How It All Started — Part 1

Why Write?

Why did I decide to become a traditionally published author? 

The question is flawed, by the way. You can TRY to become an author, but agents and editors will decide if you’ll be a traditionally published one. And readers will decide if you’re a good one. 

But back to the point of the question. My wife and I were fortunate enough to retire a few years ago. 

When it happened, I really enjoyed the first couple of weeks -- the freedom, flexibility, and hope that comes with imagining a new life. But after 3 or 4 weeks, I realized I wasn’t ready.  I needed a new challenge, something that was satisfying. 

So the big question was, ‘What should I do?’ I thought about working for another company or taking a position as a consultant. Those were appealing choices, but they weren’t exactly new challenges. 

Since I had time, I reviewed the different chapters in my life -- I’d been an accountant, a  toy designer, a frozen dessert entrepreneur, a process consultant, a humor columnist, a marketing executive, and most recently, a private investigator. I loved each role, but the truly enjoyable one was being a columnist. 

As a teenager, I’d been influenced by writers such as Robert Ludlum, Kurt Vonnegut, Thornton Wilder, and John Le Carre. I loved their stories so much that I  wrote a novel and a screenplay in high school. They were terrible, but the process was wonderful.  I knew I couldn’t make a living from writing, but the love of storytelling stayed with me. I found time to write short stories (not as terrible, but not good) after college, and eventually, I wrote a weekly humor column for a local paper.

It was clear to me -- I’d always wanted to be a writer.

How to Write

Remember I said my writing had been terrible? I’m being generous; it was worse than terrible. But that’s expected at first. No one rolls out of bed one day, sits at their computer, and produces tremendous literature. Recognizing this, I had to learn how to write suspense fiction, my favorite genre.

Where to start? Luckily, the world has changed since I was a teenager. The internet has so many great resources. I got my hands on half a dozen print and digital how-to books and began outlining them. I quickly learned that strong writing has 3 pillars -- plot, character arc, and theme. I also learned that fiction has several conventions readers expect. 

After several months of reading, outlining, and studying these how-to books, I began parsing some of my favorite reads. I dissected them like someone would diagram a sentence, proving that those fiction conventions were real. They might have been invisible to me before, but they existed and worked. 

What to Write?

Once the educational pieces were in place, I had to decide what to write. 

This was harder than it seemed. Should I write an original story from scratch?  My chances of getting an agent were ridiculously low if I chose that path, something like 1 in 1,000. I’m confident but also realistic, and the thought of spending a year writing a manuscript and having it ignored didn’t strike me as fun.

But what else could I write? Perhaps a sequel to an older property? That could work; I’d created toys based on established properties, so the concept was familiar. Again, I asked myself--what property would work? It had to be well-known and compelling but with no sequels. I thought long and hard, but nothing came to mind. 

I needed a break, so I turned to something I’d been looking forward to in retirement -- re-watching all the movies I’d loved. That night, I put on Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief. This was my absolute favorite film as a young man. It had great characters in John Robie (Cary Grant) and Francie Stevens (Grace Kelly), a fantastic premise, and an appealing location (the French Riviera). I’d read the original book by David Dodge years ago, and I’d watched the Hitchcock film a few times. I was looking forward to seeing it again.

Two minutes into the film, it hit me- this was the perfect story to continue. I was excited and did some research. To my surprise, there were no sequels I could find. I researched more and discovered I didn’t have to write the whole manuscript. Instead,  I could draft a concept statement, also known as a pitch document. That was a relief, and it would save me a lot of anxiety.

To sum it up, I learned how to write, I had a great story in mind, and I had a pitch document that detailed the plot, the characters, and the development of the protagonist, John Robie.

The next step was to identify the owner of the original copyright and convince them to let me write a sequel.

The easy part, or so I thought. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

To be continued…