Interviews

Interview With Author of The Anvil-Dean Davies

Dean Davies, Author of The Anvil

The Plot Café was fortunate enough to score an interview with Dean Davies, author of action/adventure novel The Anvil. Dean has been working hard on a sequel to his debut novel but was kind enough to take a few minutes away from the keyboard to sit down and have a colorful and insightful chat with us.

Plot Café: What got you into writing?

Dean Davies: I honestly don’t know. I’ve have always wanted to tell stories. I wrote my first short story when I was in the second grade. I wrote it in my mother’s lined linen writing tablet. Later, I graduated to the red Big Chief tablets. The first story was about a Princess who needed to be saved from a snake. Freudians would go ballistic on that one—especially from a second-grader.

When I got good and fed up with the academy and teaching the great stories of the world, I quit to write one. Those who can, do; those who teach can do, too. Writing is the hardest work you’ll ever do without lifting something heavy.

Plot Café: Tell us about your novel, The Anvil and the main character Jake Two Feathers. Where did you come up with the ideas for them?

Dean Davies: My novel, The Anvil, and its main character, Jake Two Feathers, were gifts of the Muse. I was casting about for real, workable concepts for novels. Once I had the concept, the character appropriate for the concept came. I suppose it could just as easily work the other way, too. The point is this: once I had committed myself to writing, no matter how vague I was about doing it, the ideas came. I think commitment is one of the necessary requirements for creation. Once you become honestly and truly committed the universe- the Muse- responds.

I was once asked if I used life experience in my writing. Duh. Jake is a Lakota Indian and a retired Special Forces officer. He wants to settle somewhere after years of war, sculpt, and get the stink of war out of his soul. I have Indian blood, and military experience, and have, in my old age, rediscovered, or discovered anew, an exquisite Native American spirituality which is a constant source of strength and inspiration. These elements come out in the novel, and make it unique in thriller fiction.

How many novels do you read where the hero goes into a sweat lodge, not only for guidance with difficult problems, but for strength and inspiration? I hasten to add that whatever happens in the novel is believable, and based on phenomena I personally have experienced. It’s not magic. It happens. Most non-Indians never get a chance to experience it, and most Indians won’t talk openly about their spiritual experiences.

The Anvil is available at Eloquent Books.

I have friends who read the novel chapter by chapter as it was written. I was often asked, “Where did you come up with that? The answer is, “It came to me as I was writing.” This revelation is important; ideas don’t come through the pure stream of thinking. They seem to happen when the pencil is poised above the blank page, or in the middle of a paragraph.

Plot Café: Did your novel end up being something different than you envisioned?

Dean Davies: Not really, no. Once I had the concept, I wrote the beginning and then I wrote the end. I always knew where I was going. What did happen, though, as I was filling in the middle, was a rather complicated plot, or complicated sub-plots that grew out of various characters around Jake. Once I planted Jake in the garden, along with various other characters, they took root and sprouted their own stories, peripheral to, and somehow involved with Jake or his world.

Plot Café: How has it been working with your publisher, Eloquent Books?

Dean Davies: I have only good things to say about Eloquent Books. They sell “publishing,” and books. So if you want to get a book published, try their joint venture program. Once I had the manuscript finished, I quickly tired of snooty agents (it took one agent exactly fifteen seconds to e-mail me back, saying “Not interested”), and the glacially slow response from larger publishers who said “We think you should take up writing as a vocation, but…. yada, yada, yada.”

Eloquent Books is not self-publishing. They don’t publish crap that won’t sell. But for a small fee (and it is small, considering what you get), they will quickly and expertly produce a beautifully finished book, get it listed on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bowkers , and others, wholesale it though Ingram, provide you with a publisher’s website, and help you market the book, which is the hard part. They will help you arrange book signings, supply ideas for marketing on the internet. My average royalty on what I market and sell is about a buck and a half.

So, am I glad I have the publisher I have? You bet. If I had waited and not invested in myself, the manuscript would still be lying on the coffee table collecting dust.

Plot Café: What things have you done to promote The Anvil?

Dean Davies: The single question I get asked the most, about either The Anvil, or my book of poetry, also published by Eloquent, We Had Our Best Discussions in the Bathtub, is “Where can I get it?” So the fact that my publisher has already arranged for the book to be listed at Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc., is a tremendously valuable marketing asset.

While the books may not be on the store’s shelves, they are easily available on the internet. Further, the publisher establishes a “publisher’s website” where the books are available. In my case, these are Eloquent Books-The Anvil and Eloquent Books-We Had Our Best Discussion in the Bathtub. Mine are fairly plain, but for a small fee, the publisher will not only spiff them up but also provide a blog.
In addition, I have two other websites: The Anvil Site and Dean Davies. I am in the process of phasing one of these out. Both sites have links to my blog, which I consider an important element in marketing. You can stay in touch with your readers, let them get to know you a little, and update them on what’s developing.

I also use social networking sites to “expose” myself, and what I am doing to others. It’s a great way to meet people, and market your work, if it’s appropriate. Eons.com, for example, is a site for boomers that is literally crawling with writers. There is a book group, and some very ambitious people there organize week end-chats. I salute them.

Further, I use Google Alerts to notify me of useful sites where I might be able to promote my book. (That’s how I found The Plot Cafe.) Just Google “Google Alerts,” and type in keywords. In my case, they were “action/adventure novels,” “action novels,”—you get the idea. Google alerts you every day to sites where the words are mentioned. Then you do the legwork, or fingerwork, as it were, and go to it. Market aggressively. You won’t sell fifty books at a whack this way, but you will sell books. I didn’t write a novel or a book of poetry to impress the girls or to give to my mother. I want to sell a million copies. I’ve got a long way to go, but I AM working on it. Key word: “working.”

Book signings: I have arranged book signings all over my state. You have to be careful here. Marketing and selling your book is a business. You have to watch expenses. Big chains are the most difficult to work with because of corporate policy. Smaller bookstores are easier to work with, and may let you take your own books into the store, but many want a discount. You have to work with each situation differently. Don’t forget to factor in as a cost the room at the sleazy motel, McMystery burgers, and medicine for despair and disappointment (booze). Nobody said being Hemingway was easy.

Plot Café: What is, or has become, your most useful writing habit.

Dean Davies: Sit down and write every day. Doesn’t matter if you don’t feel like it. Get up, sit in the chair, and write. There are no holidays. I’m always writing in my head. Every person, every emotion, every situation, is food to slake the hunger of writing. Pay attention. Live. Write—every day.

Plot Café: Any advice to fellow writers?

Dean Davies: Make a commitment to writing. Don’t ask how you’re going to make a living, arrange your schedule around the kids, whether you should write in the morning or afternoon. Make the commitment, the rest will come. Have some faith in yourself and in your work. Do it. Write. Now.

Plot Café: What a great way to end the interview than with some sound advice. Thank you, Dean, for stopping by and talking with us today. To learn more about Dean Davies please stop by his blog located at The Anvil Site-Blog. You can purchase your very own copy of the Anvil from Amazon or direct from the publisher.