Writing life related:
How did you become a writer?
I used to write a number of articles in intelligence and special operations magazines or journals, and in my day to day, I had to write many detailed plans, overviews and scenarios. Being able to break out and let my imagination fly in Safe Havens was really the first taste of being a writer. Of course the six months of editing and re-writing is when I considered myself an author. I’d love to do it full-time but I haven’t found the golden ticket yet to allow this. Until that time, my writing has typically been while I was traveling for work. Hotels, airplanes, airports, and lonely solo-flight dinners away from home. I would try to knock out a few hours when I could. I am still marketing Safe Havens: Shadow Masters to gain a bit more uptake (and sales to pay the editor), and then I’ll focus on hammering the keys some more. I am looking forward to it.
Anything else that makes your writing unique or of particular interest to readers?
I like to write out inner monologue and the random acts that occur during the story that often have to do with food, which are most noticeable. In Shadow Masters, Sean Havens is in full operational mode completely attuned to his environment, yet he can compartmentalize the urge for coffee and breakfast. He could be getting the pulp beat out of him, and it is quite possible that he may smell bacon or fresh brewed java. Havens may be a tough guy, but he’s also a foodie with a lot going on in his head at all times. I let the reader inside to better learn about the hero and his mindset.
They say don’t judge a book by the cover, which is perhaps why I shouldn’t have put helicopters on the front of it. I think it scares off some female readers as being pure military. There is certainly violence (quite a bit of it), swearing, and some really dark, pulpy aspects of the book. HOWEVER, it’s really a book about a regular guy who dearly loves his family, and has a passion for his job. Like most guys out there, Sean blows it. His heart is in the right place and he spends most of his time fixing a situation gone bad than having the presence of mind domestically that he has in the field. I think readers will see the characters as real people. They are going to beat on the book because they are mad at Sean, they will cry when he is scraping and clawing to hold what is dear to him, and they will cheer him knowing that Sean Havens will get up every time that he is knocked down. The house may be on fire, the reader is shaking their head telling him not to go in, but at the same time, they know he will save someone. They want him to do it. I think that is because Sean Havens has a bit of all of us in him, and yet he is they guy many of us would like to be. It’s attainable and we can touch him, even though he lives in a world that many will never see, and most all will never want to. That makes it politically agnostic and a human book. A liberal or conservative may do one thing in political forums but when it comes to their immediate family, they may do something else. This is the picture that I main using a scenario of covert operations the likes that no one has seen. Try it. Follow me into the black. Look over your shoulder forever.
Thank you, so much for your time!
www.jtpattenbooks.com
Twitter: @jtpattenbooks
Author Central:www.amazon.com/author/jtpatten Amazon buy page amzn.to/1gYxunT
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