Planning - and keeping to the plan

I wonder what effect planning has on other writers? There's a continuing debate over whether writing prose is a creative art form or a craft, like chiselling a detailed pattern on a decorative wooden table. My first book, CUT SHORT, was an undisciplined outpouring of ideas, mainly because I wasn't writing it with a reader in mind. I never expected anyone to read it. I wrote it simply because I started and couldn't stop. It was great fun to write, and I thoroughly enjoyed the creative buzz. Those of you who follow my author blog may recall that when my publisher sent my MS to an editor, I had something of a wake up call. 'Your poor readers won't have a clue what's going on.' So I reworked my rather self indulgent MS into a more coherent form which thankfully went on to receive positive reviews and a lot of word of mouth buzz, resulting in two reprints in the first six months.
I did plan the second book in my series, ROAD CLOSED, but despite my best efforts, I still ended up making some very last minute changes to the MS. (Not in my publisher's good books at the moment, I'm afraid.)
Now that I have an agent, he has encouraged me to write a full synopsis for my third book, DEAD END. Problem solved? You might think so. But now I have to try and stick to my synopsis... and I've already had to make three major changes...
I honestly find the writing is quite easy. It's the planning that I struggle with.
Am I unusually disorganised or is this the same for everyone? And does anyone have any helpful hints about planning books? Any hints, tips or suggestions will be very gratefully received - preferably before my third book goes to the typesetters...
Leigh Russell

AM I SCARY?

By Richard Jay Parker

This week I had an email via the STOP ME site. I've had some great feedback via the contact page but, by the same token, I'm quite prepared to engage with people who have negative comments. I've exchanged a small amount of emails with readers who wanted to call my morals into question in the past and, I'm happy to say, I'm still in touch with them having argued my corner. A victory for reasonable debate.

The person who got in touch with me this week had a number of issues mostly about the website itself. I won't go too much into specifics because the email was based on their personal values and I respect their privacy. It was the site itself that had offended them although I'm not entirely clear about which specific pages. I don't think it was the font though.

There was also more than an intimation that my work is a product of wish fulfilment in terms of the violent acts depicted. I've never considered the violence in STOP ME to be gratuitous but everyone has different thresholds. In terms of them being extensions of my own fantasies - before citing a writer like Bret Easton Ellis I pointed out that a respected author like Agatha Christie wrote consistently about murder but probably never hankered after doing it for real. Then again maybe the Devonshire police should dig up the garden of Greenway. They could close all sorts of files. This is, of course, a joke.

Having read the manuscript for my second book, my agent asked me if I'd ever stalked anyone. He quickly added 'or been stalked yourself.' I took it as a huge compliment because what he'd read was obviously convincing. I suppose following people on Twitter might constitute stalking but seeing as that's the whole idea of the thing I don't really consider myself ready for the old 'sofa in the back of the panel truck trick' just yet (see SILENCE OF THE LAMBS).

A lot of readers can identify when a writer is using their own imagination or amplifying their own experiences for effect but I suppose the skill is to make the process of belief suspension effortless through execution. This works well in the thriller genre because much of what constitutes the story is believable. The backdrop is familiar so when a thriller writer introduces their hooks the reader is already comfortably immersed.

Many of the mainstream book charts contain dark and violent thrillers that are enjoyed safely from the comfort of armchairs around the world but they're not for everyone. To some they're scary in exactly the wrong way. Personally, I've got a chin-high threshold and consider STOP ME to be pretty restrained. Maybe this does make me scary. I don't consider myself to be a scary person although one Curzon Group member has already accused me of this. But I know where I end and the keyboard begins and it's all part of the theatre around a book. Can't do any harm...can I?

More STOP ME info at: http://www.richardjayparker.com/

So much for that whole 'plan' thing ...

So, that whole planning plan ... Turns out it didn't work out quite as well as I'd planned! Partly I was knackered and couldn't think straight: going from the end of the next Carver book directly into a new standalone without a day's break may not have been the greatest idea I ever had. Partly I was distracted other work and mundane personal/professional tasks. Or maybe I'm just not that great a planner.

I can't think up stories in the abstract, as it were. I have to let them grow organically. Of course I'm acutely aware of pace, structure, research and all the other technicalities of our craft, and I pay a great deal of attention to them. But in the end I rely on a combination of random inspiration - an image popping into my mind; a newspaper story;a line in an old book - logic and alchemy to get the desired results.

That said, my time was not entirely wasted. At least I was able to set up the questions that need to be answered. My protagonist as about to set out on what that movie script guru Robert McKee would probably describe as a Quest. Now, I already know what he is going to find on that quest. But until last week I'd never gone into the mechanics of how he'd reach his goal, who he'd meet along the way, how they would help/challenge/attack him and what he'd learn from them that would enable him to get there.

This was where the application of logic came in. I asked myself questions about characters. The story deals in part with events dating back several decades. So how had the conflicts between certain characters arisen? Why had they never been resolved before now? What pieces of information would certain characters possess? And so on ...

Plus, I started mapping out what I think is absolutely crucial in a thriller: the choreography. By this I mean that one of the absolute keys to the whole process is moving your characters around the fictional stage so that they arrive in the right place at the right time, with a very good reason for being there ... and then giving them things to do that involve action, revelation of character and progression of the plot.

After a few days mooching around, pretending to be deep in thought, I had quite a lot of that stuff sketched out on paper and in my head. I have a couple of strong images of places that I want to use as backdrops for action and I know who I want to be there. The fact that I haven't, at this point, got a clue how I'm going to get to these places, people and scenes is, for me, part of the fun. I don't remotely knock those authors who are disciplined enough to sort out everything in advance. it's just that (a) I can't do it, and (b) if I had successfully got the whole thing worked out, I wouldn't need to write the book. Part of the excitement for me is that I don't have a clue what's going to happen, either. If I did, then it would all just feel like colouring-by-numbers ... NB: I have the attention-span of a three year-old, which is why I have to be kept entertained!

Anyway, now I have a new problem. I have no excuse not to get back to writing again. The screen is staring at me like a cold swimming pool. I know I've got to dive in. Or maybe I should make myself a spot of lunch. Yes, that sounds like an excellent plan ... !!

Enough to put your back up

Is it just me or do other people experience uncanny problems with their computers? You could say I only notice when problems occur on the odd days when I urgently need my set up to work, and don't register other glitches that happen...
It's over 2 years since my publisher asked for the final MS of CUT SHORT. That was the evening my hard disc failed. Bad timing.
Last week my publisher wanted the final changes for ROAD CLOSED. I typed out what was wanted, ready to send. I had never had a problem with internet access but at that exact moment, my connection packed up . Bad timing.
Can this be coincidence? Yes, of course I know it is, but I can't help feeling, "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gremlins in our computers..." (to paraphrase Lear, badly – sorry!)
With my awareness of potential risks lurking around every corner (I do write crime fiction!) I have an automatic weekly back up on my PC. I save my work daily on a PC, netbook and memory stick. And yes, I have my back up for internet access. If all else fails, there's always my dongle.
But where's the back up for ME when I feel like packing up and switching off?
It's enough to put anyone's back up.
Leigh Russell

THROWAWAY BOOKS

Boredom is so yesterday.

With the advances in technology we've seen in the last decade it's difficult to see how anyone could ever be stuck for something to read, watch or listen to.

Before downloading and burning music I recall the days of investing in an album. Anticipating it, saving for it, buying it, taking it home and finally listening to it. Then, if it was a turkey, you were financially obliged to give it several more cracks of the whip before you either fell in love with it or REALLY knew it was a turkey. Do I miss those days? Hell, no.

I'd much rather have choice. In 2010 some exciting new release is barely announced before it's instantly available to our fingertips/mouse. Take for example the new Tim Burton 'Alice In Wonderland' that will be released on dvd only three months after its (limited) cinema release.

We can have everything we want in a much shorter space of time but one thing we have to remember is that the same amount of human sweat and tears goes into every album, movie and book that we buy or download. This isn't a tirade about piracy. That's being debated ad nauseum elsewhere. I'm just suggesting it's something that's becoming less and less important in terms of people's appreciation.

Having worked in TV production I know how many people and how many hours are spent making only minutes of entertainment. I've now experienced the process behind the publication of a book so when I'm loitering in Waterstones to see how many copies of STOP ME have been bought I certainly view all the other titles around it differently.

Books are still as thought-provoking and relevant as they've always been but nowadays we don't allow them to possess us to the same degree because we're always after the next bit of ephemeral entertainment. Next! I'm just as guilty. The pace of the 21st Century expects it of me etc etc.

The problem is, we all know that there's this wealth of obtainable material out there and we worry that we might be missing out on something better. I say, enjoy the books, music and movies you really hanker for...properly. Take them in and let them make you think.

Your TV may have 400 channels but following that relentless period of channel hopping, chances are you always come back to the small handful that are of any quality.

MORE INFO ABOUT RICHARD AND 'STOP ME' HERE: http://www.richardjayparker.com/

It's a hard life... !

In case you thought I was doing nothing but work at my writing, I thought I'd share a few photos taken when I was out and about this week. Here you can see me hard at work giving a talk to a book club. Fortunately they loved CUT SHORT. I met one of them at a book signing last year, and they kindly invited me to go and talk to them. They were really welcoming, and very interesting. The group includes two speech therapists, an experienced social worker and teachers - all very relevant to CUT SHORT

On Saturday I signed at the Get Writing Conference at Hatfield University. I wasn't able to run a workshop, as I had a Very Important Meeting with my publisher that morning (!) but I did go along to sign at lunch time. The photo shows me with Bibiophile Helen. (We haven't morphed into pixies - I'm holding a poster.) In her review, Helen described CUT SHORT as 'a thoroughly gripping, sprint paced, creepy thriller' which she 'couldn't put down.'

Finally, here's a photo sent to me by one of the colleges where I gave a talk before Christmas. The students described CUT SHORT as 'gripping' and 'a good read'.

So it's not all head down writing. I do get out and about and meet people, which is great fun.

If you'd like a visit to your book club, writers circle, school, college or library, feel free to contact me. You can leave a comment here, send a message via the contact page on http://www.noexit.co.uk or use the email on my profile on http://leighrussell.blogspot.com/

Leigh Russell

The Ten Best British Thrillers....

by Matt Lynn

For the Headline crime blog, I've been compiling a list of the 10 best British thrillers of all time.

What are they? Well here's the first three. But for the rest of the list, head over to Crime Files....

One: The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope: Even though it was published in 1894, Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda remains as exciting as the day it first rolled off the presses. The story of a rather foppish young Englishman called Rudolf Rassendyll caught up in the palace and political intrigue of the imaginary state of Ruritania, it has conspiracies, mysteries and femme fatales galore. Much of the story admittedly may seem antique to modern readers – and it has more than a touch of the ripping yarn about it – but this book is the start of the action adventure genre. It tears off page one at a hundred miles an hour, and speeds up from there. After this book, thrillers had to be genuinely thrilling.

Two: The 39 Steps by John Buchan: It’s an obvious choice, but The 39 Steps is still the template for any thriller writer. It has all the ingredients to cook up a great adventure story: an ordinary hero plunged into a global conspiracy: a fantastic chase sequence: and a puzzle that has to be cracked to save the nation. Dan Brown would kill for one of the Buchan’s riddles. And the book is written with an urgency and pace that still makes it seem very modern. Written in 1915, it gives the reader an insight into how the First World War was viewed by the people living through it.

Three: Journey Into Fear by Eric Ambler: For me, Eric Ambler was really the writer who lifted the spy genre out of pot-boiler fiction, and up to a whole new level. He was a brilliant writer, who also explored the great themes of his day: think George Orwell, but writing adventure stories. Journey Into Fear is his most gripping book, a fantastic story of a fraught voyage from Turkey. The hero is cooped up on a ship, chased by menacing Nazi spies. It captures the tension of the first year of World War Two. It was written in 1940 and has a sense of brooding menace of that year, when the outcome of that war was still very much in doubt, and many people though they were facing decades of the Nazis dominating Europe.

Any suggestions for other books that should be on the list?