Eavesdropping

 You've all seen the mugs, tee shirts, etc. with the writer threatening to 'put you in my book'. Yes, it's funny, but I would never do it. Some authors do base their characters on real people, but for me it's an an invasion of privacy. And I'd be afraid that the victim might recognise themselves and come round and punch me on the nose! 

Which is not to say that I am not an inveterate eavesdropper. Public transport is a great place for this, but anywhere that people gather can be a prime source. What do I get from it? Apart from fascinating snippets that I could/would never use? Rhythm, pace, the pattern of speech and the flow of conversation, which all help with making dialogue sound real.

One of my favourite playwrights is Harold Pinter, who was the master of using a pause - which is something I do - listening to conversation gives the patterns that can be adapted for the book. The way conversations overlap, repetition - although you have to be careful with that or your editor will be putting a red line through it, Local colour and frequently used expressions - swearing too perhaps. Ums and Ahs - we are all guilty of those - make speech realistic, judiciously used. 

And then again, despite what I said above, there are occasionally snippets that no one would recognise as theirs. This post was inspired by one I heard last week. Two colleagues in the Premier Inn as everyone trooped back into the building. 

'And where were you when the fire alarm went off? 

It seemed to me that it would make an intriguing first line for a story. 

Maybe I'll use it one day.

And no one will ever know where it came from, will they? 

What would you write if ...

 They say everyone has a book in them. I've always taken that to mean we all have a life story that could be told - but writing fiction is not the same. Life experiences are important but they are not the whole thing.  

So -if you were unpublished, just taking the plunge, what might you choose? What you like to read? What you think you are suited for? What will make money? 

All of the above? 

I think the big thing is that you enjoy what you write, because IMO it shows.

I experimented with a variety of genres before I settled on romantic suspense. Even so my early books are different from the most recent Riviera Series as my publisher wanted something lighter - holiday reading. 

The WIP? Don't ask. Really. I have no idea what genre it is - probably still romantic suspense as there is romance and crime/suspense but there is a lot else besides, Main thing is, although it is slow, I am enjoying it. 

It is natural, I think, to squint occasionally at other genres and wonder. Particularly if you have read something good and/or interesting by another author.  

A number of romance authors are making a very successful transition to cosy crime at the moment. And I admit to temptation. 

Theoretically I could write historical/saga - World War Two, as that is my academic thread, and I do have a completed WW2 family saga in the bottom drawer that twice went through the RNA's New Writers' Scheme but didn't find a publisher - possibly because I didn't push it hard enough. Having done it, and proved I could, I didn't want that to be my future - although you will have noticed that the war does get into my contemporary plots - and the WIP is no exception. 

Having just read K J Charles Death in the Spires which I enjoyed very much and which is an unsolved murder mystery with a strong slant of the dark academia genre, I am now re-reading M L Rio's If We Were Villains (I am drawing the line at Donna Tart's The Secret History. Not going back there, good and clever as it is. Don't have the stamina any more.)  

Of course, now I am wondering ... 

I'm an academic, with the letters to prove it., I have a thing for books, libraries and Gothic architecture - all of which I understand are ingredients - and I have a much professed desire to write something Gothic (is that actually another genre?)  I don't think I can reproduce the hot house atmosphere of the DA genre though, and despite my qualifications I certainly don't have the scholarship to twist into the plot, And I am strictly red brick, not dreaming spires so that is probably a no.

But it is tantalising...

Write what you know. Maybe that's write what you enjoy? Maybe the knowing bit is knowing your limitations? 

Competitions for debut authors?

 One of the ways that an unpublished author can attract some attention to their work, possibly get feedback and maybe win a prize is by entering competitions. If nothing else, to be long or short listed gives you a confidence boost. I worked for me, although even then it was still a while before a UK publisher was willing to take a chance on a genre that mixed crime and romance. 

Of course you do have to get onto the long/short list! But that is down to writing the best book you can, making sure that you meet all the competition criteria and presenting your work in a professional way in whatever format the rules require. Debut contests are usually looking for potential, not perfection - although if you can produce that, it will be welcome! 

If you live in Wales, are unpublished and write crime, you might like to consider the Gwobr Nofel Gyntaf/Crime Cymru First Novel Prize., which is open now and closes on 1st September. There are two sections - Welsh and English, judged separately.

Crime Cymru is a collective of crime authors with Welsh connections, and is offering a fledgling writer the chance of winning a series of mentoring sessions. There is only one first prize winner, but if that's not you (this time) there is still the chance of appearing on one of those encouraging short lists.  

The entry fee is £10 and you can find  the details HERE

I was one of the judges in the initial stages for the English language side last time the contest was run, and have volunteered to do it again this year. I am looking forward to it. The quality and variety of the entries was impressive. It was not an easy choice. Every one I read had potential, although they were very different. Some were further along the way than others. I hope those contestants will be trying again with a new entry. 

Maybe one of the entries I will be reading this year will be yours? 

What happened to our sunshine?

 Here in the UK the summer of '24 has been notable by its absence - although I gather we are promised some warmer weather later this month. 

Apart from the fact that it is COLD, the lack of sunshine was brought home to me while I was limping around Cardiff in the search for a frame for my second Jackie Collins finalist's certificate. The limp because of back and hip problems and the search because no one had what I wanted - the right size frame capable of standing up rather than being wall hung. Wilko, we miss you! I didn't find a frame, but I did notice large areas of stores given over to the goods of summer - picnic blankets, hampers, outdoor furniture and tableware, lanterns, barbeques - and the kind of food cooked on them - were pretty empty of customers, which was rather sad. All that bright cheerful merchandise sitting neglected on the shelves.  

So - where do we go for that summer feeling - other than leaving on a jet plane? You could try a book. Increasingly these days in the romance field, publishers are looking to issue two offerings  a year. Summer and Festive. Both designed to compliment the season, or get you in the appropriate mood if weather and circumstance are not coming up with the goods?

Do you buy the Summer book to read by the pool - or to replicate the feeling?  Does 'summer' in the title - and there are quite a few of them out there - make you disposed to buy? I have to say it does me - but I have always been one for warmth, sun and escape. 

When I was a kid and my dad went off on one of his Sunday day trips to a meeting - he was very involved in the national administration of his hobby, sea angling - mum and I often had an indoor picnic instead of Sunday lunch- all the picnic things, complete with table cloth on the living room floor. It was fun, and it didn't matter if it was cold or raining. 

If it won't happen you have to invent it - and a book is as good a place as any. Only one thing that worries me. If the summer season has been disappointing will all those retailers be starting their Christmas even earlier?

At least the weather is appropriate. 

Managing expectations

 I've just finished reading a book - spooky goings on and ghosts - where it was mentioned several times that good things rarely happen in basements. Very true. Places where young women should not venture in the dark when the local serial killer is on the loose. 

It got me thinking about 'short cuts' in novels - ways of telegraphing expectations to the reader. This can be very obvious - publishers' obsession with covers showing women in red coats running thorough various landscapes to denote a thriller is an obvious one - but it can be more subtle than that. 

As in life - a phone ringing between the hours of midnight and 5 am is unlikely to be  a Good Thing. Basements are creepy - although for some reason a cellar doesn't have quite the same connotation, possibly because of the link in the mind to wine cellar? 

Attics mean secrets - storage for old papers, dressing up boxes, childhood debris. You can have a good time in an attic. I had fun in A Villa in Portofino making mine virtually empty, but of course there was still a room full of luggage.  A character who announces they are going up to the attic - well, you just know they are going to Find Something. Libraries and studies mean books and papers, desks and filing cabinets so more potential for secrets. Kitchens equal meals and baking - places of comfort. Similarly cafes. 

Town houses, cottages, mansions, lofts - all property that denotes a certain style of life and inhabitant. Writing seasonal and festive books gives you a whole lexicon of images from carved pumpkins to fairy lights and tinsel to set a scene. 

At the moment I am heavily into creating a garden. Now gardens can have multiple personalities. The one I am working on is a sanctuary - a place where a WWI veteran coped with his shell shock and decades later a woman running from an abusive marriage can find a refuge. But I also have in mind another story with a derelict garden, a creepy half ruined green house, maybe a falling down summer house ... 

Some things are great for signifying an activity or a mood - but it's also good to have a wide open canvas.