Pauline Rowson's Blog, page 82
July 19, 2010
Blood on the Sand, the fifth in the Inspector Andy Horton marine mystery crime series is to be published in trade paperback in September by Severn House.
First published in hardcover in the UK in February 2010 and the USA in May 2010, I am pleased that Blood on the Sand is to be published in paperback in September.
In the USA, Booklist said of Blood on the Sand, 'This is another solid entry in a consistently well written series. Like Ed McBain, Rowson works many subtle variations on the procedural formula (including very interesting relationships between Andy and a couple of his superiors). A definite winner in the crowded field of British procedurals.'
In the UK, Eurocrime said, 'The very tight plotting was very impressive and make me want to look out for further books by this author. A very enjoyable read.'
This is the fifth in the series and the sixth, Footsteps on the Shore, will be published early in 2011. I am now writing the seventh in the Andy Horton series.
So here are the Andy Horton marine mystery crime novels (police procedurals) in order:
Tide of Death
Deadly Waters
The Suffocating Sea
Dead Man's Wharf
Blood on the Sand
Footsteps on the Shore (2011)
In the USA, Booklist said of Blood on the Sand, 'This is another solid entry in a consistently well written series. Like Ed McBain, Rowson works many subtle variations on the procedural formula (including very interesting relationships between Andy and a couple of his superiors). A definite winner in the crowded field of British procedurals.'
In the UK, Eurocrime said, 'The very tight plotting was very impressive and make me want to look out for further books by this author. A very enjoyable read.'
This is the fifth in the series and the sixth, Footsteps on the Shore, will be published early in 2011. I am now writing the seventh in the Andy Horton series.
So here are the Andy Horton marine mystery crime novels (police procedurals) in order:
Tide of Death
Deadly Waters
The Suffocating Sea
Dead Man's Wharf
Blood on the Sand
Footsteps on the Shore (2011)
July 12, 2010
Choosing names for characters in novels - Pauline Rowson explains how she approaches this in her crime novels
One thing about writing a series (my Inspector Andy Horton crime novels) is that some of the character names are already set, i.e. Inspector Horton, Sergeant Cantelli, Superintendent Uckfield. Then there is DI Dennings, DCI Lorraine Bliss and others, so no need to think up new names for them. But every novel has a new crime and a new set of characters and coming up with names for them can often be quite tricky as can be remembering which names I've already used as well as the minor characters in my police procedurals, their rank and department.
When seeking inspiration for first names I turn to my little book of baby's names or more often look up web sites of baby's names. I also keep an ear out for any unusual or interesting names when meeting people and will jot these down. Working on the latest Inspector Andy Horton marine mystery (Footsteps on the Shore) I was stuck for a name for one particular character. He had several before I trawled through the A-Z and hit on Ashley. Yes, he was definitely an Ashley.
The other danger is over using a name. For some reason I seem to have a penchant for the name Eric, and when I did a search through previous novels I discovered that I’d used it before for different characters, albeit minor ones. So no more Erics.
As to surnames, I let my finger do the choosing and tend to pick these out of an atlas or street map. Then I see if it fits with the first name and the character. And the more novels I write the more I am in danger of repeating names, (it's easy to forget what you have already used) so I’m building a database in order to double check this. And a database of police officers used in my novels their rank, name, brief description and their department.
Readers also tell me that some novelists have too many characters surnames all beginning with the same letter and they find this very confusing. Now I scrutinise my work to check that not everyone has a surname beginning with the letter ‘C’. Not sure why I gravitate towards ‘C’ but I do. And my sister couldn’t get through Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code because she couldn’t pronounce the names, and not being able to pronounce them meant she couldn’t identify and believe in the characters. You might think that strange, but having raised the point at several talks, I’ve found many other readers echoing this sentiment. So it’s careful with the foreign names for me.
And what about the name of my main character Inspector Andy Horton, where did that come from? I've no idea. It just sprang to mind. It was only recently however that I was contacted by his namesake in the Hampshire Police Force. A polite e mail asked me whether he had inspired the name and/or the character. I replied saying that if he was indeed tall, blonde, fit and handsome then maybe? He replied saying he was tall, fit, dark and his wife thought him handsome. I was somewhat relieved to find the real Inspector Horton had a sense of humour, had recently been promoted and spelt his name Houghton.
Pauline Rowson web site http://www.rowmark.co.uk
When seeking inspiration for first names I turn to my little book of baby's names or more often look up web sites of baby's names. I also keep an ear out for any unusual or interesting names when meeting people and will jot these down. Working on the latest Inspector Andy Horton marine mystery (Footsteps on the Shore) I was stuck for a name for one particular character. He had several before I trawled through the A-Z and hit on Ashley. Yes, he was definitely an Ashley.
The other danger is over using a name. For some reason I seem to have a penchant for the name Eric, and when I did a search through previous novels I discovered that I’d used it before for different characters, albeit minor ones. So no more Erics.
As to surnames, I let my finger do the choosing and tend to pick these out of an atlas or street map. Then I see if it fits with the first name and the character. And the more novels I write the more I am in danger of repeating names, (it's easy to forget what you have already used) so I’m building a database in order to double check this. And a database of police officers used in my novels their rank, name, brief description and their department.
Readers also tell me that some novelists have too many characters surnames all beginning with the same letter and they find this very confusing. Now I scrutinise my work to check that not everyone has a surname beginning with the letter ‘C’. Not sure why I gravitate towards ‘C’ but I do. And my sister couldn’t get through Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code because she couldn’t pronounce the names, and not being able to pronounce them meant she couldn’t identify and believe in the characters. You might think that strange, but having raised the point at several talks, I’ve found many other readers echoing this sentiment. So it’s careful with the foreign names for me.
And what about the name of my main character Inspector Andy Horton, where did that come from? I've no idea. It just sprang to mind. It was only recently however that I was contacted by his namesake in the Hampshire Police Force. A polite e mail asked me whether he had inspired the name and/or the character. I replied saying that if he was indeed tall, blonde, fit and handsome then maybe? He replied saying he was tall, fit, dark and his wife thought him handsome. I was somewhat relieved to find the real Inspector Horton had a sense of humour, had recently been promoted and spelt his name Houghton.
Pauline Rowson web site http://www.rowmark.co.uk
July 8, 2010
Pauline Rowson reads from the fifth Inspector Horton marine mystery crime novel, Blood on the Sand
I've posted a new video here, which is also on my You Tube channel and my official web site. It's an extract from my radio interview with Rob Richardson of Write-Invite, on Express FM, in which I read from my latest Inspector Andy Horton marine mystery crime novel, Blood on the Sand. The fifth in the Andy Horton series.
It's taken from the beginning of the novel, what they call a police procedural in the US, and I guess it is as Inspector Horton has a new crime to solve in the Solent area of England, this time mainly on the Isle of Wight. Blood on the Sand is currently available in hard cover on sale and in libraries. It will be published in paperback at the end of September.
Here's the blurb on Blood on the Sand.
Inspector Andy Horton’s holiday peace is shattered when stepping out across an abandoned golf course on the Isle of Wight on a cold, grey January, he finds himself facing a distraught young woman with a gun in her hand leaning over a corpse in one of the discarded bunkers. When it’s revealed that the dead man was working on a top-level environmental project on behalf of the European Commission, Horton is urged by Superintendent Uckfield to go undercover. His mission is to trap a clever killer, but he soon finds his own life in danger... Then another death changes everything. With no clear suspects, and a confusion of possible motives, a frustrating, complex case is complicated still further by Horton’s growing feelings and concern for the woman. As he goes in search of the truth, aided by Sergeant Cantelli, Horton uncovers a web of intrigue that ripples down the years, and which someone is determined should never be revealed.
I hope you enjoy listening to it.Blood on the Sand
It's taken from the beginning of the novel, what they call a police procedural in the US, and I guess it is as Inspector Horton has a new crime to solve in the Solent area of England, this time mainly on the Isle of Wight. Blood on the Sand is currently available in hard cover on sale and in libraries. It will be published in paperback at the end of September.
Here's the blurb on Blood on the Sand.
Inspector Andy Horton’s holiday peace is shattered when stepping out across an abandoned golf course on the Isle of Wight on a cold, grey January, he finds himself facing a distraught young woman with a gun in her hand leaning over a corpse in one of the discarded bunkers. When it’s revealed that the dead man was working on a top-level environmental project on behalf of the European Commission, Horton is urged by Superintendent Uckfield to go undercover. His mission is to trap a clever killer, but he soon finds his own life in danger... Then another death changes everything. With no clear suspects, and a confusion of possible motives, a frustrating, complex case is complicated still further by Horton’s growing feelings and concern for the woman. As he goes in search of the truth, aided by Sergeant Cantelli, Horton uncovers a web of intrigue that ripples down the years, and which someone is determined should never be revealed.
I hope you enjoy listening to it.Blood on the Sand
July 2, 2010
Writing first drafts of novels - exciting, tense and frustrating
Authors differ on their approach to writing first drafts, some love it, some hate it and many are somewhere in between. Me? Well, I find writing first drafts exciting, tense and very often frustrating. Exciting because it is fresh unchartered waters and although I have a basic plot outline and character sketches I'm still not sure where the tide will take me and which shore my novel will wash up on. Tense because I am in a hurry to write it as fast as I can while my head is full of ideas. And frustrating because I can't write quickly enough.
I try to resist editing too much as I write the first draft because editing slows down the creative process and it is very easy to get hooked on editing and therefore postpone finishing the novel. However, because I research as I go along and the characters and plot grow, some editing is inevitable. I resist the temptation though to revise every paragraph, sentence and word, that can come later.
The aim is to write the first draft as quickly as possible. So a good rule, which I therefore try to follow (although not always successfully) is to begin each day from the last sentence I wrote the preceding day. So far I am up to chapter four of the new Inspector Andy Horton marine mystery crime novel, another police procedural, and just over 10,000 words. There's a long way to go yet, but at this stage I am pleased with the how it is progressing.
I try to resist editing too much as I write the first draft because editing slows down the creative process and it is very easy to get hooked on editing and therefore postpone finishing the novel. However, because I research as I go along and the characters and plot grow, some editing is inevitable. I resist the temptation though to revise every paragraph, sentence and word, that can come later.
The aim is to write the first draft as quickly as possible. So a good rule, which I therefore try to follow (although not always successfully) is to begin each day from the last sentence I wrote the preceding day. So far I am up to chapter four of the new Inspector Andy Horton marine mystery crime novel, another police procedural, and just over 10,000 words. There's a long way to go yet, but at this stage I am pleased with the how it is progressing.
June 28, 2010
Radio Interviews and the marine mystery police procedural crime novels
I had to re-record my interview with Rob Richardson of Express FM last week because a technical hitch unfortunately meant the original interview could not be transmitted. I didn't mind though. It's always good fun talking to Rob Richardson who also runs a very lively writing group and web site called Write-Invite which has some very exciting and rather unusual short story writing competitions.
My interview will be broadcast on Tuesday 6 July between 7pm and 8pm, on Express FM You can listen to it, if you wish, on their web site. I'm also due to be interviewed that morning on BBC Radio Solent, the Julian Clegg Breakfast Show, at 6.45 am. So from one end of the day to the other!
Meanwhile two of my crime novels have been chosen as Hot Holiday Reads on The Book Depository's web site. In Cold Daylight, a stand alone thriller and the third Inspector Horton marine mystery crime novel, The Suffocating Sea, are being featured. The prices are good and The Book Depository offer FREE worldwide delivery. There is more information on my web site.
The new marine mystery police procedural novel is coming along quite nicely. I've written the first two chapters but there's still a lot of research to do yet before it all comes together.
My interview will be broadcast on Tuesday 6 July between 7pm and 8pm, on Express FM You can listen to it, if you wish, on their web site. I'm also due to be interviewed that morning on BBC Radio Solent, the Julian Clegg Breakfast Show, at 6.45 am. So from one end of the day to the other!
Meanwhile two of my crime novels have been chosen as Hot Holiday Reads on The Book Depository's web site. In Cold Daylight, a stand alone thriller and the third Inspector Horton marine mystery crime novel, The Suffocating Sea, are being featured. The prices are good and The Book Depository offer FREE worldwide delivery. There is more information on my web site.
The new marine mystery police procedural novel is coming along quite nicely. I've written the first two chapters but there's still a lot of research to do yet before it all comes together.
June 21, 2010
Most writers identify with Iris Murdoch's struggle to "write something good"
A new archive of letters by Iris Murdoch has revealed her struggles with her early, unpublished novels. This comes as no surprise because every writer struggles to begin with and some are plagued with insecurities for most of their writing life wondering if each novel is good enough.
The correspondence between Iris Murdoch and French novelist Raymond Queneau spans 29 years and reveals a woman riddled with self-doubt who was at times filled with "hatred and contempt" for her prose and wondered if she would "ever write something good".She was thought to have attempted between four and six novels before her first book, Under the Net, was published in 1954.
Most writers experience false starts and write for years without publication, learning their craft and finding their style. I was writing fiction for many years and had written five novels before I was published in fiction, although my first unpublished novels were regional sagas before I turned to crime fiction writing and found my style and my niche.
My first attempt at a suspense novel got me a literary agent but no publisher, and my second effort created Inspector Andy Horton and won a prize in a writing competition. Three years later Inspector Andy Horton appeared in the first of my marine mystery crime series, Tide of Death first published in 2006. Since then I have had five published in the Inspector Horton series and two crime thriller novels published, In For The Kill and In Cold Daylight. My crime novels have been hailed as 'exemplary' police procedurals in the States and my writing likened to that of Ed McBain. But I don't think the insecurities ever go away.
Despite good reviews every writer wonders about the worthiness of their work, and of course, along with increasing sales of your novels come the bad reviews. But all that goes with the territory. You write not for the critics but for your readers and most of all for the sheer joy of writing - at least I do.
I can also identify with Iris Murdoch when she says: "While I am writing it, it's always surrounded by such an aura of creative aspiration and joy, clairvoyance and what not, it seems better than it is. Then afterwards the light is withdrawn and it seems quite dead and worthless. Just now I'm still in the clairvoyant stage and knowing the secrets of the seas."
I am sure that most writers will understand exactly what she means.
The correspondence between Iris Murdoch and French novelist Raymond Queneau spans 29 years and reveals a woman riddled with self-doubt who was at times filled with "hatred and contempt" for her prose and wondered if she would "ever write something good".She was thought to have attempted between four and six novels before her first book, Under the Net, was published in 1954.
Most writers experience false starts and write for years without publication, learning their craft and finding their style. I was writing fiction for many years and had written five novels before I was published in fiction, although my first unpublished novels were regional sagas before I turned to crime fiction writing and found my style and my niche.
My first attempt at a suspense novel got me a literary agent but no publisher, and my second effort created Inspector Andy Horton and won a prize in a writing competition. Three years later Inspector Andy Horton appeared in the first of my marine mystery crime series, Tide of Death first published in 2006. Since then I have had five published in the Inspector Horton series and two crime thriller novels published, In For The Kill and In Cold Daylight. My crime novels have been hailed as 'exemplary' police procedurals in the States and my writing likened to that of Ed McBain. But I don't think the insecurities ever go away.
Despite good reviews every writer wonders about the worthiness of their work, and of course, along with increasing sales of your novels come the bad reviews. But all that goes with the territory. You write not for the critics but for your readers and most of all for the sheer joy of writing - at least I do.
I can also identify with Iris Murdoch when she says: "While I am writing it, it's always surrounded by such an aura of creative aspiration and joy, clairvoyance and what not, it seems better than it is. Then afterwards the light is withdrawn and it seems quite dead and worthless. Just now I'm still in the clairvoyant stage and knowing the secrets of the seas."
I am sure that most writers will understand exactly what she means.
June 18, 2010
Translation rights have been sold to China for two of my crime novels
Translation rights have been sold to China for two of my crime novels, Tide of Death, the first in the Inspector Andy Horton marine mystery series, and In Cold Daylight, a crime thriller novel about the cover up over the mysterious deaths of firefighters killed in the line of duty. They are to be published in China later this year by Guizhou People’s Publishing House of Guizhou in the People’s Republic of China and I'm looking forward to receiving my author copies.
The deal was done through my Agents in China, Chengdu Rightol Media & Advertisement Co Ltd.
The deal was done through my Agents in China, Chengdu Rightol Media & Advertisement Co Ltd.
June 14, 2010
It's Independent Booksellers Week and National Crime Fiction Week in the UK
Does that mean you should dash out and buy a crime novel from an independent bookshop? Why not if you enjoy reading a good crime novel. And if you don't read crime fiction then you could still pop into your nearest independent bookshop and buy a book - any book will do, you might help to save this rare breed from extinction (independent booksellers that is, not crime writers). And that is what these dedicated days and weeks are for really - a marketing ploy to help stimulate business and raise awareness.
And it seems there are a growing number of them: World Smile Day (I'm all for that, but why need a special day - smiling is great for relieving stress, we should all try it any time). Then there's Farmhouse Breakfast Week, (I'm not kidding), National Chip Day (that should go down well in the UK) and Love Your Tax Officer Day. I made that last one up. I'm all in favour of these special days and weeks, after all it gives me something to write about. But there is a good reason behind many of them and that is to help raise money for good causes. OK, so crime fiction writers are not exactly a good cause or an endangered species but then I'm not sure chips are either.
Happy Independent Booksellers Week and National Crime Fiction Week.
Mystery|4156289]
And it seems there are a growing number of them: World Smile Day (I'm all for that, but why need a special day - smiling is great for relieving stress, we should all try it any time). Then there's Farmhouse Breakfast Week, (I'm not kidding), National Chip Day (that should go down well in the UK) and Love Your Tax Officer Day. I made that last one up. I'm all in favour of these special days and weeks, after all it gives me something to write about. But there is a good reason behind many of them and that is to help raise money for good causes. OK, so crime fiction writers are not exactly a good cause or an endangered species but then I'm not sure chips are either.
Happy Independent Booksellers Week and National Crime Fiction Week.
Mystery|4156289]
June 11, 2010
Plotting begins in earnest for the next Inspector Horton Marine Mystery Crime Novel
I've begun the plotting for the next Inspector Andy Horton marine mystery crime novel which means there are bits of paper scattered all over my office/study. I usually work out plot and characters in pencil using spider grams and plot lines and I've got the basics of the next Inspector Andy Horton marine mystery crime novel number seven in the series, mapped out.
The idea for this novel has come from several sources but a newspaper article forms a major part of it, which is linked with the location of course, which in my case is the Solent area on the south coast of England where my novels are set. I won't say what that article is because, like most writers, I am rather superstitious - the more you talk about a novel in progress the more likely it is to become dead in the water.
There's a long way to go yet before I can start creating it on the computer though. I need to start working on the characters now and, as they begin to take shape, so too will their actions and motivations, which in turn will drive the plot further.
Then there are the sub plots. Will they stand alone or will they form part of the main plot? And the back story: will Andy discover more about his missing mother? What's happening in Barney Cantelli's life and with Superintendent Uckfield? Will DI Dennings still be lumbering about on the major crime team? It's all a bit messy to begin with, but exciting as the new story unfolds.
In for the Kill
The idea for this novel has come from several sources but a newspaper article forms a major part of it, which is linked with the location of course, which in my case is the Solent area on the south coast of England where my novels are set. I won't say what that article is because, like most writers, I am rather superstitious - the more you talk about a novel in progress the more likely it is to become dead in the water.
There's a long way to go yet before I can start creating it on the computer though. I need to start working on the characters now and, as they begin to take shape, so too will their actions and motivations, which in turn will drive the plot further.
Then there are the sub plots. Will they stand alone or will they form part of the main plot? And the back story: will Andy discover more about his missing mother? What's happening in Barney Cantelli's life and with Superintendent Uckfield? Will DI Dennings still be lumbering about on the major crime team? It's all a bit messy to begin with, but exciting as the new story unfolds.
In for the Kill
June 7, 2010
Talks, public appearances and radio interview - Pauline Rowson talking to Rob Richardson at Express FM
It was the 25th birthday party of the Southsea Afternoon branch of the Women's Institute last Wednesday and I was honoured to be their guest speaker. There was a great turn out at what is clearly a thriving branch of the WI. Well done ladies, thank you for asking me to talk to you about my crime novels and my marine mystery police procedurals featuring my hunky DI, Inspector Andy Horton.
My next public appearance is at the Oxfam Books and Music Shop in Fareham, Hampshire where I will officially kick-start the annual Oxfam BookFest on 3 July. I will be there between 10.30 a.m. and 11.30.a.m.
But before that, on 8 June 2010 at 7pm, I am giving a radio interview with Rob Richardson of Express FM. It is broadcast on 93.7 or you can listen live via the Express FM web site. I'm talking to Rob about my crime novels and how I write, although the interview was recorded last week and I can't recall exactly what I said now! Perhaps I'd better listen to it!
My next public appearance is at the Oxfam Books and Music Shop in Fareham, Hampshire where I will officially kick-start the annual Oxfam BookFest on 3 July. I will be there between 10.30 a.m. and 11.30.a.m.
But before that, on 8 June 2010 at 7pm, I am giving a radio interview with Rob Richardson of Express FM. It is broadcast on 93.7 or you can listen live via the Express FM web site. I'm talking to Rob about my crime novels and how I write, although the interview was recorded last week and I can't recall exactly what I said now! Perhaps I'd better listen to it!
