Doug McComas Books

I started writing shortly after our youngest was born eighteen years ago. Having four daughters, there was much to write about. But stories about little girls dealing with a foul-mouthed, elderly neighbor, or finding a runaway princess in a barn loft weren’t keeping my attention.

I’ve studied military history most of my life. My mother took me to see Patton and Waterloo on the big screen when I was nine. She persuaded me to sit through a twenty part series of War and Peace by simply promising the Battle of Borodino was only so many episodes away. That hooked me. Not long after, l could name Napoleon’s Marshals and American Civil War Generals quicker than my peers could name who Bart Starr played for.

My real concentration in writing started about 2005. I had completed a correspondence course through Children’s Institute of Literature and was ready to take a shot at chapter books. Tired of reading about World War II through American and British eyes, I opted to write period stories about the Germans.

My first book was Karl with the 12th SS. (It was a steep learning curve). The protagonist was a boy growing up in World War II Germany and fighting in the Hitler Youth Division. Karl participated in the Hitler Youth and was an ammo bearer on one of the city of Hamburg’s flak towers. His older brothers served in different branches of the Wermacht. He and his family were not Nazis; they retained their Christian faith, but like many, they were simply swept up in the times. Karl joined the 12th SS because his friends did.

Keeping my characters consistent, developing their personalities through the thread of the story, and not letting the plot wander were lessons learned.

I sent the complete eighty-five thousand word manuscript to Writer’s Edge, a literature critiquing service. They rejected it because of potential harsh content. I was informed that twelve to fourteen year old boys have their books bought by their mothers. When those mothers go to a bookstore, they usually have the boy’s younger siblings with them, and there is no way she would purchase anything with a swastika or SS runes on it. Talk about knowing your market! In the end, they said, “The story has merit.” That was encouragement enough.

Next I started writing for high school students because their mothers aren’t so uptight about perceived content; they’re usually just happy the kid is reading. I expanded the story of the German family in World War II (calling it The Schultz Family Saga) into a six volume epic. Sweeping in content, the planned story spanned from pre-World War I to sometime post-World War II. Off I went. Fortunately I was able to build on Karl with the 12th SS. After a year of work, my personal friend and author, Douglas Bond, told me it was unlikely a publisher would be interested in a multi-volume work by a first time author. So I regrouped again and wrote Return to Tarawa.

This time Writer’s Edge liked the three chapters and synopsis. I sent the manuscript to a few publishers and literary agents, but they weren’t impressed. Those who answered encouraged me to keep at it.

My next book was about a young man growing up with missionary parents in post-World War II South Korea. The story had a seduction scene in it, not for spice (we made sure it wasn’t), but to show how big a jerk my protagonist was, and how much he would grow during the Korean War. My writing group, The Ink Blots, had a lot of fun helping me with plenty of suggestions on how to improve the chapter.

About halfway through writing Back to Korea, Douglas Bond suggested I write a book set in Italy. (Then we and our wives could tour Italy and, Lord willing, promote our books together). So I put the Korean story aside and wrote Before Monte Casino. That work went very well. Set in World War II, a group of allied soldiers from around the world fake a pilgrimage to Saint Benedict’s famous monastery to help an Italian friend. Just as I was getting into it, that work had to be set aside.

By now it was November 2011. Douglas Bond had asked me to coauthor a biography on Girolamo Savonarola (due out March 2014 with Evangelical Press). The opportunity to work with an established author was not something to pass up, so I quickly said, “Yes.” No sooner than I had agreed, he asked if I could have it completed in sixty days. After ten years of hearing my kids vent about their English teacher’s (the same Douglas Bond’s) deadlines, I was now getting a full broadside. Thirty thousand words on a Florentine monk I knew nothing about; Doug looked at me like it would be a weekend project. Off I went researching, writing, and answering a plethora of emails from Doug that offered advice, encouragement, and sources. Bond was gracious, not only for putting my name alongside his, but also for the hours of one on one time. The best lesson was on word-killing. The slow process of evaluating each word and deciding whether to keep it or murder it helped the flow of the story. When Savonarola was complete, I realized everything I had ever written needed to be put under the knife.

I finished Before Monte Casino and sent it to Writer’s Edge, but they rejected it -- too many editorial errors. Next I completed Back to Korea.

In October 2013, my wife, Heidi, tired of my whining about punctuation, offered to help. She edited Return to Tarawa, and I recently submitted it to a book contest with Deep Water Publishers.

The work goes on.