Authors Electric

The main topic of discussion in my house these past few weeks (at, least, in terms of book-related) has been trigger warnings, and whether they’re a good thing. I’ve never paid much attention to them, viewing them (rather cynically) as a marketing strategy – I’m reminded of when I was a teenager and a sure-fire way to guarantee a record would sell was to plaster it with stickers spouting text such as ‘Warning: contains explicit lyrics’ and similar. Of course, this all-but-guaranteed people would buy the records, because, well, forbidden… I’m aware there’s been a growing discourse on whether books should contain them, although I’ve not been following it as such – my social media presence is minimal to say the least, so most of what I hear is second-hand information. In my day job, I teach IT systems to healthcare professionals, and part of my remit is to look after mental health nurses. We often chat with them outside of training (and they’re a wonderful resource for a writer, but I ...

Why have Stephen King, his son Joe Hill, and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez joined the ranks of those who've bounced from Twitter to the new platform Bluesky? In June 2023 users numbered 180K. As of September the number had risen to 1 million. Here, four Bluebies (Bluesky newbies) tell of their learning to fly the Blue sky. The four roundtable knights are: Debbie Bennett Wendy H Jones Reb MacRath Z: a legendary author sworn to secrecy. Bios and links below.  Were you an active member of The Other Place? What led you to move on? DB: Yes, I was a Twitterer. Or is it Tweep? Not that I've ever used it much. Back in the days when posts were limited to about five words (I'm joking--it was a few more than that), I could never quite see the point. Far from being a lesson in brevity, it just seemed to stifle any creativity for me. But I've never tried to 'create' on these platforms--simply to observe, watch and listen. I did follow the occasional Pitchfest and the thingies that...

I want to talk to you today about why we write. I’ve read that some writers can do nothing but write, the words pouring out of their mind onto the paper. Some only ever publish one book. For me, the reading came first. From an early age, I was allowed, once a week, after we had been grocery shopping, to pick a book. My family had emigrated to America when I was two years old, we returned when I was six. When I started my local primary school, I was already a year behind everyone else as my peers had already begun learning their three ‘Rs’ a year before me. However, my voracious appetite for reading had paid off and I could already write my name and read well above my chronological age when I started.  I think Enid Blyton’s Famous Five were my first loves! The adventures and camaraderie brought my imagination to life. The siblings and their cousin, with of course Timmy the dog, gave me something I didn’t have as an only child. I quickly progressed to the St Clare’s and Malory Towers...

This quote from the classic prison drama The Shawshank Redemption has been running through my head during lockdown. Even if you haven't watched the film or read the Stephen King novella it's based on, you'll probably understand why. Here's a short reminder: Of course, the majority of us have not been locked up in a high-security prison for another man's crime, merely locked down in our own homes, some of us rather more severely than others. I count myself lucky I don't appear on any of the vulnerable lists, however from that first day back in March, when I stood knee deep in the freezing sea and imagined wading out to the horizon to escape the sudden and unexpected restrictions on my freedom, I've felt a little of what I imagine an innocent prisoner like Andy Dufresne must feel. "Get busy living or get busy dying" Andy says, the night before he disappears. His best friend in prison is worried about him, thinking this means he's come t...

For my first blog with the esteemed writers of Authors Electric, I’d like to share something about myself as a writer. I won’t bore you with my personal history, my likes and dislikes, shoe size, etc. Almost anything you want to know about me is on my website if you’re curious enough (except maybe the shoe size). I’ll address something that is not always evident about most writers, and that is … are they plotters or pantsers? Let me explain the difference. A plotter researches a book before writing it, laying out an overview with major plot points. Plotters know what will happen at the beginning, middle, and end of the book. Character sketches are usually part of the outline. R.L. Stine:   “If you do enough planning before you start to write, there's no way you can have writer's block. I do a complete chapter by chapter outline.” John Grisham:   “I've learned that the more time I spend on the outline the easier the book is to write. And if I cheat on ...

I'm reading - or rather, forcing myself to read - Stephen King's Sleeping Beauties , co-written with his son Owen King. I used to love Stephen King's books, back in the days of Firestarter , The Stand and It .  Back in the days when you didn't have to wade through pages and pages of exposition and asides and irrelevant minutiae. I just about managed 11.22.63 , but since then I've given up, and I doubt I'll get to the end of this book. It sits on my bedside table and I'm even watching Family Guy in bed now, because I can't face picking up the hefty doorstop of a paperback and trying to remember which one of the myriad of characters is in this chapter. I can't even hold it comfortably to read. Why does nobody edit this stuff anymore? Is it because he's such a huge name and the publishers know the books will sell whatever they do or don't do? Is it because of the cut-backs everywhere, the redundancies in the publishing industry and relucta...

PART 1: CREATION AND ELATION On March 1 I hit the Publish button on Amazon for my 11th ebook, and my 4th Boss MacTavin mystery: I know I have a few good reasons to rejoice: a 2-year writing effort has come to fruition...and with this fourth entry Boss MacTavin series has come into its own. Furthermore, I've read that many mystery readers wait for a series to reach four or five entries before they dip in. And three five-star reviews have come in. So I'm sitting pretty, you might think, with plans for a spin-off series that will be simpler to write since these books are set in Seattle. PART 2: DESPAIR AND DOUBT Yet, damned if I'm not in that limbo I always end in between books. All the usual anxieties and doubts and fears come into play once more. And I wonder like so many others: How can I go on? How can I spend thousands of hours on more books-and see them sink without a sound? Am I getting any closer to something like a tipping point--where decade...

In July 2016 the Barnes family spent two weeks in Majorca, during which three of the four of us read The Shining by one Mr Stephen King. The readings were punctuated by Mrs R appearing at doorways and saying "Here's Johnny!" in her best Jack Nicholson impression, which was scary enough. Imagine our individual surprise when the "Here's Johnny!" phrase was nowhere to be found in the 2011 paperback reprint of the 1977 original novel. We resolved to watch Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film version of the story on our return to Ireland, as it was before my daughter's time and I had never managed to watch the film all the way through.   Many times re-published, this edition of the 1977 novel has a 2001 introduction by the author. The novel revolves around a very limited number of characters in an ultimately claustrophobic setting. What happens before the family of three reach the Overlook Hotel is of great significance when it comes to understanding why...

With my article writing hat on, this month I've written a piece on Beatrix Potter, seeing as 2016 marks the 150 th anniversary of her birth. Doing the research it surprised me to discover that she was an indie author herself at the start of her writing career – apologies if everyone except me knew this already!! But for those of you who don't know her story, Beatrix loved wildlife and exploring the countryside and made pets out of all kinds of wild creatures such as rabbits, frogs, mice and the like. These little animals and birds were the inspiration for her stories in later life along with farm animals when Beatrix took up sheep farming in the Lake District. In 1893, Beatrix was on holiday in Eastwood, Dunkeld when she decided to write a letter to Noel Moore who was the five year old son of a former nanny, who was poorly. She wrote: “ My dear Noel, I don’t know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits… That let...