Simple fact of life number seven: The writing never stops.
When I'm reading s comic book, a short story, a novel or watching a TV show or a movie, I am always looking critically at what is going on. its not because I want to, mind you, but it has become the nature of the beast.
I cannot look at a story without going over the basic plot, the twist, the writing, the grammar and the characterization. I can no more do that than a mechanic can look at a car--jalopy or high octane, high performance vehicle--without automatically wanting to pop the hood and see what is what.
There are remarkably few authors that I can read simply for the sake of reading. In most cases there's a compulsion to look over sentences that ring true (or that feel like lies) and make sure I understand why those sentences evoke those emotions Magicians study each other's work and writers do the same.
Simply put, it's part of getting better at your craft. If you don't look at the work of others and examine the minutiae either you are sublimely confident or a fool. Possibly both.
Let me give an example: A few years back--more than I care to think about, actually, I had a publisher come up to me and as if i was interested in writing a big, fat juicy vampire novel for him. I had no desire whatsoever, Seriously. I'd worked for White Wolf Games on their World of Darkness books for some time, really and I'd written all i wanted to say about vampires.
That feeling lasted exactly 2.3 seconds. By the time the feeling was fading I was already in negotiation about what sort of prices we were talking for an advance and what formats the book would come out in. In this case it was cooing out as a signed limited edition in numbered and lettered formats. Maybe 550 copies all told.
First rule: If you are a freelancer and someone offers you a reasonable deal you say "Yes." I was and am a freelancer. I said yes.
Then I did my research. I read every vampire book I could get my hands on. That means THEY THIRST, by Robert R. McCammon, I AM LEGEND, by Richard Matheson, 'SALEM'S LOT by Stephen King, DRACULA, by Bram Stoker, LOST SOULS by Poppy Z. Brite, THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES by Anne Rice, VAMPHYRRIC by Simon Clarke, ANNO DRACULA by Kim Newman, THE TOMB OF DRACULA comic books by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, everything and anything vampire related that I could find. And then I did the same thing with the movies and TV shows. I studied as much lore and legend of vampirism from around the world as I could, making sure to note the differences as they came around. I bathed in the stuff like it was blood and I was the Countess Bathory. I might not have a doctorate in vampire fiction, but it wasn't for lack of trying.
Why? Because if you are going to walk in familiar territory, you want to make that territory your own. I wanted to make sure I wasn't rehashing what had already been done as much as that is possible in a genre like vampires. Because, by God, I wanted MONSTERS, not sparkly things that claimed they were creatures of the night.
I read, and I read, and I read, and while I certainly got some enjoyment from the act, I also studied every story I could find from VARNEY, THE VAMPIRE, by James Malcom Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest to FEVRE DREAM by George R. R. Martin. It's how we learn, isn't it? We study much, we see much. We make sure we are doing our best to be original in an area inundated by vampire tales.
The end result was BLOOD RED, a novel carefully studied and examined and then written faster than any NaNoWriMo novel ever was. I had an editor going over every chapter with me seconds after it was written, to correct typos and keep me on track. 127,000 words, give or take and finished with the first draft in three weeks. It's a personal record though I know others have beaten it.
A few years later I repeated the process to write the sequel, BLOOD HARVEST and I'll be doing it again, soon, when I start the last book in the series, BLOOD TIES. I do these things because I must. Because, really, I need to make sure I'm not copying something I only vaguely recall reading from years ago. I don't want to make the mistake of attempting to rewrite Dracula. Bram Stoker did a much better job than I ever will with that character, but I must confess, I still love vampire stories, even after all of these years.
Monsters, not tragedy, that is my goal. I'm finishing one novel now and then, almost immediately thereafter, I'll be starting BLOOD TIES. It's due in a few months, you see, and I hate being late, regardless of how often I find myself in that state of delinquency.
I will read many books. I will watch movies new and old. I will absorb them all and I will enjoy them, but make no mistake, I'll be working very hard at the same time.
That is, of course, before the first word is typed in the manuscript.
James A. Moore
The covers for BLOOD RED and BLOOD HARVEST by Edward Miller. from the Earthling Publication Limited Editions.
And HERE is a link to the short story that started it all.
