Daily Inspiration: Meet Mario Acevedo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mario Acevedo

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story as a writer. It began like this: I’ve always liked to read and as I tell wannabe writers, it’ll be a real challenge to be a writer if you’re not also a reader. In my adolescence I never dreamed I could be a writer since I thought I didn’t have the required smarts. It wasn’t until college did I discover that I possessed the acumen to be a writer, though for non-fiction as a technical writer. Later in the army, I took advantage of every opportunity to write, revising manuals and SOPs, and then in papers during my officer’s advanced course. But after I left active military service, I got disconnected from that setting and it was difficult to write anything timely or connected to what was going on.

But the Muse had been awakened and wouldn’t leave me alone. If there has to be the one moment when I made the commitment to be a writer, meaning, I was going to get a book published, that happened when I was reading a certain novel (title long forgotten) and thought, If this guy got published, then so can I. And so, the Muse threw down the gauntlet, “Then do it, Mario.”

I invested in that venture with a visit to Radio Shack where I bought a Trash 80 computer and dot-matrix tractor printer. I was a hundred pages into my first novel (a post-Apocalyptic, Mad Max story) when I realized I didn’t know what I was doing. The narrative had a lot of stuff going on but I couldn’t answer basic story questions: What was the story about? What motivated the characters? What were the stakes? The plot was too big of a mess to unravel so I started manuscript #2, more of a literary novel, which I finished but was ultimately such a bore that I feel asleep reading it. That made the Muse share this important advice: write what you like to read. At the time, my favorite reads were men’s action thrillers so that’s what I decided to focus on. Even so, completing a manuscript and getting it published wasn’t easy and I have stacks of rejection letters as proof.

The next big step forward happened after I joined Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. This was the first time I’d been around for realz published writers and the advice they shared was both illuminating and encouraging. The late Jim Cole invited me to join his critique group, which he ran like a writer boot camp. I learned much about writing craft and the art of storytelling.

I churned through more manuscripts and collected more rejection letters. Certain that manuscript #6 was going to get published, sadly, the response from New York agents and editors was a demoralizing silence. At that point, I decided to say the hell with it and so wrote the most ridiculous story I could think of: A vampire detective investigates an outbreak of. nymphomania at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, and that’s what got the attention of an agent who shepherded my manuscript to a publishing deal.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The truth is, you never really make it. Hurdles rise in your path. Doors close. People change their minds. The publishing industry is deliberately opaque, and the publishing market is constantly shifting.

My experience with Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers showed me the challenges writers face in selling books. My first dose of this reality happened when my publisher sent me on a book tour. We have the image of an author being courted by local media, of people jamming themselves into book stores, eager to buy armloads of your book. The first stop in my debut book tour was a signing in the Borders of the Scottsdale Fashion Park Mall. The store had posters of my book and me on the front windows and behind the cash registers. I was surprised when I found about a dozen people sitting in front my my book display. As I began introducing myself, one of them interrupted, “We’re not here for your book. We’re in the French club.” En masse, they rose and reseated themselves in the bookstore cafe. The manager came by and after noting all the empty seats, said, “I thought you were famous.” Obviously, not.

Sadly, that wasn’t the only time the I endured such humiliation. But you learn to grin and bear it.

The key to success as a writer is persistence and luck–good and bad. Good in that the market was receptive to your manuscript. Bad in that circumstances force you to be inventive, resilient, and agile while testing your dedication at being a writer.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a writer, mostly of fiction, novels and short stories. Besides writing my own stuff, I’ve worked a ghost writer, helping my clients complete either fiction or non-fiction.

I am most famous, and by famous, I mean 7-point font, lower case famous, for the Felix Game detective vampire series. My debut novel, the Nymphos of Rocky Flats, and the squeal, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, were both national bestsellers. The first five books were published by HarperCollins, and the last two by Wordfire Press. My short fiction was pulled into the horror genre, which I enjoyed writing as it requires that the writer really sink the emotional hooks into the reader.

What I’m most proud of is that I’ve gotten as far as I have, thought there remains a long way to go. So many more stories to write.

What sets me apart is that even in the most serious of circumstances, I try to find the humor.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
As I mentioned previously, if you’re serious about being a writer, then you must be a serious reader. Understand your genre. Realize that any such story is more than a collection of tropes.

What I’ve learned is that the most popular stories are essentially soap operas. People want to become emotionally involved in your characters, moved to care about them, and so revel in the drama of interpersonal conflicts when things go off the rails. Even characters on the same side should butt heads.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.marioacevedo.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mario.acevedo.754703/
• Twitter: @AdelanteArts