Blogging

I wrote somewhere, rather pompously, that if you call yourself a writer you have a duty to at least try to write well. In my books I do my best to express myself clearly in correct English. This takes hard work because, as Robert Louis Stevenson said, 'The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean.' 

Many authors, some of them very successful, seem to pay scant attention to the quality of their prose, which I think is a pity. Others, like Ian McEwan or Kazuo Ishiguru, express themselves so lucidly that it is a pleasure to read their books just for the beauty of the language. 

In my own way I'm a bit of a pedant, and quite old-fashioned. For example, I try not to including contractions in my work, although there is no good reason why a writer of commercial crime fiction should avoid them. There may even be an argument in favour of using them, as 'don't' and 'can't' speed up the pace, where 'do not' and 'cannot' maybe slow it down. I suppose decades of teaching teenagers how to write 'properly', in correct, formal English, has left its mark on my writing. 

But writing for a blog is different - especially when it is a post for my own personal blog. Here, I am  free to use excessive punctuation, for example!! (Would I ever use double exclamation marks in a book??? Of course not!!!) What might look inappropriate in a novel to my blinkered eyes, seems perfectly acceptable here. 

Of course blogs are not solely outlets for trivia. Many bloggers analyse, critique and comment on important issues in culture and current affairs. A blog can be whatever the writer chooses to make it, and we are fortunate to live in a period where blogs are so many and so varied.

In his droll and whimsical novel, Tristram Shandy, the eighteenth century writer Laurence Sterne set out to break all the contemporary rules of fiction, in an ingenious parody of the rather self-consciously worthy novels of the time. I think Sterne would have relished the liberty of a blog.

http://leighrussell.co.uk

Authors on Social Media

I just came across an article in Publishers Weekly presenting The Future of Reading: 10 Trends for 2014 and Beyond, published in 2014. Not all the predictions have come true... yet. We are not all wearing 'reading glasses', not reading glasses like those of us with what I like to call 'mature' eyes wear, but glasses that actually do the reading for us. (As with most technology, I may have totally understood that. Perhaps I really do need a device to do my reading for me... )

Among the paragraphs on 'Visual Literature' and 'Data-Driven Narrative', 'Print-on-Demand' and 'Instant Translation' was this: "In the social media era, it’s become commonplace for authors to provide free content on blogs, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and to interact with fans on public forums (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) as a way to establish their distinctive brand personas."

So authors are not only expected to appear at literary festivals for free (cf my last post for my views on this topic) we are also supposed to establish 'a distinctive brand persona', whatever that is. (I have to confess to being out of my depth with all this.) And of course we have to find time to do that other thing... what was it?... oh yes, write books. 

Some authors are better than the rest of us at exploiting the opportunities offered by social media. Many of the very successful self-published authors have a background in PR of some sort. Of course it's a given that they write books other people want to read, but well done to them for having the knowhow to help promote their books. If I had those skills, I'd use them. Who wouldn't? When  it comes to self-promotion most of us are clumsy amateurs. 

So is this 'free content' online really useful to an author? First literary festivals, now blogs and twitter and Facebook and all the other outlets, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr... there are so many, most of which I have only vaguely heard of. Should we give up our time 'for free' to interact with fans? 

I have to admit to loving my little forays into social media. Confession time: it's fun to write a blog post where I can go crazy with hyperbole and indulge myself with ridiculously excessive punctuation!!! It's very different to writing books, where I take scrupulous care with my language. Facebook is fun too. I post photos there, something I haven't mastered on my blog. Sometimes it works. Mostly my attempts fail, or the photo is ridiculously large, or refuses to go where I want it. 

But if writers don't enjoy social media, it really doesn't matter.

I'm not suggesting that, as creatives, we need only sit in our ivory towers and write a book for great wealth to pour into our needy coffers meaning we never have to work for a living again. Isn't that how it works? We are the Cinderellas of the world, and the Prince - let's change his name from 'Charming' to 'Success' or 'Fame' - will seek us out and save us from the nightmare of obscurity, a pitiful existence where no one has heard of us. 

What I am saying is that most of us are doomed to - or possibly blessed with - obscurity. It all depends on your attitude. The fairytale teaches us that there is only one prince. There can be only one Cinderella. Losers outnumber winners in that family. The majority of us are destined to play the role of the ugly sisters, names unknown. Yet Cinderella's sisters never had to sweep the floor or do menial work around the house, and they were invited to the royal ball. When you think about it, they had a very comfortable existence. They just had a bad attitude. They thought they were entitled to marry a prince.  

So here's my advice, for what it's worth. Use social media if you want to. It can be fun. You meet all sorts of lovely and interesting people online (and, just between us, it's a great way to procrastinate!) but don't expect it to turn you into a 'distinctive brand persona'. Live in the real world, and manage your expectations accordingly. I don't expect my efforts on social media to bring me fame and fortune. I'm relying on my fairy godmother to do that. 

Blog Tour Day One

For the first stop of my October Blog Tour I was invited to comment on how the world of publishing has changed.

I hope you find it interesting! I'll post the text of it here tomorrow or you can read it now on 

http://www.thereadingthing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/leigh-russell-race-to-death-blog-tour.html

Thanks to The Reading Thing for hosting. 

Buy RACE TO DEATH here

The Death of the Novel?

First as reader, now as author, all my life I have  have been permanently engrossed in at least one book.  Like many people, fiction is, paradoxically, my 'reality'.
One of the appeals of fiction is that it offers us an escape from life where the pace of change seems to be speeding up all the time. Most events are consigned to the relative oblivion of history after a year, or a month, sometimes even less. As HW said, "a week is a long time in politics."
But sometimes it can be instructive to take a longer view, so let me take you back in time to 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London. One of the most remarkable records of that event comes from an eye witness account by Samuel Pepys, whose diary has survived. This is not a novel. Not only is Pepys telling us about real events, but he couldn't have been writing a novel in 1666 as the form did not yet exist. It would not emerge for nearly another century.
The first novel in English was published in the mid 1700s. It took the form of a series of letters, as writers had not yet envisaged the concept of the prose narrator as a character in its own right, or even as a disembodied omniscient authorial voice. The letters were a clever device, taking the reader inside the thoughts and feelings of different characters. This allowed for intimate first person narratives, from different view points. It was entirely new, or 'novel'.
Today we retain the name, but the form itself is no longer ground breaking, or even 'novel'.
There has been a lot of discussion recently, some of it on this blog, about dwindling book sales, and 'discoverability' for authors, and how they can attract more readers. But perhaps the real problem lies, not with the proliferation of authors, or the failing quality of writing, or that people are no longer reading, but with the form itself.
Has the novel had its day? And would that matter?
We can access stories from other sources - films, television, games, the media - but these are not the same as novels which go into more depth. Through the medium of stories, the best novels offer us insights into contemporary life and morals, and hence ourselves. Think of any great novel - Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, Moby Dick, Dickens, Hardy - not only were they instrumental in changing opinions at the time, but they provided a record of society and how people were thinking at the time they were written.
Which brings us back to Samuel Pepys, whose diaries tell us about his daily life in the 1600s - no different to a modern blog. Perhaps we have come full circle, and the reason new novelists are struggling to break into the market is that the novel form has outlived its popularity.

Postscript
No sooner had I finished writing this post than I came across an article about "embracing the artistic potential of social media". Really? Here it is:

"David Mitchell To Put Next Work On Twitter
"Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell is to publish his next work on Twitter. The British writer has penned a short story, titled The Right Sort, in 140-character instalments. It will be serialised in clusters of about 20 tweets at a time over the next seven days. In total there will be 280 Tweets.
But while embracing the artistic potential of social media, Mitchell himself is not a tweeter and had to open a Twitter account for the project."

The end of the novel as we know it? Sigh. Sometimes I would prefer not to be tuned into the current zeitgeist, but then that is the job of an author.
Or is it?

To blog or not to blog

Once again, I am beginning my post with an apology, because I have been remiss, failing to post here for a while. Here's why: Life is crazily hectic right now... I know I always use that excuse...
Yesterday I went to a Society of Authors Conference in Bristol, which was interesting and useful. It was good to catch up with a few familiar faces there: Felix Francis, Andrew Taylor, Michael Jecks, Liz Fenwick, to name just a few. I also met Luana Lewis who is joining the crime panel at Uxbridge Library tomorrow, along with Barbara Nadel and Zoe Sharp. On Saturday I'm off to Watford to sign my books at WH Smith, and Monday evening is the CWA Dagger Dinner. Add to that dinner with a group of friends tonight, and going out for a posh tea on Sunday (I'm not allowed to know where) and you will hopefully agree my excuse is anything but fatuous.
Next week we're going away for a few days before the next round of activity begins with more library talks and signings, and Harrogate Crime Festival at the end of July, The Writers Lab for two weeks in Greece, and a week in France for a Literary Festival in August, and then a two week tour of York for the launch of Race to Death in October, when I'll be signing the book at York Races! There are a lot of other events in the diary for this year, including a panel with James Runcie and Ben Aaronovitch. All the details are on my website http://leighrussell.co.uk under 'Events'.
So with all this going on, what has happened to the writing? Well, I'm pleased to tell you that I have finished the first draft of the seventh in my Geraldine Steel series, and have a cracking idea for the third Ian Peterson book. I'll be starting on that in July, once I've finished rereading and polishing the seventh Geraldine Steel manuscript, ready to go off  to The Editor.
I've not been blogging, but I haven't been idle!
In the meantime, the list of topics I want to blog (comment/rant) about is growing. The whole book industry seems to be in meltdown at the moment. No one quite knows what is going on, or where we are heading.

• ebooks vs print books - ?
• amazon vs physical books stores - ?
• traditional vs self-publishing - ?

So much to say, I don't know where to begin! For now, it's back to Geraldine, in my new office...

UK blog tour

The UK blog tour for Fatal Act begins today! Thanks to Crime Book Club. 
Fatal Act Blog Tour

A little optimism at Christmas time!

It's been a long time since I've posted at any length here. I've been REALLY busy writing, going through edits, checking typescript, and book promotion and really haven't had time to think. I tend increasingly to post my news on facebook. Here's the link if you'd like to check it out and hopefully follow me.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000039477919
I also try and update the news section on my website from time to time http://leighrussell.co.uk/
My blog here is where I allow myself to think. It's great to have a site where I can ramble on without any concern for plot making sense, characters being consistent, or even writing prose that is coherent. Writing my books requires more focus. Here on my blog I can just ramble or, on occasion, rant. So - here I am once again - to ramble or to rant?
This year I've had a few rants online, for example about the shocking news of so many libraries closing - 6 out of 12 in Brent! But I'm feeling fairly optimistic this evening. I've just read an online article about readers out and spending money in the bookshops in the US, and I've been meeting lots of readers in Waterstones and the book sections of WH Smith's, at my recent book signings (lots of photos on facebook!) It remains to be seen what will happen to the bookshops as more people buy kindles, but things may turn out better than I've been fearing. Perhaps there really will be a place for both print books and ereaders. With alternative means of accessing books, maybe more young people will catch the reading habit. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Good news this week: A reader recommended Dead End on a BBC Radio 2 phone in, and Dead End has been chosen by readers as one of the Best Crime Books for 2011. Here's the link http://www.crimetime.co.uk/mag/index.php/showindex/best2011 if you'd like to give Dead End your support, and you can give your own books a plug at the same time! Just fill in the boxes on the right. There's no need to sign up or subscribe or even leave your email if you don't want to. It's very simple.

And some news for Christmas

Contact me on http://leighrussell.co.uk/ if you'd like an inscription for one of my books to make an original Christmas present.

And if you own a kindle - or are given one for Christmas - you can download my next novel Death Bed on 25th December! It will be out in print in 2012.

 

On writing and... writing

Oxford University professor Kathryn Sutherland has thrown doubt over Jane Austen’s authorship of her novels, her scepticism based on an analysis of Austen’s letters. The theory seems to hinge on Sutherland’s expectation that Austen’s letters should be written in the same perfectly polished style as her books. But the letters, according to Sutherland, are “littered with misspelling and grammar errors”. The books are not. Therefore, Sutherland concludes, the books could not have been written by Austen. Sutherland goes on to quote from Austen’s editor, William Gifford, who wrote of a draft of Emma: “It is very carelessly copied… there are many short omissions which must be inserted.” He offers to “readily correct the proof for you.” From which Sutherland presumes that the books were at least in part written by the editor Gifford.
Oh dear.
I hope no one scrutinises my blog posts, emails, facebook comments, and tweets and compares them to my books. My books are by and large grammatically accurate, and my other ramblings aren’t. But would anyone conclude that my books were written by someone else? We don’t expect tweets and emails to be well-written, carefully considered literature. Why should Jane Austen’s private notes and scribblings be judged by different standards to those of today? Jane Austen’s letters weren’t written for publication. They were private. Why should she have written beautifully constructed letters in perfect elegant prose? Her books of course are another matter altogether and I daresay she – and her editor – checked and corrected them carefully.
Any serious author will acknowledge the help of their editor. Why should Jane Austen be any different?

Is it a dream?

I don't think I'll ever become blase about being interviewed. It's always a thrill, not least because so far all the people who have interviewed me have been absolutely lovely. There are far too many interviews to post all the links here, but here's a link to the most recent one:http://issuu.com/whitstableimp/docs/whit_may2010 pages 14-15
I've posted before on my own blog about this sneaking feeling I have that this can't really be happening to me... What am I doing here, a suddenly-successful author with two reprints of my first book, a second out in proof copies, a third almost written and a fourth in the pipeline... and more after that... Bookstores contact my publisher offering to host signings, I've received emails from literary festivals asking if I'd like to speak... When did all this happen to me of all people? It's not as if it was even my lifelong ambition to become an author. I simply had an idea, wrote obsessively for six weeks, and... here I am, as startled as Alice when she fell down the rabbit hole. Will I wake up one day and discover this was all a strange (and very wonderful) dream?
Weird and wonderful things are happening to me almost daily at the moment. I'm appearing at Crimefest 2010 as a member of the CURZON PANEL and now I've been invited to join a debut author panel as well. It's called... wait for it... All the Young Punks. I wasn't even so very young when punks first hit the scene. What have I let myself in for now? For someone who writes crime fiction I'm inappropriately squeamish in real life. I haven't even had my ears pierced. I hope safety pins won't be compulsory...
Just today I heard from a blogger new to me. I visited her blog and found these pictures: THAT'S MY BOOK! Yes, my life is strange and very wonderful these days.











But the most exciting aspect of it all, as far as I'm concerned, is writing.