MUSE MONDAY
Talk about putting your muse on hold. Topper did just that, but wow did he pen a novel once he started down the path. Welcome my guest Topper Jones with tale of idea to book.
When I tell people I’m a novelist, one of the
questions I’m often asked is:
“How long did it take you to write
your first book? A couple of months? Six maybe?”
“Longer,” I say. And then I
tell them All that Glisters was 45 years in the making.
I got the initial idea for ATG in 1977 after reading Robin Cook’s medical thriller Coma. I thought: If a physician can write a bestseller, why can’t a certified public accountant? We were both professionals. All I needed was a preposterous premise.
Rather than have my
protagonist discover [Spoiler Alert] human organs being illegally harvested for
the black market as in Coma, I decided to have my main characters
discover “something” equally chilling regarding the financial markets—a
disturbing “something” that would upend everything. Total economic meltdown and
the consequences! Banks failing, riots in the streets, and breadlines
stretching from coast to coast.
A few years later, while
working as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, I penned the first
draft of ATG on my morning commute into downtown Boston. Fortunately, that
draft never found a home. The writing was amateurish and unschooled. So, I took
classes in creative writing and kept plugging away at craft.
When I retired from my day job
some forty years later, I pulled out my abandoned proverbial “novel in the
drawer” and with the help of a developmental editor specializing in mysteries,
I rewrote the thing from scratch. All except the preposterous premise.
What’s the premise, you say?
You’ll have to read the book
to find out. 😉
Further
Exploration
For another writer’s perspective on what to do with that novel you may have tucked away in a drawer somewhere, see The Novel in the Drawer by Gayle Abrams (Jul 20, 2018). Click the highlighted link or point your browser to:
https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/the-novel-in-the-drawer
Book Blurb:
All That Glisters is an
edgy contemporary whodunit involving financial skullduggery, high-level
political intrigue, and a behind-the-scenes view of cyber sleuthing. Here’s the
pitch:
When the facts don’t add up in
his surf buddy’s bizarre death, forensic consultant (and daddy-to-be) Thaddeus
Hanlon investigates, volunteering to go undercover to pick up where best friend
Rafi Silva left off in a secret probe of the U.S. gold stockpile—every last
bullion bar.
Rafi’s spunky fiancée, Bri de
la Guerra, has suspicions of her own and soon joins Thad on the hunt for
answers. Together, the two amateur sleuths delve deep, stumbling onto a
financial a-stock-alypse in the making, triggering a brutal manhunt along the
Eastern seaboard meant to silence anyone looking to set the ledger straight.
Book Excerpt:
Rafi, Bri, and I had
been good friends throughout college. Marissa entered the picture a few years
later but was no less committed to our bond as besties. There was nothing fake
about our relationship. It was solid. Genuine.
“Okay, Bri,” I said.
“You made your point. You feel Rafi had too much to live for, that suicide is
implausible.”
“Impossible. And I can
prove it, Thad.” Bri sounded certain like she possessed facts in evidence, that
we didn’t have.
Marissa picked up on
Bri’s assuredness, following up with questions of her own. “So, Rafi was
murdered? You can prove that?”
“Not directly.” Bri
leaned forward and got as close as she could to Marissa and me. “What I said
was that I can prove Rafi did not kill himself.”
“We’re listening.”
Marissa pointed to herself and then at me.
I made the left-hand
turn from the Pacific Coast Highway onto the California Incline, a slanted road
that connects PCH with Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.
Bri started fidgeting
with her engagement ring again. “Remember the Dodge Whitney staffer who
conference-called us Thursday night with the news?”
I nodded. Marissa nodded. In my mind, I replayed Jenny Yu’s livestream of the crime scene. Her failed CPR attempt. And then my crazy request for her to rummage through Rafi’s pockets to look for a suicide note or some kind of clue.
“That night Jenny said
something that didn’t quite make sense,” Bri said.
Book Link: https://topperjones.com/product/all-that-glisters
Website: https://topperjones.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TopperJonesAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/topperjones_author/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-g-jones-a566253/
The book sounds really good! Hope it does well for you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming by, Ilona. It does sound good.
DeleteIlona Fridl thanks for stopping by and for your encouragement.
DeleteInteresting story about your writing journey. And the novel sounds fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why I'm anonymous? I'm Patricia McAlexander, fellow auhtor.
DeleteDo you have a Google profile, Patricia? I know if you do you'll show up. Otherwise, I think there are other ways to be visible, but I'm not overly techy.
DeletePatricia, appreciate your comments about my author journey. The novel was fun to write once I was able to channel the Muse.
DeleteSounds really intriguing, and I loved hearing about your writing journey @LBGriffinAuthor
ReplyDeleteLynn, thanks for dropping by Brenda's Blog. Really appreciate your comments and all the support your provide to debut authors.
Delete