Today, we’re talking with Douglas Buckland about his book, Good Friends Are Hard To Come By: An action adventure thriller for men (The Unintended Series Book 1).
Tell us something unexpected about yourself!
In the past I've held 3 Liberian shipping tickets; Able Bodied Seaman, Survival Craft Crewman and Oiler.
Why do you write?
I have always read voraciously, so during the Covid lockdowns I decided to try writing.
Where did you get the inspiration for your current book?
I grew up in Colorado working on cars and hunting, so this gave me a basis for my characters. During my career in the oilfield, I traveled extensively which opened up many other options for locations. I try to be as accurate as possible with my locations, so actually living and working in these places was helpful.
What do you enjoy the most about your genre?
The ability to be creative and to use my imagination. I also enjoy the ability to interject come laughs and comedy into the tense situations or the relationships that my characters find themselves in.
How would you describe your writing process?
Structured. I like to come up with a storyline in my mind, then outline it ‘on paper'. I call the outline the skeleton that I will hang the meat of the story on as I write.
What do you think authors have to gain from participating in social media?
I'll be 64 soon and I am not really an aficionado of social media. I do interact with some writer's pages and exchange ideas with a few select authors on them, but I find many authors who post on social media ask for advice or criticism, but when they receive it they either ignore it or simply can not take criticism.
What advice would you have for other writers?
To take writing seriously. It seems to me that many new authors feel that they can just sit down in front of their laptop and hammer out a novel. They do not realize that it is a long, involved process which takes a lot of research and discipline.
How do you select your books’ titles and covers?
I always create the title and the cover from something that occurs in the novel. I think this is important and a duty to your prospective readers. The cover, the title and the ‘back blurb' must reflect the book as accurately as possible. I'll come up with a few ideas for the covers and the titles and send them to my publisher. She is a very clever person and a more experienced author as well. She'll shoot some of my ideas down while offering her suggestions. It is an iterative process that seems to work well for us.
What's your next step?
I'll keep writing, but I need to become more knowledgeable and active concerning the marketing of my books.
What book do you wish you'd written?
The Loo Sanction by Trevanian, or anything by Janet Evanovich.
How do you react to seeing a new review for your book?
I enjoy it, good or bad. Everyone likes to see the good reviews and it makes you feel that your efforts are not wasted. On the other hand, the negative reviews tend to show you where you can improve.
