Don Silver Combines Music, Suspense and Coming of Age in 'Scorched'

In his second novel, musician and former producer, Don Silver, presents Scorched, a coming-of-age, mystery thriller. Set in Philadelphia, the story follows the life of 14-year-old Jonas Shore who, after the death of his father, makes some misguided decisions that land him in Lafayette Academy, a boarding school for orphans and delinquents. According to Silver, “…Jonas, who has a very troubled relationship with his dad, loses his father who dies suddenly and he finds himself with his mom in a situation where they don’t have money and he feels that it’s his responsibility, his calling, to try to step in and earn money so he picks… selling drugs as a way to make money quickly and while it works short term, it doesn’t really work long term. He doesn’t become a drug user, but there are implications from his actions that lead him to a school… where he meets up with four other boys that become his roommates… and they forge their way into adulthood, sort of initiating each other… and at the end of part one, which is halfway into the book, they are involved in a criminal activity that has implications throughout the rest of their lives and the rest of the book.”

Readers will notice that Silver included a soundtrack that is referenced throughout his novel. Being a musician and songwriter himself, he made sure to incorporate this important element into his story. He explains, “Well, like me and like many, many, many other people, there’s a soundtrack to our lives and it often relates to what we go through and it often influences what we go through, so I picked from my experience and my knowledge of music the things, the music, that would resonate for my main character and his circle, and it ended up, I didn’t realize it because I’m so into music, but music is all over this novel and references to songs and bands and records are plentiful.”

In regards to his writing process, Silver sits down to write every day and on good days, will spend as much as 6-8 hours working, editing as he goes. Once his entire draft is complete, he goes back and focuses on polishing the body of the work. Each piece of writing can take him up to 6 to 7 years to write. What would he say to those who aspire to become published writers like himself? “I think something that was told to me before during my MFA, I guess, is that you’ve got to read. You’ve got to read a lot in addition to your 10,000 hours, 2 or 3 times, to become good. You really need to read hundreds of books by people who are good, to know whether you are in the right, whether you’re playing Little League or you’re playing in minor leagues or you might want to take a crack at a book that would ask somebody to, you don’t know, to sit down with.”