Questions and Answers
Ask me something!
When will your second book be available?
RELOAD is second in the RED OPS series and will be available August 29, 2017.
What are you working on now?
I’ve finished the third book in the Red Ops series and have it sitting on my shelf. It is always best to let a book sit for a couple months before sending off to your agent and publisher. It provides a fresh perspective and enables you to catch issues you might have overlooked previously.
However, what I am working on right this second is a departure from military black ops thrillers. It is still a thriller/action-adventure novel for certain, but I’ll label it a Nordic paranormal thriller. It’s a plot that my daughter and I made up several years ago just for fun, as part of a creative writing class she was taking. However, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. It’s as if I have to write this thing.
How much of your writing draws from personal military experience?
On some levels, I wish I could tell you my writing is deeply inspired by my military background. Though immensely rewarding, my service history would put most readers to sleep. Kind of like watching a little league baseball game that doesn’t include your kids. It provided me a well-prepped, gessoed canvas onto which I now joyfully smear all colors of fiction.
Questions
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Troy
It has been said, “Easy reading is hard writing.” Care to elaborate just a few of the trials and tribulations that occur in writing one of your great books? Obstacles that you have to overcome? Some of the behind-the-scenes chores that pay dividends in delivering “easy reading” for your fans enjoyment.
David McCaleb
Get it as good as you can, then enlist the help of others. I wouldn’t be published if I hadn’t submitted my work to the scrutiny of a painfully honest peer review group. Each week we read members’ work, comment, and then the submissions are professionally edited. It is difficult taking something you’ve polished, hear it read aloud, submit it to the criticism of others, consider each point, and adjust your work accordingly. Anyone can write. But to write well you have to enjoy editing, re-writing, and re-polishing what others have smashed apart. It’s humbling. But it’s just like anything else – nothing worth having is easy. If an author wants to write well, it’s necessary they get beyond themselves.
Troy
Of all the forms of art – painting, sculpture, photography, wood work, fashion – what made you fall in love with writing?
David McCaleb
I enjoy all those other forms of art as well – except maybe fashion. But I fell in love with writing as a creative outlet. My entire family has creativity in their DNA. I was the only one not making it my main vocation. I had an idea for a first chapter and wrote it. Then I kept it going, letting the characters drive the plot and figure out the mess in which they found themselves. It was thrilling. Now I’m in the process of writing novel number three.