BEWARE THE SCAM!

 BEWARE THE SCAM!

    As an independent author - with seven books under my belt and another on the way - I'm used to ploughing my own lonely furrow. Not only to have to plan the narrative, write the words, edit the words, help design the cover and arrange printing, distribution and marketing. I don't mind doing these things but sometimes it would be nice to be relieved of at least some of the burden.

    Obviously an agent and a publisher would be desirable but getting the latter means finding the former and, so far, I've had no success in this department, despite sending numerous letters. So, when an unsolicited offer came along I was, naturally, interested to find out more.

    I'm used to getting fairly regular emails offering editorial and publishing services but am wary as it's usually quite obvious that these are far from genuine approaches and, if I bothered to engage, there would come a point when they started asking for money with no guarantee of providing anything that would increase my readership. So when I got an email from a publisher in San Francisco, I was very wary. However, the message from Jody Mosley's at the Chronicle Books Company was different. It really seemed, from what she wrote that she really had read Blood on the Rocks. Here's an extract. 

What stood out overall is the novel's ability to combine procedural authenticity with high-concept suspense. As hidden agendas, dangerous medical practices, and international conspiracies begin to emerge, the narrative appears to maintain a compelling balance between meticulous detective work and escalating danger, particularly as the investigation places members of Russell's own team at risk.

See what I mean?

Anyway, I replied, with caution, and we started a correspondence. We were getting on well and she recommended an agent who, she said, would be interested in my series of books. Not wishing to get my hopes up I talked to my wife, who is not only my editor but my greatest critic, and she got quite excited about it. The agent was called Henry Y Sheperd and his website, although a little difficult to navigate, seemed genuine, so I started exchanging emails with him.

    I am quite familiar with the process of approaching an agent, as I have done it several dozen times, so I knew the format and sent off my bio details, a synopsis and the first ten pages - double spaced - and I thought that would be it. I'd have to wait several weeks for a yay or nay. But he came back and asked for a formal letter of approach and said he would be able to guide me in writing it. This seemed a little extreme but I ready to comply. Then I showed it to my daughter Saskia, a savvy millennial. She was horrified! In a flash she put the title of my book into ChatGPT and, would you believe it, the same lengthy description came up, almost word for word. 

    You can imagine how I felt. The hopes I'd build up were severely dashed. Saskia was very apologetic but I'm so pleased she enlightened me and prevented me from getting even more involved in what now was obviously a scam. And do you know, when I didn't reply, I heard nothing back. A hard lesson learned. 

    As an addendum, I contacted one of the authors who, supposedly, was represented by Henry Y Sheperd. He informed me that he was a self-published author with no connection to the agent and was going to report it.

 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!

TREADING WATER

 TREADING WATER

Do you ever go through a seemingly endless period where a lot seems to be happening but you don't feel as if you're achieving much? Those times when however much you try to tick items off the to-do list, it never seems to get any shorter? And your diary seems to be piling up with so many engagements you wonder if you'll ever be able to do any of them, let alone all of them? Well that's how I feel at the moment.

But, I keep telling myself, it's not as bad as it seems. My sixth book in the DI Sonny Russell series of crime novels has recently been launched and is selling well*. Plus, the others in the series are still going out, particularly the first one, Blood on the Tide. This is gratifying as hopefully, if new readers like it, they continue with others in the series.

*I stepped into the breach and gave a last minute talk recently as the scheduled speaker had tested positive for covid. The talk was to quite a small group in Benenden in Kent but as much of the action in Blood on the Dunes takes place nearby, I sold quite a number of copies, which was most gratifying. 

Although I've started on book six, provisionally titled Blood on the Nile**, I haven't made much progress, due to the reasons outlined above. But, I have been asked several times, by readers who have already finished 'Dunes', when the next book will be ready! As it usually takes a year to write a book, there will be a bit of a delay.

** Does this mean that DI Sonny Russell will be venturing further abroad, I hear you ask. Well, possibly. For relaxation, I model narrow gauge railways and several of my books have been inspired by the layouts I've built. In fact, the whole series started with a model I made based on the quayside at Rye Harbour in Sussex. For a while now I have been building an Egyptian themed layout called Caravanserai, so this has provided some of the inspiration for the next book. But, book and model alike are a long way from being finished, so meanwhile, I'll continue trading water.

 

WORMHOLES - getting lost on the net

 WORMHOLES

getting lost on the net

Eric Ravilious - Drought

Wormholes. Do you ever disappear down them? I do, and I just have. As Blood on the Dunes is finished I'm having a break from writing and have been able to indulge in something else. I've long been a fan of the artist, Eric Ravilious, and came across one of his paintings I'd not seen before called Drought. It features an out-of-use steam roller with a living van, tar wagon and water bowser. I'd been planning a model railway layout based on another of his paintings, The Cement Works and thought the roller ensemble would make a nice little cameo on the layout.

Eric Ravilious - The Cement Pit 1

I already had a roller, I'd made from a kit, and a scratchbuilt living van, then I found an exquisite ready-made model of a tar cart on a model website. Now all need was a water bowser. The only ones available - in kit form or ready made were of a different pattern, and as I wanted to remain as faithful as possible to the picture, I would have to make my own.

I found a suitable photo and assembled the necessary components - a pair of wheels and little plastic vial. By combining these with some shaped styrene sheet and stiff wire I've fashioned a semblance of the water cart in the picture. Then, I disappeared down an internet wormhole.

I was struggling with resolving the shafts which must be used to pull the cart. In the painting they appear to be two parallel bars, suitable for a horse. This seemed strange as I assumed it would have been pulled by the roller. The other conundrum was the actual purpose of the wagon. Further digging revealed that there are two distinct types. One, is used for the sole purpose of transporting water, like this WW1 example.

The other, is for sprinkling water onto freshly laid tarmacadam, and this is the type in the painting. Luckily, as I travelled down the wormhole, I was able to find evidence of this in an article about the restoration of one at the Beamish Museum.

This clearly shows a box attached to the back, with holes drilled to distribute the water so this is what I will model. As to the shafts, do I leave them as is, or convert them so they can be towed by the roller?

MAKING A SPECTACLE OF MYSELF

MAKING A SPECTACLE OF MYSELF

Posing at the George in Rye

Moving out of my comfort zone, as part of the Rye Arts Festival I gave a talk on The Potteries of Rye - in Rye. I'm used to talking to groups as I've been doing it for over ten years now, but doing it in my hometown, to an audience of locals, about a subject they probably knew a bit about was rather daunting. However, The 60+ who where there were responsive, attentive and even laughed at my jokes, so after all it went really well.

Potteries talk in the George

But, I can't rest on my laurels as I have a more daunting task this evening when I'll be interviewing the Reverend Richard Coles in Rye Church. He's written a novel called 'Murder before Evensong' and as a fellow crime writer I've been asked to talk to him about his book, and crime-writing. (I might even touch on his time in The Communards!) Wish me luck!

Reverend Richard Coles.

 

THE END IS NIGH

 THE END IS NIGH

When I started writing BLOOD ON THE DUNES I began, as always, with a germ of an idea but no definite plan of where the story was going or, indeed, how it was going to end. This is quite normal for me, as I write like a reader - to find out what is going to happen next. The trouble was, by the time I was approaching 20,000 words (about a quarter of the way through), I knew, not only the path the story was going to take but, more alarmingly, how it was going to end. This was definitely not good as either it was going to be a very short book or, more worryingly, I would have to start again from scratch.

By way of a diversion I had introduced a side story concerning the disappearance of a boy from a children's home. (This device is known as a MacGuffin*). DI Sonny Russell is sent to investigate. He is reluctant as he'd rather be involved in more serious crimes, but his boss, Superintendent Stout, insists it's important. Russell thinks that's because the man in charge of the children's home is one of his golfing buddies. 

Then it dawned on me. This diversion was actually a rich seam that I could mine. Suddenly the boy became pivotal to the whole plot and now, as I approach the conclusion to the book, he's taken on a life of his own, which was most unexpected.

In my first DI Russell novel, BLOOD ON THE TIDE, one of the main characters was a German, called Wolfgang. He wasn't a vey nice man but he was disabled and his childhood was rather unhappy. Talking to readers I've since learned that they felt sorry for him. It made me realise that I'd accidentally created a rather complex person that people related to quite differently from how I'd anticipated they would. With this in mind, I've now deliberately written a character, who is far from nice, but who has arrived at where he is because of past circumstances. Hopefully, I've pulled it off.

If you would like to know more about Wolfgang and haven't already discovered my series of books, set mainly around Rye and Romney Marsh in the 1950s, they are available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon and in paperback direct from the author

*In fiction, a MacGuffin is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail for film, adopted by Alfred Hitchcock, and later extended to a similar device in other fiction. 

CHARCOAL & PLAGIARISM.

 CHARCOAL & PLAGIARISM

Burning charcoal

Why the strange dual title you may ask? Let me explain. In my current work in progress, BLOOD ON THE DUNES, the main character, a runaway from a children's home, is hiding in the woods. He has a copy of Baden Powell's Scouting for Boys which he's read from cover to cover and is skilled in woodmanship and all manner of outdoor skills. So he plans to build a shelter, a bivouac, so he can stay concealed. He pushes deeper into the woods and is delighted to discover a readymade shelter. He doesn't realise that's it's an abandoned Charcoal burner's hut.

Construction of a charcoal burner's hut

Charcoal burning is an ancient tradition going back over 3,000 years. It was discovered that charcoal provided sufficient heat for iron-smelting, glass-making and working with precious metals. It was the discovery that charcoal could be used to smelt tin and copper together, hence the Bronze Age, which lasted from c3,500-800 BC. It continued to be used into the Iron Age although as this required much higher temperatures, coal and coke rapidly replaced it from about 1700 onwards. The production of charcoal then went into decline and almost died out until a revival during WW1 when it was used extensively as a filter in gas masks. Again, the craft faded away until a brief revival for the same purpose in WW2. Nowadays production is limited to the use on barbecues and in some incenses.

A charcoal burner's hut

So much for the history lesson, now to plagiarism. I wrote about a couple of  felons who took shelter in a charcoal burner's hut after a train robbery in BLOOD ON THE SHRINE, but didn't go into much detail. But, I went back to that book and 'borrowed' some of what I'd written for inclusion in the new book. I must stress that I haven't copied it verbatim, just used some of the ideas I'd written down. It also sent me down a research rabbit hole looking into the ancient craft. Here's a link if you'd like to know more. 

New Forest Charcoal Burners - Real New Forest Guide

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.

WRITER'S RESEARCH

 WRITER'S RESEARCH

As a writer I think it's really important to get all the details in a book right, even if it's a work of fiction. Subsequently I spend a lot of time researching all sorts of odd and esoteric things, many of which never get used. But, it's something I really enjoy doing. In the past I would have had to spend a lot of my time in the library doing this research but, now we're in the 21st century, most of it can be done online. As they say, 'Google is your friend.' Also, Wikipedia is a resource I turn to frequently.

Canadian Club

In the book I'm currently writing the skeleton of a Canadian soldier is revealed in the dunes after a violent storm. Later a bottle is found nearby and Lewis, the forensics man, is tasked with identifying it. Turning to Wikipedia I was able to discover the distinctive shape of a Canadian Club bottle, which Lewis was able to establish as being the one found in the dunes.

Stonepit Lane.

Later in the book, Detective Inspector Sonny Russell and WPC Nettie Sharpe are travelling in a police Wolseley. They are trying to track down a boy missing from a children's home and are looking for a farm where a woman who had visited him at the home is said to live. I decided that this is located in a little hamlet near Benenden called Standen Street. Before we moved to the coast we lived there for 10 so I decided that's where the fictitious farm would be located. We been here, in Pett Level, for nearly 11 years, so in order to remind myself of the lie of the land I've been looking at the surrounding fields and woods on Google Earth. This will allow me to accurately describe the journey through the lanes to the farm and landscape they travel through.

It might sound like a chore but I see it as part of the privilege of being an author. 

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.

WRITER'S BLOCK? WHAT BLOCK

 WRITER'S BLOCK

WHAT WRITER'S BLOCK?

A bit of a tongue in cheek title for this blogpost as I don't actually suffer from writer's block. Words have never been a problem for me. Probably as a result of being 5/8ths Irish - yes really. Plus my mother kissed the Blarney Stone. (I went to Blarney Castle a few years ago but as I suffer from vertigo, there was no way I was going to lean over backwards to kiss it, so the gift of the gab must have come from her.)

However, when I'm writing I sometimes come to a point where I'm not sure how the narrative should progress or in which direction to take it.

I learned a valuable lesson, many moons ago, in a different life, when I was ceramic designer. Then, being young and headstrong, I thought that if I just ploughed on doggedly, when stuck, something would come out of it. I soon learned it was completely the wrong approach. If I did this, whatever I produced would be either absolute rubbish or things would just keep on going wrong. But if I left the problem alone and did something totally different for a while, when I returned to it things seemed to work out. (I will admit that the something different might involve alcohol, but as I said, I was much younger then.)

These days, now that I'm older and wiser (!) I have a different approach. I put the writing aside and take myself and Aggie for a long walk, usually on the beach. Something about the openness of the landscape or the fresh air or the lack of distractions, helps to clear my mind. Then, the plot, or characters, become clearer, and I return home refreshed, knowing the direction the story is going to take. 

I also treated myself to a drum kit, when I reached a recent milestone birthday, and the discipline of concentrating on keeping time is another good distraction.

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!

JOURNEY'S END - well not quite

JOURNEY'S END

well not quite

A few days ago I finished writing the fourth book in the DI Sonny Russell series of crime novels, BLOOD ON THE CARDS. It came as something of a surprise.

I started writing it back in December 2018 with only the germ of an idea  - that the body of a fortune teller would be found in a WW2 pillbox near Appledore in Kent. Besides that, I hadn't a clue where the story was going to take me. 

I remember listening to Anne Cleeves, the author of the Shetland and Vera novels that have been so successfully transferred to the small screen. She was choosing her eight records on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and said there were two types of writers - plotters and pantsters. 

Plotters know exactly where they are going, even to the extent of creating a graph or wall chart, showing the characters, the locations and the plots and just how they are going to react with each other. Pantsters, on the other hand, literally fly by the seat of the pants, following every twist and turn of the story they are creating. Writing like a reader, they are never sure where the narrative is going to take them. I'm one of those. 

I do enjoy the writing, above everything else - editing and promotion for instance - and feel quite bereft when I come to the end of a story that I have been wrapped up in for nearly a year. I would quite like to get on with the next instalment, but first the hard work really starts.

I will have to go through this first draft, carefully checking for inaccuracies, to make sure the chronology is correct and that the narrative floes. I will then hand my baby over to my better half, Greer, who after a lifetime in journalism is more than qualified to check for errors I've missed. I then like to pass it on to a beta reader* to get his opinion of the story. (Very sadly, a good friend who fulfilled that function on the last manuscript, passed away recently so I will have to find another trusted friend to take his place. Not an easy task.)

Then, when all are satisfied, it's off to the printer. So, although the writing is done, there's still a long way to go. However, if you haven't already met DI Sonny Russell, Aggie, his faithful Jack Russell terrier and DC Johnny Weeks, the first three books are available in paperback or kindle.

*A beta reader is usually an unpaid test reader of an unreleased work of literature, who gives feedback from the point of view of an average reader to the author.

MEET THE AUTHOR - making another exhibition of myself

MEET THE AUTHOR

making another exhibition of myself

As an author with my own publishing company I have to wear several hats. As I writer, my life is, by nature, solitary. I work either on my laptop in bed (!), in the sun room or sitting on the sofa when there's something on the TV that doesn't grab my attention. Bed is nice, as I have distant views of the sea and the sun room looks over the garden. However, the best place is in my purpose-built studio.

Built around the backdrop for my medal-winning 2007 Chelsea Flower show garden it looks, and feels, like a railway carriage. I have even better views of the channel, which can be distracting when an interesting ship sails down-channel. 

However, the hat I love and dread wearing in equal measures is the one when I'm promoting my books. It means meeting the public - something I really enjoy as I love talking to people. But it brings the stress of having to perform along with periods of inactivity, waiting for the public to turn up. On top of that, I tend to stand up for long stretches and that plays havoc with my lower back. But, it has to be done. 

So, if you see me at one of my book-signing or meet the author and his dog days, please say hello but also feel a little sorry for me.