Author Interview ~ James Scott Bell

James Scott Bell studied philosophy, creative writing, and film in college, acted in Off Broadway theater in New York, and received his law degree with honors from the University of Southern California. A former trial lawyer, Bell is the Christy-award winning author of Deadlock, a thriller about the Supreme Court, and coauthor of the bestselling Shannon Saga series. Bell makes his home in Southern California with his wife, Cindy, and their two children.




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

I’d like to plug Glimpses of Paradise, my historical novel from Bethany House. I worked really hard on this one, tried to give it epic sweep. I’m really happy with how it came out. I hope more people read it!

Next April, Presumed Guilty comes out. It’s a legal thriller from Zondervan.



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 started as a screenwriter, and got fairly high up the food chain, but my optioned scripts, for one reason or another, weren’t getting to the screen. I was also “taking meetings” where people wanted me to write this or that for them. I was starting to get a little frustrated, and also felt myself compromising.

What do you mean by compromising?

That I was starting to justify doing material I otherwise wouldn’t do, just to get the work. So one day I sat down to write something totally for myself. It turned out to be this wacky, satirical novel of ideas called
The Darwin Conspiracy. I was going to publish it myself, because I knew it was too far out of the mainstream for a legit publisher! But through an odd set of circumstances it came to the attention of a publisher who offered me a contract. So I took it.

Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

All the time. I find this is common with writers who continue to publish. I think it’s because our standards get higher the more we go along. We raise our own bar. The trick, I think, is to make writing the antidote—every hour spent writing is one less hour spent fretting about your writing.

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

Set a word quota. Whatever it is, daily, weekly. Whatever you can reasonably do, just set it and stick to it. The writing piles up, and sooner than you think you have a book.

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

Try to imitate what another writer does.

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

I’ve been pretty blessed in my writing career. Maybe one reason is that I only started seriously writing when I was 34, and this after law school and running a small business. So I brought a certain sense amount of professionalism and planning to it. That’s a piece of advice I’d give to new writers.

Treat this as a profession.

Treat those in the know—agents, editors—as fellow professionals. Don’t waste their time. Don’t be desperate with them. Offer them your best, and if they say No, offer it to someone else while, at the same time, you’re writing new stuff.

The is a business that wants to nurture professional writers, those who can produce a good novel again and again, not one shot wonders.

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

Exodus 15:11:

“Who among the gods is like you, O LORD?
Who is like you—
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders?

I’m preparing to preach a sermon on God, and this verse contains the outline. One can just scratch the surface here, but what depths underneath that scratch.

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

Not really, other than the usual “Hollywood agent from hell” story that is quite common. As the old radio comedian Fred Allen said, “You can take all the sincerity in Hollywood and put it into a gnat’s navel, and still have room for two caraway seeds and an agent’s heart.”

Ouch. Does that mean you’re against agents?

No. Even though I do my own agenting, I think there are some fine ones out there.

Any advice on someone trying to get an agent?

First, work on being the best writer you can be. Get your proposals in tip top shape. Then, don’t jump at the first agent who shows interest. Find out a bit about their background. This is a big move, and having a bad agent is worse than having no agent. You can still get your proposals straight to editors.

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

I really like the 50’s novels of John D. MacDonald. He wrote paperback crime novels, but truly elevated the form. One of my current favorites is Michael Connelly. I’m reading The Lincoln Lawyer right now.

It seems quite a few authors these days are or were attorneys, You, John Grisham, Robert Whitlow, Don Brown, Aaron Thiel, and others. Why do you think that is?

We need a legitimate way to make money. But there’s also natural drama in courtrooms and legal controversies. Just look at all the TV shows!

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

On days when the writing is going poorly, I’m one of the grumpy apple trees. My wife can attest to that. When I’ve finished a draft, or sent off my edited galleys, I’m like the “bust my buttons” guy, a little hyper and sing-songy.

What is the LOCK system?

I came up with the LOCK system as a way to teach the basics of story structure. When you understand the elements, you can’t help but have a solid structure for your novel. That takes care of a big part of the task. Then you’re free to add your creativity to it.

I wrote about it extensively in my book, Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure (Writers Digest Books), but an article on it can be found at my Writer’s Tips page on my website:

http://jamesscottbell.com/tips.html

Your book on Plot & Structure is getting such wonderful word of mouth play. Was it unnerving to write a book that would only be read by other writers? (Would you share a tip?)

I wasn’t really unnerved, because I just see it as a way to sit down with other people who are trying to write, just as I am, and share some of the helpful techniques I’ve found.

Let me say one thing about structure. Early on in your book, the Lead should pass through what I call a “Doorway of No Return.” It’s sort of like the mythic journey idea, but the key is to create a situation that virtually forces the Lead into the main conflict of the book. Then you have a feeling of inevitability about it.

In The Wizard of Oz, of course, it’s a physical happening: Dorothy is literally transported to another world. But this is the feeling you want, that your Lead has to face a major problem, has to. Otherwise, he’d do what we all prefer to do, stay in the house.

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

My short story, “I See Things Deeply,” for The Storytellers’ Collection II (Multnomah). I love the short story form, and am sorry it’s in such short supply. It’s also the hardest fictional form to master, but when it comes off, it can be even more powerful than a novel. I thought this story turned out pretty well.

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

I wish the lag time between contracting a book and seeing it published weren’t so long. It’s now 18 months to 2 years before you see it on the shelf. It’s the way books have to go from publisher to retailer, though, so there’s not much I can do about it. I’d like the window to be no more than a year, but that’s not going to happen.

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

Wake up, start the coffee, do my Bible reading before anyone else gets up. Later, I’ll I go to my favorite local Starbucks, with just the right table and atmosphere, get there around 7 a.m. and do a couple of hours of writing. Then I go to my “real” office where I’ll do some more writing before attending to other matters. Late afternoon, I may get some more writing in. If I haven’t met my quota, I’ll keep writing until I do.

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

The “unobtrusive poetry” of some of Stephen King’s best writing. He is, at times, a fantastic stylist, but it never gets in the way of the story. It always serves the big picture. (I only wish he’d get over the high school habit of splashing so many swear words on the page. That’s so 70’s.)

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

I only want to make each book the best I can, and keep on doing it until I drop, which I hope will happen right after I type “The End.”

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

Never. It was one of those things where I knew I had to do it, and would do it even if it meant making copies at Kinko’s and selling the things door to door.

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

Favorite: Finishing.

Least Favorite: About 30,000 words in. That’s when I hit “the wall.” I think this whole thing is terrible, and who am I fooling? But I plug on through. Many writers experience this, so if it happens to you, take a day off, then get back to it. It’s never as bad as you thought, and sometimes it’s quite splendid.

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

I will do some things, like send out e-mails to reader lists and such. But I firmly believe the best marketing, the only marketing that works in the long run, is to write great books. Word of mouth takes it from there. So I need to spend the majority of my time writing.

Parting words?

Keep writing. When Isaac Asimov (500 books or so) was asked what he’d do if he knew he only had a week to live, he said, “Type faster.”