Search This Blog

Wednesday 26 October 2011

On writing THE SURROGATE

So, it's nearly time for the release of my first book - THE SURROGATE and to be completely honest I'm working around the clock to get the editing finished in plenty of time for the release date of 11/11/11. I've barely had time to do anything else other than read and re-read and re-read the same pages again and again. In fact I've read it so many times, I don't think I'll ever read it again I'm that sick of it (insert marketing type comment here that tells people the book really isn't that bad).

All along, I've taken the approach that writing and publishing the book is more about an experience than any vain hope of success. Of course, I'd love for thousands of copies to be sold in the first weeks and to be sitting on a golden throne in a mansion with a swimming pool full of champagne by this time next year, but lets be realistic. That's not going to happen. Not until Cash My Gold send me back my throne anyway.

In recent weeks I've talked about how authors should be proud to be independent as it gives them certain freedoms over traditional authors. Pricing, release dates, marketing are all aspects of an indie authors work they have control over. Another is content.

Writing The Surrogate has made me realise how important having control over your own content is. I don't mean the plot, as I'd hope that most authors would resist any change to their well-crafted plots. What I am referring to all the little nuances that impact on a writer's style. For me, writing what is essentially a commercial work of fiction, it doesn't have that much of an impact, but there are still things I've included in the novel that I have put in there deliberately, that editors may not have understood the reasons for.

First of these is the use of Scottish dialect for some of the characters. While the book has no pretensions of being literary fiction, giving some characters an authentic voice not only adds realism, but enforces the class divide between the the middle class Tristan Shepard and his world and the working class realm of Marie McDonald. Yes, it does make it a little difficult to understand certain characters and what they say, but I find the Scots dialect one that is both humorous and humble and that's something I hope those characters will portray. Similarly, I used real locations rather than made up ones. Tristan drinks in high-end bars and goes to fancy restaurants, whereas Marie goes to fast food outlets. Using real locations also helps people reading the book who are familiar with the area to identify with the type of person the characters are. It helps me to cut out unnecessary description of areas and concentrate on the story. And it may get me a free beer or two next time I go to Edinburgh.

I do wonder if these things would have been sacrificed if I had gone the traditional route. Perhaps not, but in editing The Surrogate I've been glad not to have had to edit out some of the things that were important to me in establishing the how different the two protagonists are. And hopefully, just hopefully, it'll make entertaining reading for those who read it too.

C J Evans

Sunday 23 October 2011

I is for Indie...

Being a writer has it's advantages. Unlike any other job you can turn up in your pyjamas, you don't have to shave to go to work and can take off early for the day if you're in a bad mood. I love being a writer, even if it is only part-time, but there are downsides to it. The pay is pretty crap, you can end up working long hours and your Christmas party is pretty lame with just you sitting there in a party hart wondering if you can fit your ass on the all in one printer-scanner-photocopier like at a traditional office party. It can be lonely and so over the last week I've been trying to engage other writers, other like minds to remind me I'm not alone in the world.

I've been reading a lot of blog articles and samples of people's work. Opening my mind to other authors and points of view. It's made me feel a bit more connected to other people who are in the same boat as me. This week I've been impressed with Mike Whitacre's Injury Inn and WillowRaven's artwork. I've also been engaged by Emma Hunneyball's article 'Four Legs Good; Two Legs Bad' which examines the pros and cons of indie writing. As an indie writer, I felt I had to comment on this further.

I hate literary snobbery. I hate it with a passion. Some people may argue that it's because I lack an understanding of the literary conventions - but I have a degree in Literature and a Masters in English - so there! There is too much emphasis placed on getting a publishing deal and an agent to be seen as a 'proper' writer. It's all bullshit. As Emma points out Katie Price/Jordan has a publishing deal - no more needs to be said on that point. She sells books. It's not quality, but people who wouldn't read other works of fiction, read her books. That to me gives her just as much right to be published as anybody else.

Indie authors face a double whammy of not being able to access the editorial support and being frowned upon by the establishment. But what qualifies you to be part of the establishment? A degree in literature? Years of experience reading the same type of book? Analysing trends in literature and maing a prediction on whether something will sell or not? Tell me, is there anything there that cannot be achieved by Indie authors?

I think we need to look back in history to see how the literary establishment has embraced change. In the late nineteenth century, the advent of the printing press saw the street of Victorian England flooded with literature for the people, by the people. Books were too expensive for most people to afford. They were rented out in libraries in sections for which people had to pay subscriptions. On train journeys, people could rent a book or a volume of a book from a little shop called WHSmith and drop them off at the end of their journey. Magazines such as Pearsons and The Strand serialised novels or had short stories in them. If it weren't for magazines like these, we wouldn't have H G Wells or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It's because of these different outlets for reading that we have crime fiction and s/f novels now. Charles Dickens, now regarded as one of Britain's greatest ever novelists serialised his work in newspapers and was widely condemned by the literary establishment at the time as being popularist. How times have changed.

There are obvious parallels between Victorian England and the present day. Books are increasing in price, but cheaper alternatives are available. Post modern society is creating a new innovation in bookselling and as a consequence, new ideas. I love Stieg Larsson's books, but it angers me somewhat when people talk about Lisabeth Salander as the most original heroine in years. Lisabeth Salander is a staple in Cyber-punk literature and I have no doubt that cyber-punk influenced Larsson. Without a thriving paranormal romance sector, would Stephanie Myer have written Twilight? And I won't even get into the whole Shakespeare was an Elizabethan soap opera writer debate. It's the same in film, watch The Hidden Fortress and then watch Star Wars. Watch The Seven Samurai and then watch Reservoir Dogs. Let's look at music too. Without a thriving indie scene (or college rock in the US) would we have had The Smiths, The Pixies, The Arctic Monkeys? The influence of indie culture is plain for all to see.So what next? We've seen the likes of Dickens and Doyle accepted into the literary canon. We've seen the reconsideration of the likes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hamnet as credible authors. In fifty or sixty years what will be considered to be part of the establishment?


Here is a simple fact: Most signed authors of 'literary fiction' sell less than 1000 copies, unless they're selected by Oprah Whinfrey or Richard and Judy to be showcased on TV. Meanwhile the Kindle revolution has seen sales of John Locke's books propel him into the Amazon Million club. Who will it be next? 

I is for Indie. It is for Innovation. It is for the inevitable change that ignorant publishers choose to ignore.

Sunday 16 October 2011

To review or not review that is the question.

It's been nearly a week since I posted sample chapters of The Surrogate online. A week of checking how many hits and downloads I've had. A week of constant promoting and tweeting and posting on Facebook to see how many more people I can reach before the launch of my book on 11/11/11 (just in case you didn't know). All in all I feel pretty satisfied with what has happened. I've nearly 250 reads on Scribd. Over 400 page views on Smashwords and I'm currently sitting on page 691 of the most downloaded free ebooks under 25,000 words written by people with the initials C J! (Not quite the initials part, but the rest is true).

It's been exciting watching people view by book. Up until last week, just two people had seen The Surrogate in any shape or form. Now I've been read by more people than have read The Tape Worm Revolution, Sperm-jackers and Red Devil Crochet Pattern for Halloween (although I think the latter might overtake The Surrogate in the next few weeks). One thing that appears to be missing though is a review. I have lots of Facebook likes, but they don't really sell the book now do they? If they did, sales of people's status would be dominating the charts at Amazon.

So how does one get a review? Send multiple copies of links to online reviewers? Which reviewers would be interested in reading my book? Where do I even send them to? As an indie author, I think the answer lies closer to home. We need to review each others work. I need to get off my own egocentric little cloud and go and read other people's work and hope they repay the compliment. Being an indie author has it's responsibilities and one of those is to support others in the community.

But there are problems with doing this. A lot of E-books I've been reading don't really fit into my category. I know very little about erotic fiction or young adult or paranormal romance. That's not to say I don't appreciate the talent and hard-work that goes into such books, I simply don't know the literary conventions. Give me a crime novel or romantic comedy and I'm fine, but I want to extend myself beyond those boundaries.

For all our differences as writers, there is one thing in common that we should look at when reviewing another's work. Is it a good story? Do I want to read more? If the answer is yes, then say so. If the answer is no, then lie...no, be honest. Tell somebody why it doesn't work for you. At the end of the day, we're all unique individuals looking to write the best story that we can and any feedback we can get, good or bad, is invaluable.

So off I go to read some of the fascinating variety of written texts on the world wide web and maybe, just maybe, crochet a Red Devil for Halloween.

C J Evans

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Into the big world wide web

So I've done it. I've posted the first three chapters of my novel The Surrogate onto Smashwords and made it available through Amazon. Yikes! Now onto the part I've dreaded. What if nobody reads it? What if people don't like it? What if I haven't outsold JK Rowling by the end of the week? Terror!

Of course I'm nervous. Having spent most of my life hiding the fact that I like writing all of a sudden I have to prove to the world that I'm a writer. That I have talent. I'm sort of like one of those acts that sets foot onto the stage of the X-factor and you don't really know what to expect. He looks a bit funny, but does that mean we are going to hear the 'song of triumph' or laughter and derision. I'm shaking as I look at the Simon Cowells and Gary Barlows of this world. I'm hoping that the Kelly Rowlands will be giving me some good ol' fashioned deep South philosophy by the time they've read the sample chapters.

The truth is I shouldn't be afraid. If just one person reads it (currently nine have downloaded it) then it's one more person than would have read it if had stayed in the dusty memory banks of my laptop. If somebody doesn't like it (and I'm sure there will be people who don't) then at least I gave them the opportunity to like it in the first place. If I don't sell as many as JK Rowling? Well, when you have nothing, a little bit more than nothing is a bonus!

This isn't for the short term for me. If I don't hear Take That's Shine as I leave the stage, then I'll be the guy who claims that he'll be back. The one who claims that nobody appreciates his talent.

"I'll show you, I'll be bigger than all of you man!"

Why so serious?

Recently, I've been thinking about why I finally decided to tell the world I wrote in my spare time. I mean, some people who know me know I've always written. I thought long and hard about it and came to the conclusion that I didn't want people to see me as just a 'writer', and by that I mean the serious type of writer, the one who sits up into the early hours of the morning wondering if an additional paragraph would flesh out their character a bit more.

There is a common misconception about writers, one that sort of extends to teachers too. It is that they take themselves far too seriously, that they spend most of their time with their nose in a book or musing away about what they can say about how the world is in decline. I'm a teacher and do you know how I spent my last weekend? Sitting in a pub with a couple of friends and my girlfriend, drinking beer, chatting away and then ordering a Chinese take-away. I was not moping in a corner pondering the futility of my existence (well not until the next day and the hangover kicked in).

I understand that people like to be moved by books, but what greater emotion is there than laughter. It can cure a broken heart, make the ill feel better, or just brighten up somebody's day. Comedy is so often underrated amongst the arts and yet one of the greatest writers in the English language wrote comedies. Yes. Shakespeare wrote comedy. I can't help imagining Big Willy standing on the stage of an Elizabethan Comedy Club asking his audience 'How art thou Stratford Upon Avon?' or 'Does it worrieth thou when thine carriage gets stuck in a ditch?'

I started out thinking I had to write serious prose to be realistic.But look around. There is comedy everywhere. From the sarcastic friend who makes quips, to the father dancing to Rhianna at his daughter's wedding. Yes, there is tragedy in the world too, but that's what makes comedy so much sweeter.

On coming out...as a writer

So I've finally done it. I crept out of the dusty closet that doubles as my office and proclaimed to the world that I, C J Evans, am a writer. I'm prepared for the raised eyebrows of friends at parties when I tell them I've spent the last two weeks not going to the pub because I was working on the latest draft of a novel. I'm ready for their questions about how I do it or why I decided to do it now after all of these years. I've got the answers to their questions about what my book is about and I've got a signed copy ready for them (for a small discount).

For most of my life, I've pretended I was something else. I took job after job and pretended that it was my vocation. I took the bus to work and bought my coffee from the Cafe Nero at Lime Street. I walked into classrooms, lecture halls, offices, each time with a broad smile on my face pretending I really wanted to be there. All the time I was thinking of something else. How I'd write the first line of the next chapter.

Writing isn't easy. I've met a lot of people who like the idea of being a writer, but lack the work ethic to make it happen. I've seen people with far more talent than I'll ever possess who can just throw together the opening paragraphs of a great novel in an instant. But what they lack, is determination. Writing is not merely about 'feeling the muse'. It's about hard graft. It's about sitting at your laptop at three in the morning wondering if your dialogue is realistic enough. It's about having sleepless nights about the syntax and grammar. It's about trudging through pages and pages of text to make sure that your protagonist is consistent. It's damn hard work.

So why become a writer? Why put myself through all of this? Simple, I have to. I don't want to get to eighty years of age and wonder, 'what if'. I write, not because I want to, but because I must.