I’ve been tagged by Russell James http://russelljamesbooks.wordpress.com/ crime writer extraordinaire, to take part in this relay style blog called ‘The Next Big Thing Blog Hop Tour’ or some such combination.  In essence I answer a handful of questions, and then tag other authors who will answer the same questions on their own blogs.  I am going to cheat a little bit here but for good reason – I’ve been working on two books this year, both out in spring 2013 and would like to talk about both of them.

What is the working title of your next book?  TBC but it’s the second Scott & Bailey novel.

Where did the idea come from for the book?  The characters come from the TV series Scott & Bailey, created by Sally Wainwright and Di Taylor, but the central story is about a family homicide – a subject which I find very frightening.

What genre does your book fall under?  Crime fiction.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?   The same ones who already play them on telly!

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?  A man kills his wife, daughter and brother-in-law and flees with his two young sons, can Scott and Bailey save them while fighting their own private demons?

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?  Agented, published by Transworld.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?  Five months.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?  Broken Harbour by Tana French begins with a similar crime but develops it in a very different way.  (I read it after I’d plotted out my story and totally loved it!)

Who or what inspired you to write this book?  My agent Sara Menguc flagged up this topic some time ago when we were talking about my standalone titles – this book seemed like the right vehicle for it.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?  The female friendships remain very much to the fore, it’s rooted in the North and there’s some inventive swearing a la TV series!

 

And for round two….

What is the working title of your next book?  Blink of an Eye.

Where did the idea come from for the book?  Thinking about what it would be like to have a child in trouble – in this case charged with causing death by dangerous driving.

What genre does your book fall under?  Crime fiction.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?  Absolutely no idea!  I can only see them in my head for now.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?  A moment’s recklessness destroys the lives of three families; how would you cope if your daughter was to blame?

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?  Agented, published by Constable and Robinson.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?  Five months.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?  Not sure, to be honest.  The stand-alone books I’m writing are less detective fiction and more about ordinary people caught up in the criminal justice system.  They do ask ethical questions and one reader compared them to Jodi Picoult.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?  Just my imagination.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?  The impact of the accident puts great strain on the family and fans a feud between two sisters while mother and grandmother Carmel tries to hold it all together.

Please do visit the following authors who are taking on the baton:

Dagger award winner Margaret Murphy writes gripping psychologial thrillers (and is an accomplice of mine in Murder Squad) http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMargaretMurphy

Kate Ellis (another Squaddie) creates an intriguing blend of mystery and history in her novels http://www.kateellis.co.uk/kates_diary.html

Mel Sherratt (who I’ve met on Twitter and at crime writing festivals) specialises in gritty crime drama  http://writerofmurderandmayhem.wordpress.com/

Janis Hill (also a Twitter friend who lives down under) is about to launch her debut book in the speculative fiction genre.  Find her here http://janishill.wordpress.com/

WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

©Tim Preston http://www.lookoutjo.co.uk

 

 

Looking for something to read?  Want to find a book to give as a present?  Here are my latest assortment of recommended reads.  Some from the library, some read on my Kindle, others advance copies I’ve had from publishers (thank you).  Most are recently published, a couple older and one is still to hit the shops.  They include disturbing psychological thrillers, classic science fiction, brutal Manc noir and a breathtaking collage of family history.  They all tell a great story which kept me hooked, turning the pages.  And all the writers have a skill, an assurance with their prose which makes the read seamless.  Enjoy.

Heart Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

Ursula, Under by Ingrid Hill

The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough

There But For The by Ali Smith

Out Of A Clear Sky by Sally Hinchcliffe

The Murder Wall by Mari Hannah

The Cutting Season by Attica Locke

Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Light Shining in the Forest by Paul Torday

Chamber Music by Tom Benn

In one of my first blogs I wrote that I had reservations about joining Twitter but soon became an addict.  I love it now – I like the interaction with people, the humour, the way news breaks ahead of other channels, the help and advice and recommendations people share and the momentary glimpses into other people’s lives.  Another thing I like about it is that I can flit in and out at whim, there’s no obligation or expectation on me to stay tweeting if I’ve other things (work/life) to do.

There are a few things I dislike though and I don’t think I’m alone – these are the things that turn me off and make it most unlikely that I’ll follow you:

People who only tweet ‘buy my book’ over and over and make no effort to connect.

People who only tweet ‘read my blog’ or ‘visit my site’ over and over etc.

People who do either of the above and ask me to RT.

People who I’ve had no interaction with who baldly ask me to follow them back.

I don’t know what you do but when I get a new follower I usually check them out to decide whether I’ll reciprocate, I go to their home page and see what their last dozen tweets have been about, what their interests are, if they might be good company on Twitter.  If it’s all heavy ‘marketing’ style stuff I won’t bother following back.  If their tweets are protected or they don’t have a profile picture or they only tweet once a year, I’m unlikely to follow them too.

In the guide  Tweet Right by @nicolamorgan she likens Twitter to being at a party and I think that’s a good analogy, it’s a social network not an online store.  That and the ‘never tweet anything you wouldn’t want to see up on an advertising hoarding’ are good advice I think.  Another  entertaining post on etiquette comes from  @crimeficreader you can see that here.

Catch you later.

Recently I tweeted to ask my followers if there were any topics they’d like me to blog about and @JanetOkane (follow her on Twitter) wanted to know what it was like writing novels based on pre-existing TV characters.  (I write the books based on the popular Scott and Bailey ITV1 cop series.)  When Transworld editor Sarah Adams  approached me to do the prequel to the show I’d three instinctive reactions: delight at the prospect, fear that I’d get it wrong and panic that I wouldn’t be able to do it by the deadline.  Delight because I was already a fan of the series and loved the characters and tone.  Fear for the same reason.  We all assume that we are seeing a character on screen in the same fashion but what if my interpretation on the page turned out to be way off kilter?

After an initial meeting with Sally Wainwright and Di Taylor, the show’s creators, where we discussed the three central characters (Rachel, Janet and Gill) and agreed on the back stories I would cover and what my murder case would be, I began work.  The first line came instinctively and captured the flavour of the book but was it too rough?  Too blunt?  A confab with my agent Sara set me right.  But the fear for the rest of it remained and the only way to deal with this was to seek some reassurance before I’d completed the draft.  Once I’d written a few chapters I sent them to Sally and Di for comments.  They gave me a resounding thumbs up which was a massive relief and I carried on at full pelt.  Every so often I emailed Sally with queries about the characters: did either Rachel or Janet like football (no), is Rachel’s dad alive (yes) and how long has Janet been married (25 years); to make sure I wasn’t veering off track or writing something that would demolish continuity with the television series.

The fact that I really liked the show was a huge help in writing the characters, they were three dimensional for me already.  It wasn’t hard to imagine how they’d respond to the new traumas I dreamt up for them.  Or what they’d say.  Another advantage was that we share the same Manchester territory (one of the reasons that Transworld thought of me in the first place).  So the local references, the landscape and the atmosphere are familiar to me as are the rhythms of speech and the things people say to each other.  There was no need for research visits or hours spent online looking for locations or dialect words.  No time either!  Remaining true to the original also gave me licence to swear much more than I usually do in my work which was immensely enjoyable.  Thankfully I must have been doing something right because after receiving delivery of the prequel, Dead To Me, Transworld commissioned a further two Scott and Bailey books.  So I best get cracking…

This week I was delighted to attend the presentation of the prize for the Jo Powell Memorial Writing Competition at Edge Hill University.  Jo, a highly-respected creative writing tutor at the university died of a brain haemorrhage in May 2011 and the £1,000 prize was set up by family and friends to reward the best short crime story written by a student.  I was one of the judges and the award went to 24-year-old James Harker with Gary A Love Story.  James, originally from Weymouth, studied at Manchester Metropolitan University and is now working on the Young Writer Programme at the Everyman and Playhouse Theatre in Liverpool.  He’s definitely a writer to watch.  I’m a fan of competitions.  My first novel was published as a result of entering one, in my case a prize organised by Commonword community publishers for the best North West debut.  That was Sal Kilkenny’s debut and helped launch my writing career.  It goes without saying – but I’ll say it anyway – that writing is a really tough field to break into.  Finding an agent, getting a publishing deal, getting another one after that are all very difficult to achieve.  Entering competitions can be a  great way to discipline yourself so you finish work, meet deadlines and send stuff out.  They provide an opportunity to make a mark and get recognition for your work and if you’re successful they’re a real boost to your confidence and your profile.  There are lots of places to find out about writing competitions and a quick search online led me to these: http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/short-stories/prizes/  https://www.writers-online.co.uk/Writing-Magazine/ http://www.writersandartists.co.uk/competitions 

Good luck.

Recently I was invited into Radio Leeds to do a One on One programme with presenter Liz Green.  This involved an hour’s in depth interview, talking about my life and work and choosing a number of pieces of music that had special importance or significance for me at particular times.  A little like Desert Island Discs.  I could only pick 10 and that was so difficult but I winnowed it down and I’ve listed them below – without the associated memories.  What would your ten tunes be?

(On another very vaguely related note, I am sometimes asked if I write to music.  The answer is a resounding NEVER!  I would have to work hard to block out the sound if there was music playing, even if it was instrumental.  And it would interfere with me writing dialogue which I frequently speak aloud, playing all the parts myself.)

1. Getting to Know You  (The King and I: Deborah Kerr/Marni Nixon)

2. My Boy Lollipop – Millie

3. Twist and Shout – Beatles

4. Ride A White Swan – T Rex

5. Sitting on the Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding

6. No Woman No Cry – Bob Marley and the Wailers

7. White Man at Hammersmith Palais – The Clash

8. The Wedding – Abdullah Ibrahim

9. Warm and Tender Love – Percy Sledge

10. My Baby Just Cares For Me – Nina Simone

I think copyediting is really, rally important an one of the drawbacks of self-publishing (witch I have done) is if your not choosing to use a professional copy editor who can make all the right changes tot he manuscript.  Theirs nothing worse than seeing speech marks in the wrong plaice or having too characters called Mark, or getting the daze mixed up.  And a good copy editor will help you a void repetition to as well any contraindications.  There the best,    Sew if you are self-publishing try and fined someone who can help you with this.  (I didn’t bother here: because this is just a short peace.  Good look!?

Trio is a novel about adoption (and very different from my usual crime fiction titles).  I wanted to write it because of my own experience as an adoptee and to reflect other stories I’d come across from people in the adoption triangle.  Originally published in hardback by a small publisher it soon went out of print.  Feedback on the book was very positive and as it was close to my heart I wanted to keep it in print and available to people.  So I set myself up as a small press, got my partner Tim to design a cover and found a printer.  I paid for a very small print run because I couldn’t afford more and storage was a problem anyway.  For the next eight years I sold the book (out of boxes under my bed) via Amazon and to the wholesalers Gardners and Bertrams as well as at talks and events.  Sales were in very modest numbers and due to my naivety and total lack of business acumen every single sale I made lost me money – I’d paid a high per unit cost for the books, postage was more than I’d imagined (and kept increasing) and Amazon took a large percentage of each sale.  Then came ebooks.  I paid someone to help me convert Trio and list it on Amazon for Kindle.  I selected a low price (£1.53) but one where I’d make 70% royalties.  And I watched in amazement as Trio sold many, many times more copies than it ever had done as a paperback.  Last month the paperback version went out of print.  If money, time and space were no object I’d keep it in print as a physical book in order to reach people who don’t have ebook readers but for now I’m not re-issuing it.  And I’m still quite dumbfounded by the difference in the economics.

I heard an item on Radio 4 a while ago about enhanced eBooks.  Andrew Motion described how a soundtrack had been created for his book Silver, the sequel to Treasure Island.  From what I could gather it was background/ambient noise that was added – so if a scene was set in an inn, there’d be the sounds of people talking and tankards chinking or whatever, or a chapter in a storm would have fitting weather noises.  I had contradictory responses (often the way with me – I blame the Libran brain architecture).  On the one hand it was an amazing idea technically and artistically to add that aural texture, and on the other why would I want anyone ‘interfering’ with my reading by inserting some interpretation between the word and my imagination?  A book demands so much of us as readers, we actively construct our view of the characters and action, the setting  and atmosphere, filling in the spaces that a good writer gives us.  (That’s why an adaptation of a book we love into film or TV often frustrates – because it can never be how we imagined it).  However Andrew Motion argued studies show that enhanced eBooks actually improve the engagement of the reader and that they remember and retain even more of  what they’ve read than someone reading a ‘normal’ book does.  It’s probably not fair to say more until I’ve tried it for myself.  But it makes me wonder what’s next.  Smells?  Texture?  Taste?