Dan Smith's Blog, page 10

Groundhogs, Feral Children and Danworld

Oh, so that’s what a groundh . . . nope, still got no idea what it is.

Forgive me. It has been a long time since my last blogpost and I  . . . well, actually, it’s been mad. I feel like a pit pony coming out of the dark and seeing daylight for the first time in months. Or a groundhog checking to see if there’s more winter to come. Or. . . or some other kind of animal that’s been away for a long time. Except I haven’t been underground, I’ve been in Danworld. And what the hell is a groundhog, anyway?

Y’see, for reasons I won’t go in to (mainly because it’s too long and convoluted to be interesting), my publisher asked me to write a follow up to THE CHILD THIEF which could be published in 2013 instead of the book that was due (that’ll be published 2014 instead).

That, of course, is fantastic because it means that by 2014, there will be 5 Dan Smith novels on the shelf. (Actually, there’ll be more than that because there’s a children’s book coming too, but that’s for another blog post.) Only thing is, though, they wanted it by the end of September.

September.
That’s . . . five months.

So I have been living in Danworld since then. And it didn’t help that those five months included the

How my children look after I’ve finished writing a novel.

summer holiday, meaning that my children were at home being neglected and forced to run feral in the streets, but . . . well, it’s done. All done. And it really feels like an achievement.

So now I have emerged from Danworld and passed the manuscript over to my wife for that first opinion. In fact, she’s sitting on the sofa beside me now, reading it on the kindle, and I can’t help looking over every now and then to make sure she’s making the all the right expressions at all the right times.

She is.

And you know what? I think you’re going to like this one, too.

I think you’ll like it a lot.

 

That’s all.

 

p.s – no children were really allowed to run feral in the writing of this novel. They were given much love and care. Of course. And yes, I do know what a groundhog is . . . it’s the same thing as a whistle-pig, whatever the hell that is.

A Whole Week of AWESOME!

The past week has been full of great surprises. The first was when I returned home from holiday to find the fish tank look-ing-goooood. Yup, all fish present and correct. The water is crystal clear and not even a single casualty over the course of the week. Bet that wouldn’t have happened if it had been a puppy left at home for a week on its own. Or a kitten. Nope.

 

AWESOME fish!

 

But that’s not the best of it. Oh, no. Not at all. There’s also the feature in North East Lifestyle. Not only did they give The Child Thief a great review, but they also printed an interview and, on the contents page I’m right there with Johnny Rotten and Will Smith. If you’d told me, when I was a teenager, that I would be on the same contents page as Johnny Rotten, I . . . well . . . I  . . . I would have probably sworn. Or spat. Or something.

AWESOME review/feature!

 

 

But it gets better. It was my birthday a week ago. Yeah, yeah – older, wiser, greyer, more stooped, more weary ‘n’ all that, but that’s nothing to get too excited about. But my brother sent me an unexpected present which is something to get excited about. Man in a Van delivered a pristine white box containing . . . well, see for yourself.

 

AWESOME present from AWESOME Brother!

 

 

And, as if that isn’t enough to be getting on with, there’s the other news. I’ve had an offer from a great publisher for my children’s book which will be published next summer! (More news about this will follow.)

 

AWESOME offer!

 

 

So . . . most awesome week ever?

 

 

 

That’s all.

If It Doesn’t Work – Kill It

I’ve really had my head down these last few weeks. I’ve locked myself away in the garret, pulled on the old fingerless gloves to combat the cold and damp summer weather, and I’ve been writing till my fingers bleed. Well. OK. Maybe not bleed. My keyboard isn’t razor-lined. In fact, it’s really quite comfortable to use, so I haven’t even developed any calluses. Or aches.

But I have been writing furiously (and, yes, I’m aware I used an adverb and that the road to hell is paved with them).

If you look closely, you can see adverbs littered everywhere. Probably.

There was a dark moment last week when I thought it was all going wrong. I had my 110,000 word first draft in the bag and was feeling pretty smug about it all, then I started to read through it and  . . . no, no NO.

NO!

It wasn’t right. It just wasn’t good enough. The twists didn’t work and the characters were acting out of character, so I struggled over it for a couple of days, trying to mould it the way it was supposed to be. I added, took away, edited, reworded, changed. I tried it all, but something just didn’t feel right.

It didn’t work.

And I learned a good lesson. If it doesn’t work, kill it. I’m talking in the literary sense, of course. Y’know, if your son isn’t working at school, I’m not suggesting anything more drastic than a stern talking to. But when it comes to writing, if the words aren’t doing the right job; kill them. Delete them. Take them out.

So I bit the bullet (as the school nurse used to tell us to do before an injection) and hit the ‘del’ key.

I don’t recommend actually biting a bullet. They’re hard. And deadly.

30,000 words disappeared into the ether.

My manuscript was short, I no longer had a finished first draft but, you know what? It’s better. The anxiety of it not being right is gone. The nightmare of trying to make it fit is gone. And there are plenty more words where those ones came from. And, (and this is the biggest ‘and’) the book is taking a new and far more interesting direction. I’m loving the characters more and the story is twisting and turning like it’s been sprayed with WD40.

And now all is good with the world.

So, if you’re looking for advice, that’s what I have right now. Be brave. Take a deep breath. Highlight and delete. You’ll feel much better. William Faulkner said ‘kill your darlings’ and he was right. If it’s not working, use the delete key. Kill it.

But I’d add a caveat – keep a copy . . . just in case.

That’s all.

Manly Daily. Oh Yes.

Another review for The Child Thief has appeared online. This time it’s in an Austrailian magazine (to coincide with the book’s release for Oz and NZ) and it’s the very excellently titled ‘Manly Daily’.

It’s a good review, though the reviewer might have mistaken me for another, more famous Dan from the book world. See if you can spot the deliberate mistake . . .

 

 

Another Five Things You Thought You Knew About Authors

Another 5 things you thought you knew about Authors . . .

1: Writing a book is easy.

Of course it is. Basically, all authors lie for a living. They just make stuff up and write it down. And, even better than that, they’re brimming with ideas, so all they have to do is jot a few words on a piece of paper (or type them in to the computer if that’s their thing), then send it off to their publisher and wait for the cash to roll in.

Except that’s a load of balls. It’s not easy. It takes a long time and a lot of concentration to write a novel, and often the author thinks of almost nothing else. Ever. Which means everyone around them thinks they’re an absent minded fool. And even once the book is written, it has to go through a lengthy process of editing (and more editing), line-editing, copy-editing and proof-reading before it ever sees the light of day.  Okay, it’s not brain surgery, but it is harder than popping out to the corner shop for a pint of milk.

shouting at it doesn’t help. I’ve tried.

 

2: Published authors spend their day watching TV

Writing is a kind of part time job. Actually even ‘part time’ is a bit of an exaggeration. I mean, really, it’s just a case of mooching about for a bit in a silky dressing gown, waving your hands about, watching day time TV and occasionally making a few notes. And everyone knows that if writers aren’t watching TV, they’re getting drunk. Or taking mind-altering drugs. Well, Hunter S Thompson did it, right? It’s what authors do – after all, it’s just making stuff up, and people do that all the time.

Err, no. Books don’t write themselves. The only way those words get on that piece of paper, is if the writer knuckles down and gets on with it. They have to be disciplined in their craft and that can’t happen if they’re watching Jeremy Kyle or Loose Women. Or if they’re drunk. Which brings me nicely to the next point . . .

irrisistible to writers

3: Authors wait for inspiration.

Ah yes, the muse. Or Muses as it should be.

no, not them . . .

I’m talking mythological muses, of course, not the popular beat combo from Devon. There are nine of these ladies on hand to inspire literature, science and the arts. They are the source of true knowledge and come only to those who wait. People now think of the muse as an ethereal thing rather than nine foxy ladies, but the end result is the same. When they visit, they bring that glorious moment of epiphany when the heavens open and the light shines in and the moment strikes to write with perfection. All authors experience this. And to invite the muse in, authors must lounge about, drink and wait for her to come.

Which is bollocks, of course. If authors sat around waiting for the light to shine in, they’d be waiting about forever. No. Writing means . . . writing. It doesn’t mean sitting about waiting for inspiration. It means putting words down and then changing them and changing them and changing them until they’re right. You know the thing about genius being one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration? Well, that pretty much sums it up – without the genius part. And without the one percent part. Most books are probably 99.9% perspiration and 0.1% inspiration.

. . . THEM!

 

4: If an author’s editor likes it, it gets published.

This one is a personal favourite. I, and many other authors like me, have all probably suffered from this lapse in coherent thought. The idea that one person’s opinion might really matter. The notion that if an editor likes an author’s work, then the wheels are set in motion and when they have finished turning, a finished book pops out of the other end and finds its way onto a bookshelf in . . . well, it would have to be Waterstones these days.

But no! Back in the day, when publishers worked in smoky offices and shouted at each other like JJ Jameson in the Spiderman comics, that might have been the case, but now we live in the age of the committee. So if an editor likes a book, they have to get everyone else to like it so that when they sit around the table, a consensus can be reached. And the book must be judged not only on whether it’s any good but also on a lot of other ‘-abilitites’ including marketability and sellability and, well you get the picture. A book is no longer a book. It’s not art. It’s a product. Like cakes or shoes. Except not as tasty. And you can’t wear them.

where dreams are made

 

5: Selling film rights is the key to success

Ah, the zenith of an author’s career. Nirvana. The film. Because that’s where the money is. And when an author decides to have a film based on their book, they just give Hollywood a call and let them know. All authors have a direct line to Hollywood, much line Commissioner Gordon has a direct line to Batman in the cheesey ’60s show, and they have a quick chat with the film man to sort out a few details. And when the film man he say ‘yes’ Like the man from Del Monte does), it’s time choose astar, pick a director and sit back to watch the $$$ come rollin’ in.

Except (you guessed it, right?) It’s not like that at all. It’s about selling rights. You see, what happens is that whoever retains the rights (author or publisher) has to tout the book about and persuade someone to buy an ‘option’. When a studio (or Leonardo DiCaprio) options a book, they sign an agreement with the author/publisher that details exclusive rights regarding the novel. And that’s basically it. It doesn’t mean a film will appear in the next year. It doesn’t mean a film will ever appear. In fact it just means someone has the right to make a film. Nothing more. The ‘option’ usually has a time limit, maybe a few years, so if the film is never made, the rights become available again for someone else to buy and not make a film. Oh, and the payment involved is usually quite small. And . . . who am I kidding, wouldn’t it be amazing to ‘option’ your book to a Hollywood studio?

Of course it’s what authors want.

The bragging rights alone would be priceless.

 

hooray for Hollywood!

 

That’s all.

Related articles

5 Things You Think You Know About Authors (dansmithsbooks.wordpress.com)

Immensely Appealing

I had another ‘five things you thought you knew . . .’ post all lined up for today but I’ve been so busy rounding out the first draft of my new novel that . . . well, I just haven’t done it. I have no other excuse. The dog didn’t eat it. I wasn’t late for the bus and my alarm clock did go off. So, sorry about that; I’ll have to post it on another day soon. I was just too darned busy writing another book.

In the meantime, there’s a little bit of excitment with another fantastic review for The Child Thief i this time in BBC History Magazine. And they even included a lovely painting of a Ukrainian village in winter by Ukrainian artist Petro Levchenko.

Funny; when I was writing The Child Thief, I didn’t think of it as a historical novel – to me it’s more of a thriller with a historical back-drop but, call it what you will, I’m very excited about all the great reviews.

 

‘a terrific book with an orignal setting and a protagonist whose everyday heroism and resourcefulness are immensely appealing.’

 

 

 

 

5 Things You Think You Know About Authors

I haven’t written a blog post for a little while. I have been neglecting my on-line duties because I’ve been racing through a first draft for a new novel. It’s always a pretty intense time when I’m trying to get that first pass at a story onto the screen – even more so this time because there’s something of a deadline. Anyway, I finished that yesterday so I thought I take a moment out to write something a bit different. And here it is.

5 Things You Think You Know About Authors (but you’re wrong)
1: Published authors are rich.

Oh, if only this were true.

On announcing my first 2-book deal, someone asked me, ‘So when are you going to buy the Ferrari?’ And he was serious.

No, only a very small percentage of writers are rich. They’re often good writers like the Stephen Kings and JK Rowlings of this world – but they could probably print their shopping list and it would sell like hotcakes. The reason for this is not just that they’re good, but that everybody knows who they are; they’re a recognisable brand, so when a reader is looking for a holiday book, they go for something they recognise.

Oh, and there’s the ones with big boobs. And those who found celebrity in some other way. Like being on the telly. They seem to be able to sell books, too, though it’s not always obvious why.

many authors probably couldn’t even afford this

2: Authors have an endless supply of their own books

‘So when do I get a copy of your book to read?’ someone once asked me, as if I have a room full of my own books, stacked high, just waiting for me to give them away.

But no . .  .  I have no such room and no such stacks of books. You see, authors usually receive a small number of copies when their novel is published, and there is an option to purchase more copies at a discounted rate. This discounted rate can actually turn out to be more expensive than simply ordering from Amazon so . . . well, that just tells you how powerful they are.

Just waiting to be given away. Not.

3: Publishers market authors’ books

Of course they do. With the publication of every book there is a nationwide publicity campaign with TV adverts, posters, radio slots and a tour. In fact my editor feeds me grapes and ambrosia while I’m talking to my adoring readers and . . . No? You don’t believe me? Well, OK. It’s all lies.

In fact, publishers’ marketing budgets are not as large as we would like them to be, so they tend to spend them on their most important authors. These are the authors who you already know; the ones we talked about in Point 1.

‘But they are already household names,’ I hear you cry. ‘Why do they need so much marketing?’

That’s an easy one. You see, if the publisher doesn’t treat them just-so, they’ll go to a different publisher, and you don’t want to lose the guys who are bringing in the money, right?

My life is nothing like this.

 

4: Authors wait for the muse to take them

I like this idea – the notion that we sit around waiting for inspiration. Maybe we could use the time to smoke untipped French cigarettes and drink absinthe and hang about in cafes. Or maybe watch Loose Women and Jeremy Kyle.

But it doesn’t work like that. If we did that, we wouldn’t produce much work and, of course, no work means no income. No, most authors I know just get on with it. If we’re lucky, inspiration might come in a flash, but usually it’s a matter of write, write, write, and hope that when you read it back it all makes sense and doesn’t need too much editing. Complicated plots don’t come to us in dreams – we have to work them out, stressing over every detail. It’s a frustrating pursuit and there’s no one looking over your shoulder telling you if it’s going to work or not. That’s why we’re all self-absorbed worriers who constantly doubt what we’re doing.

 

 

5: Authors just want you to read their books – even if you haven’t paid for it.

This doesn’t need an answer. Writing is our job. It’s how we pay the bills.

 

That’s all.

Highest Quality

Just a quickie . . .

The Irish Independent reviewed The Child Thief on 2nd June and called it

‘a pursuit thriller of the highest quality’

Well, you can’t ask for better than that, can you?

Also . . . both major booksellers in New Zealand (Whitcoulls and Paperplus) have chosen The Child Thief for special recommendation on their websites. And . . .Hachette New Zealand has included it on their Publisher’s Promise promotion which means readers who don’t like the book can get their money back.

That’s all.

Advice for Writers

The internet is full to the brim with advice for writers. Try Googling ‘advice for writers’ and you’ll get something in the region of 120 million hits. Whoa. That’s a lot of advice. In fact, you’d think that with all that advice floating around we’d all be best-selling novelists by now. At least, I know I would . . . but short of squeezing JK into a jar and selling essence of Rowling, I’m not convinced there is a magic formula.

That’s not to say all advice is bad, of course. I have Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing just here beside me on the desk – the definitive ‘10 rules’ advice – and I have a copy of Stephen King’s excellent book ‘On Writing’. So, yeah, some advice is worth listening to but – and it’s a big but – taking their advice won’t turn you into a Leonard or a King.

So when I am asked the ‘what advice can you give me?’ question, I always find it hard to answer because I feel as if I should be letting people in on THE BIG SECRET.

Only, there isn’t one.

It’s down to a lot of hard work, being confident, luck, and having a thick skin. Which is ironic because we arty-farties usually have thin skins and all kinds of self-doubt.

Ah, the tortured soul.

But that’s for people who are already writing. What about those who are thinking about it? ‘What about the young people’, I hear you cry.

Well, that’s why I’m writing this post. Y’see, at my book launch I was asked to give some advice to a budding young writer and the only thing I could think of was the old ‘read a lot and write a lot’ stand-by, but, you know what? It’s the best advice for someone who’s starting out. All the other stuff just helps make your writing better, but reading and writing is what gets you started. 99% of the authors you’ll ever ask will tell you that they love reading and that their inspiration comes from their favourite story-tellers. That’s what made them write.

Writing because you love it and you have to do it is what matters – not writing because you want to be ‘a writer’.

Oh, and when you write, don’t be boring. Never do that.

That’s all.

Launch Day!

Heading through town towards Waterstones last night, seeing the queues building up in Eldon Square, I was beginning to think the book shop would struggle with the additional footfall caused by the launch of The Child Thief . . . only to discover that Fenwick’s was having a 20% off sale.

So, it turns out, I’m not Lee Child yet.

Yet.

Unfortunately the rush to buy handbags and other such goodies seemed to cause all kinds of problems with parking, so I’m sorry if people missed my reading but thanks to you all for making the effort to come and celebrate with Carolyn and me.

New Writing North and Waterstones organised a fantastic event and now The Child Thief is well and truly launched. And it was great to see so many people there – I only wish I could have spent more time with you all.

 

 

That’s all.