Tag: robert chazz chute

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Behind the Scenes of Vengeance Is Hers

If you’ve ever wondered about the writing and publishing process, I have answers. Vengeance Is Hers took longer than usual due to variables beyond my control. Creating Bigger Than Jesus took three months, from conception to publication. The trilogy of This Plague of Days took a little more than three years. At my fastest pace, I published four books in one year. The writing process for my next thriller was a mess, but in the end, it’s going to make a big happy splash.

Round One is back from the editor and the prime beta reader!

Now things start to speed up for Vengeance Is Hers! From the top, this is how we do it:

  • My official start for this novel was August 15, 2022.
  • I wrote the first draft, backed up halfway through, switched from first-person narration to third.
  • I endured two hip replacements in 2023, got distracted by a lot of pain and rehab, and relearned how to walk.
  • Wrote 120,000 words, and rethought the story arc. Clenched teeth in frustration.
  • Keeping most of the story in one small town in Maine, I had to cut 50,000 words. This was originally going to be about making a movement of female vigilantes. Some of what I wrote in the original draft may be used for a sequel. To make this a better book, I had to sacrifice a lot of words and time. I went back to rework the concept.
  • Second draft. A lot of back and forth here as I went deeper. The word count climbed back up to 105,000 words.
  • Hip pain receded almost entirely. Back to my old self, I have more energy to deal with this project.
  • Found words with the “-ion” suffix for every chapter title.
  • Third draft: filled in plot holes and found more jokes and clever turns of phrase.
  • Listened to most of it. Reread all of it. Cut the long chapters in half so most chapters are no more than 1,200 words. (For a fast pace, I like short, fast chapters so readers feel like they’re burning through the book).
  • Added tweaks, usually fleshing out something vague, adding a joke, or turning up the dialogue to eleven.
  • Woke up in the night, continually plagued by little tweaks to make the story better.
  • Word count climbed back up to 113,349.
  • When I can’t look at it anymore, it’s ready for more eyes on the prize. Prime beta reader begins.
  • The manuscript is shared to two more beta readers for comments.
  • Google Drive alters corrections I’ve already made! Frustration ensues.
  • Editrix Extraordinaire Gari Strawn begins her first round of editing. She downloads it off Google Drive so we won’t get new errors introduced to the manuscript.
  • I review all editing suggestions from beta readers and my editor, making all necessary changes. That’s the step I’m at today.
  • Gari will dig through the manuscript for Vengeance Is Hers for two more rounds.
  • When she’s done, and I finish final revisions, we’ll lock it in.
  • Then it’s back to the designers about the details of the paperback and hardcover.

Next post: What happens after all this!

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Why The Grapes of Wrath Still Resonates in 2024

Rereading The Grapes of Wrath after many years, it hits differently now that I’m older. The novel hits so hard, it could have been published yesterday, eerily relevant to our world in the present.

John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath was originally published in 1939. That is startling given its empathetic allegory about forced immigration and the dangers of unbridled capitalism. This was written long before laypeople had the vocabulary of “late-stage capitalism.” Certain passages are worth reviewing many times.

I was especially taken with how people are transformed into cogs in a machine. When the bank takes their homes, there’s no one to resist. Responsibility falls like a hammer on the most powerless. Evicted from the land they’d worked for generations, the farmers are ground under the weight of an uncaring bureaucracy.

In another passage, car salesmen take advantage of desperate people. The sole focus is money. In pursuit of profit, the salesmen’s contempt for their hapless customers is ferocious. People are dehumanized. The system only serves itself and a select, faceless few. The victims are oppressed, but they don’t understand that which uses and abuses them.

The Grapes of Wrath reflects problems that are easy to see today. You’ve watched the news. The mercilessness of the American health insurance system is evident. A health insurance company denies 32% of claims and becomes startlingly wealthy. It’s an unusual funeral they give their victims, isn’t it? The afflicted are buried in paperwork first, then they die. Kill someone with a gun, and the press goes mad. Kill ill people with paper, and all we get are shrugs of “Well, it’s legal.”

Most frustrating, I still hear media people and pseudo-intellectuals pretend to be mystified when the public shrugs off the assassination of one CEO. They aren’t discussing why people are so fed up they don’t have the spare energy to care. The media isn’t delving into the why of that stance. They aren’t showcasing any of the many cases where people in need are denied tests and treatments they need to survive. Instead, the public’s lack of empathy has become the story. We have twenty-four-hour news channels, but they make no time for the bigger story.

A bunch of pearl-clutching journalists and commentators need to read The Grapes of Wrath. Maybe they’ll glimpse themselves reflected within those pages. Maybe then they’ll better understand our wrath.

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How I Almost Got Scammed

Book marketing is not easy, so I was looking for help with that. Then, I almost got scammed by a clever ruse.

Beware of charmers

Famous children’s author Robert Munsch followed me on Bluesky, only it wasn’t Robert Munsch. The conversation started off nicely, especially since I already had a tangential connection to the author. In the late ’80s, I worked in trad publishing in Toronto. Working for Lester & Orpen Dennys and Cannon Books, I was a book rep. Traveling all over Toronto to sell to bookstores, Robert Munsch’s books were always the easiest to sell. He is beloved, and I sold all his books.

Enter the Grift

I’m used to being approached by book marketers in social media and email. That’s fine. The clever part of this scam was the third-party recommendation. When it’s honest, third-party recommendations are the best! I love it when my readers spread the good word about my novels. Their recommendations and happy reviews carry much more weight than me hanging out on street corners and whispering, “Psst! Wanna buy a book? It’s great, I swear! The story will melt your face and taste like fudge!”

When Not-Bob-Munsch on Bluesky asked about my work, I was fooled and flattered. When he suggested I speak with his agent about book marketing, I was happy to hear more. It was a little weird in that he claimed this third party was his agent. From what I saw, it looked like her sole focus was marketing books. That isn’t unheard of, mind you. There used to be many more literary agents. Changes in the publishing industry have led quite a few agents to switch lanes to book marketing, courses, and consulting. I assume many of them are now real estate agents.

Warning Signs

There was a mistake in the Munsch profile on Bluesky, but it was minor. I didn’t have shields up yet. It was the conversation with the book marketer that made me increasingly leery. She was polite, but her syntax was slightly off. As I read and reread the details of what she offered her clients, it appeared AI-generated. She outlined an ambitious plan at a very low cost. That rang more alarm bells.

I wondered, what’s the upsell here? I asked if her fee was for a PDF with the details needed to better sell my next book. She said our interaction could involve more than that, check-ins and personal coaching to meet deadlines. As a poor writer, I have anxiety about money. Hell, I wear a wallet with a chain so thick it could be a bike chain. (There’s a dire clue to my trust issues around money.)

When book marketer sent a link for payment of $250, I asked a couple more questions, stalling until I could do a deeper dive.

The Clincher

“Are we still connected?” the book marketer asked from the Bluesky chat. She seemed too eager to get me to click that payment link.

“Can’t deal with this at the moment,” I replied. “I’ll get back to you soon.”

A couple of hours later, Not-Bob-Munsch was checking in to see how I was. This didn’t ring true at all. I remember Bob as a very nice guy, but who has this kind of time? Given her public profile, I said I was surprised the person he recommended was his agent.

His answer was tangential. “Oh, she’s the best at blah, blah, blah.” After a short pause, “She’s my only agent!”

My Final Confirmation

That tore it. Google is your friend. The real Robert Munsch is represented by the CookeMcDermid agency. It got so much worse than that. I called up a friend to tell him about the attempt on my precious dollars. He did some googling of his own. “Robert Munsch is battling dementia.”

That was crushing.

A fraud was using Robert Munsch’s name for clout. It’s especially disappointing when fraudsters slide beneath your low expectations. I did the blocking thing. Oddly, I couldn’t figure out how to report the fraudulent account on Bluesky. They’re a new platform with very few employees. I like Bluesky a lot, but the user interface isn’t quite there yet. I did reach out to CookeMcDermid, though. I doubt they can do much about a book marketer from Florida using skeezy tactics, but I thought they should be aware what’s going on.

Anyone can claim to become a book marketer and, with time and experience, be helpful and make it true. No one can get there who starts off marketing themselves so dishonestly.

The Takeaway

Shipping News author Ann Proulx didn’t follow me, either. For a little while, I thought she had. Alas.

There are decent people trying to make an earnest living at marketing books. Frankly, I’d rather have someone do all my marketing for me. Until that happy day, I’ll continue to educate myself and do what I can. Be wary. There are hunters in the dark corners of the interwoods, and they’re hunting wabbits. You’re the wabbit.

That warning applies no matter who you are.

Helpful Resources

Right now, I’ve got two people I’m paying attention to as I prepare to launch Vengeance Is Hers.

Dr. Judith Briles on YouTube is helpful. I find her podcast sometimes has sound issues, but she’s great.

Book marketing guru David Gaughran has a free and in-depth course I recommend. He’s written solid books on the subject, too. You’ll see it all on his website.



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Haters, Trolls, and Vengeance

Today, I reminded my sister that she made me her enemy on my twenty-fifth birthday. She sent me a birthday card that said, “Happy 25th!” I opened the card. The inside message was: YOU ARE NOW OLD.

“You remember that?” she said. “Holding grudges isn’t good for you! You should let that go!”

“I don’t know how to do that. Anyway, my point is, you shouldn’t sleep so well. My enemies often end up in my books. Bad things happen.”

I placed highly in s short story contest put on by The Toronto Star. A lot of positive feedback came my way. The morning after it was published, a woman tracked me down. She asked me to be her co-author on a non-fiction book. She was not simply asking. She was adamant because she had such passion for her subject. It was to be about how her son was an addict. His addiction, she told me, was weed. Boy, did she seek out the wrong writer! I have trouble sleeping, and such supplements help me. My first anthology was Self-help for Stoners. I turned her down.

Next up was my father. He wanted me to write the story of his life. At that time, I was in the middle of putting out four novels a year. “You don’t know what you’re asking,” I told him. “Writing your book means a huge opportunity cost. I don’t have the bandwidth to write your book and cater to my readership, too.”

In the end, he did write his auto-biography. I edited it and helped him publish it, but I didn’t allow his hobby to swallow all my career aspirations.

Most of the interactions I’ve had with readers have been overwhelmingly positive. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that.

After publishing This Plague of Days, someone reached out to me on Facebook to congratulate me on completing the trilogy. “Thanks!” I said. “Very kind of you to say so!”

It would have been fine if it had stopped there. This person then asked me repeatedly to recite everything there was to know about the book. It seemed they wanted the outline, no matter how many hours it might take from me. I replied that I don’t give out spoilers. What I meant was, just go buy and read the book! I wanted to ask, “What did your last slave die of?” That person had no social skills and ulterior motives. After I turned them down, I never heard from them again.

Most of the interactions I’ve had with readers have been overwhelmingly positive. Sadly, I remember the negative ones best. I have an eidetic memory for every insult. I am still debating about dispatching assassins to those who have wronged me. One fellow had a very high opinion of himself. He tried to blackmail me into working with him as an editor. No, thanks!

Oh, and that win for the Toronto Star contest? It stirred up a couple of trolls. One went on a diatribe of “That’s not how hypnosis works!” (A) I never said it was hypnosis, and (B) I know all about hypnosis, thanks.

Another grumpy guy insisted I didn’t deserve the prize. They also made sure to let everyone know they had not participated in the contest and lost. Sweetheart, methinks thou dost protest too much. Go beat up a leaf.

I read negative reviews not at all or only once. When I’m feeling down (which is often), I reread my happy reviews many times. That is therapeutic. Readers will never know how many times I went to bed, pulled the covers over my head, and decided it was time to give up. But what else am I going to do? Hypnosis, maybe, but that’s it!

So many times, I wish I said the right thing in the moment. “I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with that,” is a great go-to. Unfortunately, that vocabulary didn’t exist yet in the late ’80s and ’90s. People have that phrasing now, and it’s useful.

Since the pandemic, many people have been more mindful of their time and energy. For instance, office workers who want to continue to work from home are clinging to that status. If they are no less productive and happy to ditch the commute to work from home, why not?

Those who have the privilege are more careful about how and where they spend their time and energy. Energy vampires will take advantage of you if you let them. I try not to dwell on what the trolls spew. Hurtful words are always usually more about the person hurling them. But my memory is too good for this sort of thing, and sometimes that’s awful.

Have you figured out how to let go of insults and hurt feelings? If your strategy works without giving me a lobotomy or a serious blow to the head, let me know. I’d be very curious to hear how you manage that.

No wonder I write novels about clever revenge and vigilante justice.

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This Is How It All Ends

If you want a happy ending, it depends on where you stop the story.

– Orson Welles

Once upon a time, several years ago, She Who Must Be Obeyed and I were lolling on the couch discussing happily-ever-afters (or HEA, if you’re a savvy reader).

Writers are often told to write what they know. If that were too solid a rule, too much excellent science fiction would vanish from existence. I say, write what you care about, and great things will follow. Similarly, it’s not my aim to provide a HEA every time so much as give readers a satisfying ending.

“So maybe I’ll cry, maybe I won’t?” my wife asked.

“You may turn the last page shuddering in tears of joy and recognition,” I replied in an arch English accent (because that’s my villainous voice). “Even if the resolution turns into a Pyrrhic victory, I dole out some hope. It’s not a downer ending I’m looking for, just a real one.”

“So bittersweet, dripping with verisimilitude?” SWMBO asked.

“Yeah, but not too much.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because fiction should be an entertaining escape. Real life is too harsh. In real life, our endings are all too tragic and full of fear. Take this moment,” I said. “You and me are on the couch, and the kids sleeping peacefully in bed. This will all end in tears, but right now is our happily ever after.”

Her eyes widened.

“This is it, baby,” I said. “Our happy ending! Are you happy?”

“Yes.”

“Cherish this time. I do.”

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Fall of Empires: The Psychology Behind Apocalyptic Fiction

You know I write novels about apocalyptic events. I’ve always been fascinated by the ways in which empires fall. But what’s at the root of end-of-the-world stories? I saw the seed of it so clearly during the pandemic. Too many fools who failed high school biology and claimed to be big strong patriots were unwilling to suffer the mildest inconvenience of wearing a mask.

That’s how you get this:

And this:

A former CIA agent was asked what will cause the downfall of civilization. He answered, “Sophistry.” Add in a dearth of empathy, and I think he’s right. Too many people figure, “Hey, it’s not happening to me, so I don’t care.” They are too confident they aren’t next on the chopping block. For instance, universal health care doesn’t poll so well with Americans who have not dealt with private health insurance companies. Those must be the same folks who are mystified by the lack of interest in prosecuting the killer of a health insurance CEO.

People who do deal with private health insurance companies understand. There are too many horrific stories out there. The main cause of bankruptcy in the United States is medical debt. That’s a broken system.

The best metaphor I’ve heard comes from the Cognitive Dissonance podcast:

An emergency room doctor was treating a patient. You run in and pin the doctor’s arms to their sides. You’d be responsible for the patient’s death. Stopping doctors from doing their jobs is too often what private health insurers do.

Farther afield:

IDF snipers shoot children in the head. They target children, yet there are barely whispers of objections in the mainstream press. For those who do object to the murder of children are told, “That’s war. Grow up.” Children are conflated with terrorists. Meanwhile, it’s clear Israel’s leaders care nothing for the hostages. If they cared, they wouldn’t bomb Gaza to rubble.

That level of carelessness is how you get this:

Let’s try a little thought experiment:

If a terrorist is using your mum as a human shield, do you shoot, or do you try to find another way?

Sit with that a moment before you answer. It’s a monster test. Are you a monster?

Meanwhile, closer to home:

Donald Trump disrespects Canada and threatens our sovereignty. Too many write it off as a joke. The melon felon also wants to end birthright citizenship and weaken American forces by expelling democrats and transgender people (among a plethora of other offenses to morality and reason).. Many democrats who serve are officers, but damn the consequences so the Dear Leader’s fee-fees aren’t hurt.

The point is not whether DJT can or will do these things. The point is he wants to do these things and is threatening his best ally. He is careless with his words and actions. That is not something anyone sane wants to see from anyone holding the nuclear codes.

I predict a wave of regret much bigger than Brexit. FAFO.

Idolizing elites is how you get this:

My fiction explores the psychology of the underbelly of society. When I watch the news, I’m so often reminded of a Christopher Titus joke:

Civilization is a train. All the doctors, engineers, builders, and scientists are up front in the locomotive. The engine pulls a long train of cars carrying the goofs, the conspiracy theorists, the science-deniers, and flat earthers. One smart person at the back of the engine is looking down at the coupling responsible for hauling all those dumbasses. And he’s thinking, if I pull that pin, we could go so much faster and farther.

Yeah. The only thing saving the smooth brains is our empathy as we desperately try to drag their heavy asses into the future instead of retreating into the dark past.

If you’re looking for hope in the end, there’s this:

And this:



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Five Times Art Imitated Life

Some readers mistake a fictional character’s opinion for that of the author. Were that true, I’d be in prison by now. My plots are full of characters living on the edge of society…okay, that much is me. Let’s start again: Not every thought a character espouses reflects my values. However, some books strike closer to home than others.

My mission is to entertain. I’m not trying to predict the future. I do extrapolate plenty, and in the last few years, reflecting reality has become more unsettling. Inevitably, my political views slip in where appropriate. No apologies or regrets on that front.

“I don’t try to predict the future. All I want to do is prevent it.”

~ Ray Bradbury

Here are five times my work reflected reality closer than I expected:

In Our Alien Hours, the alien threat rises from ocean. Seen the news lately? Nobody seems to care, but I’m prescient!

The Night Man cover

In The Night Man, the dad is a drug smuggler, but he’s just trying to get cheap Canadian drugs to Americans who are in need. The protagonist is a wounded veteran with few choices after he is medically discharged.

The genesis of Endemic is a virus that kills billions. Many of the survivors suffer cognitive impairment. Long-COVID (and repeated infection) gives some people brain fog, and since the disease is now endemic, we will continue to see such ill-effects to brain health.

In This Plague of Days, paramedical professionals were recruited to make do and join the fight against a pandemic. Long ago, I sat in a meeting about pandemic preparedness. This was part of the plan. I informed those in charge that this was a terrible idea and gave multiple reasons why. I was fired for it. In This Plague of Days, a non-medical person works in a hospital. She and her baby are infected because of that ill-conceived strategy.

Citizen Second Class is unfolding now. The uncaring elite are building bunkers and fortifying their islands, while the lower classes worry about providing for their families.

Then, of course, there’s my upcoming thriller, Vengeance Is Hers.

Given all that’s happening in the news and the many failures of the justice system, I predict there will be an appetite for vigilante justice thrillers.

Coming in 2025. Buckle up!