Stuart Bone's Blog, page 4

I Didn't Catch Election Fever

Well I've been out and voted this morning. I'll be glad when the General Election is over. There's so much reference to it on social media and some people are getting really passionate about it and obviously hate certain parties. Personally I don't think someone on line telling other people who to vote for does any good. We all have our own minds and should decide what issues are important to us, read up what the parties offer (and discount about 90% of it which won't happen) and then vote accordingly.

Having someone say, "If you vote for <-----> you're a XXXX" isn't particularly helpful; although it would raise a few eyebrows written down the side of one of the campaign buses.

The whole of the election in England just seems to be about three people as far as I can make out. We have Jeremey Corbyn and Diane Abbot for Labour; who both remind me of school teachers; he teaching Geography and she trying to teach maths but all the kids mess about in her class and they confuse her; and Theresa May for the Conservatives; a woman whose naughtiest things she's ever done are to trespass through cornfields as a child, and to name her breasts 'Strong' & 'Stable.' (or have I got that a bit mixed up?)

Anyway, by this time tomorrow it will be over and we can all move on with whatever the result is.

I'm getting on well with my first draft of CRIME & NOURISHMENT. I'm about 20k words in and there's still so much that's got to happen. I don't think I'll have any trouble with length (ooh Vicar). It's so much easier to take bits out of a story than add them in. I was short on my first novel, DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION and had to add a couple of days to the holiday and create a few more characters. With hindsight I can't believe Colin or the wine-tasting excursion weren't in the first draft.

I'm enjoying writing the third novel even though I've given myself quite a challenge; trying to combine the mysteries of the crime story with the humour of my first two books.

'Maggie Reynolds left the police force eighteen months ago after she was knocked down in a hit and run accident. With the death of her mother, Maggie took over the running of the family café.

When the man found guilty of the last murder case she worked on is himself killed in prison, Maggie finds herself plunged back into the world of investigation. Was Robert Flowers the killer of his girlfriend or did the police put an innocent man behind bars? Maggie had her doubts at the time, but who else could have killed Samantha and is that person ready to kill again?

As an ex-copper, Maggie has contacts but not access to all of the case information. For that she'll have to start her own investigation which puts her own life in danger. Was her accident, eighteen months ago, really an accident after all?'

Hopefully that's whetted your appetite. The humour comes from other characters in Maggie's world; especially her best friend and work colleague; Sarah; who's currently suffering side effects from her medication and is feeling horny all of the time.

I received a lovely, five star review on Goodreads today for NOTHING VENTURED. That always perks up my day. Goodreads advises not to respond to reviews; which makes sense. If you respond to one you have to respond to all; even the bad; but it's difficult not to when someone has taken the trouble to write. I'd just like to say here that I appreciate every review/rating I receive. It always helps highlight the books, so thank you very much.

The Appeal of Doing Nothing

Another week starts. There's no such thing as a Bank Holiday Monday when you're self-employed. (Ok, I'm working today because I won't be tomorrow).

I left off Friday having just killed someone. I'm sure there's a lot of you who feel like doing that at the end of the working week. For me it was purely fictional. A character needed to die so (in a sinister voice) "I dun 'im in!"

Obviously that wasn't a humorous part of the novel. He wasn't killed by a custard pie or anything like that.

Today I continue on with the fallout from that death and how it moves the story on. (I know things are working well when I'm excited to see what happens next!)

I'm glad that I'm excited about the new novel. I've been in one of those, 'Why am I bothering' moods for the last couple of weeks. I'd had a five/six week period where I hadn't sold any books and a discounted price promotion on Nothing Ventured; advertised on Facebook and Twitter, resulted in a total sale of one copy!

I wasn't happy as I'd pretty much done everything that marketing articles advise a writer to do to get their books noticed. I had my website, a Facebook & Twitter presence; I wrote a blog and did some online paid advertising. It wasn't going well. I didn't know what to do next and then towards the end of last week it came to me. I understood what it was I should be doing...nothing.

That was it. Why hadn't I thought about it before? It was so simple. I realised I needed to take the slow path and allow my novels to be discovered gradually. It's only just over a year since my first novel was published and less than six months since my second one was. It's going to take time for people to notice them. It's happening, I just need to be patient.

So, apart from my blog I'm not doing any more advertising at present. I'm just going to concentrate on writing number three and leave the rest to word of mouth. I've had a lot of positive feedback from those who have read my novels and if those people rate/recommend on Amazon or just tell a friend about the novels then the news will spread.

That's going to take time. Just because my books are the most important thing to me it doesn't mean they're going to be to anyone else. Why should they be? For example I've had friends/family members say, "I haven't got around to getting your second novel yet" which is absolutely fine. When I read a novel by someone I don't necessarily want to read their next one straight away or even read another in that genre, no matter how much I enjoyed it. I like to read something different and then come back to it.

Ironically, as soon as I made this decision to take the slow path, I sold two copies of Driven to Distraction. Doing nothing has started reaping rewards already.

A Second Blog?

I read an article this week that said having a second blog could be a good way to increase book sales. The idea behind it is that all writers are writing about their books and career, so a second blog, on a completely different subject; could be a good way to get noticed by a new audience. Adding a link onto the second blog about the novels would then get this new audience noticing the author's work.

The theory is good but I don't think I have anything particularly interesting to say about anything else. If I had more going on in my real life would I be spending all my time writing fiction?

Sitting here trying to think of another topic to write about, I'm transported back to my primary school.
"Now class, I want you to write a whole page about 'Things I like doing.'"

Okay so perhaps 'drinking red wine' wouldn't have been on the list back then. It's not something I think I could write a whole article on anyway.
"Yes I like that one...and I like this one. Aroma? I'm getting grape. Taste? I'm getting grape."

There's also the question of how many people would find a subject interesting although, judging by some of the shite I see on social media, I don't think everyone ponders that before sharing.
"Yes that is a large amount of fries on your plate and I agree, the marbling of the fat in the steak does resemble Jesus; but please, just eat it before it gets cold."

Finding things to write about once a week regarding my own writing career isn't always easy. There's little I can reveal about novel number three, currently being written, as I want people to read it once it's finished; not know the whole plot beforehand. (Mind you, at the moment; I don't even know that).

I'm five chapters in, on the first draft and I think the story is coming along nicely. I feel I'm getting the building of suspense right and I'm enjoying adding in little clues here and there regarding the murder case. Not sure I've quite got the tone of the humour right yet and that joke about a woman's Giant Schnauzer might not make it into draft two.

So, a second blog? Probably not for me at present. I did once consider writing one from one of my character's viewpoint; but I think 'Shauna's Blog' (Driven to Distraction) could end up in a big pile of lawsuits.

Freedoms of a First Draft

Trying to be a bit less creative at the moment as I'm filling out my tax return for last year. Yes, I'm doing it very early but, although I've been writing full time for the last four years, those prior 20 odd years as an accountant still have an affect on me.

I'm a couple of chapters in to the first draft of 'Crime & Nourishment' now and the characters and plot are developing nicely. It's actually quite fun being the only person who knows the outcome, but like a gossiper who's desperate to let someone know the secret they're keeping; I'm able to drop in a few clues and hints here and there to pique people's interest.

A first draft is great once you've actually started it. Beforehand the entire novel stretches before you; a great big, daunting task; but once you've typed that first sentence then you're away. It doesn't have to be the best sentence you've ever written yet; that comes later. A first draft is just getting the entire story written, ensuring the plot and characters work and that the novel is a decent length. With this draft you can just keep writing and writing and writing and not look back until you've finished.

I think with each new book the first draft does become a little more detailed. In 'Driven to Distraction' it was about half the length of the final story and there wasn't much of it left in the published novel. With 'Nothing Ventured' the length was fine and the structure didn't change much by the end. Now with 'Crime & Nourishment' I've spent a lot more time planning and I'm probably a bit more conscious of detail at this early stage than I was in the previous two, but I'll still be following the same format of just writing and writing and writing until it's done.

It doesn't matter if I make mistakes or if I feel I want to change large chunks of the story; that's what a first draft is for and every new draft brings me closer to the final, polished novel that's ready for publication. My last first draft resulted in me abandoning the entire project. That can happen too but so what; all it's cost me is a little time but I still learned from the experience and some of the characters I created are stored away for use in the future.

I've seen a lot of comments on Social Media sites where people say they want to write but haven't. I think they're just daunted by the task but the answer is just to begin. Take a piece of paper or switch on your computer and write one sentence - now you've begun.

Discount deal

Hi all

The eBook of my second novel, Nothing Ventured is just 99p ($1.28) all this weekend on Amazon.co.uk & Amazon.com

Stuart

The Macabre Side of Writing

Another week passes and third novel, Crime & Nourishment, is coming along nicely.

I've spent most of the last seven days trying to make my clues to discovering who the murderer is work. Each idea raises more questions and every time I have to consider why an amateur investigation uncovers something a police investigation wouldn't. It might be a humorous novel but it still has to be accurate and believable.

One of the first questions I had to ask myself was why my main character, Maggie Reynolds, left the police force in the first place. It's no spoiler to mention that she was involved in a car accident but did I want to make that the entire reason for her leaving. Was she forced out by injury? How severe would it need to be? Are we talking the loss of a limb or would being blinded in one eye be sufficient? What about a debilitating illness?

It's not exactly pleasant, trying to maim someone, but then that's what writers do; play God with their creations and a crime novel, no matter how humorous, is going to explore the sinister side of life; more so than say, one set on a coach holiday.

Not that my coach holiday novel, Driven to Distraction was exactly bereft of sadness. As the characters' lives were revealed not all of them had had a jolly time of it. Even within the humour, characters suffered. Poor old Colin found himself in a number of sticky situations, quite literally in a couple of cases.

I particularly remember creating the character of Emma, the rather over-enthusiastic guide at the nature reserve. She had a tough time of it showing the coach party round; bashing her eye on her telescope, twisting her foot in a hole and getting stung rather badly. I actually started to feel really sorry for her, even though she was an entirely fictitious person.

J K Rowling said, when writing The Order of the Phoenix, that she cried after killing off a character and I can understand that. (We all know now that was Sirius Black...don't we? Haven't you read it? Oops, sorry).

For me, humour and tragedy are two sides of the same coin. A friend of mine texted me after reading second novel, Nothing Ventured and said that she'd laughed and cried at it. That's exactly what I wanted to happen. That tells me the characters are as believable and real to the reader as they are to me and although I sometimes have to hurt them, it all makes for a great read.

Oh, and by the way; you'll be glad to know Maggie Reynolds is still in possession of all four limbs and left the police force after becoming despondent with the job. Perhaps that's not macabre enough for some of you but don't worry; I'm killing off other characters.

It's all about the Comedy

Another week another change. No, not my underwear my next novel.

Although my private detective was coming along nicely I felt something was missing. Only yesterday I concluded it was the amount of humour.

For those that have read my previous blog posts you'll remember I recently had an agent take an interest in my second novel, Nothing Ventured; only to decide in the end that they didn't quite feel it commercial enough for them.

I've allowed that decision to eat away at me ever since and realised that the novel I was planning out was to try and please them rather than myself and that's only going to result in a sub-standard product. I write comedy and enjoy doing it. If you enjoy doing something then you do it well and continue to learn from it.

So I'm back on a humorous crime novel rather than a crime novel with a little humour in it. I'm actually combining aspects from the last two ideas I've been working on. The characters from 'Serial for Breakfast' will actually fit well into the crime/mystery idea I've worked on most recently; with just a few adjustments.

Maggie Reynolds has lost her psychic abilities now and instead will be an ex-policewoman (did she leave or was she pushed?) and her team at the hair salon will move across quite easily to being the staff at the café that she now runs. (Yes, I'm taking back my title from several blogs ago; the next novel will indeed be called 'Crime and Nourishment.')

The setting is moving back to fictional Tenhamshire and, with that and the characters all fully-formed I'm pretty much ready to start writing the first draft.

If I have to self-publish this one too then so be it. I think there's a good market out there for humorous fiction, it's just a case of getting the novels noticed...and read...and reviewed...and recommended...

Immersing myself in Crime

I've spent the last few weeks immersing myself in crime. Fiction that is, not real life. I haven't suddenly changed careers (although perhaps crime would pay a little better).

I'd already read practically every Agatha Christie novel but not a lot of other crime fiction, which is what I've been immersing myself in. I've learned I've been missing out. There are so many great books out there.

I've realised though that crime novels aren't so different from other genres. There are plots, characters, twists and so many ways to tell the story, whether it's from a detailed police procedural perspective or from a private detective's viewpoint or even an untrained person who's in the wrong place at the wrong time and has to turn detective as well.

It's given me confidence in my own private detective story that I'm currently planning out. I have a main character and his family and 'sidekick' who will be the key players and I have ideas for a couple of stories.

Although I'm trying to concentrate on the crime side of things, all I keep doing is thinking of funny lines/situations the characters will find themselves in so there will definitely be humour in the story as well. I just need to ensure I get the balance right.

At the moment my main character doesn't have a name so I keep referring to him as MC. That doesn't really help conjure up an image. All I see is a Master of Ceremonies in a red tailcoat, announcing people at a function.

I was at a 'Do' once where there was an MC. I was there with a group of friends and found myself at the front of the queue. The MC said he had to announce me so I gave him my name. He then asked who I was with.
"Oh, just some friends," I told him.
Then I realised he meant a partner.
"No, I'm single," I said, "Do you really have to announce that to the room?"

I wish now I'd given him one of those funny names to announce instead.
"I'm Joseph King, but everyone calls me Joe."
Or perhaps we could have heard him announce to the whole room in his great, booming voice,
"Ladies and Gentlemen; Ivor Biggen."

Anyway, back to the book; I've been considering the setting; wondering if I should use my fictional county of Tenhamshire from my first two novels or perhaps using a real place. I've decided on real. That way I can keep my purely humorous novels separate in Tenhamshire and my crime ones probably set around the East London and Essex area; places I know and can therefore describe well.

Oh well, back to it then; time to start thinking like a killer. Perhaps I shouldn't answer the front door to anyone this afternoon.

Changes

I've not written too many blogs this month but there is a reason for that. At the end of February I had a literary agent take an interest in my second novel, Nothing Ventured and I gave them time to read the whole novel to see if they wanted to take me on as a client. Obviously I couldn't really say anything about that so there was little to write about.

Sadly they contacted me last Friday to say they wouldn't be representing me; which was a big disappointment; especially as they've had a lot of success with one of their other clients. She wrote a series of novels about a boy wizard, I can't remember her name at the moment...

Anyway, they told me they weren't sure the tone and concept of the novel were commercial enough for what they were currently looking for.

It made me think about my genre of writing in general. I've mentioned before about the lack of agents willing to look at humorous fiction for adults. They either want funny children's books or non-fictional humour; something written by a celebrity who has a large enough following for the book to sell widely.

I think the number of celebrities who "write" books these days is making it harder for new voices to be heard. Obviously there are some who are very good writers but there are plenty who put their name to something that has been written for them by a ghost writer. But then again writing & publishing is a business like any other so why wouldn't an agent/publisher focus on a project that has a guaranteed success rate. I suppose I could try and become a celebrity myself either by having a few singing lessons or dropping my trousers in front of Theresa May as she delivers Article 50 and get myself on the ten o'clock news; but I don't think that's right for me.

I still believe humorous fiction can be as popular as other genres. How many comedy films appear in cinemas each year? How many sitcoms are there on the TV? Look at how stand-up comics fill arenas these days, rather than just performing at small comedy club venues. Comedy novels are getting published by established writers but it's still mostly crime/thriller/mystery submissions that agents are requesting on their websites.

I think the problem may be that people think humour subjective; which it is. We all laugh at different things; but then again; aren't we all subjective when it comes to books we read in general? Take crime as an example, not everyone reading Val McDermid will want to read Agatha Christie. There's a plethora of crime writers out there catering to everyone's tastes. Humour is just the same.

I don't want to sound like I'm whinging, I'm just stating a fact. I'm not deterred from continuing with my own writing career. After all, a successful literary agent did just think my writing good enough to take a closer look at. As an agent receives, on average, 150 submissions each week mine stood out among the many so I can only take that as a positive thing. I think my first two novels are good and, judging by the ratings and reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, so do a lot of others.

The recent experience has made me rethink my next novel though. The one I was writing was another humorous novel that did have a crime story in it (it was about a woman using her developing psychic abilities to help the police solve a murder. I can tell you that now as I'm not continuing with it) but it was definitely more a humorous crime story, rather than a crime story with an element of humour in it (if that makes sense).

For me personally, I've never wanted to be an 'indie' author; someone who goes it alone, but I've had to become that and have tried my best by self-publishing my first two novels and trying to market them as much as I can. I still feel the best way forward is to have an agent. For others that's not the right path but it is for me and that's why I'm going to make my next novel appeal to as many of them as possible. The new characters of the crime novel are already forming and there will still be humour as they each rub up against each other (metaphorically speaking. I'm not writing "that" sort of novel. That would mean a whole different research path!!)

So I now have a private detective character forming and a missing person mystery that takes him back to the case that got him sacked from the police force.

Mind you, the way I've casually abandoned two novel ideas in the last six months that could all change by next week!

Backstory

I'm on chapter three of the new novel (at the moment still called 'Serial for Breakfast' but really starting to hate that title).
"What?" I hear you cry, "Only chapter three?"
Yes, I'm afraid so. Although it's still technically the first draft, chapters 1 and 2 have had a bit of reworking done on them already.

Parts of the story have been taken out and new bits added. It's all part of the process. I'm happy with the characters I've got so far. I've mentioned before that I know a character is right when I hear their voice. That's why my first drafts always tend to have a little too much conversation in them; it's just me and them getting to know each other.

I've just reached the part where main character, Maggie and her friend, Sarah arrive at the police station for the first time. And there I've had to stop.

As they get out of the car the scene calls for a bit of description about the town. Now that could have been quite simple with a normal, everyday kind of town but silly bugger here has decided to set the entire novel in a spa town. Suddenly I have a whole backstory to sort before I can even mention what the high street looks like. There are so many questions I've had to ask myself

Is the place still an active spa town and if not; why?
When was it at its peak and how much of the old town is left? How has modern day development affected it? Is it still a tourist hub today?

I've spent the morning researching different spa towns and now my fictional Cunden Lingus has a history going back to Roman times! I've got monks owning the warm springs until King Henry VIII stole them. I've got a Georgian revival and Victorian decline. I've got an old pump house, now a museum; and a cholera outbreak.

99% of that information won't make it into the book but at least I now have a clear image of the place in my head.

Perhaps I'll set number four on a brand new housing estate.