Tag: The Wild Rose Press

It is my pleasure to welcome Topper Jones
to Escape With Dollycas today!

Hi Topper,

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m the oldest of seven boys and was born and raised in Southern California during the surfing craze of the 60s. Over the years, I’ve had the good fortune of living on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and even spent a little over three years on the North Shore of Oahu. The beach is my happy place. Water sports (surfing, boogie boarding, catamaran sailing) are my first passion.

My second interest is in self-defense, something I embraced in my forties after my home had been burgled. I studied Kenpo Karate, Aikido, and Krav Maga, tempered with a little yoga.

So when I started writing the Thad Hanlon & Bri de la Guerra mystery series, it was only natural one of the characters (Thad) would draw inspiration from the world of surf and the other (Bri) a sense of empowerment from the world of martial arts. I find the fusion of surf wisdom and training in self-defense alluring, and the combo a fairly comprehensive skill set for sleuthing. Toss in my background in computers and software development, and the toolbox for cracking cases is complete.

To be close to family, today I make my home in the Southwest desert, where my wife (also a writer) and I can scoot up and down I-15 to visit our twenty grandkids and four great-grandkids. We like to think of ourselves as writers on the run. Good thing we have laptops and cloud storage.

What are three things most people don’t know about you?

For one, I’m a high-school dropout who smartened up enough to find a way to finish my secondary education, earn a diploma, and go on to college, graduate school, and then a Ph.D. program.

Secondly, when I was 18, I wallpapered the bedroom of my off-campus college apartment with manuscript rejection slips before selling my first piece of writing: A crossword puzzle.

And thirdly, in my early twenties—rangy and a total lightweight at 145 lbs.—I made some Christmas cash in college by playing a department store Santa with the help of two bed pillows strapped to my waist.

What books/authors have most inspired you?

Early influences on my writing were poets (Walt Whitman, e.e. cummings, Allen Ginsberg, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti). As I gravitated to short fiction, I read everything by J. D. Salinger. Then, when I made the move to full-length fiction, I tried to emulate commercial authors I found engaging (Robert Ludlum’s early work, Raymond Chandler, Robert Parker, Robert Crais, and Michael Connelly). For novel structure, I rely heavily on the works of Blake Snyder (Save the Cat!® screenwriting series) and Jessica Brody (Save the Cat!® Writes a Novel).

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

I research initial details for my character sketches, scene locations, and police procedure during the outline phase of a project. This usually takes me a month. But most of my research takes place as I write. While I’m penning the draft on the first monitor, I use my second monitor to research. ChatGPT is now my new best friend. Google is my second-best friend. Google Maps my next best friend. And Wikipedia my go-to for an overview and footnote references to definitive research sources on a subject.

My favorite part of research is scouting locations. Especially if it involves being on the coast. That just means I have another opportunity to catch a few waves.

 Do you ever suffer from Writer’s Block?

Once.

After completing what I thought would be a bestseller, I sent off my manuscript to a major New York literary agency for review and evaluation for possible representation. I soon learned my book was “Dead on Arrival!” The feedback was scathing. This was in the early 1980s. I put the stillborn novel in a drawer.

I was besieged by crippling writer’s block, fearing I was wasting my time trying to write, dismayed I wasn’t a natural, and terrified that storytelling was beyond me. I told myself sad jokes: Why did the budding author buy a caseload of corn starch? He thought if he could find a way to add it to his novel, the plot would thicken.

Truth was, for me, the plot never thickened because I had no clue how to plot. That first draft gathered dust in the drawer for the next 30 years.

To find a way forward, I devoured everything on the language of storytelling. That’s when I came across Blake Snyder’s trilogy on screenwriting—Save the Cat!®, Save the Cat!® Goes to the Movies, and Save the Cat!® Strikes Back. I couldn’t put these books down. I just loved Blake’s first-person account of adventures in the screen trade and his fusion approach to writerly advice—part craft, part self-help book. And I was encouraged by his unquenchable optimism: “Given enough patience to find it, every story problem has an answer,” he wrote.

My reality: I had a STORY PROBLEM.

Cut to August 27, 2016, when I took a two-day Save the Cat!® Beat Sheet Workshop. It was in that workshop I learned my problem was (1) a matter of the right story pattern (my original draft was a mashup of two different kinds of stories) and (2) the need to structure the story with key plot points. Over the next two days, I zeroed in on the best story type (mystery) for my novel and nailed down what Blake Snyder calls the essential 15 beats. From there, it was only a matter of time before I was able to knock out the second draft, scene by scene. Writer’s Block removed!

What advice do you have for someone who would like to become a published writer?

Workshop your work! Whatever it takes, get feedback from people who are interested in your success. And be open to what fellow writers have to say. They can tell when something isn’t working, when characters behave out of character, and when your language isn’t capturing your intention. Listen and revise accordingly.

You can often find writing critique groups at your local library or through state and local writing organizations. I found my “writing safe space” through Write On – St. George, a local chapter of the League of Utah Writers. Each week, the “Writers Improvement Group” (WIG for short) meets to review what we wrote since the last session. Knowing I need to have “something for WIG” motivates me to get words on the page. The weekly goal: five pages double-spaced. For me, my critique group functions as both a sounding board and an accountability group. Everyone needs a little encouragement. Especially writers!

When you are not writing, what do you like to do?

Surfing, jogging, traveling, seeing stage productions (especially musicals), screening (and analyzing) films with my wife, and of course, reading.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

Let me start with the “why” first. I’m a perpetual student. I love learning. Love to take classes and workshops. One program I’d really like to attend is the Iowa Summer Writing Festival at the University of Iowa. Oodles of week-long classes, including some on writing mysteries. It’s on my bucket list.

The “where” would be Iowa City, Iowa.

What is next on the horizon for you?

Book Three, of course. The story takes place eight years later. Zael is eleven and quite the surfer himself. He’s a member of the Five Cities Surf Team, Grommet category—junior surfers ages eleven to twelve, or “groms” in surf jargon. Zael, along with two other members of his surf team, are in the water north of Pismo Pier, competing in the California Central Coast Surf Trials, when a crazed marksman starts taking potshots at them. The sniper vanishes. Panic ripples through the Five Cities beach community.

Thad and Bri are hired by a group of terrified parents to protect these local youth as they train for the West Coast Surf Championships. The duo soon discovers that the surf team members aren’t the only ones in the perp’s crosshairs. In a mad scramble, Hanlon and de la Guerra must keep the Five Cities Surf Team safe while unmasking the sniper before he strikes again.

Thank you so much, Topper, for visiting today!

Keep reading to learn more about his new book, Oceano Beach Bedlam!

About Oceano Beach Bedlam

Oceano Beach Bedlam (A Thad Hanlon/Bri de la Guerra Mystery)
Mystery/Detective Fiction
2nd in Series
Setting – Five Cities area of the California Central Coast near Pismo Beach.
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wild Rose Press (March 17, 2025)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 398 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1509260218
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1509260218
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DSG8YN11

Hanlon & de la Guerra have gone full service. In this second book in the surfing crime-fighter mystery series, Thad Hanlon and his martial-arts-obsessed partner, Bri de la Guerra, hang out their shingle as newly licensed private investigators. Now in addition to fraud-busting, the two detectives do it all. Background checks. Surveillance. Even finding lost souls. Just about anything that requires sleuthing or going undercover.

All they need is a client.

That’s when a former exotic dancer from Bakersfield CA shows up looking for her surf prodigy son who’s gone missing in the wake of cult violence terrorizing the California Central Coast.

More About Topper Jones

I’m Topper Jones and I pen the Hanlon & de la Guerra Mystery Series, featuring surfing crime-fighter Thaddeus Hanlon and his martial-arts-obsessed partner, Bri de la Guerra. The first book, All That Glisters, came out September 2023, and the second, Oceano Beach Bedlam, hit shelves on St. Patrick’s Day—March 17, 2025. Book three is near completion.

Before diving into full-time writing, I worked in public accounting and consulting, and as a university professor teaching financial reporting, software development, and business communication. I’m a member of International Thriller Writers, an affiliate member of the  Mystery Writers of America, and serve on the board of the Write On—St. George chapter of the League of Utah Writers.

To be close to family, I make my home in the southwestern desert rather than my native California, but when the surf’s up, I’ll head to the Pacific to get in a little “water therapy” and catch a few waves.

Author Links
Author Website    Author Blog    Facebook    Twitter/X     Instagram    LinkedIn 

Purchase Links

TOUR PARTICIPANTS – Please visit all the stops. 
May 8 – Deal Sharing Aunt – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
May 9 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
May 10 – Reading Is My SuperPower – SPOTLIGHT W/EXCERPT
May 11 – OFF
May 12 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
May 13 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
May 14 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 15 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
May 16 – MJB Reviewers = SPOTLIGHT
May 17 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
May 18 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – AUTHOR GUEST POST
May 19 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
May 20 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
May 21 – Frugal Freelancer – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

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