Thursday, September 25, 2014

How NOT to write a Thriller...

Sometimes writing a novel is a fairly easy process; sometimes it’s just the opposite.

Last Thursday, worldwide eBookDay, saw the launch of my latest Suspense ThrillerOutsourced’ and that day culminated a project that has taken me over three years to turn the idea (actually several) into a cohesive tale of mayhem and action.

So what’s it about?

Amazon Link
Outsourced’ features a New York-based writer of Thrillers (NO! It’s NOT autobiographical!) who receives a mysterious package from a fan. That fan turns out to be a professional killer. That’s just the start of the writer’s problems; problems that escalate way beyond anything he could have imagined on the pages of his novels, as death and destruction follow rapidly. Just when matter cannot get any worse for the novelist, he learns a high-tech Intelligence agency has been tasked with obtaining the contents of the package too, and they will stop at nothing to achieve that goal.

And, if that’s not enough… the sender wants it back, and his methods are even more direct and violent!

Yes, I’m sorry. I’ve written another fast-paced suspense thriller that will have you missing your stop on the homeward commute and make your food go cold as you frantically turn the pages. As one reader put it (rather mournfully, I thought):

I have sadly learnt that once you pick up one of Eric J. Gates’ books, life as you know it ceases. From page one it is nonstop and enjoyable; a read you will not regret

Anyone who has read my humorous non-fiction book ‘How NOT to be an ASPIRING Writer’ will recognise the opening. It’s the same one I used as a case study in the chapter on turning rough ideas into novel plots: how could someone who has murdered so many people be set free at a court hearing?

That was one of the kernels that grew to make up ‘Outsourced’.

Yet there were more, many more.

If you are not into science, don’t be put off by what follows; it’s not what you think.

From an early age I have been fascinated by Quantum Theory and when, in the seventies, much more information about it was available publicly than ever before, I read everything I could. This was an era when books on Physics written by the leading gurus of the day (Hawking, Greene, Kaku etc) were unheard of. Yet somewhere in the labyrinthine corridors of my mind, a seed started to grow.

Over the years that seed grew into… a HUGE problem.

I wanted to write! Okay.

I wanted to write Thrillers! Fine.

I also had this crazy idea of writing a thriller about Quantum Mechanics!!!

What!!!???

I’m sure you can see the dangers. Readers do not want a textbook; they want something that will entertain above all, something that will get them hooked and turning pages like there was no tomorrow. Physics? A branch of physics that is so difficult to understand??? Have I finally flipped?

The answer to the last question is… Yes, but friends have known this for some years now.

Friends also know that I love a challenge – the harder it is, the more I enjoy solving it.

It took me a while, and three years of back-burner work, but the latest thriller I place before the reading public is about Quantum Mechanics… but don’t worry: first and foremost it’s a fast-paced thriller with enough twists and turns to keep you on your toes as you see which is the mightiest: the pen or the sword gun!

No, the novel is NOT Science Fiction.
Quantum Mechanics, or ‘spooky action at a distance’ as Einstein once referred to one aspect of it, is just a small part of the tale: the part where I stretch science a little to make my trademark ‘Suspense Thrillers with a touch of Strange’ novels. This one will not disappoint habitual fans of my books, and you never know, even Michio Kaku or Brian Cox might like it too!

Just in case either decides to pick up a copy>>>


So be ADVENTUROUS.

Do some EXTREME Reading.

Pick up a copy today…

…read it, then try out the Competition on my web: you never know, YOU could be in the next one!

Oh… in case I didn't mention it, please don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon – they are worth their weight in gold for a writer!

And if you don’t…. well, I have this package, you see…

Outsourced  Click for YOUR Amazon Link

Read it for FREE on KINDLE UNLIMITED in US & UK

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