'Be proactive and keep pounding on the door'

 

“Ithink writers have to be proactive: they've got to use new technology andsocial media. Yes, it's hard to get noticed by traditional publishers, butthere's a great deal of opportunity out there if you've got the right story.”– Ian Rankin

Rankin, born in Scotland on April 28, 1960 is best known for his “Inspector Rebus” novels, even though he did not set out tobe a crime writer.  In fact, he didn’tthink he even had “the right story” for the "crime fiction" genre. He thought his first novels Knots and Crosses and Hide andSeek were more “mainstream” keeping with the Scottishtraditions of Robert Louis Stevenson and Muriel Spark.  

 

But his readers disagreed and so far he’s had some 40 books published, many of them not only best sellers but also adapted into TVmovies.  He makes his home in Edinburgh wherehe sets most of his novels and “educates” his readers about his hometown in theprocess.

 

Rankin uses “life experiences" in his writing and he's had many, beginning as a worker in his dad's grocery store.  He also worked as a grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher (I’ddefinitely like to hear more about that one), hi-fi journalist, collegesecretary, and punk musician in a band called The Dancing Pigs.

  

“I am, of course, a frustrated rock star - I'd muchrather be a rock star than a writer,” he said. “Or own a record shop. Still, it's not a bad life, is it? You just sitat a computer and make stuff up.”

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