Veteran journalist Ralph Ellis releases debut novel, ‘The Accident Report’

Ralph Ellis -Veteran journalist Ralph Ellis has published his first novel The Accident Description a crime mystery novel infused with small town newsroom details and a cast of quirky Southern characters Ellis who cut his teeth at local newspapers before joining the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and CNN may have more than a passing resemblance to his main character Ronald Truluck Set in the summer of Truluck is working as a rookie reporter at a newspaper in a tiny North Carolina town but he has dreams of being the next Woodward and Bernstein When a city councilman is involved in a drunk driving event and the police let him walk Truluck smells a cover up It s no Watergate but in the sleepy hamlet of Millerton it s implications seem just as large Ronald is somewhat like me but I never had a story like this Ellis commented He s delusional about his importance as a reporter and caught up in the fervor over Watergate Ellis got his start at The Thomasville Times in North Carolina before moving on to The Field Herald in Conway SC Eventually he was hired by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution working in the Fayette County bureau office Now a Decatur resident Ellis started dabbling in fiction in and wrote a novel about a journalist working in Atlanta but it never went anywhere Ellis commented Cut to the pandemic and Ellis decided to try his hand at fiction once again and the first book in a planned Ronald Truluck series was born He s already at work on the second book which sees Truluck covering shenanigans in s era Myrtle Beach and has ideas for three more While a large number of novelists have a set time for writing Ellis disclosed his motivators were fellow authors in a critique group at the Atlanta Writers Club I m not a disciplined writer Ellis conceded so my motivation to keep going was having a set deadline to turn in pages to my critique group To Ellis delight his fellow writers encouraged him to keep going on The Accident Account and offered valuable insight along the way While Ellis calls himself a semi-retired journalist he still freelances and encourages young people to keep working in journalism despite the fake news outrage manufactured by politicians Being a reporter is a great job Ellis commented It might be the greatest job in the world You get to talk to people all day long you re socially mobile and it s a great way to overcome your introversion And his advice for fellow novelists Put your fingers on the keyboard and start moving them Ellis will be a featured author at the North Georgia Regional Book Fair on Sept and will be conversation with fellow novelist Mickey Dubrow on Sept at A Cappella Books The post Veteran journalist Ralph Ellis releases debut novel The Accident Assessment appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta