Today's author feature includes a "Day in the Life" guest post written by author Neil S. Plakcy. Neil is the author of adult mystery novel The Next One Will Kill You, released tomorrow November 15th 2016 by Diversion Books. Be sure to read the exclusive book excerpt included with this post!
Author Bio
Neil S. Plakcy is a native of Yardley, Pennsylvania, and felt the call of the tropics drawing him to Hollywood, Florida, where he now resides with his partner and their golden retriever. That love of tropical latitudes has also nurtured an abiding interest in Hawaii, as well as in what Graham Greene called "shady characters in sunny places."
His fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including Verbsap, Blithe House Quarterly and In The Family, as well as winning first prize in a South Florida magazine contest. He is the president of the Florida chapter of Mystery Writers of America, and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (BA), Columbia University (MBA), and Florida International University (MFA), an assistant professor of English at Broward College and the proud papa of a white golden retriever named Brody.
He has published a wide range of fiction and non-fiction in mainstream and GLBT publications, both in print and on line. Visit him online at www.mahubooks.com.
His fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including Verbsap, Blithe House Quarterly and In The Family, as well as winning first prize in a South Florida magazine contest. He is the president of the Florida chapter of Mystery Writers of America, and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (BA), Columbia University (MBA), and Florida International University (MFA), an assistant professor of English at Broward College and the proud papa of a white golden retriever named Brody.
He has published a wide range of fiction and non-fiction in mainstream and GLBT publications, both in print and on line. Visit him online at www.mahubooks.com.
Sometimes my life is uncomfortably reminiscent of an episode of Cheers, the old sitcom that took place in a bar “where everybody knows your name.” I walk into my local Starbucks, my laptop in a bag over my shoulder, and at least one of the baristas will call out, “Hi, Neil!”
A lot of research goes into the books I write, and The Next One Will Kill You is no exception. And since I do an awful lot of writing and reading at that very coffee shop, I worry that some nosy fellow patron will look over my shoulder and report me to the police because I’m searching for something like “How to make a Molotov cocktail.”
I write almost every day, usually for an hour in the morning. I’ve been able to structure my college teaching schedule so that my day there begins with office hours at 11:30, giving me plenty of time to wake up, feed and walk two rambunctious golden retrievers, and then get my butt out the door and get that grande café mocha in front of me.
A lot of research goes into the books I write, and The Next One Will Kill You is no exception. And since I do an awful lot of writing and reading at that very coffee shop, I worry that some nosy fellow patron will look over my shoulder and report me to the police because I’m searching for something like “How to make a Molotov cocktail.”
I write almost every day, usually for an hour in the morning. I’ve been able to structure my college teaching schedule so that my day there begins with office hours at 11:30, giving me plenty of time to wake up, feed and walk two rambunctious golden retrievers, and then get my butt out the door and get that grande café mocha in front of me.
I’ve been able to train my brain that when I sit down at that wooden table with the power strip beneath it, I’m ready to write. I often begin by reading through what I wrote the day before, to reclaim the rhythm of the work and remind myself where I left off. Usually I leave myself little notes in the manuscript like “Start here and figure out why Steve needs this” or “what is Angus going to do with this information?”
I’m not an outliner. If I spend too much time figuring out the story then I’m not eager to go through the hard work of writing and revising. So I begin with an idea—for example, in The Next One Will Kill You, an FBI agent participates in a strip trivia contest to raise money to send his younger brother on a study trip abroad, and a couple of other agents from his office catch him in flagrante.
That inciting incident leads me to figure out who the characters are and what has brought them all together. And then I’m off to the races, hoping my protagonist will pull me forward as he gets his teeth into the case he’s investigating. Periodically I’ll have to stop for some research. I might go through the notes I assembled when I attended the FBI’s 8-week Citizen’s Academy. Or I’ll check the Bureau’s website to make sure I’m using the right terminology. I’ll often Google a term and then just sit there reading for a while, absorbing the information and letting my brain make the connections to my work in progress.
Eventually I’ll finish that first draft, and begin showing it, chapter by chapter, to my critique group. I save up all their comments until I’m ready for a second draft, usually a few months later when I’ve finished work on something else. Going back to the story is like learning about the characters and the plot all over again, and helps me find problems and missed opportunities, both on a macro and micro level. Why doesn’t Angus use this information that he’s gotten on page 20 until page 140? What was he hoping to get out of that visit to the drag queen at his workplace? And how can I make each sentence flow more easily, make the dialogue perform double duty to move the plot forward and also expose character?
Sometimes, I’ve changed so much that I need to let the book percolate for a while longer and then do one more draft. If I’m lucky, by the time I finish that second draft the manuscript is ready to send off to an editor. And that triggers a whole new set of suggestions, corrections and revisions.
Because I write multiple series, I’ve always got something to go back to if what I’m working on isn’t going well. Rather than sit and stare unproductively at my screen, I’ll simply switch from a cozy golden retriever mystery to the fast-paced world of Special Agent Angus Green, or to a sexy romance. Whatever book I’m writing, though the world around me filters in, from bumper stickers or hair styles I’m noticing to the weather or even the conversation of that couple across the table from me, who are arguing about whether her sister really dislikes him, or it’s all in his head.
For me, it’s the latter. It’s all in my head, and I just have to get it out on paper.
I’m not an outliner. If I spend too much time figuring out the story then I’m not eager to go through the hard work of writing and revising. So I begin with an idea—for example, in The Next One Will Kill You, an FBI agent participates in a strip trivia contest to raise money to send his younger brother on a study trip abroad, and a couple of other agents from his office catch him in flagrante.
That inciting incident leads me to figure out who the characters are and what has brought them all together. And then I’m off to the races, hoping my protagonist will pull me forward as he gets his teeth into the case he’s investigating. Periodically I’ll have to stop for some research. I might go through the notes I assembled when I attended the FBI’s 8-week Citizen’s Academy. Or I’ll check the Bureau’s website to make sure I’m using the right terminology. I’ll often Google a term and then just sit there reading for a while, absorbing the information and letting my brain make the connections to my work in progress.
Eventually I’ll finish that first draft, and begin showing it, chapter by chapter, to my critique group. I save up all their comments until I’m ready for a second draft, usually a few months later when I’ve finished work on something else. Going back to the story is like learning about the characters and the plot all over again, and helps me find problems and missed opportunities, both on a macro and micro level. Why doesn’t Angus use this information that he’s gotten on page 20 until page 140? What was he hoping to get out of that visit to the drag queen at his workplace? And how can I make each sentence flow more easily, make the dialogue perform double duty to move the plot forward and also expose character?
Sometimes, I’ve changed so much that I need to let the book percolate for a while longer and then do one more draft. If I’m lucky, by the time I finish that second draft the manuscript is ready to send off to an editor. And that triggers a whole new set of suggestions, corrections and revisions.
Because I write multiple series, I’ve always got something to go back to if what I’m working on isn’t going well. Rather than sit and stare unproductively at my screen, I’ll simply switch from a cozy golden retriever mystery to the fast-paced world of Special Agent Angus Green, or to a sexy romance. Whatever book I’m writing, though the world around me filters in, from bumper stickers or hair styles I’m noticing to the weather or even the conversation of that couple across the table from me, who are arguing about whether her sister really dislikes him, or it’s all in his head.
For me, it’s the latter. It’s all in my head, and I just have to get it out on paper.
Featured Title | The Next One Will Kill You
Angus Green wants more adventure than a boring accounting job, so after graduating with his master s degree he signs up with the FBI. After his initial training at Quantico he s assigned to the Miami field office but stuck behind a desk. Struggling to raise money for his college student brother, he enters a strip trivia contest at a gay bar. But when he s caught with his pants down by a couple of fellow agents, he worries that his career is about to crash. Instead, he s added to an anti-terrorism task force and directed to find a missing informant. It s his first real case, and it takes him from Fort Lauderdale s gay bars to the morgue on a desperate chase to catch a gang of criminals with their tentacles in everything from medical fraud to drug use to jewel theft. At the same time, his brother s girlfriend is murdered and his brother becomes a suspect. Angus struggles to learn the skills he needs to save his brother and earn rank as a full-fledged agent capable of running his own cases. If he can t overcome his own insecurities and face down violent criminals with mayhem on their minds, he could lose everything he cares about. The street quickly teaches him that the only way to face a challenge is to assume that he'll survive this one--that it'll be the next one that will kill him."
Book Excerpt
Get the Kindle version here: 
