Washington College Magazine

CURRENTS:
CIVIL WAR NOVEL HITS THE MARK

by David Healey '88

Book cover

Here’s some advice to writers: get yourself a good answering machine. One with a remote message retrieval system. Then check your messages yourself.
Don’t do like I did, and come home late on a Friday to be greeted by a blinking red light and a wife who, although she’s been home most of the day, says, “Oh, I didn’t notice it.”

Of course, there was my agent on the tape saying something cryptic about having news I’d like to hear. Monday morning was suddenly very far away, especially for my wife, who had to put up with me for the next two days.

When Monday finally came, I got the news that my novel was going to be published in paperback by Jove Books, part of the Penguin-Putnam-Berkley publishing group.

Sharpshooter falls into the category of historical thriller. In the waning days of 1864, the Confederacy is losing the Civil War, so a group of officers sends the South’s best sharpshooter to Washington to assassinate Union General Ulysses S. Grant. By killing Grant, the Confederacy hopes to turn the tide of the war.

Thinking back on my days at the Lit House, where I sat up late at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and talking about writing, it never occurred to me that I would write a historical thriller someday. Like just about everyone else who took Bob Day’s creative writing classes and hung out at the Lit House, I planned on writing “The Great American Novel.” Eventually, I discovered that writing a book that combined action, history and a twisting plot suited me just fine—and had a better chance of being published.

Writing and selling the novel was one thing. Waiting for it to get into print is another. That weekend spent waiting after the answering machine episode was good training.

Since that phone call, an entire year will have passed before Sharpshooter finally hits the stores this November.

Sharpshooter truly began to feel like a book in June, when I got the cover design from Berkley. Suddenly, I had something tangible to show people when they asked about my book.

In July, I got the copyedited manuscript back from Berkley. The editor wanted it back in a week. I buckled down and double-checked all the facts the copyeditor questioned—for instance, does a full house beat four aces in a poker game or not? The copyeditor also picked up on the fact that I used the word “zealous” three times on one page (guess I was feeling, well, zealous that day) and changed my whiches to thats. I’m in good company on this one—James Michener once admitted he never did figure out the difference between “that” and “which,” he just let the copyeditors take care of it.

Page proofs soon followed. The pages now looked just as they would in the book, and it was my last chance to make any changes. By the time I finished with the copyediting proofs, I was tired of hanging on my every word.

Before I got busy with the details of Sharpshooter, I kept busy wrapping up a second Civil War novel called Rebel Train. I was so sick of working on a computer at the newspaper, and then writing on one at home at night, that I wrote Rebel Train out in longhand on 13 yellow legal pads. Then I typed the novel into my old Mac Classic II, making changes along the way, because I soon realized no typist would ever be able to read my handwriting. (Since then, I’ve moved on to a Macintosh Powerbook. A laptop computer is a wonderful thing.)

People always ask, “How do you find time to write?” The answer is that it’s not easy, not with two young kids and a full-time job. Writing tends to get done by dragging myself out of bed and getting in an hour or two before work. Then, after dinner and getting the kids to bed and doing the dishes and getting some checks in the mail to pay the bills, around 10 p.m. I can slip off to the office, where I write until I start to fall asleep at the keyboard. Sometimes, that doesn’t take long.

While I wait for Sharpshooter to hit the shelves, I’ve got an idea for yet another book bouncing around. It’s good to let an idea bounce for a while—sometimes all the air goes out of it, like a deflated volleyball. And sometimes you find yourself sitting down at the keyboard, writing that first chapter, starting all over again.

David Healey, class of ’88, is an editor at the daily Cecil Whig newspaper in Elkton, MD. Check out David's website for Sharp Shooter at http://davidhealey.freeservers.com/ss.html


CURRENTS: CIVIL WAR NOVEL HITS THE MARK by David Healey '88 Here’s some advice to writers: get yourself a good answering machine. One with a remote message retrieval system. Then check your messages yourself. Don’t do like I did, and come home late on a Friday to be greeted by a blinking red light and a wife who, although she’s been home most of the day, says, “Oh, I didn’t notice it.” Of course, there was my agent on the tape saying something cryptic about having news I’d like to hear. Monday morning was suddenly very far away, especially for my wife, who had to put up with me for the next two days. When Monday finally came, I got the news that my novel was going to be published in paperback by Jove Books, part of the Penguin-Putnam-Berkley publishing group. Sharpshooter falls into the category of historical thriller. In the waning days of 1864, the Confederacy is losing the Civil War, so a group of officers sends the South’s best sharpshooter to Washington to assassinate Union General Ulysses S. Grant. By killing Grant, the Confederacy hopes to turn the tide of the war. Thinking back on my days at the Lit House, where I sat up late at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and talking about writing, it never occurred to me that I would write a historical thriller someday. Like just about everyone else who took Bob Day’s creative writing classes and hung out at the Lit House, I planned on writing “The Great American Novel.” Eventually, I discovered that writing a book that combined action, history and a twisting plot suited me just fine—and had a better chance of being published. Writing and selling the novel was one thing. Waiting for it to get into print is another. That weekend spent waiting after the answering machine episode was good training. Since that phone call, an entire year will have passed before Sharpshooter finally hits the stores this November. Sharpshooter truly began to feel like a book in June, when I got the cover design from Berkley. Suddenly, I had something tangible to show people when they asked about my book. In July, I got the copyedited manuscript back from Berkley. The editor wanted it back in a week. I buckled down and double-checked all the facts the copyeditor questioned—for instance, does a full house beat four aces in a poker game or not? The copyeditor also picked up on the fact that I used the word “zealous” three times on one page (guess I was feeling, well, zealous that day) and changed my whiches to thats. I’m in good company on this one—James Michener once admitted he never did figure out the difference between “that” and “which,” he just let the copyeditors take care of it. Page proofs soon followed. The pages now looked just as they would in the book, and it was my last chance to make any changes. By the time I finished with the copyediting proofs, I was tired of hanging on my every word. Before I got busy with the details of Sharpshooter, I kept busy wrapping up a second Civil War novel called Rebel Train. I was so sick of working on a computer at the newspaper, and then writing on one at home at night, that I wrote Rebel Train out in longhand on 13 yellow legal pads. Then I typed the novel into my old Mac Classic II, making changes along the way, because I soon realized no typist would ever be able to read my handwriting. (Since then, I’ve moved on to a Macintosh Powerbook. A laptop computer is a wonderful thing.) People always ask, “How do you find time to write?” The answer is that it’s not easy, not with two young kids and a full-time job. Writing tends to get done by dragging myself out of bed and getting in an hour or two before work. Then, after dinner and getting the kids to bed and doing the dishes and getting some checks in the mail to pay the bills, around 10 p.m. I can slip off to the office, where I write until I start to fall asleep at the keyboard. Sometimes, that doesn’t take long. While I wait for Sharpshooter to hit the shelves, I’ve got an idea for yet another book bouncing around. It’s good to let an idea bounce for a while—sometimes all the air goes out of it, like a deflated volleyball. And sometimes you find yourself sitting down at the keyboard, writing that first chapter, starting all over again. David Healey, class of ’88, is an editor at the daily Cecil Whig newspaper in Elkton, MD. Check out David's website for Sharp Shooter at http://davidhealey.freeservers.com/ss.html BACK TO WINTER '99-00 ISSUE
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