hard-case-crime

37 What do you get when you mix a drunk, down-and-out former-PI with a trio of beautiful girls and a murder?

The perfect Ed McBain novel, that’s what.

Well, perfect might be a stretch. Let’s just say it’s a perfect Ed McBain novel from his salad days. By the time THE GUTTER AND THE GRAVE was hit the drugstore paperback rack, he’d already published his critically acclaimed book, THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, under his other pseudonym, Evan Hunter. But he still needed a way to pay the rent.

Poof. Ed McBain the crime novelist was born.

To be honest, I’ve read better books from the era—a number of David Dodge’s fine works come to mind—but this one still had everything I look for in the genre: a milquetoast or two, a handful of tough guys, a few fist fights, some large-breasted sweater girls, and one reluctant hero (or anti-hero) with little choice but to solve the murder to clear his name.

Plus, it’s from the fine folks at Hard Case Crime. How could I lose?

1. So you don’t think you’ve got time to write a novel?

   To anyone out there who claims they don’t have enough time to write a novel, I say that’s a cop out. I’ve written about the “no time to write” thing before, but I’m coming at it from a different direction this time: breaking stuff down into smaller bites.

   Of course, you’re probably rolling your eyes at a guy who’s still looking for his first sale.

   But it’s not as if I haven’t written books before. I wrote or co-wrote about a half-dozen books in 2006 and will write at least that many again this year, too. In fact, I just turned in drafts of three books not thirty minutes ago.

   Granted, it’s for my day job. I’m a tech writer for a software company here in Denver. But approaching a project here at work is not much different than writing any other long work… you know, like a novel.

   When I start a new project, I look at what the smallest component parts are. They’re not chapters… they’re sections describing—or giving a how-to of—a key bit of functionality. Even though they’re standalone, all of these component parts go in to making the whole.

   Now, taking this same approach and applying it to a novel, the natural choice is a scene. Or, if you prefer, a word count. Either way, these things represent a standalone component that adds up to the whole.

   As an example, consider breaking up your writing into 500-word blocks. It’s what I do… between the aforementioned day job and my business, my writing-for-me time is limited. But I figure I can write 500 words a day.

   Doing a little bit of math, that’s an 80,000-word novel in about 23 weeks. Throw in another three weeks to outline ahead of time (because that’s the way I rock ’em), another month for edits and re-writes, and you’ve got a finished book in eight months.

2. MWA Grand Master on the Late Late Show

   Make sure you check out Lawrence Block on Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show on CBS on February 7th—check your local listings for times.

   He’s got a new title—actually, it’s an old title re-issued, called LUCKY AT CARDS—out on the Hard Case Crime imprint.

3. Is my mind playing tricks?

   I recently got a generous offer from someone. I mean hyuuuge offer… the kind that usually make me say, “Gosh, no. I wouldn’t dream of troubling you. You didn’t have to do that. Really.”

   I was surprised and amazed and buoyed by it! (Yes… all of those at the same time.)

   What’s even more amazing is how, in my mind, I’ve transformed it from an awesome gift into a challenge.

4. Barry Eisler and John Rain

   I’ve written before about Barry Eisler and his Rain books.

   I can’t begin to say how thrilled I am I’ve finally begun reading the first in the series. There’s a little more exposition than I usually prefer, but what’s there is really good because Eisler has mastered that sort of storytelling.

   And maybe exposition isn’t the right word. It’s dialog—internal—much the way Madison Smartt Bell’s STRAIGHT CUT was.

   Now I’m asking myself, “What took you so long, dummy?”

5. Save the Dillon Panthers

   I really hope “Friday Night Lights” gets another season because it really is good TV.

6. Wow, indeed.

   Seth Godin posted a great picture from the Windows Vista launch on Monday.

   Seems someone missed the memo about the “rah-rah.”

Mmmm. Fresh fruit. But this one definitely won’t leave you puckered.

Fast. Economical. Tasty.

Another winner from Hard Case.