Earl Merkel is a novelist and writer who spent more than a decade as a practicing journalist, editor and columnist, and freelance journalist before joining the corporate world where  he managed corporate communications programs at two Fortune 50 corporations. He is currently senior partner of EMCG, a communications firm.  In this role, he has advised some of the largest multinational corporations in the world.  

Final Epidemic is the product of extensive research into the realms of epidemic disease and biogenetics, which today are joined in an unholy alliance by the nations and terrorist groups who have developed a horrific arsenal of biological weaponry. While Final Epidemic is a work of fiction, the novel painstakingly adheres to the realities of today’s world— not surprisingly, since Merkel’s research included some of the foremost authorities in medicine, anti-terrorism and international bioweapon development.

“There is nothing in Final Epidemic that could not happen,” Merkel says. “The threat is real— and according to many experts in bioterrorism, inevitable. Last year’s anthrax attack only underscores our vulnerability; anthrax is not contagious— but many other weaponized viruses and other pathogens are, and could spread uncontrollably through an unprotected target population.”

Mr. Merkel is also the author of Like Distant Cities Burning, a novel of suspense that will be published next year by Penguin/Putnam, and recently has completed his third novel, Dark Waters, Overflowing. He is also an avid sailor, scuba enthusiast, outdoorsman and insatiable reader— all of which he draws upon in his fiction writing.

How did you get your start as a writer?

The blame for that probably goes to my parents, who got me hooked on reading even before I reported to kindergarten; to my second-grade teacher-- hello, out there, Mrs. Sauget!-- who coaxed me into my first, three-sentence literary effort; and to Sister Demetrius, my sixth-grade teacher who could have given tips to a Marine drill instructor on structure and discipline... and not only as they relate to writing a cogent, well-researched essay.

<Grin> I probably should also credit the girl I dated as a junior in high school. She signed us both up for the yearbook class, then dumped me over the summer. So I changed to the only class that was still available: journalism. I spent the next dozen or so years working as a reporter, columnist, freelancer, corporate flak and self-employed communications consultant.

So I suppose it was Susan who started me down the dark path of daily writing-for-pay. And that brought me to the sorry state you see today.

Let me re-phrase the question: how did you become a novelist?

I have only myself to blame for that. About four or so years ago, I had a rather large corporate client which was taken over by another company. Suddenly, I had a window of opportunity; translated, that means there was no new client on the horizon. So I took the chance to do what I’d always said I wanted to try: writing a novel and getting it published. I gave myself six months to do it; of course, it took two years. Fortunately, by then I had finished a second book, and Penguin/Putnam bought both in a two-book deal.

Which came first: the agent or the publisher?  Did you get many rejections?

Well, first came my first agent, from a rather prestigious agency in Washington, D.C.  Turned out that he had a good record at placing nonfiction, but had never sold a novel before.  He took my first book to market and couldn’t get any house to bid on it. That book was rejected by every major publishing house in the country, and most of the minor ones; heck, at a certain point in the daily rejection process, I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that even Kinko’s had passed on photocopying the manuscript.

My then-agent was so depressed that he quit the agent business to become a dot.com entrepreneur; unfortunately, he didn’t tell me or his other writing clients. I didn’t know that I was suddenly un-agented until I called to say I had finished the novel that came to be titled FINAL EPIDEMIC. Even then, it took a half-dozen e-mails and several phone calls; finally, a kind-hearted receptionist there let me in on the secret: Elvis had left the auditorium.

Turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since my subsequent search led me to super-lady and superagent Kimberley Cameron (Reese Halsey Agency North). She read my stuff, called me within a couple of days and signed me up.  A few months later, we had a deal with a Penguin/Putnam imprint.

I understand your debut book, FINAL EPIDEMIC, made it to the bestseller list in its second week of publication.

Surprised all of us, I think. I got a call from Kimberley, who had heard from my editor, Laura Ann Gilman at Penguin/Putnam, and my jaw fell open. FINAL EPIDEMIC came in at No. 33 of the Barnes & Noble list in its first week, right behind Stephen King’s BLACK HOUSE.  <Grin> I don’t think Mr. King is too worried.  Still, we’re in the twenties now, I hear. I try not to look, ‘cause I don’t want to jinx anything.

Yet FINAL EPIDEMIC was postponed because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Why was the book postponed for so long, and do you think it was the right decision?

I used to think the delay was purely a marketing decision-- but that might have been the starving artist talking.  FINAL EPIDEMIC had cleared final edits in late August, 2001, and we expected publication within a few months. Then came September 11, 2001, followed closely by the anthrax/mail attacks. I had a finished book-- and here, the words in my thought balloon would always go into boldface, capital letters-- ON THE HOTTEST SUBJECT IN THE WORLD. And it couldn’t get to market, because it was deemed that the public was too traumatized to accept such a book.

I don’t know if that assessment was accurate; frankly, I think it was an underestimation of the strength and resiliency of the reading audience, both in general and for New Yorkers in particular.  On the other hand, I know how angry the terrorist attacks left me, so perhaps it’s best that publication was delayed. I guess it’s a moot point now; I’m just glad FINAL EPIDEMIC is finally out, and getting a nice reception.

You did a lot of research for that book.  Tell me about how you contacted experts in terrorism and biological warfare.  Were they all willing to talk to you?

Probably the most valuable tool for research ever created is the Internet. With it, you can access virtually the entire wealth of knowledge available.  That’s how I started: then I’d contact the people who wrote the articles, or who were mentioned in them. It got easier as I went along, because one source would refer me to another, or give me an introduction, or smooth the way with an e-mail or a phone call. 

But it helped considerably that I was writing a novel, and that I promised to keep all sources confidential. Frankly, I don’t know how a guy like Richard Preston does the masterful job he does; he writes nonfiction, attributes comments and quotes, and somehow overcomes what must be a massive amount of resistance and stone-walling. He, and the others who write nonfiction on such sensitive subjects, fill me with admiration.

How much of your novels are based on real life?

Almost all of it.  I think that’s true of most writers in the suspense/mystery/thriller categories.  You see, all of us are actually engaged in telling a lie: we’re telling a story that didn’t happen, populating it with people who exist only in our imaginations, and trying to get the reader to accept all of it as true. 

One of the ways we do that comes right out of Thomas Aquinas: he said that any lie is effective in direct proportion to the amount of truth that it contains.   As a writer, I try to use the realities of life --the “truths” we all recognize, and would all agree to be “real life” --to entice the reader into the fictional world and events of my story.  <Laughs.> How awful that sounds!  It reduces truth and reality merely to writing tactics, doesn’t it?

You’ve said that you tend to work on two books simultaneously.  Why so?

Well, I do start two books at about the same time, but somewhere in the process, I’ve always ended up locking into one that I then carry through to completion.

You see, for me, the most difficult task is getting my story started-- because my books aren’t outlined or blocked out in advance. Instead, I depend on developing characters whom I know so well that I can drop them into any given situation and let them act in the only way their kind of personality can act. 

I like this system, because if I can’t predict what is going to happen, the odds are good my readers will be just as surprised. But it also means that I count on my characters to “go rogue” on me and take off in unexpected directions.  By working on two books simultaneously, it seems to help avoid stalling out and going blank while I’m waiting for that to happen. 

Thus far, I’ve been lucky with my two-book practice; inevitably, the characters in one or the other will catch fire, and I take off in pursuit. Before I realize it, I’ve discovered which of the books I know I have to write and finish.

You've also been a journalist and corporate writer.  How did you find the time to write novels while you were doing all of this other writing?  Did you ever worry about "burning out"?

The simple answer is that I didn’t write any novels during that period.  Oops-- let me correct that: I didn’t FINISH any.

I think that most people who want to write have a manuscript in the back of a drawer somewhere-- usually, two or three chapters they’ve done in their “spare” time. And, truth be told, they’re probably a couple of the best darned chapters anybody has ever read-- because the writer has spent five, ten, maybe even twenty years re-writing the same chapters! 

You see, that was my problem: with the press of my daily life, I’d wait until I felt “creative” to do some writing. You can imagine how frequently the average person feels creative, so I didn’t get much done that way. So instead, I’d pull out what I had already written-- and polish a word here, change a phrase there.  It was so much easier to edit, to rework what I had already written, than it was to try to write something new.

I had to make the conscious decision to write chapter three, then chapter four, etcetera-- and to write something new every day. I set a daily minimum of five pages; new pages, not merely tweaking what I’d written the day before.  I had to advance the story each day, five pages per day, five days per week.

I still stick to that schedule; I have to. A lot of days I may end up only keeping two or three pages of what I had written; but I always write my daily five.  Do the math: even at worst-case scenario, at the end of a few months you have a finished first draft of a book.

As for burning out... <grin> well, it’s too early in my career for me to know much about that. My favorite line is still that book-writing is more fun than working for a living.

What advice would you offer new novelists?

Persevere. Don’t surrender. Feed on the rejection and use it to fuel your renewed energy.

Read-- a helluva lot-- and learn from what you read. In what you read, identify the various tactics and styles and writing rhythms that the author has incorporated into the work; don’t be afraid to try them, to improve on them if you can, in your own work.

And write, write, write. It’s how we learn our craft, at every stage of our careers.

Anything else you'd like to add?

Only that every writer needs to study the book industry as if his or her life depends on it.  Because it does.

Far too many of us don’t really understand this crazy business we’ve chosen to join. We don’t understand the economics of the trade, the nuances of marketing the books in today’s bookselling environment, the do-it-yourself promotional efforts we need to make AFTER the book has been written.

As a first-time novelist, I’m making mistakes like crazy. <Grin.> But my second novel --LIKE DISTANT CITIES BURNING-- is due out from Penguin/Putnam in the spring, and I’d like to think that all the mistakes I make when it comes to market will be new ones.  

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FINAL EPIDEMIC.   

Visit Earl's websites:

Earl Merkel: A Writer's Homepage, Continued

Earl  Merkel (author)

By Earl Merkel: A Writer's Homepage

Earl Merkel is available for media interviews. To schedule an interview, either in person or by phone, contact Jarett Quinana at Signete Publicity/Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson St., 5th Fl. New York, NY 10014 (jquintana@penguinputnam.com), or call Mr. Merkel direct at 312/246-1812.

Mr. Merkel is represented by Kimberley Cameron of the Reece Halsey Literary Agency.  

Sponsored links

Ring binders

 

Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer!

How to find a book publisher

Home

Text on this site Copyright © 1998-2007 Absolute Write, all rights reserved.
Please contact the authors if you'd like to reprint articles on this site.  All copyrights are retained by original authors.  And plagiarizers will be rounded up, handcuffed, and stuck into a very small and humid room wherein they must listen to Barney sing the "I Love You, You Love Me" song over and over again.

writers writing software