Thursday, October 31, 2013

Author Interview – Jim Musgrave @OMalley_Mystery

What’s your greatest character strength?

1.  I believe being creative is my best strength.  I have always thought “outside the box,” and this has led me to my life-long interest in journalism and writing.  Making connections with the right hemisphere of the brain is a developed skill, and this is my forte.  I now understand I need to develop a public “image,” and this will be useful to my progress as a genre writer.

2.  I write fiction better than a lot of independent authors.  Once again, I think it’s my almost shamanistic approach to creative endeavors.  I like to follow a formula for the mystery, but I don’t like to plot out each action in every chapter.  I let my character find his/her own way.  I like the image of all fiction being conflict, and the protagonist the main magnate for all the conflicted characters.

I can also find my way around computers a lot better than other writers.  I wrote a book in the late 90s called The Digital Scribe:  A Writer’s Guide to Electronic Media, and it was a great experience in focus and research.  I worked with an editor, and I grew a lot.  I have also won a few grants as a college teacher to develop tools for teachers and students in the computer area and for online education.

3.  I can do interviews with a focus on what the publication and/or journalist needs to pursue.  I like working with other people to develop the best interest in both the topic of the program and my book.

I have also worked as an editor, so I can catch a lot of my own mistakes, but my wife, Ellen, is my editor par excellence.  Together, we make an excellent indie team.  I see many indie writers who don’t take this extra step to achieve grammatical excellence, and it shows.  I’ve even noticed that Cormac McCarthy, a guy I love, has a lot of grammatical problems, but who’s going to argue with him?  He tells such a damned good story!

I still believe in the “Amazon model” of allowing the public to judge the excellence of the story, however, and one must maintain a professional image on the page.  I love to do this.

4.  Others see me as a creative and hard worker who, as a professor, has high standards.  This is something that is being lost (editorial opinion) in community colleges today because of a lot of factors.  I am respected for my quality standards by students who understand what they need to transfer to university.

What’s your weakest character trait?

1.  Sometimes I expect too much of my reader and others.  I must understand and empathize more with the reader and be a good guide.  I think I’ve overcome this weakness, especially with my latest mystery writing endeavor.

2.  Competitors sell themselves better than I do.  This is the main reason I hired a Publicity expert.  Once I learn what to do, however, I think I can perform well enough to compete.

3.  I am working on it.  Using the technology in interesting ways to increase traffic to my site and to market my writer “image” better is my goal right now.

4.  I am so dedicated that others often see me as too much of a loner.  I do a lot of research in my work and even in my fiction, and others don’t respect that if they have a more “seat of the pants” approach to writing.

Why do you write?

To discover what I think about something.  I believe Flannery O’Connor said that.  I agree.  I was inspired by an inner need to create with words, and I was an autodidact, as my immediate family did not have a writer in its midst.  In high school, I was on the school newspaper and year book, and in college I majored in Radio and TV Communications.  My Master’s Degree was in Creative Writing from San Diego State University.  I write both genre and literary work, as well as non-fiction.

Have you always enjoyed writing?

When I have been “self-actualizing,” yes.  When I have been “ego-tripping,” no.  The mechanical aspect of composition is a literal “pain in the ass.”  I can now understand why Philip Roth wrote while standing up.

By the way, I like this definition of “self-actualizing” best:  the achievement of one’s full potential through creativity, independence, spontaneity, and a grasp of the real world.  That last little phrase, “grasp of the real world” always kicks my butt the most.

What motivates you to write?

Breathing.  Oh boy, I suppose as long as I can think and breathe (like chewing gum, tapping your head, and rubbing your tummy) I will write.  I just read the other day that one of my favorite, all-time, writers, Mr. Elmore Leonard, had a stroke at 86, and now he’s back at “it.”  See what I mean?

Jim Musgrave

Buy Now @ Amazon @ Createspace

Genre – Historical Steampunk Mystery

Rating – PG13

More details about the author and the book

Connect with  Jim Musgrave on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://contempinstruct.com/Forevermore/

$250 Amazon.com gift card giveaway

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