DIGITAL MEDIA GHOST
  • Publication
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Subscribe!
  • #GhostsWriteIt Spotlight
    • Writer Spotlight Submission
  • Services
    • Digital Strategy >
      • Content Marketing
      • Law Firm Marketing
      • Social Media Management
    • Ghostwriting
    • Public Relations >
      • Social Sabotage & Online Privacy >
        • Social Media Policy Template
  • About

Author of the Week: Joe Clifford

5/30/2017

Comments

 
Picture
by Will Viharo

Some of us are writers because because, for lack of a less self-aggrandizing term, we’re “artists,” meaning it often feels more like a curse or illness than a “gift.” Others write due to more practical impulses, in order to achieve commercial viability as well as creative fulfillment.

Meet Joe Clifford, who has become a hero to the indie lit community by hitting the big time on his own terms, in his own way - all while playing by the rules.​

This is how you win in this game.


 
 

I was friends with Joe Clifford before I even knew it - via Facebook. I don’t even remember friending him or vice versa. But one day about five years ago I posted a status update publicly declaring my three fictional heroes to the world: Phillip Marlowe, Holden Caulfield, and Batman.

As I recall, this guy named Joe almost immediately commented: “Mine too!”

Shortly thereafter, he sent me a private message: he offered to re-issue my out-of-print novel Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me, which had been optioned years ago by Christian Slater, and at the time, it was a hot property. Christian and I were collaborating on rewrites of his screenplay adaptation while he sought production funds. The book had originally been published in 1995 by Wild Card Press, which had long since gone under.

In 2013, it was republished in a “definitive edition” - including some pieces ported over from the screenplay - and edited by Joe. In 2015, he edited Gutter’s first edition of the latest Vic Valentine novel, Hard-Boiled Heart.

By then I’d read his stellar short story collection Choice Cuts and is first two published novels, Wake the Undertaker - which is in the pulpy mode Sin City and right up my alley, meaningly hardly anyone else read or liked it - and Junkie Love, his breakthrough success, a fictionalized memoir of his youthful years as a drug addict on the mean streets of San Francisco. I was now a big fan. His writing is economically precise but emotionally rich - a more accessible, hardboiled, and contemporary version of Jack Kerouac. His voice is smoothly confident if rough-edged, and his prose is compulsively readable. 

We immediately connected on several levels, both personal and professional, since we’re both West Coasters transplanted from the East, and we share similar sensibilities (though when it comes to music, we diverge drastically; he’s heavily into Taylor Swift while I'm a Julie London type cat). 

I’ve watched as Joe - who boasts a MFA in Creative Writing from Florida University - rose from the ranks of small presses (he never self-published) to a traditional hardcover contract with Oceanview Publishing for his successful Jay Porter series of detective novels, the latest of which, Give Up the Dead, comes out June 6.

I’ll let Joe take it from here…

How would you categorize yourself as a writer?

That’s really not for me to decide. I mean, I consider myself a “literary thriller” writer, but some libraries and sellers call me mystery. I’ve heard suspense. There’s the all-inclusive (and utterly meaningless) “noir.” I look at it like Keith Richards did when we was asked if he played lead or rhythm guitar. “Nah, man, it ain’t like that. I play guitar.” I write books. My area of interest is Springsteen-ian—the downtrodden, everyday, working-class hero, who, like Rocky, takes a beating but doesn’t go down. 

Do you think creative writing is really something that can be taught?

Depends on the writer. For me? Personally? I wouldn’t have been a professional writer without Florida International University and my MFA. Aside from the time to write and the contacts acquired, I learned about causality and how paramount linking scenes is. Actions must be taken and the consequences unintended. Sounds obvious, I know. But my brain isn’t wired like that. I could do scenes. Vignettes. Clever (what I thought I was clever anyway) dialogue, witty comebacks, subtle foreshadowing. But I didn’t grasp how plot worked. One action must beget another, escalating conflict and drama (even in a comedy). And the way I learn, I doubt I would have learned that without hands-on instruction.

How important is self-generated social media publicity even for traditionally published authors like you?

Unless you are Stephen King or JK Rowling, no one is getting the flashy 30-city junket of old. Publishers, small, indie, medium, even the Big Five (or is it Four now?), they don’t have the resources (or aren’t willing) to send you on lengthy, fully funded tours. So the onus falls on you, the writer. I think social media is paramount. You write (what you consider to be) a great book. Now what? You are in a sea of literally hundreds of thousands (millions) of releases? Social media, like Facebook, is a direct link. It’s annoying at times, and watching success when you are failing can evoke the words of Gore Vidal (“A part of me dies every time a friend succeeds”—I may be paraphrasing). But I haven’t found a better pipeline to fans, established and prospective, ye

What are your influences, literary and otherwise?

Same three as always: Phillip Marlowe, Holden Caulfield, and Batman

What’s next for you?

We are under contract for 5 (total) Jay Porter books. Give Up the Dead is just out (or will be when this runs). That is # 3. I’ve finished 4 (currently titled WHERE SCREAMS END). I start 5 in January. In between that, there’s tours for the current, edits on the next, and trying to keep this body of mine (motorcycle accident) in one piece!

There’s the Bat-signal now, Joe. Get to work!

Joe Clifford is acquisitions editor for Gutter Books and producer of Lip Service West, a “gritty, real, raw” reading series in Oakland, CA. He is the author of several books, including Junkie Love and the Jay Porter Thriller Series, as well as editor of Trouble in the Heartland: Crime Stories Based on the Songs of Bruce Springsteen. Joe’s writing can be found at http://joeclifford.com/

PHOTO: JOE CLIFFORD
Comments
    Picture
    Become a Ghostwriter!
    Picture
    Contribute to DMG
    Picture
    BECOME A GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
    Picture
    PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS BY GUEST POSTING
    Picture
    ARE YOU A GHOSTWRITER? WE WANT TO KNOW!
    Picture
    DO YOU HAVE A GHOSTWRITING BUSINESS?

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Agency Spotlight
    Business
    Digital Marketing
    Ghost In A Flash
    Ghostwriting
    Media Relations
    Privacy Concerns
    Social Sabotage
    Technology
    Writer Spotlight
    Writing

    Advertising Disclaimer

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

Find your domain and create your site at Weebly.com!
Digital Media Strategy
Content Marketing
Law Firm Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Social Media Marketing
eBooks
Writing
Becoming a Ghostwriter
Blogging
Content Marketing
Ghostwriting Services
Guest Post Guidelines
Media Relations
Online Crisis Management
Personal Brand
Public Relations
Reputation Management
About
Our Team
Our Results
Testimonials
Contact Us
Locations:
New Orleans, LA
Nashville, TN


Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Cookie Policy
Digital Media Ghost  @2020
  • Publication
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Subscribe!
  • #GhostsWriteIt Spotlight
    • Writer Spotlight Submission
  • Services
    • Digital Strategy >
      • Content Marketing
      • Law Firm Marketing
      • Social Media Management
    • Ghostwriting
    • Public Relations >
      • Social Sabotage & Online Privacy >
        • Social Media Policy Template
  • About