Children's and YA Author
Long time no talk- er, type. Whatever. The writer-postman is back – and I have a lost interview to share.
I was very fortunate to land a gig on this interview show. I discussed a children’s fantasy novel that was slated to be published . . . only to see the publishers go out of business! yeah. Reason Number 423 an author doesn’t get published.
Oh well, here’s the interview from ‘The Covid Years’.
Spring is here in Australia and so I’ve embarked on my annual ‘clean up my desk’ adventure. Don’t try this at home kids! These are highly trained professionals at work. They may make it look easy – but it ain’t.
My crime-novel-in-progress Burned continues to ‘progress’ well. I’ve been in a writers group with respected and award winning author Bill Condon for many years. But with the advent of COVID 19 our meetings have been curtailed. Bummer. But, Bill and I meet up online weekly and critique and discuss the manuscripts we’re currently working on. It’s been very productive and a lot of fun. And I still feel very connected with Bill. It’s funny. I’m not seeing him in person but we’re both still a part of each other’s lives.
The Highlands continues to be out there in the publishing world. Two considered no’s so far. The last publisher said my main character was ‘refreshingly and complex’ in an ‘incredibly readable’ novel where I brought characters and setting to ‘life brilliantly’. And still a no. Aah, crime writing’s a tough gig.
Stay safe and well.
And no, I don’t mean a person who repairs cars, trucks, tractors who writes. Although I’m sure there are mechanic-novelists out there. If you’re a budding novelist you have to make sure you can still pay the bills!
You can see what I mean by “mechanics“ below.
These pages are a literal chapter breakdown of my manuscript-in-progress called Burned. I’ve written fragments of a backstory for my protagonist and now I need to figure out where to slip them into the manuscript so the plot continues to unroll naturally and the reader can gain some insight (drop by drop – not massive info-dump) into the character without losing the momentum of the story. T’is a challenge . . .
If anything, in ten years I can look back on the Covid 19 pandemic and check on what I was listening to while trying to keep healthy – and creative.
My wife Patricia and I were also completing a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the Eiffel Tower during the Lockdown.
My new crime novel Burned is progressing nicely (23,000 of projected 75,000 words completed). But the burning question is: What was I listening to while penning this thrilling tale?
Chris McTrustry 