Author Interview: Robert Liparulo

Plug time. What book or project is coming out or has come out that you’d like to tell us about?

My first novel, Comes a Horseman, was released November 3. It’s about two FBI agents who investigate a series of brutal murders. Before they have a chance to dig very deeply, the killer attacks them. Because of the way the killer tracked them down, they suspect someone inside the FBI is part of the crimes. In trying to figure out what links the victims, they wind up traveling to Rome and then to Jerusalem.

What they uncover is a man who believes he is the Antichrist. This person has convinced a very powerful organization of people who are waiting for the Antichrist that he is there guy. But to stay in their favor, he has to continually reaffirm his claim by fulfilling prophesy. And that’s where the original serial murders come in.... I’d spoil it if I said more.

I’ve really been blessed by all the attention the book’s been getting. Some top writers, like David Morrell and Frank Peretti, gave me glowing endorsements.

A few months ago, a handful of Hollywood producers started bidding for the movie rights. We ended up going with Mace Neufeld, mostly because of his reputation for turning books into movies. He’s the producer of Tom Clancy’s movies, The Omen movies, Sahara, Lost in Space, and The General’s Daughter.

Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.

I’ve been writing for a long time. I wrote a lot of short stories and articles for national publications; that’s how I made my living. I wrote three screenplays that sold. I worked with other authors on their books. A friend of mine informed me that Tommy Nelson, the children’s division of Thomas Nelson, was looking for someone to help write a series of chapter books, so I contacted the editor and sent in samples of my work, which included some children’s radio script and part of an adult novel I was working on.

The series ended up falling through, but about a year later, the editor had moved into adult fiction, remembered my samples, and called me. I pitched three ideas and she liked them all and made me an offer for them.

At the time I was between agents, so I called up an agent I’d known for a long time and told him I wanted someone to represent me on a deal that was already on the table. It all sounds pretty easy, but if I didn’t have the projects already thought through, and a portion of each one written, it would have been much more difficult. Also, after the editor decided she liked what I had to offer, she had to get me approved by the publishing house’s editorial and publishing boards. It takes a lot of time and thought to prepare for those. And it’s nerve wracking until you hear the outcome of them. My editor called after each one and said, “You’re in!” It was sweet news.

Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

Oh, yeah. Humans in general, and I think artists in particular, always wonder how they're doing. How do we compare to others in our field? Are we meeting expectations? Have we captivated the people who experience our work? In novel writing, where it takes months, even a year, to complete a single project, there’s a real forest-for-the-trees problem. I get so into what I’m doing, there’s no real way of knowing if I’m truly hitting the mark until the editor sits down and gives it her first read-through. Fingernail-biting time. I’ve been very fortunate to have most of what I write be acceptable right off the bat. I tend to be self-analytical in my writing, so I self-edit before I send anything in.

What’s the best advice you’ve heard on writing/publication?

Very simple, but essential: Neil Gaiman, when asked what advice he’d give writers, said, “Write. Finish things.”

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve heard?

That if you stick to a certain set of writing rules, you’ll succeed. If that were the case, the guy who wrote the rules would apply them himself and make a fortune with best-sellers. Or publishers would hand out the “rule book” to every new author along with a million-dollar advance. There are no rules. That’s what makes writings so exciting. Every writer brings his or her own voice to the story. If that voice resonates with readers, chances are it’ll succeed.

What’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

That it is a business. I used to look at as pure art. The write is the artist and can’t be bothered with the crass “business” of publishing. But that’s not true. As writers, we need to understand the business so that our projects can eventually find a home and then an audience. Otherwise, we’re writing for ourselves, to ourselves.

We need to understand that agents may not know as well as we do who’s buying what, so we have to steer them in the right direction. They may not know what makes us unique, so we have to educate them. Acquisition editors need to show their publishers how the company will make money by bringing us onboard, and we need to help editors with that explanation.

Publishing houses need to know when to schedule editing time and design work and sales meetings, so writers need to hit their deadlines. It is a business, as much as it is an art. That took me years to understand.

Do you have a scripture or quote that has been speaking to you lately?

Lately, God’s been reminding me to enjoy Him, to recognize that knowing Him is a joy. Philippians 4:4 has been running through my mind: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” I love that it’s so important, Paul repeats it and even says, “I will say it again.” And then in Philippians 4:7, he explains why we should rejoice and what our rejoicing leads to: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I’ve also been struck by the importance of balance in my life, especially the balance between dreaming big and working hard. Screenwriter Steven Ross said, “Many work all day. Few dream all day. Even fewer dream for an hour and then work for the rest of the day to make the dream real.” That seems like a fair balance: an hour of dreaming, six, seven, eight hours of working for that dream.

Is there a particularly difficult set back that you’ve gone through in your writing career you are willing to share?

During the writing of Comes a Horseman, I really struggled with whether or not I was following God’s will for my life. Most Christian authors I know write books that are clearly about God and His ways. I felt that my primary purpose was to entertain.

That was on my heart for a long time, that I should use the gifts God gave me to entertain people. I thought, “How can that be? Why would God want me to entertain people through my writing; aren’t there more important uses for this craft?” I was really conflicted. It sounds like a minor struggle, but it was debilitating. This was my life: If I was fooling myself into thinking God wanted me to write entertaining stories, then I’d have to rethink the rest of my career. Then, through prayer and reading some very good articles and books on the subject of vocation, I realized that God designed me to tell entertaining stories because He has a use for them at this time.

Maybe someone will become engrossed in Comes a Horseman and forget for a while about the cancer she has or the tough day he had at work. I came to understand that what I write isn’t mine, it’s God’s, and He wants to bless people with it. I also believe that what I write resonates God’s truth, and that’s partially what makes it entertaining. The soul rejoices when it comes in contact with truth. So, as unorthodox as it sounds, I write to entertain. I trust that God is doing all kinds of other things through my writing that I can’t fully appreciate.


What are a few of your favorite books? (Not written by you.)

Richard Matheson’s “I Am Legend,” Stephen King’s “The Stand,” Peter Straub’s “Ghost Story,” Thomas Perry’s “The Butcher’s Boy,” and David Morrell’s “Testament,” Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings,” and just about anything from C.S. Lewis—“Mere Christianity,” “The Great Divorce,” “The Screwtape Letters.”

If your authorial self was a character from The Wizard of Oz, which one would you be and why?

Interesting question. It reminds me of an acting class I took in college. I’m on the stage and the prof says, “OK, you’re a piece of bread. Act like a piece of bread.” At least you chose something animated. Hmm... I guess I’d be the scarecrow, who wanted a brain. I’m always praying for wisdom. I don’t want to be smart; I want to be wise. I want to discern truth and understand God as deeply as He wants us to. I want to be a Godly father and husband. I think all that takes wisdom.

What piece of writing have you done that you’re particularly proud of and why?

Really, that has to be Comes a Horseman. It’s everything I wanted it to be. It’s entertaining, but makes you think. It’s packed with suspense and action, but it also has a lot of heart. It explores the depravity of which man is capable, but also how honorable and charitable we can be. It’s straight-forward and at the same time complex. It was a lot of fun to write and one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It’s both sides of so many coins. I love that.

Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

I have several, I’m afraid. One is that the business can be so hard. God has been very gracious to me, so I haven’t experience a lot of rejection, but many wannabe writers do. It doesn’t mean they aren’t great writers or that they don’t have anything interesting to say. More times than not, their rejections stem from their manuscript landing on the wrong desk at the wrong time. Some editor’s having a bad day or is tired and doesn’t see the potential. So he shoots off a form-rejection. Too many of those, and the writer gives up. That’s too bad. I wonder how many cooks or clerks or plumbers are writers who either gave up or never gave it a chance. What wonderful books have we been deprived of because making it in this business is so hard?

It also drives me crazy when editors or publishers don’t recognize that fiction is worlds apart from nonfiction, in terms of the talent and craft needed to create it. Not that fiction writers are more talented, but they have a different talent from nonfiction writers. Sometimes, a person has both, but not necessarily. So when a successful nonfiction writer says, “Hey, I want to write a novel,” I cringe, because nine times out of ten it’ll be awful or he’ll have to hire a writer to write it for him.

Which brings me to my biggest pet peeve: ghostwriting. Most of the time it involves someone who has already made a name for himself (I’m using the generic “he”), either as a nonfiction writer or as a preacher or television personality. He wants his name on a novel and a publisher agrees because his name alone will sell enough books to make the venture worthwhile. Either the author or the publisher finds someone who will actually write the book. Sometimes that writer gets cover credit—usually in smaller lettering than the “name” author and preceded by a word like “with” instead of “and.” That’s bad enough, but a lot of times the real writer doesn’t get credit at all. That’s a shame, and it’s not right. Especially among Christians. Aren’t we supposed to be truthful? If something says, “Made in America,” it better not be made in Korea. But that deception happens way too frequently in Christian publishing.

Can you give us a view into a typical day of your writing life?

Right now, I take my kids to school in the morning, then go on to my office. I have an office outside the home, because it’s too easy to be distracted at home. At the office, I’ll read the Bible and another Christian book for a half-hour or so. Then I pray that God is with me when I write and that I will honor him with my words.

I try to burn through the email, which is starting to take way too long, then I’ll read what I wrote the day before. If I’ve already done the research I need for that day’s scenes, I get down to the business of writing around 10AM and work till about 4. If I have anything I need to do for marketing or promotion, I spend the next two hours taking care of that. Then home and the family.

This schedule could change, because I’m a night person. I’d much rather work through the night and sleep in the daylight morning hours. Sometimes, I’ll slowly shift to that, but it’s not conducive to the kind of family life I want nor to what I need to be doing with my publisher and media these days, so I force myself into doing the nine-to-five thing.

If you could choose to have one strength of another writer, what would it be and from whom?

For my entire career, twenty years of writing in one form or another, I’ve focused on craft: how can I write better? I ignored the fact that there were business considerations to writing: proving that you can move books and make the publisher money, because even among Christian publishing houses, where the message is high on their priority list, they still have to make a profit to stay in business , so they can continue getting the message out.

Ted Dekker has been a friend of mine for years. He is very good at the business of writing, whether that’s communicating his worth to his publisher or promoting himself to booksellers and readers. It’s stunning how good he is at these things. He’s a wonderful writer, as well, but, man, he knows how to make writing a career and not just something you do. He has taught me a lot in that department. If I could just sort of osmose what he knows about business, I’d be happy.


Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

Oh, I have some vague notion that I’d like to win a few awards for novel-writing. Maybe an Edgar or one from the International Thriller Writers association. But more important to me now is to continually come up with novels people want to read. I’d like to eventually have a body of work that people have thoroughly enjoyed. Regardless of whether the stories get made into movies or win awards.

If I die having accomplished only that, having written books that engaged readers and made them glad they spent time and money on them, I’d have no complaints.

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

No. I’ve always known this is what God wired me to do. If success never knocked on my door, I’d die in the middle of writing something and without a penny in my pocket. It’s a selfish ambition, to write no matter what, when you have a family. Fortunately, I’ve been able to provide for them, God has allowed that. But before I got married, I told my soon-to-be wife, “This is what I do. I can’t promise it’ll make us rich. I can’t even promise it’ll always put food on the table, but this is what I do.” She said, “I’d rather be with a man who loves what he does, even if it doesn’t pay, than to be with one who hates his high-paying job.” She’s kept that attitude through thick and thin. She’s a wonderful woman.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

My favorite part is creating lives, telling stories abut people who only exist in my mind. To give them personalities and desires and dislikes and histories, to send them on adventures. It’s exhilarating. The part I don’t like is the discipline that’s required day in and day out. It’s very easy to get caught up in research or upgrading office technology or whatever is available to get caught up in. But the old adage is correct: writer’s write. Sometimes, deadlines are months away, so developing the discipline to write a certain number of words or for a set amount of time everyday is crucial.

How much marketing do you do? Any advice in this area?

Marketing and promotion is a necessary part of the writing process. It’s what puts your book where it belongs, in the hands of readers. Getting your name out there is particularly important for first-time novelists. Books are expensive. Hardcovers run over twenty bucks, typically. People don’t want to waste their money on books that turn out to be duds, so they tend to buy the authors they’re familiar with, the ones they know aren’t likely to let them down. I’m asking them to gamble on me.

By doing interview like this one, I can tell people a little more about me, that I value their time and money and have worked hard to make them glad they invested in Comes a Horseman. I hope I can convey my love for the craft of writing and for telling a good story. Otherwise, my book is just five hundred pages sitting on a shelf.

I know writers who hate to give interviews simply because it cuts into their writing time. I appreciate that, but I write to be read, and if people don’t ever hear about me or the story I’m telling, they’ll never give my book a try. So my advice to writers is, get out there and talk, introduce yourself to readers. If your publicist doesn’t do it, contact all the online and print publications you can and offer them an interview. It is time-consuming, but that’s the way it goes.

Parting words?

Comes a Horseman has a lot action and, at the beginning, some gore. It’s the kind of book I like to read. Women may think it’s not for them, but I’ve heard from women who have loved the book. It has a very strong female lead, and a great relationship between a father and son. It’s not just a shoot-‘em-up story. There’s a lot of heart that I think women will appreciate, without turning it into something that guys can’t get into, as well.

Readers can sample the book on my website: www.robertliparulo.com. Go to Thrillers, then Comes a Horseman, then click on the excerpt link. Chapter one is there. Also, I love hearing from readers. If they have questions before they buy the book, email me through the website. Or if they have comments after they read it, I’d love to hear from them.

If they want to arrange to get their books signed or sent directly from a local bookstore near me to someone as a gift, we can do that too. I’m an avid reader. I collect signed and rare books, so I know it can be a pain to get signed books, unless the author happens to swing through their city on a tour. I’d like to make it easier for people. Email me and we can work something out. How’s that for shameless self-promotion? My consolation is that God gave me the desire and talent to write stories and I’m sure He doesn’t want me to write them and stash them in a closet.