From Richard Frisbie Food Correspondent and Book Store owner:
New York Times Best-selling author of eight “thrillers” Kyle Mills, answered your questions live on Gather, November 1st at 2 PM. His latest book, Darkness Falls, uses true events and science to describe a possible scenario of the end of all oil and petroleum based products, and most probably, civilization as we know it. His recurring character, FBI agent Mark Beamon, head of Homeland Security in this book, takes somewhat of a back seat to the brilliant but brash environmentalist Erin Neal and his quest to save the world from a threat he may, or may not have created. The radicalization of the Environmental Movement, the gray area separating good and evil, and the whose-side-is-he-on, fast-paced plotting will have you on the edge of your seat until the last explosion reverberates through the world’s oil fields. This work is fiction only because it hasn’t happened yet, so a careful reading could leave you prepared for the ultimate disaster - when Darkness Falls.
Kyle Mills grew up in Oregon as the son of an FBI agent. As such, he absorbed an enormous amount of information about the Bureau which he incorporates into his novels. He and his wife live in Wyoming where they spend their time rock climbing and skiing when he is not pounding out another block-busting bestseller.
Read more about Kyle Mills and his books here at Gather:
Why I Wrote "Darkness Falls"
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977155810
Books and Beverages Book Review: "Darkness Falls" by Kyle Mills
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977147963
Interview with Kyle Mills author of "Darkness Falls"
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977148744
Books and Beverages Book Review: "Sphere of Influence" by Kyle Mills
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977155192
BIO - Richard has been writing culinary travel articles for more than five years as a columnist for his local newspapers, and as a regular contributor to the many Hudson Valley, Catskill Mountain and other regional New York publications. His most recent addition to that list is a wine column called “Fruit of the Vine” for Life in the Finger Lakes magazine. Online, he writes frequent articles for EDGE publications and Travel Lady, as well as Gather.
VIDEO - http://www.gather.com/viewVideo.jsp?id=11821949021851364&memberId=17461
Join my Food Videos Forum and see some of the kitchens and techniques you read about here at Gather: foodvideos.gather.com
You can read all of Richard's articles here http://rfrisbie.gather.com/
or find him with the other Food Correspondents, plus celebrity chef content and plenty of other Foodies at http://foodtalk.gather.com
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 64
Does your book have any subtle messages or warnings or did you write it for pure entertainment value?
To jump into the discussion, all you need to do is type your question in the comment box below (if you're not already a member you will need to Join Gather (http://www.gather.com/register.jsp) in order to post a question).
To see the questions and responses in real time, simply hit the refresh button on your browser. You will need to refresh your page continuously to see each new comment.
It looks like you already have a few questions above to get you started. Sooo -- Kyle -- please jump right in with some answers -- inquiring minds want to know!
EVERYONE - don't forget to keep clicking "refresh" or "reload" to see Kyle's answers and additional comments
If I had to guess, I'd say 100 or so. Persistence counts...
The oil eating bacteria in this book actually exists and was found in a Chinese oil well, the comments I made about the Saudis having problems with this type of bacteria is actually true, etc., etc.
I did have to make some assumptions about the effects of the loss of oil on society, but I worked through them as carefully as I could. To a certain extent, thriller writers try to predict the future. Hopefully, not successfully.
Being a new author is really hard, though. Editors and agents are inundated with manuscripts so the weeding out process can get pretty brutal and it's not always fair.
More and more, promotion is landing in the lap of the author--both financially and from the standpoint of how much time you have to put in. Then the challenge becomes making sure the books are out there when you're promoting them.
Having a good, long term relationship with an editor really helps, though I've yet to achieve that. Mine always seem to quit or get fired right after I sign with them. Hopefully, it's not me...
And before that (for DARKNESS FALLS) I read thousands of pages on environmentalism, peak oil, etc.
When it happens, though, you'd think you just cured cancer. When I got on the first time, my agent called an we had a half hour chat. Before that, our longest conversation was probably 2 minutes.
It depends on the book. My agent, wife and parents for sure. But if I'm writing in a really technical area, I'll try to get an expert to read it to try to find mistakes.
I actually had a former Marine once send me a letter pointing out every mistake I made in RISING PHOENIX, save one (there were a lot because I honestly never thought I'd get the book published and wasn't that careful.)
He sounded concerned in the letter that I'd be mad about his criticism and was very surprised when I sent him a copy of the manuscript I was working on with a note that said "See what you can find in this one."
When I'm working on an outline I can only work two or three hours a day before I have a cracking headache from thinking so hard. My goal when I'm writing prose is to do two chapters a day, though I seem to have slipped to one lately. Getting old and lazy, I think...
I didn't know that about Dean K. I'm having some trouble with my heating system. Maybe I should give him a call...
When you write an outline, do you completely flesh it out or leave it open in case the book takes a different direction midstream?
I always try to deal with some difficult subject and show it from all sides. In BURN FACTOR it was how far the government might go to protect someone they thought was critical to our security, RISING PHOENIX was a Swiftian morality tale based very much on his wonderful MODEST PROPOSAL.
DARKNESS FALLS deals with the ineffectiveness of the environmental movement and the world's incredible dependence on oil.
My goal is to entertain people, but to also make them think about important issues in a way that maybe they haven't before. One of my favorite things about writing is getting to look in depth at a subject I find interesting.
Kyle, what has been the greatest resource and help to you as a writer?
I tend to learn everything from books. So I read a bunch of how to write a novel books before I started--the best probably being SELF EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS. After that, it's been experience. I'm much better now than I was in the beginning.
How long have you been writing?
Hard to believe, but it's been ten years now.
Are you a part of writing group?
I never have been, though I'd think they'd be really helpful. I live in a pretty small town, so I don't have as much access as some.
Are you agented?
Absolutely, you pretty much have to be these days.
If so, how did you go about finding one?
I got my first agent through a friend--he sent my MS into his agent and the guy liked it.
Who edits for you before you send your work in?
My wife, my agent, and my parents generally. And, of course, me. After the first draft, I tend to look pretty hard at what I've done and if it makes sense.
Never work one chapter at a time! It's a recipe for spending years on one chapter. Write the whole thing and then go back...
I write HUGE outlines. I once wrote one that was 60k words for a 120k word book. Honestly, I'm probably wasting my time, but it seems to work for me
Well, my wife is a pretty good climber, but hopefully she'd draw the line at developing a bacteria to destroy the world's oil supply! That character is more a composite of a number of women I've met. Though there's undoubtedly some of my wife in there somewhere.
I think it's hard to say what's more important between plot and dialog or plot and character. It really depends on the particular book.
Even in the very plot driven stuff I write, character can be incredibly important. I learned that when I wrote the book FADE, which is a very character driven thriller about a former Navy SEAL who has gone kind of nuts. I think I had more response to that book than anything I've ever written. People just fell in love with the character.
If you're writing in the thriller genre and you're looking for hard and fast rules, I'd offer these: Write in the 3rd person past tense with a strong point of view. Shoot for no more than 100,000 words, keep the pace moving and do your research.
The problem with trying to get your first book published is that the industry is basically looking for reasons to toss your manuscript in the garbage. So you want to try to control all the things that are controllable.
No movies yet. It's surprisingly hard to break into Hollywood without actually going there and schmoozing. I think they're really used to people pitching them and don't give much thought to anything that isn't right in their face.
It'd be fun to see one of my books on the silver screen, but I'm not sure I'm willing to do all the hard work it would take.
Not that many because I live in such an isolated place.
I'm good friends with Tim Sandlin, a wonderful literary author, and I've been friends with Brad Thor since he first started writing. I also recently struck up friendships with Eric Van Lustbader and David Robbins--both guys I admire.
AND - Thanks to all the Gather members who participated. Until next time!
Panic and fear of someone foreclosing on my house ; ).