Jim Mullaney is the author, co-author or ghostwriter of thirty books that have sold over a million copies. He is currently working on two new eBook series, The Red Menace and the Crag Banyon Mysteries. The first Red Menace novel, Red and Buried, has been picked up by a traditional publisher and will soon be available nationwide.
Jim describes himself as horribly undisciplined, and says he sometimes wonders what it would be like to be more organized. “I’m always impressed when I hear about some writer who sets aside X-number of hours each day to write. I’ll write early, I’ll write late. I’ll write in the middle of the night, although I hate doing that. Whatever it takes to get finished.”
He says It’s nice to work with a publisher, even with a bad one. “I’ve worked for four or five publishers — some big, some small – and when they weren’t actively working against me (in fairness, only one did that) they did all that stuff publishers do to help shoulder the burden. This is a whole new world for me. Now if something doesn’t get done it’s because I’m the one who hasn’t done it. And since I’m a lazy writer stereotype there’s a lot that doesn’t get done; at least not as fast as it should.”
Jim used to write for The Destroyer series, which was Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir’s creation. “The Destroyer was the granddaddy of action-adventure series, and so I’ve had lots of Destroyer fans write to me over the years. I have always, always answered all email. Sometimes I’ve taken many months to write back and so a few notes have bounced from dead addresses, but it wasn’t for lack of trying on my part. I think the fans appreciated that. So much so, that I’ve carried some of them over to my own bylined stuff. We have a mutual admiration society going on.”
He finds the indie author movement to be a mixed bag at this point. “It’s great to play around, and if your friends and family want to read your stuff, that’s great too. But this is also a real business and should be treated like one. If you’re not going to work hard, if you’re not even going to bother to proofread your cover blurb, maybe you should pack it in. Having said that, it actually is a great thing that folks who would not ordinarily get their voices heard can now be heard. You just have to watch your step buying which, I suppose, is what we always had to do with professionally published books at brick and mortar stores.”
His advice to aspiring writers? “Give up. Okay, maybe not. But it’s tough. Be prepared for that. And be prepared to have idiots tell you that writing isn’t like ‘real’ work. Beyond that, listen to the advice everyone always gives. Read a lot, learn story structure, don’t make every character sound like you, blah-blah-blah. Listen to the folks who came before you. They got where they are because they knew their business. Don’t rely on Spell Check, Google, Wikipedia or any of those little, blipping deck of cards gizmos all the kids carry around these days. Learn how to use a real dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia…the kind made of paper.”
Jim has two recent releases. In Devil May Care, his hard-drinking private detective Crag Banyon is used to dealing with clients from Hell. Drowning In Red Ink is the second in his Red Menace action series. The Menace was a crusader for truth, justice and the American way back in the Fifties who is called out of retirement in the early 1970s. Jim says, “If I’m doing my job right, The Red Menace should be reminiscent of all the big men’s adventure series of the age, with some Sherlock Holmes and old-fashioned pulp adventure thrown in.”
Devil May Care
Someone’s gone over the wall and escaped from Hell, and the demon prison guards need somebody on the outside to track down their misplaced soul. Simple missing persons case, right? Except nothing’s ever simple for Crag Banyon, P.I.
But even a plucky P.I. with an occasionally unsavory client roster has his limits. So when a demon shows up at the front door of Banyon Investigations with a pile of cash and a plea for help, Banyon thinks it could be time to cool things down.
Unfortunately, temptation strikes at the precise moment the rent is overdue, and the landlord — not to mention the power and phone companies and Banyon’s top fifty favorite liquor stores — don’t take IOUs. Short on cash, he makes a deal with the devil.
This title is available from Amazon.
Drowning in Red Ink
A devastating attack in the heartland leaves a stunned nation reeling. Claiming credit for the unprovoked strike is a new radical group called the People’s Brigade. Even as bodies are being pulled from the rubble, this heretofore unknown group loses no time launching assault after assault in cities across the country.
America’s intelligence agencies are flying blind and can only stand helpless as the violence escalates…until a desperate MIC tosses Patrick “Podge” Becket and Dr. Thaddeus Wainwright into the fray. The two men quickly uncover a scheme that links the People’s Brigade to underground radical groups in every state in the union, all answerable to a lovely young sociopath called Daisy.
The gal’s got looks, brains, money and an army of men willing to die for a cause. Our side has the Red Menace and Dr. Wainwright. The bad guys haven’t got a chance.
This title is available from Amazon.
Learn more about author Jim Mullaney from his Amazon Author Page, website, and forum. You can also find him on Facebook.
Many excellent points and great post. Last time someone was giving me a hard time about writing being easy and not real work, I ordered them to go write me a short story.
People think writing is easy, JD, because they can write a Christmas card. Not so. Just because I can bake a batch of brownies doesn’t mean that running a bakery is a piece of cake.
Excellent advice. Thank you, Jim! My favorite: "…be prepared to have idiots tell you that writing isn’t like ‘real’ work. Beyond that, listen to the advice everyone always gives. Read a lot, learn story structure, don’t make every character sound like you, blah-blah-blah. Listen to the folks who came before you. They got where they are because they knew their business. Don’t rely on Spell Check, Google, Wikipedia or any of those little, blipping deck of cards gizmos all the kids carry around these days. Learn how to use a real dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia…the kind made of paper.”
We are drowning in technology, Laurie, and these kids who’ve never cracked a real reference book in their lives freeze up when the lights go out. And, yes, I’ve gotten to the point in life where it’s “these kids these days.” They’d better stay off my lawn.
Hi jim,
You are quite right about having real reference manuals handy. Today I needed a synonym for ice-cold. After some research I chose arctic. I never would have thought of that. About ten years ago I discovered a book called, "Benet's Readers Encyclopedia". It has come in very handy.
Good luck with your future projects, and thanks for the inside info.
Coincidentally, Lois, just after this piece was posted I had two spelling programs tell me the perfectly fine English language word “unnavigable” was a typo. Rely solely on Spell Check at your peril.
Great interview! My favorite quote: "If you’re not going to work hard, if you’re not even going to bother to proofread your cover blurb, maybe you should pack it in." Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! I've seen some doozies…
Aren’t some of them amazing, Lynne? Poke around self-published Amazon a little bit if you want a laugh, but don’t stick around too long because the laughs don’t last.
Hey, you had me at, "…sold over a million copies." I'm adding both titles to my reading list.
Thanks, K.D. I hope you enjoy them.
Hey Jim,
That is fantastic advice. Funny how, as time goes by, people start to think that everything on Google and Wikipedia is reliable – it needs pointing out more often that it might not be. Thank you!
Thanks, Chris. Wikipedia and Google are fine tools, but you need to know how to use them. Folks rely solely on them far too much these days.