“If Philip Marlowe was reincarnated as a punk rock sadomasochist private eye working the mean streets of New York’s S&M subculture, his name would be Denny Bowie and this would be his story...”
Ken Vose, award-winning screenwriter of Greased Lightning and author
Note: Bloodletting’s mystery is based in the BDSM world and has strong erotic elements. This author draws clear lines between what is safe, sane, and consensual sex in the BDSM lifestyle, and what is not.
William,
Who are your influences?
I embraced the grittiness of Henry Miller’s “Tropic of
Cancer”. His natural, shoot from the hip style blew my mind as a young reader.
Other writers who consistently wowed me were F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest
Hemingway in general, as well as Muriel Spark and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as
well as Ray Bradbury’s dramatic stories, which rocked my senses. But I love
Gemma Files for her depth, her sense of history, and her many faceted frames of
reference. Otherwise, Ellen Miller’s only novel, and a brilliant one, “Like Being
Killed” sent me reeling, as well as Matthew Stokoe’s ultra-disturbing and
visceral, “High Life”.
When did you begin writing?
At age six our first grade assignment was to rewrite an
ending to a short story. Ms. McKelvey loved mine and that was enough. I had an
active imagination, and completely lived inside my head, and her praise opened
up the writing floodgates. I can’t thank her enough for helping to set my
spirit free. By age eight I wanted to become a writer when I grew up, and by
age sixteen, I wanted to write a novel.
How do you come up with your stories, characters,
character names, POV, etc?
Yikes. It depends upon what my unconscious unleashes.
However, even when I’m awake, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for why and
how things pop into my head. Sometimes, I may have a complete three act dream,
which most likely leads to a story I will write.
BLOODLETTING, however, had been swimming in my brain for a
long time. Originally, it was a story loaded with taboo after taboo, but with
little substance. I had really wanted to showcase an alternative existence in a
mediocre world, yet that didn’t seem to come through. As the years went by, a
mystery blossomed, with more robust characters to inhabit the tale.
My protagonist, Denny Bowie, had been there from the start,
as well as his girlfriend, Penny. The remaining characters fell into place over
time, though I can’t remember how or why. Regardless, I usually research
character names like a lunatic. I have to find the perfect name and its definition
to suit the character as well as one's ethnicity. With BLOODLETTING, I chose to
honor alternative and punk rock gods and goddesses and made it easy on myself
while having a bit of fun. Plus, Denny loves punk rock, so why not salute the
hero?
Since BLOODLETTING had been developed from my screenplay, I
originally wrote the novel in third person, but it just didn’t sound sincere. There
were too many POV shifts, and my narrative became stilted in one too many spots.
When I switched to first person, however, the story came alive. I lost many
cool scenes that still appear in the script, but for narrative flow the change
was worth it.
Do you work from an outline?
Since I adapted the novel from my award-winning BLOODLETTING
screenplay, the script served as a glorified outline, and writing the book was
like coloring in the numbers. I find that screenwriting serves as a great
foundation for my storytelling, so I write all my books as a script first, then
move forward.
Tell me about your favorite scene in your novel(s).
Oh, man. My favorite is when Denny walks into a Greenwich
Village church to find out what the killer might have in store for him. This
not only serves the overall story well, but readers get to see that just
because Denny’s young and not a cop, that a punk rocker with a brain can
actually do some solid detective work. In addition, the mood of the scene is oppressive
and drives home the point that this isn’t Miss Marple or the Hardy Boys, but
something more visceral and disconcerting.
Can you tell us a little about your writing
philosophy?
Research, read, write, proofread aloud, and hire a
professional editor.
Research: The one thing I hate the most is reading a novel
where the writer clearly went on vacation instead of studying his or her
subject material. For BLOODLETTING, I visited all of the places I wrote about,
interviewed homicide detectives, nuns, private investigators, and much more to
get the story right.
Read: If a writer doesn’t read, then that person is not a
writer. Sounds harsh, but as an English professor all of my best student
writers are avid readers. Writing without reading is like playing in a sporting
event without ever practicing. With BLOODLETTING, I read many books and watched
many films in the crime thriller genre, and indulged in research material to
make certain the narrative rang true.
Write: Write often to keep one’s skills sharp. I worked on
BLOODLETTING every day for several months, and even put in nearly an eleven
hour writing day at one point. The more I wrote, the stronger my prose became.
Proofread aloud: When we read silently, our brain often
fills in missing words and may make corrections we won’t consciously recognize.
However, we usually “hear” a mistake. I read BLOODLETTING aloud (all 94,000 words
at the time), and I caught several mistakes – including a plot hole. If my
revisions had been based on silent proofreading, the end result could have been
disastrous.
Professional editor: A qualified editor is a team member
that has only one thing in mind – the success of the story. This means he or
she will most likely tell the writer things he or she doesn’t want to hear, and
it would be arrogant as well as foolish not to listen. Since I listened to
BLOODLETTING editor, Gerald Baude, I cut 14,000 words from the manuscript and
streamlined parts of the novel for a faster and more compelling read. He helped
me maintain my contract with the reader.
Have you ever tried writing in any other genres?
My focus is on the story and where the story takes me, and I
usually don’t determine the genre until I’m finished with the manuscript. This
allows me to avoid tropes, clichés, and the tried and true normally associated
with a particular category. The other genres I write in are horror, drama,
science fiction, and if the mood strikes me, I may indulge in comedy.
Do you have any interesting writing-related anecdotes to
share?
In fourth grade I wrote a story about baseball where a guy
on second base ran in and score a “home run.” A classmate told me that wasn’t a
home run and explained why. That taught me to make certain to always research a
topic. In fifth grade, I wrote that a cave was “bitch black” instead of “pitch
black.” My teacher pointed out her concern, and that taught me the need for
proofreading.
Do you listen to music as you write?
I used to blast music into my ears while writing, but over
many years, I realized that music actually ruined the experience because the
work’s tone would shift. Even worse, music could derail my mood, send my
thoughts elsewhere, and prevent me from writing anything at all. To focus on a clear-cut
narrative, now write with whatever ambient sounds are around me, and my words
dictate tone.
Thank you for taking the time for Buttonholed Book Reviews
And thank you very much for having time for me! I am truly
grateful, Jeff.
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| William D. Prystauk ~ Goodreads author |
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