Date: 25 August 2013
Location: Jay & Gina
The Bookers met this month at Gina and Jay’s home with Michael and Pat Guillebeau as special guests. Michael is the author of Josh Whoever, the book that was the topic of our discussion for this month.
Dinner featured Russian dishes—borscht, beef Stroganoff and a Russian salad—in recognition of the Romanov family featured in the book.
The discussion of the book was lively. Mike told of sources in pop songs that gave him the bar named the Western World and a minor character named simply skinny girl. He explained that secondary characters exist just to be killed—e.g., Batman. There was some objection, or at least dismay, that Marcie was killed off, but Mike pointed out that the delineation of her character from the beginning showed that she was destined to go. (Am I right about this?)
In the matter of authorial technique, Mike explained that a detective-fiction writer has to go back over his work and make sure that facts are included early on to make for a quick wrap-up at the end. No one nowadays writes long Poirot-style explanatory spiels after the action is done. As for the extraordinary technical facts that come up as props, an author just makes them up. Maybe not all of them: Mike happened to know about Ferragamo shoes and the Tesla automobile.
As for a hero or main character, Mike says he liked James Bond, but he prefers to read and to write about flawed types with weaknesses that they must deal with or overcome. In the course of this part of our discussion (on main detective characters) it became evident that Jay, Bob, and some others—as well as Mike—have read an extraordinary number of detective novels. I for one was impressed.
Mike had many interesting facts and observations to tell us about the world of writers, agents, and publishers. Mike has had a lot of experience with writers’ groups. He has found that many exist as forums for their members to read their work aloud, which leaves no time for analysis and commentary. Some writers’ group members don’t want criticism. Mike has been in two successful groups with three or four people who have read the submitted material before the meeting and who, when their work is being considered, want to learn from genuine comments and criticism.
Agents are a problem for a writer, since there are no required qualifications. Anyone can set up as an agent. Mike dealt with one agent who took his MS but just sat on it. He found another who led to success. Publishers are also a problem: the large houses are almost unapproachable, and small ones range from smart-helpful-successful to outright scams. Mike’s son, Chris, is a best-selling author for Crown Business, a division of Random House. A writer of non-fiction with this kind of success submits a prospectus, is given an advance, and signs a contract to produce the book on deadline. A fiction writer, on the other hand, does not get advances. Mike’s publisher is a small outfit, but they take his work seriously. They aim at library sales, and they got Josh Whoever reviewed (favorably) in the Library Journal, which was a great positive move for the book.
Writing is hard and lonely work, so do writers get rewarded? Not many do. On average a publishing writer, Mike tells us, makes $10,000 a year.
Mike nevertheless keeps on. He has written five novels. One (Josh) has been published and is now coming out in a kindle version. Another is in the process of being published. Another, titled Sunburnt Honest, was given to Marion and me to read in MS, and it looks like a winner. It is set in Emerald Beach, a fictionalized version of Panama City Beach, where Mike and Pat own a condo and spend a good deal of time. This may be the first in a series of crime-in-the-city novels.
It was a good meeting, as they all are. Maybe we will have Pat and Mike as guests again some time.
— John