Some have asked me where the inspiration for some of the locations and physical features in my stories come from. The answer is: from my memory. I spent a great deal of time wandering around the countryside near my hometown as a boy and young man and some of those places were and are, dear to me. Slate Rock Bluff, the Low-water Dam, Three Bridges, Swinging Bridge, Punkin Center and their like will, mostly, never be seen again. Most of them were covered by the lake before I moved away. Even the roads used to get to them are gone now and the only way to get to them is by boat. With them covered by water, I wouldn't even know when I was floating over them. Three Bridges still exists and while the road has been improved, they look different now. I heard the Swinging Bridge was destroyed by a wind-storm and it's been so long since I was there that I doubt I could even find its location now.
Another place that lives in my memory is the cave below the bluff at Monday Hill. The hill was homesteaded by my Dad's uncle, Bob Monday, back when Indian Territory was opened up to settlement. He already lived there, being a tenant farmer on Indian land, which was the only way a white man could be a legal resident in Indian Territory. The cave was shallow and wouldn't have provided much shelter during the winter, but was good enough to keep the rain off your head during the rest of the year. Over the years, many people had scratched graffiti into the rock walls, some of them dated back nearly to the Civil War, and were quite interesting. Anyway, the way the river has flooded in recent years, I'm pretty sure the water covers it a good part of the time. There was a really neat way to get down the bluff to it, though. There is a very large crack in the dome of rock the hill is on and someone laid a couple of telephone poles end to end in the crack, making it possible to walk down through the dead leaves and scree that lined the bottom while hanging onto the poles. And, no, you couldn't slide down the poles like you would the banister on a stairway; too many splinters. One of the kids in my old Boy Scout Troop made that mistake and got laughed at all the time he was trying to pull his pants down to get at them. All in all, it was a pretty bloody sight. We were out there for a 'coon-hunt' and he was miserable the rest of the night. I've got to say that sitting up on top of the hill by a campfire, listening to the dogs bay until they caught wind of a raccoon was enjoyable.
For those who have read my books; I have included several of these locations in more than a few of my books. Oh, and there was another place that I have used several times. It doesn't have a name. The old story is that it was a cave on the Verdigris River bank used by the Daltons and was large enough to drive a wagon into. The government blasted it sometime just before statehood, leaving nothing but a jumble of boulders. I don't advise crawling around on them as it is too easy to slip between the boulders and break a leg. There was another entrance to the cave above the bank and a local man crawled into it when he was a teenager. I was told that he found several wagon wheels, a couple of rotten, wooden chairs and a table inside. When he told his father about the find, his father told him to cover the entrance so no one could get lost in the cave. Once the young man realized that the cave was a dangerous place for anyone to enter, he did as his father told him and covered the entrance with a few small logs, several sheets of tin roofing, a couple of wooden barrels full of trash and dirt. by the time I saw the place, everything had more or less rusted and dissolved into the surrounding dirt and was only a flat spot in an unused field.
Yes, many of the locations I use in my books are gone forever, but not forgotten. At least, not by me. Anyone who tried to find them using the turns that I describe in my stories would quickly find himself lost or sitting in the middle of the lake.
I have to admit that many of my stories are based on what I wish still existed, or things that I wish had occurred differently. My readers seem to find them enjoyable as they keep buying my books; and isn't that a measure of success?
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Congruencies, A Taste For Blood and others.
Available on Kindle
Friday, May 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Ho-hum storylines
That's right. Ho-hum. What do I mean by that? I was thinking last night about storylines and it occurred to me that most adventure stories never revolve around people who have money problems and don't go to extraordinary lengths to resolve them. Seems kind of self-evident, doesn't it? No adventure to be found in a story of a guy who just goes to work every day and drags his butt from pillar to post just to pay the bills. But, how many times has just such a thing been the central focus of our lives? In order to make a story of it, you have to show the dismal, daily round and quickly contrast it with some momentous event in the main character's life.
For instance; the character may be concentrating on getting through the gauntlet his life has become and suddenly be thrust into circumstances that require him to sink or swim, fight or die, just to continue living. We've seen those mechanics used thousands of times, and that's okay. It points up the juxtaposition between what he or she has had to endure and what he or she has forced on him/her. We are suddenly confronted with the question of whether or not a man or woman who can barely drag him/herself through life, can deal with an overwhelming challenge. Many times, we learn that the character has deeper resources that have gone untapped in his/her daily life because there was just no way to use those resources.
A visit to the movie screen calls up an example that is very close to the scenario I have laid out. Who among you remembers 'Straw Dogs'? It's almost a fish out of water story. A man who is mild-mannered and almost diffident, is forced to become harder and more brutal than the people who confront him without losing his humanity. It's a more complex story than that, but it gets the point across.
I believe that the whole intent in showing a man who is beaten down by the circumstances in his life, or is oblivious to the changes going on around him because of his focus on something else, is to lend realism to the story. 'Everyman' forced to become something out of the ordinary. We all like to believe that we are equal to such challenges and many of us are. Look at the stories you find in the news about people who face overwhelming odds to save a drowning child, or pry someone from a wrecked car before it burns. Or the men and women who step up and tackle an armed robber or purse-snatcher and hold them for the police. Of such things are heroes made. Countless men and women have joined the military as ordinary citizens and managed to perform acts of heroism that people who know them would have doubted they were capable of.
No. A story that consisted of the daily rounds of a man or woman who was just getting through life would not be anything that anybody would want to read unless it showed the evolution of that character into something that captured the reader's interest.
These are my thoughts on the subject and probably pretty common and self-evident, but I thought they were worth vocalizing.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of It Happens Every Day, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Available on Kindle.
For instance; the character may be concentrating on getting through the gauntlet his life has become and suddenly be thrust into circumstances that require him to sink or swim, fight or die, just to continue living. We've seen those mechanics used thousands of times, and that's okay. It points up the juxtaposition between what he or she has had to endure and what he or she has forced on him/her. We are suddenly confronted with the question of whether or not a man or woman who can barely drag him/herself through life, can deal with an overwhelming challenge. Many times, we learn that the character has deeper resources that have gone untapped in his/her daily life because there was just no way to use those resources.
A visit to the movie screen calls up an example that is very close to the scenario I have laid out. Who among you remembers 'Straw Dogs'? It's almost a fish out of water story. A man who is mild-mannered and almost diffident, is forced to become harder and more brutal than the people who confront him without losing his humanity. It's a more complex story than that, but it gets the point across.
I believe that the whole intent in showing a man who is beaten down by the circumstances in his life, or is oblivious to the changes going on around him because of his focus on something else, is to lend realism to the story. 'Everyman' forced to become something out of the ordinary. We all like to believe that we are equal to such challenges and many of us are. Look at the stories you find in the news about people who face overwhelming odds to save a drowning child, or pry someone from a wrecked car before it burns. Or the men and women who step up and tackle an armed robber or purse-snatcher and hold them for the police. Of such things are heroes made. Countless men and women have joined the military as ordinary citizens and managed to perform acts of heroism that people who know them would have doubted they were capable of.
No. A story that consisted of the daily rounds of a man or woman who was just getting through life would not be anything that anybody would want to read unless it showed the evolution of that character into something that captured the reader's interest.
These are my thoughts on the subject and probably pretty common and self-evident, but I thought they were worth vocalizing.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of It Happens Every Day, The Empty Heart: A Collection and others.
Available on Kindle.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
A Classic Storyline
This isn't going to be a dissection of a storyline; simply something to reveal an influence in my writing style.
As a teenager, many (too many), years ago, after I had recently discovered science fiction stories, my uncle was home on leave from the Navy. Unknown to me, he was a sci-fi fan and while I was at school, he left to return to his duty station. As adults frequently do, he disregarded my ownership of my books and asked my mother if he could trade books with me. When I returned home, Mom told me about it and I found that he left a double-book in place of one of my favorites! I can't remember the title of the book he took, but I still have the double-book he left me.
The book consists of "The Legion of Time" and "After World's End", both by Jack Williamson, and I found that of the two stories, I like the former most. In the story, a man is lured and thrust, (a strange combination) into a noble pursuit and manages to prevail against all odds with the assistance of nearly a dozen other men pulled out of Time at the moments of their deaths. During the story, one and another of these men are killed in action and their remains released over the side of the Time-Ship they are on until only the hero remains. He triumphs at the cost of his life and anyone would believe the story would be over there, but you must remember that this is a sci-fi story and no one is ever really dead if the author doesn't want them to be dead.
The hero awakens in a hospital aboard the Time-Ship and is confronted with his shipmates, presumed dead until this moment. The only permanent casualties in the story are the myriad baddies they dispatched, the arch-villainess, and the tragic character of the man responsible for pulling them all out of Time.
Now, it may seem trite and contrived, but to really judge the story, you should read it yourself if you can find it. I suggest cruising some of the moldy-smelling used book stores that seem to crop up in the weirdest places, because the copy I have was printed sometime in the 30's.
Returning to the "trite and contrived" aspect; it may seem so at the first reading, but I've discovered that Mr. Williamson wrote the story in such a way as to inject an undeniable symmetry that is difficult to dispute. I know that any editor would caution against this as it is no longer a favored writing style. It is an antique and false writing style, but I believe it betrays that within us which wishes to have a "happily ever after" at the end of the story. Not just this story, but any story.
I have played with such a construct in several of my own novels and have been pleased with the result. Maybe that explains why it has been so difficult for me to find an agent while still posting fairly respectable sales figures. I view editors as critics and have seen too many stories, movies and TV shows that critics hated, but fans were wild about. Critics try to instill an artificial style and taste in the audience despite what the audience wants. That's why so many of them admit to 'guilty pleasures'.
To sum up: I will continue to write to please myself and my readers in spite of the things editors my shake their heads over.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
As a teenager, many (too many), years ago, after I had recently discovered science fiction stories, my uncle was home on leave from the Navy. Unknown to me, he was a sci-fi fan and while I was at school, he left to return to his duty station. As adults frequently do, he disregarded my ownership of my books and asked my mother if he could trade books with me. When I returned home, Mom told me about it and I found that he left a double-book in place of one of my favorites! I can't remember the title of the book he took, but I still have the double-book he left me.
The book consists of "The Legion of Time" and "After World's End", both by Jack Williamson, and I found that of the two stories, I like the former most. In the story, a man is lured and thrust, (a strange combination) into a noble pursuit and manages to prevail against all odds with the assistance of nearly a dozen other men pulled out of Time at the moments of their deaths. During the story, one and another of these men are killed in action and their remains released over the side of the Time-Ship they are on until only the hero remains. He triumphs at the cost of his life and anyone would believe the story would be over there, but you must remember that this is a sci-fi story and no one is ever really dead if the author doesn't want them to be dead.
The hero awakens in a hospital aboard the Time-Ship and is confronted with his shipmates, presumed dead until this moment. The only permanent casualties in the story are the myriad baddies they dispatched, the arch-villainess, and the tragic character of the man responsible for pulling them all out of Time.
Now, it may seem trite and contrived, but to really judge the story, you should read it yourself if you can find it. I suggest cruising some of the moldy-smelling used book stores that seem to crop up in the weirdest places, because the copy I have was printed sometime in the 30's.
Returning to the "trite and contrived" aspect; it may seem so at the first reading, but I've discovered that Mr. Williamson wrote the story in such a way as to inject an undeniable symmetry that is difficult to dispute. I know that any editor would caution against this as it is no longer a favored writing style. It is an antique and false writing style, but I believe it betrays that within us which wishes to have a "happily ever after" at the end of the story. Not just this story, but any story.
I have played with such a construct in several of my own novels and have been pleased with the result. Maybe that explains why it has been so difficult for me to find an agent while still posting fairly respectable sales figures. I view editors as critics and have seen too many stories, movies and TV shows that critics hated, but fans were wild about. Critics try to instill an artificial style and taste in the audience despite what the audience wants. That's why so many of them admit to 'guilty pleasures'.
To sum up: I will continue to write to please myself and my readers in spite of the things editors my shake their heads over.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Saturday, May 14, 2011
The doldrums
To any writers who may be reading this; Have you ever entered a period of time in which you felt unable or unwilling to write? At this time, I know I need to write, but seem to be motivationally constipated. Ideas are churning in my mind and I have thought of ways to continue the storyline of the sequel to Gulf of the Plains that I've been working on, but just can't bring myself to figuratively, put pen to paper. The idea of actually sinking myself into the story and getting on with the action is abhorrent to me just now and I don't understand why that should be. Composing has always been a friend to me and the periods in which I have been able to lose myself have been among the most enjoyable of my life. Perhaps that's the problem. Maybe I subconsciously know that losing myself now is not the best idea. There are many things preying on my mind that I can find no solution for and feel that I am just spinning my wheels. It's not that my works aren't selling; Gulf of the Plains has been in the Top 100 Kindle Genre Novels at least one day every week since it was published nearly a year ago, and was recently in the Top 100 in the UK as well. Still, there is something preventing me from writing. I decided to enter a post on this blog as a way to 'prime the pump', so to speak, and let the words flow. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, for those writers who are reading this; keep writing. For the readers; until next time.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, It Happens Every Day and others.
Available on Kindle
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Gulf of the Plains, It Happens Every Day and others.
Available on Kindle
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Influences
That's right, the title is "Influences". Not because my writing or stories are influenced by any particular writer, but because I would like to tell you, my reader, what influenced my latest book.
It is a book of short stories and the first story was prompted by something that happened to me many years ago. I still find it puzzling and have been unable to come up with any explanation other than the supposition I posited in the story.
The second story came to me one night as I lay thinking about the 'lucky' coin I had carried since my Senior year in high school. I thought to myself, "At least when I die, I will have a real silver coin to pay the Boatman with." And thus, a story was born.
The third story was a throwback to the stories I enjoyed so much as a teenager. Many of them were written by Howard and while his stories were heavier on the 'heroic' action than this one, I feel that mine exceeds his in giving the main character a life beyond the action.
The fourth story was a flight of bawdy, almost vulgar, fancy that came to me as I thought of something that my wife sometimes says. I've never heard of a 'Banshee Chicken' from anyone but her and the incongruity of the two words together gave me an idea for the storyline.
In the fifth story, I was feeling down and blue and the memory of a place I enjoyed as a boy came to me. I have included the place in a couple of other stories I have written and still feel as though I could walk to that place, sit down on streamside and waggle my toes in the water, startling the tadpoles and minnows that live therein.
The sixth story is a companion-piece to my novel, Gulf of the Plains, and was included simply because I thought that readers of that novel should be treated to the realization that other people than my characters in the novel had a hard time in that apocalyptic world.
The seventh story is my attempt to deal with the loss of a dream I held dear for many years and was loathe to relinquish. I have come to believe that karma plays a strong part in our lives and wondered if a vow could live after the deaths of the people who uttered it.
With the eighth story, I felt some guilt for behaving shabbily toward another person as a teenager and while she is gone forever from my life, I believed that this story could play the part of an apology for that behavior.
The ninth story was strictly an urban adventure that I have played around with for years. Thoughts of the story have lived many incarnations in my mind for at least thirty years and I felt that the story's time had come. Simply put, I wondered what would happen if a famous person, verging on sinking back into the anonymity we all live in, encountered a common man who was able to improve her life by simply doing what was right.
The tenth story is part of my musings on whether or not an inanimate object can carry a resonance of evil instilled within it many years earlier. I still don't know if that is possible or not, but the story exists for others to peruse and pose the same question to themselves.
With all that said, perhaps others will realize that inspiration lives within us all and that the most mundane things can stir it to a life outside ourselves.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
It is a book of short stories and the first story was prompted by something that happened to me many years ago. I still find it puzzling and have been unable to come up with any explanation other than the supposition I posited in the story.
The second story came to me one night as I lay thinking about the 'lucky' coin I had carried since my Senior year in high school. I thought to myself, "At least when I die, I will have a real silver coin to pay the Boatman with." And thus, a story was born.
The third story was a throwback to the stories I enjoyed so much as a teenager. Many of them were written by Howard and while his stories were heavier on the 'heroic' action than this one, I feel that mine exceeds his in giving the main character a life beyond the action.
The fourth story was a flight of bawdy, almost vulgar, fancy that came to me as I thought of something that my wife sometimes says. I've never heard of a 'Banshee Chicken' from anyone but her and the incongruity of the two words together gave me an idea for the storyline.
In the fifth story, I was feeling down and blue and the memory of a place I enjoyed as a boy came to me. I have included the place in a couple of other stories I have written and still feel as though I could walk to that place, sit down on streamside and waggle my toes in the water, startling the tadpoles and minnows that live therein.
The sixth story is a companion-piece to my novel, Gulf of the Plains, and was included simply because I thought that readers of that novel should be treated to the realization that other people than my characters in the novel had a hard time in that apocalyptic world.
The seventh story is my attempt to deal with the loss of a dream I held dear for many years and was loathe to relinquish. I have come to believe that karma plays a strong part in our lives and wondered if a vow could live after the deaths of the people who uttered it.
With the eighth story, I felt some guilt for behaving shabbily toward another person as a teenager and while she is gone forever from my life, I believed that this story could play the part of an apology for that behavior.
The ninth story was strictly an urban adventure that I have played around with for years. Thoughts of the story have lived many incarnations in my mind for at least thirty years and I felt that the story's time had come. Simply put, I wondered what would happen if a famous person, verging on sinking back into the anonymity we all live in, encountered a common man who was able to improve her life by simply doing what was right.
The tenth story is part of my musings on whether or not an inanimate object can carry a resonance of evil instilled within it many years earlier. I still don't know if that is possible or not, but the story exists for others to peruse and pose the same question to themselves.
With all that said, perhaps others will realize that inspiration lives within us all and that the most mundane things can stir it to a life outside ourselves.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
A well-considered thought
I've waited for several days before voicing my opinion of the operation leading to Bin Laden's death and I'm finally ready to speak.
As Christians, we are told that we should not rejoice at the death of anyone; even an enemy. I must admit that I am not a 'good' Christian. My faith in God is stronger than ever, but my attachments to the artificial construct of organized religion are more tenuous than ever. Putting that aside for the remainder of this post; I must say that I have never been more glad to hear of the death of anyone than this one. I wish it had happened years ago as he waged war against the Russians in Afghanistan, he couldn't have been the driving force behind the attacks against us over the past fifteen or so years. A bullet was too good for him but it's good that there was no trial for the Arab world to claim was a product of a 'kangaroo court'. As it is, they have already claimed that he is still alive, refusing to believe that he was brought to justice, no matter how rough.
I have deviated from the express purpose of this blog for this one instance and will not repeat the action unless some other world-shaking occurrence comes to rattle us out of our beds.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains and others.
Available on Kindle
As Christians, we are told that we should not rejoice at the death of anyone; even an enemy. I must admit that I am not a 'good' Christian. My faith in God is stronger than ever, but my attachments to the artificial construct of organized religion are more tenuous than ever. Putting that aside for the remainder of this post; I must say that I have never been more glad to hear of the death of anyone than this one. I wish it had happened years ago as he waged war against the Russians in Afghanistan, he couldn't have been the driving force behind the attacks against us over the past fifteen or so years. A bullet was too good for him but it's good that there was no trial for the Arab world to claim was a product of a 'kangaroo court'. As it is, they have already claimed that he is still alive, refusing to believe that he was brought to justice, no matter how rough.
I have deviated from the express purpose of this blog for this one instance and will not repeat the action unless some other world-shaking occurrence comes to rattle us out of our beds.
Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of The Empty Heart: A Collection, Gulf of the Plains and others.
Available on Kindle
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