I think readers who are looking for something a little off-kilter will enjoy this book. It’s a fast-paced dark comedy/crime story that will appeal to fans of the Coen Brothers, Ben Stiller, and similar artists.
Marc Cavella – 6 June 2020
The Back Flap
Edward Jones is an easygoing Southern salesman whose company only assigns him their most important contracts. But that’s not a problem for Edward; after all, the more important contracts equal more money in his pockets.
And even though his Papaw and Daddy also did this same kind of work, they never came up against anything as complicated as Edward’s latest assignment: Dr. Jared Young, a generous parochial-school headmaster with a gorgeous wife and three wonderful sons, all thriving in an idyllic community up in Hutchinson County. Jared and his family don’t know it yet, but Edward’s going to do everything in his power—like temporarily adopting a destitute-yet-philosophical child and buying armloads of retina-searing John Cena t-shirts—to turn their world entirely upside down, all so he can earn his biggest commission yet.
Equal parts satirical dark comedy, neo-Western thriller, and meditation on modern manhood—with an adorable Yorkshire Terrier thrown in for good measure—Tabernacle will have readers (and, with a little bit of luck, Jared Young himself) hooked on its unpredictable plot and wicked sense of humor before they even know what’s hit them.
About the book
What is the book about?
Tabernacle is the story of Edward Jones, a wildly successful salesman who sells a product that none of his clients actually wants. His latest client is Dr. Jared Young, a pious parochial-school headmaster with a wonderful family living in the Texas Panhandle. The book follows Edward as he plots and schemes to make the biggest sale of his entire career, deftly navigating a number of twists and turns along the way.
But more than that, I think the book touches on some very important themes like fatherhood and man’s impact on the world around him.
When did you start writing the book?
June of 2015.
How long did it take you to write it?
Quite a while! It took me two years just to get the first draft finished. After that, I sent it out to beta readers and made some adjustments based on their feedback. I also added in a few additional sections that really helped to flesh out Edward Jones, along with reinforcing some thematic elements. So, all in all, it probably took me about four years or so to finish it.
Where did you get the idea from?
I sort of stumbled into it. I was working as a marketing writer for a consulting company and I was tasked with learning as much about the company’s insurance products as possible. As I worked on the project, I came across an article saying that, back in England in the Middle Ages, people used to take out insurance policies on random strangers, name themselves as beneficiary, and murder said strangers. This allowed the murderer to collect the policy’s death benefit. I don’t know if that story is true, but I was fascinated by that whole idea, since it seemed particularly heinous.
That was the starting point. But I sort of flipped the whole thing on its head a little bit, and that was basically the genesis of Edward Jones. I really liked the concept of the character and his work—it seemed like you could go anywhere with him. Then I had to ask myself, “What kind of person would actually take a job selling a product like this?” A person like that would have to be seriously damaged, in my opinion. That’s what got me started on the child-maltreatment aspect of the book, because as awful as Edward Jones can be at times, I don’t think he’s completely at fault—he clearly had some very bad influences exerting on him when he was growing up.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
Definitely! I’m an impatient person by nature and that’s not the best quality if you’re trying to write a novel, in my opinion. I want the whole thing to be done and written now, you know? So making sure that I took the time that each chapter needed in order to breathe properly was a constant challenge throughout.
What came easily?
I think that the idea and the general structure came pretty easily. The character of Pablo also came pretty easily because he has such a good nature and a really pure heart—he’s very direct and doesn’t have any kind of ulterior motives, so qualities like avarice and dishonesty are fairly foreign concepts to him. He’s a nice counterbalance to Edward Jones in that way.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
All of the book’s characters are entirely fictitious. John Cena does have a lot of different kinds of t-shirts, though; I didn’t make that part up.
Do you have a target reader?
I think readers who are looking for something a little off-kilter will enjoy this book. It’s a fast-paced dark comedy/crime story that will appeal to fans of the Coen Brothers, Ben Stiller, and similar artists. But at the same time, there are some deeper themes at play in the book, which will definitely appeal to people who love literature and who enjoy reading for subtext and meaning.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I try to write a minimum of 500 words every day. That’s really my only process. But I’ve started writing a lot more flash fiction lately—little stories that are between 100 and 300 words or so. I feel like it helps me to stretch my horizons a little bit, and I love the challenge of telling a complete story in such a small window.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
Not really. I’ve tried it before and I felt like it constrained me more than I liked, if that makes sense—I think I was trying too hard to adhere to the outline as opposed to letting things happen organically. But I usually won’t start a project unless I have a pretty good idea of where it is going to go, so maybe the outline is just in my head.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
It’s probably a mix of both but I usually wait until I’ve finished a rough draft to start editing. I find that I can get very bogged down if I’m trying to edit for structure and related elements while I’m writing a draft. I just try to get all of the ideas out and edit later, but maybe that’s part of why it took me so long to write Tabernacle—maybe I’d be better off editing more thoroughly as I work on each section.
Did you hire a professional editor?
Not for Tabernacle. Edward Jones speaks with a Texas/Southwestern accent—think Hank Hill from King of the Hill and Nicolas Cage’s H.I. McDonough from the movie Raising Arizona—and I wasn’t sure I could find an editor who could work consistently with that kind of dialect. I figured I knew the character better than anybody, so I edited it myself.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
Not as a rule. I tend to find it a little distracting, to be honest. But I have found that listening to music outside of my writing time can really take me in interesting directions. There’s a section in the book that is a brief meditation on the nature of communities both present and past that was completely inspired by a line from Los Lobos’ “The Valley”, which I heard while I was watching an episode of The Sopranos. (“Walk Like a Man”, if any of your readers are Sopranos fans.)
So music is certainly something that can be a huge influence. There are definitely times when I listen to music to help me get a sense of place and time. I was writing something recently that took place in the 1930s, so I was listening to a lot of old country music from that era. I think it helped a lot.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
I did initially, but only to two people. They both had a problem with the nature of Edward Jones’ work. And I had no interest in changing that aspect of the character, so I decided to forget about agency representation and just focus on writing the book that I wanted to write.
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 indie route really appeals to me because it allows me to have complete control over the process and to express myself the way I want to, as opposed to having someone else tell me what they think I should do. As mentioned above, I tried to submit my work to agents a few times, but they wanted me to change Edward Jones pretty substantially and make the character a little more mainstream. I had no desire to do that, so instead of using up my energy finding an agent, I put it into the book instead.
And I think that once you see the process of putting together a book from start to finish, you can take over as much of it yourself as you’d like, which is exciting. For example, I learned a lot about Photoshop, so I can probably do my own book covers now. And I’m learning about InDesign so I can handle the interior layouts whenever possible. I think the publishing process with my next book will be a lot smoother, because I learned so much from Tabernacle in that regard.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
I went with a professional, Louis Ciavolella of Ciavo Design in New Jersey. He’s an extremely talented illustrator and artist who took the time to collaborate with me and translate the vision I had in my head into an awesome cover. I really wanted the cover to look like a beat-up photograph that you might come across in an old scrapbook or in a box in a dusty attic, and I think Louis really captured that. He and I also created the book trailer, which has gotten some great feedback. I highly recommend him.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I’m winging it! But I’m learning along the way. I think I’ll have a much better idea of how to handle my next book thanks to the experiences I’m having with Tabernacle, which includes talking to other indie authors about their own thoughts on what works and what doesn’t.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
I think my main advice is to write the book you want to write and not the book you think other people would want to read. There are definitely people out there who want to hear your voice. There’s a great Billie Holliday quote that I think applies to any artistic endeavor: “If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.” Going the indie route lets you be yourself and be as authentic as you want to be.
About You
Where did you grow up?
One town over from where MTV filmed The Jersey Shore.
Where do you live now?
Same town! But I’ve lived in a number of other places as well—Boston, New York, Philadelphia. I’ve spent a lot of time down south as well, and I really love the rhythm of that part of the country. (Plus I enjoy the weather much better in the winter.) I’m also thinking of moving to New Orleans for a little while if possible—I love the energy and one of the novels I’m working on takes place there.
What would you like readers to know about you?
That they can send unmarked large-denomination bills to my P.O. Box any time that they’d like! Also, they should feel free to get in touch via Facebook or Twitter—I’m always happy to discuss the writing process whenever I can.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently about 40,000 words into Tabernacle’s sequel, which I hope to release sometime in 2021, and I’d like to finish that trilogy by 2022. I also have a prequel in mind for the series which explores a little bit about Edward Jones’ grandfather and how their family got started in their line of work.
I’m balancing that series out with a few other projects. I’m writing a novella that focuses on a regional wrestling promotion in the late 70’s, back when those regional promotions were starting to die out and everything was getting conglomerated into the World Wrestling Federation (which is modern-day World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE). I’m hoping to have that one up on Amazon by August 2020, just something to tide over the people who enjoy my work. I’m also trying to revisit a novel I worked on a long time ago, about two friends who tour Virginia’s Civil War battlefields as an impromptu bachelor party. I’m going to start posting regular updates about these books on my website, so anyone’s who’s interested should feel free to check it out!
End of Interview:
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