"A journey of a thousand miles begins but with a single step". Lao-Tzu
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If I had any clue how hard it is to get a novel published, I'd never have written one. Even James Michener was told by his agent to give up. Since I started writing novels, I'm the proud owner of 378 rejection letters. My take is that the most important trait in a novelist isn't dedication. It's sheer stubbornness. For me, it's beginning to pay off. Ideas and characters sneak up on me from anywhere - a book, a newspaper, a movie, someone I met. I like to mix my imaginings with bits of truth. In the mystery/thriller Thicker Than Blood, a 21st century twist on Chinatown, I based the protagonist Rachel Chavez very loosely on a real woman who owned a parking garage, not in Los Angeles, but in Maryland. The sidekick character is modeled on Whoopie Goldberg. At first, I didn't think I could do a sequel to Thicker Than Blood. Then I Googled crime+parking and discovered that thirty-eight percent of all violent crimes take place on the street or in parking lots. Pursuing that a bit further, I found the highest rate in parking areas was in those connected to Hospitals. Hmmm. I was once a medical writer In L.A. I'm now working on Lifeblood and guess what it involves? For my historical thriller, Listen to the Mockingbird, I didn't just fictionalize the life of a real woman in 1860's New Mexico, I based it on the lives of two real women. One was an Army wife who came over the Santa Fe Trail from St. Louis. There was little written about the other woman, perhaps only on her tombstone in southern New Mexico: She owned a ranch and held up a stagecoach. Eye of the Mountain God, my yet-to-be-published mystery/thriller, centers on Megan Montoya, an art photographer, a single mom with a deaf daughter. Here's a story hook that was real. Megan opens her newspaper and out fall five emerald arrowheads. Fact: When the Spaniards arrived in New Mexico, they were met by an Indian who showed them "five emerald arrowheads". Once I have my characters, I find photographs of people who look like I imagine mine to look - then I loosely outline. Beyond that, who is it that said, "I just stare at the computer screen until I can walk through it"? Personally, I first do anything I can to avoid that trip through - clean out closets? Great idea! Go to the dentist? Love to. But once I'm on the other side, I become obsessed and may need custodial care. Writing? Nothing to it! Here are my thoughts on the The Ethnic Sleuth
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