Authors Electric

Warning. If you are a devoted fan of:   1.     Michael Landon 2.     The TV series “Little House on the Prairie” 3.     Slavish devotion to the infallibility of the authorial voice even in the face of evidence to the contrary   DO NOT READ THIS BLOG. I remember the first time I came across Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was seven years old, a seasoned reader and one of the leaders at Girls’ Brigade offered me a slightly tattered book with a picture of a little girl and her mother standing by a bear on the front. I took it home and devoured it. And so began my love affair with America’s best known pioneering family.   Everyone knows Laura. She lives with her Ma and Pa and three sisters and their journeys across America in the late nineteenth century in a covered wagon are testament to their grit, determination and strong family values. As a child, I read them and loved them. Ma mistaking a bear for the family cow, Pa playing ...

How does a writer get an idea for a story? I’ve read several blogs where authors got annoyed when asked this question. I don’t get annoyed, but it does make me think. It’s not an easy question to answer.  The old maxim “Write what you know” comes to mind, but what does this really mean? Does it mean the author has lived his or her characters’ lives?  I’ve written erotic fiction, psychological suspense, and mystery, and though a lot of who I am has shaped my female characters, I have certainly not lived their lives. The protagonists have been strong women who have loved deeply, travelled the world, had sex with men—sometimes multiple men at the same time.  My characters are much more interesting than I am, and that’s how I want them to be.  You can infer what you like, but I believe fiction should be more than just thinly veiled reflections of authors’ lives. As writers, we should not limit ourselves to what we know.  I can assure you I have not experienced every...

My head is still spinning from discovering My book Killer's Craft, was sitting at number 3 on the bestseller shelf in Waterstones. This was alongside some highly respected writers. How did I find myself there is a question I am still asking. The answer is, I am not entirely sure. However, in the interests of helping others I will try and work it out. Join me in my quest.  I think the answer partly lies In the fact that I am quite a social person, and fairly confident. The story starts about 10 months ago when I went into my local Waterstones bookshop. For those outwith the UK, this is a large bookshop chain. I asked if I could hold a book launch for my first book, Killer's Countdown. This was despite the fact that I had nothing to show them other than a photo of the cover on my mobile phone. I must have been persuasive because the manager agreed to take a risk on a debut author and agreed. I then invited people to come along to the launch. Over a hundred people cam...

The walk of the title happened a few Decembers ago. We were staying with family in a picturesque English village – thatched roofs, cottages, fields, all the images you’d associate with a typical Miss Marple mystery. In fact, it’s the village in which the UK TV drama The Midsomer Murders is filmed. And here’s how the walk went. Christmas is a couple of days away. The kids are excited. The overnight snow is quite thick. After breakfast, all gloved and scarfed, I set out to buy the paper – a walk of maybe a mile there and back. Not many people about. As I walk, various alternative scenarios unfold. A burly man in a tee shirt comes wading through the snow towards me. He’s obviously crazy. No one can step outside the door in these temperatures without proper insulation. He clearly has no nervous system. I know for a fact that he’s going to produce a club, maybe an axe from the hedge beside him and I’ll become a stain on the snow and a headline in tomorrow’s paper (or, rather,...

Lawrence Sanders should be the patron saint of all older writers....and all younger writers who hope to hang around. He published his first book, The Anderson Tapes, in 1970--when he was fifty--and went on to publish 37 books before his death in 1998. And if you like humble beginnings: After working for Macy's, Sanders worked as an editorial writer and sold action stories on the side for $75 a pop. His hardcover advance for The Anderson Tapes was a lowly $3,000. But the humble origins took a rich turn when his agent sold the film rights for $100,000...then the paperback rights for twice that. And Sanders' advances continued to rise until he pulled in seven figures and owned two condos in Pompano Beach. Yes, a film sale can make a big difference. And it didn't hurt at all to have Sean Connery in the lead role or Sydney Lumet as the director. True, we can't all count on that kind of luck. But, luckily, The Colonel has left us with some lessons as enduri...