Guest Post: Seb Kirby - How I Write

This week I asked Seb Kirby - author of Take No More and Double Bind - to share his thoughts on the writing process.  Take it away, Seb...

Well, first I think that's a very personal thing and that every author will have their own take on this. There's no right or wrong way. As W. Somerset Maugham said: 'There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no-one knows what they are.' 

Basically, I prefer the Stephen King approach as set out in his 'On Writing'. You know, the book he wrote after he was hit by a truck when he was out walking to clear his mind after a writing session. The truck that nearly killed him. You get the idea that he felt he had to put it all in that book, just in case. 

I take his approach to be something along the lines of: If you're not surprising yourself when you're writing your book, how can you hope to surprise your readers when they're reading it? So, I try to be excited at what's coming out as I write and let the novel plan itself. With this approach, you don't start with a detailed, worked-out plot or anything more than a part-glimpsed plan, you really do let the characters tell you what should happen next. 

Generally, I don't believe in heroes. I wouldn't want to trust one. I get more from ordinary, flawed, people in situations that take them out of their normal lives. Then things get interesting as you see how they struggle with what seems for them the impossible. And I want to resolve things in the end in their favour. My way, if you like, of righting some of the wrongs, albeit in a small way. 

There are two of Stephen King's aphorisms that I take seriously. The first: 'The road to hell is paved with adverbs.' So, where at all possible I don't use them. The second: 'Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.' I never use a dictionary or a thesaurus. 

Finally, I'd emphasise the importance of the 'polishing' stage in the writing process. Once the words have formed themselves out of the characters' wishes, once the story has been told, the real work begins. Writing and rewriting, working and reworking the text to give it as much shine and polish as you can muster. And there's then always the hope in discovering another of the goals suggested by Stephen King – that seldom achieved 'gem' where you contribute a striking and novel turn of language that lights up the whole show. 

You can read more of Seb's musing on his blog:  http://noveltakenomore.blogspot.co.uk

Guest post: C. R. Hiatt

Over the coming weeks I plan to add a few posts by fellow indie authors. To get the ball rolling I am proud to present an excerpt from Fireworks on the 4th by C. R. Hiatt.

Excerpt from Fireworks on the 4th

With the NVGs guiding us in the dark we crossed the desert by timing our moves with the guards alternating walks around the perimeter. Jake kept watch while I crawled through the fence then he followed and we jogged silently in the direction of the guard shack. A couple feet away, he signaled me to get flat on the ground. I complied.

Through the NVGs, I watched as one of the security guards stepped out of the shack and began to make his rounds. When he disappeared behind the building, Jake pulled the M9 from his hip and moved in silent, but stealth-like mode toward the shack. He sidled up alongside the building, staying just underneath the windows. Took two steps until he was square in the opened door, and raised the weapon.

Before the guard even got the chance to raise his head from his magazine…THWAP – Jake fired.

A dart protruded from the weapon and hit the guard center chest. Several seconds passed before the guard’s lanky frame slumped down. Jake quickly moved him out of view. At the same time, he signaled me to run toward the back of the building.

I took flight, and hid behind one of the four-wheeler’s. When I glanced back, Jake was no longer at the shack and disappeared from my sight.

The first security guard reappeared from the other side of the building, and made his way back toward the shack. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed his partner was not at his post and automatically reached for his weapon. Before he could, Jake unexpectedly rose up out of the ground where he was buried in the sand. The M9 was raised.

THWAP – a dart hit the guard in the neck.

Jake caught him before he slumped down, lifted him off the ground and returned him to the shack. He grabbed supplies from his side pocket, quickly bound the guards’ wrists with plasti-cuffs, and covered their mouths with duct tape.

The take down was so methodical and quick, I knew my father had been doing missions like this for a very long time. I couldn’t help but watch in awe. He signaled me to join him as he entered the garage.

“Now, we move fast. They’ll be out for a while, but no guarantees how long.”

We did a quick search of the garage, checking inside the white box truck. He signaled me to get behind him as he double-checked the office then we met up at the door to the basketball-sized room I referred to as the kill house.

Buy: Gone at Zero Hundred 00:00

Buy: Fireworks on the 4th

CR HIATT

FUEL. YOUR. FIRE.

TCK have once again collaborated to bring you the event of events!

From Jan 17th -Feb 27, 2013 this is your chance to win a brand new KINDLE FIRE… That’s right, a brand new FREE kindle fire!  All you have to do is enter to win. You have seen it, you have heard about it, now how about owning it!

Just some of the authors involved in this great event are as follows: Elise Stokes, Seb Kirby, Patricia Paris, Cathy Carson, Carmen DeSousa, D. G. Torrens, David C. Cassidy,  Claude Bouchard, R.S. Guthrie  and of course myself!

Just click here for your chance to WIN!!!

Best-selling Reads is here!!

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Prize for winning reader entry: iPad Mini with Wi-Fi 16GB plus 1 eBook from each BSR author

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$300 gift card plus 1 eBook from each author (if winner received eReader holiday gift)

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Enter now at http://www.bestsellingreads.com

Winners will be chosen February 28th by Rafflecopter. No purchase necessary.

Gray Redemption is HERE!!

That’s right!  It’s been a long time coming but Gray Redemption will finally hit the Amazon shelves on Sunday 23^rd December 2012.  All three books will also be available on Smashwords from the 27^th and the iBookstore, B & N, Kobo, etc from early January 2013.

I’m sorry it has taken so long to write, but when you’re the bread winner of the house and you come home from work to a demanding young family, there’s little time to get any writing done.  Getting up at 4AM to write before going to work soon takes its toll, too.  Perhaps one day my books will have built up enough of a following that I am able to quit the day job and churn them out a lot quicker, but until then I ask for your patience while I take a two week break before starting work on the next book.

Happy Holidays to one and all.

Blake is back!

Back in January 2012 I was just an unknown author who had the audacity to invite the legendary Russell Blake onto my blog for an interview.  Ten months on and… well, I’m still an unknown author, but Blake has gone from strength to strength, as demonstrated by his latest series JET.

I love his new hero and wanted to find out just how Russell comes up with these stunning plots, so I invited him back for another Q & A and I’m delighted that he accepted.

Can you give us the elevator pitch for JET?  You’ve got thirty seconds to make people want to buy it.

So no pressure, right? Shortest possible pitch? Kill Bill meets Bourne. Longer? JET features a new kind of female protagonist – smart, sexy, kick-ass, over-the-top, take-no-prisoners, and is a non-stop action roller-coaster with more twists and turns than a silly straw, intelligently written for jaded connoisseurs of action/adventure thrillers. If you loved Lizbeth Salander in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the Bourne trilogy, Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, or even the TV show 24, JET is a must-read.

Jet is an extraordinary character.  What made you choose a non-US background for her?

 

Well, the whole ex-CIA thing has been done into the ground, as far as I’m concerned, and frankly, knowing what I do about the CIA’s competence, I wanted better than that. These are the guys who didn’t see the Berlin wall coming down a week before it happened, and told the world that Iraq had WMDs capable of destroying the region within 45 minutes. Ooops. So I looked at some of the hyper-competent clandestine agencies, and the Mossad was an obvious one. One thing led to another, and pretty soon she was Israeli, of mixed ethnicity, but burned out and ready for something new. And I wanted her to be international in flavor, equally at home in the Middle East, South America, Asia or the U.S. Most Americans tend to look, well, very American, for the most part, so I wanted something more exotic, even if that’s totally stereotypical and judgmental of Americans, which I suppose it is. I’m really happy with the part Asian, part Dominican Israeli female protag. Can’t imagine much more exotic and unusual than that...

There are a lot of exotic settings for the JET series.  Are the descriptions all based on your personal visits?

 

Yes, most of them. I’ve had a colorful life, and had the opportunity to travel extensively for this reason or that. It’s given me a good perspective for writing fiction, that’s for sure.

You’ve used females in the lead role in a few books now.  Is that something you see continuing in the future?

 

Right now, I’d say probably not. Between JET, Silver Cassidy in Silver Justice, and Tess Gideon in Fatal Exchange, I’d say I’ve exhausted my possibilities for compelling female heroines. They’re all so different, I can go back to the well and develop Tess and Silver more, and have enough material to last ten years. But I’ll say that Jet is probably my most developed to date – she’s more than just a killing machine, and is pretty three dimensional. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Bronte this isn’t, but compared to most of the protags I’ve read in this genre, Jet is a living, breathing person to me, and hopefully, to readers. So far so good.

How much research went into the JET series?  Is there anything about the storylines that you found challenging?

 

I set out with JET to accomplish several things. The first was to write the fastest-paced thrillers anyone has ever read. The second was to structure plots that were as intricate as anything I’ve seen. And the third was to create as intriguing a set of characters as possible. Truthfully, the concept of JET came to me when I was writing Silver Justice. I was out for a hike, and this book cover just jumped into my consciousness, with one word: JET. Ironically, the cover I wound up with was better, although different. I originally saw a black cover with red metallic lines, like etching, very asian, with an asian symbol, and the word, JET. From there, I sort of had bits and pieces come to me before I started it. But I didn’t really know where the story was going to go – I sort of figured out about half the book, and then was so excited to start writing it, I did the first few chapters, just to see how I could make it turn out. And then I cheated and did the next few. Before I knew it, I was about sixty percent through, and had an entire series in mind. So the challenge was really to piece it together so that a highly-complex storyline was coherent, with just enough foreshadowing to keep the reader interested, but without any deus-ex-machina trickery. As to research, I did virtually none. Everything is based on personal experience, and my imagination. Any detail, I research as I go along, or I save for second draft and just put in placeholders. Like detail on weapons, or specifics about geography or whatnot. “She gripped the XXX with trembling hands as she sighted on her assailant’s head.” And so on.

According to your Amazon author page, you’ve released 19 books in the last couple of years.  That’s a phenomenal output.  How did you manage it?

 

I have no life outside of writing. Really. For the last 18 months or so, all I’ve done is write. About one novel every 5 weeks or so. Including three drafts, editing, and proofing. It’s an insane pace, and one that will stop at the end of the year. Next year I’ll release 4, maybe 5 books. That’s it. I’ve sort of proved what I wanted to, at least to myself, and it’s time to slow the pace down to something resembling sane. The irony is that 4 or 5 novels in a year would be considered a watershed for most authors, whereas for me, it’s going to seem like I’m on vacation most of the year. I’m looking forward to that, BTW, and maybe travel some more. Being chained to the computer 12 hours a day, seven days a week isn’t a ton of fun, after a while. I don’t recommend it, even if it’s great for one’s literary career, such as it is.

When you’re not writing, who are you reading?

 

I recently finished Blood Land, by RS Guthrie, and it is a remarkable example of just how good indie authors can be. I’m reading Nelson DeMille right now, and have Faulkner scheduled next. One of the things I miss about this full-immersion writing approach I’ve taken is that I have no time to read – only at the gym, and then only if not editing (I edit on my kindle, so can do it anywhere). Oh, and I recently finished up a collection of short stories by James Lee Burke, who is a masterful author and probably one of the best living American talents, bar none, now that David Foster Wallace is no longer with us.

Of all your protagonists, which is your favourite?

 

Al Ross from The Geronimo Breach, with Jet a close second. Al is one in a million, and unfortunately, he’s a one novel character. But he is so flawed and broken and downright funny, you can’t help but like him. And of course, El Rey from the Assassin series. There’s something about him – he’s just so frigging cold and bad, but so damned interesting. What does it say about my character that my favorite characters are a drunk misanthrope, a broken female spy, and a stone cold killer? Now you know why my dating life leaves something to be desired. Hard to put that up on Match.com – “Malingering misanthrope with shady past and assassination fixation seeks companion to party with.”

Are there any characters from your previous series’ that you would like to bring back?

 

I think I’ll do one more Dr. Steven Cross novel over the next few years. I like him rather a lot. And Tess Gideon from Fatal Exchange will get another crack at it, this time in Fatal Deception. Maybe next year. I already have it mostly plotted, so it’s a definite. And I think it’s safe to say Silver Cassidy will get another book next year, as will El Rety and Captain Romero Cruz from the Assassin series. So next year is looking like one more Assassin volume, two more JET, one more Silver, and possibly Fatal Deception. You can see why I write so much – Michael Derrigan from The Delphi Chronicle gets regular fan mail demanding a sequel, but where’s the time to pack it all in, much less keep it all fresh and original? I’d say that the world has enough Russell Blake books at the moment, so maybe the following year we’ll see a Delphi sequel, a Cross sequel, and a Jet and Assassin sequel. But then doesn’t it seem like maybe Silver should get another? And so begins the problem of not enough hours in the day, and far too many plots and story ideas...

Do you plan the whole series out beforehand, or one book at a time, or just write by the seat of your pants?

 

I generally try to plot out one book at a time. That gets me into trouble sometimes, as JET III will show, because sometimes I get to the 90K word mark and discover that to finish the idea, I need another book of at least that many words to carry it through and finish the threads. But generally, I do one book at a time, and often that turns into seat of the pants. Zero Sum I wrote pantsing it, as well as King of Swords and Night of the Assassin. Geronimo Breach had just the barest outline before I plunged in. The rest I’ve plotted to one extent or another, but I’m impatient and lazy, so I will usually get tired of plotting about halfway through and start writing, and figure it out as I go along.

When can we expect Jet 4 to hit the shelves?

 

Early-to-mid December, 2012. It will all be in the hands of my editor and proofreader soon. But I’m hopeful.

Have you ever thought about going the traditional publishing route, or are you indie forever? 

 

You know, the trad pub route has so many pitfalls, as does the indie road. Unless you get a deal with a house that really thinks you’re the next Lee Child, you won’t get much push, and will wind up wallowing, making little money, and waiting 18 months to see a book released. On the plus side, you get broad distribution, a real marketing push, and a shot at movies and the like – but that’s only if they have a considerable investment in you, and are committed to giving it the full court press. At which point you’ll be digging into your pocket to do book tours and appearances, in the hopes that you’ll make your advance back and maybe get enough traction to break big. On the negative side, you have to get your books written by committee, where marketing, editors, and your agent all have their take on how it should read, which could be good, or bad, depending upon how the stars align. As an indie, I’ve been extremely fortunate so far. In 2012, I’ll have sold around 100K books, so my income vastly exceeds most trad pub authors – all but maybe the top top tier. I get to release as many books as I like, written the way I want to write them. I don’t have to censor my work, or include a rape scene in the first five pages because marketing wants a shocker to push, or spend six months in editing while a lesser talent goes over every sentence trying to dumb it down to sixth grade level so it will have broader appeal. My personal philosophy is that there are all kinds of readers, from the dim and simple to the highly intelligent and complex, and there are books for all of them. I tend to write what I like to read, which is at the higher end of the smarts curve – harkening back to the days of Ludlum and Forsyth more than the current Patterson et al bunch.  I think I would put my work somewhere between Silva and Baldacci – certainly the right neighborhood to be in, if not the absolutely most popular, although I’d probably argue that JET is more Ian Fleming than anything else I’ve written.

Alan, thanks for having me on again. It’s always a pleasure. Now I’ve got to get back to work and finish JET 4 and figure out what the hell Assassin 5 is going to be about so I can write it and have it out by Xmas...

Russell, the pleasure is all mine.

I can’t recommend the JET series enough, and you can get your first taste of his alluring assassin for just 99 cents.

US:  http://www.amazon.com/JET-1-ebook/dp/B0098QJQR0/

UK:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/JET-1-ebook/dp/B0098QJQR0/

Russell’s blog (more must-read material):  http://russellblake.com/

 

The thing about fiction is...

...It isn’t real.

Yeah, I know that’s kinda obvious, but some of the people who have read Gray Justice don’t seem to realise this.

Let’s start at the beginning. 

In July 2010 I had the seed of an idea and an empty Word document, and the first thing I needed was a main character. 

Male or female?  Hmm, good question.  I thought about it for a while and decided that as the protagonist would have an SAS background, I would go with male.

Next, a name.  How about Clint Power?  Max Thrust?  Trenton Steele?  Actually, why not go with a normal name?  Okay, Dave…Sid…Tom… yeah, Tom.  Tom what?  Tom Savage!!  No, something run of the mill that doesn’t build the guy up as a super hero.  Something bland, something…Gray! 

Tom Gray!

Okay, so I have the seed of an idea, which is that someone loses a loved one to a repeat offender and sees the punishment handed down by the court as derisory.  What should he do?

I know!  He starts a petition to demand tougher sentencing guidelines.  He goes on Facebook and Twitter and amasses a million followers and they all sign the petition and it goes before parliament and he’s standing outside Number Ten waving a placard and…

No.  Where’s the story?  Where’s the action, the intrigue?  He could trip over a couple of times because he made the placard too big, or…

Stop!  That isn’t going to work.  He has to do something unique.  This is supposed to be a story that grabs readers and takes them somewhere they’ve never been.  It shouldn’t read like a few column inches in The Guardian.  He could mow down the killer, or kidnap and torture him, or…

Right, that’s enough, Alan!  Here’s a hundred bucks, go buy yourself a proper imagination!

What would Stephen King do in this situation?  I read Misery, and that was a good book.  A woman finds an injured author, her favourite author, and takes him back to her home.  Okay, that’s the first couple of chapters.  What happens next?  Does she call an ambulance and have him taken to hospital?  If she’d done that, it would have been King’s shortest and worst story EVER!  Instead, she breaks his ankles to stop him escaping and makes him write a novel about her favourite character, one that doesn’t see the heroine die. 

Possibility of that happening?  Slim to none is my guess, but it made for great entertainment.  I was reading it and wondering “How is he going to get out of this?”

Okay, another few light years and I’ll still be a million miles from Stephen King, but that’s the kind of thing you need to give an audience.  Put the protagonist in an unheard of situation and have the reader wonder how they could possibly come through the other end.

Okay, got it.  He kidnaps not just the killer, but four other repeat offenders and holds them in a disused warehouse.  He tells the government that he wants tougher sentencing or his hostages die.

Hmm, it’s missing something.  The authorities would soon locate him, if they even gave a shit about the criminals in the first place.  So we need a deterrent.  What could possibly stop the police wanting to rush the place?  Think!  Think!  I know, he’s planted a bomb somewhere, and if they kill him, the bomb will go off!

Now we’re getting somewhere.

Yeah, a standoff.  He’s got the hostages, and the police won’t make a move. So now what?  What has Tom achieved?  Nothing.  The news channels will report about a hostage situation, but Tom’s grievances are falling on deaf ears.  The police and politicians might sympathise after what he’s been through, but it all boils down to him committing a criminal act.

Tom needs to reach the people, but how?  He builds a website and streams video of the hostages, and tells the government that they mustn’t interfere with it, otherwise…What?  And how long is this going to go on for?

Let’s go back to the start.  We need to make Tom a man with nothing left to lose.  Okay, his wife, overcome with grief at the loss of their son, takes her own life.  We still have the problem of a timescale, though.  Is this going to go on forever?  And where’s the government’s incentive to play ball?

Got it!  Tom will reveal the location of the device on Friday, then take his own life!  He now has nothing to lose, so why not?  But what will he have achieved by then?  Think, Alan!

I know!  He wants to change the sentencing guidelines, but he thinks the government won’t listen.  Why not let the people of Britain vote on the changes?  They can ignore one lunatic, but not the entire population!  Let the people speak!

All we need now is a set of changes he wants to make, but we have to bear in mind who is creating them.  This is a simple ex-soldier, not a politician.  Successive governments have had numerous experts working on the perfect judicial system and it still isn’t quite there, so it would be crazy to have Tom come up with the perfect solution.  It wouldn’t be in keeping with the character I’m trying to create.  Instead, I’ll just have to give him a bunch of unworkable ideas and throw in some counter arguments to balance things out. 

Should I mention rehabilitation and crime prevention as possible solutions, or attacking the root of the problem at an early stage through school workshops and the like?  Would anyone in Tom’s situation think like that, or would they just be damn angry and want to see the criminals punished?  I’ll err on the side of the latter.

So, that’s the process.  I think of situations for my characters, I give them the appropriate personalities and opinions, and let them get on with it. 

Anyway, back to the purpose of this post:  Some people seem to think that Tom’s thoughts and ideals are actually a reflection of MY feelings towards the British judicial system (here's a classic example). If you’re among that number, then you must also assume that Stephen King condones the kidnapping and hobbling of injured authors!  Is that what you really think?

So please, when you read this book, just remember it’s a work of FICTION!  Whether you agree or disagree with Tom’s ideals or methods is entirely up to you, but your argument will be with a fictional character.