By the time I decided to go all-in as author-publisher, I’d gotten some strong praise from Publisher’s Weekly, thanks to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, so, for me, this was a much stronger endorsement of authenticity as a writer than the long, long slog of finding an agent.
Michael Patrick Hicks – 27 March 2014
The Back Flap
An Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 Quarter-Finalist
Jonah Everitt is a killer, a DRMR addict, and a memory thief.
After being hired to kill a ranking officer of the Pacific Rim Coalition and download his memories, Everitt finds himself caught in the crosshairs of a terror cell, a rogue military squadron, and a Chinese gangster named Alice Xie. Xie is a profiteer of street drugs, primarily DRMR, a powerful narcotic made from the memories of the dead. With his daughter, Mesa, missing in post-war Los Angeles, Everitt is forced into an uneasy alliance with Alice to find her.
Mesa’s abduction is wrapped up in the secrets of a brutal murder during the war’s early days, a murder that Alice Xie wants revenged. In order to find her, Jonah will have to sift through the memories of dead men that could destroy what little he has left.
In a city where peace is tenuous and loyalties are ever shifting, the past and the present are about to converge.
About the book
What is the book about?
Well, as the blurb above says, Jonah Everitt is a killer, an addict, and a memory thief. Convergence is a near-future sci-fi thriller, set in a post-war Los Angeles. America has been dealt a major blow, and has crumbled beneath foreign aggression and political in-fighting. The number of cybernetically-enhanced individuals is growing, and mem-sharing has become the new social media phenomenon. People who have installed DRMR devices are able to capture, record, and replicate their memories for sharing, allowing others to experience the same chemical sensations as the person recording. The dark side of this technology is snuff mems, which allow people to experience the psychotropic high of death itself.
After being hired by Alice Xie, a Chinese gangster, to kill and steal the memories of a ranking PRC officer, Jonah finds himself wrapped up in revenging a murder that goes back to the war’s early days. Along the way, his daughter goes missing, and he tries to find her.
When did you start writing the book?
I started writing Convergence back in the summer of 2011.
How long did it take you to write it?
The first draft took about five or six months, and then I let the book cool off for a while before I went through some self-edits and spent another month or two polishing the second draft. I finished that in time to submit to the Harper Voyager open submission period in Oct. 2012, and then to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award in Jan. 2013. I placed in the quarter-finals in the ABNA, got a glowing review from Publsher’s Weekly, and set about hiring a professional editor to help me work out the kinks. Throughout 2013 I worked with a team of content editors, copy editors, and a proofreader, and got the final draft ready for sale.
So, really, I guess it took about two years to write in a long-about way. There’s plenty of other back-and-forth behind-the-scenes stuff that I went through to get to the point where I was ready to write this book, but I won’t bore you to death any more than I already have with this question… Let’s move on!
Where did you get the idea from?
OK, so maybe I will bore you with some more of the back-and-forth and expand on the previous question of how long did it take to write… This is kind of a loaded question.
In 1999/2000 time-frame, I read a really cool BBC News Science article about a team of researchers who, for the first time ever, were able to plug into a cat’s brain directly and record video of what the animal was seeing. These scientists were able to build a device and tap into the cat’s optical nerve, and pipe it through a TV set. It was pretty remarkable, and set the stage for what would later become the DRMR device I write about in this book.
Things started to coalesce a bit more over the last few years as I followed news coming out of DARPA, and their breakthroughs with prosthetic limbs that users could control directly with their minds, and the incredible research they’ve done with their REMIND program to help veterans suffering from brain damage and memory loss.
The ideas behind Convergence are very much a real-world possibility, and a lot of what I write about in the book comes from modern-day science. I just tried to project it out a little bit and wrap it up in an interesting story and play around with the world scene in order to put some of the “fiction” alongside the science.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
Yeah, kind of. I had originally thought Convergence was going to be a quick short story, something to get my feet with before moving onto a separate, larger story I had planned, but as I wrote, the story kept growing. I started getting attached to these characters and their histories and their relationships. The struggle was putting it all away and taking these people on their inevitable journeys and resolutions. Emotionally, that was really the struggle.
What came easily?
The world-building came pretty easily. In some cases, a little too easily, and I had to trim back some of the unessential stuff that was bogging down the story and pacing. This was where working with a content editor came in very handy! In hindsight, I’d like to say that developing the characters and their relationships was pretty effortless, but a lot of thought went into how their interactions helped shape the plot and moved the story forward, and that helped me tremendously in the long run.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
Oh, I definitely borrowed! There was some surprise among my early readers who know me well and were able to read the book during one of its earlier drafts. I cribbed pretty liberally from reality, both in my own personal life and with current events. It’s difficult for me to not put some of myself and the world around me into my work, even when spinning fiction like this.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
My really formative years as a reader were shaped by popular authors – Tom Clancy, Stephen King, Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, Barry Eisler, those kind of writers. I love those interplays of mystery and horror, whether natural or supernatural, along with military thrillers. I think those authors and there works have definitely shaped me as a writer, and their influences have certainly seeped into Convergence.
Do you have a target reader?
While Convergence is a sci-fi book, I tried to make it pretty accessible to a broad segment of readers. I think sci-fi fans, particularly cyberpunk fans, will be pretty comfortable with the terrain I charted here, but I think it should appeal to mystery/thriller fans as well. It’s definitely an earth-based, human-based sci-fi thriller, so no aliens or space exploration. It’s more William Gibson than Star Trek on the sci-fi scale.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
When I’m working on a long-form project like Convergence, and now it’s follow-up, which I’m actively working on at the moment, I commit to a thousand words a day. If for whatever reasons I don’t hit the 1K goal, I work to make up the difference on subsequent writing days. Some days are easier than others, certainly, but by and large this has been a pretty reachable goal for me. So my process is pretty simple – just write. I tend to research along the way, as issues arise in the story that I feel need a deeper exploration.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
Kinda, sorta…maybe? Typically, before I even begin writing, I know the ending I’m working toward. If I’m really, really lucky, I’ve got the beginning, middle, and end. Then it’s just a matter of connecting the dots, and a lot of the time the characters can take over and lead the way, and I just need to be diligent about telling their story.
Convergence didn’t require a lot of outlining since I’d been carrying so much of this story around in my head for the better part of a decade. I did do some outlining for the last half of the book, though, just to keep all the allegiances and betrayals straight.
With the book I’m working on now, by comparison, I did work out a thicker outline and plotted things out and made more notes, and jotted out the backstory of some of the ancillary characters.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I wait until the first draft is finished. Then, I go through my first round of edits a month or so later, after it’s had time to settle and I can put some distance between myself and my work and be less attached to it and more ruthless with my edits.
Did you hire a professional editor?
I did. I worked with the editors at Red Adept Publishing, and they did a fantastic job whipping my book into shape.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
Typically, no. I prefer a quiet, solitude environment to work in. There’s usually enough noise in my own head that I don’t need to add to it… But, some writing days do require a little Nine Inch Nails to drum up the motivation a bit.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
I did. I shopped various drafts of the book around to agents for most of the last half of 2012 and much of 2013.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
The idea had been lurking in the back of my head before I even had word one of the book written back in 2011. Still, it was a very gradual process, but the more work I poured into this book, the more attached I became to it and self-publishing seemed like a very viable option to explore. By the time I decided to go all-in as author-publisher, I’d gotten some strong praise from Publisher’s Weekly, thanks to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, so, for me, this was a much stronger endorsement of authenticity as a writer than the long, long slog of finding an agent (which after 70 queries was starting to feel like a dead end).
So, between the ABNA and the Harper Voyager contest (which, I guess, technically, I still haven’t been rejected from, so I’ve survived their vetting process for about a year and a half now!), I felt that the work was strong enough to put out on my own. I couldn’t keep on waiting and waiting and waiting for others to catch up with me, and I was itching to go!
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
It was professionally done. Streetlight Graphics did an amazing job.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
Mostly winging it, at this point, but I’ve taken a few small steps towards marketing. Although I’ve set up a Facebook and a website and have a few avenues for that back-and-forth with readers, my main focus now is on writing my second book. When and if the opportunities arise to plug my work, though, I’m not too shy about taking advantage of it and hoping for new readers to give it a shot. The e-book is only $3.99, and I think readers will get their money’s worth.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Follow the industry, keep your eye on the blogs of authors you like, both indie and trad-published, and figure out what works best for you. Self-publishing is certainly a viable option, but keep in mind that it is just one option. There are several paths to publication, and it’s up to you to figure out how you want to go at it. Nobody can tell you there is absolutely only one sure path to follow, so carefully examine and weigh the pros and cons and figure it out.
If you go the self-pub route, though, don’t rush into hastily pushing the Publish button. Make sure you get the book professionally edited. While you probably won’t be able to get this done cheaply, trust me when I say that it’s worth every penny. I heartily endorse Red Adept; they were fantastic to work with and the results were great. If you’re a strong graphic designer, you can probably produce a cover yourself, but if not, hire a professional designer or find a professional template that you can purchase.
You spent all that time writing your book, but writing is only the first step if you’re going indie. You’re self-publishing, and you really need to think about what that means and how well you can bear the burden of being both an author and a publisher. The job isn’t finished just because you’re done writing. You don’t want to nuke all your authorial efforts with a shoddy-looking cover and zero edits. Take the time and bear the expense to make a book that’s on par with, if not better, than what the Big 5 are producing. Self-publishing isn’t, or at least shouldn’t be, an easy escape hatch for getting your work out there, and you should treat it like a business.
About You
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in the suburbs of Allen Park, Michigan, not too far from Detroit.
Where do you live now?
I still live in Michigan, in Farmington now, with my wife.
What would you like readers to know about you?
This might actually be the toughest question you’ve asked! I never know how to answer these things… I’ve had a pretty eclectic background, but I’ve always wanted to be an author first and foremost, and I’m happy to be able to make that happen. I’m a pretty open book, though, so if our readers have any questions they’re free to follow-up with me on Twitter or at the other links provided here.
What are you working on now?
I am working on my second novel, and hope to be able to release details in the near-future.
End of Interview:
For more, visit Michael’s website, like his Facebook page, or follow him on twitter.
Get your copy of Convergence from Amazon US (paper or ebook), Amazon UK (paper or ebook), Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords.
