has certainly shaken up the apple cart. I decided to self-publish simply because I am a control freak and highly opinionated about how things should be. I did go the traditional publishing route and burned through four different NYC and London agents but was never able to make a deal, which was as much my problem as theirs. But what I finally learned is that most publishers don’t know anymore than I—or you or anybody—does about which books will become successful and which won’t. There’s a huge luck factor involved. To put it another way, I believe I know what’s best for me, what readers want, what will sell in the market, what a “good” book consists of, and I don’t have the time or patience to try to convince other people of that, especially when their track record shows that 70% of their debut novels flop. What’s the point of dealing with them now, anyway, when the gates have been torn down and you can reach readers easily and develop your readership yourself? What you give up, of course, is having the blessing of the Establishment, having them sprinkle their holy water over you and say, “This writer is a REAL author.” Such validation matters to a lot of people, and it matters a little bit to me, but not that much. What makes up for it is having direct contact with thousands of readers who love my books, can’t wait to get their hands on the next one, and have no problem pulling out their pocketbook and paying for them. It’s incredibly satisfying. By self-publishing, I don’t have to convince anyone of anything, I just quietly do my thing.

Do you have any advice for people looking to self-publish?

Good question. First, from square one, if your intent is to make money from your writing, I believe it’s important to think of your self-publishing as a business, if. Of course, some people who self publish are just interested in sharing their work with others, and it doesn’t really matter if they spend more than they make—For them, it’s kind of like a hobby, such as owning and showing horses. Nothing wrong with that. But if your goal is to make money and perhaps earn enough to write full time, I think you have to become an “authorpreneur.” You will be responsible for every aspect of your book, from the cover design to the jacket copy, to the pricing and promotion, and you better be ready to learn to market and sell, too. The latter is the aspect that many writers loathe or outright refuse to have anything to do with. If that’s the way you feel about it, by all means, do not self-publish, go the traditional route and let someone else worry with the details. If you want to sell your self-published books, believe me, you are going to have to market like there is no tomorrow. Nobody needs your novel—you have to convince them to buy it, and the competition in the fiction market is fierce and increasing all the time.

There are no rules about tools, because what you do yourself and what you outsource or barter for depends on your experience and interests. For example, I design all my own book covers but I have an artistic background and a little prior experience with graphic design. The most important advice I can give you is to conserve cash. Most new authors grossly underestimate the difficulty of selling their work and forget that every penny they spend on editing, proofreading, creating their book covers, websites, video trailers, etc. must be made back if you intend to make money at it. This is much easier said than done.

One final point. It’s my observation that most authors self publish far too early, before they have honed their craft and know how to write a great novel. Writing high quality fiction is not easy. All the fancy cover illustrations and video trailers and websites and social media marketing are not going to help a bad book. And most first and even second and third books are pretty bad—mine were; I admit it. But when I actually self-published, though, I had been writing novels for twenty years and had the advantage of lots of interaction with editors and agents, and at least I learned how to write a good enough book for that group of readers to take seriously. So, my advice is that before you self-publish, either: 1) Go down the traditional publishing route until you are a good enough writer to at least get a top literary agent to sign you up for representation (this is far from a guarantee of a book deal, remember—they will probably not be able to sell it), or 2) Post your book(s) on free fiction websites like Wattpad and fine tune your writing until you start building a following of loyal readers. I think success along either one of these paths will ensure that you are not self-publishing prematurely.

I noticed you have reached the maximum friend limit on Goodreads—That’s quite amazing! Do you find it’s a great way to connect with readers and other authors?

I think Goodreads is an excellent platform for readers and authors alike. I am not crazy about the user interface; think it’s kind of hard to navigate, at least for authors. Also the fact that there are often several pages created for the same book because anyone can upload anyone else’s book is kind of annoying. But those are small things, and overall, I think Goodreads is a great resource and an easy way to connect with reader and writers. I do a lot of posting there.

Which of your books or series has been downloaded the most, and what do you think makes it so successful?

Again, that would be the Lust, Money & Murder series, but it’s hard to say whether that series actually has wider appeal than any of my others. This is because Book 1 is kind of my “greeting card”, a book (eBook) that I give free to every new reader I encounter on social media. If I had been doing the same with, say, Book 1 of Passion, Power & Sin, that series might be just as popular or even more popular. It’s hard to disentangle the marketing effort behind a book from its inherent appeal.

Do you enjoy going to seminars, classes, or conventions?

I used to do some of that and I think it’s great, especially when you are on the steep part of the learning curve with writing and publishing. I don’t do much of it now simply because I don’t have the time to do it and don’t need it as much. I prefer to be a speaker now, rather than a member of the audience, even though it is a lot more work. The same holds true for books on writing—I highly recommend them to new authors.

In closing, is there anything you’d like to tell everyone?

First I would like to thank you for interviewing me on your blog, I really appreciate it and you asked some interesting questions, not the usual interview fare. And as always, a huge thank you to all my readers for your continued support.

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Be sure to check out Mike Wells on Goodreads or Twitter!

Interview on Trisha Sugarek's Writer at Play Blog

Just wanted to let my readers know I've had the honor of being interviewed by Trisha Sugarek, who runs the Writer at Play blog and has interviewed the likes of Jeffrey Deaver, Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton, and many other bestselling authors.  The interview is in two parts:

Mike Wells Interview, Writer at Play - Part I

Mike Wells Interview, Writer at Play - Part II

The Crucial Importance of "Candy Bar" Scenes in Your Writing

I recently read through a long thread of comments from a random group of authors talking about their writing process during NaNoWrMo (National Novel Writing Month).  Many of them were lamenting about the same problem, how they had to "slog" or struggle through much of their story to reach those delicious candy bar scenes.

What is a so-called candy bar scene?  It's not a scene that involves a Snickers or a Kit-Kat, if that's what you're thinking.  It's a scene that "tastes" so good to you, the author, that you just can't wait to reach that part of the story so you get it all written down.  It's a juicy scene that you have been looking forward to sharing with readers perhaps ever since you had the idea for the book.

Well, I have some advice for you new writers out there.  EVERY SCENE in your book, from Page 1 to the very end of the story, should be a candy bar scene. 

Now, before you raise your hands defensively and say, "No, Mike, that's just not possible—there are great scenes in every book but there has to be some filler, too, all books have it..."

No, all books don't have it.  I can open up any of my all-time favorite novels (I'm not going to name them) and turn to ANY page in the story and—voila—I'm smack in the middle in a candy bar scene!  Each and every scene is scrumptious and engaging.  There are no plodding, lackluster, or filler scenes.  This even includes flashbacks and simple scenes that at first glance do not even appear to advance the plot.

If you want to write a truly great book, you must do likewise.  During your writing process, you must, with great care and discipline, eliminate every non-candy bar scene from your story, whether that means cutting the scene out (often the case) or reworking the scene (even more often the case).  If it's the former, simply muster up your courage and delete that scene.  If it's the latter, put on your creative thinking cap and dig deeper.  Ask yourself:  why am I not as excited about the scene as I need to be in order to make this into a wonderful book?  Trust me.  If you are not in Candy Bar Mode when you're writing a scene, the reader won't be, either.  Your story will drag along at this point, and your reader will have exactly the same feeling of wanting to get past this part and move on to something more interesting as you do.

So, how can you jazz up humdrum scene so that you're just as fired up about writing it as every other scene in the book?

Unfortunately, there is no simple formula for solving this problem—it's a creative one.  But I can share a quick example from one of my books to show you how I do it.  In Lust, Money & Murder, there is a section of the story where my hero, Elaine Brogan, graduates from a conservative, all-girls high school and then wins a scholarship to a very liberal, coed college.  When she enters the college as a freshman, she is not only shy and self-conscious around boys, she's a virgin.  All this makes her feel like a misfit, especially around her sexy, open-minded roommate. 

In these pages of the story I decided to summarize, rather than dramatize, how she lost her virginity in a well planned-out way.  It was a few paragraphs long and rather boring to write.  I was clearly not in Candy Bar Mode.  But I went on writing the rest of the story, knowing I would fix it, somehow, on the second draft.

On the next read-through, it became even more obvious that I wasn't nearly as enthused as I should have been when writing that part of the story—the narrative came across flat.  I thought something needed to be there but I wasn't sure why.  I first simply decided to cut it, but when I studied the scenes that preceded and followed it, I realized that cutting it would leave a gap.  Many readers would wonder how Elaine made this difficult transition from a conservative, all-girl environment to the liberal, coed one.

I put on my thinking cap and started brainstorming.  I began to imagine, in great detail, how Elaine would lose her virginity...and I realized that this could be funny.  Poor Elaine feels like a social misfit and wants to escape this feeling as soon as possible.   She's also very pragmatic, a problem-solver.   This was a chance to show more of her character, too.  I decided that she would go out and hunt down three different suitable-seeming guys, and the first two would be disasters but the third one would rise to the occasion, so to speak.  This triggered the analogy of Goldilocks and the Three Bears—the first guy would be too hot, the second guy would be too cold, and the third guy would be just right...or at least he would appear so at first.

Then I started creating these three characters, with the idea that the third and last one—Mr. Just Right (Almost)—would actually turn out to be a sports fanatic who was virtually "pickled in Viagra."  When he's on top of Elaine, going at it, he startles her by crying out "Go, Rodriguez, go!" At first she thinks he's speaking to his own manhood, but she when opens her eyes she sees that he's watching a basketball game on TV. 

By the time I had visualized these few scenes I couldn't wait to get in front of the computer and write them out.  They were funny and engaging to me.  I was clearly in Candy Bar Mode.  The three paragraphs were expanded to three pages.  It was a solid day's work, but well worth the effort.  One of the most frequent comments I receive about that book on the social networks is "Go, Rodriguez, go!" with a smiley face tagged on the end. 

So, if you want to write a great book, don't let yourself get away with any non-candy bar scenes.  Be merciless with yourself.  If you're not fully enthused about any part of your story—and I mean any part—go back and cut it or rework it until you are.

Now I think I'll go have a Snickers.

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Does Bruce Willis Have a Dog? Less is More

I’ll never forget the first time my wife read one of my novels.  As she was finishing the last few pages, I sat at my computer, pretending to work,  butterflies in my stomach.  Would she love it or hate it?

When she was done reading, she set the manuscript aside and gazed over at the TV set.  She seemed lost in thought.

“Well?” I said uneasily.

“Mike, does Bruce Willis have a dog?”

I was taken aback.  “Excuse me?”

She went over to the VCR and picked up the videocassette case for Die Hard, the movie we’d watched the night before. 

“In Die Hard, does the character that Bruce Willis plays have a dog?”

“Well...hell if I know!  I don’t remember any dog in the movie.”

“Exactly.  We don’t know whether he has a dog or not because it doesn’t have anything to do with the story.”

I looked over at my manuscript.  “What are you saying?”

“What I’m saying is that you could have a really great book if you did a lot of cutting.  The way it stands, the story is bogged down with too many irrelevant details.”

Irrelevant details?  What an insult!  A long, heated discussion ensued, and I viciously defended each and every word in the book.  It ended with me shouting “What the hell do you know?” and storming out of the house, vowing to never let the moron I married read another word of my writing.

But after a little time passed and I calmed down, I opened up the manuscript and started reading it myself, trying my best to be objective.  I decided there were maybe one or two places where I went overboard, explaining too much about the hero’s background and other details.  Finally I went back to my wife, apologized, and gave her the manuscript and a yellow highlighter.  “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love for you to go through entire book and mark each and every word that you think isn’t necessary.”

“My pleasure.”

When she was done, there was so much yellow on the paper it looked like Bruce Willis’ nonexistent dog had taken a leak on it.

As a writer, this was one of the most eye-opening processes I’ve ever experienced.  What I learned from it is that if you’re writing plot-driven stories, like I usually write, each and every bit of information you include should have something to do with the story.  If it doesn’t, the words needs to be mercilessly cut.

In the famous words of William Faulkner:  “In writing, you must kill all your darlings.”

Die Hard is a very good example of how important this principle is.  In the movie, do we know if the hero (John McClaine, played by Bruce Willis) has a dog?  No, we don’t.  What about his home—does he live in a house or an apartment?  Again, we don’t know, because there are no scenes set in his home.  What about his family?  Does he have any aunts or uncles?  Again, we don’t know, because that has nothing to do with the story.

Now, in contrast, consider The Wizard of Oz. 

Do we know if Dorothy has a dog?  Of course we know this—the dog’s name is Toto.  We know it because Toto plays a key role in the story.  Among other things, it's Toto that pulls back the curtain to reveal the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz is nothing a harmless old man hiding behind a bunch of fancy equipment.  

Does Dorothy live in a house, or an apartment?  We know that, too—she lives in a house, which is sucked up into the tornado—this is inciting incident for the entire story!  Furthermore, the house lands smack on top of the Wicked Witch of the East and kills her, which is what gets Dorothy in so much trouble in Oz.

Finally, does Dorothy have an aunt?  We know that, too. Good old Aunty Em.  Dorothy misses her terribly when she believes she’ll be stuck in Oz forever and can’t get back to Kansas.  The aunt plays a key role in the story.

So, back to the original question:

Does Bruce Willis have a dog?

In Die Hard, it doesn’t matter.

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Developing a Thick Skin

One of the things that we writers are supposed to do, in order to deal with rejection, is to develop a “thick skin.” 

I heard this at the very beginning of my writing career, and unfortunately, I took it at face value.  I thought that somehow I could build up immunity to the pain of rejection and criticism using willpower or “mind over matter” approaches, the way it’s possible to psyche yourself into tolerating more pain at the dentist’s office.

It doesn’t work this way.

The only way I know of to develop a thick skin as a writer is simply by going through the process of dealing with criticism, over and over and over again, until each criticism is no longer a surprise.  In other words, you finally arrive at a place where you are 100% aware of how you write, how you compare to other writers, and every little choice you make during the process of crafting a story.

I’m sure some relatively new writers are reading this and that you may find the news disheartening.  But perhaps you’ll take solace in knowing that razor-sharp sting you feel each time someone criticizes your book or gives you a bad review is perfectly normal.  There are no quick fixes here.  What you need to do, after the sting wears off, is consider each and every criticism soberly and honestly, decide whether or not the criticism is valid, and whether or not you would change anything if you had the chance to write the story again.

Over the years, I’ve had thousands of rejections from agents and editors.  Thousands!  At the beginning, when I was still in an intense learning process, many of the criticisms were valid.  My stories did start too slowly.  My dialogue did have stilted spots.  I did delve into too much detail. 

But as I continued to develop my craft, the nature of the rejections began to change.  Many of the criticisms, I began to realize, were about my style. 

Probably the most difficult part of developing the “thick skin” is being able to separate the elements of your writing that are natural to your personal style, that you want to keep, and the elements that are truly part of the craft, that you want to change or improve.  Not everyone will like your style.  And if you develop a truly unique style—which is crucial for success—you will necessarily break some of the rules they teach you in fiction writing classes.

Sorting all this out is not an easy process.  I went through more pain and frustration than I care to remember in dealing with these issues, arguing with agents and editors, screaming and yelling and cursing (in the privacy of my own home), coming to grips with it all.  But I eventually got through it. 

Does criticism still hurt?  Of course it does.  But the sting usually only lasts seconds—namely, as long as it takes me to run through the decision-tree in my head and remember why I did whatever they are criticizing and my logic behind doing it.

A good sign that you have arrived at this place is that you no longer feel the urge to defend yourself or argue with the criticizer.  An impulse to argue is always a sign that you are unsure about the criticism yourself.  If someone walks up to you and says, “The sky is yellow!” do you feel any impulse to argue about it?  No, because you know the sky is blue.  It's a non-issue. You think that the person is either crazy or sees things from such an oddball perspective that you don’t even bother.

When you’re confident about your craft and your personal style, you reach a similar place.  I’m not saying that you ever feel as if you have mastered the art of writing.  The notion is ridiculous—there is always more to learn, at times it seems endless.  But you do reach a point where you are comfortable enough with your writing that you really do have the proverbial “thick skin.”

It’s a nice place to be.

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Wild Child Chosen for Reading List for Writing Courses at Austrailian Colleges

Wild Child has been added to the reading list of the "Become a Published Author" course at Macarthur and Nepean Community Colleges in Sydney, Australia.  The reading list includes short stories from Hemingway, Somerset Maugham and the work submitted by previous alumni.

"Wild Child is a cracking good read that just flows, and there are numerous teaching points one can glean from it to demonstrate pace to the writers," says Perry Gamsby, leader of the course.  "As well, characters, conflict, dialogues and plot are all in there doing their bit to make it a great story."

The Australian writing course is highly innovative.  Its aim is to not just advise writers as to how to write, but to publish their work in a book they can then use how they wish.  "So far we have had two courses graduate," Gambsy says, "with the first producing 'The Rorschach Collective' and the second 'The Rorschach Continuum.'

Read more about the course and why Wild Child was chosen for its reading list here.

Anyone in Australia interested in taking the course should contact Perry Gambsy at perrygamsby (at) yahoo (dot) com.

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Wild Child is currently out of print and has become a collector's item—the current price in the UK for an original copy of Wild Child, unsigned, is £78.87, or about $125.00.

However, you can download the ebook for the much more reasonable price of $4.99 from any of the following stores (click links): 

 

Amazon USA	Amazon UK	Barnes & Noble	Google Play
Apple iBookstore	Sony	Kobo	Smashwords