A bit of fun news.
My co-author on Throwing Lead, Mary Mason, and I had so much fun doing Throwing Lead that we’re starting work on our next Writer’s Guide. After much discussion over whether to start straight in with Throwing Lead 2 or to get on with another one of our planned volumes, we decided to wait on TL2 until feedback and questions have come in for the just-released volume 1.
In the meantime, we’re going to be doing a Writer’s Guide to Cars and Driving (probably called either “Grinding Gears” or “Laying Rubber” or something similar), and we start work on it tomorrow. So, step 1 is the same as step 1 was with Throwing Lead: Ask for your questions.
What is it about cars and driving, car chases, stunt driving, etc. that you’ve always been curious about? What about cars just doesn’t make sense to you? What things have you seen in movies that strain credibility? What weird cultural things have always puzzled you about bikers, gearheads, mechanics, and getaway drivers? Let us know. Leave your questions in the comments under this post, or send them in to feedback at jdsawyer dot net.
Your questions helped make Throwing Lead happen, and helped us out when we got stuck. We’re dying to know what’s on your mind when it comes to all things automotive.
Thanks!
jdsawyer
After a childhood in academia, J. Daniel Sawyer declared his independence by dropping out of high school and setting off on a series of adventures in the bowels of the film industry, the venture capital culture of silicon valley, surfing safaris, bohemians, burners, historians, theologians, adventurers, climbers, drug dealers, gangbangers, and inventors before his past finally caught up to him.
Trapped in a world bookended by one wall falling in Berlin and other walls going up around suburbia and along national borders throughout the world, he rediscovered his deep love of history and, with it, and obsession with predicting the future as it grew aggressively out of the past.
To date, this obsession has yielded over thirty books and innumerable short stories, the occasional short film, nearly a dozen podcasts stretching over a decade and a half, and a career creating novels and audiobooks exploring the world through the lens of his own peculiar madness, in the depths of his own private forest in a rural exile, where he uses the quiet to write, walk on the beach, and manage a production company that brings innovative stories to the ears of audiences across the world.
For news and free stories, sign up for his occasional newsletter. Or find his contact info, podcasts, and more on his home page at http://www.jdsawyer.net
Please make sure to mention that alignments can and do get f***ed up when you do anything that jars the car too hard.
HoopyFreud
I’m hoping that tailing a car, shaking a tail, and car chases are covered. Sooo often used in books and movies, soooo often screwed up. But not covered so much that you don’t get to the other great auto stuff.
Oh, yes. That’s one we hadn’t thought of–excellent. Thank you!
Hoopy–
Yup, we’re definitely talking about alignments 🙂
-Dan
jdsawyer
Please explain that nitrous oxide does not make flames shoot out the exhaust or is incredibly explosion even like in Fast and Furious. Also if there car won’t start, it is useless to pop the hood get out and check the oil. If oil was keeping the engine from starting it would already be seized up unable to turn at all.
Brandon Biehler
Think about the tall people ! When I read a book with a tall guy that “inserts” himself confortably in a sport car, I cringe. I’m 6’2″ and I know that’s impossible. 😉
I read a sample of Throwing Lead because of your interview with Paul Cooley. You know I love what you do but that one touches too close to deep emotionnal wounds. I worked with guns for 12 years and lost good friends along the way : suicide, armored truck attacks, accidents… It is a really well done book but it got me shaking with a panic attack after 10 pages… probably because it is such a good book. 😉
Anecdote : we had a pest problem some years back and a neighboor lend us a little rifle to get rid of them. My ex, whom don’t have my training, used it to try to scare them away. But I scared the hell out of him because I became a cold killer machine. “Never raise a gun if you don’t intend to kill” is something that was drilled into my head…
So, I stay clear of guns and, sadly, books about guns. 😉
Lucie Le Blanc
Lucie —
You must love the way Lantham has to play “Origami Detective” to get in and out of his small car! We’ve definitely got a section on ergonomics and odd body-sizes and shapes planned 🙂
Sorry about the PTSD trigger. Sometimes it’s possible to be too on-the-nose, even in nonfic. And yes, “Never draw on someone you’re not prepared to kill” was drilled into my head form an early age too.
Thanks for coming by! 🙂
-Dan
jdsawyer
Hi Dan – can you do motorbike racing as well? I want Morgan, my protagonist to ride some seriously cool bikes…
Yes indeed, there is an extensive section planned on motorcycles 🙂
jdsawyer
Comments are closed.
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Please make sure to mention that alignments can and do get f***ed up when you do anything that jars the car too hard.
I’m hoping that tailing a car, shaking a tail, and car chases are covered. Sooo often used in books and movies, soooo often screwed up. But not covered so much that you don’t get to the other great auto stuff.
Richard —
Oh, yes. That’s one we hadn’t thought of–excellent. Thank you!
Hoopy–
Yup, we’re definitely talking about alignments 🙂
-Dan
Please explain that nitrous oxide does not make flames shoot out the exhaust or is incredibly explosion even like in Fast and Furious. Also if there car won’t start, it is useless to pop the hood get out and check the oil. If oil was keeping the engine from starting it would already be seized up unable to turn at all.
Think about the tall people ! When I read a book with a tall guy that “inserts” himself confortably in a sport car, I cringe. I’m 6’2″ and I know that’s impossible. 😉
I read a sample of Throwing Lead because of your interview with Paul Cooley. You know I love what you do but that one touches too close to deep emotionnal wounds. I worked with guns for 12 years and lost good friends along the way : suicide, armored truck attacks, accidents… It is a really well done book but it got me shaking with a panic attack after 10 pages… probably because it is such a good book. 😉
Anecdote : we had a pest problem some years back and a neighboor lend us a little rifle to get rid of them. My ex, whom don’t have my training, used it to try to scare them away. But I scared the hell out of him because I became a cold killer machine. “Never raise a gun if you don’t intend to kill” is something that was drilled into my head…
So, I stay clear of guns and, sadly, books about guns. 😉
Lucie —
You must love the way Lantham has to play “Origami Detective” to get in and out of his small car! We’ve definitely got a section on ergonomics and odd body-sizes and shapes planned 🙂
Sorry about the PTSD trigger. Sometimes it’s possible to be too on-the-nose, even in nonfic. And yes, “Never draw on someone you’re not prepared to kill” was drilled into my head form an early age too.
Thanks for coming by! 🙂
-Dan
Hi Dan – can you do motorbike racing as well? I want Morgan, my protagonist to ride some seriously cool bikes…
Yes indeed, there is an extensive section planned on motorcycles 🙂