Wright Words: Spic and Span Fiction

My latest syndicated column. Enjoy!

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Wright Words: Spic and Span Fiction

When I'm not writing, I'm often reading. There are so many incredibly talented authors out there that I consider the local Barnes and Noble to be a writer's university. New ideas about composition, character development, point of view, and the other aspects of telling a good story occur to me while reading someone else's good work.

I never deliberately copy another writer's style or incorporate elements of a novel I read into a novel I write. I just expect that what I read and what I write will sort of mix in my subconscious and give me a richer palette the next time I set out to paint a story.

Lately, some of what I've been reading has taught me something that I have resolved not to do. Ever.

Mark the date and save this text. I will never use foul, crude, disgusting language or create explicit images of sex or graphic violence.

That statement probably doesn't surprise people who know me personally or even just know a lot about me. I was raised in a family and culture where purity of thought, speech, and action are moral issues. Here is a surprise for you, though. My values and beliefs are part of the reason I won't write from the gutter but the main reason is something much more worldly.

I want people to buy my books. I want them to read one and then go out and buy all of the other ones. I want them to tell all of their friends about the great new writer they discovered.

The question I have asked and answered is this: who is more likely to be offended, the reader who has to wade through prose that she finds offensive or the one who is disappointed that the book doesn't include a good sex scene?

For hundreds of years, authors found ways to write about every aspect of life. Any fundamental conflict, tense or romantic situation, or other intense scene that a modern writer describes with crude language has a similar version written with clean, carefully chosen words.

My first novel, The James Miracle , includes a horrible car accident, several heated arguments and tense family scenes.

Christmas Jars is about an abandoned baby who grows up to lose the woman who raised her. She is robbed, cheated, betrayed, and suffers another terrible personal loss.

The siblings in The Wednesday Letters argue and reconcile and deal with the death of their parents without saying anything much cruder than “Shut up”. The book includes other intense scenes and physical confrontations that might have been “easier” to describe had I used vulgarity.

The most recent novel, Recovering Charles , manages - with polite language - to describe three romantic relationships, several arguments, and the death and destruction that Katrina inflicted on New Orleans .

There is obviously a market for R-rated books and I have nothing against those who write them. But this writer hopes to make a living sticking with PG material. I trust my readers to use my words to build mental images that they find appropriate. I'm certainly not the only “clean” writer in the industry, but, if I were, that would be OK with me.

What do you think? Am I a prude pushing my standards on my readers? Have you ever put down a book because it was too vulgar? Too clean? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

Wednesday is definitely my favorite day

We just learned that The Wednesday Letters has landed at #16 on the NYT Paperback Bestseller list. Wow! I'm so thankful to all of you that bought an extra case :)

Thank you thank you thank you! (Did I mention how thankful I am?)

The NYT list for the coming week is always released on Wednesday afternoons. How appropriate, eh?

The Wednesday Letters is out in paperback!

Whew! Finally! After many months of working with the fantabulous peeps at Penguin, specifically their Berkley imprint, TWL is available nationwide in a gorgeous paperback edition. I just couldn't be happier with the way it turned out.

Equally exciting is today's ad in USAToday! It's a first for me to have an ad in a national publication and I owe the folks at Penguin a big thanks (and some free pizza) for rolling the dice and running this. (It will run again next week. And a different version featuring Recovering Charles more prominently will run in mid-September.)

So if you don't yet have your copy of TWL in paperback, might I suggest your local Wal-Mart, Target or online at Amazon :-)

Two recent FoxNews appearances

So much for that New Year's resolution to post more frequently! I'm up to my eyeballs running PoliticalDerby.com and getting serious about my new book. (which, by the way, is due to my agent and editor on March 1, waahahahahahaha!)

In case you're interested, here are my two most recent FoxNews appearances:

We have a winner in the Wednesday Letters drawing (at last!)

After some technical glitches we finally have conducted the Wednesday Letters drawing. We had thousands of entries and one grand prize winner will have dinner with a guest and yours truly in their hometown. (I really hope they live in Hawaii!)

Watch the drawing as it happened in this fun clip:

Home at last

It's so nice to be home! I have about two weeks here before heading off for another week on the road. The next trip takes us to northern Utah and Idaho. I'll be hitting some local events in the meantime. Book clubs, local TV, rotary clubs, etc. But I'll take a day-trip over living from a suitcase any old day :)

Believe it or not we're now at 5 weeks and counting on the NYT Bestseller list! I keep expecting it to end any moment now...

Check out below some of the fun media from the last trip. We had loads of fun and met some incredible people!

Howdy from the road

I've been a lousy blogger, haven't I? I've been traveling for almost two weeks and it seems I've barely had time to breathe!

I'm in Salt Lake City today and then I head to Reno tonight. On Sunday morning I fly home for a few days. Wahoo!

We've done a lot of media on this trip, but this article in my local hometown paper really stands out. The reporter nails the essence of the story behind The Wednesday Letters. Click here to read the article in the Northern VA Daily.

Finally, I'm thrilled to announce that you all have helped us remain on the NYT Bestseller List for 4 weeks in a row! What a tremendous month we've had.

More later!

Shame on me...

That noise you just heard was me waking up this morning and taking a huge breath. What a week! I've been truly overwhelmed by the response to The Wednesday Letters. Never in a million and one years did we expect to have such a tremendous first week! We've been blessed to land at #6 on the New York Times Best Seller List and #10 on the Wall Street Journal Best Seller List. Thanks, thanks and triple thanks. We couldn't have done it without you.

I have to admit, giving out my cell phone number on Glenn Beck was one of the crazier things I've done. (And I've done some crazy things, trust me!) But the calls have been amazing. I've heard from over 500 people from all over the world. Many had the most incredible, inspirational stories to tell about how letters have played an important role in their lives. I'll be sharing some of those stories soon at www.thewednesdayletters.com

I'll relax a bit today, go to a church picnic with my family, then prepare for a talk I have to give in church tomorrow on the parable of the talents. Can't wait! (Did that sound sincere???) :)

Thanks again, friends, for your support. I'm forever grateful.

It's about time, eh?

Lots of folks in recent years have asked why I wasn't maintaining my own blog.

"Good question," I'd tell them.

I contribute regularly to www.politicalderby.com, the political junkie web site I co-founded with my old childhood pal, Stephen Fountain.

I also post new content from time-to-time on my personal web site, www.jasonfwright.com and on my book web sites, www.christmasjars.com and www.thewednesdayletters.com.

But until now I've not written regularly in one place. It's about time, eh?

So beginning today I'll use this space to blog about my books, breaking news in the shooting of the film adaptation of Christmas Jars, and occasionally I'll cross-post from www.politicalderby.com.

That ought to keep us busy!