Question:
Just how does a budding crime fiction author get from killer short story to novella, to actual full-blown novel?
Answer:
Join us as we peek in on crime fiction author, Blogger and interviewer S.W. Lauden’s interrogation of author and Mystery Writers of America SoCal chapter President Craig Faustus, on his debut novel Go Down Hard, whose path was paved by way of Anthony Award nominated short story “Dead End” to longer Novella Psycho Logic, to the full blown novel-length, slam dunk feature show!
Faustus gets real on the day to day angst of our craft, handing out much needed food for thought, especially encouraging to any new authors out there on the scene out there struggling to get it right.

Lauden: Was your approach to writing the novella any different than writing the novel? How did you grow as a writer between publishing the novella and the novel?

Faustus: I think I learned most of the basics years ago. The problem is keeping them all in mind at the same time. It’s impossible. You focus on character and make a dumb plot mistake. You focus on style and forget about conflict. I think writing is like playing a sport: the more you do it, the fewer bonehead mistakes you make. You never stop making those mistakes but you do reduce their frequency as your literary muscle-memory plays an ever-expanding role. So I wouldn’t say I learned any specific lessons, but my writing improved because the added writing hours reduced my duh factor.