#WhatsYourStory with Mark Stevens

​Mark Stevens is the author the Allison Coil Mystery Series--Antler Dust, Buried by the Roan, Trapline and Lake of Fire. The last three books were all finalists for the Colorado Book Award. Trapline won (2015). Stevens is Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2016 Writer of the Year. He is president of the Rocky Mountain chapter for Mystery Writers of America and serves on the national board. He also hosts a regular podcast for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Kirkus Reviews called Lake of Fire “irresistible” and Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire novels, said, “Mark Stevens writes like wildfire.” 

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​If I could go back to the day I started writing fiction about thirty years ago:

1. I would have joined a writing group immediately, to share drafts, talk business, talk fiction, talk reading, talking writing, share ideas. Writing is solo sport. And it’s involved more teamwork than I would have ever imagined. 
2. I would have written more—not necessarily faster, but more. More isn’t always better, but it’s practice. By writing more, I think you’re training that part of your little old brain. Muscles like to work. Atrophy sucks. So, write more.
3. I would have learned, early on, to omit the word ‘that’ from all prose. (I think ‘that’ works okay in dialogue.)
4. I would have worried more about character. Character is key. The plot, yes, of course. But I’m convinced more and more it’s all about the character, whether antagonist or protagonist or, better yet, both. It’s the issues of the character that drive the action that create the plot. (Obvious, yeah. Maybe these are notes to myself.) If you have a good solid complex character with three dimensions and if that character needs something or wants something, you have the start of a plot. So write the character and write what that character desires (needs, wants) and then start throwing obstacles in his or her way. Final thought: by definition, great characters do something.
5. I would have learned, early on, to omit the word ‘just.’ My candidate for most useless nothing unspecific blah bland filler word ever. But I still whip it out in the first draft and sprinkle around like confetti.
6. I would have joined writing groups early on (see #1 above) and I would have leaned into every single opportunity to support those groups. I figured this out later on. I should have figured it out earlier. It’s not about hoping to “get something back” from others. It’s not about a transactional, deal-making kind of thing. It’s simply about being fully engaged, more thoroughly embedded in the community. (This idea isn’t original. I learned it from, yes, other writers.) And you know what else? Here’s what else: when you commit to doing something regularly for a writing community, you are indirectly making a pledge to yourself to write more and participate more. You’re taking it more seriously. That’s a good thing. Being more involved in writing groups has allowed me the chance to meet writers I admire, such as Ron Carlson, Stewart O’Nan, William Kent Krueger, Steve Hamilton, Lori Rader-Day, Ausma Zehanat Khan, Craig Johnson, Christine Carbo, James W. Ziskin, Reed Farrel Coleman, Megan Abbott … um, this list could go on and on.  And on.
7. I would have spent more time imagining each scene before I wrote it. I would have spent more time trying to see the scene—the emotions and the action, everything. I think I spent too long seeing the words on the page, not enough imagining the “real” people (my characters) doing real things. Now, once I see the scene, even if that “scene” is only the next few minutes of my story, I write what I see. And hear. And feel.
8. I would have gone to more book talks, author tour stops. I would have made this part of my routine, to take notes about how writers presented their work.
9. I would have taken it all less seriously. Yes—less seriously. I know, a bit contradictory from #6 above. But what I mean is this: have you seen the flood of books out there? Go stand in a bookstore and marvel at the sheer volume of titles. So yes you need to care about your craft and write with your personal style and flourish, but it doesn’t have to be so, well, precious. You got a story? Tell it. Let it rip. Take some chances. Have some fun. Get that first draft down and then start the shaping and editing and re-writing. 
10. I would have … no, WAIT!

In truth, I have no regrets. Yes, despite all the could-haves and should-haves, it’s all good. I came close to selling a couple of books more than a decade before I finally got published. I am so very glad, now, that they didn’t sell. At the time, I was crushed. Now, I’m glad those words didn’t see the light of day. I still had things to learn … and I still do to this day.

Lake of Fire

In Lake of Fire, the fourth book in the Allison Coil Mystery Series, a giant wildfire is roaring through Colorado’s Flat Tops Wilderness. The massive blaze is wiping out Allison Coil’s precious hunting grounds and the flames have set their sights on the beautiful ranch owned by her boyfriend’s family. Backwoods survivalist Devo finds a body in the blackened forest. The dead man turns out to be a reclusive environmentalist with an unorthodox idea for the battle against global warming. The dead man was no stranger to Allison or her longtime friend, Trudy Heath. Allison, with help from Glenwood Springs reporter Duncan Bloom, burrows into an underground world of haters who harbor a grim view of the world. Suddenly, Trudy goes missing. If Allison can stop the wicked haters, ordinary hell might not be punishment enough for where these particular agents of evil belong. 

Twitter @writerstevens
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllisonCoil/
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Where to Buy Lake of Fire

Amazon