Kevin Tinto - Writing Thrillers With a GoPro Camera In Mind

When Kevin Tinto, an avid mountaineer, skier, diver, private pilot and adventurer starts writing fiction, readers can know that they are in for a thrilling ride. Any of the adventures he takes his characters on, from high altitude mountaineering to skydiving to traveling to the ends of the Earth are things he has done himself. As our author of the day, Tinto explains how he writes with a GoPro camera in mind, talks about archaeology, politics and so much more.

Please give us a short introduction to what ICE is about.

Archaeologist Leah Andrews stumbles upon something inexplicable in southwestern New Mexico: inside a dark cavern lies an undiscovered, Native American cliff dwelling abandoned for eight-hundred years. While twisting through one of the narrow underground passageways, Leah’s flashlight illuminates the remains of a violent massacre.

Ancient human remains—all slaughtered in a long-ago massacre—cover the cavern floor, along with a number of brilliantly colored, granite crystals. The rare crystals are native to only one place on earth: a frozen mountain range in central Antarctica.

Could Native Americans have traveled to the frozen continent of Antarctica eight-hundred years prior to the first known human exploration? If so how? And why?

There’s only one person who can get Leah to those mountains in Antarctica: her estranged husband and climbing guide Jack Hobson.

At their destination they make a stunning discovery that will change history and science forever. But Leah’s team is far from the only interested party.

As her secret makes its way to the highest levels of government, a race to seize the Russian-claimed Antarctic territory brings the world to the brink of nuclear conflict.

Archaeology plays an important role in your book. Where does the fascination come from?

Archeology has a basis in fact. When it comes to the mysteries of the Anasazi, the archaeology alone creates many intriguing questions that to this day, have not yet been fully answered, or even explained.

Well…until you read ICE, of course. The more I dug into the actual archeology, the more interesting the story became, and the unanswered questions piled up. While I loved using archaeology to set the foundation of ICE, I didn’t expect the readers to be interested in the details, but they loved it. It turns out, way more people than I anticipated have visited the southwest.

How much have your own adventures inspired your writing?

I’ve been around the block more than once. Most everything you read in ICE, I’ve done myself, from high altitude mountaineering to skydiving, piloting or riding in vintage aircraft, traveled to the end of the Earth and more. That is what makes ICE pop off the page for readers. I wrote it with a GoPro camera in mind. When you video using a GoPro, the idea is putting the viewer into the scene. If the roller-coaster is taking a drop, I wanted readers to feel like they were lifting out of the chair.

What did you pick a massacre to lead Leah to Antarctica?

Great question. The nature of the Anasazi, from all of the data we can collect, tells a story of a peaceful people, co-existing in nears perfect balance with nature. The massacre in the sub-basement of a cliff dwelling, goes against that peaceful co-existence, and signals, at least to Leah, that something extraordinary had taken place.

Your book is fast-paced and gripping. How did you pull this off?

Readers want a story that moves, is dynamic. If they wanted to watch paint dry, they could follow around a house-painting company on Sunday afternoons. I read a lot. With the game-changing Kindle formats, readers have upped their reading game by a factor of ten. I download three or four books at a time. I read three or four pages. If it wanders around, bang, it’s gone. I know that’s what readers are doing as well. I started with characters, in action, in conflict and dialogue. I set hooks right off the bat. I suck readers into a IMAX-sized-surround-sound-3D, Mind’s Eye experience, and then I don’t let go. I drive the story with characters. People relate to characters, not your “End-Of-The-Planet” plotline I see in nearly every novel narrative.

What is the best writing advice you have ever received?

Because I didn’t have much guidance, my experience has been more the school of throwing yourself off a two-story building, hitting the ground, patching up the broken bones, and climbing back up the ladder. 

Here is the advice I have for writers who want to write, publish and reap the rewards of a bestseller:

• Write every day. That means weekends, holidays, your birthday and Christmas.
• Work up a (living) outline. That means you have a beginning, middle and ending. This is not a forty-page treatment, like I see some writing instructors trying to sell. How the heck will you know what the story is even about if you haven’t written it yet? Then dive in. A first draft will suck. You won’t enjoy writing it a good part of the time.
• Writer’s block? If you get stuck, pick up and write another scene, write about your characters. Work on an interview!
• Get a top quality content editor. I was lucky and scored Ed Stackler, one of the best in the business. This is not a copy edit. That’s a whole different ball game. Your content editor is like your coach. He or she knows the characters and story better than you do.
• Use Create Space, Kindle, and Fivver.com. I had my cover done by Fivver.com for $5.00.
• Forget working with the traditional publishers and agents. You’ll be dead and gone long before your bestseller sees the light if you wait for one of these knuckleheads to figure out what they have. BTW: Once you’ve sold 50,000 or so Kindle versions, they’ll be all over you like bees on honey. At that point, you’ve figured out you’re making a mint and you own the rights. Pass…

Why did you send Leah off with her estranged husband, instead of with a stranger?

Jack and Leah together is a hundred-year-old batch of nitro-glycerin, so you know there’s going to be sparks. For a couple who have history, pushing buttons as the author is always a lot of fun. But like the interior of the sun, where fusion pushes out and gravity keeps the star from exploding, at some point a balance is achieved. The relationship between the two and the thought of what might detonate first, an Iso-Hafnium nuclear device, or this  ship of fools adventure to the South Pole keeps readers guessing, and chuckling on occasion.

You don't often find stories where archaeological history is intertwined with politics. Why did you take this approach?

When I was working on ICE, the Americans and Russians were in the midst of the post-Soviet Union ‘love fest’. Having spent a lot of time in the Middle East, I learned that civility is miles wide, but only an inch deep. It’s take a virtual nothing, for everyone to dig up automatic weapons and open up on all these newly constructed neighborhoods. That goes for countries competing for natural resources, ideology, geography, but ramp it up by a factor of a thousand. All it takes in the least hint, that something will threaten that balance of power, and detente goes right out the window. Antarctica is the perfect demonstration of that theory, given that it is the continent of ‘peace’ and cooperation. Throw a high technology monkey wrench into the works, and watch the fireworks.

Politicians only have one interest…self-interest…as is demonstrated in ICE.

How long did it take you to write ICE?

Ten years.

How much research did the book require from you?

Ten years’ worth…

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

I spent a career in marketing and promotion. That, along with the guidance by Ed Stackler are the reasons that ICE maintains bestseller momentum.

Tell us about your writing habits - how do you make time to write? Favorite writing spot?

I write daily. It’s a full-time job. Starbucks!

What are you working on right now?

ICE GENESIS, the sequel to ICE. March 2017. ICE GENESIS picks up where ICE left off, and continues the story line. The third in the series, ICE REVELATION will come out sometime early 2018.

Where can our authors discover more of your work or interact with you?

http://www.writingthrillers.com

https://www.facebook.com/kevin.tinto.1