This week we talk with Don Helin, travel writer, lobbyist, and award-winning author. Don shares with us how he creates the characters for his books. He explains the importance of creating a bio for each of his characters. To learn more about how a thriller writer comes up with their stories you'll want to listen to this podcast.
Transcription:
Intro 00:03
Welcome to changing the rules, a weekly podcast about people who are living their best lives, and advice on how you can achieve that too. Join us with your lively host, Ray Lowe, better known as the luckiest guy in the world.
Ray Loewe00:17
Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to "Changing the Rules." We have an incredible guest today and I'm incredibly excited about doing this conversation that we're going to have, and you'll understand in a minute. But, I did want to take a minute and talk about the fact that I'm changing the rules. We try and talk to one of the luckiest people in the world every week. The luckiest people in the world are people who kind of design their own lives, figure out what they want to do and then they step into their personally designed lives and live them under their own terms. You're going to see that Don Helin, who is certainly one of those people today, and he does that. We also named our show, "Changing the Rules." One of the reasons for that is the luckiest people in the world only rules. But, they need to sometimes take all those rules that have been given to them over the years by the church, their parents, their schools, their businesses, and everything else. In this case, the military, okay, and try to sculpt them to fit their own lives. According to Steve Jobs, when you live your life under somebody else's rules, you're not living your life. All right. So, Don Helin, on military eye, travel writer, lobbyist, and award-winning author. Good morning, Don.
Don Helin01:48
Well, good morning, Ray. It's great to be here.
Ray Loewe01:50
Did I miss anything in your background here? I think we got the highlights, right?
Don Helin01:53
Yeah, the luckiest guy in the world because I'm married to Elaine Howe, and she's probably one of the sweetest people in the world. So, that makes me pretty lucky.
Ray Loewe02:00
So, when we were preparing for this interview, I started talking to Don. Don is an award-winning author. Let me just give you a partial list of his books, Twins, Roof of the World, Long Walk Home, Angels Revenge, Secret Assault, and The Kingdom Come. I'm sure I left some out. You know, I was looking at Don's website yesterday and kind of a reviewing for this meeting. All of a sudden I see on there, one of my all-time favorite authors (that I've read, every one of his books) is endorsing Don's book, Twins. A guy by the name of John Lead. Let me read one of his quotes real quickly, "Terrifying tale that is flawlessly constructed." This is what we're talking to this morning. Before I let you loose here. The reason I'm excited is I've always wanted to get into the head of an author that I really like and try and figure out what makes him tick. Because how in the heck do you get these plots? How do you get these characters? They got to come from some creative mind from somewhere.
Don Helin03:15
Okay, you got most of them. You're absolutely right. I'm lucky because I started out with my books, and I created a character. My character is Zack Kelly. He's an army colonel that works for the President's National Security Adviser. When I was learning the trade, I happened to be mentored by a guy named Lee Childs. Lee has quite a character that he's used over the years. So rather than having a different character, each book, I've learned to live with Zack Kelly. Zack has a small team that work with him on the President's National Security Advisor. That team is to help the National Security Advisor cut through bureaucracy, which there's plenty of in the military. When something happens, he doesn't wait and go through five different layers. He sends somebody out to see if he can figure out what's going on.
Ray Loewe04:22
So, what comes first when you write a book, the character or the plot?
Don Helin04:28
For me, it's the characters, pretty much ongoing. But, you've got a whole lot of other characters and it's the old saw of what's more important, a plot or a character. They both have their place. Also, when everybody's making this argument, they forget all about the setting, because you have to put your character someplace that the people can see and can enjoy. He has to show he can live someplace
ay Loewe04:59
Alright, let's go back half a step here, you have your character that you've developed over time. So, I'm sure going forward, a plot comes after the character. Let's talk about what it took to develop this character, and how do you have to think about a character? You got to know this guy inside out, right?
Don Helin05:21
Yeah, I was really fortunate, I had gotten probably about three books with Zach. I was never quite comfortable about him. Then, I happened to attend a writers conference and at that writers conference was a creative writing professor from Berkeley. He said, "What you have to do is develop a bio, for each one of your characters, not just your lead character, but your villain, and all the key people. Because, you know, some people think, well, I'm going to make this awful villain. The villain is, and all your characters have to be some good and some bad. So, what I did, there's three areas that we develop for that character, one is a physical, second is a social, and third is a psychological. By the physical, we're not saying how important it is or how tall he is. What is important? If he's a little guy, what did that due to his development? Was he bullied? You can kind of take his physical characteristics and say, "Hey, how did that help him or hold him in developing?" Suppose Barbra Streisand, couldn't sing? How would her life have changed? So you take the physical traits and then you take where they grew up. You know, were they private school in New England? Or were they in PT 104 In New York City? How would that develop? Then psychological, for example, my hero, Zack Kelly has a very moderate case of post-traumatic stress disorder, which once in a while, he's out doing some, and he starts having a problem. So, these are the things that make our character human. By developing a bio for each one of those characters, I don't fumble on what they would be because what we're trying to do is develop motivation. In other words, what you want to do is develop your characters. For example, you got your heroes, Zack Kelly, and you got the villain. Each of them are motivated based on what's in their bio motivated to do something. When they're both motivated, and they're motivated in the opposite direction. What happens? You've got conflict. Conflict is what makes the book.
Ray Loewe07:57
Yeah. So, are you Zack Kelly?
Don Helin08:02
Am I Zack Kelly? I'm asked that a lot. I would have to say I'm not as good-looking as Zack Kelly. I don't have as many friends as Zack Kelly, as far as ladies that think he's... I'm not quite the athlete, that Zack Kelly is. Because, I think they always say in the bios, your characters are kind of dramatized to be special. Because, if you make your hero, just kind of an average guy, he's not as exciting as if he's an interesting guy.
Ray Loewe08:37
Yeah, I'm sure. So when you came up with Zach Kelly, how much of that came out of your experience being in the military? How much of it came from research that you did? How much of it came from just seeing people on the street?
Don Helin08:53
It's hard to say what percentage, but it's all involved, you know, because Zach, for example, is a single parent. That's what makes him human. The first two books, Zach did not have his daughter living with him. But his wife ended up in trouble. So, Laura came to live with him. Now Zach is while he's out saving the world someplace and doing all the stuff he's been writing about. He gets a phone call, Dad, you're supposed to be here. You're coaching my soccer team, Dad, come on. That's reality, and everybody can kind of live in that story. So, guess who's got three beautiful daughters who have been through that? So it's kind of growing on me. Things that have happened to me. Things I learned in the Pentagon, and things I've just picked up along the way.
Ray Loewe09:53
So your characters actually evolve and change? Okay. What about some of the other characters? You ever just meet people on the street and find out all of a sudden, you know, their character in your book?
Don Helin10:05
I think the best one... I'm glad you mentioned that. Elaine and I were up in Canada, we always love to go into bookstores. We were sitting there and my wife's an artist, so she always has her camera with her and this guy comes in, and he's got orange stripe down the center of his head. He's got your earrings, a nose ring. He's got the black boots and all that. I said to Elaine, I said, "Can you get his picture for me?" She said, "Sure." What she does, since she never wants anybody to know she's taking their picture so she will hold up the camera and then she shakes the camera. I say, "What's wrong?" She says, "I don't know." Well, she's got four pictures of the guy. So what I did is, I took him home in a picture. I put them in this file that I have of people. One day, Zach is up to his neck at the Pentagon and he comes home, and he pulls up in front of the house and Laura is up his daughter, his 18 and a half-year-old daughter is up talking to this guy. What does this guy look like? He's got an orange stripe on his head, got earrings, and nose ring. Zack walks up and Laura says, "Dad, dad, I want you to meet Rodney Barnes. Rodney is the lead guitar for the evildoers. I met him six months ago and I I know he's not your kind of guy. But, Dad, I hope you'll go to one of his concerts with me because I'm all excited for you to get to know Rodney because I really like him. Zach looks at Rodney. Rodney? Yeah, man, that's me and that goes on from there. See, there's a cliche character that ends up there. What is Rodney really like? You don't find out for a while. So, you got to buy out on Rodney. If I want to be in one of your books, I have to have orange hair. Is that what you're telling me? We have to know enough to make you an interesting character and make you believable.
Ray Loewe12:27
Okay, so these BIOS continue. How many pages is Zach's bio at this point right?
Don Helin12:34
Right now it's about almost two pages.
Ray Loewe12:38
Let's switch a little bit because another part of a book is the plot. Where the heck do these come from? Where do they come from?
Don Helin12:49
Ray, they're everywhere. It's a matter of looking. Let me just tell you, my fourth book, Long Walk Home developed when I was up in New York. It turned out that I would go to thriller fest every year and the Grand Hyatt Hotel where thriller fest had the program, had a special discount. They said we'll give you a big discount, it's only going to cost you $230 a night to stay in the hotel. I'm lucky because I'm retired military. So, the Coast Guard has a guest house on a side island. I thought well, what I will do is just stay at the guest house, then every morning on Staten Island, then every morning I would catch the Staten Island Ferry. We would take it across, then we get the Metro and buzz up to the program. You know, what a thriller writer is always looking for is two little words. What if, What if, one day as I was riding across on the Staten Island Ferry, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and flying around. Then, all of a sudden, I thought what if somebody hijacked the Staten Island Ferry. Then I said, "Why would anybody do that? Who would do that?" From that question, developed Long Walk Home, when the Staten Island Ferry is hijacked where Laura is on it. That's the story that gets you going.
Ray Loewe14:40
Cool. Okay, so obviously you're a creative guy, you're observant. You've got some background that filters into your books and stuff like that. But, you know, when we were talking, one of the things that you really said is that you don't do this alone. Okay, that you've been involved in all these writing associations, and you have mentors. Why don't you take a minute and talk about a couple of your mentors and how they impacted what you do? Because we probably have some people up there, who all want to write that great novel, and have no idea how to begin.
Don Helin15:13
I'm so lucky, I've been an active member of PEN writers, which is a statewide writers group. In every conference, they always have what they call, a new writer can bring in just the first two pages of your book. Then, seasoned writers, they have agents and editors who will read it and give you feedback. I felt so good about these two pages. I thought, oh, man, these are wonderful. My writer, who was Nancy Martin, who has written something like 50 novels, and I thought, oh, man, she's going to love it. And of course, you know, what happened? She tore it to shreds, you know. So I limped out of there and then I went home and I started to think. Let me think, now, I have not written any novels yet and Nancy has written 50. Is there a chance, she may have some idea of what she's talking about? So I took her advice, I worked through the book again and that became my first published book.
Ray Loewe16:21
Okay, so these are not self-published books. You actually have a real agent, a publisher, and everything else. So how did that come about? Because most people don't have that when they start?
Don Helin16:34
What you do is... There's a big fat document called "Writer's Market." You can get it at every library and every bookstore. You go in, and you start going through it. You say, okay, go to thrillers, who are all the publishers that publish thrillers? Who are all the agents that help you with that? You go in, and you start sending out letters, and you become this guy that keeps getting all these turndowns from publishers and agents and editors. You know, until one day, you get what is called, we call "The Call." The call comes, and it's, "Hi, Don, this is Shirley and I'm from Medallion Press and we'd like to publish your book. That is the call!Of course, then I got another call because I published it. That was my first novel and I had a second one all set when I got another call. They said, "We're sorry, but we're discontinuing our mass market line. We could keep publishing you as an e-book, but not as a mass market." I said, "How would that work?" I looked at Elaine, she looked at me and I said, "So, we started all over again, with sending out those letters and all that sort of stuff."
Ray Loewe17:53
So, a lot of it comes from hanging out at these writers' conferences and meeting people. Talk a bit about the mentors, because you had Lee Childs. Lee Childs is another guy that I read extensively. So again, your book just went up on the list and more. I only have one book, and I think I'm going to dump it and go to yours. Let's talk a little bit about mentors. How do you get them? What happens? How do they affect what you do?
Don Helin18:18
Yeah, it's the group that you join. I joined International Thriller Writers and they have what they call "The Debut Authors Group." Now, you have to go after it, you have to go sign up. Then, they meet like, once a month, and everything that they do is online, because you have people in all the countries, all the cities throughout the United States. Lee is the coordinator. Lee was our coordinator and then he would bring in John Bland, and all these other wonderful writers. Each one would talk about how to do setting and how to write a bio, and how to do all this sort of stuff. It was so helpful. That was really it plus you met people who could help you, who could give you blurbs, who could do stuff like that. So, I think, between 10 writers, and International Thriller Writers, I got so much help. Now, what I'm doing, I'm also a mystery writer for America. They have now a mentor program. So, I'm a mentor and there's not much I can do for lead trials. There's not much I can do for Nancy Martin, who now has over 100 books, but writers pass it down. You know, my job, I think now is to help writers coming up through the system.
Ray Loewe19:46
Outstanding! So you got your bio of your characters, you got your plot, but you also have to be a politician because you got to show your book and you got to position the right way. Take a minute. We're almost at the end of our time. Take a second... What kind of advice would you give to people who are those aspiring writers out there? Do you just put it aside and say, I can't do this? Or how do you get motivated?
Don Helin20:13
Well, what do you want to do? See, a writer has to have two personalities. One, writing is an art, I always tell new writers, writing is an art. The publishing is a business. I spend probably half my time writing, but I spend the other half marketing. That's why I have a website that people can go to. I'm very active on Facebook. I'm very fortunate, that my publisher is very active. We now are on Zoom. We have a whole program called "Zoom into Books," and monthly we'll do a presentation. Then they'll say, "Hey, if you want Don's book, you can go to his publisher, and just pick it up." She's got a number of my signed things that she can paste into the book, so you can get a signed book.
Ray Loewe21:10
Well, I'm not sure I'm met my goal here. I think I'm partially into the head of an author here. Okay. You certainly have had a fascinating life. You've certainly, your processes are extremely interesting. Thanks, for people that are listening, and who can take some of your advice. Do you have any final comments you want to make before we sign off?
Don Helin21:30
No. It's just that I have really enjoyed learning to write. But, the one thing that I would say is "Don't Give Up." Most people will start, they have that great idea but get in the middle of it, and you get to what I call the saggy middle. You look at this saying, that's no good, it'll never sell, it's terrible and you quit. Don't quit! Keep writing and even if you're not crazy about it, get through. Because I ended up going back through my book editing probably 15-20 times. So the first one, that first time through is not that great. And it's not. But you know what, you can make a great by working hard on it. I have a number of readers who helped me, who give me good ideas, and you know what, right, I listened to them. I learned through Nancy -- I listened to them.
Ray Loewe22:28
This is why Don is one of the luckiest people in the world. With that, I don't think there's anything more to say except your website, which is DonHelin.com. Okay, d o n h e l i n and we're going to post that on the notes when we publish your conversation here. So, people can find out where to get a start to meet you. And Luke sign is off.
Outro 22:59
Thank you for listening to "Changing the Rules." Join us next week for more conversation, our special guest and to hear more from the luckiest guy in the world.