Rising Stars: Meet Alan Cupp of Goshen, OH

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alan Cupp.

Alan , we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started writing fiction approximately thirty years ago, right around the time my first son was born. I would get home from working second shift and need to kill some time until he would wake up for a bottle, so I would sit down at the computer and start creating stories. I don’t remember a lot about those early attempts, other than they weren’t very good. But after years of practice, I learned how to put together a story that would capture and hold the attention of readers. My initial creative output was bent towards mystery / suspense stories, and that’s where most of my efforts have been focused, with an occasional departure to write something adventurous geared toward middle-school aged readers or some funny stories about a man’s failed attempts to find love in the dating world.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The writing part is the easy part. It’s fun to create characters and scenarios. The real challenge is finding a home for what I’ve written. Seeking out an agent or publisher is a very daunting task. They all have their own particular style of writing they’re interested in and each has their own criteria or process by which you must contact them. It requires a great deal of time, research and patience. Add to it that a writer typically has an extremely brief window of opportunity to pitch a manuscript, usually with just a couple of paragraphs within a query letter describing the work, before the publisher/agent moves on to the next hopeful writer’s pitch. Publishers and agents are inundated with query letters from thousands of writer competing for the limited spaces available.
But when you are able to get past the initial contact and have someone show an interest and invest in your work, it’s quite rewarding.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a novelist. Currently, I have three published novels that would be categorized as mystery, suspense, or thriller. Two of my books are Carter Mays mystery novels, When Lies Crumble and Scheduled To Die. My newest novel is titled, Two Years Dead. My style of writing is very fast paced. I don’t like my stories to get bogged down in a lot of mundane details. A reoccurring comment from readers is that they can see my stories being adapted to the screen. That would be nice.
In addition to my mystery titles, I have a middle-grade level adventure book, Rich Without A Ransom. And the book I probably had the most fun writing is Love’s Losing Streak, which is a collection of short stories all centered around one man’s horrific dating luck.
The best thing I can hear from a reader is that they stayed up way too late because they wanted to find out what happens next. Robbing a reader of sleep is the ultimate compliment for me.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Probably that I don’t read a lot of fiction. I enjoy a good novel if I’m on a beach vacation somewhere, but for the most part, I feel like I could be writing my own stories, whether than reading others.

I also do a little acting on the side. Currently, you may see me in an Ohio Lottery Commercial.

Pricing:

• My books are available on Amazon in a variety of formats.
• All of my books are available in paperback or ebook.
• I have a couple of title that are available in audio.
• My mystery paperbacks sell for $12 to $14 dollars depending on the titles.
• The ebooks are $5 or less.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Alan-Cupp/author/B00J5PUV6Y?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=9b97b38f-0422-46fb-897a-570e3c68b7f1
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alanc517/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063532324310#
• Other: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5778735.Alan_Cupp