Open discussion about writing and reading
This is a question that had always dogged me throughout my life which was mainly due to the fact that I have lived a very mobile existence since I flew the nest. I having made homes in ten different cities in four different countries since 1985. I have always been a hoarder of books as I was also a hoarder of music. I am a major fan of both. Each time I have moved it seems that I lost loads of books and albums, not to mention having loaned a helluva lot of these out to have never been returned.
Now I am looking at the possibility of going mainly book free and it scares me a little and excites me at the same time.
I have been pretty public about the fact that after so many years I am finally, FINALLY, starting to read ebooks. When I reluctantly switched from my Nokia C-7000 (still a damned good phone) to my iPhone late summer I tested the waters by reading a few books on iBooks. And I was hooked! Now I own my own Kindle and am hoarding (and reading) loads of books again.
Oddly enough, I am reading more books than I did before – or at least in the past few years. Why? Because I always have books with me now. Always.
I read when I am waiting on a friend. I read at lunch. I read in the bathroom. I read on the airplanes, in the airports, on the Bangkok BTS (sky train), in taxis. And in bed. The bottom line is that I have found more places to read than I ever have before. And I am enjoying it. Last year, in Johannesburg, I bought a nice computer carrying pull along bag. I used to load it with six or seven books per trip. Not anymore.
So now what to do with my books? I realize that I have still to read several of them and many I don’t want to give up. So I am very reluctant to get rid of the books that are around my house. I also worry that if I got rid of the books around the house that I would discourage the children from reading. (Is that unfounded?) I have read several blogs from people who I have followed and respected who have claimed they were going completely "bookless" now and I have been thinking whether this is a real option myself, especially as an erstwhile writer. My mind isn’t fully wrapped around this yet. Going bookless could definitely unclutter my home and office. But I have always believed that the world was just so much better with books around.
Am I a dinosaur who is struggling against the inevitable or is my reluctance from a rational perspective. I think I will feel this out as I go along. But one thing I do know is that I am enjoying the hell out of ebooks right now and I am sure that this will continue.
Warning!: This introduction will sound like I am plugging the next author and his book. Well, in a way I am. I believe in singing praises when they are due. But the real purpose of this interview is to give insight into what is behind writing a good humorous novel. So let’s get started…
Forward O Peasant by Maclean J Storer
I know of very few people who have completed one work and can be called a master at anything. J.D. Salinger, possibly? Nonetheless, Maclean J Storer’s debut Forward O Peasant will definitely be a cult classic and underground favorite for years to come. The book has been getting great reviews in the expatriate community. But better than that, Forward O Peasant has been receiving tons of word or mouth notice from expatriates residing in Asia, but especially in Southeast Asia, many of whom have been smuggling the book into Vietnam for friends or buying pirated copies in the backpacker areas of Saigon and Bangkok. I was one of the first to have read this book (or at least I would like to think so) and have been singing its praises to all who want to listen. That having been said, I know of one German in Cambodia who e-mailed over three hundred of his acquaintances telling them to get hold of Forward O Peasant and read it cover to cover. As I have personally known the author since 1994 and since I have also tried my hand at writing humor (though in a much different format) I thought it might be good to ask him about what goes into writing humorous fiction.
And here is our conversation:
Gary Dale Cearley: How do you know when what you have written is funny? Where does the feeling come from?
Maclean J Storer: I always had the feeling that to write something funny, I would have to surprise myself. So when I read back over a scene or a chapter and it appeared as though it had been written by a better writer than me, I felt I had probably got it right. I also make a practice of reading my work out loud to myself, and when you do that, there’s no escaping it when you’ve written something dull.
Gary Dale Cearley: Where does your inspiration for writing in this particular genre come from?
Maclean J Storer: This particular book was based on personal experience. All the actions in the book either happened in real life, almost happened, or I was told that they had happened, or I felt that they should have happened. My task as the author was to try to make the four types of action indistinguishable from one another.
Gary Dale Cearley: Who is your favorite humorous writer out there today and why?
Maclean J Storer: I like absurdist humor, and I think most of the best practitioners of that art have pretty much hung up their pens — Alan Coren, David Nobbs, Clive James, and the cartoonists Bill Tidy and Glen Baxter. Garrison Keillor is a special favourite of mine, and a fascination — I’ve never read another humorist who can be so funny yet so gentle.
Gary Dale Cearley: Your first book was loosely based on your experiences in living in Vietnam where you lived for several years and I understand you are working on a sequel. After this sequel do you intend to continue writing humor about Vietnam or will you move on to other worlds?
Maclean J Storer: I think two books about Vietnam will probably be enough. There are so many other targets for satire in the modern age, I think it’s time I turned my attention to the wider world.
Gary Dale Cearley: What have been your harshest criticisms about the book?
Maclean J Storer: I have been accused of political incorrectness and bias, which I take as compliments for a satirist.
Gary Dale Cearley: And on the other hand, what has been your most positive feedback?
Maclean J Storer: Many people have said that they found the book extremely funny, which is the main thing, and several others said they found it true to life, to the extent that they knew people who were exactly like the characters I had created.
Gary Dale Cearley: From publishing Forward O Peasant, which was your first novel, what advice can you give to other first timers out there who are looking publish their own first book, which might be a novel or otherwise?
Maclean J Storer: Make your book the best it can possibly be. And that includes mundane things such as thorough proofreading and editing, which in turn means having a third party look at your work, ideally a professional manuscript assessor. It costs a bit, but at least you will get some honest feedback and advice. When you venture forth into the world of agents and publishers, you should use every trick you know, exploit every personal contact, and twist every arm you can. And keep a handkerchief handy for crying into when things don’t work out, as will frequently happen.
Gary Dale Cearley: What has writing this book taught you about yourself?
Maclean J Storer: That I can successfully complete a substantial and difficult task no matter how many obstacles my self-doubt puts in my way. As some self-development speaker said, “Feel the fear, and do it anyway.”
One thing I have learned as a writer, whether it is a book, article, web posting, blog or whatever it may be, is that writing in and of itself is an exploration of my mind. This is not to say that I am actively looking into my mind as I write, although that might be fun to do some time, but what I find is that almost always in retrospect I have learned something new.
Many people would think that I am a very methodical writer. I plan out what I want to write beforehand in most cases. I do this for several reasons:
1) I can easily keep the point that I start out with if I have already predetermined a structure;
2) The planning helps me to write faster because I already know what I am going to write about; and
3) Having the planned out or mapped out structure is one of the best defenses against writer’s block.
All that having been said, during the planning process I discover so much more about my subject when I am considering all the angles of the material. Then I also notice that during the writing process itself, while I am banging away at the keyboard, my mind wonders throughout the subject matter and sometimes even crosses the borders into other subjects. I normally finish my writing not only with a sense of accomplishment (for getting the words to paper) but also a small sense of enlightenment.
If you feel the same way whenever you do anything, whether it is writing a novel or pruning roses, then I say you are a lucky person.
I have been involved with an authors’ meet up for some time now. It is a very off and on thing and as all groups go it has some falling outs with the members, mainly over structure of the group and what we are to do. Personally, it is very hard for writers to put much structure into any such group unless they are all of the same genre, mindset and caliber. Our group, the Bangkok Writers Guild, is a very informal group made up of mainly expatriates. Some of us are very satisfied where we are in our status whereas others want to hit it big – have a blockbuster to make their name, so to speak. Personally, I don’t feel the need to do this because the books that I have written are unique in their own right. You won’t find many books debunking the Vatican Islam Conspiracy, nor will you find many books on bawdy Southern humor either.
That being said, if you plan to join such a group as ours I think you will find a great camaraderie with your fellow authors. There is much to be learned from them and there is much to teach them as well. For instance, unless you are in a major city full of authors and author wannabes, like New York City, per se, then your group will most likely be a rag tag group like ours. But this is great! We have writers in our group who are non-published, self-published, vanity published and traditionally published. The whole gamut is run in our own membership. So if one of us wants help with marketing, typesetting, illustrations, cover design, getting an agent, editing, finding a POD publisher, getting blurbs and book reviews – you name it – it is all right here in our group. For an author there is no better master mind group than a group of other authors. I have personally found a wealth of experience in our own people.
If you are not in a group already and you are serious about learning the business of being an author, whether you plan to self publish or land a contract with a publishing house, I recommend finding a group to build a nest in. Participate in the discussions. Learn what you can and impart your own knowledge as well. And if there isn’t a group around you then try to put your best foot forward and start one yourself. Use the leverage of others’ knowledge and experience to make you better at the business of writing. Open your mind to it and you will see there’s lots of help out there for you.
I would love to hear from other writers’ experiences in writers’ groups. Do you have any experiences you would like to share?
I don’t know how many of you out there have not only written your own books but have been in a book by other authors as well. Well, I have actually have been in other books by other authors, both fiction and non-fiction. But in one of the new works that I have been churning away on I relate the humorous story of how an altercation that I had in Vietnam in 1994 turned into a scene in a Chrisopher G. Moore novel, Comfort Zone, which was released in 1995. This story I am actually incorporating into an autobiographical humorous book.
How do you find yourself in another person’s book? Actually, I guess simply by knowing the right people (authors) and I guess being in the right place at the right time. Read between those lines:
Have an interesting story to tell.
I happen to know a few authors and have known them for a while. This comes from the work that I have done, the travel that I have done, my interests and the places that I have lived.
I don’t know why this would be an aim of anyone in particular unless, of course, you get some kind of ego boost out of it. I was just thinking about it today due to the fact that when I was writing the story about going with my friend, Stéphane Bulckaen, by cyclo to eat snails (or not to eat snails in my case) then having an altercation with the cyclo drivers. It just so happened that after this event happened I went into the Q Bar in Saigon where the novelest Christopher G. Moore was having a drink. Since I had met him before I relayed the story then some few years later a friend who read Moore’s book recognized me and this particular incident in his book.
I was not identified personally anywhere in the book and that is fine with me. I think it is neat to be recognized in another author’s book by someone living in another country. Now, let’s see if who can be the next reader to find me in another book! Maybe you can get on Twitter and let me know!
I was pleased today to see a well thought out reader’s review on my book Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness. Up until this point I get lots of e-mails about my book but have had not so many reviews. That isn’t so curious for me due to the fact that it is easier for someone to go to the Gary Dale Cearley website and send me a message through the contact form than it is to put your thoughts on the book at one of the book sites like Amazon, Shelfari, GoodReads or AuthorsDen.
Anyway, I quite often get “hate mail” from “Christians” who support Jack Chick, Alberto Rivera and their Vatican Islam conspiracy. This amazes me to be quite honest…
I would never have suspected that people who are presented with the truth about a subject would shunt the truth rather than reading it for themselves and trying to understand where it is coming from. Take for instance this guy Thomas Richards, the one who branded me a “Jesuit coadjutor” and a “Vatican shill”. Now for his own part, Mr. Richards is apparently a follower of that nut job Tony Alamo. This Richards guy keeps trying to pretend that he has read the book but at the same time he knows nothing of it at all, other than I had an interview with a professor at the University of Bethlehem, a man who is a Muslim but works at a Catholic University.
Nonetheless, I hear from these guys every now and then who are telling me that I am going to Hell and that my soul cannot be saved at this point. Oddly enough they are coming from everywhere. I have had folks write in from the United States (several regions), the United Kingdom, India, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Germany, etc., none of who seemed to have even cracked the book’s cover.
Many of my friends told me that I would have all this ire from the Islamic community but I sensed early on this would not be the case. Muslims would have no problem with what I wrote in the book. It is aimed like a dagger at Jack Chick’s sadistic world of hateful biblical tracts.
I have news for all of my hate mailers…
The controversy isn’t inside the covers of my book. The true controversy is what my book refutes. If you’d read it you would know that.
Now I have a request for them…
Don’t send me an e-mail or contact me in any other way to tell me that God is displeased with me and that I am going to Hell until AFTER you have read Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness! You only make yourself look a fool, like Richard Thomas did.
I recently read about a tragic case of fratricide in Ohio in which the murderer, Larry Evans, Jr., killed his older brother, Brian Evans, a local policeman. The family, and many in the town, have been in shock over this case. I recently read and reviewed an excellent book by author Robert Paul Blumenstein, Snapping the String, that centered around a case of a man who’d been trapped in an institution for criminally insane. I was a bit more than curious to see how Robert would view such a case so I asked him for a short interview. Here is what he had to say…
Robert Paul Blumenstein, author of Snapping the String
In Snapping the String your main character was confined, albeit unjustly, for years in an institution as criminally insane. Larry Evans, Jr., the subject of this article, will also go to such an institution but at the end of the article hope is held out for Evans that he will be freed and not spend anything near a life sentence. As I have come to learn Snapping the String is a loose metaphor for purgatory. Would Evans’s sentence be comparable to purgatory and why?
You are correct to identify the “purgatory” metaphor in Snapping the String. As far as Larry Evans, Jr. experiencing a similar type of purgatory, yes, he will experience that same effect. Let me give you four examples of similar scenarios that have already passed through the Larry Evans, Jr. sentencing phase and you might see why I feel this way. However, not all these cases received a “guilty by reason of insanity” verdict and didn’t even necessarily pursue that defense.
First, consider John W. Hinckley, Jr. with his botched attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. In the public’s mind, there was very little doubt that Hinckley was mentally ill. Unlike the Evans trial, no one cursed the defendant or screamed out for justice in the courtroom during Hinckley’s trial. In fact, the public seemed quite satisfied overall with the outcome. And recently, even more incredibly, we’ve seen some leniency demonstrated by Hinckley’s mental facility granting weekend visits to Hinckley’s wealthy family. Imagine that, after shooting a president!
Consider Charles Manson, though he was not deemed insane, hasn’t society decided that he is just that? Generally, the public breathes a collective sigh of relief every time he’s denied parole. No one’s complaining about him remaining locked behind bars.
Third, let’s consider Mark David Chapman, John Lennon’s killer. He certainly played the “troubled” defendant card during his trial. Yet, when he was sentenced, Yoko Ono asked that he not be sentenced to death. Here we see sympathy exhibited by the victim’s family. (Interestingly, it was unlikely that Chapman would have been given the death sentence regardless Yoko’s plea for mercy.) Chapman is serving a twenty year to life sentence in New York’s Attica Prison. He’s recently been denied parole after twenty-eight years behind bars. He told the parole board that he’s sorry and “I’m a changed man.” Is he trying to tell us that he’s now “well?”
My last example involves a late friend of mine. He, his wife, and two young daughters were brutally murdered by a crack head. Ricky Gray (the murderer) claimed he was abused as a child and was “high” at the time of the killings. Therefore, he couldn’t be held responsible for his actions. The jury didn’t buy it. He was sentenced to death for each slaying. And more than likely this “insane” crack head will die as Virginia has executed more people than any other state in the union with Florida and Texas vying to unseat the Commonwealth from her venerable status.
All these cases have involved people who committed heinous criminal acts. Hardly anyone would dispute the fact that each one of these criminals exhibited to the world that they were “crazy.” That’s just public opinion, though. What about the institution of mental health? Do they do any better of a job determining that these killers are insane than public opinion?
Larry Evans, Jr. will experience a “pugatorious” wait while incarcerated in the secured forensic unit of Ohio’s mental hospital. I have a feeling the public will make it a long stay.
This murder case is similar to the one in your book in that the victims were family and the judicial system sent the accused to a mental institution. But that is where the similarities end. In the Evans case there were witnesses and the defendant was obviously and admittedly guilty. Evans’s defense attorneys were not public defenders, but were privately hired. Do you feel that had your protagonist had this kind of representation that he would have fought and won his battle earlier or conversely if Evans would have had a public defender he would be standing trial rather than getting an insanity ruling?
Before I answer that, I want to say that there is a fundamental difference between the incarceration of Peyton Stephen Costello and Larry Evans, Jr. Larry Evans may have in fact manipulated the system to escape facing the harshest sentence for his crimes whereas Peyton was manipulated by the system to receive a harsh sentence for something that he did not do.
Also, remember, Gary Dale, less than one-half of one percent of people charged for the crime of murder have received a “guilty by reason of insanity” verdict. It’s little used with little success by defense attorneys. Recently, a preacher’s wife in Texas murdered her five children and used that defense successfully. I think she was a product of the media to show how she had been driven insane by her domestic circumstances. The public bought it. But what about the Smith woman in South Carolina who drowned her two children in an abandoned rock quarry and later copped the insanity plea? The public didn’t buy it. Ironically, a reporter uncovered the fact that the white woman had a black lover and wanted to get out of her then current domestic situation in order to be with her lover. No, the public really didn’t buy that one!
And so, Peyton faced a similar situation. He was a hippie, living in the year 1968, experimenting with LSD in a very conservative Richmond, Virginia. My point in Snapping the String was that the public wouldn’t have bought Peyton spitting on the sidewalk.
Also, we see Catherine, Peyton’s sister, has already been convinced by the police that Peyton was guilty, and the mental institution convinced her that he was insane. His situation was hopeless. I was a hippie in 1968 living in Greenville, South Carolina. I was considered insane just for getting up in the morning and pulling on a pair of bell bottom pants. Can you imagine how the world would have viewed Peyton? Sure, if Peyton would have renounced his peace symbol, cut his hair, and showed up in court with a team of competent lawyers, he might have been found innocent. It really becomes the reason to leave him there in the institution.
Robert Paul Blumenstein many years ago at the Union Grove Fiddlers Convention
I know nothing about the competency of public defenders. The example in Snapping the String is just a dramatic device. A lot of them stay in the public defender’s office well after they are able to move into private practice. The folks I’ve known are very dedicated to serving a disadvantaged population.
Can there be atonement for someone who is criminally insane? Why or why not? Is keeping these people away from the public enough?
That’s a tough question. Punishment, in the American justice system, has never really been based on atonement, though recent attempts in the law at “restitution” try to establish this principle. Punishment in America is based on vengeance. I believe Chief Messer’s comment drives this point home. Somehow, in his mind, Evans’ incarceration in the mental institution will be a holiday. Perhaps Chief Messer ought to read Snapping the String.
I guess, Gary Dale, you’re really asking me if a person can be healed of being a criminal? Under current methods of treatment, I’d say that is unlikely. Keeping someone doped up and pacified is hardly atonement, much less healing. Then, the inmate’s release is just as problematic. How can you track that person to make sure he keeps it clean? Perhaps one of my favorite films is A Clockwork Orange. It drives home the frustration of society’s attempt to rehabilitate the criminal. I think Chief Messer should see this film after he finishes reading Snapping the String.
I think it is absurd to pass a law striking down the “guilty by reason of insanity” plea. And as far as Messer saying that the victims and the victims’ families were dealt a double-whammy by this verdict solely based on this type of plea is also absurd. Messer represents the “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” mentality. This man would only be happy to see Evans squirming at the end of rope.
So, what’s the answer? There really may not be one. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever be able to see real reform in the criminal justice system. This notion of treating a criminal as a “sick person” seems to be heading in the right direction, yet now, nothing is being held out that indicates that we will abate the problem of criminal rehabilitation during our lifetimes. Even pedophiles that have been “chemically castrated” have been known to commit more sex offenses against children.
But for now, I favor keeping these people locked up, and in some cases, for good to protect us from them committing such injurious acts against society ever again. So, Messer has that part of the principle right, it’s the “forget about them” part that doesn’t work. What about the wrongfully accused? What about Peyton Stephen Costello in Snapping the String? What if it had worked out that society did forget about him? Peyton was innocent. Here in Virginia Ronald Coleman was executed for rape and murder and exonerated posthumously. An innocent man died at the hands of the state. What about Ronald Coleman and his family? Aren’t they victims, too?
It is interesting that the one of the advocates to stay the execution of John Wayne Gacy for the murder of 33 young boys and men was an agent for the FBI. His reason? By killing John Wayne Gacy, we lost our opportunity to study the psyche of a serial killer.
This morning I read the very unfortunate news in Publishers Weekly that the Los Angeles Times would no longer be running their standalone Book Review section. This is to me much more a reflection of where we are going as a society than the sad picture that can be painted of the Los Angeles Times.
Newspapers have been having it tough for years and anyone who knows how newspapers are surviving now know that it is from their own unique content. For instance, in a daily newspaper you will note that most of the national and international stories are from press agencies. The stories of interest and local stories are generally carried by their own reporters. So when you see an article in the travel section, books section, etc., this was planned and written well in advance. These writers don’t get their scoop in the morning, do their research and writing in the afternoon and have the story in the paper the next morning. Nope, it is planned well in advance. This takes lots of investment on the part of the newspaper. So when a newspaper closes a standalone section it generally doesn’t reflect on the personal opinions of the paper’s management but rather the financial consideration of keep the section open – Is it profitable or not?
Newspaper readership took hits when people were turning to television but it has taken black eyes and bloody noses from the internet. If the advertising money was in the Book Review section it would not have been in danger. Simply put, the readers didn’t care. And that is a crying shame.
I don’t want to be the voice of gloom and doom but when we de-emphasize reading, people, we lose our civility. Sure, we can all become technophiles and spend our time on the internet (Lord knows I have done lots of that lately) but when we lose our love for books and all things about books then we fail ourselves. We have no one else to blame but us.
I was just referred to a page on Wikibin where the Vatican Islam Conspiracy had been removed for whatever reason from Wikipedia. One of my friends Googled my name to see what came up and saw this.
I often Google my own name to see what’s out there on the web about me that I might not have put myself but more often than not a friend or acquaintance let me know what they see. This one link in particular makes me wonder, and it is not out of a feeling of self importance but rather a feeling of alarm that I get when I run across these idiots who promote this fake testimony. Why would Wikipedia nix something like this which in a way de facto lends the Vatican Islam Conspiracy creedence by taking away information that proves its falsehood?
More and more we see people promoting this many new places on the internet, including on YouTube where a plethora of videos of religious and non-religious conspiracy theorists re-spin this tale over and over.
Anyway, I imagine as this story grows it will be back. In the mean time, I made my own Squidoo lens on this back in 2006 so the information will still be there.
Gary Dale Cearley is an expatriate author and columnist who is based currently in Bangkok, Thailand, after having lived many years in Vietnam, Korea and many cities in the United States. He is the author of two books and was born and raised in rural Arkansas.
Gary Dale’s RSS Feed
Independent Writing from an Independent Mind 
Comments on Aux Arcs!