"I WANT TO SEE THE IMPACT ON NOT ONLY THE VICTIM, BUT THE PERPETRATOR.": REAL BAD, REAL SOON'S ERIC BEETNER

In Real Bad, Real Soon Eric Beetner revisits Carter McCoy, a retiree who becomes a vigilante when given a diagnosis that he his dying. The second book has him facing off with Detective Lefors, the cop who gives him assignments, and a serial killer whose wife wants him dead. Like most of Eric's work, it has its roots in the tight paperback crime novels of the forties and fifties. I talked with him about the book and his approach to writing.

SCOTT MONTGOMERY: Did you always plan Carter McCoy to be a trilogy?

ERIC BEETNER: When I wrote The Last Few Miles Of Road, I wasn’t planning on it although I did have the ending scene which is very open-ended and leading. Pitching a book as a series is a better sell in many cases, but I also knew it couldn’t be an open-ended series because of the elephant in the room of Carter’s imminent demise. I didn’t want to introduce on page 1 of a series the fact that he’s dying and then continue for 10 more books, so a trilogy sounded right. Besides that, I’ve never written beyond a trilogy in my other work. I have three other trilogies, but never a book 4. I just like things to come to a close, I guess. I admire anyone who can sustain quality beyond 3 books. I’m also always anxious to get on to the next idea.

S.M.: How did you deal with the challenge crime series with a hero in a lot of physical situations where the protagonist is not in the prime of his health?

E. B.: I’ve said before that I’d be lousy at writing the world’s greatest spy or an infallible assassin or the like. I prefer damaged underdogs with limits. Perhaps because I can relate better. I could never take down a gang of bad guys like Jack Reacher, but I can understand the motivations of a guy who is just trying to make it work and help people out.

So when I get Carter into a situation, he has to think hard about how he’s going to get out or he needs to be okay with the option that he may not. That’s where his short time works to his advantage. He’s a man with nothing to lose, but in the biggest sense that even if you take his life you’re only taking a few months or weeks. That’s what makes him dangerous to the people he’s going after.

S.M.: I feel most of your leads are criminals, some downright scumbags. How did it feel a little different dealing with a guy who is decent at heart or do you disagree that he is?

E.B.: I’ve always been grateful when I hear from readers, usually with a bit of surprise, that I can write people who do terrible things but keep you rooting for them. You’re right that I’ve written my share of really despicable people, but that sweet spot of a man who does morally questionable things, but that fit within his moral boundaries is interesting to me. And as he goes further into this world of retribution and revenge on other people’s behalf, it doesn’t sit well with him. That was very intriguing to me as well. I don’t like to treat violence flippantly in stories. I want to see the impact on not only the victim, but the perpetrator. There is an emotional toll to violence no matter how justified Carter thinks he is, and that is interesting to explore for me, and I think makes a more complex character and story for the reader. I don’t want a reader to just “rah-rah” the killing of other humans. I want them to think about why they are rooting for him.

S.M.: Detective DeFore gets much more time in this book than the first and often feels like the antagonist. Did you have a specific  idea for him in the story?

E.B.:I wasn’t sure how much he would cross over into book 2 at first. He’s part of the lingering question at the end of book 1, so I felt I had to deal with him. Then, when I knew he would be a bigger part of things, I wanted to move him forward and not just use him in the same way he was used in The Last Few Miles Of Road. And then once I decided he should break bad in his way, then it became really fun. Hopefully his storyline will be very unexpected for readers.

S.M.: One thing I love about your writing, that this is a great example of, is how you get a full meal story in a tight page count. Do you have an approach to how you execute this?

E.B.: It 100% comes from my film background. That’s my day job and my first love of storytelling. Anyone who doubts you can get a full story in a tight window needs only to look at your favorite movie where a whole world was built, characters established and changed in an arc and a story fully told all within 2 hours. It should disabuse any author of what page count constitutes a “real” novel.

I also love vintage crime novels from the 30s, 40s and 50s and I read a ton of them. Most are what would be considered “too short” by today’s standards. And yet, Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, The Maltese Falcon all remain in print 70-80 years later and nobody blinks an eye. Add to that many of the Great American Novels like The Great Gatsby, To Kill A Mockingbird, In Cold Blood. These are not giant tomes with long ruminations on side stories. If Infinite Jest is your jam, then great for you. But it’s not required to make a full story.

But being a film/TV editor makes me wired to cut to the chase and trim all the fat I can from a story, and I bring that into my writing (and reading for that matter)

S..M.: You set us up for the third book. What can you tell us about it?

E.B.: I can tell you it just changed a whole lot and I threw out my outline not too long ago.

I don’t usually get political in my work, but the plot I had suddenly seemed too small or maybe like it wasn’t set in the real world. So the bad guys changed to people who are part of the deep divide in our nation right now. For many of us (though not nearly enough for my money) the bad guys are all too easy to spot right now. They’ve come out of hiding and are operating in plain sight and trying to make us all think it’s normal.

Despite what I think, Carter McCoy is not the kind of guy who would think any of it is normal. And when he gets reluctant and pushes back against the violence in his life, it takes more to draw him out. But by putting people he cares about in jeopardy and to have them threatened by people he finds truly evil and repugnant, well that’s worth him taking one more ride to serve justice.

Vague, I know, but that’s only because it’s not fully written yet!