A WAITING GAME

 

A WAITING GAME

Shabti in the British Museum

After a long time - two years as against my normal 12 months - Blood on the Rocks is finished. I've no idea why it took so long to write - I haven't even got the excuse of lock-down. I knew where the narrative was going early on; I didn't suffer from writer's block; nothing took precedence, it just took a long time. 

Winged scarab

The editing process was smooth - my wife, Greer, expertly edited, spotting gaffes I'd made and making valuable suggestions and contributions to the story. My beta reader, John Nutting, picked up on grammatical and technical errors we'd missed and I went over once more tweaking and finessing.

Trial cover

The next stage is the cover. This is probably the most important part of getting the book noticed. Readers see the cover before reading a single word so it has to stand out. I usually mock up a cover to show to Paul, the designer, giving him an idea of what I think it should look like. He also has a synopsis of the book and will create his own interpretation. This is always far better than my own, amateurish effort but, it takes time. Not only does he have to assemble the images but lay them out in such a way that the printer can easily use them to produce the finished book - not a process that can be rushed. So now, it's a waiting game.

The Grange, Iden

The working title of the book had been 'Blood on the Nile'. This was because one of the main threads revolved around Egyptian artefacts that had been stolen by someone trying to sell them on. But, the title didn't sit comfortably with the other books in the series so a decision was made to use another thread. Spoiler alert! Early on a accident occurs where a body is found below the cliffs, hence the new title. 

Hopefully, you loyal readers won't have to wait too long now, to read the continuing stories of DI Sonny Russell, and his faithful companion, Aggie.

EDITOR, EDITOR!

 EDITOR, EDITOR!

As previously announced, I finished book seven in the DI Sonny Russell series of crime mysteries at the end of last year. Now comes necessary but the arduous task of re-reading, editing and generally improving the manuscript.  

I am exceedingly fortunate in having an inhouse editor. My wife, Greer, was a journalist and reporter from when she left college then spent 25 years as a sub-editor on the prestigious Daily Telegraph. She has been going through my book with a fine-tooth comb, picking up on all the mistakes and omissions I've made and making valuable suggestions to further enhance the narrative.

My current job is to input all her hard, detailed work so the story not only flows, but makes sense.

In addition, we've been discussing the final title of the book. While I've been writing it the working title has been BLOOD ON THE NILE, as some of the narrative revolves around stolen Egyptian treasures. However, as much of the book, in line with the previous titles, revolves around Rye and Rye Harbour, we thought it more appropriate to reflect this and it seems probable that it's going to be changed to BLOOD ON THE RIVER BANK, or something similar. Hopefully we will have decided by the end of the editing process. 

 LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

    My poor readers. You've been eagerly awaiting the next book in the DI Sonny Russell series of crime mysteries and I've kept you hanging around for much longer than I usually do between books. I don't know why this one has taken so long - almost two years already. 

    It started well, with a good strong thread revolving around dubious goings on in a sanatorium, then a second thread dealing with Egyptian artefacts someone was trying to sell, which might have been stolen and might or might not be genuine. Somewhere along the line writing slowed to a crawl as I was struggling to find a way forward. It wasn't writers block, as such, but I couldn't even see the tunnel, let alone the light at the end of it. But, at last, the writing has gathered pace.

    In my usual way, I write as a reader - keen to discover what's coming next. Interesting ideas came out of the blue, including a new character, an Assistant Chief Constable, who has requested Russell's help in a sensitive case. This only happened about twenty pages ago and has helped the narrative immensely. 

    I have just passed the magical 75,000 word mark so feel I'm on the home straight. So saying, I'd better get on with writing it!

Getting a wiggle on

 GETTING A WIGGLE ON

Bait digger - low tide, Winchelsea Beach

No, I'm not going to talk about lugworms or ragworms or those hardy souls who go down to the beach at low tide to dig for bait. Much as I realise this could be suitable topic for a blogpost, I'll leave it for another day. No, this is more about me getting a wiggle on.

Ornamental Egyptian scarab

On checking back, I discovered that I started my current work in progress, back in November 2022. Normally I aim to finish writing a book in about a year and all six previous ones have followed this pattern. I have no real excuse for why this one has taken 16 months already and I'm still only a third of the way through. I could make excuses - well I will.

Pectoral brooch

The working title is 'Blood on the Nile and the initial theme for the story was the illegal import of artifacts, possibly looted from the tombs in Egypt. Superintendent Stout put Sonny Russell on the case saying 'you were out in the East during the war'. Although the DI pointed out he was actually in south-east Asia, not North Africa, Stout dismissed his protest. In order to make sure I know what I'm talking about I've planned for some time to visit the Egyptian Galleries in the British Museum. I'm still waiting to go so this may be a reason for my slowness.

Sanatorium

As my readers are aware I always include more than one story line, and try to weave the different themes together until finally bringing them to a satisfactory climax. This book is to be no different and I've introduced a mysterious sanatorium and a body found on the beach. I'll say no more - I think I've given enough away already. I'll leave you with this image of a hidden camp in the woods and let you guess why.

Just one more thing. In all my books I start each chapter with a definition, or explanation, of something that appears a few pages on. I really enjoy the research involved and hope it adds to the book. But I'd be interested to hear what those of you have read any of the books think about me continuing it.

I'M STUCK! Time to bump someone else off.

 I'M STUCK!

Time to bump someone else off.

I'm just over a third of the way through writing BLOOD ON THE DUNES, and I'm struggling. Normally, at this stage in a book I have several story threads going in different directions, not actually knowing when and where they will come together. But whether it's because of the pandemic or something else I seem to have reached a point where I know where the disparate stories are going to resolve, and I'm not even halfway through!

Without giving too much away, a skeleton has been revealed in the sand (hence the book title) and a man has been found dead after a big storm. Also, a boy is missing from a children's home. Unfortunately, I know just how these are connected, but it's far to early to reveal the connection. I've given this a huge amount of thought, on my walks on the beach with Aggie, without coming up with any sensible ideas. Then, yesterday, I had a brainwave. I'm going to have to produce another body!

This might sound drastic, and, on the face of it, not very realistic, but I think I can blend another death into the story, convincingly. I just hope it will provide enough fodder to help carry the story on for another 50,000 words. Fingers crossed.

A NEW BABY!

 A NEW BABY!

Well - new book anyway.

Blood in the Garden - trial cover

Well, book five is finished. It's been read and given a 'light editing' by John Nutting, who edits a specialist magazine for the canning industry, write articles for motorcycle magazines and was the one-time editor of the 009 News, a dedicated narrow gauge railway magazine. 

Then it was given a more thorough edit by my better half, who was a sub-editor on a national newspaper for 25 years. Not only does she spot my grammatical mistakes but is very good at suggesting how pedestrian passages can be improved and made much more interesting. 

I've been through the manuscript thoroughly four times - checking all 82,000 words, so, hopefully, we've corrected all the mistakes I made originally. I say, hopefully, because I bet one or two may have been missed. But I'm not too bothered, because even books by well-known authors, who have the services of professionals to read and check their work, have mistakes in them. As Esther Rantzen famously said, 'That's Life'.

Blood in the Garden - trial cover

When I was happy with it I sent it to Eddie, who works at the printers I use, who I trust to format it so it's ready for printing. I've now got the proof back to check. I've also got to insert a suitable dedication and make sure the detail of the other books at the back are up to date. But I still haven't finished. 

I had to write a 1,000 word synopsis to send to Paul, who does a fantastic job of designing my covers. He spent his working life as a graphic designer working on magazines, so knows his way around cover design. I'm now eagerly waiting for him to send me his ideas then we can decide what we're going to use. (The trial covers in this blog are my attempt but I know that Paul will come up with something much better.) So you can see, an independent author has a lot more to do than just write the book.

I feel that Blood in the Garden is a little different than the other titles in the series. It still has the same main characters, is still set in the 1950s and the actions still happens around this corner of the country. But, whereas the other books tended to be plot driven, I think this one is more about the dialogue and the interaction of the characters. It remains to be seen if it's as well received as the others. I do hope so.

Blood in the Garden - trial cover

Strangely, this book has taken a lot longer from inception to now than the other four. I can only think that the pandemic has had something to do with it. Now, I'm wondering what to write next. It will be another crime book and I've started on an idea for more contemporary story but I'm wondering if I should stick to DI Russell and the 50s. What do you think?

WHO'S ZOOMING WHO?

 

WHO’S ZOOMING WHO?

Shinglesea 2007

I generally give between 15 and 20 talks every year to a variety of groups: WI, U3A and gardening clubs. The most popular talk is called ‘BEHIND THE SCENES AT CHELSEA’. No, not the football club, or the London borough, but the annual, prestigious Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show where I designed and built three small show gardens. I talk my audience through the process of applying to exhibit, sourcing plants and materials and approaching sponsors. Then how, in ten long days, starting with a patch of bare turf, we create a little bit of landscape that looks like it has been lifted bodily from somewhere else in the country and plonked down on the Chelsea show site. The talk, that lasts about 45 minutes, is illustrated with more than 80 high quality photographs.

Spana's Courtyard Retreat 2008

This used to mean that I had to jump in the car and drive to the venue. As my ‘fame’ spread further, the distances I had to travel had increased so the journey there could sometimes take more than an hour and just as long to return home - often quite late in the evening. On top of that, I had to make sure I could find the hall and that I’d remembered all the equipment I’d need: laptop, projector, relevant connecting cables and extension lead. And most importantly that I’d got the right day. But, like so much else, all that changed a year ago.

The Pilgrim's Rest 2009

Now I’ve become used to giving my talks via Zoom. The upside is that I can do this from the comfort of my own home. No worrying about closed roads or inclement weather that I’ll have to drive through; no last minute panic that I’ve left something critical behind or that I haven’t left enough time to get there (yes, I am guilty of cutting it fine). The downside is slightly different.

The Pilgrim's Rest 2009

People have become accustomed to, and comfortable with, using Zoom so it’s surprisingly easy to access nowadays. The groups are well versed in setting it up so all I have to do is fire up the laptop and click on the link to their group. Once the preliminaries are over I can start my talk and share the photos I normally project onto a screen and this is where it becomes strange. Almost without exception my audience is muted. This means that apart from just four people visible down the side of the screen, I’m basically talking to myself – which is a little weird. But, I’m very grateful that groups still want to hear my talks and long may it continue.

TELLING A TALE - Story settings

 TELLING A TALE

STORY SETTINGS

I think it's really important to describe the settings in the stories I write. I like to paint a word picture so the reader can fully imagine the location where the action is taking place. In Blood on the Tide, a WWII bomb is retrieved from the mud at Compass Point (Rye Harbour). I tried hard to describe the concern of the soldiers as they sweated to get it out, while watching the tide gradually roll in.

In Blood on the Shrine, DI Sonny Russell is sent to a Buddhist retreat, almost as a joke by superintendent Vic Stout. But Russell is much more spiritual than his boss realises and delights in being there. I drew on my own, not insignificant experiences, of Buddhism to describe the peace and serenity encountered at a retreat.

The story in Blood on the Strand revolves around gold and silver valuables that were stolen towards the end of WWII. The net shops in Hastings play a large part in the story. I wanted to recreated the sight and smells of these iconic buildings and the surrounding fishermen's beach.

In the fourth DI Sonny Russell mystery the occult and fortune tellers come to the fore. During my research I was delighted to discover that the occultist Aleister Crowley, once named 'the wickedest man in the world', ended his days in a nursing home in Hastings. I described a visit made made by Septimus Pike, a sinister antique dealer, to the infamous character and the sad situation he finished up in.

My current work in progress, book five in the series, begins with an investigation into the disappearance of two characters. Quite a lot of the action takes place at a grand manor house, named Sowsden Manor in my story. But, it's actually based on a place I know well - but I'm not telling!

ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK - the first teenagers.

ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK

the first teenagers

                         Elvis Presley                                                       John Lennon 1958

As my crime novels are set in the 1950s I try to include as much detail as possible, to authenticate the period. I'm currently writing book 5, Blood in the Garden. There are two types of writers, plotters and pantsters. The former are meticulous in planning the characters and settings and know exactly where the book is going and how it is going to end. The latter start with a germ of an idea and write like a reader, constantly finding out where the plot is going and discovering new characters along the way. I'm a pantster. But I'm in good company. Ann Cleeves, who writes the hugely successful books that the TV series of Vera and Shetland are based on is one too.

My current story involves the discovery of a body in the back of a Morris Traveller. The pathologist in my books, John Crooks, tells DI Sonny Russell that he thinks it's the work of Teddy Boys.

My novels are set in a sleepy corner of East Sussex where Teds are unlikely to be seen, in any number anyway, so Sonny Russell goes up to London to see an old army pal who is now a DCI in the Met. 

Now, although I was around in the 50's, and have a vague memory of Teddy Boys, I don't remember much except the way they dressed. So, it's been quite an education to find out about them. You'll have to wait until the book is published to see if I've got it right!

CHANNELING ROWLAND EMETT - a change of direction

CHANNELING ROWLAND EMETT 

a change of direction

Lockdown makes you do strange things. The inspiration for my DI Sonny Russell series of crime novels initially came from a narrow gauge railway layout I built called Compass Point. This was  loosely based on Rye Harbour, the major setting for the first book and subsequently playing a part in the others. I was astonished to find that the layout was started in 2014 and I began writing Blood on the Tide in 2016. How time flies when you're having fun. 

Three books later, I'm struggling with book five, provisionally titled Blood in the Garden. so, by way of a diversion, I've been modelling a new railway, inspired by the drawings and works of Rowland Emett. He produced the Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Railway that was featured in the 1951 Festival of Britain where it carried over 2 million passengers. My interpretation is not a slavish copy as you can see if you look at http://www.rowlandemett.com/. It's more an homage or tribute to the man.

I know it looks a bit mad but it's been great fun, working to my normal modelling standards, but producing something whimsical. You never know, it might inspire me to start writing - but what?!

AUTHOR AUTHOR!

AUTHOR AUTHOR!

Fishermen's rail track and hut - Dungeness

You'd think that in these straightened times I'd be cracking on with writing the next instalment of the adventures of DI Sonny Russell and his loyal terrier, Aggie. Well I should be. But... some sort of ennui has set in and, in the evening, when I'd normally lounge on the sofa with the laptop, I seem to be gorging on crime dramas on Netflix or BBC iPlayer. I doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about writing - I am - it's just that I'm not actually doing it although I have started.

Old bridge over the Royal Military Canal at Appledore

But that's part of the problem. I've started not one, but two books. One, provisionally titled BLOOD IN THE GARDEN, is planned to be the fifth in the DI Russell series set in the 1950s. The other, THE WRONG CAR, is my attempt at writing a contemporary story, more in keeping with the current trend for grittier, up to the minute writing. My dilemma, as well as a general laziness, is choosing which one to continue with. 

Netherwood House, Hastings

Last home of Aleister Crowley

I seem to be developing a following for my 1950s series and have sold 1/4 of the first print run of my new novel, BLOOD ON THE CARDS, plus the kindle sales have been encouraging. So perhaps I should stick to this and trust that the momentum continues. However, like most writers, I would like to sell more books and wonder if I should be writing in a style that's currently in vogue.

Suggestions would be gratefully received. The photos I've used above are from scenes in BLOOD ON THE CARDS which is available from me or on Amazon.

  

CHEERY PICS

CHEERY PICS

As the rain hammers down on the studio roof I thought I'd post a few more of my 'arty' pictures from a cheerier times.