Guest Author Leigh Russell : Living the Dream from a Walk in the Park!

These days writing is such a necessary part of my life, it's hard to believe that five years ago I had no expectations of becoming an author. I've been quoted as saying that I "fell into writing like Alice down the rabbit hole” because there was never any grand plan to write. 

If anyone had told me five years ago that my books would all hit the bestseller charts on amazon, kindle, iTunes, WH Smith's and Waterstones, I would have laughed because I hadn't written anything. So when people ask me about my future plans, I can only say that the future is mysterious and full of exciting possibilities. There's no telling what might be around the corner.

The story of my writing begins with a walk in my local park. It was summer in England - so of course the sky was overcast and as I reached the middle of the park it began to rain. Just then, a man appeared round a bend in the path walking towards me. In that instant an idea for a story struck me, and when I returned home I started writing. The story took shape so quickly in my mind that after six weeks the first draft was finished. Having sent it off in a large brown envelope - as you did back in those days - I almost forgot about it. Imagine my excitement when a publisher telephoned me two weeks later to express interest in my writing!

You can read the story inspired by my walk in the park in Cut Short, published in 2009 as the first in a series of crime novels. The book introduces my detective, Geraldine Steel, a single woman dedicated to her job. Thanks mainly to word of mouth recommendations, Cut Short sold incredibly fast. Fortunately it was also very well reviewed, and went on to be shortlisted for a CWA Dagger Award for Best First Crime Novel.

Since the publication of Cut Short, I am frequently approached to give author talks. The first reading group I visited were interested to hear about Road Closed, the second book in the series I found myself writing. My audience were all disappointed to hear that I had given Geraldine Steel a different sergeant in Road Closed. "But we like Ian Peterson," they chorused. Always keen to please, I duly reinstated Ian Peterson as Geraldine Steel's detective sergeant; little dreaming that he would one day feature in his own series.  

I was initially offered a three book deal. In Cut Short, Road Closed and Dead End, Geraldine Steel works for the Kent constabulary. Following the success of all three titles, my publisher offered me a second three book deal. In Death Bed and Stop Dead, Geraldine has moved to London, leaving her sergeant behind. So when my publisher wanted to explore the possibility of my writing two books a year, a spin off series for Ian Peterson was the obvious answer. The new series launches this year with Cold Sacrifice.

Sometimes I stop and think: "This is me. I'm writing books, and people are reading them all around the world, in translation as well as in the original English". It seems unreal. I'm not sure it's really happening. But if it's a dream, I don't want to wake up yet. I'm only half way through writing the second Ian Peterson novel which has to be finished before I turn my attention to the edits for the sixth Geraldine Steel novel, and then there's my idea for the seventh Geraldine Steel investigation.... and the eighth.... and Ian Peterson's third story... No, I can't stop yet! Because however exciting it is to know my books are bestsellers, the real thrill is writing.

Links to all Leigh Russell's books can be found on her website: http://leighrussell.co.uk

Kerry Wilkinson, bestselling e-author answers some Quick Fire Questions

Kerry Wilkinson, sports journalist and self-published crime writer has become the most popular author in the Kindle charts after selling more than 250,000 e-books in six months.

 
He told futurebook (http://futurebook.net/content/reader-first-approach-writing-and-self-publishing): “Ultimately, I'm a kid from a council estate in Somerset. I grew up reading those thin Doctor Who paperbacks which were almost entirely written by Terrance Dicks. I love books, I collect them.
There is no way I should be able to compete with a massive major publisher - let alone beat them. How have I done it? I'm not sure I really know. I can only ever continue to act on instinct. After all, I'm a reader first.”

We were thrilled when Kerry said he had time in his manic schedule to answer a few Quick Fire Questions on Strictly Writing.

1. Who is you favourite Doctor from Doctor Who and why?
- I always like whoever the current guy is so, at the moment, Matt Smith.

2. Where do you write?
- Pretty much everywhere. Sometimes, if I'm on a day off, I'll use my netbook in bed and write through the morning. I mainly write on the sofa at home, but I also write on my lunchbreak at work, I've written on trains and on planes, everywhere really.

3. Best writing snack?
- I don't think anyone can function creatively without biscuits (cookies for our American chums). I have, in the past, nicked out the supermarket before settling down to work because the house has been devoid of sugar-based snacks. I'm also a fan of a good old fashioned biscuit tin. There's something endearingly British about all that crumbly crap you end up with at the bottom.

4. Soundtrack (if so, what) or peace and quiet?
- I pretty much need the house to be silent but I'm also a walking hypocrite because I can write on a train, etc, where it isn't quiet at all. The ideal soundtrack is the noise of the ice cream man pulling up outside our house. I always move quickest when I'm trying to find my shoes and some money to get out the door before he pulls away. Then I can settle back on to the sofa with a bonus ice cream to aid my creative process.

5. Which book/writer has/had any major influence on you?
- I don't know really. I don't particularly follow individuals. I read more comics and sci-fi stuff than I do prose fiction. Through that, you could say Ed Brubaker or Brian Bendis but I've read some really great stuff. People are missing out big-time if they don't think comics can tell good stories. Things like Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, The Walking Dead, Preacher, Supreme Power, Blankets and many many others. Comics teach you about plotting too because they rely on finishing on a belting cilffhanger every 20-odd pages. If they don't do that, people don't buy the next issue, which means the writer has to stop telling his story.

6. What are you reading right now?
- Chris Jericho's first autobiography. It is very funny and very good. I just finished the Alan Partridge autobiography for the third time. It's the funniest book I've ever read. I think I could read it over and over and not get bored.

7. Has (and how) ‘overnight success’ affected your ordinary daily life?
- Basically, not at all. I'm still the same person I was a year ago. I just now have better excuses for not tidying up around the house. "I've been writing all day" garners more sympathy than "I've been on the PlayStation all day".

8. Laptop or paper?
- What's this paper you speak of?

9. Where do the ideas come from?
- The broad ideas usually come from small stories which you might stumble across in a newspaper or on the radio news or something like that. Sometimes it will just be one line that will sets your imagination off. The whole of book two, Vigilante, was born out of a throwaway line at the bottom of a much wider newspaper feature. The funny thing was, someone left a review saying that certain part of the book was "unrealistic" when it was the only part based on fact! I think people are very quick to call things "unrealistic" because real life will always be stranger at some point. Think of things like the David Kelly saga, or the Stockport saline story. That's far "better" in a story sense than most things you could make up.

A lot of the character stuff comes from incidents I've seen over the years or people I've met, although not necesarily directly. Again, sometimes you might see the startings of an event in real life, then you reimagine them with your characters.

11.The best advice you could give to an aspiring writer?
- Not even a writer, just anyone who wants to do something creative: Do it because you want to. I never feel pressured to write. I only keep going because I have something left to say and pads of unused ideas. It's why I never have writer's block. I've never once sat around wondering what happens next.

12. What would you have liked Q.10 to have been?
- I prefer to think of question 10 as like those 11 days in 1752 when Britain jumped from 2 September to 14 September because the country switched to the Gregorian calendar.

Kerry's website/blog is here: Kerry Wilkinson.com  and you can read the openings of Kerry's first three books,  'Locked In', 'Vigilante', and 'The Woman in Black' on Amazon.  Look out for the fourth and fifth books in the Jessica Daniels' series, 'Think of the Children' and 'Playing with Fire' which will be out later this year.

Guest Spot: Interview with best-selling author Lisa Jewell

Welcome back to Strictly Writing, Lisa, and thanks for guesting for us again.  Your new book, “The Making Of Us” is due for release next week, 12^th May 2011.  Can you tell us a bit about it?

"The Making of Us is about three strangers, all in their twenties, all living very different lives, who slowly come together when they discover that they share an anonymous donor father."

It’s a fascinating concept, what first ‘sparked’ your imagination with this storyline?

"As ever, with my books, it is not the book I set out to write! I started off wanting to write a comedy a little like Nick Hornby’s About a Boy. I wanted to put a dry, childless woman in middle youth together with an unlikely younger person and see what would happen. I thought of a long-lost younger sister and then I read about the Sibling Registry that had just been set up for donor children to track each other down and thought that would make it less clichéd and quite current. So I started writing the book with just these two characters in mind, but felt it wasn't funny and it wasn't light-hearted and I needed to make it more substantial. So I brought in the other characters and tried to give it the feel of an ITV drama series instead."

Which character did you feel the closest to in ‘The Making Of Us’ and do you find you miss certain characters more than others after you’ve finished writing a book?

"Usually when I write one of my multiple character books there is one I like writing the best and look forward to getting back to. That wasn't the case with this book. I loved them all equally and enjoyed writing from all their perspectives. I think I probably felt the closest to Dean as he had it the toughest and was the most vulnerable. I never miss my characters after I've finished with them. I'm always ready to move on to the next bunch."

You've mentioned that you enjoyed the David Nicholls’ book ‘One Day’ which is currently being made into a film.  Which one of your books would you like to see made into a movie first and who would you want to play the leads?

"As I type, a group of people are trying to make 31 Dream Street into a movie. They have the finances in place which is half the battle, and they want to start filming by the end of the year, so hopefully, you never know. I thought of David Thewlis for Toby, but he's a bit old now. Or maybe James McAvoy, but he's too cute. Steven Marchant? Can he act? As for Ruby, maybe the gorgeous Karen Gillan?"

Have you already come up with an idea for your next book or do you like to give yourself a celebratory break before moving onto the next project?

"I do always engineer in a break, usually a few weeks (which is why I like to complete a book in early summer!) but then there’s usually a few weeks of rewrites and edits, so it tends to be a couple of months before I start the next one. I delivered the Making of Us in June last year and started this new one in September. I want to finish it by the end of July, but we’ll see. It’s a love story set in Soho in the mid-90s, very different from the last few books. I hope everyone likes it."

Being a writer is a solitary business; how important do you think being part of an online social network is for an author?

"Unbelievably important. From the very early days of the internet I have been part of an on-line chat room of fellow authors. Since then, of course, we have seen the arrival of Facebook and now Twitter, neither of which I am addicted to, but which do form an important part of my working day. I would feel very lonely without them let's put it that way."

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy best-selling schedule and talking to Strictly Writing, Lisa,  Good luck with the book!

"Thank you so much for having me! Fingers crossed!"

Lisa Jewell was born and raised in north London, where she lives with her husband and two daughters. Her first novel, Ralph's Party, was the bestselling debut of 1999. She is also the author of Thirtynothing, One-Hit Wonder, Vince & Joy, A Friend of the Family, 31 Dream Street, The Truth About Melody Browne and most recently, After the Party, all of which have been Sunday Times bestsellers. To find out more visit her website at www.lisa-jewell.co.uk or http://www.facebook.com/LisaJewellofficial

Guest Spot: Bestselling Author Claire Allan

We're thrilled to have bestselling author Claire Allan guest for us, especially as her fourth book, “It’s Got To Be Perfect” is released today . Hi Claire, and welcome to Strictly.

Q. Can you tell us a bit about “It’s Got To Be Perfect” and where the idea for it came from?

It’s Got to Be Perfect is my most traditional chick lit book to date. It has more comedy in it that anything else I’ve written and I can honestly say I adored every second of writing it. It is a fairly upbeat story - one woman’s quest for perfection in her life, her relationship, her work, her friendships etc. The only thing is she seems to constantly get it disastrously wrong and she is envious of her friends who seem to have it sussed. Of course, we all know that there is no such thing as the perfect relationship and that everyone has their secrets if you dig deep enough. 

Q. Your first book, “Rainy Days and Tuesdays” was a massive success and dealt sensitively with the very real issue of Post-Natal Depression. Was this a cathartic exercise for you and what kind of feedback did you get?

It was a massively cathartic experience and while the book is not a misery lit memoir, there are passages which I find hard to read now as it brings back to me the very real pain and guilt associated with my PND experience (which I experienced after my son was born in 2004). It was a book I felt I had to write however and I’m very glad that I did and that I made PND a big part of the storyline. The feedback I got, from people who have been there and even from health professionals has been astounding. One doctor told me she would give the book out on prescription if she could! It was a very humbling experience, to be completely honest. 

Q. How did you find writing the infamously difficult Second Book, “Feels Like Maybe” (which I adored, btw!).

I loved it! I know at times, especially at the beginning while I was trying to get the voices of the two main characters just right there were times when I wanted to tear my hair out in frustration but once I had Aoife and Beth in place it was a joy. The book was one of those really happy author experiences where it just seemed to write itself and there were times I would read back the previous chapter and not quite believe it was me who had put those words on the pages. 

Q. Can you tell us a bit about your road to publication and how it felt to realise you were a ‘Bestselling Author’?

I had a very lucky experience - one which makes some people pea green with envy but it really was the case that my book hit the right desks at the right time. I started writing RD&T in January 2006 with a goal of finishing it by June. I did and that was the first and only time I’ve ever written a book in six months! I sent it out to agents and got a yes from the first lady I approached - Ger Nichol of The Book Bureau. She helped me through a few revisions and then, around October time we sent it out. By early December I was sitting with a four book deal from Irish publishing giant Poolbeg Press. Poolbeg advertise themselves as “the Irish for bestseller” but I never expected my book to hit those dizzy heights. Indeed my editor, Paula Campbell, went to great lengths to explain to me that sometimes it just doesn’t happen. It was an amazing and happy shock with RD&T hit number 2 in the Irish charts and I still a get a buzz when I see that “bestselling” catchline on my books. 
 

Q. You write a regular column on the Derry Journal, “Skirting The Issue” . Are you any different  since becoming such a household name?!

Oh God no! I still do the same as I did before - I still cover school prizegivings and courts and bomb scares and whatever else comes our way. I do tend to get kicked out of the office to all career events though as I’m a bit more high profile and occasionally people I’m talking to for stories get very excited when they realise who they are talking to. It’s very surreal because I’m still working full time to pay the bills and journalism is still a way of life for me. It is nice to get a wee ego boost now and then though - I can’t deny it! 

Q.Do you already have an idea for book number 5 and can you tell us anything about it?

As I write a year in advance, book five is well underway and should be finished in the next few months. Essentially book five is about friendships, how they can come and go but how someone will always survive. It follows three school friends, now in their 30s, as they take a holiday together and uncover each other’s secrets. It’s set partly in the South of France and I have loved researching the region, dreaming of chateaus and hunky French men. I’ve also really enjoyed exploring the dynamics of friendship. 

Thanks so much for taking time to be our guest today, Claire, and on behalf of everyone at Strictly Writing, huge congratulations and we wish you enormous success with “It’s Got to be Perfect”. Here’s to another bestseller!
You can find Claire here:

www.claireallan.com
Released by Poolbeg Press

Quick Fire Questions with Katie Fforde

We are thrilled to welcome best selling romantic novelist Katie Fforde to Strictly Writing. Thanks so much Katie, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to join us.

The first story I remember reading was...

The first book I read on my own was ‘Snowball the Pony’ by Enid Blyton. I was a slow reader. The fiction I really loved- a couple of years before I could read myself- were the Arthurian Legends. I used to make the children I played with take the parts. I was always the noblest knight.

Which writer would you be for a day?

The writer I would be for a day would be one who can write 3000 words. Don't care which!

Amazon or independent bookshop?

Independent bookshop every time. I'm now Twitter mates with someone at my local Indy, and she'll order things for me. Bliss!

You really must read...

An awful lot of books! I think a lot of Jenny Rooney, whose first book, 'Inside the Whale' was short listed for the Costa. I've just read her second.


I know I have my story when...

I know where to start and how it will end. Fortunately I can start before I know the end. I just get half the story at a time.

If I wasn't a writer I'd be...

A therapist. I love listening to people's stories. Maybe there's a way I could do it without getting too distressed?

Favourite writing snack?

Carrots. Crunching down on a raw one helps with scenes requiring confrontation.

Longhand or computer?

Computer, every time. My hand writing is terrible. Fortunately I can type.

My biggest tip for a Women's Fiction writer is...

To read a lot - you learn so much. And keep at it! (Second tip slipped in there as I couldn't quite decide.)

My proudest writing moment so far has been...

When I heard from a female vicar who said she'd borrowed a bit of ‘Thyme Out’ as a basis for a sermon. (It was the bit about bereavement.)

Three authors dead or alive I’d like to invite to dinner are:

Well, Georgette Heyer. She might be a bit spiky but I bet she'd be fun. Mark Twain, ditto and probably Shakespeare. I've chosen dead ones because I might yet get to invite the living ones to dinner...

Katie has published fifteen novels and her latest, 'A Perfect Proposal' is due out on June 10th.