Greetings from the FILP trip
I'm posting my July author update from the setting of Friends In Low Places
Life provides its own bit of entertainment, and I try to capture the conflict and joy that comes out of what we experience every day. Some call this contemporary fiction or popular fiction. I just call it “comfort fiction” and what I like to write.
There’s something new every Friday. Enjoy and please subscribe! Check out my website at www.vincewetzel.com
Today, I’m posting from where it all started. Shaver Lake is the spiritual home of my first novel, Friends In Low Places. For those of you who haven’t read it, it’s the story of four buddies who go up to the lake to spread the ashes of their friend, Jim. Along the way, they read the journal Jim scribbled in over 20 years of coming to the Lake. They relive their shared laughter, life moments, revelations, and regret while coming to accept their grief.
This novel is based on my experiences with my friends on this trip over the years. There are several embellishments, heightened realities, and some fictional digressions included to serve the story, but the heart is the same. And the unsung heroes of the story are Shaver Lake and its sister, Huntington Lake.
Nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountain range above Fresno, Calif., Shaver and Huntington Lakes are part of the Big Creek Hydroelectric Project for Southern California Edison electric utility. Dubbed the “Hardest Working Water in the world,” water from Huntington uses high-elevation drops through a massive network of tunnels to generate electricity before flowing into Shaver. At night, when electricity rates are low, that water is pumped back to Huntington, where it will be used again and again. Built more than 100 years ago, it is the definition of renewable energy.
In 1993, with three guys finishing their freshman year of college and two others graduating high school, this was just a place for a bunch of buddies to go camping and participate in underage drinking. Who knows? Maybe meet some girls. That first trip was epic, and it was followed by more lasting memories.
Nearly thirty-five years later, we aren’t looking for girls or to drink ourselves silly. We have graduated from camping in tents to sleeping in cabins. But the vibe remains the same - good times, good conversations, and lots of laughter.
Do you have a trip you look forward to with your ride-or-die friends?
Updates
The Inside Track with Alex Shelby
Read the rants of the protagonist of my next novel, Landslide. You’ll get to know Alex through his writing leading up to Landslide’s release in Spring 2027.
The Burn Ward of Freedom (July 5)
Alex thinks our drunken stupidity overshadows our celebration of treason
Leave the hate to the professionals (July 20)
Alex thinks that you should not post performative rants.
Alex will periodically invade The Space Between a couple of times a month to provide his unique insights and perspectives on life in Sacramento over the next several months.
Speaking of Landslide
This month, I received editorial feedback from my editor. It was generally very positive, with a few specific tweaks to make the narrative more effective. One of his observations:
Alex is in that great tradition of irascible writerly types, and his voice really zings. His little asides, such as ‘I would bet my salty disposition that they were,’ make him come alive and give him a distinct and memorable voice - as well as when we get to see him scoff at things like having to put his phone in a basket in the first meeting for the campaign (which really made me laugh).
My editor also observed some areas for improvement.
I think you do need to dial down his world weariness just a bit. That is the only thing where he drifts into cliché, and where you run the risk of him seeming like someone we would find a bit exhausting to deal with after a while.
What does this mean for you, the reader?
Editors not only look at the language, the story, and the characters, but also aim to make the novels even better for the reader. For Landslide, I want to take the narrative to the next level. I’ve spent a lot of time with Alex since I first conceived of him in 2020. This is his story. Beneath his rough exterior, he’s a fascinatingly layered character, and I want to give you the best chance to get to know him.
For the next few months, I’ll be integrating these notes into the manuscript and be on track for release next year. Stay tuned.
Piano Man
We’re in the next Piano Man Chronicles story, A Savage Solitude, following Mark on a two-day trek on the Pacific Coast Trail, where he meets Carl, a long-hiker on his second month on the trail. Parts 1 and 2 are up. Part 3 releases July 31. I also created a Flash Fiction, The Hero’s Journey (linking Piano Man, A Thousand Faces Of Elias Thorne, Ian Patterson’s community project, and the Odyssey in one piece). Please check out Ian’s Elias Thorne project. So many fabulous stories from the Substack author community.
As for the Piano Man novel, I am taking a different approach to writing this story than I did with my previous three books. In writing circles, you are either a plotter (outlining the entire plot beforehand), a discovery writer… or pantser (write by the seat of your pants), or somewhere in between.
For Friends In Low Places and Lose Yourself, I was somewhere in between. I knew the directions I was going and the different beats I needed to hit. I allowed the characters to breathe a little and find their own way. In Landslide, I went full discovery and let Alex go on his own journey. But, man, that was a tough slog, with starts and stops and so many rewrites that I have three versions that will never see the light of day.
So for Piano Man, I’m outlining the entire plot, chapter by chapter, beforehand. I have a spreadsheet with the basics of what happened, the scene drivers, the character motivations, and the creation of curiosity gaps to keep the reader reading. My hope is that this makes me more efficient and focused, allowing the discovery to happen in the outline. I’ll keep you updated on how this translates onto the page.
Author Interview
Did you get a chance to check out my lovely conversation with fellow Sacramento writer Julie Snider? She opens up about her debut novel, weaving hidden American history into fiction, and finding her local writing community.
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