BLOG INTERVIEW

A couple of months ago, I was interviewed by Morgen Bailey on her Writing Blog.  A few things have changed since then, such as THE ELLROY DEFLECTION not being limited to ebook format and the price of it  coming down on Amazon.

Here is a transcript of that interview:

Morgen: Hi Kevin. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.


Kevin: I’ve written for as long as I can remember.  I remember having aspirations of writing a novel as a kid and being frustrated at my inability to achieve the length and detail required (I was only eleven). 

Morgen: I remember reading the Hobbit when I was about that age and getting about ten pages in. I’m not sure what I turned to instead then but not long after I started with Stephen King (who I became so hooked on that it was torch under the duvet every night, which (I reckon) is why I wear glasses  ).

Kevin: It wasn’t until I was in my mid-to-late twenties that I became focussed on what I wanted to do. Being a big film fanatic, I wrote a couple of screenplays after learning the format.  Maybe one day I’ll revisit them, but for now they’re on the backburner.  If they are any good, they should stand the test of time.  If not, they’re what gave me the writing bug and set me on my way.  It’s taken a few years to write my first novel, ‘The Ellroy Deflection.’  It is a gritty crime thriller, set in a fictional British city, inspired by the many crime thrillers that I’ve read and watched over the years.

Morgen: (The link to it, because Kevin’s too modest to add it, ishttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058DOCC6 – just $1.59). I met three agents recently and two of them said they’re short of crime (and one added historical fiction) so you’re doing the right thing. Have you considered other genres?

Kevin: I just write in the crime thriller genre so far, but am open to writing for other genres.  I would say that my upcoming second novel is written in a different style, because it is set in 1930’s USA rather than present-day Britain, but it is still a crime thriller at heart.

Morgen: Perfect; historical thriller – just what the agents want.  How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Kevin: It’s very early days.  Following a couple of years writing to agencies and publishers without any success, I stumbled upon the notion of self-publishing my work as an eBook.  I’m open to any avenue available for marketing and promoting my work and it has become a bit of an obsession.  There doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day.

Morgen: Oh how I know that feeling. I’ve been having 4-5 hour sleeps which really are not me, nor are lie-ins although I managed to get one inadvertently today.  You mentioned your unsuccessful struggle getting an agent (most of my interviewees, and I, can relate to that) do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Kevin: I don’t have an agent, no.  If I did, I’d imagine have more time available for writing which is what every author surely craves.

Morgen: Absolutely, although you’re getting all the contact with your potential readers which must be an upside. Is your book available as an eBook? If so what was your experience of that process? And do you read eBooks?

Kevin: It is only available as an eBook at the moment.  I have to admit, what seemed like a daunting task was surprisingly easy.

Morgen: Yay! That’s news to my ears as someone about to embark on that process.

Kevin: I‘m by no means an expert at html, formatting and so on, but the tools and resources are all there to smoothly enable you to make your eBook available on the world-wide stage that is the internet.  I haven’t read many eBooks myself because I didn’t appreciate their accessibility until recently.  Of course, I have now been converted.

Morgen: Many people have (and new readers). I have a generic eBook (fortunately my editor has a Kindle so we cover both bases) but she uses her MUCH more than I mine. What are you working on at the moment / next?

Kevin: I’m probably half-way through writing my second novel.  I won’t reveal the title yet but the synopsis goes something like this:

In the midst of the Great Depression, a man travels east whilst the desperate many travel west in search of the elusive employment that the Promised Land could bring. It is 1934 and Jack Gray, family man and farmer from Nebraska, has embarked upon a compelling trek across the states with New York City being his destination. A drifter looking for work on Jack’s farm has mistakenly identified Jack as a gangster from the Big Apple that had mysteriously disappeared years earlier, leaving furious enemies baying for blood.  The transient fled before being convinced that his perception was the wrong one. In the wake of the encounter, Jack’s father is forced to reveal the startling family secret that means Jack has to depart in an attempt to intercept the stranger intent on leading a pack of vengeance-craving mobsters back to Jack’s home. Reluctantly leaving his family during the most desperate of times, Jack must rely on his own resilience and the kindness of strangers along his journey, where the horizon is often as remote as his chances of catching the desperate drifter hungry for redemption salvaged from a life in exile.

Morgen: My goodness lots of tension and I’d say relateability even to those who don’t remember that era. What is your opinion of writer’s block? Do you ever suffer from it? If so, how do you ‘cure’ it?

Kevin: I believe that writer’s block happens to anyone who has high standards.  It’s the refusal to accept sub-standard ideas and settle for the shortcut to progress.  I usually just acknowledge when I’m stuck and go with it.  When I’m writing, the story goes with me in my head wherever I go.  An idea will come to me out-of-the-blue and it’ll be extremely satisfying.  Often the idea is like a spark and sets me off again.  Patience is key.

Morgen: I think few people don’t get to finish their stories because of writer’s block (someone may comment disagreeing) if they leave it for a while then come back as if it’s new. I heard a famous female novelist (I think it might have been PD James) say that if she runs out of steam she leaves a sentence unfinished, goes to bed (assuming it’s night  ) and picks up again in the morning; works every time she says. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Kevin: When I start a story, I have no idea where it is going.  Of course, that is why I’m very familiar with writer’s block.  I’ll only run with an idea if it excites me, so I like to think that I know what the reader is going to experience.  I start off with a basic premise and then writing it becomes a journey into the unknown.

Morgen: If it doesn’t excite you then it won’t excite the reader (ditto boredom). Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Kevin: A lot of my editing gets done when I’m typing my handwritten work onto the computer.

Morgen: That works for me too.

Kevin: Of course, I then proofread it when it’s completed and edit it again, but I find that I can’t believe how much I’ve missed on previous viewings.

Morgen: It drives me nuts; though/thought/through on my fourth edit of my 105K chick lit! The brain sees what the context it (another good reason for a time gap between edits). What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

Kevin: To be honest, I don’t have any kind of ritual, routine or regime.  I write when I can, but having a full-time day job doesn’t leave me with an abundance of time.

Morgen: Ditto, although I only work part-time. 

Kevin: Most of my writing tends to take place late at night, which I appreciate may be unusual, but I works for me.

Morgen: I’m probably being very generalist here, I would say over half of writers write late. I think there are more night owls then early birds (I’m the latter, although I’ve been both recently).

Kevin: Maybe that’s why my work sometimes comes out a bit on the dark side.

Morgen: Ah ha, I love the dark side (one of the aforementioned agents looked me in the face and said “You’re a crime writer, you should write crime” – I’m happy to actually because I do read it). Do you write on paper or do you prefer a computer?

Kevin: I write on paper and type it up on the computer every few thousand words.

Morgen: Ah yes, you did say that. Good idea, like an unofficial first edit.

Kevin: I don’t want to be restricted to writing when I’m at the computer.  I want to write whenever I’m inspired to do so.  I like to write things down when they come to me, wherever I am.

Morgen: I have a notebook and two pens (in case one runs out, that would be more annoying) in every dog walking jacket. Apparently writing comes out from a different part of the brain than typing on a computer so it may well be a better method (although I’ve noticed, when I do my writing workshops, that I’m much slower when handwriting). What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?

Kevin: Marketing and self-promotion seems like it is going to eat away at valuable writing time.  But, of course, needs must.

Morgen: Indeed, but see earlier ‘meeting your audience’ comment.  What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Kevin: Just write.  When you start at page one, the end may seem impossibly far away.  If you find time every day, even if it seems a ridiculously small amount of time, progress takes care of itself.

Morgen: I love to read and write short stories (they’re must first love which I’m going back to actually) so I think if an author starts thinking it’s a short story and see what happens (so it becomes a novelette,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelette, novella, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella, and so on) What do you like to read?

Kevin: I enjoy thrillers, the likes of which Dennis Lehane and John Grisham produce.  I’ve been told exciting things about Jo Nesbo and I’m looking forward to reading his series of Harry Hole stories.  I’m always on the lookout for an originally high-concept novels and must stress that Michael Crichton is missed for that.

Morgen: My German friend is mad on thrillers; Ken Follett’s her favourite and bigger the better (and in English; the parcels I send her are always rectangular  ) and I know she enjoys John Grisham. One of my Monday nighters, who I met at the Oundle Lit Fest 2010, was given a goodie bag there (as was I) and one of her freebies was a Jo Nesbo. Her son read it and bought everything else he’s ever done. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how invaluable do you find them?

Kevin: Like I’ve said, it is early days, but I can certainly see the potential.  There is so much choice out there, but I think that registering with genre-specific sites may be the way to go.  There’s no point alienating yourself on a site where the regulars aren’t going to be interested.

Morgen: And spending a lot of time doing it, although if you have the time, they may have friends who read your genre. Where can we find out about you and your work?

Kevin: I have started a blog, which can be found at http://www.davidkevinthomas.blogspot.com.

Morgen: And don’t forget the book itself http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058DOCC6 – did I say it was just $1.59?  I like your Mauritian picture by the way. Apparently the hammock is the most ergonomic relaxation device (although a book / eBook must come close second ). What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Kevin: I’ve read a lot about how the print-world is in danger because of the upsurge in eBooks, but I’d have to disagree.  Most people are always going to prefer a book in their hands and most authors would be more proud to have their work in print than in electronic form.

Morgen: They are, absolutely. I can’t think of any interviewee who’s said otherwise. I read pBooks (as paperbacks are being called now) at home and take my eReader away with me.

Kevin: I think writers are going to face more competition in the future as the world becomes a smaller place.  My wife wrote her thesis at University ten years ago on what impact the internet was going to have on the world of publishing.  She wrote about how it was going to make literature more accessible to the masses and about how the Guttenberg project was uploading hundreds of books for free because their copyright had expired.

Morgen: I think most readers are starting with the free eBooks and then buying others when they get hooked!

Kevin: Her University Professor rejected it, saying he was outraged at such an idea and he would allow her to rewrite it.  He refused to believe that people would ever want to read from a screen rather than from paper.

Morgen: Who’s laughing now?

Kevin: My wife stuck to her guns and refused to rewrite it.  He gave her a fail.  I wonder what he would make of the matters today, the miserable old- I’ll stop there.

Morgen: Oh go on, I dare ya.  We’ll pass her… give her an honorary something or other. Thank you Kevin. I wish you all the best with your blog and of course sales, eBooks are definitely the way to (I’m hoping anyway  ).

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.  And/or you can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. … and follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/morgenwriteruk) where each new posting is automatically announced.

HARDBACK & PAPERBACK OF THE ELLROY DEFLECTION NOW AVAILABLE

Following on from last week's post, I finished proof-reading my proof copy of The Ellroy Deflection and am now finally satisfied with it after correcting approximately ninety typing errors.  It is now available through Lulu.com on either hardback or paperback here:

HARDBACK

OR 

PAPERBACK

Now I can get back to trying to finish writing the second novel, Barren Endeavour.

Proof-reading

I've received my proof-copy of the paperback from Lulu.com and some modifications are required.  The font is far too small, so I've had to resize that.  Then there's the gap between the text and the top of the page, so I've removed the header and resized it.  Then I decided to have a read-through.  I cannot believe how many errors I must have missed when I did the earlier edit.  It just goes to show how the mind sees what it expects to see.  So, now I'm correcting all of the errors - simple things, such as closing speech marks on a line of dialogue or a missing comma - embarrassing.  I feel terrible about the kindle copies that I've already sold - luckily it hasn't been the amount I would have initially hoped to have (every cloud and all that).   Back to it - have to read through the whole piece.  Other than that, I'm extremely happy with the quality of what Lulu have produced.

The Ellroy Deflection - Book Printing Solution

Someone recently asked me if I'd looked into getting my book into print through Lulu.com.  I hadn't even heard of the website, but I became interested when I learned that they could create a hardback or paperback for individual orders.  I must admit that I hadn't looked into the possibility of selling a print copy of my book.  I was concentrating solely on kindle and didn't know what the print avenue had to offer.  I assumed that diving into the printing world would be an expensive proposition and printers would only be willing to manufacture copies in bulk orders as a minimum.  I assumed wrongly.


I've uploaded The Ellroy Deflection to lulu.com, created the cover and set the pricing.  Again, just as it was easy enough to upload to kindle, this has been easy too.  They even provided me with a credit to purchase a proof-copy of  my book up to £15, so there was just the £2.99 postage and packing to pay.  So, I'm waiting for that to arrive now.  I didn't expect to have a physical product to sell until the dream of becoming published became true, but there you go.


I've no idea how successful it's going to be, but it presents another exciting option and opportunity.  Of course, there are lots of readers out there who either haven't heard of kindle, don't understand what it is, or simply aren't keen on the idea of reading from a screen and would prefer a good old traditional hardback or paperback.  


I've opted for the paperback route but, I've just thought, I could probably arrange to have both for sale.  I didn't expect that anyone would want to spend the money for a hardback of an unproven first-time self-published novelist, but I suppose I could offer the option.  I'll wait to see if the copy that I receive in the post is okay and then I'll launch it for sale through lulu.com and post a link on the blog.

It's not the same as seeing it on the shelves on the High Street but, nevertheless, it'll do for now.  Exciting times.

DOUBLE FIGURES

Since last weekend, I've received four sales of The Ellroy Deflection, all thanks to Twitter (see previous post).  That takes it into double figures, my first small-but-significant milestone. Let's say 50 sales will be the next.

Anyway, it's been a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, the last one before Christmas.  Didn't win the lottery, again, but it's been a good one.  It has mainly involved sofa-bound sports watching as Villa had a boring no-score draw with Wolves, England beat Ireland in a rugby world cup warm-up match, Vettel won the the Belgium F1 Grand Prix and Man Utd beat Arsenal 8-2 in the Premier League (oh dear, someone's in trouble).  The weekend was also taken up by the useal mundane activities, such as shopping and housework, but I won't bore you with that.

Sunday evening, my wife and I chose to watch Inception again.  It was the first time that we had watched it since the cinema and I think I enjoyed it more the second time around, even though I was enthralled by it on first viewing.  Tom Hardy almost steals the show.  He has become one of my favourite actors and I predict an Oscar in his future.  I'd forgotten that the late great Pete Poselthwaite was in it as well, even if it was a very small role.  Looking forward to The Dark Knight Rises, but I'm also looking forward to seeing what Christopher Nolan comes up with next.  I've read that he comes up with a lot of ideas with his brother, but what a track record of imaginative stories (Memento, The Prestige, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight).  Insomnia was good as well, but that was a remake.

Following, that I watched At Close Range, which I had recorded after coming across it on MGM HD the previous evening.  It was released in 1986, but I hadn't seen it before.  I had always wondered what that movie in Madonna's Live To Tell video was and here it was.  For those that haven't seen it, it's a crime drama starring Christopher Walken and Sean Penn as father and son.  I wondered whether Walken and Penn would be as convincing as father and son today, but there is actually 17 years between them.  Penn is the delinquent teen drawn into the criminal ways of his estranged father, Walken.  The performances were excellent and the film itself was a pleasant surprise.  If anyone knows of any other similar overlooked/underrated movies, please leave a comment below.

On the writing front, I've worked out the ending of my second novel, BARREN ENDEAVOUR, and now just have to write it.  In the back of my mind, I'm looking forward to brainstorming a new story for my third novel.  However, I don't want to get distracted from the task in hand.  I'll have some editing to do before starting a new story.  Does anyone think it's sensible or even achievable to do both?

Twitter Karma

During the last two months or so, I've become a bit of a twitter junkie.  I already had a twitter account, which I used to follow various celebrities, artists or comedians that I was interested in.  Then I read a book that I downloaded from Amazon onto kindle by an independent fantasy author, M R Mathias, called 'The First Steps.'  It was very reasonably priced.  So, as I was new to self-publishing, I thought that I'd get some information from someone who had been self-publishing for a while and had some advice to offer.


One of the things that the author suggested was signing up to The Independent Author Network.  I looked into this and saw that the criteria for becoming a member involved having a minimum of 100 followers on twitter.  At that time, I wasn't a tweeter, just a follower to a select few.  So, I could not see how I was going to be able to gather that many followers when I had about nine at the time (all of whom were close friends or family).


I started becoming more active on twitter by following like-minded users.  I searched using the hash tags for writing, writer, kindle, etc and soon came across kindred spirits to connect with.  As well as following, I also posted tweets with links to my blog and Amazon.  It became clear that I needed to keep up with my end on the posting front, but I couldn't in good conscience persist with the same thing over and over again.  I understand that tweets can quickly get drowned out amongst the mass and it's worth re-posting links with a view to promoting yourself.  But, it can amount to spam if you're not careful or discreet, which some may not think twice about.  I, however, would prefer not to annoy those that have been decent enough to reciprocate my 'follow.'  Maybe that's where I'm going wrong.  Maybe those who are achieving success are those that aren't too polite to refrain from spamming.  They do say that nice guys finish last, don't they?


This made me realise that I couldn't rest on my laurels.  I needed new things to tweet about and this motivated me to produce a couple of flash fiction shorts, which I have posted to my blog, and to keep up with my blog posts.  Like I said earlier, I then became an avid twitter user and now have over 700 followers.  But, I've since learned that it's not all about gathering followers.  I've enjoyed connecting with others who have mutual agendas, interests, passions and aspirations.  I'm still not getting the sales that I would have hoped for and didn't expect immediate success.  It's been successful in other ways - it's been satisfying.


This past weekend saw my first two sales of 'The Ellroy Deflection' outside of the UK courtesy of @KateSpencer2go (Kate Spencer) and @ReneeMJ (Rennee Miller) after they followed me back.


If you're reading this and want to follow me on Twitter - my ID is @DK_Thomas 


Also, my Author Page on The Indepedent Author Network can be accessed here

What a week it's been

I live in Birmingham and Monday saw the start of extreme vandalism and violence in the City Centre, which seemed to be copycat behaviour following the rioting in London over the preceding weekend.  News reports explained how the gangs responsible for the violence used social media and Blackberry messaging to arrange where and when they would strike, but Twitter was the place to watch for those who wanted to know what was happening.  The pictures and comments were shocking.  The TV coverage was concentrating on the devastating fire in Croydon, but reports of violence seemed to be coming from major cities all over the UK.  Shop-fronts were smashed in and looted, cars were set alight.  It was hard to take in.

Tuesday saw the fallout from the previous night and the rumours of further trouble causing businesses to close early.  I was supposed to work a 12pm to 8pm shift, but everyone in the building was sent home by 4.30pm. That evening saw the tragic death of three men on the outskirts of the City when all the police had been dragged into the Centre.

Wednesday, there was still tension.  Work packed up at 6pm instead of the usual 8pm.  Walking through the City Centre to get the train was an eerie experience.  The majority of shops were boarded up in anticipation of further disturbance throughout the forthcoming night.  Police were out in force, but it seemed that the worst was over.

Enough's being reported in the news about it, and I'm sure every civilised person feels the same way about the degenerates responsible, but I just wanted to document my experience of the last few days.  My employers ensured that its employees were able to get home to safety away from it all.

Thursday - my Twitter account was hacked.  Very annoying.  A spam message went out to lots of my followers, which was very embarrassing.  I looked at the messages and saw that the exact same message can gone out to a load of people, but I hadn't sent it.  I  strived to warn people with a couple of tweets explaining, after receiving replies from confused/inconvenienced recipients and I tried to message as many as I could to advise them to ignore the previous message that appeared to have been sent by me.  What a hassle!  I've changed my password since, to something obscure, so I hope that's the end of it.  Why me?  Surely there are more exciting people's accounts to hack.

It hasn't been the best week for writing.  Too many distractions.  I've found reading difficult as well.  I read two pages of my book today, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, before I realised that not a word had sunk in.  Thank Goodness it's Friday tomorrow...