David W. Rudlin - Author Life

David W. Rudlin, author of The First Time, released his book in May 2018. We wanted to catch up with the new author and see how life has been treating him since he was published

Did you always dream of becoming an author?

I’d like to say I always imagined I’d be sitting in a book-filled library/office, leaning over my manual typewriter to stare out the window while thinking great thoughts. But that would be a lie. I had dreams of being a highly successful author – fame, fortune, critical renown, endless invitations to be on TV talk shows – but I don’t think I ever gave a moment’s consideration to the actual work of being an author.

What was your first job?

Teaching English in Japan. That led to a job with Dentsu, the giant ad agency, where I was a copywriter. My best lines were “Beer with character” for Heineken and “The innocent champagne” for Perrier. I ended up spending nearly 15 years in advertising, in Japan and throughout southeast Asia. Those experiences inspired some of the agency scenes in The First Time.

How did you come about writing your book? Was that your intention or did you start writing for fun? 

This particular book started off as a short (six lines) opening that I fell in love with. It then took a long time for me to figure out how to turn that into a book-length story. Usually I begin writing with little more than a “What if…?” idea; the characters take over from there, and this time they were rather slow to get their act together. My favourite point in the creation of any book is that moment when I think I’ve actually figured out a way to get out of all the corners I’ve written myself into.

What was your life like before you became an author? 

I was a high-powered executive, the power coming from excessive amounts of coffee I drank in a largely failed effort to fight off the effects of jetlag. In my last job before I started writing I was on the road almost half the time – to London, Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai, Delhi, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and Gaborone (Botswana).

As Director of International Markets for De Beers I dined on roasted goat head with African heads of state, and curried lentils with Indian billionaires. I saw $650 million worth of diamonds lying on a table, and nearly choked Japan’s most venerated actress while trying to put a specially shortened necklace around her delicate neck. I saw some of the most extraordinary pieces of jewelry in existence, and diamonds so small it would take 300 of them to make up a carat. I went to weddings with 12,000 guests, and was nearly killed by a terrorist bomb. It was a great gig.

Did you face any struggles before becoming an author? If so, how did you overcome them? 

I spent nearly 18 months thinking about my first book before putting pen to paper (well, fingers to keyboard). When I started writing the words flowed like a rain-swollen river. It almost no time at all I had produced a fast, funny, fascinating story that I was certain the whole world would love. Unfortunately, that story was only 11 pages long. And thus began the process of learning how to write a novel.

I began by reading lots and lots of books, trying to pay attention to the craft behind them. How much detail is given about the physical appearance of each character? Does everyone have a back story? When do colourful details add to the story and when are they a distraction? How do you know when a chapter is over? Is there an alternative to “he said” that doesn’t sound like it jumped from the pages of an overworked thesaurus?

I am fortunate that one of my oldest friends is Ed Sikov, a well-known writer of books (and textbooks) about film. He is also a superb editor, and he beat me into shape. I’m sure it was the longest year of either of our lives.

Now that you are a published author, how has your life changed, if at all?

I actually feel okay about answering “writer” when asked what I do for a living.

Can you please describe a typical day in your life now? 

I start my morning on social media. This is partly because I’m a political junkie, but largely because it’s how I warm up. I’ve noticed that there are some days when I can write effortlessly, and others when it’s a struggle to compose even the simplest sentences. When the fingers are flying on Twitter, I settle in for 6-10 hours of writing. On days when the gods are against me I force myself to write 1,500 words before abandoning hope and moving on to other tasks related to my work: background research, fact-checking, self-promotion (ugh), proofreading (double ugh), communicating with reviewers and fans, and checking my sales numbers.

I’m currently working on a bunch of different projects. I’ve got a screenplay in development with a major Hollywood studio. I’m working on my first non-fiction book. I’ve got two more novels featuring the same cast of characters awaiting editing, and I’ve just started one more. I usually work on just one of these each day – I’m old and easily confused – with the choice being based on how my brain is working on a given day.

What is your most memorable moment of your life as an author?

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I’m going to say it hasn’t happened yet. I’m looking forward to the day I meet someone for the first time and they say, “Oh, right, I love your work.”

In a few words, how would you review your experience with Pegasus Publishers? 

It’s been great having an entire team behind this project, with highly skilled people looking after each aspect of the creation, production and marketing of my book.

10.  Why did you choose Pegasus Publishers? Because whenever I mention my next book is coming from Pegasus, people say “oh, they’re good.”