Friday Five - Five Fun Things about Writing and Publishing Such a Nice Boy

 

It Wasn’t His Time

Nine months after he began writing Such a Nice Boy Daren’s heart flatlined during a procedure to treat an arrhythmia.  Luckily, he was in a major hospital and a defibrillator had been placed on him, so all the doctor had to do was press a button.

Time To Say More With Less

A year after Daren began writing Such a Nice Boy he was laid off from what would be his final full-time “real” job.   With his free time he finished the first draft, a 144,000-word monster of a manuscript that went nowhere.  Note: the printed version weighs in at a svelte 76,000 words.  Daren worked with three editors who had him whittle Such a Nice Boy to its present length himself, the realities of the business. “For me,” said Krupa.  “I don’t like to send anything off without reading it over and over and making a half million changes.  Remember the percentages of a good book – 20 percent writing, 80 percent rewriting.  To me it’s all fun.”

The Agony of the First Draft, or Picking up the Pieces. 

Daren’s first editor wrote him a four-page critique so scathing that hardcopies turned to dust as soon as they were printed.  After a second look, two years later, the editor gave up and wrote don’t call me again.

Eleven Years of Technology

Daren went through four PCs, three laptops and one laser printer writing Such a Nice Boy.  Also two tube monitors, two flat screens, three versions of MS Word and five types of backup media: floppy disk, Zip disk, compact disc, flash drive and second hard drive on his PC.  Agents and publishers were not impressed.

More on Editors

Krupa said he would not have self-published Such a Nice Boy without earning the approval of a top tier editor.  “By top tier I mean someone who has made his or her living editing books,” he said.  “There is no other way I would feel confident about its chances for success.  I’m sure I will learn more about Such a Nice Boy from reviewers.  I do know it is a sound story and a good story.  It would not have become that without the help of editors.”

About Such a Nice Boy

After love at first sight strikes gay Alan Hovey and married female co-worker Lindsey Ronan, Alan is outed, forcing both to face unresolved issues.  Lindsey found her fiancé with his lover boy half a lifetime ago and never got over it.  Alan’s controlling mother made men an attractive alternative.  When Lindsey’s feelings threaten her career she's forced to confront her past and her marriage.  When Alan seems to go nowhere with boyfriend Parker he questions his lifestyle and his fear of women.

Book Description

Finding What You Didn’t Know You Were Looking

It’s the summer of 1999 in Denver.  Alan Hovey is living the life he dreamed: sex with handsome, buffed, eager men.  Except he isn’t gay. Made no difference until he crossed paths with female co-worker Lindsey Ronan and her infant son Morgan.  He starts getting notions about Lindsey, and being a heterosexual father whenever he is holding Morgan.

Lindsey is married and afraid of Alan because of a traumatizing incident during college.

At work, Alan has become a pariah for having boldly stood up for himself.  He draws the attention of Frank Lively, VP of HR, homophobic and deeply closeted.  Frank tries to harass Alan into quitting.

After Lindsey verbally demolishes him while shopping for making eyes at another, Alan meets a young man who says you’re with me because you’re mad at Lindsey.

Alan becomes more confused after accidently seeing Lindsey at work with her blouse off, and displays an obvious reaction.

The path Alan follows and the choices he makes form the heart of a boy who at age forty-two becomes a man.  He crawls out of a family upbringing filled with death and chooses life.  His coming of age is unique and compelling.

About Darren Krupa

Daren Krupa’s junior class English assignment was to write a meaning of life essay.  All he could think was meaning of life? I’m fifteen years old. I don’t know diddley about life! The one lucid moment of his youth.

A native of New York State Krupa grew up in Phoenix and worked as a newspaper reporter and editor, waiter and telemarketer. At least a dozen novels have presented themselves throughout his life. Such a Nice Boy is the second he wrote and the first to have been published.
Krupa lives in the Sonoran desert. You can visit him at his website SuchaNiceBoy.com.

If you would like to contact the author, you can email him at darenk@SuchaNiceBoy.com.

You can find Daren at his tour page at Pump Up Your Book!