Journey to Writing and the Creative Process by Russell, author of Derrick

DERRICK by Russell

THANK YOU for Having Me!

I must share some exciting news with all of you!

My new book, DERRICK, just won in 2018 New Apple Literary Awards Contest as Official Selection in Psychological Suspense. I am completely surprised, flattered and humbled by the honor!

Also to add, GAVIN (Part 1 of The Gavin Nolan Trilogy) won 2017 New Apple Literary Summer E-book Awards as Official Selection in Horror.

Journey to Writing and the Creative Process

In my youth, I had a knack for spinning a tale. Because my family moved around quite a bit, my talent grew more while the new set of friends got to know me. Soon, they enjoyed my stories. I would describe malevolent stories about missing people captured in the basement of nearby houses, specters or ghouls haunting the school or even crawling malformed creatures in the shadows that grab children in order to bring them back into the depths of sewers. Seriously, I always had a dark imagination! Truly, it wasn’t until I read my first ‘grown-up’ book--Cujo by Stephen King--which I grasped the concept of being a writer, and desired to conjure an equally terrifying story. Plus, it’d be awesome to have my name on the cover! Even then, I realized I had to drop my last name: My god, it’d take up too much space…;)

As an adolescent, I attempted writing: Really premature renderings of dialogue, descriptions and scenes paved my wave into larger pieces. In college, I did take creative writing, but I found it to be too structured for me. Then again, I did just about majored in everything. In my twenties, I wrote my first manuscript—not exactly a great piece of literature—and then buried it. Will it ever come to the surface one day? Perhaps. Anyway, the sense of accomplishment catapulted me into writing The Tale of Old Man Fischer, which took me a long time to write and edit. Frankly, I never really told anyone in my family (and even my friends) that I wrote books. When Old Man Fischer hit the shelves, they were absolutely flabbergasted! Attending Graduate School and completing my thesis further ignited the writer in me. In essence, I wrote GAVIN as a study break. Soon after, DERRICK was conceived.

Where am I going with this? As I alluded to earlier, I had really taken only one creative writing class. The other students lapped up the professor’s lectures on structuring and organizing story boards before the actual writing: It seemed too contrived to me. Needless to say, it almost squashed my aspirations to be a writer. Purging that process, I reset my writing process and wrote by the seat of my pants. Truly, I begin a new writing project with the blank screen. I don’t have outlines, don’t draw up character descriptions and don’t even do research! Seriously nothing…I just begin writing. A visualization of a possible beginning appears in my head and a cool main character’s name pops up. From there, my fingers do the rest. As the story progresses, I allow the characters point me in the direction. In fact, I really don’t know the outcome until about mid-way through. Then it becomes really exciting how it all winds up. If I’m surprised how the books turns out, then my reader will be equally as astonished. In a nutshell, my writing is truly organic.

Essentially, I am one of those delusional, peculiar guy in back of bar with a laptop, guzzling martinis, coyly watching the crowd and typing away. One of those patrons might become my next inspiration. Or you, if you walk into that bar…

So many thanks! Please follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!

Remember…Read to Escape!

Russell

Derrick

In Hyde Park, a movie theater erupts in flames on a bitterly cold November evening.

It seems like a job for the fire department, but under Captain Creighton’s direct orders, Detective Gavin Nolan and his partner, Derrick Williamson, must investigate. Arriving on the chaotic scene, they find multiple fatalities —but one of the victims is most peculiar…

Gavin soon discovers that this fire wasn’t the first of its kind. The arsonist has set ablaze other buildings around Chicago, and more female victims left in the same gruesome state have been discovered.

Gavin and Derrick determine that the arsonist is not an arsonist at all—but a sinister serial killer with an agenda.

Juggling the unexpected events in his personal life, Gavin digs into the locations of the explosions. At the same time, Derrick probes into the victims’ lives, searching for any possible connection.

However, when the next explosion occurs, the killer leaves behind a significant object, and Derrick becomes noticeably reserved. Gavin soon uncovers an enigmatic link, one that points to Derrick’s military past. A time that his partner had wished to forget. Yet, to catch the vicious maniac, Derrick must tell Gavin everything.

In a suspenseful, gripping ride to the end, it is up to Gavin to rescue his partner from the clutches of a killer. But will he make it in time?

WARNING: This book contains graphic scenes, explicit language, and violent sexual situations.

Available on Amazon

Read an excerpt:

The Opus Theater was a gouged-out smoldering shell of a building, resembling a nefarious beast defeated at the hands of a mob of local villagers. Its massive first-floor entrance breathed out the last of the smoke, the toothy marquee scarred with black soot. Above, its blackened window-eyes stared down upon the people menacingly. As Gavin ambled closer, avoiding the other officers, a gripping scent of chemicals, fabric, and noxious gas filtered into his nostrils, then wafted away with the wind. Next to the theater, a pair of smaller sibling buildings, a shoe business and a comic magazine shop, were scarred and smoldering as well. Even from here, Gavin could make out the shattered glass sparkling grimly against the siren lights.

As he had seen on the news, the fire trucks clustered near the front of the buildings. The crews were already wrapping up their gear, and one was lowering its long ladder. Firemen dashed from the trucks into the dark façade of the building, being swallowed up by the dying beast. Other men tugged on the thick gray hoses that were haphazardly tossed around on the street. Already, pockets of ice were forming on the standing water and small icicles began to grow from the edges of the building. Gavin carefully stepped over the hoses, which reminded him of ripped-out intestines from the gut of the savage beast, and tried to get out of the firemen’s way.

Hastily, a fireman rushed past him and knocked him slightly. Grunting an apology, the man kept talking into his radio and rounded one of the trucks. The smell of smoke invaded Gavin’s nostrils once again.

From behind him, Derrick shouted, “About time you fucking got here.”

About Russell

Russell has been writing for the majority of his life. Slipping into alternative universes allows him to enjoy the process of creativity from the novel’s conception to its final draft. Currently, he lives in South Texas with his wife, two kids and several cats.

DERRICK is a 2018 Winner in the New Apple Literary Awards, receiving Official Selection in Psychological Suspense.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Russell.The.Author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Russell_Writer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Russell_Writer/

Russell will be awarding $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Remember to leave comments and questions for Russell along the way!

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