Good day Jim and thanks for accepting to be interviewed for Bookpleasures.

Norm

Jim, could you tell our readers something about yourself, and how did you learn your writing skills?

Jim

Something about myself: I've been around for a while; done a lot of things; had a lot of experiences -- mostly good, some not so good, some bad. I've been lucky many times, but I've also worked at ""taking care of business."" I kept remembering that ""once is dumb, twice is stupid.""

As for learning writing skills, some of it apparently was natural, so to speak (orderly mind, for one example). The application of writing skill really started when I was a Lead Man in an aircraft factory and I first corrected my boss' memos to more clearly state what I thought he had in mind before posting to the bulletin board or explaining it to a work crew.

Soon after the first few announcements he would simply give me notes about what he wanted done, I would write a brief narrative, he'd look it over, and it would be posted over his name. He gave me several compliments, saying they'd be passed on to his boss. I feel they helped my promotability. I later became foreman of the 30-member department for six years.

During that time I started taking college-level classes to develop my writing and communications skills. Those studies were spasmodic but continued for quite some time, all the while reading, reading, reading works of good writers (fiction, nonfiction, plays) -- and paying attention to what they had done. My ""serious"" writing effort started on the advice ""write about what you know."" At that point I felt there was only one thing I felt confident writing about -- my military service experience, including infantry combat as an 18-year-old soldier.

It was slow going but my fiction ""Replacement"" did get to 10,000-plus words (typed, single-spaced, half-inch borders) before I got distracted by and involved with job, family, and outside interests. I put aside my first real creative writing effort for some time. But I did get back to it much later.

Eventually I got back to creative writing study and began note-making on a variety of interests, then again started writing purposefully. I continued reading and attending plays. I kept remembering an expression attributed to Abraham Lincoln, which went along the line of: ""I shall keep learning and when my time comes I will be ready.""

Fortunately, I was hired as a copywriter trainee by a major insurance company. One of the many beneficial aspects of that work was my writing was critiqued on a daily basis by departmental supervisors, marketing directors, the legal department, and others. It was all helpful to me. During fifteen years with the company I progressed in positions, responsibility, and economic level.

Norm

Why did you decide to write Flashes, and what made you think it would be of interest to anyone but yourself? Did you pattern the book after anyone in particular?

Jim

Among much of my reading stories about youths growing up didn't tell, in detail, of harshly passing through early and difficult formative years during a depression and prewar era. I kept wondering about one ten-to fifteen-year-old boy's life -- physical and mental abuse from a single parent and from peers, poverty, privation, lack of adequate parental supervision, dysfunctional family situations, a quarrelsome sibling relationship with a sister, and other negative, often troublesome,circumstances.

The next three years, in another city, and with relatives, went more normally for a teenager, but changing behavior and modifying extreme independence was difficult at times --but accomplished.

I decided I would write about that boy's life from his perspectives; about his coping with things the way they were and hoping to improve his lot; more or less awkwardly making his way through woes and travails; trying one thing and another; gradually succeeding. It wasn't easy and took a long time.

Flashes needed several years and three rewrites to complete the story I wanted. I ultimately settled on key events that had effects on Mickey. Then I needed a way of connecting those often widely separated times, deciding on a series of past ""flashbacks"" occurring to him during a time when Mickey is in a lengthy waiting period and has time to reflect on his life.

It closely follows my youth. I felt it would be better to tell ""someone else's"" story than write a long first-person ""I"" account.

Norm

How much research did you do before writing the book and how long did it take to write and edit the novel?

Jim

My ""research"" included life experiences and extensive reading of all sorts of good writing to learn storytelling.

How long did it take? A couple years to get words on paper; then three rewrites over nearly four years to produce a version of the story I wanted. Then a few more years of having it looked at by qualified readers. On one reader's advice. I tried cutting back the word count, but found that I couldn't easily make drastic revisions and reductions. I kept asking myself when contemplating deletions, ""Why? The story will lose some of its impact.""

Norm

Do you agree with this statement and why or why not: ""a good book is about the struggles of vividly drawn individuals, not issues. Through their travail, we comprehend the issues profoundly?""

Jim

I agree -- and why? As you stated: ""A good book…comprehend the issues profoundly.""

Norm

For a first time novelist, I was surprised at your ability to effectively create an emotional charge, that is an essential ingredient of effective drama. The emotional charge in your novel is created when you have your principal protagonist, Mickey, squaring off against antagonists within himself and out in the world.

Were you aware of this when you created Mickey?

Jim

Yes, very much so. From early on and throughout Flashes is about Mickey learning to cope with seemingly endless problems and circumstances.

Leaving the tumultuous and perilous big city Mickey had to settle for a less adventurous life, though he continued to occasionally skirt the edge of feckless behavior. Along the way he found his first real friend, who quietly helped change his life for the better.

In the final book chapter, having been sworn into the U.S. Army, Mickey vows to himself life will be different. The closing passage is his internal forceful decision.

Norm

I noticed that the reader did not learn very much about Mickey's mother, her relationship with his father and why she abandoned him. Was this done purposedly and why?

Jim

Though not covered in the narrative, Mickey didn't meet his mother until he was age 14, when he, his father, and his sister went to Bridgeport, Connecticut for her father's funeral. The parents separated when the children were small and remained with their father. The parents never divorced. His mother was never part of Mickey's New York City life and only minimally so during his nearly three years in Bridgeport. Little information about her was by design.

Further, Mickey never refers to his father as Dad or Daddy or Pop or Papa or any other commonplace term -- also on purpose.

Norm

What are the skills you most admire in a writer and who are your favorite writers and why?

Jim

Skills most admired; clarity, eschewing obfuscation, plotting, readability (e.g., avoiding long-winded sentences; excessive commas, semicolons, and the like, forcing rereading to understand what the writer is saying).

Favorites? Wide-ranging, but works such as ""Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"" and ""The Phantom of the Opera"" were slower reading because of writing styles of their times, but good nonetheless. Reading and understanding Shakespeare is not easy effort, but worthwhile when time allows.

Norm

Are there any other books in the works?

Jim

I have other works done as well as various work-in-progress projects. I've had one 70,000-word parachuting handbook published, completed 12 short fiction pieces (unpublished), three plays (unpublished), I write a monthly 1,200-word parachute information column for an aviation newspaper (170-plus columns published to date), and I'm currently a researcher/writer for the Historical Committee of the Parachute Industry Association (PIA) working on a comprehensive history project.

Incidentally, 28 years after I set aside my 10,000-word ""Replacement"" WW2 fiction story, I started working on it again. It's now up to some 55,000 words, but it's on a ""back burner"" at the moment.

It's been a pleasure recapping some of my writing tribulations and accomplishment thus far.

Thanks for asking!

REVIEW OF FLASHES