Peter Carroll's Blog: Thoughts On Writing - Posts Tagged "scotland"

I started writing – in any kind of formal sense – about six years ago. I wrote a novel, which, lo and behold, somebody said they wanted to publish. That was an amazing feeling and all the build up to the launch of my first novel was exciting and new and great. Then I wrote another one, and then another, and again, until now I have six.

My journey toward becoming a writer has been via a steep and slippery learning curve. One of the things I’ve noticed along the way, is that most people who write tend to proclaim how much they love it, how it consumes them, how they would spend every waking moment doing it if they could. The thing is, I’ve struggled with writing for the past six months and it made me question whether I was a proper writer or not.



I finished my last novel – Stark Realities – in the spring of 2015 and it was published that summer. It was the third instalment of a police procedural series. I should point out that I don’t write for a living. Just as well, really, as I’d made very little money from my efforts up to that point. However, all the evidence, advice and received wisdom was that series were the answer to sales, and the more you added to them, the better. I was really hopeful this third instalment might help springboard sales from the modest to low levels I’d managed so far, up to something more akin to decent or respectable.

When the book came out, my motivation levels to market the hell out of it were sky high. I did all the things I was supposed to. I wrote blogs on my website and as a guest of others; I got local press coverage; I got a couple of excellent reviews from relevant websites; I posted on every Social Media outlet I could; I started an e-newsletter, complete with an exclusive, free, short story to help improve take-up; I did a Goodreads giveaway for the paperback; I revamped all my covers to give them a common branding; I had hundreds of existing four and five star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and every review that appeared for Realities was a four or five star; I was already writing the follow-up.



Sales were … underwhelming.

It was as if someone had stuck a pin in me. What I found most demoralising of all was the aftermath of Amazon promotions. On a few occasions my books were chosen to be included in some promotion or other. Usually, sales surged and the books climbed the rankings. Within days, a few new, positive reviews would appear. I would get excited, thinking this was the breakthrough I’d been waiting for. And then, when the price reverted to normal, and Amazon’s marketing machine moved on to pastures new, sales slumped and the books tumbled back down the rankings.

All of the time I’d been spending marketing the books seemed like a massive waste of time. Nothing I was doing seemed to sustain sales at levels where I would actually make some money from them. In the Spring of 2016 I stopped writing the follow-up to Stark Realities. Ironically, the stark reality was, I couldn’t see the point.

I’m under no illusions about becoming a millionaire, by the way. I don’t even mind if I can’t make enough to call it my proper job. I just wanted it to justify the time I put into it. I wanted to see my efforts rewarded. I’ve got a busy life away from writing: a time-consuming job as an ecologist and a daughter who competes for Team GB at ice-skating. All through the summer, when I was tired or busy, I couldn’t face writing. I stopped posting tweets and Facebook posts. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to blog about. I had no motivation for it at all.

This is when I started to doubt my writing credentials. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that I can write well – enough strangers have said so through their reviews to convince me of that. What I really mean is, that I doubted whether I had the mind-set of a writer. I didn’t seem to love it enough and I didn’t find myself bereft if I went days without adding anything to the new novel. I just didn’t feel like I could call myself a writer. I’m sure there are plenty of other writers who’ve been through something similar; it just didn’t seem like it when I went on Twitter or Facebook.

Fast-forward to September 2016 and, in the past month, I’ve added almost 20,000 words to the next Stark novel. It’s been a hard year but I’m glad I’ve battled through that summer hiatus and the lack of motivation. I’m hoping the next novel might actually benefit as a result. In the end, I decided that I’ve come too far with this and put too much time and effort in to just chuck it.

I am a writer – even if I’m not as evangelical as some – and I will indeed write on, hoping for that breakthrough moment.

The third DI Adam Stark novel was published in July 2015 and, almost as soon as I’d finished it, I was confident I had the plot and theme of the follow-up, Stark Reminders, pretty clear in my mind. I started writing it in about September 2015 and, at first, it all went fairly well. I wasn’t writing prolifically, but it was steady enough by my standards. Then, in summer 2016, I hit a bit of a brick wall.

I’d had bouts of writer’s block before but I’d usually overcome them fairly easily. This one lasted a lot longer. I really struggled to motivate myself to write. I found I’d lost the thread of the story and was struggling to get past a certain point in the plot. I was also demotivated by a drastic slump in sales for all my existing novels. All the effort and time that it took to write them didn’t seem worth it if nobody was interested in reading them. By late 2016 I had more or less stopped even trying to add anything to it. I also had a second idea on the go, that didn’t feature Stark, but it wasn’t working any better.

I spent much of 2017 rediscovering my love for live music and working long, hard hours, which didn’t leave me a lot of head space for writing. Then, in October 2017, something clicked. I took a large chunk of sub-plot out of the book and set it aside to use in some other form. It had dawned on me that it was overcomplicating the story for writer and readers alike! It was like a weight had been lifted, and off I went. In early December, I completed a first draft and submitted it to my publisher.

After such a long and difficult writing process, I’m not too sure if it’s ended up any good! Such is the way of all writing, I suppose. With luck, I’m hoping it will appear for sale sometime in early 2018. To everyone who’s been patiently waiting for it – thank you for your continued support.

Here’s to an easier ride for the next one!