Writing Tips (#TuesdayTips)
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TuesdayTips194
Suburban attractions.
Behind That Pretty Front Door.
Welcome to this week’s #TuesdayTip. Four weeks ago, (#Tip190) I announced my newest book, The Aftermath, which I am self-publishing – a first for me. I promised to take you with me on this new and exciting journey. Last week we looked at page-setting. This week, I want to talk about another type of setting, and why I chose to set my standalone novel in a wealthy, suburban/exclusive setting.I’m not a publishing expert – far from it – but I have learned a lot over the past few months. If you have any suggestions or thoughts though, please feel free to comment here or on social media.Much of what I have learned came from the brilliant resources available through the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Joining them was well worth the relatively modest subscription fee (which is tax deductible in the UK) (https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/). Many of the indie authors I’ve spoken to over the years swear by them.
I love reading about nice people in nice houses with nice cars having horrible things happen to them.
There, I’ve said it. Feel free to judge me.
I don’t think it’s schadenfreude – I like to think I’m a pretty nice bloke myself – but I happen to find something especially creepy and disconcerting when people who live outwardly comfortable and ‘safe’ lives find themselves in dangerous and disturbing situations.
Judging by the popularity of the numerous domestic, psychological thrillers published each year – or turned into TV series – I’m not alone.I’ve thought about it in some detail over the years, both as a reader of such books, and lately as I’ve started dipping my own toes in the genre. I suppose in many ways, it isn’t a new phenomenon.
Think back to the Golden Age of crime fiction and the popularity of the so-called ‘cosy’. There was no shortage of gruesome fare available at the time – the Penny Dreadfuls and their tales of brutal murders thrilled and shocked the burgeoning middle class of the time, and sold in huge numbers. But then look at Agatha Christie’s output – Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot – these books, rather than being set on the mean streets of London where Jack the Ripper once strode, are often in genteel settings.
The juxtaposition of the sleepy village, with the tastefully written but scary murders contained within, are one of the keys to the continuing success of the Miss Marple stories. When you live somewhere as pretty and peaceful as St. Mary Mead, you don’t expect one of your neighbours to be brutally killed.
The modern day domestic thrillers, I would argue, continue this tradition.As all the statistics tell us, wealth can – to a limited degree – protect one from many of the dangers of society. Whilst the practise of leaving doors unlocked has largely ended, those with the means to do so often aspire to live in an area where you don’t assume that your neighbour is likely to hop the garden fence and make off with your TV if they see you’re out for the day. It becomes easy as a resident of a leafy suburb – where everyone knows each other’s name, happily takes in parcels and drags the bins out if you are on holiday – to see crime, and especially violent crime, as something that happens to other people. You only have to see the shocked faces of neighbours on the news when a (usually) domestic incident spirals into murder. “It’s such a quiet area – nothing like that ever happens here.” Stabbings and murders happen on housing estates or violent city streets, not small villages or wealthy suburbs.
Appearances can be deceptive is an over-used cliché. But clichés exist because they are based on truth. The same base, human desires, exist in all of us. They are just better hidden (or more wilfully-ignored) in the suburbs. Raised voices are better masked in a street of detached houses than a crowded block of flats. Better security (due to increased wealth) can act as a deterrent to burglary. Wealth undoubtedly negates some of the drivers of crime (your neighbour might be an alcoholic or have a prescription drug problem, but their partner earns six-figures a year, so there is no need to burgle or shoplift). But infidelity is as upsetting for the rich as the poor, although it’s easier to cool off in the spare bedroom of a six-bed semi than the single room of a one-bed flat. And if your business is on the verge of bankruptcy and the mortgage is months in arrears, doubtless you will lie awake as much as the single parent whose benefits are being steadily eroded by the rising cost of living.
When the front door closes, it doesn’t matter whether the door is to a communal flat or an expensive mansion, we can never really know what is going on behind it. And as crime writers, so much of what we write about has its genesis there.
The difference, is that it is somehow more shocking when a wealthy businessman murders his wife in a cosy four-bed bungalow, with a lovely garden, than when a person stabs their partner in a cramped bedsit on the third floor.And so when I came to write The Aftermath, I wanted to channel that feeling. Seamus and his wife Carole appear to be living that suburban dream. They are wealthy, living on an exclusive country lane outside of a pretty little town. His brother Dominic, a self-made millionaire, lives nearby, insulated even further by his luxurious home. They seem to have it all. But then Carole kills herself in the most horrible manner imaginable and we start to probe beneath the surface.
In writing The Aftermath, I was writing the sort of book I really enjoy reading. I still love gritty, urban police procedurals, but sometimes I just want a glimpse of what’s going on behind the door of the nice house, with the nice people with the nice car…
So, what are your thoughts the appeal of the suburban-set domestic thriller? As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips193
Setting The Page
Welcome to this week’s #TuesdayTip. Three weeks ago, (TuesdayTips190) I announced my newest book, The Aftermath, which I am self-publishing – a first for me. I promised to take you with me on this new and exciting journey. Last week we looked at covers. This week, we are discussing page setting – converting your manuscript to the correct layout for print and eBooks.
I’m not an expert – far from it – but I have learned a lot over the past few months. If you have any suggestions or thoughts though, please feel free to comment here or on social media.
Much of what I have learned came from the brilliant resources available through the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Joining them was well worth the relatively modest subscription fee (which is tax deductible in the UK) (https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/). Many of the indie authors I’ve spoken to over the years swear by them.
First of all, what is page setting?
Pick up a paperback, hardback or eBook and look at the way the text is set out. It’s a little more complicated than you might think.
Back in the early days of printing, laying out a book or newspaper, even a leaflet or flyer, was a time-consuming and highly skilled process. Individual letters and punctuation symbols made of raised metal would be placed in rows on a template, then fed into a printing press which would transfer ink onto rolls of paper. The process, known as moveable type, was invented by the German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-fifteenth century. The technique was refined over several centuries, but remained essentially the same until the latter part of the twentieth century when computers made setting the page and aligning everything quicker and more automated.
Fun fact: the terms Upper Case and Lower Case refer to the fact that page setters would keep the individual metal characters in cases – capital letters in the upper part of the case, the other letters in the lower case.
Nevertheless, a modern book, whether it be traditional print or electronic, still requires the text (and images) to be aligned on the page. The process is somewhat different for print and electronic, so I will split the two and describe the basics below. There are automated tools these days. Some are free, with little input from the user (many book printers supply their own), or you can use specialist software that will give you more control. I have opted to use Atticus (link). If you use a Mac, Vellum is very respected.
eBook conversion.
The simplest way to convert your manuscript for use on an eReader is to simply upload your Word document or similar file to the retail site that you are going to sell your books through. Automated software will (hopefully) convert the file, recognising chapter headings and page breaks, and convert it into a .epub file, the dominant file format for eReaders.
Using specialist software like Atticus or Vellum will give you more control, but will still produce an ePub file that you can upload or send to Beta Readers.
Unlike traditional print books, the text-size is set by the eReader device’s user, so number of pages is a largely meaningless statistic. However, you can still have scene breaks and chapter breaks, and decorative flourishes such as drop caps (when the first letter of a paragraph is much larger than the rest of the text).
Print Book Conversion.
This is a little more involved. For the independent publisher, you will need to make some choices. Again, major printers will supply software that can take your manuscript and convert accordingly. This time, the file produced is a PDF, sized precisely to the requirements needed by the printer. The reason they use PDFs, is because they act a bit like image files. Once they are produced, there is no danger of text moving about on the page – MS Word is notorious for this. Word documents can look slightly different on different computers. PDFs are identical on all devices, so the file you send to the printer is identical to the one on your computer.
However, you will need to make some decisions to ensure that the book prints correctly.
First, trim size. This is the actual size of the book. There are a wide-range of trim sizes, reflecting the diversity of different book sizes. Look at your book case. You will notice that many books are slightly taller or wider than others – thickness is determined by the number of pages and the paper, which we will look at later. The best thing I found was to take a book you like the size of and measure it precisely. My DCI Warren Jones novels, printed by HarperCollins, are 198mmx127mm. I chose this trim size from the options in the software. Annoyingly, some US distributers use the subtly different 5″x8″. It’s only fractions of an inch, but it requires its own PDF.
Next there is the layout of the text on the page. You will see that there is a margin around the text area – this is to ensure there is a safe buffer in case of errors in the printing process. If you open the book flat, you will see that the inside margins (ie the margins closest to the spine – the right-hand margin on the left page and vice versa) are wider. This is so you can easily read the book without having to lay it completely flat to stop the shadow from the opposite page obscuring the text.
You can then choose if and where you want page numbers, or if you want the book title/author name at the top of the page.
This will then determine the number of pages that your book will be (and how much paper is used). Along with the type of paper used, it will also determine the width of the spine, which is needed during cover design.
Most of these settings are pre-determined, but I tweaked them slightly to reduce the page margins. This actually reduced the page count, which is better for the environment and reduces the printing cost (paper is expensive!).
Fonts
One last thing to consider is the choice of font. eReaders have their own, inbuilt fonts that the user can adjust for reading comfort, so it isn’t much of a consideration. But it is worth considering for print books. If you are just uploading a manuscript file and allowing the printer to do all the conversions, you can just follow their options.
If you are generating your own PDF however, you need to make a choice. First of all, many of the commonly used fonts in MS Word are not actually free to use for commercial products. Strictly speaking, you need a licence if you are going to be selling your books.
I looked inside the covers of several books on my book shelf, and found that Garamond with a text size of 11pt was commonly cited on the copyright page.
Garamond was developed in the sixteenth century and has serifs (the curly bits on the bottom of letters). It has italics, bold and some non-Roman characters. The problem is that the version installed on most computers is actually copyright (not by Garamond, obviously, but by the artists and graphic designers who spent time converting old paper manuscripts into a digital format).
However, in 2011, a team went back to the original source and made EB Garamond, releasing it under the open font licence. You can download and install this on your computer for free, and use it for print books (Link).
If all this seems scarily complicated, don’t worry. You can have as much or as little input into the process as you wish. The retailers for your books (electronic or print) typically have simple-to-use interfaces. Just upload your manuscript and click the options. I decided that as a geek, I wanted a bit more control of the process.
So, what are your thoughts on page setting? Any advice you would like to share, or questions you’d like answered? As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips192
(They) Always Judge A Book By Its Cover
Welcome to this week’s #TuesdayTip. Two week ago (TuesdayTips190), I announced my newest book, The Aftermath, which I am self-publishing – a first for me. I promised to take you with me on this new and exciting journey. Last week we looked at why even self-published authors need professional feedback and editing. This week it’s covers.
I’m not an expert – far from it – but I have learned a lot over the past few months. If you have any suggestions or thoughts though, please feel free to comment here or on social media.First of all, much of what I have learned came from the brilliant resources available through the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Joining them was well worth the relatively modest subscription fee (which is tax deductible in the UK) (https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/). Many of the indie authors I’ve spoken to over the years swear by them.Never judge a book by its cover, is advice heard so often, you’d almost think people followed it.
Spoiler: they don’t.
Like it or not, covers sell books. Traditional publishers know this and spend large sums studying industry trends, conducting focus groups, and preparing detailed briefs for the professional graphic designers who will realise their dreams. Sometimes they even consult the author, although whether they pay attention to the author’s thoughts varies somewhat! There is a reason Amazon and every other online retailer shows covers on its search results, and having a book ‘cover out’ in a bookshop is a ‘service’ that many publishers will pay for.Since I’m going it alone, I had to find myself a cover designer.
“Why didn’t you just design it yourself and save a few quid?“, I hear you ask.
Because, unless you happen to be a trained graphic designer specialising in book covers, it will look crap. There is a mysterious alchemy that professionals possess. A combination of skill gained through years of practise, an understanding of what works in that genre and reader expectations, an innate artistic flair, and access to state-of-the-art design software (and the expertise to use it properly). Even if you have a great idea, and assemble all the elements necessary for your cover, unless it’s a plain background with little more than text then it probably won’t look quite right (even then, graphic designers are likely to be more familiar with the many fonts out there than you are).And herein lies the problem. Like it or not, there remains an inherent snobbery towards self-publishing. Many readers still equate traditional publishing with quality and remain suspicious of self-publishing. Despite the many advances in recent years, the field is still pretty young and it has yet to fully shake off the stigma from the early days when people would imply ‘if you aren’t good enough to get a proper publishing contract, you could always self-publish your little stories for family and friends.’
So, rightly or wrongly, a chunk of your potential readers won’t even give your book a second glance if they think it is self-published. Or at the very least, they will take some persuading. What you want is for them to pause and click on the cover, or take the book off the shelf, to read the jacket blurb. Because, if the book sounds like a good read, then some of those doubters might just decide to take a chance on a title that isn’t backed by a big publisher they recognise.
Therefore, you want your cover to standout because of its design, not because something about it looks not quite professional.What should I be looking for?
Unless you happen to be on first name terms with someone who is a designer, you need to choose one. Which is tricky. There are a few options.- If you want to save money, some designers actually have pre-designed covers that they customise to your needs. The obvious disadvantage is that your book may look very similar to others on the market. However, that doesn’t always matter. For some books, a fairly generic background with a prominent and eye-catching title is fine.
- You can take a punt and hire someone on a gig site like Fiverr – needless to say, you will want to see their portfolio. You may get lucky and find a skilled new designer taking on commissions to build their portfolio. Or a respected freelance designer who works for the big publishing houses and takes on side-gigs to earn some extra cash. Or, you might get a chancer with a bootleg copy of Photoshop and access to ChatGPT.
- Go with someone you know does a good job. I don’t mean know personally. Recommendations from people you trust are nice, but not everyone has access to that network. Fortunately, there is an easy way to find those with a proven track record. For many books, the cover artist is actually credited on the inside pages or the back cover. Since most cover artists are freelancers, you can often google them, find their webpage, and see if they are accepting private commissions.
- Finally don’t forget your due diligence. As with anything internet-based, it’s a wild west out there. You need to ensure that you aren’t going to get ripped off. ALLi (https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/) has a trusted professionals directory, and equally importantly, forums discussing who to avoid. A legit cover designer should have an online portfolio showcasing some of their work. Check out the books they claim to have designed, they should be easily accessible on Amazon.
What do I need, cover-wise?
Something I learned very quickly is that there are a plethora of things that you need to consider.
First the design. What do you want?
For The Aftermath I knew very early on that the cover should feature the dramatic inciting incident – quite literally a garden shed ablaze. But my designer immediately asked what sort of shed? Night or day? He also asked me to send him links to covers that I like and explain why.
Because The Aftermath is a domestic thriller, it needs to look different from my previous Warren Jones covers. This is both to stop reader confusion (“1 star, Warren Jones never appears.”) and to attract the eye of fans of that genre who may not be familiar with my previous work. I found several examples from my ‘peers’ in this genre, not because they have a garden shed, but because they have the ‘feel’ of that genre. I also chose a couple based purely on the colour palette.
Your designer should send you a list of questions, otherwise how will they know what you want?
Next, what formats of cover do you want?
It stands to reason that the cover for a physical book is a bit different to an eBook. For a start, eBooks only have a front cover. Physical books have a rear and a spine. Should you be lucky enough to be stocked by a major retailer, chances are you will be sideways on the shelf, with your cover hidden. So don’t ignore your spine.
eBook covers tend to be a standard size and your designer will just send you a Jpeg or possibly a PDF. However, Audiobooks have slightly different dimensions (they tend to be more square).
Print books are where the complications lie, and your designer is going to need some additional information from you. First of all the “trim size”. There are several different, commonly used sizes of books – look at your bookcase, you’ll see the differences. So, early on in the process, decide what trim size you are going to have your book printed. I measured one of my Warren Jones novels with a ruler, then went to Amazon and IngramSpark (the printing company that most authors and publishers use) and identified the trim size (198mm x 127mm in case you’re wondering).
Next there is the spine width. This is determined by the number of pages and the type of paper used. So again, early on in the process I decided which paper I wanted (Groundwood, which is the stuff commonly used in mass-market paperbacks). The page count comes after you have typeset the manuscript. It is not the page count from your Word document. Typesetting is the process by which your words are laid out on the page. Don’t forget to allow for the front matter (title page and copyright etc) and the backmatter (Acknowledgments, previous books in the series etc). I’ll look at page-setting in a later TuesdayTip.
Hardcovers are different again.
It goes without saying that cover designers will charge you more if you want paperback and eBook, rather than just eBook. Many offer different “packages” to choose from.
How many revisions do you get?
This is something worth considering. Many designers put a limit on the number of free revisions an author can request. Which is fair enough. I can imagine how frustrating it must be if your client repeatedly emails you to ‘just tweak the font my name is written in’.
My designers bespokebookcovers.com were a little more expensive than the cheapest on the market (although still very reasonable according to friends) but the package included as many revisions as I want. I won’t be taking the mickey, but I have had two small tweaks (the shed window originally looked as though there was a light – we changed it to flames, and Patrick’s extremely clever idea of a discarded shoe had to sadly be ditched because it doesn’t feature in the book). I will be asking for one more revision before it is sent off for printing: a cover quote (we’ve already designed holding text that looks really good, so it is just a case of inserting the wording), a tiny tweak to the jacket blurb (the result of a vigorous debate at my writers’ group about the placement of a comma) and the all-important barcode with the ISBN.
Do you own the correct licences?
Ugh – the legal stuff. One of the things that attracted me to bespokebookcovers was the fact that they promised to pay the licencing fees for any stock images or fonts used. Sorry to break it to you, but it is unlikely that your designer will be out and about with a camera hunting for that perfect shot to illustrate your cover. They will probably have licensed the photos from a stock photo site. Similarly the fonts that are used for the title and your name etc, might not be free to use. These fees are included within the standard package price I paid for, so no nasty surprises!So, what are your thoughts on cover design? Any advice you would like to share, or questions you’d like answered? As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips191
Do It Yourself, Don’t Edit Yourself.
Welcome to this week’s #TuesdayTip. Last week (TuesdayTips 190) I announced my newest book, The Aftermath, which I am self-publishing – a first for me. I promised to take you with me on this new and exciting journey. I’m not an expert – far from it – but I have learned a lot over the past few months. If you have any suggestions or thoughts though, please feel free to comment here or on social media. First of all, much of what I have learned came from the brilliant resources available through the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). Joining them was well worth the relatively modest subscription fee (which is tax deductible in the UK) (https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/). Many of the indie authors I’ve spoken to over the years swear by them.“A person who represents himself has a fool for a client.” This common admonishment, attributed to either Abraham Lincoln or Henry Kett, also stands true for those editing their own work. The human brain is a wonderfully complex machine, but it is also a trickster and sometimes too clever by half. Oftentimes, you read what you think should be there, not what actually is. And sometimes an outside perspective tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Of course, we all edit our work to some degree. I review the previous day’s work before starting typing, and perhaps pick up typos or inconsistencies. My completed draft will go through several rounds of red-pen, but eventually, it is time to relinquish my manuscript to other eyes. My first stage is to give it to my beta readers. I am lucky enough to have close relatives who are eagle-eyed and have good instincts, and this valuable first read-through is extremely useful. I have not only corrected typos and inconsistencies, I have also changed parts of the story based on what they suggest. But ultimately, a pair of impartial, professional eyes is needed. For The Aftermath, I was lucky enough to have some early input from an industry professional. Their advice, though hard to hear initially, convinced me to do a major rewrite and it was much better for it. However, by the time I had completed this job, circumstances had changed and I had decided to self-publish. With a traditional publisher, much of the editing is organised by the publisher at their expense (authors should never be asked to contribute to this). As a self-published author, it is up to me to find these editors and pay them for their services. Unfortunately, you have to speculate to accumulate, so you need a budget. The hope, of course, is that without the publisher taking their chunk of the royalties, this is paid for by the hopefully increased take-home from sales. The first thing I did was pay for a manuscript critique. I had taken on board the suggestions of the industry professional, but since then, nobody had looked at the book. For a critique, a specialist in the genre you are writing for reads through the story and checks that it works, makes suggestions for improvements and acts as an impartial, critical friend. You can find lists of these professionals in Alli’s trusted professionals directories, or go through professional organisations such as the Crime Writers’ Association. Costs vary, but are often done based on length. Expect to pay a few hundred pounds. This essentially fulfils the role of your agent or editor in the traditional publishing process. I was fortunate in that my story was essentially sound, and the suggestions made weren’t too arduous. Next is the copy edit. Often combined with proof reading, this is where the editor goes through the manuscript with a fine-toothed comb. Spelling, punctuation and grammar are checked/corrected, small inconsistencies highlighted (such as dates), small errors noted (eg attributing dialogue to the wrong character) and minor questions (eg wouldn’t it be better if the character did this first). For a traditional publisher, this is almost invariably out-sourced to freelancers, which is great because you can often hire these people directly. Again, the fee is based on length and will cost more than the critique. Perhaps as much as a thousand pounds or so for a long novel, several hundred for something shorter. I can’t stress enough how valuable and necessary this is. Thanks to my beta-readers, my manuscripts are usually in pretty good condition. Yet the editors that my publisher have assigned me over the years invariably improve the story immeasurably. Just because I am self-publishing doesn’t mean I can skip these steps. The last thing I want is for a reader to be able to tell the difference between my traditionally-published Warren Jones novels and my independent efforts. Join me next week for a discussion about covers. Best wishes, Paul If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips190
An Exciting New Journey
Hi folks, I’m back! And I have exciting news!
The last Tuesday Tip, #189 Going it (Stand)alone, was something of a tease.
Yup, my latest project is a standalone domestic thriller. Even better, I have decided to throw my (straw) hat into the self-publishing arena for the first time. There will be more on that later and in follow-up posts, where I share my journey and what I’ve learned along the way.
The Aftermath is a self-contained novel that opens with Seamus Monaghan coming home to find his garden shed on fire … and his wife is inside it.
Over the course of the book we see the build-up to this tragic event, the fallout from the suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire and the aftermath three years later as he tries to rebuild his life with his new, very pregnant, fiancée, Andrea.I very deliberately decided to make this book different to my Warren Jones police procedural series, because I really wanted to write a domestic thriller. As a reader, I absolutely love stories where nice people in nice houses have horrible things happen to them – you know the type of book I mean, and I have amassed loads of ideas for these types of thrillers.
To do so, I have cut right back on the police procedure – instead of telling the story from the perspective of the detectives, I’ve focused on those involved in this tragic event.
As a standalone, I’ve also enjoyed developing a whole new cast of characters.
We have Seamus, whose vibrant but troubled wife, Carole, so shockingly takes her own life.
Then there is Dominic, Seamus’ older brother, who has looked out for him since they were orphaned as young children.
Three years on from the fire, Seamus is engaged to Andrea and looking forward to becoming a father twice-over.
Along the way, we gain an insight into Carole and Seamus’ marriage and the tragedies that culminated in her unexpected death. We see how the fire threatens to bring secrets into the open that Seamus would rather keep private. And we see how even years on, a dreadful storm brings everything back up and threatens Seamus and Andrea’s future.
Dipping my toes in the water of self-publishing
Anyone who has ever published a book knows that it can be a long and frustrating process. I completed The Aftermath after finishing the last Warren Jones, and I did it in secret, without a contract. As I looked for a new publisher, it soon became apparent that even if I signed on the dotted line today, it could be many months before my book was available. So why not cut out that step and take it direct to my readers? The complete draft was finished, so let’s just get it done! I have friends who have been very successful publishing their own books, and I love a good project, so what was I waiting for?The Aftermath is scheduled for publication on October 10th, and is available to preorder now in eBook and paperback from Amazon and a steadily increasing number of other retailers. But there still remains some work to be done.
Over the next few Tuesday Tips, I am going to breakdown the different stages of self-publishing that I have completed and keep you posted on what I still have to do. I’m no expert, and am always willing to learn, so join me in my journey and as always, please feel free to comment here or on social media.Paul
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TuesdayTips189
Going it (Stand)alone.
When it comes to an ongoing series, there are two broad schools of thought. One (which I prefer, and I have used in my DCI Warren Jones series) sees characters evolve over the years. Secondary characters come and go, your protagonist perhaps has life-changing experiences that resonate in later books. Ideally, each book can still be read individually, in a different order to when they are published, but there is an ongoing narrative and readers gain additional insight if they read the books in order.
The other approach is to ‘hit the big red reset button’ at the end of the book. When you pick up the next in the series, the character is largely unchanged from where they started in the previous book. This can work extremely well. Jack Reacher is not a static character, in terms of development, but generally speaking you can pick up Reacher books in any order without really feeling you’ve missed something.
But for each of those approaches, there are still some limits to what you can do. Your police inspector can’t do anything too outrageous or they will be sacked before the next book in the series. Your gun-toting hero can’t die in a hail of bullets, unless book two is about zombies.
For a standalone, anything goes! You can kill off who you want. Your characters can finish the book in such a way that they could never realistically return. Your corrupt copper can be thrown in jail for twenty years and barred from ever serving again. You can also write stories that simply wouldn’t fit into the universe that you have established for your series. I have a list of ideas for books that I simply couldn’t shoehorn Warren Jones into.
Standalones also allow a writer to experiment with different writing styles. My Warren Jones novels follow a loose format. They are fairly accurate police procedurals, so operate within the ‘rules’ for UK policing. There is humour in the books, but it isn’t overt or farcical. They are written in the third person and the narrator’s voice doesn’t use profanity (although characters do in dialogue). The worst violence typically takes place off the page, and they aren’t especially gory. I don’t resent these supposed constraints – in fact I regard them as a comfortable, established space where I am free to be creative. I would even argue that they force me to be more creative. Warren doesn’t carry a gun, for example, so I can’t solve a problem by having him run in, bullets spraying.
Furthermore, many authors who have taken time out from an established series to write something different, have spoken of how they return to their series with renewed vigour. Karin Slaughter has successfully published multiple standalone novels alongside her popular ongoing Will Trent/Grant County series and it is great to see her stretch her wings with something really different. Some of these standalones have been turned into limited-length TV series, whilst her Will Trent character has been developed as an ongoing series.
What are your thoughts on series authors writing standalones? Do you think it is a welcome change? Or would you rather they spent their energies and time writing more entries in their series? As always feel free feel to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips188
The Character Formerly Known As…
I recently ran my latest work in progress past my beta readers. As always, they helpfully picked up typos, made insightful suggestions and spotted errors. One in particular was picked up by all of them. “Who on earth is Amelia?” they asked.
Quite right too. Amelia hasn’t existed as a character in the book for weeks, ever since I decided she was more of a Doreen (*). I had duly gone through the manuscript and changed all instances of Amelia to Doreen – except for this one occasion, which I had managed to miss.
(*) names have been changed to protect innocent characters.So today, I decided the TuesdayTip would look at the perils of and pitfalls of changing a character’s name .
First of all, why change a character’s name?
There are a lot of reasons why an author may change a character’s moniker midway through writing.
First there are the global changes.- Amelia now being known as Doreen, because the name suits her better, is one example.
- Replacing the placeholder name with a final name. I’ve already written about how using an underscore for a placeholder name can make it easy to find and replace Diligent_Mother with Billie and Deadbeat_dad with Laurence TuesdayTips#31.
Then there are specific changes to a scene or event.
- For example you may decide that actually, it was Mahendra who witnessed the stabbing, not Shirley. So you will need to rewrite not only that scene, but all other references to that scene later in the book.
- Another example is the need to ‘balance’ a scene. My DCI Warren Jones novels often have a briefing scene, where all the series’ regular characters are discussing their progress so far and what is going to happen next. It’s not uncommon to read back through a draft and realise that some characters are uncharacteristically quiet or others seem to be doing all the talking. Not only does this mean certain characters are too domineering or risk disappearing, it might not quite fit the team dynamics that have developed over the books. So, unlike in real-life, I have the power to take words out of one character’s mouth, and place them in another’s.
What are the pitfalls?
There are a few things to look out for when changing the name.
Treat Find and Replace with great care. The temptation is to just change all instances of Sam to Alex in one go. There is a certain satisfaction to seeing Word report ‘All done. We made 231 replacements.‘.
But social media is full of hilarious mishaps from blindly trusting Word to do this.
For example changing Tom to Alex can mean a character’s sAlexach suddenly rumbles…
Remember – verify all changes one at a time using Find Next. It won’t take long.
Then there are possessive apostrophes.
Typically we add apostrophe s (‘s) to the end of a name to denote the possessive.
Eg Warren’s car. Or Warren’s house.
But, in UK English, names ending with a letter S don’t have ‘s added to the end, rather just an apostrophe.
For example, the possessive of Jones is Jones’ not Jones’s.
So it would be Warren Jones’ car. Or Warren Jones’ house.
In the US, they just add ‘s to everything. (Tip: If you are with a publisher, check their style guide to see what they prefer. See Tip#73 for more information Style Guides.)
One way to dodge this issue entirely is to only substitute names with a replacement with the same ending as the original eg Sam to Alex – neither ends in an S. Jones to Davies – both end in an S. This way, your original apostrophe usage will remain correct.
Finally, don’t forget those pesky pronouns. When substituting a character, don’t forget to take into account if the gender or preferred pronoun for the new character differs from that of the original. It is very easy to forget this. For example if I give one of Moray Ruskin’s lines of dialogue (He/Him) to Karen Hardwick (She/Her), then I need to keep my ‘she said/he said’ etc consistent through the scene, otherwise it is jarring and confusing for the reader.
Can you think of any other issues that may arise from changing a character’s name? Have you any amusing examples? As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips187
Deadly Vocabulary
For this week’s #TuesdayTip, I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the language we use in crime fiction. Often these terms are bandied about with a somewhat sketchy understanding of their true meaning.
These terms below are typically used in English/Welsh law or are taken from various sources on the internet. I’ve done my best to distil them into an easy to use form, but I make no claims about the accuracy.
Enjoy!
Common terms for killers
Serial killer – 3 or more victims (some say 2), with a cooling off period between them.
Spree killer – 2 or more victims, perhaps in multiple locations, over a short period of time. There is debate over what constitutes a short period of time.
Mass killer – multiple victims, over a short period of time and in close proximity. Typically occurs in a single location.
The definition of a Spree killer vs a Mass killer can overlap, but as an example, a person who opens fire in a crowded space and kills multiple victims would be a Mass killer. One who kills people in several bouts as they escape police or go on a rampage might be a Spree Killer.
Offences in English/Welsh law
Murder – the act of unlawfully killing another person, with intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm, whilst of sound mind. (Note that as with any other crime, self-defence is a complete defence)
Manslaughter – a partial defence to a murder charge when all the elements of murder are present (sometimes including an intention to kill). There are several types of manslaughter.
Voluntary Manslaughter
The offence must fulfill one of the following criteria.Diminished responsibility – an abnormality of mental functioning (at the time of the offence) or a recognised medical condition. In both cases, it must be determined if this substantially impaired the defendants judgement, understanding of their conduct or ability to exercise self-control.
Loss of control
Suicide Pact
Involuntary Manslaughter
Unlawful Act Manslaughter – an intentional unlawful act (not an omission) that a sober and reasonable person would believe subjects the victim to the risk of harm. Note: This does not include the supply of drugs or the helping preparation of drugs. The law assumes free will in this circumstance.
Gross Negligence Manslaughter – the breach of a general duty of care that could reasonably be conceived to result in a serious and obvious risk of death.
Corporate Manslaughter – a specialised form of Gross Negligence Manslaughter with separate guidance.
Honour-based killing – where a person is killed, sometimes by or on behalf of a family member/member of the community, because the victim is perceived to have brought shame on their family/community.
Euthanasia/Mercy Killing – the killing of a person who is suffering or in pain. Currently illegal in England/Wales.
Capital punishment – legalised use of the death penalty.
Deciding the icide.
We are all familiar with the most common words on this list, but here are a few more that you may not be familiar with. There are dozens out there!
Homicide – to kill a person
Suicide – to kill oneself
Matricide – to kill your mother
Patricide – to kill your father
Parricide/Parenticide – to kill your parents or a parent-like close relative
Fratricide – to kill your brother
Sororicide – to kill your sister
Siblicide – to kill a sibling/half-sibling
Infanticide – to kill an infant
Aborticide – to kill a foetus – more commonly known as an abortion
Foeticide – the killing of a foetus/embryo
Neonaticide – the killing of a newly-born baby. This can vary between one day and a month, depending on the jurisdiction
Uxoricide – killing of one’s own wife
Mariticide – killing of one’s own husband
Filicide – killing one’s own children
Familicide – killing one’s spouse and children – sometimes these people are colloquially known as a ‘family annihilator’
Regicide – killing of a ruler (eg King or Queen)
Genocide – the systematic extermination of an entire national, racial, religious or ethnic group
Mad or Bad?
There are far better sources on the web than I can provide, but here is a simple primer to get you started.
Psychopath vs Sociopath – these common terms are not medical diagnoses. Instead they are regarded as traits that may be seen in those with AntiSocial Personality Disorder. They are often used interchangeably in popular fiction, but there are some differences. Generally speaking, sociopaths tend to act more impulsively and erratically. Sociopaths generally struggle to maintain a job or family life, unlike psychopaths who are more likely to be able to do so. Psychopaths generally struggle to form attachments, whilst sociopaths may, with a like-minded individual. Psychopaths may be better able to dissociate from their actions and feel less guilty than sociopaths.
In both cases (and commonly accepted in fiction), they are likely to disregard the law, act impulsively and deceitfully or irresponsibly. They can often be easily provoked or aggressive and fail to feel remorse.
Many psychopaths can act with a superficial charm and may be promiscuous. They can be manipulative, fail to accept personal responsibility and have a sense of grandiosity, yet lack (realistic) long-term goals.
Interestingly, it is believed that many long-running serial killers are not psycho/sociopaths, because the degree of organisation required to successfully keep ahead of the law is not common in those with Antisocial Personality Disorder.
Huge Caveat. Despite what some lazy journalists would have us believe, being a psycho/sociopath does not make one likely to be a violent offender. Studies have shown that many of these traits are found in successful business leaders and politicians (one in particular springs to mind!) who have never demonstrated violence. One can see how some of these characteristics might be beneficial in a competitive environment.
Narcissist – another commonly used term is narcissism. In its simplest terms, it is an excessive preoccupation with oneself and one’s own needs, sometimes to the detriment of others. Most people are on a spectrum, but some are extreme and can be regarded as mentally ill (Narcissistic Personality Disorder). The same caveat as above applies.Have I missed any words that you think should be here? Have I made any mistakes? As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips186
Seek Out New Audiences
Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tip. This time, I want to talk about seeking new audiences.
One of the pleasures of writing a long-running series is that you get to know what your readers want. Fans of my DCI Warren Jones series are looking for detailed police procedurals with lots of twists. My books have moderate profanity (exclusively in dialogue, not in the narration), not too much gore and much of the violence takes place off the page. There are limited references to sex and some dry humour.
But, the downside is that it can sometimes restrict the stories I tell. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Many very successful series have avid followers who enjoy the fact that they know exactly what they are getting. That doesn’t mean a lack of creativity, or a formulaic approach to writing – nobody could accuse authors such as Michael Connelly of such things. His two main series, Harry Bosch and Micky Haller, give readers exactly what they want, but each book goes from strength to strength, with inventive and innovative plot lines and stories.
But sometimes writers want to expand the scope of their writing and do something a bit different.
From a purely commercial point of view, writing new books in a different style can bring in different readers, who may then seek out the author’s other work. Not all your current readers will find the new series to their taste, but done well it can be a tremendous benefit. I imagine that if one were to draw a Venn diagram of the readership of the Harry Bosch series and the Micky Haller series, there would be a significant overlap of readers who enjoy both (like me), some additional readers who adore legal thrillers and skip the Harry books, as well as some who stick with the police-based Harry books. Of course, Connelly has cleverly intertwined the two characters in recent years to capitalise on both readerships (and really delight fans of both series!).
The same arguments can be made for the decision to write standalone thrillers alongside series. An increasing number of authors of popular series are also stretching their wings with standalones. Steve Cavanagh, writer of the Eddie Flynn legal thrillers, is an excellent example. In addition to that ongoing series, he also has some very popular non-legal thrillers. I reviewed Kill For Me Kill For You in my #RecommendedRead blog.
So What Should You Consider?
A new series in a similar genre with different characters:
Liz Mistry has two series set in the police procedural genre. Her DI Gus McGuire series features a male protagonist, whilst her DS Nikki Parekh series features a female detective of Asian heritage. Both involve the structure of the police procedure, but have very different characters and a different ‘feel’ to them. I look forward to seeing what she does with her upcoming Solanki and McQueen series, the first of which, The Blood Promise, is due out in May.
Write in an entirely different sub-genre.
Leigh Russell writes the extremely popular Geraldine Steel series of police procedurals. Now numbering over 20 entries, plus related spin-offs from one of the secondary characters, the books are well-grounded, ‘traditional’ police series. However, she has also branched out into ‘cosy crime’ with her Poppy series, featuring Emily and her pet dog, Poppy. On the face of it, these target two very different sets of readers, but in practise crime readers are an open-minded bunch who are very loyal to authors and many existing fans of Russell will doubtless try the Poppy series, whilst fans of cosies (or dog-lovers) may try these and decide to give the Geraldine Steel series a go as well.
Use the opportunity to change your voice.
We are accustomed to writers having a particular ‘voice’. But that voice, whilst reflective of the author’s personality, is often only a glimpse of the person behind the words. Perhaps a new series or a standalone is an opportunity to write in a different way? Maybe you fancy exploring characters that are less serious, or want to inject more humour into the narrative? Or switch from dry humour to more overt or even farcical prose? I once had a review that complained that having laughed out loud at my acknowledgments, the reader was disappointed that my DCI Warren Jones books weren’t a laugh-a-page comedies. A harsh criticism perhaps, but I know that when I write short stories as an exercise, they almost always end with a punchline and a gag. Two sides of my personality, I guess.
Similarly, you may have an urge to write books that are more/less violent. Perhaps you have an idea for a character that demonstrates a creative and innovative use of profanity that would shock your usual readership? And then there’s sex. Feedback on a draft of one of my earliest Warren Jones novels included the suggestion that I cut a sexually explicit scene. It wasn’t titillating (quite the opposite) but it felt out of place and may even offend some of my existing readers. It was a good suggestion, and I duly removed it. Perhaps different books might explore sexuality differently?
What do you think about writers seeking new readers through doing something a bit different? Have you any recommendations for authors that have reinvented themselves?
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul
If you are a writer with a tip to share, or fancy writing a fictional interview between you and one of your characters, please feel free to email me.
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TuesdayTips185
Conspiring To Increase Sales
This week’s Tuesday Tip looks at the thorny issue of conspiracy theories and the potential pitfalls of including them in a novel.
For the purpose of clarity, I’m talking about real-life conspiracy theories, such as Paul McCartney dying in a car crash and being replaced by a body double, rather than a fictional conspiracy within a story, such as several characters plotting to kill another.
It sometimes seems that we live in a society that is increasingly in thrall to ever-more outlandish conspiracies. This is not a new phenomenon of course; the numerous theories surrounding the shooting of JFK, and debate over whether the moon landings were real (spoiler: they blatantly are) date back to the 60s and there were no shortage of other strange theories before then. But social media (and I suspect pandemic-induced boredom) seem to have massively amplified the discourse around even the most outlandish claims.
A few months ago, our regular pub quiz even featured a novelty round about conspiracy theories. Much to the surprise of my teammates, I managed to get 13/14 questions correct, on topics ranging from Avril Lavigne being replaced by a body-double, QAnon, Chemtrails and the Pizzagate scandal (a particular favourite of mine, concerning claims that there is a paedophile/cannibalism ring being run out of the basement of a Washington DC pizzeria, attended by Hilary and Bill Clinton – the fact that the restaurant in question doesn’t have a basement hasn’t dissuaded radical Trump supporters from sharing and amplifying the story).
For those interested, I lost the final mark when I couldn’t remember the name of the unproven (and rather toxic) alternative treatment for Covid (Ivermectin).
To dispel any doubt, I should make it absolutely clear that I don’t believe ANY of these theories, I just spend more time in the madder corners of Facebook than is perhaps healthy.
In an amusing twist, there is a conspiracy theory that the more outlandish conspiracy theories are being propagated by hostile states such as Russia to sow division and influence elections. Ironically, I find that particular theory far more persuasive than nonsense such as Covid was a hoax, that 5G masts cause cancer and that autism is a result of ‘vaccine injury’.
Of course these crazy theories have fantastic story-potential. Dan Brown has made a tidy sum merging genuine historical fact with fictional theories in his Robert Langdon thrillers, most notably The Da Vinci Code.
But there are pitfalls that you need to consider.- Most obviously, you run the risk of validating and amplifying these theories, many of which are harmful. The surge in preventable, serious childhood illnesses due to misinformation about vaccines is one such example.
- The topics are very divisive. You could argue that having people arguing about your books is likely to boost sales. But at what cost?
- Your Amazon ratings might take a hit. People who disagree with the way you have treated their favourite pet theory may take revenge by means of a 1 star rating. The more organised may even summon like-minded conspiracists to join them. Of course this isn’t a phenomenon limited to conspiracy theories. My fifth DCI Warren Jones novel, Forgive Me Father, which involves abuse centred around the Catholic church, has a lower average rating and more 1 and 2 star ratings than most of the rest in the series. The first written review appeared within hours of the book becoming available (far quicker than anyone could have realistically read it) and objected strenuously to the book’s theme. I strongly refute the characterisation “Catholic-bashing posing as literature” – I have never written literature in my life!
- “Interesting” correspondence. Years ago, letters from those with a somewhat tenuous grasp on reality could be immediately identified by the writer’s use of a green felt tip pen. These days, emails, direct messages on social media, and Amazon reviews are sometimes (but not always) written in ALL CAPS.
Of course, none of this should dissuade you from writing the story that you want to write. Self-censorship is sometimes the worst form of censorship. But forewarned is forearmed, as they say.
Alternatively, you can always embrace the controversy and turn it to your advantage. Judging by the numbers of members on some of the more extreme Facebook groups, a novel that provokes discussion amongst folks who believe that the 2020 US election was stolen because Donald Trump was about to expose a plot to use chemtrails from aircraft to seed mind-altering substances into the atmosphere to hide the fact that the moon landings were faked by Democrats who were scared that they would expose that the Earth really is flat, and reveal their secret base hidden behind the Arctic ice wall where they sacrificed small children for the Lizard people who actually rule the planet, should generate some sales.
What is your favourite conspiracy theory? Have you ever been tempted to turn it into a story? As always, feel free to comment here or on social media. (ALL CAPS optional).
Until next time,
Paul
