My writing obsession…
My character Esther Brookstone becomes obsessed with finding things: a missing painting in Rembrandt’s Angel and St. John the Divine’s tomb in Son of Thunder. In the third book of the series, Death on the Danube (coming soon!), she does more traditional sleuthing, helping new hubby, Bastiann van Coevorden, find an assassin. This Miss Marple-like woman and her Hercule Poirot-like husband are on their honeymoon! I’ve become obsessed with telling readers about her adventures (although George Langston, her ex-boss, gets the credit for that, as he takes on the role of Dr. Watson to chronicle the sleuthing pair’s escapades contained in the books). That obsession, storytelling, has gripped me since my first novel, Full Medical (2006).
Although I’m an ex-scientist (you might still see some of my ancient publications if you google me—yes, that’s the same Steven M. Moore!), and those skills allow me to create complex stories without too many errors in logic, I’ve always been more verbal and visual. Any successes I had as a scientist are due to those same skills of organization and visualization of lots of experimental data. I remember my surprise long ago when my SAT verbal score was a bit higher than my mathematical one. Now I realize I shouldn’t have been—I’ve always been obsessed with words, both in reading and writing.
My reading led to writing. I was always reading “ahead of grade,” as elementary teachers call it (I bless them all for putting up with my idiosyncrasies). I soon had acquired enough hubris to believe that I could create stories as interesting and entertaining as the ones I read (mysteries, adventures now known as thrillers, and sci-fi, all at an adult level). I wrote my first novel the summer I turned thirteen—it went into the trash can when I left for college. My current writing style has mostly remained the same, though—minimalist writing. In my reading, I admired and still admire how good storytellers allow readers to participate in the creative process by providing just enough narrative and character description so readers can exercise their own visualization powers. How could I write like that and still maintain my own voice? Practice, practice, practice. I believe I can do it now (there’s always room for improvement), but it’s always been my main goal…or obsession, if you will.
Writing is my obsession now. Part of that is because I didn’t start publishing my stories until 2006. (It would have been earlier, but some agents and acquisition editors spammed me with loads of rejections for a while.) From the very beginning, I wrote stories that would always be “evergreen,” stories as current and entertaining as the day I wrote them. That same late start means that I’ll continue to write them to catch up. I have many stories in me still, and I feel this need to write them. That’s my obsession.
Are other authors obsessed in this way? I sense that some aren’t; they’re just writing stories that satisfy market demands. As sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein said, “…maybe I should study the market and try like hell to tailor something which fits current styles. But…if I am to turn out work of fairly permanent value, my own taste…is what I must follow.” That’s my motto too, which means I should continue to write “evergreen” books that will provide readers with more stories with permanent entertainment value.
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Comments are always welcome.
Death on the Danube. Esther Brookstone, ex-MI6 agent in East Berlin in the Cold War and ex-Scotland Yard Inspector in the Art and Antiques Division, is on her honeymoon with Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden. Their idyllic cruise down the Danube is interrupted when a reclusive and mysterious passenger is murdered. Why was the victim alone on that riverboat filled with couples, in a stateroom by himself? And who killed him? Esther and Bastiann were often called Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot by wags at the Yard, and this addition to the series might remind readers of Christie’s Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, but this mystery/thriller is very much a story set in the twenty-first century. So tour the Danube with Esther and Bastiann…and enjoy the ride! Coming soon.
Around the world and to the starts! In libris libertas!
