A big thanks to Coffee and Critique member, author J. J (Jack) Zerr, for agreeing to be featured on the Coffee and Critique blog. Jack is a hard-working writer who has published several novels. His most recent publication is a collection of short stories titled War Stories.
In case you haven't guessed from the photo of him below, taken during one of our weekly critique meetings, Jack is a former pilot. His t-shirt states, "I love the smell of jet fuel in the morning."
The ten questions below are divided in three
parts: background, writing, and publishing/wrap-up.
1. First,
a bit about your background. Before you started your writing journey, you had a
distinguished military career as a pilot and an Admiral in the U.S. Navy and a
consultant in private industry. Can you briefly share your thoughts about that
experience?
A.
I was shanghaied into
the US Navy by my father. I did not want to be a sailor, but Pop said the Navy
might teach me something. He took me to a recruiter, said sign here, and I
signed. Life as a junior enlisted man was not fun. I got seasick and planned to
get the crap out of that outfit as soon as I could. But, I took a test for a Navy
college scholarship program, and lo and behold, I scored well on the test and
went to Purdue for a BS in electrical engineering. Also when I went in the
Navy, I was going steady with a high school classmate. She went to nurse’s
training when I went to boot camp. I thought she’d meet a doctor, and that I’d
find out about it via a “Dear John.” But as it turned out, half way through
Purdue, as an E-5, I had the wherewithal to ask her to marry me. So it turns
out Pop was right. The Navy educated me. And I was wrong. The service didn’t
get me a Dear John, rather, the Navy enabled Karen and I to give each other “I
dos.” Vietnam happened, I went on to hold five command positions, including an
aircraft carrier, and was lucky enough to retire as a rear admiral. Overlaying
that, Karen and I had six children, and we lost a preemie in 1969. If I had
picked my own way after high school, God only knows what I’d have turned into.
Maybe He doesn’t even want to think about it. If I had really gotten that Dear
John, I don’t know. I’d have been unborn off the earth, or it would be “Better
for me to have had a millstone tied around my neck and cast into the sea over
the Marianas Trench.”
Brief you said. Sorry about
that.
2. During
your military career you traveled around the world. What are some of your most
memorable experiences or the unforgettable places you’ve been?
A.
Number one, San Juan,
Puerto Rico. It was the first port outside the US my ship visited. Guys from
the electronics technician shop I worked in took me to a bar, where as long as
one person in the group was of age, we got beer. The bar had girls. The girls
were friendly. The guys from my shop wanted to buy some friendship for me, but
I got up and walked back to the ship. It was, to the guys in my shop, some sort
of initiation ritual. It would make me a regular guy, I guess. But I saw it as
a cliff. After twelve years of Catholic school, if I worried more about those
guys accepting me than what I’d been taught, it would have been like throwing
away the first eighteen years of my life. Ever since then, I have been
suspicious of group think, the prevailing sense of right and wrong, PC, these
days. Perhaps San Juan is a big reason I list Shane, Hondo, and The Oxbow
Incident at the top of my all-time favorite books.
3. Now,
onto the questions about writing: What has been the biggest influence on your
writing (e.g. a teacher, your family, your faith, your military experience,
none of the above, all of the above???)
A.
First, Sister Mathew,
lit teacher in high school. Through her, I encountered my favorite short story:
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber; my favorite novella: The Old Man and
the Sea; and my two favorite lines of poetry: “The tintinnabulation of the
bells”, and “You may contribute a verse.” And I have always loved to read. My
wife says I was born with a book in my hand. If I was, when the doc held me
upside down and smacked my bottom, I bet I yowled but did not drop the book.
And Sister inspired in me the desire, to one day, write a book of my own.
4. How
did you get started on your writing journey?
A.
See above. And in my
junior year at Purdue, I found an ad for a Writer’s Correspondence Course. We
really couldn’t afford the fee, but my new bride said it was okay to spend the
money. I completed the course and carried the materials around with me through
twenty-five moves. When I was in the Navy, I worked at being in the Navy. When
I worked in aerospace, I worked at being an engineer and a manager. I retired
from that line in 2007, and on January 2, 2008, I began work on my first novel.
Ted Koontz worked his day job and wrote his poetry at night. God bless Ted for
the verses he contributed. Me, I couldn’t really start writing until I could do
it full time.
5. What
is your favorite aspect of writing? What is your least favorite aspect of
writing?
A.
I love it when an idea
for a story comes out of wherever they come from. The book I
am working on currently is
called Guerilla Bride. I have a CD with a collection of Civil War songs on it.
One of the tracks is about Kate Quantrill. That song inspired the story. The
story, by the way, began life as a short story. I packaged it along with some
others and sent it off to my publisher early last year. In the first review,
the editor suggested I turn the Civil War story into a novel. Whose advice I
took and which I am close to finishing. Which is why War Stories was delayed a year.
My least favorite aspect is
finishing a story. Two reasons actually: one is after an intimate involvement
with a cast of characters, they aren’t mine anymore after publication; Two I
experience a bit of a lost feeling after having lived in a world of my
manufacture for a long time, and suddenly, the world just isn’t there anymore. It
lasts a couple of days; then other stories start yammering to be turned into
ink on pages.
6. How
has belonging to a critique group helped your writing?
A.
I’ve said this a number of times before, but the best piece of
writing critique I’ve ever gotten was from Lou Turner. I brought in a story,
which was about a Navy pilot who was the new guy in his squadron and he was anxious
to not be the new guy anymore. I had a scene set in an O Club bar. After I read
my scene, Lou said, “I gotta tell you. I didn’t like it at all. It’s just
another stupid guys drinking in a bar story.” In my mind, I was telling the
story I wanted to tell, to my reader, Lou, however, I told an entirely
different story. After my fourth novel came out, a classmate of mine from
Purdue wrote to tell me he liked The
Happy Life of Preston Katt. Then he went on to say, “your writing is better
when you are not writing about yourself.” I had to think about that a bit, but
I believe I see what he was telling me. I think I get into my characters, the
good guys, the bad guys, the bit players, and I think you have to do that, but
you also have to be a little bit god, and stand above all the blood, sweat, and
tears, detached enough so you can see if your readers will feel and smell and
hear what the character senses. For me, the Coffee and Critique group has been
powerful in helping me develop a sense of reader perspective. I hope I never
let myself believe I’ve learned all I need to about this subject.
7. Now,
for publishing: You’ve published several successful novels, but War Stories is
your first collection of short stories. Why did you decide to compile these
stories and what can you tell us about the collection?
A.
My first two novels
were each three-year projects. When I put them out for editing or review, I worked
on other things. I wrote stories to submit to contests and for consideration of
inclusion in anthologies, and all of those were to expose my work to a wide
range of readers. I never submitted to contests unless they promised feedback.
Some of these stories wind up as scenes or chapters in the novels. The bar
scene mentioned above, for instance, wound up, modified, in my fifth novel, The Junior Officer Bunkroom. I decided
to compile them into a book because I had accumulated a sizeable collection of
short pieces, and I thought, what the heck. I looked at them all and tried to
find a theme. The theme really came from the first story in the book, “What
Kind of Man are You?” The main character, Joe Bob, in a sense, is a bulldozer
plowing over people and obstacles to get a job done. He’s in the military in
the beginning of the story, but in the military, even bulldozers have
commanding officers. He’s booted out of the Navy. But Joe Bob’s philosophy is:
“Do not let your chin drop. Find a way. Keep going forward until your heart
stops, your eyes go dim, and you fall off your legs.”
People say, “Life sucks, then
you die.” Which is pessimistic, dark even. Joe Bob does not allow the slings
and arrows of outrageous fortune, the vicissitudes of life show him even a
glimpse of the dark side.
Life is full of struggles,
wars even, and not just between nations.
Gender, age, technology, acceptance, political correctness can all be
battlegrounds. The characters in my stories, for the most part, are more like
Joe Bob than the life sucks crew.
8. Do you
have a favorite story in the War Stories collection?
A.
That’s like saying
which one of your daughters is the most beautiful. Well, not quite. Anyway, one
of the things I tried to do with these stories was to try different narrator
voices. And I am satisfied that I did that. I guess I like “Forwards.” I think
I’ll just leave it at that.
9. After
publishing five novels and a short story collection, what lessons have you
learned about writing, editing, and the publishing process?
A. I’ve read books about character, plot,
tension, showing instead of telling. I attended a writing weekend in New York a
couple of years ago, and got critiques from eleven big city folks and the
instructor (a Californian.) But more importantly, I think, I’ve been writing
every day, almost, since January ’08. I think I learned a lot. I like to think
my writing has and is improving every time I get the keys to clickety clacking.
But it doesn’t make it easier. It still is harder than work to get things as
right as I can make them. A worthy editor is worth her weight in pearls. (Most
of them are female, although I have found one male at my publisher who is very
good on structure. Editors are vital, in my mind, not only for structure and
grammar and spelling and word choice, but checking historical facts as well,
and catching the use of modern terminology in a time setting before the terminology
was invented. I love editors. I self-publish. I like the control I have over
the process. I like the editors the publisher uses, and they have publishing
packages, ranging from simple publishing to publishing plus levels of
publicity. I’m comfortable with them. They are comfortable with the money I pay
them.
10. Any
final thoughts you’d like to share?
A.
Just thanks for the blog.
You can learn more about Jack and his books here.
