ROB MAHAN BOOKS

Author: Rob Mahan

  • Simpler Times, Simpler Places

    Simpler Times, Simpler Places

    My upcoming novel, An Irish Miracle, spans over a half a century and two countries. With all the strife in the real world today, the stories in it offer a respite, a brief glimpse of simpler times and simpler places.

    Born in 1945, life for twin boys on an Ohio family farm is filled with hard work. The growing seasons mean plowing, planting and worrying about the rain. Only after the day’s work is there time for pick-up games, pony rides, and swimming. When the harvest season begins, daylight is reserved for bringing in the crops and baling the neighbor’s hay for spending money. The first day of a new school year means the ground will soon be frozen solid.

    Their close-knit family is happy and secure, but with one ill-fated decision by their father, an old-school farmer and a war veteran, life for the boys begins to change. When the first Irish-Catholic president is assassinated, life for the whole family changes. After the arrival of two draft notices, the twin brothers set out on separate paths for the first time in their lives, one to the jungles of Vietnam and one to the quiet countryside of western Ireland.

    Were they really simpler times and simpler places? I think so, but perhaps you should decide for yourself.

  • Story Ideas – What’s the Catch?

    Story Ideas – What’s the Catch?

    One of the most common questions asked of authors is “Where do you get the ideas for your stories?” If someone would ask me that question, I might risk getting their eyes rolled at me and answer “from my thoughts” or even more briefly “everywhere” . . . but there are a couple of tricks involved.

    The first trick is recognizing the thoughts that might make good story ideas. Much like a photographer or a painter that sees what appears to be an everyday scene and recognizes the potential for a beautiful or powerful picture, when I have thoughts (and that’s nearly all the time), I almost subconsciously run them through a “Would that make a good story idea?” filter. The idea for the novel I’m currently working on came from a dream I had a few days after my son moved across the country for the first time. Stories in the news often get caught in that filter. Would a vigilante that got away with abusing animal abusers escalate his behavior? Random thoughts in unlikely situations can get caught in the filter, too. Out for pizza one night, someone at the table across the aisle sneezed. Gross? Yes, but what if I looked around and everyone in the restaurant had started sneezing . . . and then falling out of their booths? Would I run out of the place or start taking notes for the opening of a horror story? Okay, so perhaps a little wild imagination is part of the first trick.

    After recognizing a thought that might make a good story, and maybe embellishing it a bit, the second trick is capturing it before it gets away. With a mind like a steel sieve these days, leaving that task to memory isn’t such a good idea. That’s where the catch comes in. Pictured above is my fake-leather bound writing journal. It’s my story idea catch. I try to write down those thoughts that I recognize as potential story ideas in it. Sometimes I jot just a word or two or write several paragraphs. The central idea for my current novel is in there, recorded five years ago. But I don’t always have this fancy journal with me. I jot ideas down on whatever is handy . . . a spiral-bound notebook, a paper napkin (cloth if it’s a really good idea), the notes function on my phone, whatever is at hand. That journal has all kinds of random stuff taped into it. Neatness doesn’t count. What matters is to get all those good story idea in writing before they break their tenuous bonds and escape down Fading Memory Lane.

  • Hello, World

    Hello, World

    Readers and writers, welcome to Rob Mahan Books! I’m Rob and I’m an emerging author. Perhaps you are, too. Or maybe you’re a reader who loves to discover first-time authors or a reader who just loves a good book. In any case, we need to talk.

    After almost two years of work, my first novel is in its fourth draft and close to its final form. On this blog, I plan to share thoughts and experiences from the path I have taken to get from a “blank sheet of paper” to 100,000+ words. I have no formal training in writing fiction, but I have always been a reader and books have always been a part of my life, thanks to my mother. (You’ll recognize her as Helen, a young girl in my short story The Dictionary.)

    Topics for future posts will include where my ideas have come from so far, how I set out to write one kind of novel and ended up writing something entirely different, resources I’ve discovered along the way, some basic mechanics of writing I’ve learned, taking feedback gracefully, and the decision process I’m struggling with now—to go the traditional agent-publisher route or to self-publish.

    And, of course, I’ll tell you a lot more about my first novel, An Irish Miracle.

    Thanks for being out there!