Charlie Huston's first book begins with stomach-turning bathroom scene, his second book begins with his hero plugging cigarettes in his ear, and his third book begins with a vampire ordering pizza. Improbably, these mundane openings always explode into hardboiled action. Like a mad scientist, novelist Charlie Huston grabs his grubby heroes by the scruff of the neck and shoves them through rat maze plots.
Besides these ficitional achievements, Huston has some funny stories about his own rise to fame. You can explore all these stories and more on his Pulpnoir.com homepage, a literally bullet-ridden piece of web writing genius. For all these reasons, I picked Huston to participate in my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.
Disclaimer: While I can't imagine why children would read The Publishing Spot, this edition is not for children, as many of these links reference grim material...
Jason Boog:
At the New York Comics Convention, you taught a class called "How To Write SciFi/Fantasy/Noir Fiction and Get Published." Sadly, I missed the whole convention and your class. What was the most important thing you told all the fledgling writers in that seminar?
Charlie Huston:
That was actually a panel I sat on with another writer and two editors. All of whom were far more helpful and informative than I was. The truth is that I owe my career, such as it is, to a great deal of luck.
I can’t speak to the virtues of writing conferences or the best way to pitch your book or how to get your short story in a magazine as I have no experience with the struggles most writers endure as they try to get their novel published.
I can offer these bit and pieces as gleaned from the panel. A bad agent is far worse than no agent at all. When submitting to agents or editors always follow the guidelines to the letter. Everyone on the panel who has had experience with them believed that fan fiction sites can be valuable venues for discovering what works and what doesn’t.
If people are reading what you write, it’s probably working. Always be writing. Always be writing. Always be writing.
When you’re not writing, always be reading. And read outside your comfort zone. Actively seek out writers and subjects you’re not usually interested in. Don’t be afraid to drop your favorite writers a line via their websites. If you do so, have something to say.
Likewise, if you approach agents and editors, don’t just chatter about your book and your writing, and how much it would mean to you if they were to read it.
Meet an editor or agent at a conference or convention, and I can all but guarantee that you will make a bigger and better impression if you have an interesting conversation about truffle hunting than if you try to sell them on your manuscript. Don’t get discouraged. At some point you will be rejected. It doesn’t mean you can’t write and publish.
Jason Boog:
Your website and web-writing style is pretty gripping. How have you used the Internet to find more readers? What techniques worked the best? Which ones didn't work?
Charlie Huston:
I’m not in a position to say what works or doesn’t. Just not enough experience. And, hell, if I could put my finger on what works when it comes to marketing on the Internet I’d be getting paid an insane amount of money to consult on that crap.
I view my own website more as a venue to establish a relationship with my readers and to encourage them to stay with me than as a means of bringing in new readers. I have no numbers to back this up, but I’d imagine that at least 60% of the visitors I’ve had at my site since it went up in June 2005 came there having already read my work.
The majority of the rest probably ended up there after reading about my work in an article or review. If I can catch a few of those folks with my writing on the site, that’s a pretty huge accomplishment, but it’s above and beyond my real desire.
As for techniques, well, you got me. I wanted a site that was filled with my writing, that was very conversational and just me talking about writing and publishing and my work in a casual manner.
And I wanted to put up something new at least once a week. I didn’t want is just to be a place to buy my books and visit once to glean a few details about my life. I wanted there to be a reason for people to come back. I don’t understand writers who talk about wanting to establish a connection with their readers and then don’t bother to update their websites.
Wonder how a writer can juggle genres and keep a fan base at the same time?
Want to read about Huston's comic book work?
Tune in tomorrow for the action-packed conclusion to Five Easy Questions for Charlie Huston...
» Five Easy Questions, Charlie Huston, Part One from ThePublishingSpot
With a bit of luck and some fast work from a great writer, I offer an interview with novelist Charlie Huston for your weekend enjoyment. Sandwiched between our recent discussions about crime bloggers and fan fiction, Huston is the perfect... [Read More]
Tracked on: March 9, 2006 2:31 PM | Permalink to Trackback