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LING BESTSEL MAGAZINE HELPING YOU BECOME A BETTER WRITER WRITING APRIL 2020 COMPETITION SPECIAL Get creative with our guide to over 750 comps to enter Spring clean your style Clear your writing of clutter Fiction How to stay on track, and motivated, for a 150,000+ word spec fic epic JOURNALISM How to write for niche pet magazines 10 new ways to get publicity KATHY NOW WITH REICHS Opportunities to get published Competitions to enter Reader success stories Insider know-how and more… EASY-READ ARTICLE VIEWER BONUS AUDIO AND BOOK EXTRACTS 04> 9 770964 916266 £4.25 Crime writing secrets from the Bones bestseller PLUS MASTER YOUR CREATIVE WRITING CRAFT The Manchester Writing School Join our MFA/MA Creative Writing programme and one of the UK’s largest and most successful literary centres. • Study on campus or from anywhere in the world via online distance learning (September or January entry). • Follow a specialist route in Novel, Poetry, Writing for Children & Young Adults, Scriptwriting or Creative Non-fiction. • Complete your own full-length manuscript with editorial input from one of our internationally renowned writers. • MA English Studies, MA Publishing, short writing courses and two-day summer school also available. • Scholarships worth £2000 available (terms and conditions apply). Find out more: mmu.ac.uk/english/creativewriting £10k Poetry and Fiction Prizes The Manchester Writing Competition is now accepting entries for the 2020 Poetry Prize and Fiction Prize. Both prizes are open internationally and offer the chance to win £10,000. Find out more: manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk E D I TO R ’ S L E T T E R LING BESTSEL MAGAZINE Welcome... HELPING YOU BECOME A BETTER WRITER WRITING APRIL 2020 COMPETITION SPECIAL Get creative with our guide to over 750 comps to enter Spring clean your style Dear Reader Clear your writing of clutter Fiction How to stay on track, and motivated, for a 150,000+ word spec fic epic JOURNALISM How to write for niche pet magazines 10 new ways to get publicity NEWS YOU CAN USE KATHY REICHS Opportunities to get published Competitions to enter Reader success stories Insider know-how and more… 04> 9 770964 916266 £4.25 Crime writing secrets from the Bones bestseller Published by Warners Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds, LS1 5JD, UK Main office: 0113 200 2929 Fax: 0113 200 2928 Subscriptions: 01778 392 482 Advertising: 0113 200 2925 Editorial: 0113 200 2919 Marketing: 0113 200 2916 Creative Writing Courses: 0113 200 2917 Website: www.writers-online.co.uk Publisher: Collette Lloyd Email: [email protected] Editor: Jonathan Telfer Email: [email protected] Assistant editor: Tina Jackson Email: [email protected] Senior designer: Nathan Ward Email: [email protected] Regular readers will remember that last month, I was droning on in this letter about how Eoin Colfer had found his writing groove by making it fun for himself and not being afraid to be diverted. Now, I’m pleased to be able to highlight the opposite case. This month’s star writer, Kathy Reichs, has forged an impressive career by writing exactly what she knows. Originally intending to raise popular awareness and understanding of the forensic anthropology career she so obviously loves, Kathy decided to write a novel drawn from her own experience and expertise. So rather than widen her focus to write a novel, she actually narrowed it, homing in on the topic she knew so well, and which so few other authors would be able to do justice to. It just goes to show that there is no ‘one size fits all’ as far as the right approach to writing goes. When giving advice to freelances hoping to write for WM, I often come back to the idea of the writer’s unique angle. What’s the topic you can write about that nobody else can? What makes your journey down a familiar route different from anybody else’s? What can you alone tell us? Identify that, and your article or story is already half sold. Nathan Hill, editor of Practical Fishkeeping, echoes that advice for us this month, with a thorough and practical exploration of how to give magazine editors what they want – worth a careful read, regardless of whether you have the fishy expertise. So what are you waiting for? Find your niche, and make the most of it! TAP HERE TO WATCH A WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR Jonathan Telfer Editor Editorial designer: Mary Ward Editorial designer: Rajneet Gill Editorial designer: Jackie Grainger Marketing: Lauren Freeman [email protected] p20 p12 p67 Advertising sales manager: Sarah Hopton [email protected] NATHAN HILL SIMON HALL GILLIAN HARVEY Advertising sales: Louise Clarke Email: [email protected] Nathan Hill is a lifelong aquarist-turned-writer who now edits Practical Fishkeeping magazine. His background includes public aquaria, retail management, lecturing, writing and editing. His work has been published in magazines including Landscape, Excerpt, Welcome Welcome, Moon and Bandit Fiction, and the anthology Ten Legged Tales. He is currently working on a collection of short stories. Simon Hall is a crime fiction author and BBC TV news correspondent. His novels are about a television reporter who covers crimes and gets so involved in the cases he helps the police to solve them. He has contributed short stories to a range of magazines and is also a tutor in creative writing, teaching at popular writers’ schools such as Swanwick, Fishguard and Winchester, on cruise ships and overseas. Gillian Harvey is a freelance writer who lives in Limousin, France, with her husband and five children. She writes lifestyle features, real-lives and short stories for a range of UK publications. Before becoming a professional writer she worked as an English teacher. Her first novel, Everything is Fine, is due for publication by Orion Fiction on 28 May 2020. Subscriptions: [email protected] Creative Writing Courses: [email protected] Competitions: [email protected] WM Competitions, Warners Group Publications plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne PE10 9PH, UK. Typeset by: Warners Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD Printed by: Warners (Midlands) plc, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH Distribution: Nikki Munton Email: [email protected] Tel: 01778 391171 Warners Group Publications plc, West Street, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH When you have finished with this magazine please recycle it All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Warners Group Publications plc. © Copyright Warners Group Publications plc. ISSN 0964-9166 Whilst every care is taken of material submitted to the editor for publication, no responsibility can be accepted for loss or damage. Email submissions preferred. Warners Group Publications plc are not able to investigate the products or services provided by the advertisers in Writing Magazine nor to make recommendations about them. Readers should make sensible enquiries themselves before sending money or incurring substantial costs in sending manuscripts or other material. Readers should make their own assessments, and not allow their judgment to be blurred by optimism. Manuscript advisory services do normally charge for their time, but agents normally do not (although some agents do quote a reading fee). Warners Group Publications plc cannot act as a licensing or accreditation authority, but will investigate complaints against advertisers. Complainants must, however, send complete documentation and be willing for their names to be disclosed. www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2020 3 IN THIS ISSUE 16 32 60 62 INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES CREATIVE WRITING 16 Star interview: Kathy Reichs As you might expect from a forensic scientist, the crime writer takes a practical approach to her bestselling Bones series 24 How I got published: Julie Shackman The Scottish romance author talks about how hooking an Australian agent led to publishing success 32 Beginners: The finishing line Finish what you started – it’s the only way to see if it’s got legs 38 Under the microscope The beginning of a reader’s memoir goes under our editorial eye 58 Masterclass: What’s in a name? Exploring the significance of names in your fiction 36 Shelf life: Adam Macqueen The journalist and author of fiction and non-fiction shares his top five reads 60 Writing for children: Being different The importance of representing children with additional needs 40 Beat the bestsellers The style and technique of Ben Macintyre 62 Fiction focus: Spring cleaning Give your manuscript a good spit and polish 45 Circles round up Writing groups share their interests and activities 64 Fantastic realms: On a grand scale Get skilled up to write a fantasy epic WRITING LIFE 46 Subscriber spotlight WM subscribers share their publishing success stories 74 Author profile: Amy McLellan The debut psychological thriller writer teaches us a new word 12 Publicity: Think outside the box Unorthodox approaches can be very effective in getting the word out about your book 96 My writing day: Ana Johns The US writer on how a life-changing diagnosis led to a novel inspired by real events 20 Magazine journalism: Fish for a writing gig Could you make money writing for a niche magazine about a specialised interest? 4 APRIL 2020 www.writers-online.co.uk CONTENTS 66 29 26 52 WRITERS’ NEWS 76 Your essential monthly roundup of competitions, paying markets, opportunities to get into print and publishing industry news 53 Poetry in practice Plan a new poem round the months of the year 26 Screenwriting: In the frame Author, screenwriter and director Andrew David Barker explains how writers can turn into filmmakers 42 Away from your desk Get out of your garret and be inspired by these events and activities for writers 55 Poetry launch: The great Romantic Points to consider in your entry for our William Wordsworth poetry competition 56 Poetry winners: Getting festive The WM poets really captured a sense of seasonal magic in their Christmas poetry competition entries COMPETITIONS AND EXERCISES 66 Talk it over: Lost for words A recently retired writer has lost her flow adjusting to a big life change 68 The business of writing: You can bank on it The pros and cons of having a business bank account for your writing 98 Notes from the margin: Male order A dressing-down for writers who unwittingly fall into gender stereotypes 29 Free range writing: Animal spirit Four writing exercises to celebrate National Pet Day 33 WIN! Cash prizes and publication Enter WM’s latest creative writing competitions 34 Short story winners Read the winning entries in WM’s competition for 500-word stories ASK THE EXPERTS 10 From the other side of the desk: With you in a jiffy Piers Blofeld wishes publishers would make agents’ lives just a bit easier 44 Writers’ circles: Testing times Test your characters by placing them in alternative realities in this writing group exercise REGULARS 14 Ask a literary consultant Advice for a debut writer planning a visit to the London Book Fair 6 Miscellany The wide world of writing 30 Writer’s voice: Literary legacy Explaining what the SoA does to keep author’s works alive 8 Letters 70 Research tips: Crime and punishment Writing a crime novel? Tarja Moles offers the clues and leads you need to research the criminal underworld and the forces of the law 72 Editorial calendar 81 Going to market Essential advice for freelances 71 Behind the tape Expert advice to get the details right in your crime fiction 87 Novel ideas Bright ideas for fiction writers POETRY 52 Poetry workshop: Time & place Exploring the way a poem can capture a particular moment in time 91 Travel writing know-how Tips from our freelance pro www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2020 5 MISCELLANY THE WORLD OF WRITING The wide world of writing is a curious place where fonts get fan mail, Poet Laureates play pub gigs and bookshop burglars get boozed up Ask any designer what they think about Comic Sans and they’ll look at you as if you’d thrown up on their artfully arranged desk. But beyond the elevated aesthetics of design professionals, whoever expected fonts to trend on Twitter? When author Sean Richardson ((@ Southlndtabby) tweeted ‘Please reveal the deepest part of yourself: Which font and which size do you write in?’ on 26 January, fonts went viral, with the Twittersphere awash with writers proclaiming their favourites. Times New Roman came out as top of the font pops. The serif typeface was commissioned by The Times in 1931 and designed by Stanley Morrison and Victor Lardent of Monotype. The Times stopped using Times New Roman in 1972. Despite a dignified and illustrious history that includes being the font used for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Twitter user @ MaryAnne summed up its appeal by saying ‘It’s all about that adorable lower case f ’. Though to be fair, no-one’s ever going to say that about Comic Sans. 6 APRIL 2020 Plastered pilferers The forces of the law had no problems catching burglars intent on stealing from Gay’s the Word bookshop in London in February, because the wouldbe thieves had uncovered a stash of booze and drunk it. When the police arrived the intruders were found in the Soho bookshop polishing off a bottle of prosecco, having already finished the leftover tequila from a staff member’s birthday. ‘They seem to have been boozing mid-burglary, which probably wasn’t the most prudent thing to do,’ bookseller Uli Lenart told Pink News. ‘Shop in a bit of a mess,’ tweeted Gay’s the Word on 9 February. ‘Getting ready to clear up. We may open later today – depends on police. At least it’s not a hate crime.’ Independent bookshop Gay’s the Word, which featured in the 2014 film Pride as the HQ of 1980s activist group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, has repeatedly been targetted for attack since it was founded in 1979. www.writers-online.co.uk Gay’s the Word CC BY-SA 3.0 Ross Burgess; prosecco CC BY-SA 3.0 Agne27 Fonts have fan clubs MISCELLANY Divisive dark horse Poet post-rock We’re no strangers at Miscellany Manors to performers or artistes from other disciplines deciding to try their hand at a bit of poetry, or writing a soon-to-be-remaindered novel, but you don’t often see the trend in reverse. In this case, perhaps we could have expected it – his memoir Gig said it all in the subtitle, ‘The Life and Times of a Rock-Star Fantasist’ – but the news that Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has created a post-rock band still came as something of a surprise. Not least because we really rather enjoyed it. LYR sees Simon enlist musicians Richard Walters and Patrick Pearson to create a background for his spoken-word performances of ‘ambient post-rock passages, jazz flourishes and atonal experimentalism’. The songs started out as ‘sort-of poems, hybrid things between songs and lyrics and poems’, Simon told the Guardian: ‘I quite often read them at events, but I think they were reaching out for tunes and musical setting. This allows me to indulge an aspect of lyricism which is generally not available on the printed page.’ The debut single Never Good With Horses, is out now, from Mercury KX. Watch the video here, https://writ.rs/postrockpoet Each of the ten tracks on the upcoming album, Call in the Crash Team, adopts the perspective of a different character, ‘monologues or soliloquies from people in personal crises’. ‘We’re not the sort of band who are going to be playing in the back of a pub on a Tuesday night in Stalybridge,’ said Simon. ‘We want to make events out of the music.’ LYR are playing their first gig at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. It is, Simon will no doubt be happy to hear, on a Monday. Agatha Christie traditionalists were left bemused and confused by writer Sarah Phelp’s recent atmospheric adaptation of The Pale Horse for the BBC. Less cosy crime than folk-horror hallucination, it was: ‘A place where scheming murderous toffs get the rope, or locked in a bunker, or condemned to a looping purgatory nightmare in which they’re stalked by a 1950s doo-wop hit and a giant turnip king,’ wrote Digital Spy. The two-parter’s murky Wicker Man ambience and an ambiguous ending left fans of the original 1961 novel confused. ‘Another Christie classic ruined by the BBC’, chuntered one on Twitter. ‘Why even pretend this is an Agatha Christie?’ offered another. But viewers were divided in its favour. ‘If you didn’t like that adaptation of The Pale Horse then stick David Suchet on and be done with it,’ tweeted Debbie Downer. ‘I thought it was great.’ Critic’s critique, criticised It was either asking for trouble or shooting fish in a barrel, depending on which side of the review desk postbag you sit. When veteran book critic Peter Conrad was given Inside the Critics’ Circle: Book Reviewing in Uncertain Times by academic Phillipa K Chong to review by the Guardian, he found himself adrift in a world of academic argot. Phillipa, an assistant professor of sociology at McMaster University has a PhD from the University of Toronto and her website biography says ‘her empirical focus has been on book reviewers as market intermediaries in the cultural market’. Her book about reviewing books includes phrases such as ‘cognitive heuristic’, ‘homophilious logics’ and ‘the genderisability of the framework.’ ‘I may be a shallow fellow, but I’ve never worried about what Chong clumsily describes as the “lack of groupness” among reviewers,’ wrote Peter. ‘Who cares that no certificates of “accreditation” enrol us in “the institution of literary criticism” or that we “inhabit nonprofessional spaces”? I also hadn’t realised that I was supposed to function as a “market intermediary” or – with luck – as a “cultural consecrator”. Peter, whose many books include The Everyman History of English Literature and a critical history of Orson Welles, has had www.writers-online.co.uk journalism published in the newspapers and magazines including the Observer, The New Yorker, the Guardian, and The New Statesman. While Phillipa sucked all the fun out of the critic’s art in her jargon-laden prose, Peter put it all back in by tearing her book apart. ‘If a book is bad it’s bad,’ he decided about Phillipa’s efforts. ‘And if it’s merely an exercise in academic pseudointellection it’s even worse.’ APRIL 2020 7 TITLE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We want to hear your news and views on the writing world, your advice for fellow writers – and don’t forget to tell us what you would like to see featured in a future issue... Write to: Letters to the editor, Writing Magazine, Warners Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD; email: [email protected]. (Include your name and address when emailing letters. Ensure all STAR LETTER letters, a maximum of 250 words, are exclusive to Writing Magazine. Letters may be edited.) When referring to previous articles/letters, please state month of publication and page number. Gatekeepers of opinion Psyching yourself up In my recent writing practice I’ve been struck by how much effort and energy it takes to put yourself out there. Writing is one of those things that most people consider a highly introverted activity, yet the acts of sending letters out, entering competitions, or even publishing on your own website can be a mountainous undertaking of extroversion and ego. There’s a lot of advice in Writing Magazine about inspiring your writing, what the industry is looking for, and how to connect with it. I’d be interested in the magazine’s take on how to psyche yourself up and inspire your self-confidence! I’ve been trying to step up my game recently with letters and competition entries. I’ve been spurring myself on with mantras of ‘Just a little more! You can do it!’ and ‘Get out of your own way!’ but sometimes it’s been a real effort to think positively and get over the mental blocks in front of query-letters and competition entries. Much like the writing work itself, it’s greatly helped by just getting your bum in the seat and getting it done. Emptying your mind of what might happen and focusing on the task at hand. There’s nothing like the sense of completion and feeling of power that comes once it’s done. Once you hit send and the email goes, or the envelope disappears into the postbox. All there is to do then is wait, and try not to imagine all the different ways you could have done it better. ERIN WRIGHT Cleethorpes Writing as an agent, Piers Blofeld (From the other side of the desk, WM, Mar) suggets that publishers tend to have a leftish, metropolitan worldview and incline to publish work that appeals to readers who share it. This is also true of literary agents. One might argue that far from being reactive to its broader market the whole book-producing industry determines what that market shall read – or ought to read. In the same issue, a letter from reader, Eric Olsen (Does Age Matter?, p9), touches on agents’ attitudes to the age of those submitting work to them. This is usually put down to concern about investing in a rapidly wasting asset, but may also be attributable to contempt for those whose written English dates from before these agents were born. ALAN HAMILTON Bridport, Dorset The star letter each month earns a copy of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2020, courtesy of Bloomsbury, www.writersandartists.co.uk Cuttings book My husband bought me a subscription to Writing Magazine as a gift. As a new writer, I have written a children’s story which I have just sent out to publishers and have just entered two writing competitions for this magazine. I love writing and especially love Writing Magazine. I have created a scrapbook full of the great advice and tips contained in each edition I receive! JULES McBAIN Hanworth, Bracknell 8 APRIL 2020 www.writers-online.co.uk Horse’s mouth I could not but agree with the points made by the article Go to the dogs (Fiction Focus, WM Feb) about animal characters: they add a lot to the story, and often steal the show. I realised that when almost every reader who gave me feedback on my novel stated that the character they liked the most was neither the hero nor the heroine. It was the horse. And not any old horse: a greedy, grumpy, talking racehorse. Everyone loved the horse. Everyone was delighted that the horse could speak (did I mention that this novel is historical fiction in a realistic setting?) I was shocked that no one questioned that. I had expected some raised eyebrows. But no, nothing. A particularly critical beta reader pointed out that one character’s speech was unrealistic, because it did not reflect his social background. That same reader did not think that this character having conversations with a HORSE was unnatural. Though they did state that the fact this horse’s mane had been ‘cut’ when it should have been ‘pulled’, was not accurate or acceptable. Animal magic indeed... This horse bewitched readers, and left me wondering if my book might have been more successful had I cast him as the hero (and his human as a supporting character). MAY BERMONT Paris, France L E T T E R S TO T H E E D I TO R Writing to the finishing line New Year brings yet again the same resolve – that I will make the time to write regularly. Over the last fifty years there has been the occasional flurry of activity, a column in the local newspaper, a column in a national farming monthly. That lasted only three issues as the magazine ceased publication (I don’t think my effort was responsible.) A handful of plays for local am-dram, a self-published book, several hundred copies of which still lie under the bed. An afternoon play on Radio 4, but that was over 25 years ago. Sporadic the output has been, but constant has been my unrequited yearning to write more, always frustrated by excuses that something else has always more urgent. Now the realization that in The Grand National of life I am coming into the home straight demands that procrastination is no longer an option. Time to once again turn to my long-time mentor and inspiration – Writing Magazine – the personal trainer who has never failed to keep me connected to the world of writing. But the creative cog wheels are a bit rusty, so for lubrication I am going to use the exercise of entering the WM competitions but first let’s start with a letter of thanks to WM for always being there. HARRY SEAR Bedfordshire Words, unleashed For years writing a book had been an ambition of mine, but the years passed, and I had never found the confidence to begin. Then my husband and I bought a crumbling old farmhouse in Tuscany and moved our young family out to Italy. Months later my father died unexpectedly, and there I was, thousands of miles away from friends and family, trying to hold my family life together and survive the grieving process. By chance on a return visit to the UK I bought a copy of your magazine last March, and it has really transformed my life. Inspired by the wonderful articles and advice of other writers, I have thrown myself into my first novel, set here in Italy. Writing has been a hugely cathartic experience and escaping into the world of my novel has really helped me process my feelings throughout this difficult period in my life. I would like to thank you for this gift that has helped me to finally see myself as a writer. ANNA HOOKE Montaltissimo, Italy Free your mind As a busy single parent I must confess to usually skipping the prompts and exercises in Writing Magazine on the basis I don’t have time to start anything else. However, having experienced severe writer’s block since the birth of my daughter, I decided I had nothing to lose by giving some of the Free Range Writing exercises a try. At first the words trickled painfully, but then - the flow. My coffee was left forgotten and an hour later I had two poems to share with my writing group, a plot for a short story, a piece of memoir which had given me personal insight and four article pitches – two of which were later commissioned by magazine editors. Not bad for an hour’s free-ranging. I’ve vowed since to start every writing session like this and have been much more productive as a result. Thank you. VICKY BOURNE Kidderminster, Worcestershire COMPETITION OVERLOAD I approach my desktop with sweating brow and nervous twitch, opening my well-edited specimen with trepidation. Deleting and rewriting many times; playing obsessively with punctuation until commas and semicolons push each other out of the way, until I feel dizzy. Emblazoned in words of fire in my brain, the mantra: is it good enough? Sighing, I close my eyes, shake my head and shudder. ‘Come on, you must get a grip,’ I wearily tell myself and go through the rigid rules and requirements. There are so many; original and unpublished work? Word count, font size/style, margin width, line spacing, the list is endless. Do I put my name on the work itself or on a separate sheet? Can I staple the details to the postal entry and my cheque? May paperclips be used? If loose, unnamed sheets are in the envelope, what happens if they get separated on opening? Can the contact details be matched with the work? Perhaps sending it by email and PayPal would make it easier? My mind blurs. Feeling faint, I clutch the keyboard, sinking slowly under the desk. When I finally open my eyes and reach up, I’ve sent it electronically, having no knowledge of the payment process. Staggering to find a darkened room, my head throbs as I try to think clearly. Perhaps after a few weeks of perfect calm and tranquillity, I will be able to consider entering another writing competition without screaming inside. JEANNIE ABBOTT Woodbridge, Suffolk Words for a friend I read Philip Simon’s letter (Time To Think, WM, Mar), about the death of his beloved dog, with a tear in my eye (I’m sure I wasn’t the only one). Research shows that the loss of a beloved pet can be as hard – or even harder – to deal with than that of a friend or relative. Dogs are not just ‘best friends’ – for many, they are family too and a source of comfort, security and unconditional love, as well as the provider of a daily routine, all of which stops when the pet dies. So please, never say to someone ‘It was only a dog’. And Philip, I hope, when your heartache has lessened a little, you might consider letting another canine companion into your life. Not to replace your beloved Staffie but perhaps as a tribute to the love you shared with her. HELEN YENDALL Blockley, Glos www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2020 9 From the OTHE R SIDE OF THE DESK With you in a jiffy Small, specific things can make a difference, says Piers Blofeld, wishing publishers would consider making agents’ lives (just a little bit) easier when it comes to publicity O ne of the first things I do when a client of mine gets their first book deal is, once the champagne corks have landed, give them The Talk about how to manage their new relationship with their publisher. A key part of this is to say as unambiguously as possible that there will be times when they will be unbelievably angry with their publisher. Which is why it’s good to do it at the moment when the author is most inclined to believe that their publisher farts rainbows and can in general do no wrong: it means there’s no chance I’m going to be responsible for souring relations. Of course not everyone does get angry with their publisher, but most authors at one point or another do. It’s natural – author and publisher interests align, but not perfectly and that can be very stressful – after all for the author this will be the culmination of possibly a lifetime of hopes and ambition. But the fact is that only 10% of books really succeed – there’s a very large number of books which fall into a middling category of neither making much, nor losing too much and the authors who tend to get their contracts renewed are the ones who re good at getting on with the people who work at the publishers. Part of that process is about allowing the agent to be the person who has the rows – you don’t buy a dog so you can bark yourself – but also it’s about understanding the lie of the land. Publishing is a badly paid industry and by and large the best people in publishing are the dittos: they are doing what they love. The people in other departments may not have that passion and because of the pay scales may not be the very best at their jobs. Not getting too cross when that particular penny drops and in particular never, ever letting them know that is extraordinarily important. 10 APRIL 2020 All of this is a roundabout way of getting to the purpose of this column. One of the most frequent causes of frustration is that publishers can seem to do very little to publicise their books. As an agent one can (quite cautiously) ask what’s been done and I am generally met with the reply that press releases and book proofs have been sent out. This is where I grit my teeth: I have a few high profile authors and there are publicity departments who regularly send me books and proofs they think those authors will be interested in. That means I get a jiffy bag – which is seemingly designed to make it impossible to open without almost destroying, so that before I even have the book out of the bag I feel guilty at the waste. Inside there will be the book and a press release – and maybe a letter from the editor about why they loved this book. I – and remember this is happening in agencies across London every day: for some agents with really grand client lists half a dozen times a day – am then supposed to find a jiffy bag that I haven’t destroyed, dig out my client’s postal address and write out a new label to take down to the post room so that the agency can then pay to post it on. I hope I don’t need to spell out what is wrong with that scenario – or explain why it is that all those authors who the book has been ‘sent’ to never get back with that wonderful quote for the jacket. So, here’s what I’ve started asking: when publicists send out a proof, can they do with it the book already inside another jiffy bag, which has pre-paid postage and a label on it with the author’s name, so all I have to do is write out an address. It isn’t only about meanness – casting your bread upon the waters is an okay strategy, but I’m often rather busy, sometimes a bit tired and cross. Goodwill runs out and it is pointless to presume upon it when there is such an easy strategy to hand to resolve it. 10 –12 July, 2020 University of Winchester, UK Workshops, talks, and one-to-one appointments with top literary agents For emerging writers – from inspiration to publication Four writing competitions Keynote speaker – Eoin Colfer, award-winning author of the Artemis Fowl series Scholarships available BOOK NOW! www.writersweekend.uk Matador Keynote speaker – Lissa Evans, bestselling author of adult and children’s novels WritersWkend WritersWkend Writers_Weekend_Winchester ® Serious Self-Publishing Reliable and realistic advice on self-publishing from approachable and experienced professionals Matador exhibiting at the 2019 London Book Fair Whether it be writers’ services companies like Jericho Writers, high street and online retailers, literary agents, even other publishers – not to mention the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook... plus numerous authors who have already self-published with us, time and again Matador is recommended to those wishing to self-publish a book or ebook for pleasure or profit. In November 2018, Matador was ranked as the best self-publishing company (out of 80+ assessed) by The Independent Publishing Magazine. We produce books for authors to their specifications at a realistic price, as print on demand, or as a short or longer print run book. As well as high production quality, we also insist upon a high quality of content, and work hard on the marketing and distribution of self-published books to high street and online retailers.We also publish and distribute ebooks and audiobooks. “We've always liked Matador because they have the best values in their industry. Apart from anything else, they actually try to sell books. It sounds crazy, but most of their rivals don’t. They print ’em, but don’t care about selling ’em. Matador do.” Jericho Writers Yet publishing a book is the easy part... getting it into the shops is harder. We offer a full sales representation and distribution service through our distributor and dedicated sales representation team. Ask for a free copy of our guide to self-publishing, or download a copy from our website. Or call Lauren or Hannah if you want to discuss your project with a real person. troubador.co.uk/matador Ranked as the best self-publishing services supplier out of 80+ companies assessed by The Independent Publishing Magazine. Troubador Publishing Ltd, 9 Priory Business Park, Kibworth, Leics LE8 0RX T: 0116 279 2299 E: [email protected] www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2020 11 Think outside the box Unorthodox approaches can be very effective in getting the word out about your book, says Simon Hall in the second instalment of his two-parter on promotion Spreading word of your book is critical in securing sales. The media, as I discussed in my previous article, are the conventional way of raising awareness of your work. But there are other methods, and happily these are only as limited as your creativity. Many revolve around social media, as that can be a powerful platform for promoting yourself. But there are other ways as well, and the good news is that most of them don’t have to cost you a penny. So to get you thinking how you might lure in more readers, here are ten creative tips for promoting your book, many of which have worked for me. 1 Guerrilla appearances Going on holiday? Heading out for a day trip? Or away for work? Take your book with you, and photograph it in interesting locations, then post the pictures on social media. I did this when I took my latest novel, The Editor, on a business trip to London, and it worked a treat. Lots of people commented, some offered their own photos, and I noticed a spike in sales. Photographs, particularly fun ones, can really increase engagement and interest on social media. But don’t forget to include a link to your book in all your posts. It’s a missed opportunity otherwise. 12 APRIL 2020 2 Writing windows Everybody has a favourite shop, pub or café where they’re well-known to the owners. Why not get some posters printed and ask them to advertise your book? Modern printing technology means it’s not particularly expensive, but it can be an effective trick. You could also pop a copy of your latest book in the shop’s window. I did this with my barber, and they were very happy to help. They liked the idea of having an author who was a loyal customer, and it became a talking point as the staff often mentioned it to other people who came in. You could even ask your friends to put up a small poster in the windows of their homes, along with a copy of your book. It doesn’t take much effort, and might just get people noticing and talking. 3 Become a broadcaster These days, with smart phones, it’s incredibly easy to become a broadcaster. I know it might sound daunting, but look up how to use your phone to record a podcast, or video. It didn’t take me long at all to master the basics, and I’m no whizz with technology. You could just talk about your book to start with, but when you’re confident enough try interviewing someone who has read it. It’s a fun way of promoting your work, and the statistics tell us that videos always tend to attract more attention on social media. www.writers-online.co.uk But don’t forget to include the right hashtags to help with your promotion work, tag in your friends and publisher, and anyone else who might share your post. In my experience, the writing community is wonderfully kind and supportive, so make the most of that. 4 Adapt your book You’ve written a cracking story, which you’re very proud of, so why confine it just to print? Why not adapt it to become a play, a radio drama, or even a TV or film script? I know it might sound far-fetched, but it can make an impact and really help to raise your profile as a writer. I adapted my first novel, The TV Detective, into a play to raise money for a local charity, and it was an incredible experience. I learnt so much about theatre and acting, which enhanced my understanding of characterisation, and so improved my writing as well. The play attracted media coverage, and lots of feedback on social media, which helped with sales of the original book. We also raised thousands of pounds for the hospice movement, an incredibly good cause. It was a real winwin adventure, one of the highlights of my writing career. 5 Your secret ingredients This is another idea which is made for social media. PUBLICITY Anything which gets a conversation going can really help to boost your profile online. My secret ingredient for writing The Editor was… wait for it… Waitrose All Butter Belgian White Chocolate Chunk Cookies. (And believe me, they are as good as they sound.) Whenever I felt my energy waning, it was time for a cup of tea and one of those excellent biscuits, and the combination seldom failed to work. Ask other writers what the secret ingredient which powered their book was, and you can get a buzz going on social media which can only help to interest potential readers in your work. 6 Offer events The Editor is set in Cambridge, with some well-known locations featuring. One of the most important is a business incubator, The Eagle Labs, so I mentioned to the manager that the offices had helped to inspire me. Part of the reason was that the boss of the incubator is a character in the book, and a bit of a wally. So I didn’t want the real life manager to take offence, as I like him a lot. Fortunately, he took the book in such good spirit that he promoted it in the incubator’s newsletter, and even invited me to sell copies in a lecture I did there on good communications. If your book is set in a real town or city, why not offer a reading or a talk at a place which features? Or if it’s set fictitious location, how about doing an event at a café, pub, or somewhere else you often went when you needed a break from the writing of your book, and which helped you along in your journey? You’d be surprised how enthusiastic some businesses can be. In a first for the company, I was asked by Stagecoach to become a Writer in Residence on their buses around Cambridge, talking to travellers about The Editor, and pointing out places which featured in the book. comfortable sharing them?!) If so, they can be another powerful way of promoting your work on social media. These are just the sort of posts which encourage others to contribute their own stories, and so help spread the word of your book. One of my strange experiences was having to hang around Cambridge Police Station, noting when officers came and went, and looking at potential places to ambush someone who emerged from the doors. Just such a trap forms an important scene in The Editor, so I wanted to make sure I had the details right. In these securitysensitive days, I felt more than a little self conscious, doing my unorthodox research. But happily, despite the risks, no police officer stopped me to ask what I was doing, as I was worried my explanation might not have convinced them. I wanted to thank the city, and its wonderful residents, for making me so welcome. But there was an alternative dedication which came to mind. It was rather strange, but tempting nonetheless. Every writer has their distractions, don’t they? No matter how much it might annoy their publisher. (I can just sense you nodding your head here.) As for me, I’m lucky enough that my garden has a lovely hedge running along it, which is home to a gang of effervescent sparrows. I often put down food for them, and, in moments when I needed inspiration, watched them hopping, fluttering and chirping their maelstrom of a way around the garden. Featuring your alternative dedications on social media is a good way to prompt a conversation, and so help to spread word of your book. 8 Behind the scenes I don’t just mean any old holiday here, no matter how much your book might deserve it. I’m talking about writing holidays, like the wonderful Swanwick Writers’ Summer School, or the Writers’ Weekend in Winchester. There are lots of such gatherings across the country. Apart from being great fun, and an opportunity to share your passion for writing with like-minded souls, they also offer you the chance to promote your work. Many festivals are interested in writers giving talks, or holding workshops. If that’s something you fancy, it can really help you grow in yourself, and also has the added advantage of raising your profile, not to mention that of your book. Most have their own book rooms, where your pride and joy can happily be on sale. As I said at the start of this article, the number of ways to promote your work is only limited by your imagination. And the good news is that, as you’re a writer, that means it’s limitless. These are just a few unusual ways you might consider. I look forward to hearing about some of your own cunningly creative schemes to help make the world aware of your excellent work. Tag #writingmagazine on Twitter @SimonHallNews or contact me through the website www. thetvdetective.com (you can also order copies of The Editor!). 10 Take your book on holiday A glimpse of the reality of a writer’s life is always interesting, both for those in the trade and readers too. How about a tour of your study, paying particular attention to the important companions you simply can’t do without when you’re writing. You could do this as a video, or a blog, and then promote it on social media. It’s bound to spark comments and interactions. For my part, my desk is an utter mess, but surrounded by wonderful memories and supporters in the writing process. There’s my hedgehog, Bert, who’s now thirty years old, and goes with me everywhere. I can’t write a word without him, for reasons I’ve never quite understood. (Don’t worry, he’s not as grumpy as he looks.) There are also photos of some of the writing events I’ve done, and covers of my previous books. All those are great comforts when the words are failing to come, and sharing such insights can entertain, amuse, and help to attract people to your writing. 7 Strange stories 9 Alternative dedications Every book has strange stories which lie behind the writing. What are yours? (And are you The Editor is dedicated to Cambridge, where I moved two and a half years ago in a major life change. www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2020 13 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Ask a Literary Consultant ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? A debut writer planning to attend the London Book Fair gets sound advice on making the most of their visit from Helen Corner-Bryant ‘I’m a debut writer and would like to attend London Book Fair this year. Are there any tips you may have? Do I need to set up meetings beforehand or should I wait until I’m there and hope for a chance encounter with an agent?’ London Book Fair (LBF) is one of two main trade publishing fairs (the other one is Frankfurt in the autumn) and this year it’s based at Olympia London, 10-12 March. It’s predominantly aimed at agents, editors and publishing professionals from all over the world and it’s their chance to do business and forge relationships with one another. There are over 25,000 attendees – it’s vast, incredible, and hectic. It’s not really an opportunity for unrepresented authors to meet agents in the traditional agents’ floor set-up, sadly. [But don’t give up reading yet. There’s a more accepted way to catch an agent’s eye, see below.] Agents have their own domain in the International Rights Centre and it’s almost impossible to get in. And if you do manage to get in – we have heard of a few plucky authors who’ve managed it, generally more by accident than design – it’s generally frowned upon if you don’t have a meeting set up in advance. Setting up a meeting in advance would be the polite way but you may not have much luck. Agents are frantically busy meeting their published authors and negotiating deals and have very little space to entertain prospective authors (however willing they may be). As with everything, there are always the exceptions, but I wouldn’t go there with the goal of making that connection. If it happens then brilliant, but if not, don’t put undue pressure on yourself. Take LBF for what it is, which is a great opportunity to be exposed to the dizzying world of publishing and to equip yourself with information. So, historically, LBF hasn’t been too focused on authors wanting to attract an agent or publisher. However, in recent years LBF has dedicated a floor to indie authors – Author HQ – which # 1 TR A N SATL A N TI C L I TE R A RY C O N SU LTA N C Y “ hosts a variety of seminars on how to get published or become an authorpreneur. There is also a dedicated area nearby called Writer’s Block, home primarily to companies that assist writers, such as the Society of Authors and Alliance of Independent Authors. We (Cornerstones) will be at stand 1F54 in Writer’s Block, and you’re welcome to come by and say hello – we’re a friendly team and would love to see you. We’ll be sharing the stand with our educator providers, Professional Writing Academy, who run courses for writers, including our online editing course, Edit Your Novel the Professional Way. If the prospect of developing your CV and skillset appeals to you then PWA are a great route forward. If you’re a would-be professional writer, attending LBF is, in my view, worth it. Once you’ve paid for your visitor pass there are a multitude of free seminars that you can dip in and out of, including a Dragon’s Den style opportunity, The Write Stuff, where writers will be pitching their stories to a panel of agents. There are also some dedicated conferences, such as the Writers’ Summit, which lasts for much of Tuesday, and I will be on a panel for the Insights Programme about the writing process – Playing with Prose: Plot, Character, Setting, on Tuesday 10 March, at Author HQ, 2.30-3.30pm. Do come and join in and bombard us with questions! (See the LBF website for more information: www. londonbookfair.co.uk/) If you do brave LBF but within moments feel overwhelmed, make straight for our stand in Writers’ Block. You can then take stock and plan your day. We’re a few feet from the main seminar area so it’s a good place to start. Some final tips: don’t forget to bring water and a snack (there are cafés but expect long queues during busy periods), wear comfy shoes, don’t bring a full copy of your manuscript, do bring flyers for your book and business cards, and bring a notepad and pen, plus a carrier bag for any spare books that come your way. We hope to see you there. The UK’s leading literary consultancy When I contacted Cornerstones I was assigned a fabulous mentor, who helped me to improve on my original manuscript with her winning combination of insight, knowledge, enthusiasm and a bit of tough love. Although it wasn’t always easy, it was worth it! I now have a three book deal, and have at last fulfilled my ambition to become a published author. - Chris Penhall, The House That Alice Built (Ruby Fiction, 2020) ” Developmental editing and mentoring Copyediting and proofreading Scouts for literary agents Call Helen Corner-Bryant +44 (0) 1308 897374 • www.cornerstones.co.uk 14 APRIL 2020 www.writers-online.co.uk A DV E R TO R I A L Five secrets to a successful fiction series Some would say there’s no magical formula to creating series fiction. If your novels are planned to stand alone, you have to give enough information to satisfy the reader without any background. However, you can’t drop any spoilers that would ruin a reader’s experience if they go back and read the others in the series. So, creating a successful series requires skill and careful thought. We think these five things hold the key to keeping your readers interested in more than one novel Secret 1: Plan your book series from the start Create a story arc for each book before you even start writing the first. Note down key points of action, the milestones affecting your main character, changes in their behaviour, new characters to introduce, and significant dates to keep the chronology clear for your readers. Research the background facts and add new information for each story. Helen Hart, Publishing Director at SilverWood Books, says, “Planning your book is the best way to get started on the writing. A stack of post-it notes or idea postcards can help you organise the flow. And if you find yourself adding too many action scenes in, you’ve probably got the beginnings of a series.” Secret 2: Get people to fall in love with your characters Whether you choose to write in the first or third person, always develop a deep understanding of your protagonist, building layers of their personality into each story. Readers need to identify with the main character, and each book in a series offers opportunities to help the reader get more attached and keep them interested. Historical novelist Lucienne Boyce’s series follows Dan Foster, Bow Street Runner and amateur pugilist. She says, “It’s important that the main character is appealing and interesting. Even an ‘anti-hero’ must hold some fascination. After all, you’re asking the reader to spend a lot of time with them.” Secret 3: Create new them slightly, so think about events and how they affect your main protagonist’s behaviour. Series author Wendy Percival uses family history to bring new developments into each of her Esme Quentin mysteries, which feature a genealogyresearching investigator. Secret 4: Engage your fans with a strong theme Having a strong theme to underpin your series means you’ll never be short of content to share with interested readers. Family history is key for Wendy Percival’s series, and she’s also written a standalone novella, A Legacy of Guilt, to introduce readers into the world of Esme Quentin. Wendy also shares a weekly blog with her fans, updating them on her latest research into her own family history. Secret 5: Decide on the style of your endings Do you love the suspense of a cliffhanger? Or do you want your books to be truly standalone and tie up the loose ends in each story to satisfy the curiosity of your readers? Kate Mosse’s historical fiction famously carries an ending to each story – yet also a cliffhanger with some new information. However, this approach can frustrate readers, especially if the next book is not out for a while. Picking up a thread from another story is a great way to link your books, attracting readers to pick up the next one. This was done to great effect by Mary Wesley, who had common characters from The Camomile Lawn appearing in many of her other novels. It’s a personal choice which style of ending you want to use, but once you’ve picked, it’s a good idea to be consistent in the next book. Many readers appreciate familiarity. Planning your next novel? We’d love to hear from you! SilverWood Books offers a complete ‘done for you’ self-publishing service that ensures you have a professionally-produced, retail-quality book you can confidently market to your target readership. Our friendly expert publishing team will support you throughout – from copy-editing, proofreading and book cover design, through to trade distribution, sales, and hand-formatted ebook editions. developments to keep the writing flowing Discuss your next book with Helen When creating a single, central character, work on developing their personality through the series. Everything that happens changes E: [email protected] | T: 0117 or Enya at SilverWood Books: 910 5829 | silverwoodbooks.co.uk www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2020 15 BONING UP As you might expect from a forensic scientist, crime author Kathy Reichs takes a practical approach to her bestselling Bones series, she tells Tina Jackson hen most writers talk about the bones of a story they’re talking about the basics: plot, themes, setting, characters. When global bestselling crime writer Kathy Reichs talks about bones it’s in an entirely different context. As a forensic anthropologist, bones are her stock-in-trade, just as they are for her serial lead character Temperance Brennan, now in her nineteenth outing with A Conspiracy of Bones. ‘Forensic anthropology is the study of bones,’ says Kathy, just to make sure we’re getting the science right from the beginning. ‘It’s the exploration of the human skeleton. We’re brought in when a normal autopsy won’t work and we address questions of identity, cause of death, everything that we can tease out of the bones. We work very closely with forensic pathologists.’ Like Kathy – just like Kathy – Temperance is a forensic anthropologist. ‘Is she me? Professionally, completely. She goes to crime scenes. She works in a lab. For years I worked in a medical legal laboratory.’ Readers, she says, are drawn to Temperance because of her combination of intelligence, sass and sensitivity. ‘Temperance is W 16 APRIL 2020 smart. She’s independent and she’s able to do a difficult job in a largely man’s world. And yet she has flaws. She has weaknesses. She gets things wrong sometimes – which is realistic – but in the end she figures it out. Her personal issues she doesn’t always get right. She is layered. She can be impetuous. But she’s a pretty happy person.’ Temperance’s personal life is where her creator uses artistic licence. ‘She’s more risk-taking than me. She has a similar sense of humour. She has her own issues – she’s a recovering alcoholic, she has flaws. I wanted her to be approachable.’ Kathy is, famously, known for a tendency to answer interview questions with cool, scientific precision that some have found disconcerting, but she responds to WM’s questions with the friendliness and courtesy of an approachable expert. At the beginning of A Conspiracy of Bones, Temperance is at home in Charlotte, North Carolina, recovering from neurosurgery for an aneurysm and being frozen out of the Medico-Legal Lab at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington DC since she clashed with a recently appointed colleague. ‘A number of things came together,’ says Kathy. ‘For the first time www.writers-online.co.uk S TA R I N T E RV I E W LISTEN TAP HERE To hear an extract from Bones Never Lie LISTEN TAP HERE “The challenge is to present the science in a way that’s understandable: brisk and jargon-free. And I have to be entertaining. So these three elements have to come together. Keep the facts correct but keep it brisk, jargon-free and entertaining.” To hear an extract from Bones of the Lost I’d taken a year off and I had some medical issues – so I gave those to Temperance – she’s been diagnosed with a cerebral aneurysm and had surgery to correct it. She also has career problems – she has history with her new boss and they don’t get along at all. So she’s been barred. So she’s got this health issue and she’s working from outside the system.’ Temperance’s discovery of a body sends her off grid on her own investigation, A layered, intelligent, involving read, A Conspiracy of Bones touches on some disturbing contemporary issues. ‘She discovers this faceless corpse – no hands or face or teeth,’ says Kathy. ‘So Temperance wants to get this person identified but she has to work outside the system. I thought – one of the themes is what’s real and what is not real, given today’s atmosphere of fake news. I wanted her to rely on her own abilities and perceptions yet not fully trust them. I felt that she must rely on herself but not completely trust her own instincts as she had in the past.’ In part, Temperance’s shift in approach came about because Kathy was conscious that a long-running series needs to ring the changes to keep readers interested. ‘It is book nineteen and you can’t do the same old same old,’ she says. ‘The advantage of writing a series character is that people know her and they’re going to like her. The disadvantage is that A Conspiracy of Bones may be the first Temperance Brennan book that someone reads, so you’ve got to reintroduce them – but in such a way that the reader who’s on their nineteenth book in the series doesn’t get bored. You have to do it in a different way with each book, so you don’t bore the returning reader. So that’s a challenge. And you want her to be evolving throughout the series or readers will lose interest.’ But for this book, Kathy also wanted to explore the ramifications, in this investigation, of the recent proliferation of widely transmitted information that appears to be true but has no basis in fact. ‘It is very timely. Hopefully. We’re living in a world where we’re constantly seeking to unravel what is real and not real. In today’s world it’s not like with newspapers, where everything is double-checked. Anyone can go on the internet and say anything they want.’ With each book, Kathy sets Temperance’s investigation within a real-life issue. ‘I try to set each book against the backdrop of this world we live in,’ she says. ‘In A Conspiracy of Bones it’s information that’s not true, and we’re constantly forced to filter through. I do like to have a broader theme. I’ve had human trafficking, trafficking in endangered species, human rights issues. There should be a broader message within. My first book was just a murder mystery story. But as I evolved as a writer I wanted to bring in these wider issues.’ Kathy’s crime novels go hand in hand with a career in forensic anthropology at the highest level: she was deployed to Ground Zero after 9/11, testified at the UN tribunal on genocide on Rwanda and was part of the team that exhumed one of the mass graves in Guatemala, which informed the plot of her 2002 novel Grave Secrets. Her first novel, 1998’s Deja Dead, was based on her first serial murder investigation. ‘I was working at the university and had been for many years and made full professor. So I was free to do whatever I wanted and I thought it was a way of bringing science to a broader audience. And I also thought it would be fun to write a novel rather than another textbook. And that’s what I decided. I sat down at my laptop and started writing. I didn’t have any formal training – I just started writing the kind of book I like to read. I like procedural fiction and the darker www.writers-online.co.uk p016 Interview.indd 17 APRIL 2020 17 25/02/2020 09:28 side. They say write what you know about so for me the easiest thing was to write about a forensic anthropologist.’ At that time, she believes forensic anthropology as an aid to detection was beginning to permeate the public consciousness. And those readers were ready for crime fiction with a new kind of investigator. ‘People were beginning to know about forensic anthropology – I felt that the general public were beginning to learn about it. I wanted to write a strong female character, and one with an expertise that was new. She isn’t a detective or a coroner, she was something completely new.’ She certainly piqued the popular imagination: the Fox TV series of Bones, based on Kathy’s books and starring Emily Deschanel as Temperance Brennan, first appeared in 2005 and ran until 2017. Juggling the roles of scientist and novelist, Kathy enjoys the imaginative freedom of writing fiction. ‘As a writer you get to make things up. As a scientist you’re not allowed to. I started out in archaeology, working on ancient skeletons. In forensics, you’re going to impact on people’s lives, so you have to be correct. That was the appeal – forensics had a relevance archaeology did not. You were going to research a specific issue for a specific individual.’ She appreciates the way genre fiction allows a resolution not always possible in real-life cases. ‘There’s a formula to writing thrillers. Whatever the issue is, you’re supposed to resolve it by the end. I like that, because in real life every case does not get solved. You can take a wrong-doing and the victim gets justice.’ In each of Kathy’s books, precise, accurate science is used to solve crime, but she says that’s only one of the necessary ingredients. ‘The main point to my books is the story. They’re good oldfashioned murder mysteries. In my books the solution is driven by science. There is police work involved but it brings together science. In each book I try to use a different forensic science – for 18 APRIL 2020 example, DNA or bite-mark analysis. The challenge is to present the science in a way that’s understandable: brisk and jargon-free. And I have to be entertaining. So these three elements have to come together. Keep the facts correct but keep it brisk, jargonfree and entertaining.’ The bottom line is a good story. ‘If a reader is not entertained they’ll probably put the book down,’ she says. ‘You need to have characters people care about, and keep them evolving so readers keep coming back. Our TV show was on for twelve years, so how do you keep these characters fresh? You can’t do the same thing over and over again. As a crime writer your job is to be honest with your reader but keep them guessing. You can’t rely on coincidence. You want your writing to be satisfying but also surprising. Setting too – you want a setting that is appealing to a reader.’ With all this in mind, each new Kathy Reichs story involves fresh ideas and scientific developments. ‘I keep my eyes and ears open for what’s going to be in the general interest, down the road. Maybe it’s a case I’ve worked on that triggers an idea. This one was inspired by a case I’d worked on where a woman who’d been living with her lover was found – her corpse had been savaged by bears. I changed everything – sex, injuries. And then I combine that with an issue that’s going to be interesting down the road. I want to try something new each time. Beware of the formula. I want to use new science – I still attend professional meetings, I go to presentations in all the different disciplines – forensic disciplines – and look out for cutting edge developments and read the journals of forensic science and see what people are working on.’ Using science in crime fiction mirrors real-life procedure – and requires a rigorous professional approach, she believes. ‘A lot more books are driven by forensic science now than when I started writing. If you want it to be authentic, for today’s world, it would be hard to write an Agatha Christie-style book because it’s not how crime is investigated. But if you use science you have to get it right. If you get it wrong, that’s science fiction.’ If you aren’t a professional scientist, what would she advise? www.writers-online.co.uk S TA R I N T E RV I E W “The advantage of writing a series character is that people know her and they’re going to like her. The disadvantage is that A Conspiracy of Bones may be the first Temperance Brennan book that someone reads, so you’ve got to reintroduce them – but in such a way that the reader who’s on their nineteenth book in the series doesn’t get bored.” ‘Do your research. Talk to an expert in the field. Don’t rely on Wikipedia. Go to the proper sources. Go to a primary source and get it correct. Do on-site visitations. I once took Margaret Atwood on a tour of our morgue – I don’t know if she wanted it for a specific book.’ Her books are inevitably gruesome, but not for shock value. ‘I only put in what’s necessary to drive the story and make the setting authentic. I’ll never put in anything for sensationalism, to make it gory or bloody. But if I’m describing a crime scene or autopsy I’ll make it authentic.’ Death, trauma and dead bodies are central to her fiction, and very little is off limits. ‘I tend to be a little more cautious around children, but I have written about dead babies, based on an actual case I’d worked on. Not much is off limits, but I tend to treat some subjects more delicately.’ Not only is Temperance, like her creator, a woman operating in a world that has traditionally been male-dominated, but Kathy takes care not to gratuitously add to the body-count of women as victims of crime in her fiction. ‘There are a lot of female bodies in crime fiction,’ she says. ‘I actively think about, who will the victim be in this book. It can’t just be another dead woman. There has to be a light shone on all different kinds of crime and victims. I’ve had elderly, young boys, women. I do constantly think about that – I don’t just want it to be a woman taking it in the pants.’ Just as Kathy created Temperance as a strong female character, she also did the same with Tory Brennan, the lead character in the Virals series for young adults that she writes with her son, Brendan Reichs. Tory is Temperance’s fictional great-niece. ‘When I set out, I set out for Temperance to be a strong female, says Kathy. ‘In Virals, with Tory Brennan, we wanted her to be a good role model, saying it’s cool to go into science and maths. They’re both good logical thinkers who think through the problem – it’s what we want to put out there for little girls.’ There is surprisingly little difference between writing for adult crime fans and teenage readers, she says. ‘Your dialogue has to be cleaner – you can’t have what a fifty-yearold homicide cop would be saying in a YA book. Kids talk differently from adults. And their social concerns are different. But the storylines, at least for YA and middle grade, are just as complicated. If you condescend, or talk down to them, boy.’ Kathy’s approach to crafting a novel has been honed by long practice: nineteen Temperance Brennan titles, a standalone, 2017’s Good Nights, six Virals titles and some novellas. ‘I do some outlining. On my computer I’ll outline 6, 8, 10 chapters so I know where it’s going. I do a character file and a timeline file. Then I jump in and start writing. I create an outline retrospectively – as I finish each chapter I put it into the outline. I’m a linear writer: chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3… It is flexible, as I’ll get an idea as I’m writing and go back and change things. At the end of the book I’ll have a complete outline. I don’t really do redrafts – I’ll edit constantly as I go. By the time I finish a first draft, it’s pretty finished.’ Her advice to aspiring writers is characteristically pragmatic. ‘Write. Write something. I don’t believe in writer’s block. Give yourself a designated block of time to write and don’t give yourself excuses. Just sit down and write. Even if you don’t like it you can hit the delete key. If you get in the habit of saying, today’s not a good day, you’ll never write a book.’ www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2020 19 M AGA Z I N E J O U R N A L I S M Fish for a writing gig... Could you make money writing for a niche magazine about a specialised interest? Practical Fishkeeping editor Nathan Hill explains what he wants from new writers. A s the editor of Practical Fishkeeping (PFK), a specialist pet care magazine, my main problem is sourcing gifted writers. While I’m graced with a healthy pool of individuals willing to submit, they frequently fall into one of two polarised camps; extremely focused aquarists with little to no writing background, or ‘chancers’ with a history of creative writing, hoping to hide their lack of subject knowledge with flowery passages and engaging similes. Like other editors of titles like mine, I want someone in that sweet spot, right in the middle. If you’re prepared to put in a little research time, that could be you. The pitch The pitch is your one chance to attract an editor, and you waste it at your peril. More pitches to PFK receive a generic ‘thank you for your offer but…’ response than those I chase up, at somewhere around a 75/25 ratio. Of the rejected pitches, most can be summed up as ‘Hi, I’d like to write for you, if you want to tell me what to write about…’ This approach is a guaranteed pitch killer. Editors are extremely busy people, who already have people in mind for particular topics. 20 APRIL 2020 www.writers-online.co.uk Knowing what you want to write about in advance, and telling us, puts you above three quarters of your competing writers. Before you even consider pitching to a magazine like mine, ensure that you have read it and are familiar with both the house style and subject matter. In my publication’s case the practical aspects of keeping fish, as well as their habitats and conservation, feature prominently. Deciding on a fishy topic to write about need not be too hard. Be honest about your capabilities, and play to your strengths. In the first instance, current affairs are always good to hobby mags. Join some dedicated fish groups of Facebook, follow aquarists on YouTube and Instagram. Find out what’s hot, right now, because that is what my audience wants to read about. Alternatively, a lot in fishkeeping is cyclical, and fish tend to dip in and out of vogue over periods of several years. Source a couple of old back issues for pennies on Amazon or eBay, look at the main subjects and find out if they’ve been covered recently. I’ll repeat: play to your strengths. Perhaps you have a gift for interviews. See if one of the more famous YouTube aquarists is prepared to grant you a Skype call. I’d be interested in running an interview. Perhaps you’re proficient with data, in which case you could source