Interview with Austin S. Camacho

What have you learned about yourself as a writer from your first book to your latest novel?

I've learned that no story is ever quite as good as I want it to be... and that the next story will be better because of what I learned wrestling with the last story.  Also, I have learned that creating great fiction requires more than talent - you need to study your craft and never stop learning how to do it better.

Why did you make Felicity Irish in the Stark and O`Brien series?

I wanted to play with the concept of opposites attracting.  I started with the most familiar character for me - an inner city African American man with military experience.  When I reached in the other direction I ended up with a white woman from another country who had been an outlaw.  She needed to speak English of course, and aside from Scandanavians the Irish have the lightest skin of anybody so that's where I landed.
 
 In the Hannibal Jones mysteries, are the characters that help Hannibal anyone that you patterned them after?

Hannibal's posse all started out as stereotypes but I expanded them from there.  So none of them was based on any individual... except Virgil, who is loosely based on one of my uncles, who came back from WWII Army service hooked on heroine.
 
Your latest novel deals with a very sensitive issue that a woman would face. How were you able to capture the emotion of her feelings towards what happened to her?

That is the essence of writing fiction.  I have to be able to put myself in the emotion shoes of each character.  Emotionally women are different from men, so we men have to observe them very closely during moments of extreme duress and capture those emotions for later use.  Once you've seen a woman go through being really hurt, you can portray it in words.
 
In the age of e books how are you making your novel stand out from the rest?

I believe good writing will stand out regardless of the format.  I hope my novels stand out because of their well-developed characters - people you are happy to get to know and keep up with.

Do you listen to music, watch television or need total quiet when you write?

Definitely music!  It blots out distracting noises and amplifies emotion, making it easier to put the right emotional content into my writing. 
 
Since this blog is about shoes, books and writing...tell me what book you like the most, whose writing style you mimic and who is your favorite show designer.

I don't have a favorite book but I do have favorite authors: Raymond Chandler, Ellmore Leonard, and Walter Mosely of course.  I dream of writing Chandler's poetic prose and Leonard's real, troubled characters, with Mosely's perfect sense of social setting.  But I can't even name a shoe designer...LOL...
 
Tell my audience where you will be next.  I will be reading at the Art and Lit event at Watermark Gallery at the Baltimore harbor on April 7th.  You can read all about it at https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/513941071981686/ 

Finding a Publisher is Like Finding a New Pair of Jeans

This month starts my guest blogging and today I welcome Mariam L. Thomas.

So there I was, walking into the clothing store with high hopes as I headed toward the jeans department of a major retail store.  As I reached the department, it suddenly occurred to me that I wasn't exactly sure which type of jeans I was looking for.  There were so many different types to choose from.  Did I want a pair that sat below the waist, bootcut jeans, flare jeans or low-riders that are also bootcut?  I almost wanted to turn around and go back home.

So it goes for many aspiring authors.  There are so many publishers out there in the big world of all things literary, they simply aren't sure where or how to start the process.  How did I resolve my jeans dilemma?  I did some research.  True story.  Right there, in the department store.  I read the various tags found on different pairs of jeans, until I found a description for a pair that sounded like me.  Then I tried each of them on, until I was able to walk out of the store with a pair of jeans that felt as if they were meant for me — after I've lost a few pounds, of course.

Going back to the journey for aspiring authors and their quest to find the perfect publisher; I would tell you to do one very important thing — RESEARCH.  It's a waste of your time to blindly send out query letters to every single publisher out there.  Understand what genre your book falls into, and then research publishing companies who publish that genre.  Once you've found your list, look to see who the editor is that handles that genre.  This is important.  You want to be sure that you address your query letter to the right editor.

Now, before you send out that query letter, I need you to do something else quite important.  More research — on writing a "winning" query letter.  I want you to try out a few that you find, the same way you would try on jeans.  How?  Find samples of two or three that fit your writing style and your book.  Many well-known authors have published their winning query letters.  I have always believed that you don't always have to re-invent the wheel.  Its okay to use what is out there if it has proven to work.

Here is a website I used:  http://www.charlottedillon.com/query.html

Now I know it's tempting to want to send your entire manuscript with your query letter.  Fight the urge.  Please.  Keep in mind that most publishing companies only request the first three chapters of your work.

Here is the last thing you want to do before you submit your query letter and the first three chapters of your manuscript to that publishing company that is going to fit your book like a pair of perfectly-fitting jeans:  Have everything edited.  Not by your cousin, friend or mother (unless they're professional editors in their secular lives).  Remember, just like you want your jeans to "make a flattering and modest impression," so goes your query letter.

About the Author:

Marian L. Thomas is the best-selling author of two award-winning titles, Color Me Jazzmyne and My Father's Colors.  Her newest title, Strings of Color, released on April 1, 2012.  You can find more information about publishing and getting published on her blog: http://www.thewritersinkspot.blogspot.com