Today I want to talk about a
fellow Cozy Cat Press Author, Christian Belz. He has been a practicing
architect in Metro Detroit for 28 years, with experience in retail,
educational, and industrial projects. He is Vice President of Detroit Working
Writers. He won the Grand Prize in Aquarius Press's 2011 Bright Harvest Prize
for his short story "Chambers". Christian's fiction has appeared in Writers' Journal, The Story Teller Magazine, and Wicked East
Press's anthology: Short Sips, Coffee House Flash Fiction Collection 2. His poetry has been published in WestWard Quarterly and Yes, Poetry.
Here is a typical review of Mr. Belz' book, The Accused Architect. By the way, ALL of his reviews have five stars!
Ken Knoll, the main character,
elicits empathy and is most likeable in this murder mystery
sprinkled with intriguing, romantic interludes. Characters are varied, interesting and believable. Being an architect himself, the author uses his penchant for detail to assist the reader's ability to envision each scene and experience the implied ambience. The pace of activity and panoplay of events provides for a creative intertwining of plot elements. This novel was a nighttime page turner for me, and I look forward to future publications written by Christian Belz.
Here is a typical review of Mr. Belz' book, The Accused Architect. By the way, ALL of his reviews have five stars!
Ken Knoll, the main character,
elicits empathy and is most likeable in this murder mystery
sprinkled with intriguing, romantic interludes. Characters are varied, interesting and believable. Being an architect himself, the author uses his penchant for detail to assist the reader's ability to envision each scene and experience the implied ambience. The pace of activity and panoplay of events provides for a creative intertwining of plot elements. This novel was a nighttime page turner for me, and I look forward to future publications written by Christian Belz.
Christian, was there someone, something or an event in your
life that set you on the road to being an author?
My dad had several books
published. During my teen years he was always working on new projects, and I
found it contagious. At age 14 I wrote my first book, hoping that it would
impress a girl, but she was more interested in the athletes. During high
school, I wrote mystery stories and submitted them to Ellery Queen and Alfred
Hitchcock Magazines, but I didn’t get a story published until I was fifty-two
(and being published by those magazines remains a dream).
Please tell us what you like about writing and what
bugs you about it.
I am taken with the rhythm of words and phrases, clever or
thought provoking lines, and stories that weave events into an “ah-ha!” climax.
Working with a rough compilation of words on the page and polishing them until
they fall into the right order, tone, and meaning is the greatest feeling.
I hate writing a first draft cold. Sitting at a blank
screen and writing is so frustrating! That’s why I love planning out stories on
index cards. I write an idea or phrase on one, then another. I write other
cards to ‘fill in the blanks’ and reorder the cards repeatedly until it becomes
a story. Only then do I sit down and write. The focus is on developing the
idea, not the expression of that idea in words. It’s a beautiful thing. Check
out my video on this process. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6pyViYIy-o
How long
have you been writing books and what other writing do you do?
During my teen years, I wrote two books, neither of which
saw the light of day. The Accused
Architect was published earlier this year by Cozy Cat Press. It is the
first book in a series of Ken Knoll Architectural Mysteries. I also love
writing short stories, and have won some contests, and I enjoy writing poetry,
too.
Tell us
about your protagonist. Is she--he a lot like you? What are his assets and
weaknesses?
Ken Knoll is an average guy, and an architect like me. His
creativity as an architect translates nicely to investigative skills in solving
the murder. He’s level headed and thoughtful, but needs to be right. He doesn’t
like to be told what to do, and has disagreements with his boss. He takes a
stand for improving his community by buying run-down
homes, fixing them up, and moving to the next one. His kindness gets him in
trouble with his girlfriend, as he gives up his newly renovated house—on
Christmas—to a school friend from out of town that needs a place to stay.
Christian, what do you like to do when you are not
writing?
I read a lot, usually two or
three books at a time. I’m also
building a sixteen foot sailboat in my garage.
Where
can we find your books?
The Accused
Architect is available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/The-Accused-Architect-Architectural-ebook/dp/B00D48Z168
Check out
my wesbites:
No comments:
Post a Comment