By Nick Nixon
I owned a graphic design
firm for 35 years. I had a staff of seven people, four of whom were artists. I
was primarily an artist too, but I also did any writing that was needed. All I
ever wrote was advertising copy, which would not have passed my college English
101 class.
When I retired in 2010,
I decided I would be a cartoonist, then a friend asked me to write a column to
go along with one of my cartoons for his magazine. That is when I found out I
had a talent for humorous writing.
After one of my more
serious articles was featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul a couple of years
ago, I was interviewed on local television and radio. I was asked if there was
anything I had not done so far that I would like to do. I told her that every
writer probably wants to write a novel. That is when I decided I would write The
Maltese Chicken.
When I announced this to
a writers group I belong to, one of the members gave me a book on how to write
a serious private eye novel. I had never thought about writing
anything that was not humorous, but one night, as I was trying to go sleep, the
plot for The Frame popped into my head. The next day I started
writing a novel about a cop who had been unjustly accused of wrong doing and
lost his job, and his quest to find out who framed him and get
even.
I did not have an
outline. I just started writing. I never knew what was going to happen on the
next page until it did. Three months later I had written well over 86,000
words. Since it was set in the 1940s, I had to do some research on cars, guns
and history. I never named the city it took place in, but during one of the
many edits and rewrites, my publisher suggested I set it in Memphis, TN. I grew
up here, but I was amazed at how much I did not know about Memphis during the
1940s. I was definitely not a dedicated history student in high school or
college, but I actually enjoyed the research and what I learned.
The reason I set the
novel in the 1940s is because I have always been a big fan of the black and
white film noir movies about private eyes and gangsters of that period. I still
like to watch them on television.
I thought I had written
a pretty good novel, but the constructive criticism, editing and advice I
received from my publisher, my editor and fellow writers has made The
Frame a much better novel and, hopefully, made me a better writer. I
guess I’ll find this out when The Frame comes out sometime
this fall.
Do I have any advice for
anyone who wants to be a writer? Yeah, write what you know about, what you have
a passion for, and listen to the advice you get from other, more experienced
people in this business. Oh yeah, one more thing. Don’t be too defensive about
what you have written when these people offer their opinions.
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After
retiring from a career in advertising, Nick Nixon began writing crime fiction
novels, inspired by his love for old black-and-white film noir movies of the
1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. THE FRAME, his first book in a series of Peter English,
PI mysteries, will release late October 2016. Nick also writes and illustrates children’s
books, as well as recording them. He enjoys spending time with his family, good
music, good books and classic cars. Three Fun Facts about Nick Nixon: 1…He has
five children and fourteen grandchildren. 2…He writes humor columns and does
cartoons for various publications. 3…He draws caricatures. Nick’s social media
links are: Blog nick.blogspot.com Website: nicknixonauthor.com Twitter nick_nickwits
and on Linkedin His books include his today release, THE FRAME, Candy
Moon, Candy Moon Choo Choo and Looking
Through the Rearview Mirror: Drawing From the past to inspire the future (Anthology) (Volume 1)
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