David Calder lives in New Zealand, lucky guy, but he has previously lived in California. Today he shares some insight into his excellent literary work.
Hello Scott. Thanks for having me on
your blog.
>> You have written The Children of the Nakba,
Redemption Cove, and a collection of short stories, Shorter Journeys. Am I
missing anything?
Those are my books available
through Amazon, Ingram Spark, SmashWords, and Kobo. Additionally, I have a
paperback book of illustrated poems called Scenes from a Life, which I make
available through book groups because of the cost of color printing, but will
soon have up as an E-Book. I also have some work published in anthologies.
>> Do you feel that being
a writer of various genres makes it more difficult to attract an audience?
Yes and no. Attracting an
audience these days is hard for everyone. The flood of self-published books
over the past few years has really diluted the market. You have to be prepared
to work hard at it, via all means available. For me that means Twitter,
Facebook, book-clubs, writers groups, and mutual of mouth with other writers I respect,
as well as my general contacts. Having more than one genre gives me different
target markets to work with, but there’s always the problem of spreading one’s
self too thin as well.
>> When you read for
pleasure, what do you prefer?
I follow other authors mostly,
and go where they go. I was lucky in discovering your terrific Alien series and
then enjoyed a number of your other books, whereas I wouldn’t normally have
gone looking for science fiction. Mario Puzo reignited my love of reading as a
teenager, and then the South African Writer Wilbur Smith cemented it with one
of his early books, Eagle in the Sky, which also importantly piqued my interest
in Israel. I enjoy all the current great ones, such as Lew Child, Stephen Coonts,
John Grisham, Robert Crais particularly, and most recently Mark Greany, who’s
taken over Tom Clancy’s mantle. Another favorite is Dave Edlund with his very
good Savage Series. Speaking of going where they go, Dan Winslow’s very fine,
The Cartel, has me interested in Mexican crime and politics currently.
>> I am aware that you
once traveled to Mexico to do some writing. Does that say that environment
plays a part in your writing?
As far as an environment to work
in goes, yes, I was lucky to spend some devoted time in lovely Baja last year
and found it fascinating and conducive, but I’m far more influenced by events
than places. I have the privilege of beautiful horse ranch in NZ to live and
write from, so I don’t lack beauty around me.
As for an environment as a setting,
I heard Lee Child once say in a talk, that people think he studied the American
south, but he actually got the idea for the red clay in most of his early books
from watching My Cousin Vinnie on DVD. He feels environmental inspiration
should be as far in the past as possible, and I tend to agree. Dwelling on a
book’s setting can flatten out the emotion if overdone. I’m fond of the Pacific
Northwest, but it was more of a metaphor for escaping to somewhere beautiful to
heal, when I wrote Redemption Cove. Likewise, I have a deep interest in Israel
as shown in The Children of the Nakba, but it’s the social/military/political
dynamics that drive my work in that direction.
>> Where do you look for
inspiration?
I write a lot of outlines, just
sketches that flesh out a scene, or develop a ‘what if?’ thought. Some become
short stories, such as Saving John Denver or Defying God, from Shorter
Journeys. Others shrink down to what I feel is their purest form and become
poems. Once in a while a character will take hold and begin to grow real, and I
just follow it. Likewise a good storyline is hard to let go.
That said, The Children of the
Nakba is a special case. It arose from experiencing the event it describes through
the pain of an Israeli friend, in college, and needing to profoundly understand
what it must have been like.
>> What motivates you to
write?
As the most basic, if I didn’t
write, I honestly wouldn’t know who I was. But on a day to day basis, I love to
vicariously live out my characters’ adventures. Go on journeys with them, if
you like.
>>What are your pet peeves
with other writers? In other words, what turns you off about a piece of
writing?
A piece of reading for me, has
to have a strong opening. I try to give my readers the same thing. A book that
starts out well, but becomes preachy because the writer lapses into driving
home their point of view rather than entertaining me, loses my interest too.
Other than that I like all kinds of writing and subjects, and try to give a
writer every opportunity to grab me, even putting a book down and starting over
sometimes, because I know how hard it is to do and how much a writer gives to a
work.
>> How would you describe
your writing technique?
I live by the creed that the
first draft is your art, and the next ten or so, are your craft. I write the
first draft in Word, fighting hard not to rewrite as I go. Then I rewrite and
rewrite until the book feels right. Then I run the result through some tools
such as Grammarly and Ginger, and do the final re-structure in Scrivener. I’m a
big fan of Beta reading, and enjoy doing that for other writers too.
>> What are you working on
at the moment?
They are dragging on a little
bit, but I have a follow-up to The Children of the Nakba about ready to go
(actually a prequel.) Also a sequel to Redemption Cove set in France, involving
some lost art and a cooking school. After that I believe my RC character Ben
Adams has some more adventures yet to discover.
>>Please share your social
media links and handles and links to where readers can find you.
Thanks again Scott, I’m honored
and grateful that you have given me this time.
The Merrell Saga: Based on a True Story from the Red Stick War of 1813-1814 by Charles E. Sowell
