A Chat with Fellow Author, Dac Crossley

Available on Amazon

Dac Crossley is a long standing friend of mine, having met in a writers' group at the University of Georgia in the mid 1990's.  It was a wonderfully strange group that spawned many writers and many books.  With a few books under our belts, here's what Dac and I discussed about writing.

Dac: We met some real characters in that class, didn’t we? The ex-weatherman, ex-highway patrolman, a bunch of ex-teachers. And some people I won’t speak to in line in the post office.

Bill:  What I really enjoyed about the class was that it taught you to be helpfully critical and nonjudgmental.  I got a lot of great feedback, much of which I incorporated in writing Cassavora County. (available on Amazon.com)  Plus, there was the peer-pressure to keep writing so you could contribute to the weekly presentations.  You just couldn't allow yourself to arrive in class empty handed.  Plus Harriette's rules tested your skills and ingenuity.  Remember?  No overt sex.  No nasty words.  No animals killed or injured.  Jeez, I had to reinvent my whole vocabulary.

Dac: I’ve gone the route of self-publication. I have three books in the corral and one in the chute. I’m happy to be self-published. I had an agent for a few months. Westerns are hard novels to sell in New York City (“This Davy Crockett, was he a real person?”).

Bill:  I was fortunate not to have to go the self-publishing route.  Serendipity dealt me a happy hand.  After many unwarranted rejections by hopelessly inept agents and editors, I chanced to have coffee with another author, who suggested I contact his publisher.  I sent samples, they replied with many happy words and assigned an editor.  The result you can find on Amazon.

Dac: I’ve offered my novels as e-books but I’m ambivalent about it.

Bill:  Would love to get Cassavora County as a Kindle/Nook version. (please see an earlier blog for a sample of the book)  It's the future of writing and publishing.  Just think, if someone wants to read your books, they can get them RIGHT NOW!  In today's ground swell of instant gratification, e-books are the ticket to improved sales.

Two questions that are always thrown at a writer are:  How do you get your inspiration and do you write everyday?  Dac, what are your answers to those?

Dac: I take long walks. I try to picture my characters in trouble, and ask myself, “What would they do?” Then it’s back to the computer and splay it all out. Yes, I do write every day. Sometimes not much, but I think you need to touch your story every day.

Bill:  I agree with you totally.  You have to know your characters, as well or better than you know anyone else in your life.  Anyone who has read Escape from the Alamo, or Guns Across the Rio, or Return of the Texas Ranger knows you know those guys!  Read one of your books and you can smell the raw sweat of the horses and see the stubble on your Ranger's chin.  Best of all, you follow the  writer's creed:  Draw the reader into the plot and make him desperate to know more about the what's going to happen.

Bill: Another question.  Why did you decide on the Western genre?

Dac: As you know, Bill, our writing class concerned itself with murder mysteries. Like others, I tried writing in a campus setting (killing off a college president). When I tested the Western waters, teacher said, “I think you’ve hit your genre.”

Bill:  I'm not sure exactly why I happily loped into mysteries.  Maybe it's because I enjoy a good story.  I always say, no matter what you write, fiction or nonfiction, always remember you're telling a story.   I've tried writing in the first and the third person.  One thing for sure, the third person is definitely easier.  You can attack the story from so many different facets and involve a host of separate characters.  Sometimes in the first person, you're forced into some square corners and have resort to literary tricks to work in things your character really shouldn't be able to know.

Do you write at a special time each day?

Dac: Mornings for me! The creative juices run hot before noon.

Bill:  Definitely mornings.  By noon I'm thinking errands and planning supper.

Dac: Okay, Bill, when are you coming home?

Bill:  I like to visit the U.S. every now and again, but I really enjoy living overseas.  Two reasons. I love learning languages and being isolated from the churn of mainstream America, sharpens my sense of what America is and what America is like.

Dac:  I’ll keep the latch string out.

Dac also has a wonderful blog that delves into some of the fine points of Texas history. Good for finding out what really happened in the old west and winning bar bets!  You can find a link on the right margin of this blog.