Of Plots and Pants (The Two Methods of Writing Fiction)

By Gamal Hennessy

Humans are predisposed to creating "Us vs. Them" dynamics. We’re getting a heavy dose of that in our current political climate, but we’ve always found ways to divide ourselves according to race, religion, nationality, ideology and dozens of other factors. None of these contrasts matter in the end because we all share a fundamental humanity, except when it comes to writing fiction. That is completely different story (insert sarcasm here).

The Two Travelers

In writing six novels, I’ve found two great paradigms in the craft of fiction writing. Each has its strengths and weaknesses that all aspiring writers should consider. 

On one side we have the “pantser” who writes "from the seat of their pants". They begin with an idea and a blank screen. Then they start writing. Their idea and their inspiration lead the way and to a large extent, the writer follows the creative inspiration until the end of the narrative. There are several well-known proponents of this method. Stephen King and Tom Clancy have published bestsellers in this style and quite a few independent writers I know also support it.

On the other hand, the plotter starts with an idea, but then builds some kind of road map as a guide before writing the manuscript. Some writers call it a plot. Others call it an outline or a script. Robert McKee explored this method in depth in his book Story and I have found that motion picture and graphic novel writers are much more comfortable with the plot method.

In short, a panster is like an archaeologist who "finds" their story as they write it, never completely sure of what they will pull from their subconscious until it’s done. They are like the traveler who takes a trip with the expressed goal of getting "lost" and reveling in the adventure of what they discover.

By contrast, a plotter is closer to an architect who "builds" their story out of models and plans, unwilling to begin construction until they know what the structure will look like. They are the traveler who takes a trip with a map, a GPS, a guidebook and an itinerary of some kind.

I'm not trying to advocate one method over another, because every writer has to find the method and the practice that works with their temperament and lifestyle. I can explain why I plot and how it helps me, in the hopes that this can help you understand your own method better.

The Method to My Madness

All my professional writing has included some kind of plotting. Creating contracts as a lawyer and understanding the development of comics or the production of films all required outlines of various sorts. Now that I publish independently, plotting enhances my structure and my timing in several different ways:

When I write from a plot I can work from the inside out. I understand how each character relates to the others and how the narrative will flow. I can build each beat within a chapter, each chapter within an act and each act within a story. A script might take three months to a year to write, but when I'm finally ready to write the book the writing goes very fast.

In my wild youth, I tried to write a novel by the seat of my pants. It took me ten years to finish and it was such a hot mess at the end that I tossed the entire thing. By contrast, the plot for my upcoming novel Dark Honey will be done in less than a year because I work from a plot.

My plots save me time in the long run because I avoid writing myself into a place I can't get out of. If the story doesn't work on the developmental levels of plot or pitch, it can be reworked or abandoned without much time lost. I'd hate to start something and then have to revamp the whole idea after a year or two of writing. It would be worse to write most or all of a story before figuring out that it needs to be chucked. I've got a lot of plots floating around that I can play with at my leisure. When one ripens, I know it’s a project I can actually finish.

The Map Is Not the Journey

Some might think that writing a plot before writing a novel is less organic and more formulaic. That might be true for some writers, but only if they are too rigid with the plot. As I write, it is normal for my characters and situations to deviate from the original script. I don't see that as a problem. It's a natural part of the journey. It’s like going on a trip; just because you have a map doesn't mean you can't take a detour. The plot is still helpful when this happens, because it will show me where I can regain the narrative thread and where previous material needs to be changed to conform to the logic of this new direction.

Creating a plot is writing by the seat of your pants in an efficient, low risk way. I can play with ideas and see where they take me without trying to manage setting, dialogue, grammar, description and sentence flow at the same time. It's like taking a trip and getting lost in a plane rather than on foot.

Being a plotter instead of a panster is not a superior writing method or a guarantee for success. No matter how you write the first draft, a manuscript still needs multiple rounds of editing and polish. But creating a plot can be helpful if it suits you. I don't think I would write any other way.

So how do you write your novels? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Have fun.

Gamal

The Best American Erotica 1993: A Book Review

By Gamal Hennessy

From my perspective, Susie Bright is a luminary in the genre of erotic fiction. Not only has she written, edited, and published several books on the subject over the years, her writing guide How to Write a Dirty Story has been an inspiration for all six of the novels I’ve written. I’ve wanted to read her first anthology The Best American Erotica 1993 for years, so when it went on sale on Audible, I downloadedit as soon as I could. Unfortunately, my experience was less than ideal.

The book does have positive qualities. First, there is a wide array of authors who contributed short stories to this collection and the range of erotic expression is very diverse. LGBT, straight and BDSM flavors are all mixed and represented here. Characters of different ages, ethnic backgrounds, nationalities and economic realities all get time in the spotlight. And the range of sexual expression is also broad. Some characters fully explored their passions, others lost their chance just before they could attain satisfaction, and some struggled to repress or deny the only thing they couldn’t stop thinking about.

But all the stories shared similar flaws. The stories had little or no turning points, no crisis choice that the characters had to make to expose their true nature or alter their condition. They were unchanged from the beginning of the story to the end, and the sexual experiences they had (or didn’t have) did nothing to bring about change in their lives. What they did was on full display. Why they did it or how it defined them was always left out.

It doesn’t have to be that way in erotica or any other genre. We only have to look at the short stories in Delta of Venus, Night in a Moorish Harem or Erotic Interludes to see that sexual expression can be the catalyst for change in a character’s life. Of course, not every sexual encounter alters our existence, but when every story in a collection lacks that element, the whole book suffers.

In terms of the overall presentation of the audio book it’s also a mixed experience. The readers of each piece were very good and their voices matched the nature of the narrator well. However, most of the sex in this book skews towards the nonconsensual. There is diversity here too, as the scenarios range from lack of consent to rape and sustained torture. If you don’t enjoy those types of stories the book might be hard to get through.

Overall, I appreciated the diversity of Best American Erotica, but the stories themselves didn’t satisfy. The series continues for several more volumes, so perhaps the first one can be seen as a viable proof of concept.

Have fun.
Gamal

Creating Story by Using the Three Levels of Conflict

By Gamal Hennessy

If I can write a book, you can write a book. This article just offers a few tips to help you explore your own creative gifts.

When writing, I’ve always found it helpful to understand the vast majority of all fictional plots boils down to a struggle to achieve a goal. A protagonist or hero has an object of desire that is material or situational. Maybe they want to get a rare item or get into a relationship with a particular person. To get what she wants, your heroine has to exert effort against everything that stands between her and her goal. The power and intensity of her obstacles will define both your heroine and the strength of your story. But where do those obstacles come from and how can we build them into the story in a way that tests the heroine in the most satisfying manner for readers?

I’ve found one answer in playing with the different levels of conflict.

Three Levels of Conflict
 

A level of conflict is a source of antagonism that stands between your protagonist and their goal. Robert McKee's book Story defines three major levels of conflict:

• Internal: where the thoughts, feelings or physical characteristics of a protagonist block achievement of the goal
• Interpersonal: where relationships with other people or groups block achievement
• Extra-personal: where institutions, natural phenomenon and situations block achievement

As an example, let's say you're writing a story about a Jewish boy living in Jerusalem. He has just seen a beautiful Arab girl and in that moment realizes he’s in love. What obstacles does Adam face in his quest for a relationship? As a writer, you have several options:

• Internal: His shyness, lack of experience with women and unattractive features could get in the way of his budding romance. 
• Interpersonal: The girl might resist his advances for her own reasons, or she might have a boyfriend who wants to remove him from the picture. Also, his parents could try to prevent him from getting involved with an Arab girl. The girl's brothers might threaten him with violence.  His own friends might reject him.
• Extra-personal: The wider Arab Israeli conflict could also inhibit our hero. Hezbollah bombings into the settlements could disrupt Adam's life or create a curfew situation. A suicide bomb could destroy everything or even kill the girl. Protests, strikes or other mass social events could tear their relationship apart before it even gets started.

This is just a few examples of what this boy might be up against. If he is able to win this girl's love, the obstacles he'll have to overcome could make an amazing story.

The type you choose is often a function of genre. An action adventure might have heavy interpersonal and extra personal conflict when the hero battles the arch villain on the top of a mountain in a blinding snow storm, but very little internal conflict. A cozy mystery might have strong internal focus as the detective quietly strains her intellect to solve the crime. Every style of writing can tap into each type of conflict, but some genres lend themselves to specific conflict types.

Conflict as Spotlight

The best way I've found to develop conflict in my work is to focus on the aspects of my protagonist that I want to reveal and then creating conflicts that explore those traits. One of my main characters in my new novel Smoke and Shadow is a man named Harrison Trent. At the most basic level, Harrison’s conflict is internal. He wants to forget the mistakes he’s made in his past and he is willing to place himself in extreme danger because the immediacy of a life and death struggle is the only way he can forget the things he’s done. To show his dedication to this goal, I put several obstacles in his path every time he steps into the readers mind.

The best stories have the strongest conflicts. While it's not necessary to throw every obstacle at every character in every story, a weak story is most often the result of weak antagonists. Pit your heroine against the strongest combination of antagonism that you can think of. Your characters will hate it, but your readers will thank you for it.

Now go write something. ;-)
Gamal

Smoke and Shadow is On Sale Now!

ON SALE NOW

Smoke and Shadow

You’ll never see them coming…

In the dark world of espionage, Hamilton Chu and Harrison Trent are secret warriors. Driven by loyalty, excitement, and money, these modern day mercenaries travel around the world to spy, sabotage and kill. 

But how much of their humanity do they sacrifice with each turn of the knife or pull of the trigger? How can they succeed in missions where violence only makes things worse? 

Smoke and Shadow is my new novel in the Crime and Passion series. The e-book is on sale now on Amazon.com for $0.99. The paperback is available for $9.99. Fans of The Bourne Identity, Taken and The Usual Suspects will enjoy this international spy thriller. 

If you decide to read it, I hope you enjoy it.

If you decide to read it, I also hope you’ll leave me a review no matter what you think. Feedback is important for any artist trying to get better. Even a bad review can have a good impact…

But good reviews are better, obviously. ;-)

Have fun.
Gamal

I Have Three Ways to Say "Thank You"

I appreciate you. 

You visit my website, and you indulge my delusions of being a writer. Those things have more of an impact on me than you might realize.  

As a small way of saying thank you, I’d like to offer you not one, not two, but three gifts to celebrate the release of my new novel, Smoke and Shadow.  

First, you can get a copy of my new novella called Friends and Family just by contacting me. Friends and Family is a prelude to Smoke and Shadow. It follows a professional killer named Harrison Trent in his hunt for a slave trader in New York City.

Second, I’d like to give you early access to Smoke and Shadow. You can pre-order the book on Amazon before it goes on sale Tuesday, November 17th.

Finally, you can get Smoke and Shadow at a special RSVP price. The normal price for the e-book is $3.99. You can get it for just $0.99. 

If you get a chance to read the prelude or the full novel, I hope you’ll enjoy them. I also hope you’ll take the time to write me a review no matter what you think of the book. Your opinion matters. If the attachments or the links don’t work, please let me know and I’ll take care of it.

And if you want to spend more time in the world of Crime and Passion, sign up for the free RSVP Newsletter. 

 Have fun.

Gamal

Consequential Violence: The Impact of Combat in Fiction

by Gamal Hennessy

The action and thriller genres rely on certain established tropes. The hero needs someone or something to protect. He (or in rare cases she) will define their individuality by being a lone wolf with no affiliation or being a rebel in an existing power structure. When it comes to physical prowess or combat skill, the hero will be placed in situations where they can to injure, maim and kill to show how badass they are. This is one of the pillars of action stories from The Odyssey to Spectre and it can be the best part of a story. But combat, fight scenes and violence lose their impact when they become inconsequential.

Defining Consequence

Dictionary.com defines consequence as:

1.       The effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier

2.       An act or instance of following something as an effect, result, or outcome.

3.       The conclusion reached by a line of reasoning; inference.

4.       Importance or significance:

5.       Importance in rank or position; distinction:

In action and thriller fiction, violence often has no consequences for the characters or the hero. I’ve read a best-selling novel that started with a six man shootout in New York’s Central Park during the day in the 21st Century.  The hero moved through the plot without any acknowledgment of the effect that event would have. The cops never arrived and never investigated the event, even though there is a police precinct in Central Park and the surrounding area has a heavy police presence because of all the high priced real estate around. No one had any video of the incident, even though there are cameras in the Park and everyone has an iPhone. The hero was shot during the incident, but suffered no physical, mental or emotional impact from the incident. There was no mention of any news story about a massive gun battle in the middle of the most famous park in New York City. This lack of consequence gnawed at me until I was forced to put the book down because I couldn’t suspend enough of my disbelief to keep reading.

Exploring Consequence

In real life of course, violence has consequences for everyone involved. Books like Violence: A Writer’s Guide, Real World Self Defense, On Combat and the Writing Violence series discuss the consequences of violence in depth, but in broad strokes physical combat can affect a character’s

• Mental facilities: people often see and perceive the world in a different way after a violent encounter. Depending on the situation, their view of the world, other people and themselves can undergo profound change. This can happen whether they win or lose.
• Emotional well-being: We have learned a lot in recent years about the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on people who go through violent encounters. It doesn’t just impact soldiers engaged in drawn out conflict. PTSD can hit anyone involved in any number of encounters. It should also be noted that some people react in the opposite way, developing emotional frameworks that seek out and enjoy violence.
• Physical health: It might be obvious to say violence often hurts and can sometimes kill, but when reading action novels or watching action movies, this reality is often ignored. Characters can be shot, stabbed, beaten and bruised in one scene and restored to full health in the next. I know people who have suffered long term injuries in the relative safety of practice. Why ignore all those realities in fiction?
• Legal Status: Most types of violence are officially illegal in most countries of the world. People who engage in violent acts can easily face arrest, prosecution and prison for something as simple as a street fight. The more over the top and bloody the encounter, the more likely the police will be to get involved, and the legalities of “self-defense” usually don’t protect people who willingly participate in violence
• Social Status: Different segments of society react to violence in different ways. While a shoving match at a high society party might send someone into exile, a friendly fistfight might not even be remembered the next day in another part of the city or country. In either case, if the event is in public it probably won’t go unnoticed or undocumented in the modern world. Just type in “street fight” or “fist fight” in YouTube to see what I mean. In addition, the “winner” and ‘loser” of the fight will have to deal with the repercussions of their actions in their social circles, whether they are positive or negative.
• Daily lifestyle: Violence often creates more violence. The winner of a fight today might find himself hunted by the loser, or his friends, or his company, or his country depending on the importance of the loser. The winner of a fight might find himself constantly looking over his shoulder for the revenge attack. In the worst case scenario, he might not be able to ever go home again.
• Financial Status: Between doctor bills, legal bills, psychology bills and protecting against future attacks, the cost of violence in dollars and cents can cause more long term damage than the physical beating. People have been bankrupted by violent encounters even if they won and even if they were exonerated in court.

Consequence in Story

Barry Eisler is one of my favorite writers and his style inspires my own work when it comes to depicting violence. The John Rain Series is full of violent scenes, but consequence always plays an important role before and after the fight. Mr. Eisler’s characters often spend most of the novel trying to anticipate, eliminate or reduce the impact of impending violence, creating a tension few other writers can create.

In my next book, Smoke and Shadow, I tell stories of two combat operators and their missions against warlords, slave traders and insurgents. In each novella, the characters take the time to plot, plan and prepare for what might go wrong in their violent encounters. I hope the result creates a dynamic both interesting and realistic.

The Truth about Fiction

Not every story benefits from complex portrayals of violence. Part of the fun of a James Bond or superhero film is ignoring legal and emotional realities for a few hours. But some stories and characters can be enhanced and improved if their violent actions had more consequences.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments. I look forward to hearing from you.

Have fun.
Gama

Smoke and Shadow: Get It First. Get It Free

The members of my VIP mailing list and the community of book reviewers are an important part of modern publishing. Getting noticed by passionate readers can mean the difference between broad popularity and a lonely unnoticed release. I’m planning to launch a new book right before the holidays, so I’d like to reach out to thriller readers like you and offer and advanced copy of my book.

What’s It About?

Smoke and Shadow is an anthology series set in my Crime and Passion Universe. It is an international action thriller in a style similar to La Femme Nikita, Taken and the Bourne Identity. Here’s the description I plan to put on the back of the book:

“You’ll never see them coming...

In the dark world of espionage, Hamilton Chu and Harrison Trent are secret warriors. Driven by loyalty, excitement, and money, these modern mercenaries travel around the world to spy, sabotage and kill.

But how much of their humanity do they sacrifice with each turn of the knife or pull of the trigger? How can they cope with missions they can’t solve with violence alone?

If this story sounds like something you might be interested in, then I’d like to give you the e-book before anyone else gets it and without paying any money.”

— Promo Copy for Smoke and Shadow

What Do I Want?

I would like to ask you a favor in exchange for the free book. Reviews drive popularity and sales on Amazon, so the more reviews I can get, the more financially successful the book can be. I hope if I give you Smoke and Shadow free upfront, you’ll be nice enough to write me a review when you’re done. It doesn’t have to be a five star review (although those are always nice), it just needs to be what you think.

How Do I Get The Book?

If you want an advanced review copy of Smoke and Shadow in exchange for an Amazon review, please send an email to gamalhennessy@gmail.com before November 20, 2015 and I’ll add you to the list.

And if you want to spend more time in the world of Crime and Passion, sign up for the free RSVP Newsletter. 

Thanks in advance for taking the time to experience my work. I hope you enjoy the story.

Have fun.

Gamal

The Perspective of My Ideal Reader

By Gamal Hennessy

Stephen King and other famous authors talk about writing for their ideal reader. Instead of sitting at your desk trying to craft a story to appeal to millions of random individuals, the writer imagines themselves writing for one specific person who captures the perspective and sensibility of the target audience. It’s a counterintuitive theory suggesting that if you write for this ideal person the work will be more pure and appeal to a wider group of people.

I’ve been writing for a few years now and I haven’t found an ideal reader among my friends, family or loved ones. That’s understandable, because some aspects of my subject matter don’t appeal to them. Fortunately, I have been able to find an ideal reader, and I wanted to share her thoughts on A Touch of Honey because getting feedback like this is what writing is all about.

Pam’s Review of A Touch of Honey

A Touch of Honey is not for the faint of heart. It is graphic, brutal, painful, frightening, but it is a well-told story that takes the reader into seedy back alleys and high profile clubs and shows them the underbelly of a terrible world that abuses and exploits women. Through the eyes of Nikki, we see the brutality of the men and women who sell sexual slaves and reap the monetary benefits.

It is a stomach churning, heart wrenching read that both forced me to continue and made me want to close the book and walk away as it yanked me from my comfort zone with the speed of a bullet train and forced this world down my throat with the same cruelty as the men in this story forced themselves into the throats of these women.

How do I feel? Quite honestly, I have to say thank you to the author for offering me this experience.

The book is not preachy, so don’t worry about that. I think the author did his homework and skillfully fictionalized fact. His characters are compelling and interesting with depth that makes them believable and downright frightening at times. They do unspeakable things for the greater good, grow and mature throughout the story, make good choices and bad choices and while things turn out fine for some, they don’t fare quite so well for others.

The author wraps up the story with a fabulous twist that makes you eagerly crawl on all fours towards the conclusion. The Epilogue “Cost”, is a superb, gut churning after-moment for one of the characters that truly made my heart hurt.

Remove the blinders people! If you want to see a darker side of the world we live in, this is a must for your library. 

I want to thank Pam and everyone who helped make A Touch of Honey a success. If you’d like to read the book, you can find it on Amazon or other online bookstores.

Have fun.

Gamal

The Truth Behind the Lies

by Gamal Hennessy

My recent novel A Touch of Honey is a work of fiction, but many of aspects of this story are based on actual events. This is a sample of my background research for anyone who is interested in diving deeper into these topics.

Articles

All links retrieved as of January 29, 2015

• ABC News.com(2013) Cairns man Klaus Andres, who admitted to dissolving wife's body in acid, jailed for life
• Associated Press (2013) NY Bar Owner Sentenced 60 Years for Sex Trafficking
• Bellware, Kim for the Huffington Post (2015) Hundreds Arrested in Super Bowl Sex Trafficking Sting
• Bradley, Michael for BBC News (2013) Human Trafficking: Why do so many victims refuse help?
• Booth, William for the Washington Post (2009) ‘Stewmaker’ Stirs Horror in Mexico
• Buchbinder, Sharon for the Daily Beast (2013) When Women Traffic Other Women
• Kelly, Annie for The Guardian (2014) the tattooed trafficking survivors reclaiming their past
• Pearson, Erica for the New York Daily News (2013) Sex trafficking operations expand outside of Queens into Suburbs
• Tracy, Tom for the New York Daily News (2015) NYPD officer snared in Brooklyn prostitution sting

A Touch of Honey is now available from multiple book sellers.

Have fun.

Gamal

The Final Blog Trailer and First Look at A Touch of Honey

The test copy for A Touch of Honey just arrived from the printer and in my not so humble opinion it looks great. It also showed up just in time for my final blog teaser for the book. You can find Part One Here and Part Two Here but if you already read about spies on the run and lost love, please feel free to jump into part three. Read all the way through to the end and you’ll get information on getting a free copy of my first novel, Smooth Operator.

Enjoy…

Part Three: The Future

"And what's my problem?" Nikki folded her arms and sucked in her stomach with a defiant huff.

"The same problem you were trying to solve working the bar in Sin City. Chris is still out there, and he's still looking for you. If I found you, there's a good chance he can too."

Nikki shook her head and sucked her teeth. "Sin City was just a precaution. Chris isn't in a position to come after me. Based on what you're saying, he's got too many people chasing him to waste resources on me."

Baker shrugged. "That would make sense if we were talking about a professional. But we're talking about an explosive, obsessive sadist. Resource management isn't a strong skill set for him." Baker eyed her up and down with a look that combined admiration and lust. "A man who is willing to do what Chris has done isn't going to let a couple of bouncers get between him and you."

"How do you know so much about Chris? And how do you know so much about his op? Did you work for him or were you the client?"

If the question stung Baker, he didn't show it. As always, he had an answer ready. "Mr. Carpenter and I had an understanding related to Cruz Maritime, but he killed that relationship when he went off the reservation." Baker turned to her with the look of a poker player placing a large bet. "We can help each other, but only if you can bring something to the table. So what's it going to be Ms. Siriene, are you in or out?" 

Nikki stared out the window and saw their car turn off the Grand Central Parkway and take the off ramp towards Astoria. Everything Baker did seemed to have a purpose. Even the route the driver took sent Nikki a message. He weaved through streets close to her apartment. Baker knew where she lived, where she used to work and everything about the last year of her life. 

If he wanted to, Baker could have grabbed her anywhere. He could have taken the thumb drive by force. He could have used Nikki as bait to lure Chris in and then snatch them both up in the chaos. By talking to her first, Baker gave Nikki the illusion of a choice. The least she could do was give him the illusion of cooperation.

"I have it, but it's not in my apartment."

"No worries. Why don't you stop by my office in the afternoon to drop it off?" Baker produced a card from his suit jacket as if he planned on giving it to her as soon as she got in the car. Nikki took it out of his hand, memorized the address and phone number and then handed it back to him. 

Baker offered her a big smile. "You don't want to get caught with anything linking us together. Nice. I appreciate the tradecraft."

"Thanks, but I'm clearly not that good."

"Why do you say that?"

"You found me, didn't you?"

Baker nodded in agreement. "True, but I have a gift for this kind of thing."

"You want to tell me how you did it?"

"I can't show you all my tricks on the first date. I don't want you to think I'm easy." 

Nikki rolled her eyes and reached for the door. "I'll start my SDR here. Thanks for the ride."

Baker held up the metal resting in his lap. "Thanks for the handcuffs.  My wife loves this model."

Nikki shook her head as she closed the door and walked away without another word.

I hope you enjoyed this free sample of A Touch of Honey. The full novel will be available for all major book platforms on March 17th, 2015. If you’d like to get my first novel Smooth Operator for free while you’re waiting, just click on this link to get your e-book. 

Have fun.

Gamal

A New Touch of Honey Teaser Sample and Free Book Offer

by Gamal Hennessy

Teasers, trailers and samples are an expected part of modern entertainment. Movies, games and TV shows try to build up excitement by offering a sneak peak of new releases. Well, what’s good for them is good for me. I want you to get excited about my new novel A Touch of Honey, so all this week I’m offering a sample chapter to get you ready for the release on March 17th. 

You can find Part One Here, but if you already read about the handcuffs and the international spy operation, please feel free to jump into part two.

Enjoy… 

Part Two

Nikki wanted to say something to end this torment. She wanted to scream or lash out at Baker’s intense and animated face. She couldn’t handle his fascination with her nightmares. She couldn't listen to this, but she couldn’t open her mouth to stop him. 

Baker must have noticed the pain on her face. His tone lost its enthusiasm, but he continued. "Unfortunately, Nikki had a problem. Actually, she had three problems. First, her case officer was a man named Christopher Carpenter. That was a problem because Carpenter is mentally and emotionally unstable, completely unfit to run field operations. He'd gone so far off the reservation a Congressional committee considered investigating him for acts of genocide. And Carpenter wasn't really interested in the op. His obsession focused on controlling Nikki more than anything else." 

“I don’t want to hear anything about him.” The nausea churned in Nikki's stomach at the word genocide. The idea of sharing a bed with a mass murderer made her feel like she’d bathed in blood. She didn’t challenge Baker’s accusations. She'd seen Chris’ true nature on video. He revealed his demonic passion and used Dominique as his disposable prop. 

"Ok. The second problem involved Dominique. Nikki fell in love with Manuel’s wife. That made the mission of betraying Cruz Maritime almost impossible. Finally, Dominique presented the most complex problem of all. She claimed to be an agent from another intelligence service who also wanted to spy on Manuel. Based on unconfirmed reports, Dominique might have worked for British, French or even Russian intelligence. Near the end, the operation went sideways in a big way. Every op hits some kind of snag, but this was fucked beyond all recognition. Do you want to know how it ended?"

"I know how it ended." Nikki's voice sounded so tiny in her ear. She didn't want to admit anything, but she couldn't listen to Baker talk about the night Dominique died. 

Baker's voice became a whisper to match hers. "Then you know how important that drive is. A lot of people suffered for that information." 

The emotional manipulation took its toll when she snapped. "If you know what happened, then you know the USB is useless." 

"Why do you say that?"

Nikki let out a long breath in an attempt to focus. "When Manuel died, Cruz Maritime became compromised. The assets were seized and Argentinian authorities started a full investigation. Any smuggling Cruz might have been doing died when he did. You can't use what's on that drive." 

Baker gave Nikki his inside joke smile again. "Luckily for you, compromised assets can still be useful in the right hands."

"What the hell does that mean?"

He shrugged.  "It means that if you still have the drive, then it is possible for us to form a relationship based on mutual exploitation."

"And if I don't have it?

"Then we both have a problem."

A Touch of Honey will be available for all major book platforms on March 17th, 2015. If you’d like to get my first novel Smooth Operator for free while you’re waiting, just click on this link to get your e-book.

Have fun.

Gamal

A Touch of Honey Teaser Sample Part One

by Gamal Hennessy

Teasers, trailers and samples are an expected part of modern entertainment. Movies, games and TV shows try to build up excitement by offering a sneak peak of new releases. Well, what’s good for them is good for me. I want you to get excited about my new novel A Touch of Honey, so all this week I’m offering a sample chapter to get you ready for the release on March 17th.

Enjoy… 

Part One

"So I'm hoping you still have the flash drive you acquired from Cruz Maritime."

Baker opened the cuffs and dropped them into his lap in one smooth motion. Nikki rubbed her wrists to project an image of pain. They didn't really hurt, but she needed to do something with her hands to stall for time. She held his gaze for an extra beat to reinforce her sincerity then shook her head and lied.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a bartender at a strip club, at least I used to be, before you got my attention."

Baker nodded. "I understand what you’re trying to do. You want to stick to your cover story as long as possible. You’ll deny everything that doesn't fit your legend. That's your first line of defense. It's interrogation resistance 101. But if you were going to work that angle, it would have made sense to act more frightened back in the alley." Baker smiled as if teaching tradecraft to an eager student over drinks. "Let me play along. I’ll tell you a little story and pretend to put things in perspective for you. Does that make sense?"

"It's your car."

"Actually, this is a company car. I prefer to drive something much nicer than this on my own time." 

Nikki shook her head in spite of herself. "Whatever."

Baker smiled back "Whatever. Approximately nine months ago, a woman named Nikki Siriene attended a Christmas party in the resort city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. The host of that party was one Manuel Cruz, former President of Cruz Maritime. In the days following that party, Nikki became an intimate acquaintance of both Manuel Cruz and his wife; a French painter named Dominique. What do you think of that picture so far?"

Nikki's jaw clenched as she forced out a response. "A high profile international threesome sounds pretty hot."

"It was, but it got hotter." Baker shifted in his seat to face her. His interest and excitement in the story filled the whole car. The memories he exposed forced bile into her throat. "You see, Manuel didn’t know Nikki had been sent to spy on him." Baker let those words hang in the air for a moment as if to savor them. "Prior intelligence suggested Cruz Maritime might be smuggling illegal weapons into Mexico. It was Nikki's job to steal the data that could prove or disprove that suspicion."

A Touch of Honey will be available for all major book platforms on March 17th, 2015. If you’d like to get my first novel Smooth Operator for free while you’re waiting, just click on this link to get your e-book. 

Have fun.

Gamal

After Fifty Shades of Gray, Why Is Erotica Still the Black Sheep of Fiction Genres?

By Gamal Hennessy

“Writing ought either to be the manufacture of stories for which there is a market demand — a business as safe and commendable as making soap or breakfast foods — or it should be an art, which is always a search for something for which there is no market demand, something new and untried, where the values are intrinsic and have nothing to do with standardized values.”

— Willa Cather

This Valentine’s Day marks the release of the Fifty Shades of Gray film. Based on one of the most controversial books over the past few years, it has been credited (or blamed for, depending on your perspective) a new exploration of sexual expression in the mainstream.  “Mommy porn” has become a viable subgenre of erotica, but In spite of the popularity of Fifty Shades and the deluge of BDSM erotica riding its long tail, erotic writing is still a repressed art form in America, snickered at or openly rejected by the masses.

Why?

The American Relationship to the Erotic

The lack of quality in the prose of Fifty Shades isn't the reason erotica gets rejected. It's our own collective agitation with the subject. According to Sallie Tisdale in her amazing book Talk Dirty to Me, We are trapped between our Judeo-Christian Protestant morality and our obsession with sex as a tool of commerce and power. We willingly exploit the concept that “sex sells” but reject any insightful public discussion about seduction or sexual expression. Our collective response to sincere sexuality is avoidance, disdain, ridicule, silence or backhanded suggestions of mental imbalance.

“American society is adolescent; there is no other word for our restlessness and finger shaking. We live in a world filled with the continual proliferation of sexual images outside context. Still, we find it almost unbearable to openly talk about sex. The result is cultural puberty: lewd, leering, intensely curious and ashamed and prudish all at once. ”

— Sallie Tisdale, Talk Dirty to Me

Thankfully, when I released A Taste of Honey, a book with a distinct erotic element, the negative reaction wasn’t aggressive, but it was disconcerting to discover the people in my life conform, to one extent or another, to the same attitudes towards sexual expression as the rest of society. This made sense to me over time. My circle of friends and family are functioning members of the community they live in. It is understandable that they share the general beliefs of the wider group. I had no reason to expect anything different but somehow I hoped it would be.

Controlling the Image

I don’t have illusions about the way people interact with each other. I know that each of us holds onto an image of every person in our lives. We project attributes, titles and values onto the people that we know and then assume those qualities will be fairly consistent over time. Any information that alters or upsets the image we create is resisted and rejected. If a revelation doesn’t conform to our defined social relationship then we don’t want to hear about it. By and large, most of your family, friends and co-workers don’t want to know anything about your sexual expression, because it upsets their image or you and falls outside the realm of acceptable information. Reading or writing erotica can be a revelation about your sexual expression and your sexual philosophy. It opens up a subject most people do not want to discuss or explore. In the 21st Century, only a total stranger online or an intimate confidant in bed is willing to learn about your sexual dispositions. No one else you know has any interest in the subject.

I’m not trying to invite everyone to know every sexual moment of everyone else’s life. Mystery and taboo are important aspects to the sexual experience. At the same time, my sexual expression is a large part of the definition of who I am as a person. To push that part of me away or to repress it would be rejecting a facet of my life that I’m not ashamed of. Inserting erotica into my work makes as much sense to me as including humor, wit or complexity. It is fundamental to my art and to my life. If I didn’t put it in because other people weren’t comfortable with it, then my writing wouldn’t be mine anymore. My life wouldn’t be mine anymore.

Pushing Boundaries through Art

Just before I started releasing my work, I read a book from Susie Bright called How to Write a Dirty Story. The book was quite good, in part, because it helped me see my role as a writer both in terms of erotica and in terms of other aspects of writing. Her advice, like Ms. Cather’s above, was to use my craft to push the boundaries of society and not just relax within the comfortable framework of acceptable commercial work. I have no interest in writing the most shocking, perverted or controversial book ever. Marquis de Sade already did that. My goal is much more insidious. I want to embed the erotic in other types of stories so deeply that one can’t be separated from the other. I want to construct scenes that are arousing not because of their graphic imagery, but because of their realistic intensity. My goal is to see the film version of A Taste of Honey become a blockbuster not just because of the sexual controversy it creates, but because of the quality of the story on the screen.

Have fun.

Gamal

An Advanced Review Request for A Touch of Honey

I'm currently looking for advanced reviewers for my new novel, A Touch of Honey.

If you're not familiar with the advance review process, don't worry. All that means is that you get an early copy of the e-book in exchange for an honest review that you post on Amazon. It doesn’t have to be a good review. An honest review of your reaction is better for other readers and for me.

The first 20 advanced reviewers for this book will receive their choice of a free copy of A Taste of Honey or Smooth Operator as a thank you for your support. 

So if you enjoy adult crime thrillers, consider this premise: 

In seduction, control is surrender and surrender is control…

Nikki Siriene uses her sexual charms to manipulate men and steal their secrets, but she lives in constant fear because the man who used to love her is now trying to kill her.

Desperate for protection, she agrees to a relationship of mutual exploitation with a mysterious fixer named Warren Baker. He agrees to protect her from her enemies if she agrees to help take down a sex slave operation in New York. 

Entering into this world of depravity and pain pushes Nikki to the edge of sanity. Can she escape with her freedom and her life, or will she become just another human trafficking statistic?

I’m planning to run the review period from early February to mid-March 2015. If you're interested in being an advanced reviewer for this book, please send an e-mail to gamalhennessy@gmail.com and I'll give you all the dirty details. 

Have fun.

Gamal

Reading Goes Back to the Future

Are serialized podcasts the future of books? Will they become as popular as e-books and create new opportunities for both readers and writers? Is this an evolution in creativity or a return to historical forms of storytelling like the spoken word traditions of Africa, the Bardic tales of Medieval Europe or the radio dramas of the 1950's? 

James Atlas explores this question in his Opinion column for the Sunday Review:

Hearing is Believing 

Have fun.

Gama

Treating Creativity Like a Disease

I often get the impression that society uses the government, the mainstream media, priests, and psychologists to enforce the concept of normality. They claim, without any real authority, the power to define what is normal. They use surveys, statistics and selective historical trends to create the illusion of a “typical” man or woman. They preach that normal is inherently good and that all of us should strive to fit our bodies, hearts and minds into the mold that they dictate. Everyone who is willing to forge a new path or question the conventional is discouraged, punished or rejected. This perspective is supported by an article suggesting the new DSMV IV (the manual used to diagnose mental illness) now classifies above average creativity as a mental disorder. (See Non Conformity and Free Thinking as Mental Illnesses).

“All of this is a symptom of our over-diagnosing and overmedicating culture. In the last 50 years, the DSM-IV has gone from 130 to 357 mental illnesses. A majority of these illnesses afflict children. Although the manual is an important diagnostic tool for the psychiatric industry, it has also been responsible for social changes. The rise in ADD, bipolar disorder, and depression in children has been largely because of the manual’s identifying certain behaviors as symptoms. A Washington Post article observed that, if Mozart were born today, he would be diagnosed with ADD and “medicated into barren normality.””

— The Mind Unleashed

he rationale for the sudden explosion in mental disorders isn’t hard to understand. It is easier to make money from people who have mental problems than people with independent personalities. Patients can be medicated, sent to therapy and studied for years without results. Free thinkers are not a profit center.

At the other end of the spectrum artists, dreamers and hedonists resist this process. We reject what is normal and forge paths that are often bizarre, disturbing and completely fascinating. They are often misunderstood or unappreciated but the power of their voice is undeniable. For better or worse, artists fight against the tide of normal in an attempt to forge new paths and create a new reality.

Society changes and grows because individuals reject the current order and forge their own direction. The mainstream often follows because they are fascinated, inspired and motivated to think and dream. I’m glad I’m too old to have someone crush my creativity to sell a few pills. The potential artists who come after me might not be so lucky.

“To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”

— E. E. Cummings

Have fun.

Gamal

My Top Ten Books for 2014

Many successful writers advise other writers to read more than they write. I enjoy reading, so I accepted the advice without much fight. I set out to read thirty books in 2014 and according to my tracking on Good Reads, I managed to get through forty books this year. A few books were horrible, several were excellent. To look back on my year, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite books for 2014.

Keep in mind this list is for books I read this year, I’m not worried about when the book was released. I also don’t care about format. I read a combination of print, e-book, graphic novel and audio book. I’m concerned with content, not medium. The list includes fiction, non-fiction, how to and humor because I try to be well rounded...

10. The Curriculum by Stanley Bing (audio book): This humorous crash course in business combines concepts in his earlier books (How to Throw an Elephant and What Would Machiavelli Do?) It’s not a funny as the first two books, but it offers more practical advice with it’s laughs.

9. Elektra: Relentless by Rob Rodi and Sean Chen (graphic novel): This book has all the elements of a great Marvel Knights book. It’s a self -contained, character driven story that focuses as more on the humanity of the supporting cast than the “hero” who is almost a force of nature.

8. Words for Pictures by Brian Michael Bendis: Most people see comics as a hobby for nerds and children. A few people see the potential for money with all the movies and TV shows. Word for Pictures focuses on the business and the craft of creating comics in a way I haven’t seen for more than twenty five years.

7. Call for the Dead by John Le Carre (audio book): This turned out to be my least favorite book from one of my favorite authors. Le Carre retains all his skill in creating setting, characters and an intricate spy plot, but the ending he chose seemed forced and unsatisfying.

6. Handbook of Practical Spying by Jack Barth: This light hearted book from the International Spy Museum in Washington manages to offer a lot of real world advice, some historical context and without being dry or convoluted. It’s a painless introduction to modern tradecraft.

5. Being Wrong by Kathryn Shulz (audio book): This exploration of the physical, mental, social, and historical sources of mistakes is disturbing and enlightening at the same time. It doesn’t cover every aspect of error, but it covers enough ground to make you wonder how we haven’t managed to destroy the entire planet by now. 

4. Graveyard of Memories by Barry Eisler (audio book): This is the origin story for the iconic assassin John Rain (soon to be played by Keannu Reves). It contains all the elements of a great Eisler story (meticulous tradecraft, psychological insight and lush settings) but the formula for the story will be familiar to anyone who has read a Rain story before. It’s like listening to your favorite band play live. You know what they’re going to play, but you’re still amazed when they play it. 

3. Sexual Intelligence by Marty Klein: Most sex help books focus on technique or trying to get you back to some golden age of performance in your past. This book focuses on your present and future sexual expression by helping you get past technique and into physical and emotional connection. It rejects performance for pleasure and covers a wide range of sexual situations and examples. The main problem with this book is the people who read it probably don’t need it and the people who need it probably won’t read it.

2. Write, Publish, Repeat by Johnny B. Truant: It’s hard for me to listen to the podcast this book came from (The Self-Publishing Podcast) because the three hosts are friends who work together and spend two thirds of their time on the air self-promoting or meandering off topic. But these three writers have a deep understanding of the business and craft of independent publishing and what it takes to be successful. A lot of my ideas and inspiration to write came from this book when I read it the first time and it is even better the second time around. If you ever thought about writing a book, read this book first.  

1. Talk Dirty to Me by Sallie Tisdale: In a lifetime of reading books, only a handful will be transcendent. Talk Dirty to Me is one of those books for me. This intimate philosophy of sex explores the subject from fundamental questions of attraction, desire and expression and unpacks issues like pornography, prostitution, sexual identity and sexual repression in a thoughtful voice free of shame or blame. Talk Dirty to Me is a book that I’d like to read several more times. It’s not only my favorite books of 2014. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in ten years.

So what was your favorite book of 2014? Comment below and let me know.

Have fun and Happy New Year.

G

The Crossroads of Privilege

Each person in our society falls into multiple categories defined by class, race, ability, gender, orientation, education and others. As we move through different environments, our multiple forms of "membership" are perceived as positive or negative. This class gets attacked for X but has an easy time doing Y. This race is accepted here but not there. Navigating the different currents can be treacherous, especially when several factors come into play at once. 

A piece in the Huffington Post called Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person looks at the defensiveness certain people have when confronting the concept of white privilege. The author, who has the benefits of race but the challenges of gender and race, points out that white privilege (or male privilege or American privilege or cisgender privilege) isn't a magic wand anyone can use to erase all the other obstacles in their lives. It suggests most of us are dealing with a complex tapestry of issues which are only becoming more intricate as our subgroups grow.

““The concept of intersectionality recognizes that people can be privileged in some ways and definitely not privileged in others. There are many different types of privilege, not just skin-color privilege, that impact the way people can move through the world or are discriminated against. These are all things you are born into, not things you earned, that afford you opportunities that others may not have.””

— Gina Crosley-Corcoran: Author of the Feminist Breeder

I read the piece thinking about both my own complex relationship to the world around me as well as the multiple layers I want to build into my characters. I'm sharing it because if more of us saw each other beyond a singular two dimensional image we can turn our privilege into something positive.

Have fun.
G