Professional Writer from Riverview Talks About Getting Published

He's dreamed of writing the great American novel since he was in middle school. And now, decades later, Michael Laquerre of Riverview, 42, is finally writing his first novel for publication.

In the interim, Laquerre has built a successful career writing short stories for literary magazines.

Penning everything from horror to suspense thrillers, Laquerre spends his days at his computer crafting tales.

"I've been writing since I was 10 years old," he said. "I always wanted to be a writer."

Nevertheless, the Long Island, N.Y., native ended up majoring in film.

"I thought about writing screenplays," he said. "But my heart was really in the printed page."

So, with the encouragement of his wife, Lori, Laquerre became a full-time writer.

"You have to love what you do and follow your heart," he said. "It's more about passion and less about work. I have to do it as much as I have to breathe."

Whether he's working on his novel or a short story, Laquerre generally writes 2,000 to 3,000 words a day.

"I get up in the morning when my wife, who is an accountant, is getting ready to head to Tampa. And while she's at work, I'm writing," he said. "Sometimes I write at night as well."

Being a professional writer, however, has its disadvantages.

"You have to be persistent," he said. "I've gotten hundreds of rejection slips. But you can't get discouraged. Every rejection is one step closer to a 'yes.' I had one story that was rejected 300 times before a publisher picked it up."

Laquerre said it takes about two weeks for him to finish a single short story.

"I finish the first draft then spend time refining it," he said.

Many of the subjects for his short stories come from today's headlines.

"For instance, something that intrigued me was the story about the 18 girls in Rochester with unexplained ticks," he said. "I began to think of a scenario where there was a train crash that affected certain people of a town."

Laquerre said he's always thinking, "What if?"

"That's just how my brain works," he said. "I see things the average person doesn't see."

Another of his stories revolves around the 2000 census. Laquerre asked himself, "What if the government took drastic measures to gather information for the census?"

Laquerre rarely does research for the first draft of his short stories or novels.

"It depends on what I'm writing, but most times I just want to get the story down. I leave the details for later," he said. "Then, I spend a lot of time in the library."

He said he rarely jots down ideas he has for stories.

"If I can't remember it, it probably wasn't very good," he said.

The story line, he said, is the most important part of writing.

"The story is the driving force," he said. "The characters come later."

Laquerre said some of his best stories are about average people facing extraordinary situations.

"I like to take regular people and put them in scenarios they would not normally face," he said.

In one of his latest short stories published in Deep South Magazine, Laquerre writes about a woman who is addicted to drugs and has her daughter taken from her.

"It's a story that leaves you thinking," he said. "Most of the time, I don't know what's going to happen in a story. The story has a life of its own. I don't know where it's going to take me. It just kind of evolves as I'm writing it."

To be a good writer, Laquerre believes you have to be an avid reader.

Laquerre reads a variety of authors, from Stephen King to Joyce Carol Oates.

You have to read massive amounts, or you'll never be a writer," he said. "I'm a big supporter of libraries and bookstores."

To read one of Laquerre's short stories, visit Deep South Magazine.