Faces of The Gone: A Carter Ross Mystery: Interview with Author Brad Parks

No one ever said that publishing your first book is easy.

But, with a little determination and a bit of patience, it can be done.

Brad Parks, author of soon-to-be-released novel, Faces of the Gone: A Carter Ross Mystery (Minotaur Books), is a dear, long-time friend of mine.

We went to school together in our hometown of Ridgefield, Connecticut and spent many a day bantering back and forth about various topics. He usually won; Brad is a master of both wit and words. How could I keep up?

We had a chance to catch up recently about his new book, what it takes to be a writer and the often long — yet ultimately rewarding — process of getting your first book published.

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Laura Cococcia: You’ve been writing since we were in school together. When did you know you wanted to be a writer? Was there an “aha” moment?

Brad Parks: I think I’ve always been a writer, though it took me a number of “aha” moments to finally realize it — I’m a bit of a slow study, I guess.

To pick one: Do you remember Jim Beasely? I wrote a story about him for the The Ridgefield Press our junior year in high school. It was about how he had taken up bike riding as treatment for cancer and had since become a champion cyclist. I found the story not long ago while I was organizing some clips and was positively horrified by it (I had little Jimmy Beasely on his bike, riding away from cancer).

Nevertheless, Jim came into physics class the next day and told me his mother liked the story so much, she cried. My 16-year-old brain was just blown away that a newspaper article could move someone like that. And while I’d like to think I’ve gotten a little more sophisticated through the years — I now strictly avoid metaphors involving cancer, for example — I think the best of what I’ve done as a writer attempts to replicate the kind of reaction I got from Mrs. Beasely, whether it’s crying, laughing, or just a good head-shaking. For me, it’s all about touching people with words.

Laura Cococcia: Your new book, Faces of the Gone: A Carter Ross Mystery, is slated to come out this December. What was the most challenging part of writing your first book? The most exciting?

Brad Parks: Answer to the first part: Finishing it. Answer to the second part: Finishing it. Okay, I’m being facetious (but only a little bit).

Really, I would say the toughest part was learning to work with my inner editor. I think all writers have one somewhere. Mine sits on my shoulder — because if I let him into my head, he’d make a God-awful mess of things. As a newspaper reporter, I could only pay so much attention to him. Eventually, deadline came and I had to file. As an author, I’ve had to learn that delicate balance of when to listen to him and when to tune him out. Because sometimes he makes great suggestions. Still, if I give him too much say, I’d still be stuck rewriting Chapter One.

As for the most exciting part? That’s easy. It was last July, when my agent, the incomparable Jeanne Forte Dube, called me and said the four most wonderful words a writer can hear: “I sold your book.”

Laura Cococcia: You’ve done amazing things since we graduated – you started the Dartmouth weekly sports newsletter and worked for The Washington Post and The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger. And now your book! Did you ever imagine you’d achieve such success?

Brad Parks: Okay Laura, I have to admit something to you: My resume is littered with lies. I don’t mean I made up the stuff that’s on there. But it’s filled with lies of omission, because it leaves out all the failures — jobs I didn’t get, awards I didn’t win, publishing houses that didn’t want me, etc.

If I’ve allowed myself to be proud of anything, it’s not letting those failures get in the way of the stuff that eventually did land on the resume. And, with a few exceptions — like those annoying kids who come out of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop with a three-book contract from Random House — the common thread among the authors I’ve met is that they kept stuffing their (numerous) rejection letters in a file somewhere and continued writing until they found someone willing to publish them.

Laura Cococcia: You probably don’t know this, but I was always jealous of you in school since you were a much better writer than I was. What advice can you give to all of us aspiring writers looking to improve our writing?

Brad Parks: I think there might be some revisionist history going on here. If I recall correctly, you were the one our eighth grade social studies teacher called “Ace Cub Reporter.” I was just the kid sitting in back with the pencil up my nose.

So, advice about writing? I would say don’t worry if you weren’t the smartest kid in class. I sure wasn’t. I actually have proof, too: When my wife was in grad school, studying to be a school psychologist, she had to learn how to administer intelligence exams and I was her test dummy (quite literally). There was this one test where you had two minutes to rearrange blocks into a certain pattern. You got no credit for completing the task after two minutes, but the test administrator wasn’t allowed to tell you that — nor could she tell you to stop working. My poor wife had to sit there for 25 minutes before I finally got it right.

But that’s the great thing about writing: No one can tell you it’s time to quit that either. You don’t necessarily have to be smarter than anyone else. You just have to be stubborn.

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Brad – you’re the best. Revisionist history? Me? Never.

In all seriousness – huge thanks to Brad for sharing his experience with us. Whether it’s writing, working or basket weaving, we all can learn a lesson from Brad’s story of perseverance — and success.

I strongly encourage you to visit Brad’s site at www.bradparksbooks.com (more witty Brad-isms), read an excerpt from Faces of the Gone: A Carter Ross Mystery and join his fan club (I am a card carrying member).

Faces of the Gone: A Carter Ross Mystery will be released on December 8th, 2009 and is currently available for pre-order. An easy way to get ahead of the holiday season gift-giving madness. For me, December 8th can’t come soon enough.

Tagged as: Interviews, Laura Cococcia, Writing