The Dangers of Drummers

by M. L. Buchman

This month's suggested topic is "Marching to a Different Drummer."

As a writer, I've found this to be a major problem. For me there are always Twelve drummers drumming (at the minimum). Anyone who has followed my writing career can attest to that. In fact, if you count novel series separate from short story series, I've written 32 different series. Some of those are still just two or three stories (or novels), but some are seven novels or even eleven short stories in the same series. (No wonder my head hurts.)

This is also a brilliant way to both intrigue and frustrate readers. "I love this series! When's the next book? And that series too! What about that one? Or the one over there?..."

There is good news and good news and good news here though.

The first good news is that you get to try a lot of things. Invent characters, learn things you never thought you'd learn, like the length of the Wright Brothers first powered flight being shorter than the cargo hold of a military C-5 "Galaxy" transport jet. Or that a favorite of Russian bagged snacks is toasted brown bread, rusks, in flavors such as: onion, BBQ, crabmeat, and jellied meat with horseradish. Learned all this and much more for my upcoming Miranda Chase thriller:

www.books2read.com/condor

The second good thing is that chasing after those different drummers has let me discover what works for my writerly voice. Author voice is a terribly tricky thing, because the author has no idea what it actually is. Seriously. It's up to the marketplace to tell the author, "Oh, this is the kind of story you write really well." For example, I launched my career in romantic suspense. I tried going over to contemporary romance (a sub-genre that I greatly enjoy as a reader and a writer). While I still got great ratings, I earned far fewer sales. So, I went the other way, over to action-adventure technothriller. Whoosh! I think I found my authorial voice...at least until the next cool drummer comes along. I just can't write Miranda Chase fast enough; not for the readers--for me! I just love this series.

www.mlbuchman.com/miranda-chase

The third awesome thing is that I end up creating whole worlds that I love to go back and revisit. I've recently started pulling some of those many series into collections. Revisiting these two short-story series, I got to write brand-new introductions about why I wrote each story and what they've meant to me over the time since I wrote them. I really love being able to do this and you'll definitely see more of these from me in the future.

The world of the firefighting Hotshot crews and the Fire Lookouts high in their lonely towers are only the first two that I've tackled.

https://books2read.com/the-complete-hotshots

https://books2read.com/the-complete-fire-lookouts

So, sure, following a thirty-two, or even just a dozen, drummers has its drawbacks (like making your brain feel like it's going to explode).But I highly recommend it! 

Why?

Because it creates so much fun!

M.L. "Matt" Buchman has 60+ thriller and romance novels, 100 short stories, and lotsa audiobooks. PW says his thrillers will make “Tom Clancy fans open to a strong female lead clamor for more.” Booklist declared three novels “Top-10 Romances of the Year.” A project manager with a geophysics degree, he’s designed and built houses, flown and jumped out of planes, solo-sailed a 50’ sailboat, and bicycled solo around the world…and he quilts. More at: www.mlbuchman.com.