Please tell us a little about yourself.
I'm a husband, an IT Microsoft Engineer, a military historian, and an avid Civil War enthusiast. I've been researching and writing about the civil war for almost a decade (avidly) and enjoy just about any study on soldiering or look at major battles or campaigns. I've been a living historian for over fifteen years in American Civil War and in WWII.
What is your book about?
They Met at Shiloh is about following four soldiers, two Union and two Confederate through the days leading to and through the battle so as to view what is going on through each characters point of view as a way of describing the life of a soldier and the important aspects of the battle as they happened. I wanted to treat the battle as an antagonist of sorts as it is the primary influence on their lives each day, affecting their own personal struggles and conflicts as well as the larger scheme of the Confederate sneak attack on the Union army. I didn't want to write another high level view of the battle as others have done so in both fiction and in non-fiction. Author and historian Shelby Foote has an excellent book called Shiloh that does this very well. I wanted to watch my characters face death, each other, and the stresses of battle and see how they would react. They Met at Shiloh is meant to also teach about the pre-Civil War America and cover early war topics that help round out a view of the time as the participants would have experienced them.
How long did it take you to write?
I started the first draft of this in 1987, working on it through college but laid it aside as I graduated. It wouldn't be until 2001 that I would dust it off and re-write it from scratch, working on it over weekends and evenings until 2007 when I finished the manuscript. I would then spend the next several years editing myself and then hiring a professional to give it a line and readability edit.
What inspired you to write this novel?
A good friend of mine in college had written a short story with a group of friends as characters, so I thought it would be fun to try the same thing but as a novel. I was taking the form I ended up with but expanded to over twelve or so characters and it proved to be way too much (who did I think I was, Christi?) I wanted to describe the events of the battle from each character's point of view, soldier and civilian and each chapter would follow someone different, picking them up episodically as the story unfolded. That changed with the rewrite as well, but it was an interesting exercise to plan out.
When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
It was deciding that I did not need to identify myself with an outcome, being published, but in what I liked doing, telling stories. There was a point where I did decide that I was going to take what I'd been doing for thirty years in some form or other and purpose to do it to learn and grow in it. Anyone can write but not everyone is given the same gifts in story telling; that's how we differentiate ourselves. Otherwise we would not have the variety of letters and subjects or forms. It should never be a comparison from one to another that determines the writer but the act of writing itself. Skill and popularity are assigned by the consumer but exploring creativity through writing is a universal ability that some choose to take seriously and others do not.
What part of writing do you struggle with? Character, plot, description or dialogue?
Planning and letting go of plans or direction. Whenever I assign a path to my characters or some objective that I want I get stuck. I plan out the first few chapters of every novel but soon find that I either have to rigidly stick to that plan or to allow the story to unfold with me as more witness than as judge. If I become rigid and insist that something has to happen then I fall flat most of the time and picking up again becomes a chore. I find it is really easy to fall into this, especially when you feel like you are under some abstract deadline to get the next novel out. I have the master plot in my head and what the characters should do to get there, but most of the time the story has its own way, dropping in characters or insisting that others I introduced be taken out. I've re-written my early chapters of the follow on to They Met at Shiloh numerous times as I found that there was another direction to be taken and some characters needed to be removed while others needed to be re-introduced.
What made you decide on self-publishing?
Control, even when self publishing was a dirty word, one that you only whispered about yourself when no one else was around. I had decided this back in 2006 both for creative control and a real realization that what I was writing didn't fit into mainstream historical fiction. There was a part of me that didn't want to go through the fight to find an agent and the endless rejections, but undergirding all of that was that even if the idea was marketable I didn't want to lose creative control. I lead a drama group for many years, writing and directing and acting my own material because no one else had what I wanted to do. It either was too preachy, too sappy, too simple minded. I was generating better and funnier stuff than what I could purchase.
Did you have a professional editor?
I did. I hired preciseedit.com run by someone I went to college with and whom I'd lost touch with for almost 12 years. I knew my own edits on the novel and rewrites needed a professional hand to find and fix both grammar and flow. They have a good system of multiple reads and made flow recommendations that strengthened what was already there prose wise but read more easily. We cut a lot, moved a lot, added a lot.
Do you edit as you write or wait until your book is finished?
I never edit as I write unless, as I mentioned earlier, if I need to start over with some section to add or remove something. I find that editing as I'm going just leads to second guessing where the story is trying to go. There are two parts of all of us, the editor/critic and the child. The child wants to play. The editor wants fame, fortune, a purpose, a plan, an outcome and a goal. The child wants to experience the story as it is unfolding but has to be free enough to do so. This is why I'm never able to stick to my outlines really. They are starting points for me but not road maps. The play time needs to be segregated for me from the evaluation and fixing time. The editor has a plan and there's a time for that to come in, but for me it isn't during play.
Are you currently working on any projects?
Yes, I'm working on the follow on to They Met at Shiloh to come out late quarter 2012, having a short story edited for publication called Two Struck Images for ebook this summer and another novel called Bumpersville, USA for possible publication this year as well.
Any advice for new authors?
Decide on what you want and how you want to get there. There's enough change in the air within the publishing industry that you no longer need to settle for one or the other. Reaching your audience and balancing your goals should be your primary factor in choosing to indie or trad publish. The traditional route is no longer the only way to get noticed, but the indie route is tough on your time and a stretch if you're not adept at all levels of running a business (who is?). Have a good support network for once you choose a path as there will be plenty of roadblocks in your path.
Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what type of music?
Yes, 80's and alternative mostly. I've got The Cure and The Smiths on my Pandora station.
Best time of day to write?
Whenever you have 15 minutes. I'm still not good at taking those 15 minutes here and there, but the worst time to write is when you're asleep!
Top 3 authors?
Michael Shaara for his The Killer Angels (about the battle of Gettysburg) and the best fiction storyline I've ever read on the civil war.
Peter Cozzens who writes non-fiction on the civil war, No Better Place to Die (Stone's River), This Terrible Sound (Chickamauga), and Shipwreck of their hopes (Chattanooga campaign)
Cornelius Ryan who wrote histories of WWII campaigns, The Longest Day (D-Day) and A Bridge Too Far (Operation Market Garden)
Top 3 novels of all time?
I chose these because they are long lasting tales that have far outlived their authors and hold elemental truth about our existence and hence have lasting relevance.
Huckleberry Finn
Tale of two Cities
War and Peace
Top 3 movies of all time?
I chose the following because they are transformative films, setting the standard for Sci-Fi, War movies, and historical films
Star Wars: A New Hope
Saving Private Ryan
Titanic
What do you read the most? Fiction or non-fiction?
I read non-fiction the most for both research and for pleasure reading. Nothing like a good history book!
Is your book in Print, ebook or both?
They Met at Shiloh is available in both paperback (Create Space) and Kindle now.
Where can your readers contact you? Links, etc.
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