Another interview

Thank you to Lloyd Paige for the next interview on the Blood Axe blog tour http://www.lloydpaige.com/?p=4803

Writing a Spin Off Series

In all my interviews and posts about writing a spin off series, I never considered the possibility of confusing my two crime series. Geraldine Steel is a DI on the Met in London, while her former sergeant, Ian Peterson, is now a DI working in York. Clear enough?
Today I sat down to type the next chapter of the third book in the Ian Peterson series.
Let me give you the context. I'll try not to confuse you. I completed the seventh Geraldine Steel book, Killer Plan, before starting on the third Ian Peterson. That manuscript was interrupted for about a month while I was away at a literary festival in France, and then dealing with the edits for Killer Plan.
It's probably the case for most authors, that when I'm writing a book the narrative lodges inside my head like a giant coiled up worm that has to be unwound and released. Once a story is inside my head, it occupies my thoughts until I've written it out. Half way through the third Ian Peterson story, I had to abandon it temporarily and it went out of my head. My internal 'reality' changed.
Are you still with me?
So today I returned to the third book in the Ian Peterson series. The chapter I was working on opened with the local profiler. Chancing to check on another character in my 'Character Notes' document, I realised that I had introduced the wrong profiler into the Ian Peterson story! Instead of Ian's sympathetic clever male profiler from York, the rather irritating female London profiler from the Geraldine series was there discussing Ian's case with him in York.
Of course I would have realised, and my Editor would certainly have noticed, so there's no way that could have slipped through the net to publication. Even so... I'm going to have to watch out! Writing a spin off series has more potential pitfalls than I realised...      

Competition in the 21st Century

Margaret Sarlej, at the University of New South Wales, has devised a programme that enables computers to generate simple stories. In a statement that may cause some concern to authors, she claims "computers will be making interesting and meaningful contributions to literature within the decade", although she does go on to admit that "it's pretty unlikely a computer will ever produce works like War and Peace."

For those of you who are interested in what, to some, raises a dystopian view of the future, here is an example of one such story, 'written' by a computer.

Once upon a time there lived a dragon, a fairy and a princess. The dragon hated the fairy. 
One summer's morning the dragon gave the treasure to the princess. As a result, the princess had the treasure. The princess felt joy that she had the treasure. The princess felt gratitude towards the dragon about giving the treasure to her because she had the treasure. The fairy and the princess started to love the dragon. 
A short time later the princess killed the fairy. As a result, the fairy was dead. The dragon felt joy that the fairy was dead. The dragon felt gratitude towards the princess about killing the fairy because the fairy was dead.  

Yes, it's pretty silly. But substitute king for dragon, and wicked queen for fairy, and it starts to make sense.

Once upon a time there lived a king, a wicked queen and a princess. The king hated the wicked queen. One summer's morning the king gave the treasure to the princess. As a result, the princess had the treasure. The princess felt joy that she had the treasure. The princess felt gratitude towards the king because she had the treasure. The wicked queen and the princess started to love the king. 
A short time later the princess killed the wicked queen. The king felt joy that the wicked queen was dead. The king felt gratitude towards the princess about killing the wicked queen.

A child of seven could write that. Give the child ten years and they would be writing something rather more sophisticated. They wouldn't come up with anything quite War and Peace, perhaps, but would be writing a decent story within the decade. Just like a computer, in fact.

Writing Short Stories

With several bestselling novels on the shelf, I recently turned my hand to writing short stories. Well, one short story so far to be exact. You wouldn’t think writing a short story would be too tricky for someone used to writing manuscripts of nearly 100,000 words. That was certainly my expectation. Wrong! It’s hard to present a brief snapshot without being superficial or resorting to clichés and it was a sobering reminder that every form of writing demands different skills.
First of all, there's the idea. In a novel, one idea can carry your writing for six months, or even a year, but each short story needs its own new idea.
How do short story writers come up with so many ideas?
Then there's the issue of character. There wasn’t enough time to give much detail, and no space for character development (it was a very short short story), and it’s hard to be unpredictable without leaving an unresolved contradiction.
As in novels, plot was important, but I wasn’t sure how much time I could afford to spend setting the scene, and how short the final twist could be.
But the biggest surprise to me was how the style of my writing changed when I was writing a short story.
If I ever dare show my one short story to anyone, I’ll post it here. I’m not sure if I will, but one thing I am sure of is that I now have even more respect for short story writers than I had before.

The Importance of Editing

This may be a controversial, politically incorrect statement, but we are not all equal. On the contrary, we should celebrate our differences.
Of course I’d like to subscribe to the contemporary obsession for levelling every playing field and turning us all into socially successful, wealthy, talented, beautiful ‘individuals’ with perfect teeth and figures. But look around you. For some of us, all we need to do is look in a mirror.
I learned early in life to recognise my own strengths and weaknesses, more or less. Yes, it was disappointing. I would never be a straight A student in every subject. I wasn’t the most popular girl in the class. So winning a Novel Prize for scientific prowess, or being paid for smiling at a camera, weren’t for me. It’s just not true that anyone can achieve what they aspire to, with enough dedication and passion.
I’m not arguing against dedication or passion. Far from it. You can get a long way on self belief and enthusiasm.
But the pursuit of success isn’t always easy. We can expect to weather a few setbacks along the way. Yet primary school teachers no longer talk about ‘trial and error’. It is ‘trial and improvement’ because we cannot allow children to perceive themselves as capable of making mistakes.
As Albert Einstein said, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” What’s so terrible about the odd blunder or two? And how are children ever going to cope as adults if we bring them up to expect they will go through life without ever ‘getting it wrong’?
The same applies to writers. If you want to produce a successful book, you should be open to criticisms and suggestions. Whether or not you agree, and decide to follow them, is your choice.
I have no particular allegiance to the traditional publishing model, although it has worked very well for me. We can all think of examples of excellent and shoddy books brought out both by traditional publishers, and self-published. But one major benefit of following the traditional route is that manuscripts are professionally edited and proof read before publication.
We don’t want to see people put off reading because they come across carelessly written books. With so many leisure activities available, this matters more than ever before.

For details of how to submit your writing for editing, email leighrusselledits@hotmail.co.uk

Interview

 I was pleased to be interviewed on a brand new writers' website, The Prime Writing Academy.
http://www.primewritingacademy.com/features.php

Where am I now?

I've not been very active here on the blogosphere lately so thank you for still checking to see what's been happening here.
I have however been busy elsewhere. Several videos are already available to view on my brand new youtube author channel. You can see and hear me talk about a number of topics including How to write a book, How to get published, The importance of research, Why we love crime fiction - and other related subjects. There are also readings from Cut Short and Road Closed. A reading from Dead End is uploading onto my computer as I type this.
If (a deceptive word that looks insignificant but conveys a huge meaning)... If I can manage to upload the uploaded upload on to my author channel you'll be able to see it. (I hope you know what I'm talking about here. I find all this technology something of a challenge! Showing my age - or my limited intelligence - or both...)
Apart from filming for the author channel (which it seems everyone has to have these days) there is facebook, twitter, linkedin and I can't remember what else I try to keep abreast of.
Besides the online profile, I've been active with my research. I think I've already mentioned the maggots... enough said!... there's also a visit to a local police station, and a police HQ, in the pipeline, plus a visit to a prison...
AND OF COURSE I'm still writing! Exciting news to follow very soon... !
In the meantime, the link to my author channel is http://youtube.com/leighrussellauthor - I hope you find something there to interest you.

Creative Writing

Can Creative Writing be taught? What do you think? The question has been knocking around in the public arena ever since the University of East Anglia set up its course, with such brilliant alumni as Ian McEwan and Kazuo Ishiguro, and no doubt the question was debated in a quieter way long before that.
It does sound like a contradiction. Creativity is personal; it can be inspired (think Mozart, Shakespeare) a connection with the subconscious on a deep level, an outpouring of... of... I'm struggling to define 'creativity'. Yet I’ve agreed to teach Creative Writing for a whole week in France.
Before I put anyone off joining us for a week in France at a wonderful venue with fantastic food and local wines, I should add that this won't be my first venture into teaching Creative Writing. I run successful workshops for the Society of Authors, at Get Writing hosted by the University of Herts, and for a few smaller outfits. So far the experience has proved challenging and great fun.
The name 'Creative Writing' is useful as a label because everyone has a clear idea of what Creative Writing is. But at the same time the title is misleading because creativity isn't a skill that can be acquired through training or learning of formulae, although it can be nurtured and facilitated.
What then is the value of Creative Writing classes? The answer is that for most of us it takes more than creativity to turn ideas into a book. Character building, plot development, structure, pace, tension - all the essential elements that make up an engaging narrative, all these are skills that can be acquired and honed, and this craft of writing can be taught.
Perhaps ‘Creative Writing Classes’ is a bit of a misnomer. But ‘Crafty Writing Classes’ doesn’t have quite the same ring, does it?