1. What
inspired you to write this book?
Alex
Haley, the author of Roots, was sitting my office one
day, and asked if I’d written anything. When I told him that I’d written
several nonfiction books, he asked to see one. I handed him one, which was a
set of lectures I’d given at Princeton that had been subsequently published. He
thumbed and read it for a few minutes then said, “Bill, you need to write a
novel!” When I asked him what made him say that, he replied, “Two things: (1)
you know how to write which you do very well, and (2) you know how to tell a
story; that’s all a novel is.” When I asked him what I would write, he asked me
what kind of novels I like. I said, “International espionage stories like Tom
Clancy and Robert Ludlum.” He told me to combine that genre with something I
know about. So, being a Greek scholar, I put old manuscripts in an action
thriller. I quickly discovered it was not as easy as Alex made it sound.
Nonfiction writing was and is second nature to me; fiction writing is another
medium altogether. That’s why it took me 30 years to write Assassin’s Manuscript. All
these years later, I dedicated the book to Alex, wishing he were still around
to enjoy it and write an endorsement for it.
2. What exactly is
it about and who is it written for?
Here’s a brief description: When former CIA assassin Adam
Hunter’s last hit goes awry, he attempts to leave behind his world of espionage
and murder by embarking on a career in ministry. But soon, he is pulled back in
to crack a code hidden in an ancient manuscript in order to foil a terrorist
plot. In the meantime, Renie Ellis, a lawyer in the small town he’s moved to
gets caught up in his dilemma and falls in love with him, not realizing he
killed her fiancé by accident. What will she do when she finds out who Adam
really is? The heist of a famous Codex from the British Museum, Papal intrigue
in the Vatican, both Sicilian and Russian Mafia, and a US President who knows
more than she admits all play key roles in a story that keeps the reader
guessing until the end, a conclusion that no one sees coming. From Rome to
Jerusalem, from Egypt’s Mt. Sinai to Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, the
characters scramble for their lives, racing the clock to prevent an
international disaster.
Assassin’s
Manuscript is for anyone who loves Dan Brown
and Daniel Silva since it combines the best of both, and has been compared to
those authors in 5-star reviews on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Goodreads.
3. What
do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?
I
hope readers will enjoy a wild ride in a fast-paced thriller with nuanced and
multilayered characters (remembering there is good in every evil person and
evil in every good one), an unlikely romance with rich, literary motifs, and
(if you look closely) a hidden global peace theme in a very secular novel with
a few, subtle religious overtones. Observant readers will catch the underlying milieu
of Joseph Campbell’s Hero With AThousand Faces and
Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey. I want them to
experience a story that is more than another beach read, and yet just as interesting.
Discerning readers who are paying attention will see that some of the
characters’ names have deeper meanings.
4. How
did you decide on your book’s title and cover design?
An
earlier title was The Codex from Sinai which might have worked, but in the end, I
decided on something that would grab the reader immediately. A quick Google
search proved that no one else had used Assassin’s Manuscript, so I went
with it. The colors of the cover are similar to Dan Brown’s DaVinci
Code on purpose. As a Greek scholar, I created the Greek manuscript,
which has hidden within it in code a metaphor for my main character, a former
CIA assassin turned clergy. If you look at the copyright page, you will see a
hint there. The reticle which snipers use on their rifles to focus their
targets completed the very simple cover.
5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow
writers – other than run!?
(a)
To
get your creative juices flowing, let your mind go putting down whatever
comes, no matter how odd. You will discard some of it, but that’s okay. The
ideas at the beginning need to fly freely. Imagine your story idea as a cat.
You’re trying to figure out what makes the cat tick. Too many writers kill the
cat, dissect it then carry the limp parts into the story. Instead, put a mouse
in front of the cat and see where the cat goes! Remember also that great
stories or more character than plot driven. If readers don’t care about your
characters, they won’t be interested no matter how exciting the plot is.
(b)
As
the characters (their wants, desires, and the challenges and obstacles that get
in their way) are coming to life, outline the whole story as fully as
you can before you get very far. Some writers don’t do this, and their stories
suffer by appearing to meander in a swamp. Readers need to see a through line
they can follow. Drop the key hints on the story’s path for readers to pick up,
desperate to find out what happens next! It’s good to know where you’re going
if possible. See the ending if you can (which might change in the process), then
write to that exciting conclusion.
(c)
Do your research. Completing a PhD at Pitt taught
me to know everything about my subject, and I mean everything! Leave no stone
unturned. For me that meant traveling to seven foreign countries so I could
describe in exact detail every place my characters went. Reviewers are noticing
that. James Michener was my model for this kind of research. The only place in
my novel that I never got to was the Papal apartment in the Vatican.
Fortunately, I knew two people who had been there because they were close to
the Pope, and they gave me all I needed. Part of my research included
interviewing four real hit men and the son of another one (a regular Little
League dad in the neighborhood)—three Americans, one Israeli (who had Arafat in
his sights twice but the order never came to take the shot), and one former
Russian mafia chief who had murdered many people but is now a minister in the
Ural Mountains. I wanted to get inside how my main character thought and felt, so
real assassins gave me the insight I needed to write Adam Hunter. I also
interviewed Buck Revell, former Associate Deputy Director at the FBI in charge
of Counter-terrorism and Counter-intelligence. Buck has been Tom Clancy’s and
Frederick Forsyth’s main consultant on the CIA and Counterterrorism; he was
mine as well.
(d)
Trust good editors. I’ve said many times in podcast
interviews that great novels, screenplays, plays, poems, and musicals are not
written—they’re rewritten. Over and over. As Stephen King once said, “To write
is human; to edit is divine.” This version of Assassin’s Manuscript
represents the 12th revision; but Charles Frazier rewrote Cold
Mountain 20 times, so who’s counting? Don’t put it out there until it’s
right. Not perfect, but right. My editor, Charles Cornwell, former professor of
English at Davidson College, is the former husband of Patricia Cornwell, and
one of her editors. He was my editor through all 12 revisions of this novel.
After reading this last version, he said, “It’s masterful. Get it out there!”
(e)
Get to know your characters. You should know
them so well as they make their character arcs that they actually begin talking
to you. I heard mine saying things like “No, that’s not the way I would say
that, this is what I’d say!” Or “No, that’s not what I’d do in this situation,
here’s what I’d do.” I even had one main character tell me as I was coming to
the end of writing the book the first time, “Don’t you see how --- is my ----!”
His advice opened the story up beautifully as we approached the conclusion. I
had women read the novel to make sure my female characters were real and true.
(f)
Avoid long chapters if you can. Nobody really likes
them these days. I put hooks at the end of many of mine to keep the reader
going, but it’s nice to have a place to stop if you want one. That’s what bookmarks
are for.
(g)
Quit worrying about how many books you’re going to
sell
or how famous you’re going to be. Just enjoy the journey of being a writer. If
you do that, your story will sing the way it’s supposed to and your readers
will love you for it. I had so much fun writing this novel that I never
imagined it would be on sale in over 40 countries, as it is now! The goal was always
the hope that at least one person might enjoy it and learn something from it.
6. What
trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book
publishing industry is heading?
People are never going to stop reading.
They are never going to stop looking for great stories for escape,
entertainment, inspiration, and information. So, anyone who believes movies
will replace books is delusionary. Story shapes our identity as human beings,
and a story well-told is worth a thousand pictures, not the other way around. I
do think Indie publishing is improving, and writers in this vein who are good need
to be recognized even if they aren’t represented by a major publishing house. Keep
an eye on that.
7. Were
there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when
writing this book?
I had three years of Tae Kwon Do training
at one point in my life, so that was helpful in describing the martial arts
scenes in the novel. Even though Assassin’s Manuscript is a secular
novel, not a religious one, as a former seminary professor and president of a
major theological school, I knew how to describe candidly the doubts and
struggles clergy have when they are really honest.
8. How
would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing
similar to?
Some reviewers have answered this question
with quotes like “It’s a Dan Brown-like fast-paced thriller!” “Ranks right up
there with the best of Silva!” Since I’m influenced by both, that comes through
in the story-telling approach I use. I’d say my writing style is more Hemingway
than Faulkner, more Steinbeck than Joyce. It’s lean and direct. Part of the
reason for that is that editing and tightening this novel involved learning how
to write screenplays. In fact, an endorsement on the back of the book says,
“You can practically see it on screen!” I did learn how to write screenplays,
and even won the Telluride Indiefest Screenwriting Contest with another story,
but in the process streamlined the novel. I’m easily bored myself when I read
something, so the last thing I wanted to do was bore any readers who pick up my
book. My goal is to grab you from the first line and keep you with me to the
end. Because of the complexity of this story with numerous characters and
locations, I put a List of Characters and where they are at the end of the
book. Readers have told me that was helpful, but many have stayed with the
story without it. The truth is each reader creates a novel in his/her own mind,
heart, and soul. So as writers, once we let our stories go, we have to trust
the readers. In the end, a novel becomes “their story,” and there’s nothing we
can do about that.
9. What
challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?
The
temptation to give up lured its ugly head many times. When you take 30 years to
write a novel, it makes you question yourself. The first version was 740 pages.
I dropped it on a literary agent’s desk, and he said, “You nearly broke my desk
with that thing! Go take 200 pages out of it and I will look at it.” Which I
did. But that was only the first revision. Writing is a lonely business. You
need to surround yourself with people who are smart, well-read, honest AND
encouraging. Otherwise, you will quit.
10. If
people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?
Several reasons:
(a) It’s
timely, given what’s going on in our world right now.
(b) It’s
well-written and a fun ride! Readers have a hard time putting it down once they
start.
(c) They
will learn things about ancient manuscripts and old monasteries they didn’t
know before.
(d) It’s
not a typical “Americans are the good guys and Arabs are the bad guys” story,
so it will make readers think whether they want to or not.
(e) If
they read it carefully, they will get an idea of what might be possible in a
world like ours.
William J. Carl, PhD, a Greek scholar, screenwriter,
playwright, poet, and lyricist is a former professor, seminary president, and
pastor, who has spoken at Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Cornell, Boston
University, Carnegie Mellon, as well as many other schools in the US, and
internationally in Russia, South Africa, India, China, South Korea, Taiwan,
Rwanda, and Canada. He is the author of eight nonfiction books and one novel.
He also lectures on the Brain at medical schools and medical conferences, and
lives outside Maryville, Tennessee with stunning views of the Smoky Mountains.
For more info, please see: http://www.lecontepublishing.com
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About Brian Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter
@theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and
raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and
Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer
and IBPA’s The Independent. This
award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts
over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by
BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018
as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com
as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as
the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two
jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time,
self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors
and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine
Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren
Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy,
Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for
Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers
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Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and
Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have
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For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.
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