Guest post: "Writing 'Secret Agent Angel,'" by Ray Sutherland

The immediate influence on  the novel was my decision to write it  in a style reminiscent of the first-person mystery novels of the 40’s -60’s. I have always admired the writings of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane, and Donald Hamilton, all of whom often had their protagonist narrate their own adventures. I started by imitating their style, but quickly discovered my own voice and style. I still claim their work as inspiration.

                  A host of other authors have inspired me to write.  In addition to the mystery writers already mentioned, I love the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Robert A. Heinlein, Keith Laumer, Tom Clancy, Harold Coyle, Donald Hamilton, Isaac Asimov, Ernest Haycox, Michael Crichton, and-of course-J. R. R. Tolkien, and Shakespeare. I have enjoyed and admired their work ever since I first discovered a Tarzan book by Burroughs in my Grandma’s storage shed and loved it.

                  It is obvious in my book that I have been greatly influenced by movies as well as books. Multiple readers have told me the book reads almost like a screenplay. The movies that have had the greatest influence on me are Disney’s cartoon movies, especially Snow White and Bambi, the Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven from 1960, Tombstone, Steel Magnolias, Jurassic Park, My Pal Trigger, and a huge lot of others.

                  I don’t try to intentionally imitate any of these writers, but reading them and re-reading them is definitely inspiration to write and to do my best.

                  In my writing, I don’t wait for inspiration to hit me. If I only wrote when my muses were singing loud and pretty, I would never finish anything. Writing is like any other job. Sometimes you have to make yourself do it. Writing has been a lot of fun, overall, but some days I had to have a long talk with myself about time management, then sit at my desk and write, even when what I really wanted to do was to take a long walk through the woods. Some of my best work has come on days like that when I didn’t feel all inspired. I have definitely discovered that, while I get occasional flashes of inspiration seemingly from nowhere, most inspiration comes as the product of hard work, focus, and concentration. But even the days when I had to make myself work were all fun.

                  I hope that you will have as much fun reading Secret Agent Angel as I had in writing it.

Ray Sutherland is a Kentucky native who grew up on a farm outside of Bowling Green. He served in the Army, spent two years in Germany, received his B.A. in religion from Western Kentucky University, and his PhD in the Bible from Vanderbilt University.  Ray has served of Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of North Carolina-Pembroke for over thirty years, pastored a small church for nine years, and is retired from the Army Reserve. He and his wife Regina live in North Carolina. They have two sons and four grandchildren. Visit him at www.raysutherland.com. Find out more about his book on Amazon.