Page Created: 02/24/22. Last Updated: 03/23/22.
MICHAEL A VENTRELLA
ONLINE
Website: https://michaelaventrella.com/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelaventrella
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeVentrella
BOOKS
.....Terlin Ostler
...............Terlin Ostler & The Arch Enemies
...............Terlin Ostler & The War of the Words
...............Terlin Ostler & The Axes of Evil
.....Standalone Novels
...............Big Stick
...............Bloodsuckers: A Vampire Runs for President
.....Anthologies Edited
...............Release the Virgins
...............Across the Universe: Tales of Alternate Beatles (co-edited by Randee Dawn)
...............Baker Street Irregulars (co-edited by Jonathan Maberry)
...............Baker Street Irregulars: The Game Is Afoot (co-edited by Jonathan Maberry)
Meeting Date: March 12, 2022.
Meeting Site: Zoom Video Conference.
Attendance: 38.
Meeting Program: Talk, Q & A with Author / Editor / Attorney.
Notes:
Ten people attended the Virtual Diner Run. Topics discussed included 60's music, books, television shows (Ghosts, Resident Alien), movies (Ghostbusters Afterlife), and Laboratory Clean Rooms, Chip Fabrication Machines, Different Versions of Unix).
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2022 Philip J De Parto:
Notes for Newsletter Account:
The problem with comedy is that a lot of people think they are funny and are not. It''s harder to write comedy than to write humor. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is comedy. Dirk Gently has humor in it. Michael's books have humor but are not comedy.
Editing is the fun part of writing. He has to force himself to stop revising and finish a work.
When he writes fiction, he writes the sort of book he would want to read. When he writes nonfiction, he writes for his audience, whether it's a legal brief or a book on The Beatles.
Usually about 50% of his sales are from ebooks, but the one on The Monkees sold a lot of hard covers. Those were bought as gifts or by serious fans.
... Constitution book had an audio book
Writes using Microsoft Word.
Does not follow a strict writing schedule. He writes when he can fit it in between demands from his job, his wife, and writing / editing deadlines.
He cannot afford to quit his day job and write full time.
Writers need editors. They need an outside viewpoint. Which is why Paul McCarthy's work is better when someone else is producing it.
Characters have a mind of their own. In Big Stick, Teddy Roosevelt said, "No, I'm doing this." Is at work on Bully!, a sequel to Big Stick.
He is strict about keeping his characters moving. They can talk and fill in backstory while they are chasing or being chased. He wants to keep the story moving and give the reader a reason to keep turning pages.
When writing a short story, his outline typically consists of 3 or 4 lines.
Early & favorite writers: Piers Anthony, Isaac Asimov, Orson Scott Card, David Gerrald, Jonathan Maberry, Larry Niven, Jody Lynn Nye, Robert Sawyer, John Scalzi.
Talked about constructing an anthology, kickstarters, sequencing, tent pole authors, open call, don't use your first idea.
Three Time Travelers Walk into a bar.
Working on a book about the Top Ten Animated Films.
Working on a collection The Further Adventures of Grignr, the hero of The Eye of Argon.
Does not write about science fiction lawyers because he wants a break from his job.
My Cousin Vinny is very accurate from the point of view of legal proceedings. Clips are used in classes to illustrate particular scenarios. The director was a lawyer.
Wanted to be in The Monkees when he was growing up.
He wrote nonfiction (including legal briefs) his entire life.
Is married to artist Heidi Hooper.
Was big into LARPing. Explained LARPing to group. Was part of N.E.RO., New England Role-Playing Organization which was the first really big LARP group. Wrote plots for the LARPS for 15 years. His sword-and-sorcery books are set in the universe they created for the game. The group bought a plot of land in upstate New York and constructed a fantasy tavern. They rented it out to other LARP groups before covid hit.
The more you write, the better you get. That includes legal briefs. He writes briefs like they are stories.
He typically reacts to reading a book as either 1), Oh, God, I'll never get this good or 2) How did this get published?
Best plot device: when the characters have a plan and it doesn't work out (the Try/Fail Cycle).
Strict outliner, but does not always stick to his outline.
Founded the Pocono Liars Club writing group which is affiliated with other writers' groups.
Showed covers and talked about each of his books.
Book four of S & S series will be a collection of stories.
Bloodsuckers is being reprinted.
Big Stick has a Black chamber maid as its secondary character. She is a spy. Ventrella likes steampunk because it larger than life.
The constitution is what the judges say it is. What they say it is changes over time. The Constitution is not the Declaration of Independence. When various Founding Fathers talk about the Constitution, they are only uttering opinions. Their words have no more validity than yours or mine It's a political document, not something brought down from heaven.
Segued into How to Argue the Constitution with a Conservative.
Release the Virgins was hatched in the bar at a Balticon
Two volumes of Baker Street Irregulars collections