Passion Projects

As any creative artist can tell you, the muse comes in many different guises and you never know where or when or even how inspiration will strike. I’m a novelist and short story writer so words are my thing, but I've never been entirely sure whether my writing is what you'd call art.  I do write a lot though!

In 2015 I signed a five-book deal with Joffe Books for a Brit spy series featuring Thomas Bladen, a Surveillance Officer on the lowest rungs of British Intelligence. In 2018 the fifth and final book came out and that was going to be the end of Thomas's adventures. In 2020 Joffe Books produced a box set of THE COMPLETE THOMAS BLADEN THRILLERS to round it off.

I then began a new crime mystery series for Joffe Books, starring Detective Craig Wild. New characters, new set-up. LONG SHADOWS debuted in 2020 and WEST COUNTRY MURDER followed in 2022. I’m currently wrestling with the plot for a third book.

But…sometimes old characters refuse to fade away and they return to us with new ideas and adventures, long after we thought they’d gone. PATHFINDER is one such story and follows on from FLASHPOINT (published in 2018, remember!).

The muse presented me with a compelling premise and the seed was a single question:

What if people started dying because of a secret no one else was supposed to know?

Weirdly, although I completed it this year, PATHFINDER picks up right after where FLASHPOINT ended. No spoilers here but there’s a major event in Book 5 that has dire consequences in Book 6.

As far as my publisher was concerned, the original series was done and dusted, but they encouraged me to try other options if I wanted. After contacting a couple of other publishers, without success, I spoke with a good friend and fellow writer and he nudged me towards self-publishing.

The last time I self-pubbed a novel was back in 2012, so it has been a bit of a learning curve. This time I brought in expertise for the cover design and final formatting at the outset. I am very pelased with the results.

I don't know whether PATHFINDER will make any money or climb the Amazon charts. I hope so, but that wasn't my main motivation. I simply believed in the book and wrote it for the people who loved the series. You could say that's when I knew it was art after all!

Derek

PATHFINDER

Surveillance Officer Thomas Bladen is back and he’s a man on a mission. 

THE SHADOW STATE AND THE ALLIANCE HAVE BEEN AT WAR FOR DECADES.

After seven dissidents meet to try and end the deadlock, they think their secret is safe.

 

They’re wrong.

 

A near-miss on the London Underground is just the beginning for a contract killer with friends in high places. When no one else can be trusted, the fate of seven people rests with Thomas, who will learn the hard way about the price of loyalty and the cost of failure. The only rule is to stay alive.

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CBZ32YP6 

US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CBZ32YP6 

 

 

 

Guest Author Elizabeth Haynes gets all serious about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

We are delighted to shine the Strictly Writing spotlight on author Elizabeth Haynes.  Another NaNoWriMo is nearly upon us and Elizabeth is one of the many success stories associated with this annual challenge.  Here she divulges her very own winning formula and gives us one of those inspirational leg-ups we all need from time to time.  Take it away, Elizabeth...

 
"I feel a bit of a fraud, writing about NaNoWriMo as if I know what I’m talking about. I’ve being doing it for fun since 2005, like a lot of other people, and I never thought for one minute that it might lead to publication. But to my ongoing surprise, it did – and so, dear reader, for your delectation and amusement, here is a precis of my NaNoWriMo journey to date.

My first attempt (2005) resulted in a laughable serial killer-thriller that I lost in early December to a hard drive failure. Lessons learned in 2005:

-          don’t use the same name for more than one character (too complicated)

-          don’t base your serial killer character on your boss (potentially awkward)

-          back up, back up, back up!! Do it now!

In 2006 I wrote 50,000 words of a vast, complicated police procedural – loved it, couldn’t think of an ending so just carried on with the middle hoping the ending would show up eventually. It didn’t. Lessons learned in 2006:

-          keep a spreadsheet or database of characters if you’re going to have lots of them

-          have a vague idea of who the killer might be when you start writing

In 2007 I lived the life of a Nano rebel and continued with my 2006 plot, ending up with a 130,000 word total for both parts and still no sign of an ending, or any idea who the killer might be. Lessons learned in 2007:

-          it’s much more fun to start a fresh new plot each November

-          having a week off work made a BIG difference to my total wordcount

 outside the NaNo HQ

In 2008 I finally got the balance right: a brand new plot, an idea of the ending (even though it changed in the editing process), and… the biggest achievement of all – I finished the blessed thing. I had a go at editing the result, but I ended up working on the first third of it over and over again, not having a clue what I was doing, and each time giving up thinking it was all pointless. In the end I showed the manuscript to two close friends, who both loved it - which gave me some hope. What made the difference was a conversation with my cousin, who uttered the fateful words, “Why not just send it off? What have you got to lose?” Oh, so simple!

The rest of the story has more to do with luck than judgement, but I did end up with a publishing contract for my 2008 book – Into the Darkest Corner, which was released in February 2011.  As everyone’s publishing story is going to be different, the lessons I learned earlier on are possibly more useful:

-          you can’t do anything with a story unless it has an ending, and

-          you won’t get published unless you actually show it to someone.

As always I’m in danger of being Mistress of the Bleedin’ Obvious here, so forgive me the platitudes, but let me console you with this: if I can do this, there is nothing stopping you doing it too. If you’re on that long conveyor belt between starting your first novel and a sparkling book launch, be proud that you’re on the conveyor at all, because there are a lot of people who are afraid to give it a go. You might fall off. You might get pushed off it by that annoying thing called Real Life. But if the only thing standing in your way is a big pile of excuses, I would urge you to be brave and go for it.

So here we are, standing on the edge of a beautiful new November, full of potential and dark, grey, cold days, just made for cuddling up with a computer or a notebook. This might be your year; the year you write something with a beginning, a middle and an ending that’s actually quite good… This might be the year that you end up with something you can actually show someone. And if not that, then it might be the year that you have the best fun, meet the nicest Wrimos online, go to some hilarious write-ins and emerge on 1^st December feeling thoroughly pleased with yourself (and wishing you’d thought to do your Christmas shopping in October).

This year I’m starting with another germ of a story, a vague idea of an ending, a few good-ish characters who are waiting to tell me their stories, and a real cracker of a title! Please feel free to come and say hello on the NaNoWriMo site via nanomail – I’d love to hear from you. I’m Cosmic The Cat on there. And good luck with yours… I’ll see you on the other side."

Elizabeth can also be found on Twitter (@Elizjhaynes) or via Into the Darkest Corner’s Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Into-the-Darkest-Corner/129457203777662

Into the Darkest Corner is a powerful novel of obsession in it's many forms and is currently nominated for the People’s Book Prize, the winner of which is selected purely by reader votes. Voting continues until the end of November, and can be found here:http://www.peoplesbookprize.com/section.php?id=6

Mr Motivator

As I recently posted, I have taken the plunge and joined up to National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo.

Checking out the forums on NaNo it’s clear that there are as many motivations for taking part as there are differing types of writer. I had assumed that the place would be wall to wall wannabe authors, desperate to churn out a publishable novel in the allotted time scale of one month.
I was wrong.

A lot of people are doing it simply for the fun and the challenge. They know they probably won’t end up with a decent book at the finishing line but they don’t care. They love the camaraderie and the community. A bit like the fun runners in a Marathon. It’s all about taking part. Getting to the finish line.

Many others are writing something fairly autobiographical, a memoir, or a story based on their own experiences. Getting it all down on paper is a therapy of sorts. I don’t really get this. I’m from oop north where we don’t have ‘ishoos’, but if those writers are helped along the way, then good on ‘em.

And there are, to my surprise, quite a few like me. Writers who are already published and have had some sort of ‘success’. Some of these authors want to kick start their next book, some are changing genres. A lot are, like me, on a vacation from their usual writing business and enjoying the freedom of a month writing anything they fancy.

Strange then, that given the liberty, I have gone and started another thriller. I really didn’t think I would. I saw myself doing something completely out of my comfort zone, experimental even. The market be damned.

I toyed with something dark and literary, all psychological musings and little plot. But it bored me before I even got underway.
Then I fancied a children’s book. Something my own kids would enjoy reading. But the ideas just didn’t flow.
As the first day came and the whistle blew I knew I had to make up my mind fast and I jumped at an idea that’s been niggling me for ages. A political thriller. All conspiracy and terrorist plans. Wonderfully overblown ideas and canvas.
I guess you can take the girl out of the murder and mayhem, but you can’t take the murder and mayhem out of the girl. If I’ve learned nothing else, it’s that this genre is my natural home.

To be fair, though, what I’m writing is still very different.
My main character is a man, which is new for me. And proving hard, I can tell you. And I’m writing him in first person – not done that before for an MC.
Also, and this is very new, I simply haven’t had time to draw up a detailed plan. I know the bare bones of what will happen but it’s all so sketchy. Twice now I have come unstuck because there simply isn’t time to sit and think the problem through. Instead I have taken a committee approach and asked for plot help and setting help. Both, have actually been fun and productive with tons of suggestions flying my way. How cool is that?

So fat I’m on track with my word count and enjoying myself. What will happen this week, who can say.
I’ll keep you posted.

Mind The Gap!

Anyone else forget things all the time? Due to the fact that I’m a woman of a certain age, (more than forty, less than fifty), my memory cells aren’t what they used to be. In fact, they’re really quite awful. I fight it, of course, like I fight my alarmingly grey roots with a popular brand that tells me I’m worth it. The gaps in my memory, however, need a different tool, so I have notebooks placed all over the house. The idea, and it does work, is that if/when what I’ve forgotten creeps back into my head, I can write it down. I then recommit it to memory by repeating it aloud ten times, whilst tapping my head with my right forefinger. Mad as a box of frogs, I know, but as I said – it works.

Yesterday, I was on the tube from Camden Town to Bank, when I found myself surrounded by several disparate characters I felt the urge to write about. Needless to say I’d forgotten a notebook, but I did have a pen and one of these characters, complete with enormous cello, was scribbling on an A4 pad. So I did what any writer would do and asked him for a page.

Right beside me, there were two men chatting. They were dressed similarly, both wearing dark formal trousers and lace up shoes, with more casual jackets. I imagined them having been on some conference together, or perhaps journeying from a work shift. I placed them as policemen, lower ranking. Here’s a snippet of their conversation:

Man No 1: ‘I don’t believe what they’re saying - that you were solely responsible.’
Man No 2: ‘I appreciate that, but it doesn’t make me less culpable.’
Man No 1: ‘It doesn’t seem fair.’
Man No 2: ‘Well it’s not, but I have to live with it.’

Ooh, the mind boggled. I SO wanted to know what they were talking about, I had to resist leaning across and asking.

Beside them sat a woman, Japanese, difficult to age. Her hair was died peroxide blonde and her roots made mine seem insignificant. She was tiny. I mean she had the the body of a small child, yet I placed her at least in her twenties. She was reading and had almost finished ‘The Life of Pi.’
Cello man sat directly opposite me. He held the hard instrument case between his knees during the journey. Through John Lennon glasses, he scribbled on his pad and I imagined him penning something musical, something beautiful that would live forever. Okay, I also thought he might have been a hit man with a BIG gun. When I asked him for a page of his pad, he handed it to me, but never met my eyes…

To his left the final character in this scene, occurring in two rows of eight seats in a London underground carriage, was the hair man. This man was so thin, I wanted to feed him. He had craggy features, wore a long leather coat, was dressed entirely in black and had waist-length hair. Late thirties or early forties, I thought. When he sat down, he reached into a (black) rucksack and removed a large (black) paddle brush and began to slowly brush his mane. I swear! He looked like an aging, goth-like siren, prepping to lure willing creatures of the night to danger.

When I left the train, I tucked the page into my bag, as the ironic voice that is standard at Bank station warned, ‘Mind the Gap’. I grinned widely, delighted that the characters I’d just ‘met’ would never fall into one of those memory gaps, thanks to the trusty tools of pen and paper. All I had to do was get home and remember to file the piece of paper in the proper place. Hell, I had the makings of a thriller, a tale of international espionage, a Gothic underworld full of long haired killers…or maybe even a blogpost?

Quickfire Questions with... Camilla Bolton - Darley Anderson Agency

Camilla Bolton joined Darley Anderson Agency in August 2007. She is an Associate Agent for Crime and Thriller fiction, having formerly been in newspaper journalism.


Which 3 authors, dead or alive, would you invite to dinner?
Stephen King, Roald Dahl and Maeve Binchy.

Email or phone?
Phone definitely as I’m not the best at spelling or grammar.

Cosy crime – passé or popular?
Good page-turning cosy crime will return, especially with authors like Alexander McCall Smith re-inventing it with a unique twist. So I’d say it’s zoomed past passé and is heading for popularity.

An author should always…Look at every word they write and make sure it’s 100% necessary. Excess words slow pace, stop stories and potentially bore readers.

Favourite desktop snack?
Coffee

Cliffhanger or reveal-all ending?
Reveal-all ending as I hate not knowing something.

You really must read…
Killing Floor by Lee Child.

Dan Brown is…
A great story teller and huge commercial success.

Daily Mail or The Times?
I’m very ashamed to confess that I rarely buy papers, I always intend to but never quite make it. Sadly I spend my time reading crime and thriller books.

Crime fiction is literary when…
It takes 5 pages to say what a commercial novel could manage in a paragraph. I know, it sounds a bit extreme, but literary crime fiction relies on words as well as plot and consequently the pace will be a lot slower.


Thanks, Camilla! And it's admirable that your only desktop snack is a cup of coffee!