I took the last two days off from writing, either my novel or my blog, due to being under the weather. It's now time to get back to work. I'm going to include a bit of my writing (from my novel) every Friday. Because I did not blog yesterday I'm doing it today. The following is an exercise I did to get my creative juices flowing. I was stuck and so I wrote some dialogue and explanatory prose that I might be able to use in my novel. It is my two main characters, Tom McDermott and Stan Sarnicki, NYPD detectives, discussing the questioning of Derek Munch's (the murder victim) friends, family and neighbors. Here it is:

I was exhausted. Stan and I had split up and canvassed all of Derek Munch's neighbors, friends, family, girlfriends old and new, parents and his one surviving grandparent. We spoke with his shrink and his dentist, the guy he bought his morning coffee from, the girl who cut his hair, anyone who knew him. We would even have spoken to his cat but she wasn't talking. And we had nothing, not as far as I could tell. We were back to square one and no one was happy, not us, not Lt. Jackson, not the mayor. It was a hell of a day.

"Somebody knows something, someone's holding out on us" I said, more to myself than Stan or anyone else within listening distance.

"You think Tommy? Geez, I've got a genius for a partner."

I ignored his sarcasm; he gets like that when he's tired...or frustrated. Confronting it only makes it worse. I've made that mistake too many times.

"Stan, we need to go back out tomorrow and start all over again. Talk to everyone again. One of them knows who killed Munch. He or she may not have helped the perp but they know who he is. And they'll break sooner or later. Somebody's got to crack."

"At the moment I don't want to think about it or talk it out. I've got a headache, I'm tired and I'm frustrated." Confirmation of the state I thought he was in...Tom McDermott, genius detective. "Let's go have a beer at Pete's."

A "beer" at Pete's for Stan usually meant five or six beers, plus shots. When Stan got his load on all the demons he kept tightly locked up in a back room buried deep in his psyche came screeching out, causing the kind of havoc you never want to see. I had seen it far too often. This was shaping up to be a long night.
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Let me tell you who I read when I read mysteries. James Lee Burke is my favorite. He writes very literate mysteries, featuring Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux. Robicheaux is a detective with the Iberia Parish (Louisiana) Sheriff's deparment and an ex NOPD police officer. I recommend all of Mr. Burke's books. I don't think he's ever written a bad one.

I also like all of Raymond Chandler, most of Robert B. Parker's Spenser series and Robert Crais' Elvis Cole mysteries set in Los Angeles.

Of course there is only so much you can take of the wiseass detective genre so I also read Michael Connelly, especially his Harry Bosch novels. Harry Bosch is an LAPD detective and Mr. Connelly's novels can be fairly dark. I've also recently been reading David Fulmer's books. Mr. Fulmer has a few different mysteries but I like his Valentin St. Cyr series the best. They are set in the New Orleans of the early 1900s, specifically the red light district known as Storyville. They are full of period detail that make you believe you are actually in turn of the century New Orleans. If you read Mr. Fulmer I recommend staring with Chasing the Devil's Tail.

I'm taking the night off. I've been sick and haven't written today. More tomorrow.

I still don't have all my characters in place but I spent a few hours tonight writing dialogue, more as practice than anything else. Some of it actually turned out to be pretty good. Dialogue is my strong point, especially if it's dialogue between cops. I'll post some of it this Friday (the best of it). I may start posting excerpts from my writing every Friday until completion.

I'm exhausted and don't have much to write tonight. I'll have more to talk about tomorrow.

Bill Browning. Posting from Starbucks, Ansley Mall, Atlanta.

I'm writing, or trying my best to concentrate on writing (obviously I'm not doing that at the moment). I'll have more on writing tomorrow.

When not writing I'm reading Henning Mankell's Faceless Killers. Mankell is a Swedish mystery novelist. His protagonist is Ystad police inspector Kurt Wallander. An elderly farmer and his wife are murdered in their remote Swedish farmhouse. Inspector Wallander must find the culprits and is not having an easy time of it. Mankell writes compelling thrillers and in Faceless Killers throws in a depiction of anti-foreigner prejudice in Sweden. This is the first of Henning Mankell's mysteries translated into English. I am looking forward to reading his others. You might want to take a look at his books.

I wrote my novel's last chapter a month or two before beginning this blog...and then stopped. I call writing my last chapter first "doing a Margaret Mitchell." Margaret Mitchell wrote the last chapter of Gone With the Wind before she wrote any other part of the book. So she had her ending in sight. This is what I'm trying to do and will see if it works for me.

In addition because I stopped writing a month or two ago for no apparent reason other than procrastination I was looking for a way to motivate myself to write every day. This blog will hopefully serve that end. I've announced that I have one year to complete my book. I did this online so technically it is in front of the whole world (even though I'm convinced I will have only three readers). So if I stop writing now it is potentially embarrasing. More tomorrow.

This is the first day of my countdown to finishing my first novel. I'm giving myself 365 days to complete my book. My story is a murder mystery set in New York City. Writing what you know is a piece of advice that almost all writing teachers will give you. I'm following that advice. Writing a novel that takes place within the cultural milieu of New Orleans or involves the internal workings of the LAPD would be interesting and fun but I have no direct experience of The Big Easy or the Los Angeles Police Department. I was born in Brooklyn and lived there, in Queens and on Long Island until I was thirty eight. So I'll write about places I know and organizations I have some knowledge of.

I'll blog about my writing process, what I'm doing in terms of developing my technique and which authors I'm reading. Occasionally I will post excerpts from my book and include any random thoughts that seem to be relevant. I'll also, on a regular basis, throw in thoughts and ramblings that aren't relevant. I tend to digress. I know this about myself...I've seen me do it.

Right now I'm struggling with my outline. I'm trying to get it done quickly (but not too quickly) so that I can get down to real writing. To recap my story is a murder mystery set in New York City. The murder takes place within the acting community and the NYPD investigates. I've trained as an actor so I'm staying pretty close to home here. My experience of the NYPD is a topic of discussion for another time. I'm also trying to get my main characters in place. That is not as easy as it sounds.

Please post any feedback, comments, etc. that you feel appropriate. I always appreciate criticism. Okay, to be honest I may curse you silently but on this blog at least you'll get nothing but gracious thanks.

So here we go. 365 days to a finished novel and counting...

Bill Browning, posting from Starbucks, Midtown Atlanta, evening of 18 February 2010.