Sunday, September 29, 2013

HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS STORY: "GIRL OF GREAT PRICE" From GIRL TROUBLE, Milo Fowler



                                                        "GIRL OF GREAT PRICE"
When I was a kid, I learned to write on an old manual typewriter. My first novels were messy, full of typos and plot holes. But they were fun. And at age 15, that's what it was all about.

Private eye Charlie Madison was one of my first characters, and The Double Murder was his big debut—over a hundred pages of snappy banter, mob hits, double-crossing dames, car chases, and even some alligators. A horrible parody, it'll never see the light of day.

Halfway through Write1Sub1 2011, I came up with the first story about Charlie I'd written in decades. It wasn't anything like his original case, but he was the same quick-witted, intrepid detective. I subbed "Girl of Great Price" to Criminal Element, assuming I'd receive a form letter rejection in two months, tops. Instead, Claire Eddy (TOR Books) emailed informing me that she was my editor on this project. After I picked myself up off the floor, I went to work, and my story was eventually included in the Girl Trouble anthology.

"Girl of Great Price" is the first in a future noir detective series. The sequel, Immaterial Evidence, is now available from Musa Publishing.

BIO:  Milo James Fowler is a teacher by day, speculative fictioneer by night. Stop by anytime: www.milojamesfowler.com

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Patti - Thanks for hosting Milo.

Milo - Thanks for sharing your story. It's interesting isn't it how just setting a writing goal - brainstorming if you want to call it that - can get the creativity going...

Charles Gramlich said...

some of the characters I created as a youngster have also appeared in later stories. I had a lot of fun creating them for sure.

Barrie said...

That's impressive for a 15 year old!