Writing THE SAMURAI'S HEART by Walt Mussell

THE SAMURAI'S HEART

I’d like to thank Romancing the Genres for having me today and for tackling the topic of men in romance writing. A few years ago, I pitched an article to Romance Writers of America’s magazine on the men of RWA. My suggestion was rejected. I’m glad that there are others out there who think this topic is a good one.

So what does it mean to be a male writer in the romance world?

Initially, it left me with trepidation. I walked into my first Georgia Romance Writers (GRW) meeting about ten years ago. I’d met two of the members at a book signing a few months earlier and they’d invited me. At the time, I was focused on selling humorous parenting articles to regional magazines and trying to publish a book on marriage. The two women assured me that a male who wrote nonfiction would be welcome. At my first meeting, people treated me with courtesy. They invited me back, but I don’t know who expected to see me again.

But I did go back. I started attending monthly meetings. The following year, I attended my first writer’s conference. Overall, I tried to improve my craft. I learned about self-editing. I learned about querying agents and publishers. And, because writers discuss everything amongst themselves, I learned not to blush over certain topics.

But in those early years, I could never forget that I was a man in a woman’s world. It isn’t that I tried to forget. It’s just that I was deathly afraid of doing something that would embarrass either myself or my chapter.

I liken it to my first year of living in Japan.

I spent four years in Japan in the early 90s. In my first year, I lived in a small town where I was the only non-Japanese in the area. Sometimes, I’d come home late on a Sunday evening from a weekend of tourism and would take a taxi from the train station instead of walking home. I never had to tell the taxi driver where I lived. He already knew. Everyone in town knew where I lived. Everyone in town knew what I did. And if I’d done something culturally repugnant, everyone would have known that, too.

In my early years in romance writing, it felt the same way. I wasn’t the only guy in my chapter, but there were so few guys that I knew if I did something wrong, particularly at a conference, it would be remembered.

But things got easier. I eventually settled in. And after a while, one of my friends at GRW suggested that, if I was going to hang around, I had to try writing a romance. I began by penning some contemporary novels that I could never seem to finish and that contest judges hated. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I was doing.  

BREAKTHROUGH

Then I fell back on my love of history, particularly Japanese history. Based on a mysterious cross tile located at Himeji Castle in Himeji, Japan, I began writing a Japan-based inspirational historical.

THE CASTLE TILE THAT STARTED IT ALL

Though I finally enjoyed some contest success with this effort, the reception from agents and publishers was lackluster.  I began working on other projects, publishing three novellas and two short stories. I also wrote other works.

But I never gave up on this first historical.

I reached the decision to self-publish it when I heard of Kindle Scout, an Amazon program where you place an excerpt from your novel on-line and people vote on it. I was selected by Kindle Scout and was awarded a contract with Amazon.

[The excerpt that won me the contract is still available on Amazon’s website. Please click this link if you wish to read it. http://amzn.to/2ltBWrG ]

THE SAMURAI'S HEART
(The Heart Of The Samurai Book 1)

“Love and swords are forged in fire.”

Japan, 1587. Sen must find a husband to marry into her family’s swordsmith business. She seeks a Christian husband, though Christianity is banned.

Enter Nobuhiro. Third son of a high-level samurai, Nobuhiro fled his harsh father and apprenticed himself to a swordsmith. He yearns to prove his worth.

They seem an ideal match. But for Sen, the choice is faith or family. For Nobuhiro, choosing a Christian ends any reconciliation with his family. Can love be forged from the impossible?

With The Samurai’s Heart having been released in July, I’m now enjoying my new PAN status.

And, as far as making embarrassing mistakes, I’ve discovered that I can’t worry about it. I’m going to make them anyway.

But after ten years in GRW, I can say one thing. As long as I take my writing seriously, I’ll be seen as a writer first.

WALT MUSSELL

Bio

Walt Mussell lives in the Atlanta area with his wife and two sons. He works for a well-known corporation and writes in his spare time. Walt primarily writes historical novels, with a focus on Japan, an interest he gained during the four years he lived there. He refers to his novels as “Like Shogun, but the heroine survives.” He is currently working on books 2 and 3 in his series, The Samurai’s Soul and The Samurai’s Strength.

Outside of writing, his favorite activity is trying to keep up with his kids. As one is away at college and the other is in high school, this is proving more difficult each day.

You can follow Walt on Twitter at @wmussell. Please visit his website Daddy Needs Decaf at waltmussell.blogspot.com. Please check out his Facebook page at “Walt Mussell - Author.”

Links:

Website: http://waltmussell.blogspot.com/

Facebook Author Page http://bit.ly/2w1JCXg

Twitter @wmussell: https://twitter.com/wmussell

Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/2hUmAML

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2wTf2wm