Unlike Any Other

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions.

1. Can you tell something about yourself and how you became an author?

While in college, I wrote several short stories and poems pieces which were published. It was the type of thing where I got a couple of copies of the magazines as payment. My writing was curtailed for about 20 years while working in the insurance industry. I started writing again in 2007, and in 2001 finished my first book, The Devil’s Elbow, about the first settlement in Central Massachusetts in 1660 and King Philip’s War, which took place in 1675. It was an uprising by the native people to rid the land of the English. I wrote my next book, The Long Journey Home, in 2013.

2. Tell us a bit about your writing process.

To date, my process has been a bit scattershot. Scenes come to me at random times throughout the day. Of course, I write them all down, but only some are worth keeping. My stories grow in fits and starts. I always have a beginning and ending in mind and work my way from one to the other. It’s a very unorganized approach that now frustrates me. I’ve always been a panster—flying by the seat of my pants—but I have two stories in mind, and I’m outlining them. The story I’m finishing up now took far too long to write. It should have been done three years ago, and I’m still playing around with it. I’m not putting together any detailed outlines but more bullet points for each chapter. I can add and delete points, move some from one chapter to another, and put the whole story together before writing one word. There is no guarantee that I’ll stick to the outline, but it helps clarify my thoughts. 

3. Tell us about your novels. Why should everyone buy them?

My novels to date are historical fiction set in Colonial Massachusetts. They are life and death struggles that address more than the day-to-day situations people at that time experienced. I write about the fundamental human emotions—love, hate, happiness, sadness, joy, disappointment, etc. All the things that every person on earth experiences. It is a universal language and something each person can connect to.

The one constant compliment I get from readers is that I make a story come alive, that I put them in the scene, that they experience everything as it happens to the characters. I wrote those books with the intent of the reader getting so into the story that they forget they are reading.

4. What is your all-time favourite novel/book? What makes it special?

My go-to book is The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. What has always grabbed me is that it is the story of dispossessed people who have extraordinarily little, to begin with and then lose it all while trying to make a better life for themselves. There is something about the story’s basic humanity that pulls me in.

5. What author would you love to have dinner with?

Paulo Coelho, author of the Alchemist. I find him fascinating and would love to spend an evening talking with him.

6. What do you do when you’re not writing? Do you have any hobbies or passions?

I’m writing or thinking about writing or mentally reconfiguring a story pretty much all the time. However, I do have a life away from writing. I love to spend time with my wife.; she’s my best friend. I love to be outdoors, whether it’s spending hours in my flower in vegetable gardens, walking in the woods, fly fishing, or just sitting and enjoying whatever nature puts in front of me.

7. How important is it to have your facts right and are there any instances when you bend history to fit your story?

It is vitally important to have your facts straight. If a reader sees that you have gotten something wrong, they lose interest and will tell others that you don’t know what you’re doing. The heart of any good story is conflict. If there’s no conflict, there’s no tension, and it is boring. There are times when I take small liberties with the historical record, but that’s why it’s called fiction.

8. What are you reading at the moment?

Right now, I’m reading Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I just finished Split Image by Robert B. Parker, and next up is No Way to Treat a First Lady by Christopher Buckley.

9. Can you give novice writers some tips (do’s/don’ts)?

My advice to aspiring writers is to start writing and don’t stop. Expect your first draft to be crappy. No one is going to see it but you. Write now and edit later. Finish what you start. Words don’t bleed, so cut them. There are no mistakes, only creative opportunities. Read every day to both enjoy and learn.

Dorothy Parker, the celebrated wit of the renowned Algonquin Roundtable, has a famous quote that I use in my writing workshops. “If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of ‘The Elements of Style.’ The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”

10. What are your future plans as an author?

I plan to keep writing for as long as I can. I have many stories to tell and am at my happiest when, to paraphrase Neil Gaiman, “words flow from my fingers like diamonds and sparkle in the light.” When the Muse is sitting on my shoulder, all is right with the world.

Thank you…