Michael P. Smith - The Devil in the red dirt Q&A discussion

Hi

If you have any question about the Devil in the red dirt, ask them here. I will do my very best to give you an entertaining insight into my poor broken brain.

Hello hello!
So happy to see you created a group. I have a few questions regarding this book. First, I'll start off with the basic. How did you come up with the story and characters?

Tawny wrote: "Hello hello!
So happy to see you created a group. I have a few questions regarding this book. First, I'll start off with the basic. How did you come up with the story and characters?"

Thanks Tawny! That's a great place to start.

It all started with the antagonist unfortunately. Though he would have been quite comfortable between the covers of an Edgar Allan Poe book, he is grounded in truth.

There was a man, a celebrity in the town I was living in as a younger man, who committed awful crimes of abuse and violence from his position of power. An entirely broken system not only allowed him to do so, hospitals and orphanages welcomed him in with open arms and he preyed on the weak. All because where he walked, money followed.

Several reports suggest he was given a key to a hospital mortuary where he went to "play" with the corpses like they were human dolls.

From there, I asked myself what sort of men could possibly be individually broken enough to not fit into that collectively broken system.

Step forward James Harris and Fred Lescott. Two broken men who had themselves been chewed up and spat out by society.

I read the book and loved it. I found it quite interesting that the genre and tone of the piece seemed to shift as the story moved on. Was that something you did on purpose, or did it kind of just happen?

Naomi wrote: "I read the book and loved it. I found it quite interesting that the genre and tone of the piece seemed to shift as the story moved on. Was that something you did on purpose, or did it kind of just ..."

That's a good question. It was definitely intentional. It's actually now proving to be something of a challenge in marketing the book.

The Devil in the red dirt is literary fiction to my mind. In tackling big social and philosophical issues, it's part story and part scathing social criticism.

In writing the book, I started at the destination. A place inspired by gothic horror and real world injustice. To get there, I set the characters in a corrupt world of noir.

To me this kind of represents the layers of injustice in the world. There is an acceptable face of greed and corruption that we all seem to put up with on a day to day basis. Then there's the ugly, lesser seen underbelly that our apathy allows to breed.

I felt that this shift from noir to horror in the final act provided something of a sickening gut-punch at the culmination of things.

Michael wrote: "Tawny wrote: "Hello hello!
So happy to see you created a group. I have a few questions regarding this book. First, I'll start off with the basic. How did you come up with the story and characters?"..."

Its amazing and chilling how dark reality can be.

Did you go in to writing this novel with a plan or did it come as you go? I read a lot of books in my profession and I find I am always curious about the writing process authors go through, and if it is the same with all their writing, or changes with each story.

Tawny wrote: "Michael wrote: "Tawny wrote: "Hello hello!
So happy to see you created a group. I have a few questions regarding this book. First, I'll start off with the basic. How did you come up with the story ..."

Honestly... My process was a mess. Life, work, and bouts of writers block and subsequent depression impended me massively. I've learned much from my mistakes and I hope not to repeat them. I doubt I'd survive them again.

The Devil ended up a 180,000 word epic but it started life as a very taut short story that didn't span more than five or six pages. Half of those pages were dedicated to the terrifying culmination to the book's manhunt. I'd written several short pieces previously but the horror of the culmination to the manhunt compelled me to get this finished as a novel.

I pretty much solely relied on stream of consciousness to get to first draft stage (about 220,000 words) in roughly 8-10 weeks. That was far too intensive and left me on the verge of a breakdown. So I put the book in a drawer and went on with life.

When I did get back to it, I drafted and redrafted at least a dozen times, fleshing out, and condensing as years went by for the characters and for myself. I wouldn't recommend stewing on a book so long. The good and the bad of it became far too entwined with my life away from the desk.

I most definitely did it the hard way. So it means the absolute world to me when people pick up the book and enjoy it. I understand it won't be for everyone. But the kind words I have received from yourself and others nourish me entirely.

To summarise. My next book, The Ballad of Black Valley, will be out in no more than six months and it will not be 180,000 words!

Michael wrote: "Tawny wrote: "Michael wrote: "Tawny wrote: "Hello hello!
So happy to see you created a group. I have a few questions regarding this book. First, I'll start off with the basic. How did you come up w..."

Amazing! Despite the tough times you produced and excellent work and I am looking forward to reading your next book!