Authors: Bernard Schaffer
David Hulegaard’s Interview with Superbia author, Bernard Schaffer
Published: January 23, 2012
Welcome back and thanks for dropping by! Let me start off by congratulating you on the release of not one, but
two
publications over the past few weeks. My God, man, when do you sleep? I feel like I should be warning Sarah Connor about you.
I appreciate the opportunity, David. The question about when I sleep and how fast I write has come up often lately. People who are balancing jobs and families seem mystified at how quickly I write and release products.
I wrote like this when there was no Kindle. I wrote like this when agents and small press magazines were laughing at me.
S
uperbia
is a project that you have been talking about for a long time. You and I touched on it briefly during your last visit to the site. Of all the projects swimming around in your head, why did
Superbia
rise to the top? Why now?
No matter what book I released, people around me would say, “That’s nice, but when are you going to write a cop book?”
I was afraid to write
Superbia
. I couldn’t see what they saw. Plus, I was still struggling with the belief that I would be a police officer for the next fifteen years or so. I knew that to really write it, I would have to let go of that belief because the consequences would be potentially disastrous to my career.
S
uperbia
is obviously a very personal story. Was it difficult reliving some of these moments over again for the book?
No. What was difficult was trying to describe them in ways that would not make their source immediately apparent. I know what really happened. I needed to bend the entire story enough that no one could come back and connect reality to fiction, but still resonate.
You have said that
Superbia
might be the book that ends your police career. Have you shared the book with anyone on the force? If so, what has been their reaction?
I’ve told several people about the book, and heard back from one already. His quote, I believe was, “This was no shot across the bow. This was a direct hit from the Battleship New Jersey.”
Without giving anything away, talk about the book’s ties to Greek mythology. What inspired that pairing?
Completely accidental. I kept struggling with Vic’s last name, doing “Replace All” in the manuscript multiple times, until finally it occurred to me to make it something meaningful. After that, the rest seemed obvious.
Anyone who follows you on Twitter knows that the real-life Bernard Schaffer is often a humorous and jovial guy. As an author, your subject matter rarely lends itself to comedy, but
Superbia
is surprisingly laugh-out-loud funny at times. Did you base the relationship between Frank and Vic off of real life experience?
I’m doing very limited press for this book, David, but since you’ve been so good to me, I’ll tell you something funny that no one else knows.
Superbia
did not turn out the way I originally intended it. I meant it to be my “Beach Read” book, a la John Locke. I read his book How I SOLD 1 MILLION EBOOKS IN 5 MONTHS! and the part about his writing style annoyed me. I think he said it was heavy on dialogue, light on description, and that he didn’t exert much effort.
My reaction was, “Shit, I can do that with my eyes closed.” I sat down and wrote out a few scenes between Vic and Frank that focused on dialogue, getting their back-and-forth conversational style down. Then, the monster kicked in.
I first encountered the monster during
Guns of Seneca 6
. After
Whitechapel,
I was trying to write a lighthearted little sci-fi western to show people I can do more than just explicit gore, and these psychopathic cannibal hillbillies showed up. I sat there staring at my computer screen like, “You can’t be serious. Don’t EAT THAT GUY.” But they did.
The turning point for
Superbia
came toward the end of the first draft when I realized what Vic’s fate was. I don’t mean decided, I mean realized. Here I was, motoring along, writing my cute little cop buddy book and it was like someone slammed a gavel down and said, “Vic Ajax is going to kill himself.”
I was absolutely horrified. Pissed off. I couldn’t sleep.
In that one fell swoop, my funny beach read became a major work. Once you’re faced with that, you can’t back down. I am not sure how many MAJOR WORKS the universe gives you, but when it does, you better be ready.
I know that a magician never reveals his secrets, but I’ve got to know: The bit about the poster-sized African American penis. Please tell me that was based off of a real event. I had tears pouring down my face after that.
The ENTIRE book is fictional. Honest. I swear to God. (If you read the book, I’m hoping you pick up on that one.)
As a policeman, was it difficult to toe the line between authenticity and protecting sensitive information when writing this book? Not just in the crime stories, but also in describing what happens behind the station’s doors?
That was the hardest part of all. I don’t want to give people the impression that I wrote a different book about my real life experiences and then modified it to create
Superbia
.
If I told you all of the bizarre things that have happened to me during the course of my career, it wouldn’t be readable. It would seem like I was just being outrageous. I grew up as a cop’s kid, and have spent my adult life in police work. Believe me, I’ve got stories out the wazoo.
The trick was to create a fictional world, with fictional characters, who experience real things.
Like a good friend of mine said, “If anybody complains about what they read in the book, they are basically admitting that’s how they act. They won’t make a peep.”
I can’t talk much about this without giving away plot spoilers, but I am very curious to know about the backstory involving the “Truth Rabbit.” I got the feeling that it could have been a tall tale used to spook the rookies, but it also sounded bizarre enough to be true.
The Truth Rabbit is a mythical beast that once reportedly roamed the basements of Philadelphia Police Districts. He’s an urban legend. That’s all I’m allowed to say.
When writing
Whitechapel
, you talked about how listening to Morrissey for inspiration played a huge part in your process. Did you look to a specific playlist for inspiration for
Superbia
?
I did, especially once I came to that division bell of the book turning from Beach Read to Major Work. It took me some time to absorb the ramifications of the story, and I relied on Chris Cornell and Hank Williams III to help me understand what it meant. Specifically, “Cleaning My Gun” from Chris’s Songbook LP and “#5” from Hank 3’s Rebel Within album.
Based on the early reviews, how do you feel about the warm reception
Superbia
is getting?
Grateful. It’s like bringing your girlfriend home to meet your family, and when she goes to the bathroom, they all say, “She’s a winner. Where did a bum like you find her?”
I believe those were my parent’s exact words when they met my fiancée. So, was there any part of you that was concerned that your readers might not “get” your book?
I sent the second draft of the book out to five beta readers. Three of them got back to me immediately and put me to work right away. I sat down and started making adjustments and rewriting the manuscript.
Two of them waited until the last minute to tell me they’d only had time to read half of it and disliked certain things. One said she thought the “weird names were distracting.”
That’s a gut check when you have already finished the book and ready to release it. I stuck to my instincts and people have had no problem figuring out the “weird names.” Thank God.
Are you at all worried about
Superbia
becoming the measuring stick for which all your future books are judged, or are you looking forward to the challenge of one-upping yourself?
You know, it never crossed my mind until reader reviews started making it an issue. I never set out to write “My Greatest Book” with
Superbia
. I was just telling a story.
Once you become concerned with the formula for success, it’s over. I’ve been bitten on the ass by too many authors who thought they could crank out another book in a series just to take my money. I’d probably be making a lot more cash if I just wrote just one series. The problem is, I have more to say than that.
You’ve been talking lately about your ambitious plans for 2012: Publishing four books and earning over a million dollars. That seems like a lot of pressure for one writer to put on himself. Care to divulge your strategy?
Write hard and well. So far, so good.
Let’s talk a little bit about your agenda for this year. One of the books on your slate is WHITECHAPEL 2, which surprised me a little bit. What prompted you to revisit this series?
I miss the characters when I’m not spending time with them. Little things remind me of them, like old lovers. Take
Whitechapel
. It might be a Morrissey song, or a commercial for the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I’ll start thinking about my characters and wondering what they’re up to.
With
Whitechapel,
I did an enormous amount of research into the times and crimes of London’s East End during that period. One thing that always bothered me was that Scotland Yard missed something incredibly important.
They had a second serial killer at work right under their noses, but were so consumed with Jack the Ripper that they missed him.
Whitechapel 2: Inspector Lestrade and the Torso Killer is going to correct that. The Torso Killer has been getting a free ride for over a century. Gerard Lestrade is back on the job, folks. He’s got a little something special planned for the one that got away.
In all the times we’ve spoken, I can’t recall you ever mentioning
The Widow Sword, which is another book you’ve targeted for release. How about a quick overview?
The original
Widow Sword manuscript predates
Whitechapel
, written before anything like Kindle existed. It was too short for me to send to an agent, and I mothballed it. Recently, I was going through some of my older work and found the book. When I started reading it, I was happily surprised at what I saw and decided to try and make a go of it.
The story is a sword and sorcery romp, where a Viking goes off on a journey to rescue his son from an evil sorceress. It’s my next Beach Read. Honest. I swear to God.
I, as I’m sure many of your fans are, am excited to see a sequel to
Guns of Seneca 6
popping up on your radar. Have you given much thought as to where the sequel will take our favorite characters, or is that one still a ways off?
It is a work in progress. I’m still accumulating ideas for it. All you really need for any book is a decent starting point. I tend to write in spurts, working on multiple projects at the same time, until one really takes hold and everything else comes to a halt.
I love the world of Seneca 6. It is as interesting to me as the world of Whitechapel, but in a completely different way. Kind of like my kids. They aren’t alike at all, but I dig them both unendingly.
Bernard, as always, it’s been a pleasure to talk books with you. I wish you nothing but continued success and hope to see you here again soon. The door is always open to you!
David, you’ve been with me from the very beginning, and I don’t intend on that ever changing. Thank you so much for the chance to come back.
Fringe Scientist’s Interview with Superbia author, Bernard Schaffer
Published: January 27, 2012
Firstly, congratulations on Superbia. It was a fantastic read.
I appreciate it Tony. The early feedback has been amazing. As I write this, the book is finishing up its second day of free promotion on Amazon via the Kindle Direct Select program. So far it’s been downloaded over 17,100 times and reached the #11 spot on all of Amazon. That’s mind-blowing. It goes back on sale tomorrow. Wish me luck.
(Note, Superbia is now back on sale at the regular price)
What are you doing to promote it?
B: The KDS program is my first, best promotional tool at this point. I’m a believer in the program. I never experienced much luck with the Nook or Smashwords, so I don’t miss being able to list my books there. Aside from that, there’s Twitter. One of the best things about being a smaller independent author is that people can reach out to me anytime they want. You can read my book and go right on Twitter and start talking to me. I’m not hard to find.
I opted to only do two interviews for the book, one here, and one with David Hulegaard. I would rather have two heartfelt discussions rather than find myself repeating the same things twenty different places.
I think that Superbia should really reach the widest possible audience, it was such a satisfying read.
I’d love to see it happen. I feel a great responsibility for the people I’ve chosen to speak for. It is a very diverse group and some of them might not appreciate what I have to say, but they’re probably the people I took shots at in the book anyway.
It’s one of those things I’d like to see picked up for TV. Wouldn’t that be a boon!
I keep hearing the words “HBO series.” I’d like to let the fine people of HBO know, should any of them be reading this, that I’m available to discuss it. Unless Showtime calls first, at which point I will shamelessly deny ever saying anything nice about HBO.
Reading Superbia, I was reminded a lot of John D Macdonald, and some of the different books published via HARD CASE CRIME. I wouldn’t call Superbia pulp, but I would say it was sort of in the same vein. I’d like to say the realistic policing world of LA Confidential, too, but I’m only talking about the movie, not the book. There is certainly something about the way you’ve painted the setting of Superbia that doesn’t leave room for doubt that it’s a real story taking place before your eyes. I explained it to my wife as being “like a documentary, following real cops around as they experience the ups and downs of the job.”
My whole intent was to create a fictional world filled with fictional people who experience real things. I’ve been a cop for fifteen years and grew up with a dad who was on the Job as well. I’ve been around it my entire life. It was a matter of referencing all of the stories from all of the cops I’ve ever known.
There were great references throughout to different cop shows and movies. As a cop yourself, how much of what you see on TV today correctly represents what you see day in, day out?
As cops we actually reference the movies and TV shows ourselves on a daily basis. That’s all part of the group dynamic. The dialogue in Superbia is something you would hear in any precinct around the world. I’ve worked with cops from the UK, from the Canadian border, and all across the United States. We’re all pretty much the same sort. This is the Cops, mind you. The working man, or woman. Not the REMF’s.
That being said, what you see on TV is total bullshit. The plague of CSI-type shows has completely bamboozled the public into believing we’ve all got crime scene units following us around with NASA-grade technology. I did a temporary assignment with Philly’s Crime Scene Unit for two weeks and met some of the smartest, most dedicated professionals I’ve ever had the privilege to know. Most of them had to buy their own gear.
The scene halfway through the novel, with the guy who hung himself, was another one of those scenes where I thought “He hasn’t made this up.” Is that instinct right? It just didn’t feel like you’d sat at your desk and created that scenario out of thin air.
The entire book is completely made up. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t even think I wrote the damn thing. Who are you and why are we talking again?
I’ve read your interview with David Hulegaard, and the subject of the humour present in the novel came up. I found Superbia VERY funny. As David noted, it’s the funniest thing you’ve written yet. Your off-the-wall humour, which we all come across via twitter and your blog, really shines through in Superbia.
Writing Superbia was a completely different experience for me. The other books were a matter of building up the worlds and structuring them in a specific manner. Paying attention to every little detail. Were zippers invented in the era of Sherlock Holmes? What was a common expression for people who suffered Tuberculosis in the Wild West? Those sort of things.
For Superbia, it was matter of me getting out of the way. Opening up as a writer and shaking off the fear that I would face serious reprisals for what I had to say. For cops, it is common to crack jokes in the face of danger and horror. Maybe the humor in the book is me doing the same thing.
In my review I say that you have a very British sense of humour, and by that I think I mean that it feels familiar. Vic’s banter back and forth with Frank had me in stitches, really. It was like the banter my Dad and I might have with each other. For example when Vic says something, and Frank says “Vic, you would have been 10 years old” or something to that effect. Vic replies with “Yeah, then I was a 10 year old genius detective.” Amidst the darkness present in the novel, that humour offers a counter-point that I think really works.
I’ve literally been standing in rooms that are covered in blood and guts. Brain matter dripping from the ceiling. One eyeball stuck to the television set across the room and the other one under the refrigerator in the kitchen. I’ve been standing in those rooms with other young men who cannot possibly find a rational way to deal with the reality of what we are seeing, so we start to make fun of it.
The thing about most cops is that they’re excellent communicators. They survive on the street by being able to talk to people, by being quick witted and sharp-tongued. If you can talk a guy into putting a knife down and surrendering so you don’t have to shoot his stupid ass, chances are, you’re a gifted bullshitter.
You’ve mentioned more than once that this book could end your career. Surely, releasing Superbia regardless of that possibility means that you’re prepared if that does indeed become the case…
I think there are several ways it could end. Some of them are positive, some negative. I would rather leave police work on my own terms than be forced out. Joseph Wambaugh was forced out when people kept turning up at his station house asking for autographs.
The ending was strange for me. It felt concluded, and yet it also felt like there was this whole other book waiting to be written about a man with a mission to fight corruption. Is there a sequel in the works? Perhaps something along the lines of The Insider?
Superbia 2 might preempt the other books I have slated for 2012. Maybe. It depends what comes over the telepathic wire. I can tell you I’ve got the second book plotted out.
The sense of there being corruption within and above… is that something you’ve experienced yourself? Surely every organisation has its dark side that the public never see or hear about.
Whenever there is a police suicide, there is much discussion about the mental breakdown of officers based on what they see and experience. How the horror of the Job gets to them. How it affects their family life, causes substance abuse, and so forth.
You never see anyone question the workplace’s impact on him. It’s always some nefarious encounter with death or tragedy that pushed him too far. Nobody ever says, “What were his bosses like? How was he being treated?”
I think that the kind of writing you’ve shown in Superbia would go well with other crime fiction, perhaps something along the lines of Elmore Leonard. Can you see yourself dipping your toe in the genre again and incorporating more from a criminal viewpoint? One of the things about that type of fiction is that the bad guys are never a cut and dry case of good and evil. They’re more about people who have made a choice to protect honesty and order (the law) and people who’ve chosen a life that ignores rules and limitations (the criminal element).
I’ve only ever met a few evil sons of bitches. I mean, really evil. Most of the people I’ve arrested were ordinary dudes who made dumb decisions either out of greed or desperation. I tend to have good reports with the people I arrest, as long as whatever they did doesn’t violate my moral compass.
I just ran into a drug dealer I arrested a few years ago at the local bar and we sat down and talked about the old days over a few beers. My personal philosophy is that my life could have easily gone in a different direction and I’d be in that other person’s position. The Job does not grace you with any kind of moral superiority. When I see cops who think it does, I could vomit.
You said on your blog that you’re aiming to make a million dollars this year from your writing. Obviously, that is a phenomenal figure to make. Do you think you’ll do it? Is there indication in your sales to date that you will?
All I can do is keep plugging away. Hopefully, something breaks loose.
So what do you plan on releasing in 2012, and of those titles which ones remain to be written?
The Magnificent Guns of Seneca 6 and Whitechapel 2: Inspector Lestrade and the Torso Killer are two big projects that I intend to tackle. The Widow Sword is already written, but I’ll need to do an overhaul before it gets released. Codex Leicester is a collection of short-stories that are written except for two. And now, while I should be working on all of them, I’m preoccupied with continuing the world of Superbia.
What could possibly go wrong?
You’ve touched on this before, but what’s your work ethic? What is a day of writing look like for Bernard Schaffer? You seem to be able to churn out one great novel after another. And in between that you’re writing short stories and erotic fiction. How do you do it? Or will we see a “How I Sold XXX Books On Kindle” from you similar to what Locke has done?
Since I was a child, I’ve always read multiple books at once. Now I tend to write them simultaneously as well. When I finish one project, I’m already tidying up the next one and getting it ready.
Many years ago I saw a cartoon in Mad Magazine of Stephen King racing a word processor to see if it could print the books as fast as he wrote them. My goal is to have them recycle that joke with me and a Kindle.
I can tell you this now, you will never see a “How to Sell” or “How to Write” book from me. The greatest book about writing, ON WRITING, is already written. I have nothing to add to what Steve said. People who want to pretend that the craft has somehow changed because of e-books are delusional. The delivery system might change. The craft does not.
“How to Sell” books on Kindle would be infinitely harder, and it’s not something I’m willing to write. Mainly because it can’t be written or taught. At least, my personal method can’t be. There are people like John Locke who can tell you how they sold books and steps you can take to do the same.
I’m the same writer whether I’m selling a million books or not a single one. I walk it, breathe it, live it, am willing to sacrifice sleep for it, willing to sacrifice my career for it. I have an insanely competitive streak that makes me want prove things to the entire world. Things I can’t explain, let alone jot down for sale.
Do you see yourself remaining Indie? Would you accept a contract from a big name publisher if it was offered? To my eye, it seems like you’re doing okay as you are. And when you’ve got authors like JA Konrath making $100,000 in only 3 weeks at a time, I just don’t think that the big pub houses can offer anything to match that can they?
Konrath is like the guy who’s been in the Navy for twenty years and knows you’re getting ready to ship out to Singapore. He puts his arm around you and says, “C’mere kid. When you get to port, go find this one-eyed whore named CiCi and ask her for the Goosegrease Basket Trick. Tell her Uncle Joe sent ya. She’s gonna ask you for twenty, but only give her an extra five. And also, never eat anything called the Beef Special.” Independent publishing is better for having him around. He’s one of the few people in the industry that I’d like to meet.
I think that the future of independent publishing can be found in other mediums. Take music for example. Why can’t an independent publisher have his own imprint at a larger label? A distribution deal for the bookstores and Walmarts of the world, released under mutually beneficial terms. I’d consider that.
Before we finish, I know from your interview with David how you sort of started Superbia as a response to John Locke’s work ethic, whereby he basically writes shit books but somehow markets them just right and gets them selling. Somehow it turned from being a beach read to being, in my opinion, THE Bernard Schaffer book to start with. And yet it wasn’t too long, and felt like a satisfying, quality read that you could take to a beach. So funnily enough, I think you got what you went for in the beginning. Only, your idea of a beach read is a little different to Locke’s. It’s like comparing economy burgers with gourmet quarter-pounders, you know?
Funny you should say that. I often think of John as the McDonald’s of the independent publishing movement. Clearly, there is a market for his work. I’m just trying to achieve something slightly different with mine.