Everyone is making these really cool lists of things they liked this year. It’s really cool. Because of how cool it is, and because I don’t like missing out of cool things, I will make one too.

Instead, this will be called THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS YEAR.

Let’s begin:

In 2009, I was introduced to crime fiction. I discovered the authors Charlie Huston, Duane Swierczynski, and Josh Bazell. I picked up Beat the Reaper on a whim and fell in love. The three authors listed above (with a few others) inspired me to try my hand at crime fiction, putting the urban fantasy stuff in a drawer. Good riddance.

With the finish of SKINLESS at midnight on Chrismat Eve, I completed three books this year. Each one took exactly four months. I did not plan that. I hope that pace continues into 2010, since I have two books right now warring to get out of my head. One is Ford Kelly #3 and the other is a science fiction/fantasy type book thing. Both promise to kick ass. The two math classes I’m taking next semester promise to kick mine.

This year I got an agent. That was pretty cool.

This year I went to Bouchercon and got to meet a boatload of kickass writers. I hung out with Patrick Lee most of the time, not realizing until December that I am a HUGE fan. Seriously, THE BREACH will own you.

Hanging out with Janet Reid was incredible. Imagine following someone’s blog for a year, combing over it for tips on how to write queries and break into the business. Now imagine going out to a fancy restaurant with that person, and having them buy you dinner. And drinks. Learning more about the community firsthand. I still haven’t gotten over it.

I got to know one of my writer heroes, Jeff Somers, a little better. In January I was a fanboy who managed to get a copy of the last page of the original draft of The Electric Church from him. He MAILED it to me. I framed it and hung it above my bookshelves. Now we share an agent.

Thanks to Twitter, I have a lot of new writer friends, and with the help of Bill Cameron, Jeff Somers, and Sean Ferrell, created Team TEAM. I love them all.

I got closer to finishing school. Hoping for a million dollar book deal so I can quit early.

Some other stuff happened. It’s all boring. I forgot why I started making this post in the first place.

My second short story (really short; we’re talking two pages) is up at pulp-metal.

Scroll down, it’s the second story.

It may or may not star a very minor character from my novel.

Here’s the link:

http://pulpmetalmagazine.webs.com/fiction.htm

I am knee deep in the final draft of my newest book. I’m tired and it is sucking my brain.

As such, I haven’t been posting. That’s bad, since I’m the new guy and it’s nice that a regular amount of people are coming to my site every day.

So, yeah. What do you guys want to hear about? I’m pretty much an expert in everything except deep sea diving.

If you read enough about how to write (something I don’t necessarily recommend) you will come across something called resonance.

Leaving your readers wanting more.

That tingly feeling you get when you close a book. A chill. You think about it day’s later, a little sad that it’s over. The final scene has resonated with you.

Unfortunately, they never tell you how to achieve that.

I came across a perfect example while finishing up MY DEAD BODY by Charlie Huston. Through five books we follow Joe Pitt through hell. If the guy gets a break, it doesn’t last long.

SPOILERS:

After all is said and done, Joe grabs his girl from the Enclave HQ and hooks up with a Vampyre biker gang. They prepare to ride out of Manhattan, to seek refuge as Vampyres are revealed to the world.

These two paragraphs are near the end:

A few blocks from the bridge I pull to the curb outside a deli. When I come out I have five packs of Luckys. I peel one open and stick a smoke in my face and my girl digs my old Zippo from my jacket pocket and gives me a light.

Some moments, they’re worth what you go through to get there.

__________________________________________________________

WOW!

WOW!

THAT’S RESONANCE.

Some moments, they’re worth what you go through to get there. We know exactly what Joe Pitt is talking about. The road ahead will be hard for him and his kind, but that moment is frozen in time. It was all worth it.

Yes, I have pictures. I have video.

I’m too lazy to put them up right this second, mainly because I’m hungry and I’ve been in this chair trying to “outline” my second draft.

But here are two pieces of advice I got at Bcon that I’d like to share:

1.) Never kill a dog.

Kids? Risky but doable–see Gone Baby Gone.

Cats? Fuck ‘em.

But don’t kill a dog. Don’t do it. If you kill a dog in your book, people will find you and kill you. True story. I had more people tell me this than I can give credit to.

2.) Nobody gets it right the first time–Brett Battles

I got some one on one time with Brett Battles, author of The Cleaner, which is on my t0-be-read-very-soon list. I asked Brett how the big thriller writers manage to make their books complex and interconnected to the point where the reader goes NO WAY. You know that moment, where things come together and it’s almost too good to be true, but you still buy it because the writer is so skilled. A NO WAY moment.

I said, “How do you do that? I feel like a simpleton next to these guys.” My book has its share of twists, a fair amount of NO WAY moments. But I focus on a brutal, rage-filled pace. The nuance is sometimes drowned out in the violence.

Brett kindly explained that no one gets it right the first time. It comes with rewrites. You take a step back and see where things connect, then explore further. There is nothing god-like about the big hitters, they just know how to make their stories sing.

Probably something I already knew, but to hear it from a pro really hit home.

Good advice.

Pics and other stuff on the way. Maybe even a blow-by-blow of the highlights.