The Voice
It’s funny how the mind works. That’s especially true, I find, when you try to turn it on a dime from creative mode—open, flowing, unfocused, nearly devoid of intrusive consciousness—to analytical mode—hyper-conscious, capturing every bit of external data, putting it under a microscope and trying to see it from all angles at once. A couple of weeks back, I sat down at the computer thinking I was going to write about the books that helped to shape Believe in Me (Wampus, Nov. 29). What came out was a post about the books and writers whose work I used for research—as...
Read MoreTime
It’s time. We’ve talked about the book itself, about the music it’s infused with, about the research that went into it, and about a couple of movies that helped bring the story to life. And next time—later this week, in fact—I’m planning to talk about some of the authors whose work inspired and influenced my writing. But right now, it’s time. Three weeks from today, Believe in Me will go on sale through four services—Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), iBookstore (iPad), and Sony (Sony Reader). The countdown has officially begun. So, it’s time. Time to offer you a first...
Read MoreGone to the Movies*
One of the early readers of Believe in Me, commenting on a change I made several drafts ago, told me that the prologue I had added felt more like the opening of a movie than a book. This was clearly intended as constructive criticism, the implied solution being to “Make it more novel-ish.” Yeah, well, um, NO. “Cinematic” is an adjective I have used often to describe music I enjoy. To some it might imply “shallow” or “cliché” or “bourgeouis”; to me it implies drama and power and the ability to engage the imagination immediately and viscerally. Something that’s cinematic...
Read MorePaperback Writer
Last time we talked about the music that fueled Believe in Me (Wampus, Nov. 29). This time we move from the inspiration to the perspiration part of the process—the research. It would of course have been handy if there had been a stadium-filling rock star among my immediate family and friends, but since there isn’t (sorry, guys, but fantasies don’t count), and since I’ve never played a note on stage in my life and have exactly one trip backstage to my name, what I couldn’t pick up of the rock life from observation over the years, I’ve attempted to glean...
Read MoreListen to the Music
On average, I probably listen to a hundred songs a week. My novel Believe in Me might exist without music, but it would be a completely different story. In fact, check that. It wouldn’t exist without music; it couldn’t. The thing about popular music for me is that it serves so many different functions. Sometimes it tells a story, sometimes it “paints” impressionistic tableaus of emotions or ideas, and sometimes it simply zooms in and captures in detail a single, vital moment in time. It can be sad or celebratory, contemplative or urgent, elaborate and insightful or raw and simple. ...
Read MoreWelcome Back My Friends (to the show that never ends)
Welcome. When Wampus chief Mark Doyon offered this soapbox for me to talk about my forthcoming novel Believe in Me—and, more generally, in his words, “Music, Fiction, Dreams”—I couldn’t help but appreciate the irony. Because Believe in Me will be published in e-book form only, and my wife and I are still mourning the loss of the Borders down the hill from us, where we used to stop in a couple of times a month. And yet… and yet… I’m also intrigued and energized by the idea of being a part of the new wave of publishing represented by e-books....
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