Category Archives: no tears for old scratch

No Tears for Old Scratch: Soundtracking the Novel, Part 2

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One of the fun parts about writing a soundtrack for a book is focusing more on mood. Writing soundtrack music allows you to be less specific, not referencing direct actions in the text, but capturing the overall feeling or emotion of a section. A key elements of No Tears for Old Scratch is the concept that there is a part of Knob’s End, the town at the center of the story, that most people don’t see or choose to ignore. Every town has those places, the ugly parts underneath. It doesn’t necessarily mean a seedy underbelly — although that is apt in some cases — it just means there are sections of American towns that either are grossly neglected or serve no purpose to the people living there.

The main character of the book spends a lot of time walking through those sections of Knob’s End. And he sees things that the citizens of the town have hidden away, almost as if they didn’t exist. So I wanted a theme that would fit those parts of the story.

The other fun part of creating a soundtrack are those moments of improvisational inspiration. Suddenly realizing that a section needs a beat, but the only thing that will work is that old ceramic drum you picked up in Morocco several years back.

And as always, stellar guitar tone is key (as is a Bigsby). Enjoy.

Listen to “The Parts of Knob’s End You Never Get To See”

The Agent Quest Part 2: This is great, I’m just not the guy

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What’s this all about? Click here for Part 1 with an explanation.

Knowing that a lot of friends and followers found Part 1 interesting (especially the publishing folks who enjoyed the take from the other side), I thought it would be apt to follow up with this response I received from an agent back in January.

I think I’ve very little in the negative to say about your line by line writing – you do dialogue very well, set the scenes and place the characters in a clearly logistical, orderly, style – a rare thing. But, I think this is a case of us not being a good fit. I’m not as into the stranger arrives in a city, bringing change, type of story as I know a number of other agents are, and I really think it best for both of us to be fully behind a project before sending it out. That is to say, this felt strong, very American Gods (by Neil Gaiman), but American Gods isn’t really the book I read. I hope that makes sense.

In this case, all very positive notes for the most part. The agent actually doesn’t have anything bad to say about the writing, the story, the structure, or the tone (more on that in future installments). In this case, the agent is actually very up front about the fact that they just don’t represent this type of book. I’ll take “No”‘s like that from agents all year. Call me philosophical, but if anyone has nothing bad to say about my writing other than that the book is not their normal style, I’m good.

What makes this one interesting, in reference to the response from Part 1, is the difference in perception. The agent in Part 1 read the novel as a suspense thriller. This agent is reading it as a Gaiman-esque novel with supernatural themes and modern fantasy elements (pub industry folks: notice I didn’t use the word urban there). Same MS, two completely different reads. The first agent read it with an eye to how it will sell as a thriller. This agent latched more on to the supernatural elements that run throughout the novel and thought, “Gaiman’s readers, that’s the audience for this.” And yet, it is still a literary novel. Sure, there is murder, suspense, some events that defy a realistic explanation, and the presence of one character who may or may not be somewhat-supernatural. But there is not enough of any of those elements (well, maybe the murder), to make this a genre novel. As I keep discovering, it’s all in the perception.

Keep checking back. More to come…

The Agent Quest Part 1: Great atmosphere and depth, but lacks cohesion

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Having finished the manuscript for No Tears for Old Scratch, I’ve been hard at work trying to find an agent to represent the novel to publishers. I have already self-published my work, including one collection of short stories and several e-books, with a great distribution network for an independent author, but for this novel, I wanted to take it to a larger audience. I feel it’s a bigger book (and a nice step up for me as a writer). Thanks to a little hard work on a well-crafted query letter and working some connections with publishing industry friends, I’ve actually been getting very good responses from agents. As anyone who has gone through this process knows, the usual response to a query is:

“This is not for me – but thanks for the opportunity!”

I always like when an agent responds with enthusiasm (!) when rejecting a query. Or there is the British version:

“Thank you for your submission, which we have read with interest. Unfortunately we did not feel enthusiastic enough about it to take this further. We are sorry to give you a disappointing response but thank you for thinking of us in connection with your work.”

Or the even shorter:

“Not for me, but thanks.”
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Graveyard of the Innocent

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graveyard of the innocentI first discovered the concept of a “Graveyard of the Innocent” while living in Medina, Ohio. A local Catholic church, St. Francis Xavier, used to put up the display every Halloween (see the photo to the left). The crosses were supposed to represent the total number of fetuses killed in abortions in one week in the city of Akron. Needless to say, I’m glad I don’t live in frickin’ Medina, Ohio anymore.

That image of the mini-tombstones, so like the cover of Metallica’s Master of Puppets, always stuck with me as a symbol of small-town religious lunacy. So when it came time to start writing No Tears for Old Scratch, a novel set in the Holiest Town in America, I had knew there would be a Graveyard of the Innocent in there somewhere.

As I wind down on the final rewrites for No Tears for Old Scratch, as if on cue, another Graveyard of the Innocent jumped into the public eye. This time it was a drawing by Scott Roeder, the man convicted of murdering Dr. George Tiller because he performed abortions. As Bill Hicks said, “Pro-lifers murdering doctors, it’s irony on a base level, but I like it.” Apparently, supporters of Roeder decided to auction off some “drawings” from him on eBay (rendered in that wonderful 5th grade style). One of which showed a biblical David holding the severed head of a Goliath George Tiller (again death obsession). And sure enough, Roeder had drawn a Graveyard of the Innocent. Ironically enough, in a move that Bill Hicks would have cackled at, Roeder included the inscription, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” Like convicted murders and their Christian supporters perhaps.

The Satan Playlist

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I have officially started on book #2. Without giving away any details, one of the main characters in the book is everyone’s favorite mischief maker and all around swinging guy, Satan. The idea for the book actually came to me one morning while listening to “Up Jumped the Devil” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Those pounding piano chords, Cave’s voice growling at that low register, the overall vibe of the dark one lurking mischievously up the street — the plot of the book laid itself out instantly in my head.

On the rare occasions when I do finally plop my ass in the chair to tap away at the keyboard, I always listen to music. Some folks find this odd as they usually require peace and quiet when writing. But I prefer to have music blaring, preferably something that gets me in the mood of the story. When I wrote The Love Book, I listened to really heavy Doom: Black Sabbath, Cathedral, The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, St. Vitus, Grand Magus, Candlemass, Trouble. The music fit the dark stories I was firing out.
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