Write Who You Know by Earl Staggs

Welcome to my mountaintop, Earl. It's good to have you here from the Texas plains. Tell us about defining   characters.

There’s a lot of advice out there for writers. One common piece of advice is:  “Write what you know.” That one was put out there a long time ago to keep writers from making fools of themselves by getting  facts or details wrong.  Great advice at the time, but with so much information available via the Internet now, writers can learn about virtually any subject in a short period of time.  All we have to do is “Google” it and we can write about it like an expert.

 But what about our characters?  We can’t simply Google them, can we?  We have to come up with realistic people to write about on our own.  No search engine will do it for us.  We may say we create them entirely from imagination, but don’t believe it.  If we honestly look at every character we’ve ever written, we’ll have to confess to stealing them.  If we look long and hard at everyone in our families and circle of friends, we’ll find ourselves guilty of ripping off bits and pieces of them to create our characters. Or, we may have pinched them from someone we’ve seen on TV or read about in a book.

 Admit it, ladies.  That broad-shouldered, square-jawed hero you claim you dreamed up is really George Clooney.  Or if you want more boyish charm, Brad Pitt.  The silly old busybody you put next door to your heroine is in fact your Aunt Margaret.  For us men, that long-legged, sexy woman in jeopardy pleading with our PI for help is in reality. . .well, we won’t reveal who she is in case our wives read this.  And let’s be honest, guys. When we needed a ruggedly handsome, courageous and bold man-about-the-world, all we had to do was look in the mirror.  And delude ourselves.

When we need someone for a story, why start from scratch when there are so many walking, talking, breathing models to choose from?  We’ll make a modification here and there and change the name, of course, to protect the innocent as well as ourselves.  

The guy down the street, for example, may have the perfect build and face we need, but he’s nearly bald and too short.  Easy fix.  Give him some hair and some height.  The waitress at The Cheesecake Factory may have the exact femme fatale smile and come hither eyes we want, but she has mousey brown hair and is flat-chested.  No problem.  Make her a flaming redhead and give her bigger. . .you know.

So we’re all thieves when it comes to creating characters, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  

It’s not like bank robbery or breaking and entering.  We won’t have to do any jail time.  We won’t even have a rap sheet.   Our only crime is that when we need a character, we look around and write who we know.

 Thank you, Jean, for hosting me today on this exciting blog tour.  And thanks to everyone who stopped by.  Leave a comment while you’re here if you’d like to win a free book.  On April 29, I’ll put the names in a hat and draw two of them.  The first one drawn will receive a signed print copy of my novel, MEMORY OF A MURDER.  The second name drawn will have a choice of a print version  or ebook of my collection, SHORT STORIES OF EARL STAGGS.

You’re also invited to visit my website at http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com  You’ll find Chapter One of MEMORY OF A MURDER there.  You’ll also find a short story called “The Day I Almost Became a Great Writer.”  Some say it’s the funniest story I’ve ever written. There’s also one called “White Hats and Happy Trails,” about the day I spent with a boyhood idol, Roy Rogers.

Thanks, Earl. I didn't realize until just now that I killed off my George Clooney character in Diary of Murder.

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Derringer Award winning author Earl Staggs has seen many of his short stories published in magazines and anthologies. His novel MEMORY OF A MURDER earned a long list of Five Star reviews. He served as Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Magazine and as President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society. He is also a contributing blog member of Murderous Musings and Make Mine Mystery and is a frequent speaker at conferences and writers groups.  Email: earlstaggs@sbcglobal.net  Website:  http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com

When It All Comes Together by Earl Staggs

Hey, Earl, I'm glad you braved the icy roads and foot of snow to visit us here on the mountain. I just finished reading your  book of short stories and enjoyed them very much. Have a  seat by the fire and a cup of coffee to warm you. Then you can tell us about your work. 

Sometimes the planets align and all is right with the world. Sometimes your gravy and your biscuit end up at the same time for one last mouthful. Sometimes, for writers, a story idea comes along, you write it, and it all comes together perfectly at the end. That happened to me with a story called “Where Billy Died.”

The story idea came when my wife and I took a day trip with friends to the tiny town of Hico, Texas. There I learned a local legend. They have convincing evidence that one of the most famous outlaws of the old west did not die at the wrong end of a gun as the history books claim.  

Nope, they insist, he lived out his final years in Hico and died there in 1950, a month after his 90^th birthday. I visited the museum devoted to him and stood on the exact spot where they say he dropped dead of a heart attack. Whether the legend is true or not didn’t matter. I was fascinated and knew I had to use it in a story someday. 

But, I reminded myself, I don’t write westerns.

So I came up with a contemporary story about a modern day bounty hunter named Jack who travels to Hico to bring back a young bail jumper named Billy Joe Raynor. Piece of cake, thinks Jack, until he discovers he has a tail. The chief bonebreaker for a New Jersey mobster has followed Jack to Hico.  Is it because Jack beat up the mobster’s brother, or because of something young Billy did before he skipped town? Jack only knows he’s tangled with the hulking bruiser before and will have to again. Jack doesn’t know he’ll also get tangled up in Hico’s legend about another young outlaw named Billy and that the past and present will merge in a surprising conclusion.

I’m sure all writers feel the same when a story comes together as well as this one did for me. I hope it happens again someday.

“Where Billy Died” was published by Untreed Reads and is available for $1.99 at:

http://store.untreedreads.com/

Now, to everyone who read all the way to here, you’re invited to drop by my Blog/Website at: http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com/and visit with my special guest for the day. While you're there, you can read Chapter One of Memory of a Murder, my first mystery novel, which earned thirteen Five Star reviews. Also while you’re there, don't forget to sign up for the drawing on December 9. The first name drawn from those who leave a comment will receive a print copy of Memory of a Murder.  The second name drawn will have a choice of an ebook or print copy of Short Stories by Earl Staggs, a collection of sixteen of my best short stories.

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Derringer Award winning author Earl Staggs has seen many of his short stories published in magazines and anthologies. He served as Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Magazine and as President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society. His novel Memory of a Murder earned thirteen Five Star reviews online at Amazon and B&N. His column “Write Tight” appears in the online magazine Apollo’s Lyre. He is also a contributing blog member of Murderous Musings and Make Mine Mystery. He hosts workshops for the Muse Online Writers Conferences and the Catholic Writers Conference Online and is a frequent speaker at conferences and writers groups.

You can email earlstaggs@sbglobal.net.
His website is: http://earlwstaggs.worpress.com/