Welcome, David. Tell us how much of
yourself you write into your characters.
Not much. I
find other people so much more interesting than me. Well at least I find their
flaws more interesting because I don’t like to think about my flaws. So most of
my characters are composites of people I have known.
What is the quirkiest thing you have ever
done?
Besides
singing to my dogs while I robot dance? At one point in time my entire shirt wardrobe
consisted of blue shirts. Nothing but blue shirts. There may or may not have
been a girl’s complement about me in blue shirts involved.
When did you first discover that you were a
writer?
2nd Grade.
There was a school-wide writing contest, and they put the winners into a book
that you could buy. I was in second grade and won the entire contest and had
the featured page. I wrote stories before that but that was the first time I
thought that other people would want to read them. The story was about an owl
that hurt his wing, and I nursed him back to health, if you care to know.
What an encouraging thing for a child. Tell
us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.
Everything.
Romance and Fairy Tales are my least favorite but even then there are some that
have carried me away. Because of a glitch in the system, I was put into regular
11th grade English instead of Advanced. My teacher gave me the reading list,
and I had read them all already. She gave me another list that was huge and
pushed my limits. Since then, I have enjoyed reading as long as it is well-written.
How do you keep your sanity in our run,
run, run world?
I don’t watch
the news, and I sit on the couch with my wife. Sometimes we watch TV, sometimes
we listen to a book, sometimes we just sit. The pace of the world doesn’t
concern me. Being me concerns me.
How do you choose your characters’ names?
By a long and
arduous process. Researching the time frame, the area, the culture, the impact
certain names have, and the sound of names is important to. How do they sound
screamed or whispered? When you hear them, what image do you get in your head? And
then after all that, I pick the name. Sometimes I have one in mind from the
beginning. Hollis Winget, the main character in Frontier Preacher, is the
first and middle name of my maternal grandfather. But his name passed all my
tests so I used it.
What is the accomplishment that you are
most proud of?
None. If
there is anything worth boasting about in my life it is because God made it
happen not me.
If you were an animal, which one would you
be, and why?
I am a dog
person so it pains me to say this, but a cat. Not even a lion or a tiger, but a
house cat. I get to do whatever I want, play when I want to, sleep when I want
to, eat when I want to, and shun who I want to and everyone thinks it’s
adorable.
What is your favorite food?
I’m not the
person that can answer something like that. That’s just too much commitment to
one food. I need to play the field a little. Sample from this culture, indulge
in that style. Can’t we just all eat everything? Except cooked broccoli, that
you can just throw in the trash.
One of my grandsons loved broccoli when he
was in elementary school. When he went home, he told his mother how many
helpings of broccoli he got to eat, because his friends gave him theirs. What
is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you
overcome it?
Finishing. I
had trouble staying on one concept long enough to finish. With age and practice
some of that has gone away.
Tell us about the featured book.
Frontier
Preacher first began life as I researched my home congregation in
Gillette Wyoming .
As I expanded my research and followed all the rabbit trails I realized there
were a lot of stories that hadn’t been told. I wanted to tell them. The first
incarnation of the book was a short story then expanded to the current novel
size. Most everything in the book is a true story, but not the same story. All
the events happened at different times and different places, and I wove them
into a single narrative. The first time I wrote it, Hollis was a railroad
worker. But it just didn’t work. The antagonist needed moral authority without
having to explain that he has moral authority. That’s when I landed on the idea
of a Frontier
Preacher. And the rest, is as they say, Historical Fiction.
Please give us the first page of the book.
Cold bit his
hand when he gripped the rail as he exited the train. James had been right;
this was a wholly different cold than Tennessee .
The snow had seemed the same out the window during the trip, though the land
was flat and featureless. The cabin was cold during the trip, cold enough to
see his breath, but not cold enough to reach his bones. He had wrongly assumed
it would be the same outside. The clear sky had only a few traces of clouds and
a bright sun, which had lent its warmth to the window in the cabin.
As he stepped
down onto the crunching frozen snow of Cheyenne ,
the sun might as well have been a ball of bright ice. The wind ripped at his
face with cold that burned and it tore through his clothes like they were
tattered curtains. James had said to be prepared, and Hollis had thought he was
but now he knew it was impossible to prepare for this. The lining of his
nostrils froze and his scalp felt like it was being pierced with a thousand
little needles. The air in his lungs was so cold that he began to cough like a
backroom painted woman after too many years in the sheets.
How can readers find you on the Internet?
@davidmillican3
Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017QRMMM8David is offering a discount for my readers who buy the book. Here's how you can get the discount:
The coupon code for Frontier Preacher paperback through Createspace is: GYM7ACWX
The Createspace buy link is: https://www.createspace.com/6236943Thank you, David, for sharing this book with us. Since I often write historical fiction, I'm eager for my book to arrive, so I can read it.
Readers, leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory or country if outside North America. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)
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The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.
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10 comments:
This sounds like a good book, and Wyoming is on my bucket list!
I can't stand broccoli either!!
The ever present Wyoming wind still whistles through my veins. No matter where I go it is always home and always my journey's destination. (At least on Earth.) As far as broccoli goes, I love raw broccoli, just don't apply heat.
If you take advantage of the half-price book I hope you enjoy it!
I do love the idea of a Frontier Preacher.
Fabulous.
Mary P
QLD AUSTRALIA
Nice interview. north platte nebraska.
It was perfect for this story because he had the moral authority to progress the conflict. The next one might not be a preacher but will have many of the same themes.
Very interesting. Would love this read. In Illinois.
I've been in North Platte countless times. My Dad is from Lexington and my mom is from Ansley. I've fished Lake Maloney several times over the years.
Tammie, if you do, I would love to hear what you think.
Thanks for sharing this interview and first page
Connie from KY
cps1950(at)gmail(dot)com
Enter me!!
Conway SC.
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