A FEW WORDS ON KILLER SWELL

During our vacation in Big Bear I read Jeff Shelby's novel Killer Swell. You know the one--a detective investigates the murder of the girl he loved in high school. Sounds a lot like Bad Moon Rising. The book I wrote. A LOT like it. Well, it is a lot like it. Shelby goes off in directions I don't, but the basic premise is the same. The opening is almost identical, there are similar characters, eerie similarities in plot points, and part of the climax is quite similar (though not exact). When I tell people who have read my book about Killer Swell, they say he must have seen my book somehow and they start asking me who I've sent the book to. The average person doesn't understand that if an agent or editor started stealing books, they'd be out of business immediately.

I think it was one of those things where two average guys who wanted to write a mystery novel came up with the same premise at the same time, and one of those guys got lucky and beat the other one to the bookstore. I truly feel it's as simple as that.

I needed to read it, though, to see exactly how close it was to BMR. It's pretty damn close. If the Nancy Ellis Agency passes on BMR, it'll probably end up in a drawer. Oh well. It's my baby, but I learned a lot and maybe it's time to move on.

Here are my novel ideas in various stages:

1. Hollywood Martyr
2. Godtalk (the YA novel--first draft almost done)
3. Studio City Blues (mystery novel/police procedural set in Studio City, CA)
4. Half-Mast.

So there are places to go and scenes to write. . .

NOVEL WRITING IN BIG BEAR, PART II

I was able to work almost every single night of our vacation on the laptop. About a half an hour each night. I think it was only the last night in Big Bear that I didn't write (we were packing to leave the next morning).

I wrote a complete draft of chapter eleven, at least half of chapter twelve until I got stuck on how exactly a high school student is expelled from school (I need to do some research when school gets back in), and over half of chapter thirteen (which I expect to complete this week). That will leave me with only two or three chapters left in the first draft of the book. All first drafts are shit, but it feels like this one is going fairly well. My wife, who is also considering a children's chapter book and a children's picture book with a painter we know, came up with a fantastic idea for a mystery novel that we did a short treatment on as well. I may work on that with her after the young adult novel is completed and I'm trying to sell it.

We'll see what happens. Stay tuned.