Guest Post by Michael LaRocca

Way back in 2001, I self-published a gangster novel called Brotherhood. It was, by most accounts, a cringe-worthy book. A pastiche of every John Woo and Martin Scorsese film I had ever seen. Filled with double-fisted gunplay and soppy melodrama.

But, to my surprise, an intrepid American named Michael LaRocca took the time to read it anyway. And, through the power of the internet, we connected. And Michael became something of a mentor to me — offering me gentle guidance and ushering me towards the path of being a better writer.

Michael is nothing short of an inspiration. His travels have taken him from his native North Carolina to China, Thailand and Vietnam. And his travels have only reinforced his talents as a writer and an editor. So believe me when I say that the man can tell a damn good yarn.

Here’s one of them:

I’ve been asked about my journey and evolution as a writer and an editor, and the things that have enlightened me on my way.

Wait. I was enlightened? When did that happen?

Okay, seriously, let’s drop back to 1980. My classmates in the Advanced Placement program had rich parents. I had a 40-hour-a-week job washing dishes.

Many of my classmates entered things in the National Honor Society’s 1981 Florida State Convention. But only one student from Chamberlain High School won anything at that convention.

Yep, that was me. Second prize in the Short Story competition. I’m in the 1982 Who’s Who In American Writing for that.

I followed up that remarkable achievement by getting hundreds of rejection letters.

What happened?

Briefly, I was one of those authors who wrote morality plays in which the message was the only thing, and to heck with character and plot and all the stuff almost everybody else reads for.

I spent the 1990s chasing money, not writing, and yet, when I found myself living in Hong Kong on a tourist visa in 2000, I did have a “slush pile” on the hard drive. I also had a tremendous fear of more rejection letters.

What happened?

Well, an author can find beta readers if he or she wants to. It remains a marvel how willing some folks are to help an aspiring author improve.

It’s not quite so surprising that authors don’t always listen.

What an author must do is listen to his readers. Feel free to reject their advice, if you can’t follow it without abandoning your vision, but do pause to listen. After the hurt feelings and such.

People want to read good stories. Don’t you? I know I sure do. Yeah, we all do. That’s why we write.

Whenever I read a book that moves me, that haunts me after I’ve read the last page, that gives me a world that I can just go live in (in my mind), something inside me wants to give that experience to my own readers. That’s why I write.

But you know what? People can help you learn how to create those worlds if you let them.

So there’s my journey, my evolution, my whatever. Nine published novels behind me and it continues.

Meanwhile, I’ve edited over 300 published novels. What have I learned from that?

1) It’s easier to spot flaws in the works of others than it is to spot them in your own. No idea why. It just is.

2) When you think your writing is ready for the world, put it aside for a month and read it again. You’ll find ways to improve it. I guarantee it.

3) If you find a truly wonderful beta reader and skilled editor, you don’t have to marry her. I married mine, but that’s just a coincidence.