Q&A with the author – Part 3 of 10

Q. So in Time Capsule you just made up the story as you went along?

A. Yes, exactly. I started out with the basics: “Man plants tree, man finds box, man opens box, there’s a mystery inside.” When I wrote that, it was really all I had. Then, by way of introduction, I went back and told the story of how the main characters met.

Next, I decided that I needed a dead body. I didn’t know who it was or how it fit into the story, but I wrote it as a separate chapter that also set the location for the book. I moved it to Chapter 1. That gave me more ideas, but I still had no idea how the book would end or how I would get there. In fact, I didn’t even know what was in the box. So I wrote a couple of chapters, set it aside for a while and kept thinking about it.

After a while, I got an idea to describe some items in the box and have each of them take the reader off in a secondary direction, so I created three new characters, attached each of them to an item in the time capsule and wrote a back story to go with each character.

Then I realized that aside from solving a mystery, Rob and Jennie would have real jobs, so I wrote about what they do at work. As reporters, they cover events, write stories and interact with other people on the job. I brought in fictionalized versions of actual events that happened to me or people I worked with and added them to the soup.

Eventually, I had five threads running at the same time. I had Rob and Jennie pursuing the mystery of the time capsule, Rob and Jennie going to work at regular jobs and three separate characters with their own stories linked through items in the box. I tied them all together and finally an ending came to me. I had a beginning, a middle and an end, so Time Capsule became a manuscript…but it wasn’t yet a book.

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Part 1 - Where do you get the ideas for your books?

Part 2 - Tell me about your writing process?

Next: So what happened after you finished your manuscript?

Q&A with the author – Part 2 0f 10

Q. Tell me about your writing process?

A. It really differs from book to book. In Time Capsule, once I had created Rob and Jennie Covington, I began to visualize them doing and saying things that news reporters would do and say, and then I wrote it all down. To be honest, when I wrote the beginning, I had no idea how it would end or how I would get there, but as I continued to visualize scenes and as I wrote more and more of the story, the ending came to me in time.

You can write whatever comes to mind, just to get it memorialized "on paper," because you'll go back later to edit what you wrote--probably more than once. The first draft can be far from perfect as long as it gets you off and running and begins to tell your story.  

The best part for me was writing all of the dialogue, which I admit sounds a lot like things I might say myself. I think the first words I actually wrote in Time Capsule were, “No stupid, your other left,” a good-natured barb that Jennie threw at Rob when he was planting the tree. 

In effect, it was those five words that defined the relationship between these characters for all of Time Capsule and the Covington books that followed. In one of the books, I described their compatibility as "a healthy relationship based on trust, mutual admiration for each other’s talents, common interests, sexual attraction and the ability to take a joke.”

Next: So you made up the story as you went along?

Two good ways to start your morning

Q&A with the author - Part 1 of 10

Q. Where do you get the ideas for your books?

A. There is no one answer to that question, but generally I have an active imagination and ideas come to me fairly easily. I got the idea for Time Capsule several years ago when I planted a tree in my yard and wondered what would happen if I found something buried there. I decided to write a story about that and it eventually became a book.

Because it’s a fiction novel, I had to create all of the people, places, events, dialogue and so on, which was a lot of fun. I’m a former journalist so I used real people, places and events for inspiration but turned it all into a fictional narrative, built around two main characters who are newspaper reporters like I was.

Once I got started with the discovery of the time capsule, I crafted the rest of the story from actual experiences and some that I invented out of my own head.

Next: Tell me about your writing process?

Another reader comment

"Awesome read! Have an autographed copy from the (book signing at the) Marion County Library. Great book."

Get an autographed copy of your own. Just send your name and mailing address to ShieldsBooks2018@gmail.com and I'll get one out to you. 

Reader wants to read 'Time Capsule' again

Reader comment: "I really liked your book. I plan on reading it again."

Get ready for Halloween with a juicy murder mystery

Halloween is approaching, so here's an idea: Get in the mood for our spookiest holiday by reading a good mystery book like Time Capsule. It's full of twists and turns and surprises you won't see coming.

Paperbacks are $12.95 and eBooks are $8.99 from Amazon. To purchase one, click here.

For a signed copy, send your name and mailing address to ShieldsBooks2018@gmail.com.

Special deal: BTGT

Buy two copies of Time Capsule at regular price and get two more copies at, uh, regular price. You see, I need to sell some books or I can't publish another novel.

So c'mon, who's with me?

For paperbacks and eBooks, click here.

For a signed copy, send your name and mailing address to ShieldsBooks2018@gmail.com.

Readers continue to comment on 'Time Capsule'

Hi Scott. I finished your book about an hour ago. I so enjoyed it. Your descriptions of your characters made them very real to me. The plot and subplots were real life. I am looking forward, very much, to your next book. Feel like I need to thank you for an interesting and pleasurable read.