{"id":26210,"date":"2015-02-26T06:45:32","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T11:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/?p=26210"},"modified":"2015-02-26T06:45:32","modified_gmt":"2015-02-26T11:45:32","slug":"dave-white-five-things-i-learned-writing-not-even-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/2015\/02\/26\/dave-white-five-things-i-learned-writing-not-even-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave White: Five Things I Learned Writing Not Even Past"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, Jackson Donne has it figured out. After leaving the private investigation business, he’s looking toward the future \u2014 and getting married to Kate Ellison. Donne is focused on living the good life \u2014 planning the wedding, finishing college, and anticipating a Hawaiian honeymoon \u2014 until he receives an anonymous email with a link and an old picture of him on the police force. Once Donne clicks the link, nothing else in his life matters. Donne sees a live-stream of the one thing he never expected. Six years ago, his fianc\u00e9e, Jeanne Baker died in a car accident with a drunk driver. Or so Donne thought. He\u2019s taken to a video of Jeanne bound to a chair, bruised and screaming, but very much alive. He starts to investigate, but quickly finds out he\u2019s lost most of his contacts over the years. The police hold a grudge going back to the days when he turned in his corrupt colleagues, and neither they nor the FBI are willing to believe a dead girl\u2019s been kidnapped. Donne turns to Bill Martin \u2014 the only man to love Jeanne as much as he did \u2014 for help. And that decision could cost him everything.<\/em><\/p>\n

I Could Do It Myself<\/h2>\n

That may sound ridiculous, but it is true. I\u2019ve always had beta readers at very early stages in my novels. Seriously, like after first draft stages. Sometimes I\u2019d show people very early chapters just to keep my confidence up. Not with this one. I wanted to try and keep things quiet, and write for myself. Screw everybody else.<\/p>\n

When I finally got feedback from editors and readers, they were more enthusiastic than critical and there was less to fix. That taught me to trust my instincts. I could now yell DON\u2019T TELL ME WHAT TO DO at editors. (Note: I would never yell, \u201cDon\u2019t tell me what to do at editors.\u201d) Hearing the positive feedback was so important for my confidence as a writer and going forward. I don\u2019t feel as daunted by revisions. Given enough time, I can find what needs to be fixed.<\/p>\n

Nope. Can\u2019t Read.<\/h2>\n

I love to read fiction. Crime novel after crime novel after crime novel. But when I\u2019m writing, I just can\u2019t. Too often I\u2019m distracted or can\u2019t follow the plot. I get nitpicky about what I\u2019m reading. I\u2019m never drawn to a book. Probably it\u2019s because I\u2019m subconsciously focused on my own book. Plots are hard to follow because I\u2019m still working on mine.<\/p>\n

However, for some reason, I am really enthusiastic about reading when I\u2019m writing. I always think I\u2019m going to be able to plow through all this new and exciting books by authors I love. Instead, they sit\u2014untouched\u2014on my nightstand for months.<\/p>\n

What I can read however, is some lighter fare. I can read comics\u2014Marvel gets a lot of my money when I\u2019m writing. And journalism. I love sports reporting and I read a lot of that for enjoyment.<\/p>\n

Scheduling Writing Time with a Kid Is Tough<\/h2>\n

When I wrote my first three novels, I didn\u2019t have a kid. Heck, I wasn\u2019t even married. I could write all willy-nilly. Nights? SURE until 1 am if I wanted. Mornings? Afternoons? Whenever the inspiration struck\u2014I could be at that computer pounding away at the keys.<\/p>\n

Now I have a two year old. And he naps, so that\u2019s good. But he doesn\u2019t always nap consistently. I have had to figure out times when Ben is distracted or when someone will watch him for me. I get a good hour or two of writing in right after work\u2014and when I do promotional work, it\u2019s after he goes to sleep. All right, I lied. Right now I\u2019m typing this blog post as Ben is watching a video. BAD DAD.<\/p>\n

But it was something I had to learn. I always wrote every day when I was single or childless, but it was easier to wait for when it was convenient. Now it\u2019s like Chuck says, Art Harder, Mother Fucker. You can\u2019t just wait around. You have an hour now? Use it. Get it done. That was the tough adjustment.<\/p>\n

Retroactive Character: Who is Jackson Donne?<\/h2>\n

Jackson Donne is my series character. He is a former private investigator that was mourning the death of his fianc\u00e9e, Jeanne, in the first novel. But, as I came up with the hook for NOT EVEN PAST\u2014Jeanne is actually alive\u2014I had to learn more about Donne himself. And some of what I learned was retroactive.<\/p>\n

Donne is more unhinged than I had already thought. He\u2019s not the smartest guy, and his more impulsive than expected. These realizations kind of synced with the first two novels in a way I didn\u2019t expect. I was able to look back at those novels\u2014and at Donne going forward.<\/p>\n

In a way, this is my comic book novel. Some retcons, a character coming back from the dead and I\u2019m sure some continuity issues. I love that. This book and Donne are raw to me–their edges aren\u2019t sanded. It comes at you in a flurry, I hope. And because of that I know more about Donne going forward and how he can grow and change.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Different as a Writer, and That\u2019s Okay<\/h2>\n

How do I put this? I learned a lot about myself as a writer with this one\u2014and I think you can see that in what I\u2019ve learned. I\u2019d gone away from writing novels for almost two years when I started this one, and I was afraid it wouldn\u2019t be like riding a bicycle.<\/p>\n

And it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean I couldn\u2019t still write. But I had a different process this time around. I wrote the first 100 pages of this book and then went back and started over. I outlined my revisions. I\u2019d never done that sort of thing before. I always just pushed through, forced it when it wasn\u2019t there and then fixed it later. Now, I\u2019m more patient. I\u2019m more willing to re-work mid-novel. People ask how many drafts of my novels I write. One my first 3 books I could have told you a true number on front to end revisions. Now I go back and play much more. I tweak a lot more.<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s part of growing as a writer, maturing. And I was able to do it by myself, which was very cool to me.<\/p>\n

\u00a0* * *<\/p>\n

Dave White is a Derringer Award-winning mystery author and educator. White, an eighth grade teacher for the Clifton, NJ Public School district, attended Rutgers University and received his MAT from Montclair State University. His 2002 short story “Closure,” won the Derringer Award for Best Short Mystery Story the following year. Publishers Weekly gave the first two novels in his Jackson Donne series, When One Man Dies and The Evil That Men Do, starred reviews, calling When One Man Dies an “engrossing, evocative debut novel” and writing that his second novel “fulfills the promise of his debut.” He received praise from crime fiction luminaries such as bestselling, Edgar Award-winning Laura Lippman and the legendary James Crumley.<\/p>\n

Dave White: Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not Even Past: Amazon<\/span><\/a> | B&N<\/span><\/a> | Indiebound<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finally, Jackson Donne has it figured out. After leaving the private investigation business, he’s looking toward the future \u2014 and getting married to Kate Ellison. Donne is focused on living the good life \u2014 planning the wedding, finishing college, and anticipating a Hawaiian honeymoon \u2014 until he receives an anonymous email with a link and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-26210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-theramble","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pv7MR-6OK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26210"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26213,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26210\/revisions\/26213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}