|
I first encountered Rick
Blechta at a writer's conference in Ontario,
Canada. On a whim I purchased his book
A
Case of You (which I reviewed on
Myshelf.com ) and was truly impressed with his
writing. Over the years we've stayed loosely
in touch.
Rick has two passions in life:
music and writing (or as some wag put it, “Music
and Mayhem” – although the reference
may have been directed more at Rick’s
behavior than his crime writing). He has seven
novels published, most recently Orchestrated
Murder. Next up in fall 2012 will
be The
Fallen One from Dundurn Press.
Rick can also be found on the first Monday of
every month playing trumpet for The Advocats
at People’s Chicken in Toronto. Visit
his website at www.rickblechta.com
He also contributes weekly to two blogs: typem4murder.blogspot.com
and lateinnings.blogspot.com
(which is a blog devoted to baseball).
Here's our interview...
Dennis: How long
have you been writing?
Rick: Pretty well all my life I’ve
been a storyteller. It’s really hard for
me to relate much of anything without at least
feeling the urge to embellish it, and often,
I can’t resist that urge. As for how long
I’ve been writing these stories down,
well you’d have to go back to 1990 for
that.
I’ve been a musician since I was seven
and began playing professionally when I was
thirteen. By the late eighties I’d been
doing it a long time, and back then it was seven
days a week. The result was, I got completely
burned out. Since music brought in my daily
bread, I couldn’t stop doing it (teaching
and playing), but I began to cast about for
some other creative outlet that wasn’t
music-driven. I liked writing – in fact,
I have a minor in English and took creative
writing – so I thought, Why not?
Well, it didn’t work out quite as planned.
Music was too engrained in my psyche and it
just popped into my writing unbidden. Now, seven
novels later, I’m still having fun trying
to figure out how to put words together to make
something that’s interesting, and hopefully,
thought-provoking while also being entertaining.
Dennis:
How/why did you choose your genre?
Rick: It chose me. I had always enjoyed
crime fiction, starting with Agatha Christie
and Rex Stout when I was a kid, and then branching
out all over the place. In reading a Dick Francis
novel one time, I noticed that he completely
blew the musical aspects of his story. It was
only a sidebar to the plot, but it really rankled
with me. That suddenly made me think, though.
What if I did a similar thing to Dick, but with
music instead of horses? My first novel, Knock
on Wood, was the result.
 Dennis:
Do you plot or do you write by the seat of your
pants?
Rick: A year ago, I would have jumped
up and answered, “Seat of my pants!”
for sure. Then I got asked to write a short
novel for adult readers with poor literacy skills
and the publisher wanted a complete plot outline
before offering a contract. I found it way too
much like doing homework, but they must have
liked what they saw because the story was bought
(Orchestrated
Murder) and I managed to craft
a respectable story – even though I knew
pretty well what was going to happen at every
turn.
So, to answer the question exactly, I’d
now have to just say, “Yes!”
Dennis:
What do you know now that you are published
that you didn't know pre-published that you
wish you knew?
Rick: How tough this “game”
is! Since the advent of home computers, writing
has exploded. Now authors can easily put out
their own works without a huge outlay of money
and energy and have fun doing it. Unfortunately,
this sort of proliferation has seriously diluted
the publishing “pool”. Even if you
manage to find a publisher, how do you get heard
above the din? It does get discouraging at times.
Would any of this have stopped me? No. I’ve
found I really enjoy the process of writing.
Even well into writing my ninth novel, I find
I can’t wait to get back at it every morning.
This week I have been going over the edit to
my next novel, The Fallen One, which is coming
out this fall. I worked five twelve-hour days
in a row and could have kept going. I find writing
energizing, and I love hanging out with my characters,
as it were. Being a musician, I’m also
an inveterate tinkerer, so I really enjoy the
aspect of polishing my prose. Going through
a manuscript four or five times is no big deal
for me.
Overall, I would say to anyone starting out:
get to know the business aspects of being an
author. Learn the terms so you understand what
people in publishing are talking about. Talk
to authors, editors, cover designers, anyone
who can help you come to grips with what books
are all about. I’ve done that and it’s
only helped me
Dennis:
If you have a day job, what is it?
Rick: I still do music as much as I
can. I play trumpet in an 18-piece Toronto big
band and I’m the leader and music director
of a 14-piece soul band in the NYC area. I also
occasionally get hired for other gigs. I teach
a couple of students, too. A large part of my
income is derived from doing graphic design.
I grew up in my dad’s photo engraving
plant so you could say that it was in my blood.
Once I stopped teaching school, it was a good
fit. One has to eat, after all.
Dennis:
What do you consider your strengths
in terms of your writing?
Rick: I’ve been told I write
really strong and sympathetic characters. I
suppose that’s because I really like people
(in general) and I’m also empathetic.
I’ve worked very hard at dialogue and
that’s something that’s also often
commented on. Finally, I seem to come up with
offbeat but engaging plots. I have no clear
idea where they come from, though. They just
appear. Finally, the ability to write convincingly
about something “exotic” like the
music world is something my readers really seem
to enjoy.
Dennis:
What authors do you admire?
Rick: Boy, is that a loaded question.
I still really enjoy rereading Rex Stout now
and then, same for Dick Francis. For new books,
top of the list for me is Michael Connelly,
Peter Robinson, Barbara Fradkin and Denise Mina.
I used to read a ton of SF, but now confine
myself to Robert Sawyer whose books I always
read as soon as they’re released. Past
that, I’ve recently begun to enjoy reading
history. If you’d told me that would happen
when I was fourteen, I would have killed myself
laughing!
 Dennis:
This is your space to say anything you
like.
Rick: I’d like to encourage everyone
to try one of my novels. There are hundreds
of millions of people on this planet who have
yet to discover the joy of reading Blechta!
Seriously though, my stories are engaging, interesting
and a little off the beaten path. The
Fallen One , for instance is about
an opera singer who may or may not be seeing
dead people. Like all of my novels, you don’t
have to know a damn thing about music, just
like a good story. Music is just the background
on which I present it. Also, I don’t write
about the same thing all the time. I cover the
musical waterfront! If you haven’t read
me yet, I urge you to buy one of my novels,
and if it’s not the best novel by me you’ve
ever read, I’ll refund the purchase price.
|
