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Featured on Buck Books
Thursday, May 31, 2018
We Interview Author Kerry Watts today!
Today we're presenting an interview with the inimitable Kerry Watts. |
| Kerry Watts |
Kenna: Hello, Kerry. Welcome to my site. Please tell us something
about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Hi Kenna thanks for inviting me along.
I was born and brought up in a small town in the East of Scotland where I still
am today. I started writing over twenty years ago when my daughter was a baby
after reading Isla Dewar’s Giving up on Ordinary. It was then that I thought –
I’d love to do that – so I did.
Kenna: What genre do you generally
write and what have you had published to-date? What do you think of eBooks?
I generally write crime fiction but
have also written a couple of childrens books which was fun. I also have a
short romance novella available to buy from Amazon too. I love ebooks! I
wouldn’t be without my kindle now. I love all the free books!
Kenna: Have you self-published? If so,
what led to you going your own way?
I began my publishing journey as a self-publisher
which meant I was able to create a profile and a readership which makes an
unknown more saleable to a publisher. I would recommend this route to someone
starting out.
Kenna: Do you have a favourite of your stories
or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as
the leading actor/s?
My favourite book so far is called Into
Darkness which is due to be released on June 14th. The main
character is the flawed yet strong Detective Inspector Joe Barber. In a movie
it would have to be someone tall, blonde and handsome to play him. Would be fun
to audition the candidates I guess.
Kenna: Which authors did you read when
you were younger, and did they shape you as a writer?
As a child my favourite book was The
Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis. I loved Narnia and wished I could
get there through my own wardrobe. I wouldn’t say it shaped me as writer as
much as a reader instead. I loved reading as a consequence of Narnia.
Kenna: Do you manage to write every day,
and do you plot your stories or just get an idea and run with it?
I try to write every day but in reality
it isn’t always possible, and I definitely plot but it always bends and
changes. It’s never set in stone. People have died, and it’s been as much of a
shock to me as it is the reader.
Kenna: Do you do a lot of editing or
research?
Editing sucks but it must be done, and
I find without google for research and being able to quiz Facebook friends I
wouldn’t be able to write much. My background is in Psychiatric nursing, so a
lot of my books incorporate a mental health issue.
Kenna: What point of view do you find
most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second
person?
I write in third person which is where
I’m most comfortable. I have tried first but can’t sustain it so avoid it.
Second person is just a nonstarter for me.
Kenna: What’s your favourite / least
favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
Favourite part is the buzz of a new
idea and watching it blossom. Making notes and expanding on it is something I
love! Least favourite is persuading people to buy my books. Not a skill I have
acquired yet! What’s surprised me the most has been the development of my
stamina. Being able to write four thousand words in a day amazes me.
Kenna: If you could invite three people
from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide
the takeaway containers)?
Brilliant question. I would invite a
Viking, a Roman and an Egyptian because all those eras fascinate me, and I
would like them to each bring a delicacy from their own time. I will provide
the dessert! I would like to read them an extract from one of my books to just
to see what they think, and I would leave the washing up until morning because
hopefully at least one of them will bring a nice bottle of wine….or two.
Kenna: Are you involved in anything
else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?
I’m having a go at a script too which
I’m enjoying. I have no idea what I’ll do with it when it’s done.
Kenna: Are there any writing-related
websites and / or books that you find useful? (please include links where you
can)
Recommend – Stephen King – On Writing.
Fascinating.
Kenna: What are you working on at the
moment / next?
I am currently writing Book 2 of my DI
Joe Barber series which is becoming a little more gruesome than anticipated but
I’m loving it all the same. I have another couple of projects lined up too.
Kenna: Where can we find out about you
and your writing?
I have a website
kerrywatts.simplesite.com and I can be found on twitter - twitter.com/@Denmanisfab
also I have an author page on Facebook where readers can chat and interact with
me which I am always happy to do. https://www.facebook.com/KerryWattsAuthor/
Look out for my latest book due out on June 14th – http://mybook.to/intodarkness - Book 1 in the DI Joe Barber series.
If you would like to include a short synopsis
of your latest book here feel free.
http://mybook.to/intodarkness
- available to preorder
After an uncomfortable dinner with his severe father, retired
Chief Superintendent Charles Barber, recently divorced Detective Inspector Joe
Barber comes to the aid of young Lizzie Reynolds whom he witnesses being
attacked by a man named Billy Gifford. A passionate relationship blossoms from
this but Joe is immersed in the investigation into a series of gruesome murders
of young women who work as dancers in a club called Sal’s. Lizzie’s connection
to the club and to the women horrifies him.
When a suspect is discovered through DNA evidence inside the stomach of one of the victims neither Joe or his colleague DS Sylvia Mason are convinced of his guilt. He just doesn’t fit the profile. Samuel Slaski, Sal Slaski’s twenty something son is poorly educated and disorganised in stark contrast to the man Joe believes they are looking for. Big Sam as he is called because of his height denies he is connected to the crimes and looks to his lawyer, Paul Gregory, for help. When a search of Sal’s produces a sinister notebook, Joe gets closer to the truth. When Sam indicates the author of the hand writing contained inside is that of Paul Gregory, the race is on to stop him.
A gruesome discovery at Gregory’s childhood home further exposes his guilt. With nowhere left to run Paul Gregory introduces Joe and his team to The Darkness. Dr Dianne Cook recommends further assessment in a secure mental health unit until he is fit to be interviewed. Paul Gregory’s manipulation of his own lawyer, Mia Fairlie, allows him the chance to escape the facility. After murdering Lizzie’s roommate he kidnaps Lizzie and tells Joe he must meet him to talk if he ever wishes to see her again. Joe then must choose between saving Paul Gregory to force him to face justice for his crimes or an unconscious Lizzie when Paul slices his own throat right in front of him.
When a suspect is discovered through DNA evidence inside the stomach of one of the victims neither Joe or his colleague DS Sylvia Mason are convinced of his guilt. He just doesn’t fit the profile. Samuel Slaski, Sal Slaski’s twenty something son is poorly educated and disorganised in stark contrast to the man Joe believes they are looking for. Big Sam as he is called because of his height denies he is connected to the crimes and looks to his lawyer, Paul Gregory, for help. When a search of Sal’s produces a sinister notebook, Joe gets closer to the truth. When Sam indicates the author of the hand writing contained inside is that of Paul Gregory, the race is on to stop him.
A gruesome discovery at Gregory’s childhood home further exposes his guilt. With nowhere left to run Paul Gregory introduces Joe and his team to The Darkness. Dr Dianne Cook recommends further assessment in a secure mental health unit until he is fit to be interviewed. Paul Gregory’s manipulation of his own lawyer, Mia Fairlie, allows him the chance to escape the facility. After murdering Lizzie’s roommate he kidnaps Lizzie and tells Joe he must meet him to talk if he ever wishes to see her again. Joe then must choose between saving Paul Gregory to force him to face justice for his crimes or an unconscious Lizzie when Paul slices his own throat right in front of him.
Don't forget Kenna's Timothie Hill and the Cloak of Power! 5 Star review from Laurie Woodward:
"An adorable adventure for kids of all ages. And a fun read aloud to boot!"
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
GROANERS and the benefits of MODERATE alcohol use!!
What happened to the frog's car when his parking meter expired?What do you call a frog that crosses the road, jumps in a puddle, and crosses the road again?
What's green green green green green?
What is a frogs favorite time?
Why did the frog go to the mall?
What's your favorite groaner? Post it here!
Or did you write a frog story for children (or adults?)? Post it here!
Have a great week, everyone! HUMP DAY TOMORROW!!
THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DRINKING ALCOHOL
That means one drink a day for women, two for men. Imbibe more than that, and your risk for health problems goes up! Not to mention alcoholism, which no one wants to live with, believe me!
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE UNIQUE D.M. CAIN, CREATIVIA AUTHOR
Why are the
Light and Shadow Chronicles unique?
My immersive fantasy novels A Chronicle of Chaos and The Shield of Soren are part of a dark, epic series called The Light and Shadow Chronicles. This
series features warriors, epic battles, angels, demons, magic and people with
incredible powers.
So what makes it any different from countless other fantasy series?
Read on to find out...
Each of the books in the series focuses on a
significant character and their role within the eternal war. Every story lays a
building block for the epic finale but the books are written out of order. One
story may feature a character in his adulthood, the next is set before he is
born, the next after his death. Putting the order of events together is up to
the reader.
The reader may choose their own journey through the
saga. If they feel connected to a certain character, they can follow that
individual’s story first. And if they join the series after book 5 is released,
there is no need to read books one through four first.
So the series truly is individual, and a reader may
navigate it as they see fit. So, with new books being released all the time, the
choice is up to you. Catch up on A
Chronicle of Chaos and The Shield of
Soren first or read them afterwards. It will make no difference to the
understanding of the series as a whole.
And if you fall in love with the series, you won’t
have long to wait – more stories are on their way!
Genesis of Light and Origin of Shadow – two complementary novellas will be released this
year, and the next full-length novel, The
Sins of Silas, will be coming in 2019.
D.M. Cain Biography
 |
| D.M. CAIN |
D.M. Cain is a dystopian
and fantasy author working for Creativia Publishing. The Light and Shadow Chronicles series features a
range of books which can be read in any order. The series instalments to date
include A Chronicle of Chaos and The Shield of Soren. D.M. Cain is working on the next novel in the Light and Shadow
Chronicles series, The Sins of Silas,
as well as two complementary novellas entitled Genesis of Light and Origin
of Shadow.
Cain has released one
stand-alone novel: The Phoenix Project, a psychological thriller set in a dystopian future. The Phoenix
Project was the winner of the 2016 Kindle Book Review Best Sci-Fi novel Award.
D.M. Cain is also a member of the International
Thriller Writers and one of the creators and administrators of the online
author group #Awethors. Her short story The
End was published in Awethology Dark: an anthology by the #Awethors.
Cain lives in
Leicestershire, UK with her husband and two young
children, and spends her time reading, writing, reviewing and indulging in geek
culture (Marvel, GoT, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Final Fantasy).
Links
Amazon: Author.to/DMCain84
I hope you've enjoyed the journey through D.M. Cain's fantastical mind and series. Be sure and pick up a copy on Amazon today!
And don't forget Kenna's latest superhero fantasy about a caped crusader hair stylist who lives in Edmonton, Alberta! This eBook will be on sale for 99 c in the UK and USA May 30-31, 2018. Be sure and check out Timothie, the superhero hair stylist!
Saturday, May 5, 2018
INTERVIEW WITH THE FASCINATING NICK SWEET
 |
| NICK SWEET |
Kenna: Introducing Nick Sweet, world traveler and Author.
Hello, Nick! Please tell us
something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
I’m a Brit, originally from Bristol, but have
moved around a fair bit. I’ve been based in Spain for the past eight years or
so. I like it over here and have no plans to leave. If I write a string of huge
bestsellers, I’ll still keep a place here to come to, although I’ll probably
spend months at a time living in Manhattan, writing by day, and hanging out in the
jazz clubs every night. I went there and checked out the Village Vanguard and
Birdland last summer and was in my element. So, yeah, Spain’s great. It’s home
and I like it here. It doesn’t have Birdland or the Village Vanguard, but it
has lots of other things instead. I like the culture here and the people are
generally friendly. I speak fluent Spanish and read in Spanish, which of course
is essential if you want to live here without going completely bonkers.
I became a writer because I love
reading books and have a need to write or at least to be creative in some way.
I think writing is basically an act of rebellion in which nobody gets hurt; on
the contrary, if the book’s any good then readers will derive pleasure from it,
as well as a complicated/fun form of learning, even, too, perhaps. If anyone
gets hurt, then it’s the writer.
Why do I need to write? That’s one for
the psychiatrist’s couch. I just need to be and feel creative. It goes deep
with me, this feeling. Why and where does it come from? Again, it’s hard to
say. I suspect that people who write have a part of their personality and
sensibility that’s over-developed, while other parts may not be so well
developed. Writing and being creative in general is a way of reacting to the
world. At times it can even become a way of trying to cope with experience and
understand it. But I’m not in the habit of over-intellectualizing these things.
At the end of the day, I like to tell stories and so I do. I also like the idea
of working at a thing – the art or craft of writing in this case – and working
and working, so that you’re always improving over time. I like the idea of
making characters and scenarios come to life on the page. I like, too, the idea
of learning new things about my craft, and about experimenting with different
styles. That said, it’s really tough work, because there’s a sense in which
there really is no point in writing unless you’re going to try to do it as well
as you possibly can. It’s different from playing football, say, in your spare
time, where you can just enjoy the game and the camaraderie and benefit from
the exercise, even if you’re no good at it. With writing, if I really felt I
didn’t have any talent then I’d pack it in. The frustrating thing is when you
believe you have talent, but other people – agents, most notably – fail to see
it. Or else they’re looking for something else, something you’re not offering.
Rejection is hard to take and I’ve had more than my fair share. If your books
aren’t selling it’s devillishly hard to attract an agent. If you can’t attract
an agent then you’re not going to get the big editors at the big publishers to
read your work. And if you don’t get a big publisher then you won’t sell a lot
of books. And if you don’t sell a lot of books, you almost certainly won’t
attract an agent. It’s a vicious circle. Sometimes you feel like some homeless
tramp trying to pull a gorgeous film star. Why would she even give you the time
of day, when she’s got millionaires queueing up to whisk her off for dinner at
the Ritz? It’s not quite true that agents usually tell me I’m without talent.
On the contrary, in recent months I’ve had agents tell me ‘you write well and
produce some lively characters’ and ‘you’re an accomplished writer’ who is ‘in
control of your story’. Another said she liked my style. Another loved the way
I worked descriptions into the narrative voice, but felt there was a little too
much dialogue. Another agent wrote saying she was ‘sitting on the fence’
regarding whether or not to sign me on for a couple of months, but then she
decided not to… So agents appear to see I can at least write a bit, but somehow
I haven’t managed to get one to sign me on yet. People who aren’t in the
writing game probably think it’s all rather simple. If you’ve got talent then
agents will spot it and sign you, just as happens with footballers, say. But
somehow it doesn’t seem to work like that. Each agent appears to have some
particular idea in mind, some book they are looking for, and you’re not going
to get lucky nowadays unless you give them just what they’re looking for. And
it takes take for people to read your work, of course, and I can imagine that
if I were an agent and had thousands of people all sending me their work then
I’d probably unplug the phone and head for the hills. I mean, I can only read
stuff I really like, stuff that inspires me, so a part of me can put myself in
their shoes and see their problem. That said, I still think I’m far too
talented a writer to be neglected. I deserve to have a good agent and a top
publisher. My work deserves that much, or I think it does, and so I suppose
that’s one of the reasons I’ve kept on writing all this time.
How to break out of this vicious
circle’s the question I often ask myself. And while I ask it, I make sure I’m
always writing, writing, writing…because it’s important not to let rejection
stop you writing – at least for more than a few days at a time – because if you
do that then you really will be sunk.
Kenna: What
genre do you generally write and what have
you had published to-date? What do you
think of eBooks?
I’ve written crime thrillers like The Long Siesta, Flowers At Midnight, Bad In
Bardino, Switch and Only The Lonely.
I’ve also written works of historical and/or literary fiction, such as One Flesh, Young Hearts, and Gemini Games. Then there’s my one-off
western novel, Ways of the West. All
of my books have been published by small-ish independent publishers.
Kenna: Have you self-published? If
so, what led to you going your own way?
I haven’t self-published and, frankly,
I’d wouldn’t even know how to go about it. I have enough to do what with
working as a teacher in a state school in Spain and writing my books. And I
have to try to squeeze in living my life in between, of course, so I can do
without the awful hassle of having to design front covers and all that stuff.
The mere thought of it brings me out in a rash!
Kenna: Do you have a
favourite of your stories or characters? If any of your books were made into films,
who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Humphry Bogart, except that he’s dead, so I’ll have
to think some more. To be honest, it’s not something I’ve ever given much
thought to. De Niro or Pacino would have been perfect, only they’re both too
old for the roles now. I’ll have to give it some thought… It would have to be
some guy who’s kind of stylish in a hard-bitten sort of way. Ben Gazzara might
have fitted the bill, too. That type…
Kenna: Which authors did
you read when you were younger and did they shape you as a writer?
I got into Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Joyce in my
late teens and loved them. Ditto the poetry of T.S. Eliot and, of course,
Shakespeare. I read Dickens around the same time, and then discovered Tolstoy
and Dostoyevsky. All of these authors opened up new worlds to me. I didn’t
really get into crime until some years later, when I discovered Simenon and
began reading a lot of his books. Then I discovered Elmore Leonard. He wrote
about people I recognized because I’d spoken to them, rubbed shoulders with
them in bars or wherever. Ordinary people who find themselves in a tough spot
and end up doing the wrong thing… I’ve met plenty of people like that. And then
there are the innocent folk who happen, purely by chance, to find themselves
mixed up in events or scenarios that are not of their own choosing. Pronto was the first Elmore Leonard book
I read and I loved it. It seemed about two hundred years ahead of anything else
that I’d been reading around that time. Leonard had, it seemed to me, found a
new way of writing about people that don’t normally end up in books…a whole new
way of both looking at the world and writing about it. My book Flowers At Midnight is probably the book of mine that’s most
inspired by Elmore Leonard. Some reviewers picked up on this, most notably
Professor Richard B. Schwartz, who teaches English at the University of
Missouri. He wrote a very insightful review on Amazon – he clearly understood
where I was coming from with the book, and what I’d set out to do. Other
reviewers picked up on it, too, though.
Then in The
Long Siesta I fell slightly more under the influence of Raymond Chandler’s
The Long Goodbye, which struck me as
being one of the two great early literary masterpieces in the crime genre, the
other being The Postman Always Rings
Twice. I’ve since discovered Patricia Highsmith’s books and really enjoy
them, too. But those are some of the important writers of the classical or formative
period of the crime novel, and if you want to write for the modern market then
you need to read a large share of the writers who are featuring in the
bestselling charts nowadays, too, so that you have a clear idea of what the novel
is getting up to in the genre today.
So over the past 15 years or so, I’ve read six or
eight books by Michael Connolly and Ian Rankin, James Ellroy, John Harvey and
Dennis Lehane. I’ve also read Patricia Cornwall, James Patterson, Gill Flynn,
Sarah Waters, Martina Cole, Mark Billingham, Lee Child etc. All those writers
are dauntingly good in any number of ways. But let’s take one of them, Michael
Connolly. Connolly turns out flawlessly plotted crime procedurals, one after
another, practically year after year. He’s the John Grisham of the police
procedural, except that he writes a lot more books. I’ve read a number of his
books. About eight, I’d say, at the last count. They are long books that are
high on well-researched detail. Connolly clearly knows a lot about how the
police operate. The man is a publisher’s/agent’s dream. It’s obvious he’s going
to get millions of readers. So why should somebody like me even bother? I mean
if I’m honest with myself, then I have to admit that I can’t compete with a
writer like Connolly in terms of what he does. I can’t plot as well as he does
and I don’t have a team of researchers at my disposal, or the best editorial
team rushing to polish my prose, or the best marketing team ready to pump
millions into promoting and distributing my books. So why do I keep hammering
away at the keys? Well, it’s my belief that I also have something to offer,
something that a writer like Connolly, staggeringly good that he is, doesn’t
offer. Connolly is like the QE2. His is a perfectly engineered ship and you go
aboard and eveything’s in working order. My vessel, on the other hand, is a
broken down old vessel, but if you come aboard then you’ll find some characters
that you won’t find in Connolly’s books, or anyone else’s for that matter.
You’ll find yourself in a different world, and one that’s interesting.
Sometimes you might wonder if the captain knows where he’s taking you, or
whether he’s drunk at the helm or simply crazy. Sometimes you might even wonder
whether the engine’s going to pack up. But somehow the vessel will continue to
surprise you by moving through the water, and you will end up visiting some
strange and interesting places you never knew existed and meeting some
characters that will surprise you just as much. You’ll come away feeling like
you’ve experienced something different, something a little whacky and
individual; something flawed in parts, perhaps, but well worth the time you
gave to it even so. And you’ll find, by the end of the experience, that the captain
either got incredibly lucky or else he had some idea where he was going after
all. That is, you’ll feel that the different strands of the plot all ended up
hanging together, just about – even if you can’t quite work out how… After
you’ve read my book, you’ll still want to read Connolly’s next one, of course, but
you might just want to read my next one as well, because you’ll have come to
believe that I offer a slightly different slant on things, something a little
different that’s worth experiencing…
To get back to The
Long Siesta…as well as Chandler, I was also influenced by Robert Wilson’s The Blind Man of Seville to a degree,
not so much in terms of style, but because I’d read it shortly before starting
work on The Long Siesta, and I really
enjoyed it, so it sort of gave me the impetus to write a book about Seville
myself. I was living in Calle Teodosio at the time, and Wilson’s Falcon was being
kept busy just a couple of streets up closer to the river. When I wrote to
Robert to tell him how much I’d enjoyed his novel, it turned out he’d lived
somewhere on Calle Teodosio, too, for a while, some years before me.
Anyway, the point I was trying to get to is that
while Flowers At Midnight is
influenced by Elmore Leonard, The Long Siesta
is more influenced by Chandler. Professor Richard B. Schwartz picked up on this
regarding The Long Siesta, in his
review of that book on Amazon, too. Barry Forshaw wrote a very positive review
of The Long Siesta in Crime Time
Magazine, and the same review, only slightly less enthusiastic, appeared in
Barry’s critical who’s-who of British crime writers, Brit Noir. A lot of highly respected authors offered quotes for
the back cover, too. People like Nicholas Blincoe, Caro Ramsay, Howard Linskey,
and a fair few others. Then, with Bad In
Bardino, I went a step further and made the style even more consciously
Chandleresque, or at least that was my intention. With Bad, I set out to rework Chandler for the modern day. Of course I’m
not saying I succeeded necessarily, but there are things I like in all three of
those books. I mean they could all be plotted better, and there are definitely
things that can be improved in them, but even so I think the books have some
energy and verve in them; the characters come to life on the page, and so do
the places that I write about. I also feel pleased with the way I was able to
write in different styles and feel comfortable doing so. I mean, there was
nothing artificial or fake about it with any of those books.
Gemini
Games, which is really a
literary novel set in the 1990s, has a streetwise, picaresque style style, much
like Flowers At Midnight, that owes
something to Elmore Leonard. (By the way, D.M Thomas, D.J. Taylor and Andrew
O’Hagan all offered quotes for the back cover of Gemini Games, which was very generous of them.) But then when I
wrote my historical novels, Young Hearts
and One Flesh, I adopted an entirely
different style, more in keeping with the times in which those two books were
set. I felt quite natural with that style, too, but it’s a whole world away
from the styles I’ve adopted for my crime novels. In fact, people who read the
historical books and then check out my crime books will probably find it hard
to believe these novels could all have been written by the same writer. Not
that I adopted different styles just for the hell of it. Quite to the contrary.
If you write about the First World War, as I did in Young Hearts, then you need to find a style that’s appropriate to
the period. The style of Flowers At
Midnight would be all wrong for such a book, that much was obvious to me. I
mean, it wasn’t something I even needed to think about.
I have another book I’ve finished recently that’s
been written in a fresh style which, I feel, owes nothing to either Chandler or
Elmore Leonard - or anyone else, for that matter. I wanted to write something
different and to a find a new style that didn’t owe anything to any other
writers. I think I felt that if Chandler or Elmore Leonard were to write novels
now and send them in they probably wouldn’t get published. That is, they’d wouldn’t unless they were
prepared to drop their old styles and search for something new, whatever it is
the market is looking for right now. The times have changed and the market has
changed with them. As a writer, it’s hard to work out what agents/publishers/readers
are looking for. You’re really just shooting in the dark and hoping you get
lucky, in a sense. The thing is, to
write something you like yourself and just hope that other people end up liking
it. But I certainly felt, after writing books influenced by Leonard and
Chandler, and failing even to attract an agent or a big publisher, that it was
time to find a new style…a style more appropriate for the current time. And so
that’s what I set out to do.
My latest book is being read by someone – a
professional, that’s to say - at the moment, so I’ve no idea what it’s ultimate
fate will be. Ultimately, I want to get my books on shelves in bookshops. The
publishers I’ve been with to date have all done an excellent job in all sorts
of ways and I’m very happy with them, don’t get me wrong, but none of them have
succeeded in getting my books into bookshops all over the world. And until that
happens, I won’t be satisfied. I feel that my work needs and deserves to be
read by millions of people, everywhere, and the challenge is to try to reach
that huge, worldwide market.
So there’s a sense in which I’m kind of pleased
with all of the books I’ve written, because I worked hard on writing and then editing
all of them to ensure they were the way I wanted them. I’m also pleased with
the way they all contain a touch or two of individual flair and style and
creative verve here and there, at least I think they do. What I’m not satisfied
with, however, is the fact that my books have failed to find their way onto
bookshelves in the chain stories in London or Liverpool, or New York or
Chicago, or Rome or Barcelona or Buenos Aires, or wherever… So I’ve needed to
go back to the drawing board and rethink where I’m going as I writer. I really
believe it’s perfectly possible to write a pretty good book nowadays, or even a
few pretty good books, and not get noticed. That’s because it’s not really
about whether any given book is any good or not nowadays, so much as whether it
reaches the public and feeds a particular need or meets a particular niche in
the market. For this reason, there is really no point in writing unless you are
going to try to reach the public – at least that’s the way I feel about it. I
mean, I can’t imagine a James Joyce, say, or a Celine writing today and getting
any acclaim or success. I think their books would just be lost in the mass of
publications that are out there. So if they were around today, they’d have to
climb out of their ivory towers and try and write somethiing that the public en
masse wants to read. The old days of striving for literary excellence are over and
it doesn’t look as though they’ll be coming back…which of course rather means
that the study of literature in the universities is living on borrowed time.
As I say, I can’t talk much about my latest book,
beyond saying that it’s a crime thriller that runs to around 140,000 words in
draft form, because it’s still early days and it’s not yet found a publisher.
If I don’t find a bigger publisher for this book, I might even just hold on to
it until I make a breakthrough. I’ve got nine books out there at the moment, I
think. That’s probably enough books to have with small-ish publishers for any
writer of ambition. In truth, I really don’t have any idea where my next step
as a writer is going to take me – but all I hope is that it will take me to the
top!
Kenna: Do you manage to write every
day, and do you plot your stories or just get an idea and run with it?
I try to write regularly, but it’s important not to
force things but to let the writing dictate its own rhythm – it’s a bit like
sex, in that sense, and the whole business of love itself. Which means there
are days I can’t see the woods for the trees and find it almost impossible to
write anything, and then there are days when I just want everyone to leave me
alone so I can write…and write…and write… That happens when the story is so
clear and alive in my mind that it practically writes itself.
Each book is a fresh enterprise, and in my case
I’ve not just written different stories but I’ve also come up with fresh styles
to tell my stories in.
Kenna: Do you do a lot of editing
or research?
I do a lot of editing, particularly because I tend
to start off a bit shakily. I generally have to write a hundred pages or so on
any given draft, before I start to feel like it’s real. When I go back to a
manuscript afterwards, it stands out a mile – the point at which the story and
characters became totally alive for me. After I reach that point, the writing
always becomes crisper and more alive and precise, and just much better in
every way, and for this reason it doesn’t generally require anywhere near so
much editing. The openings, however, are often full of flaws that don’t fit in
with what comes afterwards, as well as false starts, where I’m clearly feeling
my way and trying out different options, so it all that has to be worked out.
It’s a case of having to go back to the start and going through it all again
with a toothcomb. Which of course is often the very last thing you feel like
doing, after you’ve just finished the draft of a book and are exhausted and
probably feel like you’ve had enough of it and just want to do something else
to take your mind off it. But
if you want to write well then you need to learn to edit your own work, at
least to a proficient degree. Then if you’re lucky and you get to work with
good editors, they can pick up where you’ve left off and hopefully make your
work even better.
The hard part, for me, is deciding what to leave in
and what to edit out. Hemingway famously said cut, cut, cut, and if you’re
still in doubt cut again. But books nowadays are often quite long, and the kind
of clipped, elliptical style of writers like Elmore Leonard and Hemingway
before him, which is to say writers who use words sparely, is completely out of
fashion. Of the books I’ve published to date, only Young Hearts runs to 80,000 words. The others run to something less
than this, which, as I say, runs counter to the modern trend and fashion. So
I’ve decided to stop writing short books and write longer ones…longer books and
in a new style. If my next book turns out to be rubbish, then at least it will
be a new and different kind of
rubbish, one that won’t owe anything to Elmore Leonard or Mr Leonard’s mentor,
Mr Hemingway. It’s time to try and put those to wonderful gents to bed. I’m
sure they’ll get on just fine without yours truly. After all, they’ve managed
to get this far without my help. (I’ve got my tongue firmly in my cheek as I
say this, of course.)
Now for a little writerly madness. Get hold of this
idea and wrap it around a nearby flagpole. I hereby confess I sometimes get the
idea that there might be a book I’m meant to write but that I’ve failed to find
it yet…that the ideas and the style are just out there waiting for me – perhaps they’re right under my nose –
but I haven’t been able to find them. It’s a weird feeling…rather a good
sensation, but it’s tantalizing, too. People tend to talk about this or that
writer having his or her particular style, when it seems that I’ve written in a
number of styles. What’s more, it
strikes me there could be a style out there that I’ve yet to find, a style that’s just
right for me. Who knows…?
How does a writer know that the stuff he’s writing
about is the stuff he’s meant to be writing about, or that the style he’s
writing in is the style he’s really meant to be writing in? These questions may
strike some people as being slightly crazy, but they are, I can assure you,
questions that occur to me on a regular basis. Why should a writer just have
one style? What’s to say he/she shouldn’t have a whole bag of styles fighting
it out with each other, all striving to be the one for him/her?
The great enemy of the novel, or creativity in
general – and not just that, but of love itself and honesty in human relations
– is political correctness. If the writer fails to fight the dragon of PC his
or her work will merely add to the cesspool that PC is slowly adding to. For
this and a number of other reasons, good books are acts of rebellion…
And of course taste plays a big part in the whole
business. I once met a woman who was going to read my work, and I knew, just
from looking at her footwear, that she wouldn’t like the work I had to show
her…and I was right. Of course, I could hardly tell her, ‘Look, I know we’re
both wasting our time here, because of those awful boots you’ve got on…’ But I
could tell it at a single glance…
Kenna: What’s your
favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?
:
Rejection is tough to take, of course. And if
you’re getting rejections while working on a new book, it can sometimes hit you
sideways so that it can take the wind out of your sails. It’s not so much about
being sensitive to any given individual’s thoughts on my work – I don’t really
give two hoots about that – but rather the sense that you’re faced with a wall
that’s looking as insurmountable today as it ever did…
Kenna: What are you working
on at the moment / next?
I’m working on a new book at the moment. It doesn’t
yet have a title and, for the reasons explained above, I’m going at it very
tentatively, as I always do at the start. It will be different from anything
else I’ve written; that’s the only thing I can tell you about it at this stage.
I always feel particularly talentless when starting out and frequently feel
like throwing in the towel. We’ll see…
Kenna: Where can we find
out about you and your writing?
Thank you again for taking
part in this blog interview. I’m very grateful for taking time out from your
writing to answer these questions and wish you all the best with your future
projects.
Kenna
http://www.KennaMcKinnonAuthor.com
5 Stars from author Diane Rapp! "When Errl meets a beautiful golden-haired female, he literally falls head-over-heels in love. Soon he’s convinced he doesn’t want to leave Earth without her, but can he convince this lovely creature to return to Planet X? He can’t stay behind on Earth with his lady love, because humans tracking him have dangerous guns. A few humans seem friendly, but can he really trust them to help?"
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