Featured Interview With Cortez Law III
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m Cortez Law III. I was born in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., a long ago! But I spent most of my formative years in Northeastern Ohio in the Portage County seat of Ravenna. I graduated from Ravenna with college prep courses that prepared me for enrollment at Kent State University six miles down the road. I earned a B.A. in Telecommunications or TV/Radio production. I’m back in Northeastern Ohio and remain pet free.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
While I concentrated on getting my degree, the writing bug hit me with the screenwriting course I took in my next to last semester. I kept writing after that through all the employment stops but still couldn’t crack Hollywood for years. Through query letters and cold-calling LA agents, I submitted scripts. I schmoozed those agents to give me shots at submitting scripts for a few rising stars like Halle Berry and Michael Biehn there, but the scripts weren’t good enough. I got better near the time I decided to change mediums to books in the early to mid-nineties. Now, the New Jack Swing was in full effect with the black film renaissance, but at the same time, the publishing industry found out, thanks to Terry McMillan, that black folks read! Say what?! That whole black literary boom did just that, BOOM! Right off the hinges went that door. Again, it takes time to develop your craft. Now we’re talking a 200, 300, or 400+ page book compared to a 100–120-page screenplay. I wrote, studied books on writing, and read numerous novels. It remains a continuous learning process.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I started writing and self-publishing a Christian African American romance novel, My Brother’s Keeper, in 2001. I thought that was my genre. Then, enter September 11, 2001. A light bulb went off. That tragedy galvanized a nation, and many people expressed their patriotism for this country via songs, music, movies, etc. I was no different, and looking back, I wasn’t surprised either. My screenplay offerings consisted of small-budgeted urban dramas but also police/crime stories as well. I like the Hero Myth of storytelling, so I feel comfortable with mysteries, suspense, and thriller stories. The person I miss who filled this niche before he passed in 2001 and was a Chicago Police Captain was author Hugh Holton. I read most of his work. Other favorites I’ve read more than once include Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Walter Mosley, Ridley Pearson, Jeffery Deaver, and Ted Dekker. It’s good to see additional African American mystery/suspense/thriller authors such as Tracy Clark, Rachel Howzell Hall, Kellye Garrett, Aaron Philip Clark, and Charles Prandy. The Christian Mystery/Suspense marketplace doesn’t have many, if any, African American authors. I hope to bridge that gap between the two markets.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
I was looking for the challenge of writing a mystery where mostly the reader wouldn’t know any more than the detectives. Within that framework, I could explore the themes of love, faith, forgiveness, second chances for several characters, and hopefully, a compelling mystery/drama the readers couldn’t put down.
It’s the sixth book in the Atlanta X-Men Homicide Squad series. It tells the story of Sergeant Malcolm Hobbs and his elite X-Men Homicide Squad stretched to their investigative limits to uncover a shocking conspiracy of race, greed, power, and murder during Atlanta’s Civil Rights Era. The book reads or feels like a true crime or historical mystery novel that shifts the investigation from the past to the present and back again.
But I survived a near disaster last August. I cracked open the Atlanta Homicide Squad Book #5 via a read-through. I couldn’t and didn’t resist the urge to do some light editing along the way. Well, that morphed into some semi-major rewriting on some parts. I accidentally deleted 5% of the story by mistake. I didn’t read through the book before I rewrote that 5%. Amazingly, I recalled the deletions! So, that part wasn’t as hard to write as I thought. Plus, some additional story points emerged that made the new pages better! The best part of writing a first draft is getting it done, but also the surprises you encounter along the way.
It takes about three to six months for a first draft. It depends upon how steadfast I am every day with my writing schedule. Then, I could write eight to twelve drafts after that to get it as close as possible to perfection. The key for me to do that is to take breaks from the book between each draft. That may last anywhere from a month minimum to two or two and a half months. A writer needs that separation from the story to get some distance from the words, which surely needs additional editing. So, that’s about nine months on the low end to about 12 months maximum.
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