Ask the Author: Mike Billington
Answered Questions (12)
Mike Billington
Hi - sorry for the delay in answering... Amazon really frowns on swapping reviews so I have to decline... however, since I read about a hundred books a year, I'll be happy to buy your books and give them a read :-)
Mike
Mike
Mike Billington
Hi - sorry for the delay in answering, been in and out of the dentist's chair for the past couple of weeks. I might be that same Mike Billington :-) I say that because I worked at The Sun-Sentinel back then, not the Herald...
Mike
Mike
Mike Billington
That's not an easy question to answer because, as someone who reads between 75 and 100 books a year, I have several "favorite" fictional couples. Nick and Nora Charles, for example, are longtime favorites from "The Thin Man" as are Sean King and Michelle Maxwell from David Baldacci's more contemporary thrillers. That said, I guess if I had to choose one favorite fictional couple - not counting any of my own characters, which I am very partial to - I'd have to pick Amelia Peabody Emerson and her husband Radcliff from the Elizabeth Peters series of late Victorian Egyptian novels. Amelia is one of my favorite characters of all time because she defies convention, actually adores her husband (as he does her) and is fearless in the face of danger. I am a big fan of strong female characters and Amelia is one of the strongest.
Mike Billington
Hi - must be another one of Amazon's all-too-frequent glitches... I just went to it and it said I could purchase it... if you send me an email I'll be glad to gift it to you if you are still having trouble...
Mike
Mike
Mike Billington
Not really... sometimes my characters don't like what I've written and so - rather than go off and sulk somewhere - they tell me that, usually at some inconvenient time like when I'm trying to sleep or have something cooking on the stove... I've found that they're usually right and so I go back and do it again (and sometimes again and again and...) until we're both satisfied :-)
Seriously, though, I do sometimes get stuck because I want to have one of them say something and it just doesn't ring true to the persona I've created for that character. When that happens I usually try to do something else for a bit... sometimes I draw or paint, other times I try out a new recipe. That usually works because it gives me a little time to clear my brain and get back on point. Hemingway once said "Never fall in love with a sentence..." and I try to keep that in mind when I'm trying to force one of my characters to say something that - no matter how brilliant it may sound to me - just isn't right.
Seriously, though, I do sometimes get stuck because I want to have one of them say something and it just doesn't ring true to the persona I've created for that character. When that happens I usually try to do something else for a bit... sometimes I draw or paint, other times I try out a new recipe. That usually works because it gives me a little time to clear my brain and get back on point. Hemingway once said "Never fall in love with a sentence..." and I try to keep that in mind when I'm trying to force one of my characters to say something that - no matter how brilliant it may sound to me - just isn't right.
Mike Billington
I think I would probably write a mystery novel. There are three reasons for that:
1) Most of the novels I write are mysteries because, after nearly a half century as a reporter, it's the genre I know best.
2) Mysteries allow us to not only "solve a crime" but in the process also comment on current social issues in the context of a "big event." In my novel "Murder in the Rainy Season," for example, I was able to work in commentary through my characters on the subtle racial prejudice that is a factor in the way the mainstream media covers events and discuss the negative effects that local politics can have on an on-going police investigation.
3) A mystery engages the reader/viewer in a way that other genres seldom can, namely by pulling them into the story as a participant who is also, perhaps unconsciously, also trying to solve the crime.
1) Most of the novels I write are mysteries because, after nearly a half century as a reporter, it's the genre I know best.
2) Mysteries allow us to not only "solve a crime" but in the process also comment on current social issues in the context of a "big event." In my novel "Murder in the Rainy Season," for example, I was able to work in commentary through my characters on the subtle racial prejudice that is a factor in the way the mainstream media covers events and discuss the negative effects that local politics can have on an on-going police investigation.
3) A mystery engages the reader/viewer in a way that other genres seldom can, namely by pulling them into the story as a participant who is also, perhaps unconsciously, also trying to solve the crime.
Mike Billington
The idea for my most recent book - The Third Servant - actually came to me while I was attending Mass at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wilmington, DE. The reading was the Parable of the Third Servant in Matthew and it struck me that we never find out what happened to him after he was cast into the night for failing to increase his master's wealth. As I sat there in my pew this whole story started unfolding in my mind: What if that unlucky servant was a young boy - that would explain his reluctance to invest his master's money for fear of losing it. And what if, after he was cast into the night, he went on a 20-year adventure that took him from Palestine to the steppes of present day Russia, to India, along the ancient spice trail to Egypt then to Rome and, finally, back to his homeland. Further, what if along the way he met some famous folks - Mary Magdalene for one, an Indian emperor, some Romans of high rank, scholars, warriors and even a widowed woman. I began writing as soon as I returned home from Mass and now, finally, I've finished it. The Third Servant is a far cry from my usual mystery and Steampunk novels but it's something that I felt I had to write.
Mike Billington
This is probably going to sound trite but it's true nonetheless: Just being alive inspires me to write. When I go for a walk, sit and draw in the park, have a coffee and a croissant at my favorite cafe or just listen to Andres Segovia play the guitar on my CD player I'm inspired. There is so much going on around me in my little corner of the world that it's hard not to be. A little girl dancing in the Placa Libertad, oblivious to everyone around her; a mother hurrying her children along so they can catch the bus; two old men sitting and talking over a cup of coffee; a boy and a girl tentatively holding hands for the first time in public are each, in their own way, inspiring. Will they all wind up in one of my books... perhaps, but even if they don't they encourage me to think about what their lives might be like and how they might become characters in a book. Add that to the fact that writing is, for me, the single most important thing I do every day and inspiration is a minute-by-minute occurrence.
Mike Billington
I am currently working on two novels" "Blood Debt," which is set in Fort Lauderdale in 1985 when cocaine usage was at epidemic proportions, and "The Third Servant," an historical novel based upon the parable in Matthew about the three servants charged by their master with enriching him. In that parable Matthew tells us the third servant was cast into the night for failing in that charge but he never tells us what happened to him. I chose to make the third servant a young boy and sent him on a long journey through the ancient world. The idea for this book actually came while I was at Mass one Sunday at St. Anthony of Padua in Wilmington, DE and I have to admit that it practically wrote itself.
Mike Billington
For me the best thing about being a writer is the fact that it's the closest thing to doing magic - real magic - that I can think of. Imagine: You can make strange little marks on paper (or a computer screen) and people you don't know who could be thousands of miles away can look at those strange little marks and know what's in your mind and imagination. Those little marks can move them to joy, thrill them, scare them even. They can make people weep, help them through a troubling time, inspire them to do great things... that's pretty magical, at least to my way of thinking.
Mike Billington
My father was an engineer and he always wondered when I was going to get a real job. In his mind, writing wasn't actual work, it was just something that you did when you had to send a letter to someone.
But writing is work, hard work. I know that for a fact because I've been earning my living as a writer since I was 15 years old and I can attest to a lot of sleepless nights and sitting down at a keyboard for so long that my back aches, my fingers are cramped and my shoulders have knots in them. I can also attest to the fact that writing is mentally exhausting. Real work? Oh yeah, writing is real work. So, now that I'm well into my 60's and have been doing this for more than half a century, I'd offer this advice to anyone contemplating a career as an ink-stained wretch.
First: Be a good reader. My first editor told me that to be a good writer you had to be a good reader and she advised me to spend at least 30 minutes every day reading something that had absolutely nothing to do with my job. I took that advice to heart and have followed it throughout my life, even to the point of always carrying a couple of paperback books in my rucksack when I was on patrol in Vietnam. Reading exposes you to a wide variety of storytelling techniques, builds your vocabulary and stimulates your imagination. Oh, and it's fun too.
Second: Learn to spell and learn the true meaning and proper usage of the words you use. There is nothing more annoying that reading a book, a newspaper article, a script or even a graphic novel that is heavily seasoned with misspelled words. Worse, in my mind, are those books I read in which the author has been too intellectually lazy to learn the difference between simple words such as "there," "they're" and "their" or "weather" and "whether." It's not that hard to learn the correct words and, hell, computers have Spellcheck. There's no excuse, therefore, for using the wrong word in the wrong place or misspelling them.
Finally: Write. If you want to be a writer then you have to write, preferably every single day. The fact is that good writers aren't born, they're made. Any writer worth his or her salt will tell you that there is more to telling a story than stringing some pretty words together. Your stories must be more than a splash of beautiful words; they must also have a point, a message, intriguing characters and continuity. How do you learn to give your stories those vital ingredients? You do it by constantly practicing your craft. If you're not willing to do that then my suggestion would be to find something else to do with your life because becoming a writer isn't really where your passion lies.
But writing is work, hard work. I know that for a fact because I've been earning my living as a writer since I was 15 years old and I can attest to a lot of sleepless nights and sitting down at a keyboard for so long that my back aches, my fingers are cramped and my shoulders have knots in them. I can also attest to the fact that writing is mentally exhausting. Real work? Oh yeah, writing is real work. So, now that I'm well into my 60's and have been doing this for more than half a century, I'd offer this advice to anyone contemplating a career as an ink-stained wretch.
First: Be a good reader. My first editor told me that to be a good writer you had to be a good reader and she advised me to spend at least 30 minutes every day reading something that had absolutely nothing to do with my job. I took that advice to heart and have followed it throughout my life, even to the point of always carrying a couple of paperback books in my rucksack when I was on patrol in Vietnam. Reading exposes you to a wide variety of storytelling techniques, builds your vocabulary and stimulates your imagination. Oh, and it's fun too.
Second: Learn to spell and learn the true meaning and proper usage of the words you use. There is nothing more annoying that reading a book, a newspaper article, a script or even a graphic novel that is heavily seasoned with misspelled words. Worse, in my mind, are those books I read in which the author has been too intellectually lazy to learn the difference between simple words such as "there," "they're" and "their" or "weather" and "whether." It's not that hard to learn the correct words and, hell, computers have Spellcheck. There's no excuse, therefore, for using the wrong word in the wrong place or misspelling them.
Finally: Write. If you want to be a writer then you have to write, preferably every single day. The fact is that good writers aren't born, they're made. Any writer worth his or her salt will tell you that there is more to telling a story than stringing some pretty words together. Your stories must be more than a splash of beautiful words; they must also have a point, a message, intriguing characters and continuity. How do you learn to give your stories those vital ingredients? You do it by constantly practicing your craft. If you're not willing to do that then my suggestion would be to find something else to do with your life because becoming a writer isn't really where your passion lies.
Mike Billington
I don't really have to deal with writer's block. I think that's because I spent nearly a half century as a journalist and had to write three or four - sometimes more - stories a day whether I felt inspired or not. In addition, writing for me is not really a job but something much, much more. You sometimes hear long-distance runners say that they feel bad if they can't get in a few miles every day. I feel the same way about writing: If I can't write for one reason or another (such as when I'm traveling) it's just a bad day no matter where I am or who I'm with.
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Jul 11, 2018 08:32AM
Jul 11, 2018 01:46PM