The right way to write

I’m not all that keen on laying down rules about writing. You know the sort of thing: “Ten golden rules every author must follow.” Hmmm…rules, as Lenin almost said, are like pie-crusts, made to be broken.

When people ask me if I have any writing tips, I find it very flattering, but I must begin my reply with a warning. I haven’t (obviously!) found the secret of mega-success. I’d love to think I could simply follow a list of do’s and don’ts to produce sure-fire best-sellers, with film companies competing for my rights while I’m alive, and universities fighting over my manuscripts after I’m gone. Wouldn’t we all?

But I do know the kind of books I want to write, and I’ve accumulated some guidelines – I’ll put it no stronger – that help me give my best shot. They may help others, so here goes:

1. Write about what interests you. Don’t be tempted by something that doesn’t, even though other people tell you it’s commercial, fashionable, “a sure winner.” With luck it may turn out to be any or all of the above, but only if you are interested and can make it interesting for your readers. Writing a novel is hard work and it can take years from creation to publication. If you’re bored at the start you’ll be brain-dead by the finish. Your prose will probably be dead too.

2. Once you begin on a novel, write regularly. I’m not saying every day; that would be nice, but may simply not be feasible because that pesky factor known as Real Life gets in the way. Work on it more than once a week. If you don’t keep up the momentum, you may lose interest, however fired-up you were when you started.

3. Have some kind of a plan, don’t just launch yourself into the wide blue yonder without any idea where the book is heading. How detailed the plan is depends on you; there isn’t a right way for everyone, you’ll find the method that’s best for you. Some authors prepare very full chapter-by-chapter plot outlines and stick to them; others (like me) just write a skeletal framework, a note or two about the beginning and the end and a few key items in between. Then as I write, the details emerge gradually and I go with the flow…but I do know where I‘m flowing to. I call this the Colin Dexter method, because he claims it’s how he wrote his Inspector Morse books: he says it’s like driving from London to Edinburgh without a road map. You know the general direction, and you’ll find the exact route as you go.

4.  Try and keep your writing fresh, with a newly-baked feeling about it; not stale or hackish. (My spell checker thinks I’ve invented a new word. But you know what I mean.)  Steer clear of obvious pitfalls: avoid clichés like the plague…OK, an old joke, but nonetheless true. Don’t slow down the action with pages of laborious description. Again I’ll use the B-word; if you read over yesterday’s creative output and it’s boring, don’t let it stand. We all have off-days, but we needn’t inflict them on our readers. Delete it and do better.

5. Don’t give up. However hard it is, however long it takes, if you have a book to write, persevere till it’s done. Whether it eventually gets published, whether it sells millions, that’s harder to predict. But if you’ve completed a first draft, you’ve achieved something important, and you can be proud to call yourself a writer. So stick at it. That’s the only truly unbreakable rule.

Les bicyclettes de Yorkshire

We heard this week that the Tour de France cycle race is coming to England next year, and the opening two days will feature some hard riding in Yorkshire.

Our local media have been going bananas. Well, why not? We’ve got plenty of steep hills for the riders to go at, and some lovely scenery and historic towns, and…OK, you get the picture. They’re only with us for two days, then it’s off down south, and onward to France itself for most of the tour. But that hasn’t stopped Yorkshire folk from rejoicing in the excitement of the sport and the prospect of many thousands of enthusiasts flocking here to spend their hard-earned brass.

I can’t help wondering what the French think about calling it the Tour de France when part of it happens this side of the Channel. York, Leeds, Ilkley, Sheffield, Holmfirth, Aysgarth…the names lack that Gallic je ne sais quoi, don’t they? Oh well, Sand-fairy Anne, as my Dad used to say in his Churchillian French. And he’d be right; it doesn’t – matter, that is, what they call the race, as long as the cyclists know which way to go, and the spectators know where to stand…

AND as long as they all ride a good clean race without dosing themselves with any naughty substances to help them along. They won’t need them, anyway, if they stick to a proper local diet: Yorkshire pudding with their roast beef, and Wensleydale cheese with their home-made apple pie. This last may strike some non-Yorkshire folk as odd, but we say, “An apple pie without some cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze.” To anyone who hasn’t tried this lovely combination, I strongly recommend it, but don’t do what a friend of mine in London did once, and add custard. Really, I despair of southerners sometimes!

I suppose we’ll all start brushing up on our French phrases to welcome the cyclists and their entourages and fans. My conversational French used to be quite good many moons ago, though it may be a touch rusty now. Still, I’m sure it would come back to me, although I’d struggle with cycle-related chats about punctures or dodgy brakes, or details of race stages. How do you say, “That hill’s an absolute stinker, watch out for the 1-in-4 S-bend near the top or you’ll go base-over-apex”?

Being a lover of puns, I always enjoy the spoof “fractured French” translations that go the rounds from time to time, and doubtless will again next year. Rendering “pas de deux” as father of twins, and “mal de mer” as mother-in-law, makes me smile, not to mention translating “Chateaubriand” as your hat’s on fire. And in our family we call Chateauneuf du pape “The Pope’s Newcastle.”

I wonder if the French have the same sort of jokes the other way round? If so, what can they make of “Ee by gum” or “Where there’s muck there’s brass”?

Well, bonne chance to the cyclists; rather them than me, flogging up and down all those hills. Let’s make sure they enjoy themselves in Yorkshire, and hope they can make time to look around them as they belt along and admire the beautiful countryside they’re riding through. However beautiful is La Belle France, there are bits of Yorkshire that beat the rest of the world hollow.

My Next Big Thing

I’m delighted to pick up the baton from Ruth Downie in this cyber-relay called My Next Big Thing. It’s for authors to answer a set of questions devised by…I don’t know actually who devised them originally, but they’re good questions. Ruth gave good answers last week at http://rsdownie.co.uk/2012/12/11/my-next-big-thing/

Now for my two penn’orth:

What is the working title of your book?
At present it’s called BLOOD ON THE ROAD. I’m not totally sure about that title, (sounds too much like a motorway accident!) but the book isn’t finished yet, and something better will occur to me as I go on writing.

Where did the idea for the book come from?
It’s the fifth in a series about Roman innkeeper Aurelia Marcella  She runs an inn on the road to York in the Roman province of Britannia, at the end of the first century AD, which is not all that long after the Romans invaded Britain. So native hostility to the conquerors is still sharp. Aurelia prefers peace with both settlers and native tribes, but she keeps getting drawn into solving crimes, often at considerable risk. So far her adventures have been in what we’d call Yorkshire, but then at the end of Book 4 (DANGER IN THE WIND) a perfect reason emerged to send her off to London, and it’s working out beautifully. I’m having such fun researching Londinium and trying to see it through the eyes of a country innkeeper.

What genre does your book fall under?
Historical mystery.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Having a film made from one of my books is a fascinating thought, but I’ve one small qualm. Until that fairly unlikely event, I and all my readers can have our own idea of Aurelia, Lucius, Quintus, and the rest. Once movie images arrive, they restrict people’s imaginations a bit…hey, what am I saying? I’d be over the moon, of course I would, so if any movie moguls are reading this, feel free to get in touch!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Plans for a happy Roman wedding are wrecked when the bridegroom vanishes and his bride-to-be is threatened with death if she looks for him, but Aurelia must look, because he is her brother.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It’ll be published by Poisoned Pen Press in the USA and by Head of Zeus in the UK and Commonwealth.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
There are quite a few authors writing mysteries set in Roman times, which is great. But we’re all different, so comparisons are difficult and I’m not sure how useful. Google “Roman historical mysteries”, we’re all there for you to try!

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
You could say it was a natural development, being part of a series. But what made me choose my particular period? I’ve had a lifelong interest in Roman history, since living in York as a child, and then as a teenager read “I CLAUDIUS” by Robert Graves, a truly brilliant book. They say “write about what interests you,” so I do.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It’s told from the point of view of a woman, which is very unusual for Roman-era mysteries. I wanted to look at Roman society through feminine eyes because it was in legal terms very male-dominated, but I knew that, as in so many other eras of history, smart women like Aurelia could learn to work the system and live their lives more or less as they liked.

Tag time
Now I’m going to tag my good friend Rebecca Jenkins, another writer of historical crime fiction, and a fellow member of the Mystery Makers group. Her novels set in Regency England involve Raif Jarrett, adventurer, spy, soldier, and artist…a fascinating mixture of a sleuth. Rebecca’s Next Big Thing will be posted soon at http://www.rebeccajenkins.com/Rebeccas_blog

Seeing the Romans from space

I recently watched a fascinating BBC television programme about archaeology from space. No, it didn’t show archaeologists in spacesuits whizzing round in orbit collecting up bits of junk that have fallen off rockets or been jettisoned by astronauts. It was about using space satellites to look for traces of the Roman Empire that can’t be seen from the earth below.

ROME’S LOST EMPIRE was presented by historian Dan Snow and based on the work of Dr. Sarah Parcak from the University of Alabama. She’s been analysing images and photographs sent back to earth from orbiting satellites, which can examine the surface of our planet in considerable detail. They can do this not just visually, but using infra-red wavelengths as well, which are invisible to human eyes but enormously useful sources of information. She produces maps that make clear differences in the surface that you can’t distinguish from down here.

Each feature of our planet – sand, rock, vegetation, buildings – has a different “signature” in the data from space, and not just when they’re on the surface. The images can show buried remains too, such as sites of forts or farms from Roman times, even when they are now hidden below ground level.

Dr. Parcak has worked for some years finding hitherto unknown ruins in Ancient Egypt. Dan Snow’s programme got her to focus on the Roman Empire. She analysed maps of various parts of the Empire looking for sites that might be interesting archaeologically, and with modern global positioning techniques she could pinpoint them to within a meter or two. Then she and Snow and other experts visited these interesting places, and discovered remains on the ground that corresponded with the images from space…the “lost” sites that had either not been known at all by today’s scholars, or had been known about in theory but never found before.

Snow and Parcak looked at Portus, the vast ancient port west of Rome where warships and trading vessels anchored. The coastline has receded over time, and much of Portus is built over now, but the space images found an important ship canal leading directly to Rome and bypassing the longer route via the Tiber. They also discovered the site of what was almost certainly the enormous Portus lighthouse, which in its day was on a par with the great Alexandrian Pharos, rated one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

After other successful finds in Romania and Jordan, they focused on north Africa, examining the 1500-mile long frontier line between the prosperous and fertile Roman settlements and the nomadic barbarians in the desert nearby. How did the Romans protect their farmlands? Guided by the space images, Parcak located sites of a string of forts, which had been suspected but never found till now. The programme included delighted comments from Professor David Mattingly, who has spent years looking for traces of them, but needed Parcak’s new technology to find their exact whereabouts.

I hope this programme will be repeated soon, and I’m also hoping that a book will follow, or at least articles telling us more. Meanwhile, take a look at Sarah Parcak’s website, http://www.sarahparcak.com/index2.php#/home/ which covers her satellite-based findings in Egypt. It makes fascinating reading.

Presenting Mary Reed

Mary and her husband Eric Mayer write the popular John the Lord Chamberlain mysteries, set in sixth-century Constantinople, a city of extremes: wealth and corruption, beauty and violence. Originally published  in the USA by Poisoned Pen Press, John’s adventures are launched today in Britain, which gives Mary a special pleasure because she was born in England, where she first got her interest in  ancient history…

My family once lived in a long-gone street running into Scotswood Road in the north-eastern city of Newcastle-on-Tyne. I sometimes walked to grammar school rather than taking the bus, cutting through a street near my destination to take another glance at a startling sight in the middle of a heavily industrialised city: the remains of a Roman era temple.

To be sure, there isn’t much left of it. Dedicated to the god Antenociticus, built around 180 AD, and destroyed by fire about sixteen years later — it’s amazing what archaeologists can deduce from small amounts of evidence! — it consists of a low portion of its walls outlining what appears to be a very small space. The passerby will observe casts of two pillar altars and the head of a statue, the originals being held in a Newcastle museum. Imagine doing the washing up and looking out the kitchen window at the temple, a silent reminder of Roman rule!

One year our class went on a day trip to Hadrian’s Wall, out on the Northumbrian moors. Standing on the broad top of the structure that had once marked the edge of the empire, with a cold wind howling round our knees it was easy to imagine how far from home those patroling there must have felt, especially during the grey misty winters. To add to the jollity of our visit it rained that day something shocking. We got soaked.

However, our venture into the Byzantine period came about through an editor living in southern England. After my co-author and I married, we had some modest publishing success with short stories. One afternoon we had a call from Mike Ashley, who asked us if we thought we could write a short story in about three weeks for an anthology of historical whodunnits he was editing. Naturally we said yes. Eric is interested in Byzantine history and therefore had a number of books we could consult, so Justinian’s reign became our setting, and from there we progressed to John’s occupation, Lord Chamberlain, and his condition — he’s a eunuch, historically correct for holders of high office in certain eras. We also made him a secret worshipper of Mithra in an officially Christian court. Mithraism’s requirements added depth to his character, not to mention dramatic tension. As for Constantinople and the imperial court, it was a perfect place for back-stabbings, often literally and not always in the foul alleys outside the palace walls.

Two or three short stories about John subsequently appeared and then came One For Sorrow, John’s first novel-length adventure. There are nine of them to date. The latest entry, Nine For The Devil, appeared in March 2012. They’ve all been published in the US by Poisoned Pen Press, and now the revised edition of One For Sorrow is issued by Head of Zeus, publisher of the series in the UK.

There is a connection to Bretania in One For Sorrow, since one of its main characters is Thomas, a British knight who claims to be in Constantinople seeking the Holy Grail. The soothsayer Ahasuerus and two ladies from Crete stir up events and old memories for John, who must establish if and how these various visitors link to the death of his old friend Leukos, Keeper of the Plate.

It happens that in his youth John fought as a mercenary in Bretania. We haven’t sent him back there yet, but perhaps one day he will stand on the Wall and look north into savage parts.

ONE FOR SORROW is published on December 1st by Head of Zeus, London, under the pen-name M. E. Mayer. Find out more about both authors and their books at http://home.earthlink.net/~maywrite/

Meet Mary Reed here tomorrow

I’m delighted that tomorrow I’ll be welcoming Mary Reed as my blog guest. She’s a friend, and she writes terrific historical mysteries…who could ask for more?

Mary and her husband Eric Mayer write the John Lord Chamberlain mystery series set in ancient Constantinople, and they are about to be published in the UK, having been available in the USA till now. The UK publishers have amalgamated their two names into M. E. Mayer…no, I don’t know why either!…but the  books’ titles are unchanged, and the first, ONE FOR SORROW, comes out tomorrow. The publishers are Head of Zeus, London, the same firm that has just launched my Aurelia Marcella series here.

Mary now lives in Pennsylvania, USA, but she was born and brought up in the UK. And the unusual Roman ruin pictured here is one of the things that got her interested in ancient history when she was a schoolgirl.

Where is it? Wait and see…you’ll find out tomorrow.

Have mystery, will travel

We launched SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT last week as planned. It was an excellent party.

It was a truly dark and stormy night, but that didn’t deter nearly thirty guests from coming along to Waterstones in York to share my celebration.

Among them were two people from Head of Zeus, the publishers hosting the party, an assortment of other mystery enthusiasts…and as I promised,  two real-live Roman soldiers. They were brilliant…good company, very knowledgeable about their period and their armour and equipment, and of course by far the best-looking men in the room – well I’ve said before I’m a sucker for guys in military uniforms! Victor and Germanus belong to the Comitatus Late Roman History e-enactment group. Check out their website at www.comitatus.net. Next year I hope Aurelia the innkeeper will be  joining in some of their events.

But till then, I shan’t be resting on my laurels. Apart from having my next book to write – Aurelia number 5, which still hasn’t even a working title – I hope to be busy with a new project, the Mystery Makers. I’ve got together with two other authors who have published historical whodunits, and we’ve formed a triple-act, and aim to strut our stuff around the north of England. We sing, we dance, we…OK, you don’t believe me, so I’ll be serious. We all love writing mysteries, and discussing our own and other writers’ work, and we are available to give talks, panels, and workshops to writers’ and readers’ groups, and in libraries, in bookshops, at conferences, in fact anywhere where mystery lovers meet. The pub? Well, why not?

The other Mystery Makers are two very good friends of mine, Dolores Gordon-Smith and Rebecca Jenkins. Our books cover a wide spectrum of history: I’m earliest with the Romans, then comes Rebecca in the Regency period, and Dolores is the most modern, if you can use that word to describe her chosen time, the 1920s.

I’ll post more about us soon, but meanwhile take a look at our new website, www.mysterymakers.co.uk. And get in contact if you’d enjoy hearing three hist-myst enthusiasts talking the hind legs off several donkeys.

A dream of two halves

Dreams come in all shapes and sizes. I’ve  had what footballers might call “a dream of two halves.” And Part 2 is coming true this week.

Part 1 happened nine years ago, when my first book was published. The first in my Aurelia Marcella series came out in the USA, and it was a great thrill to see my mystery as a real book with my name on it. Three sequels have appeared in the USA since, and I’ve been delighted each time, though sorry the bookshops and readers across the Pond were too far away for visiting. Some copies found their way here, but only a few. And as I’m a Brit and the stories are set here, I hung onto the hope that one day I’d be published in my home country too.

Now that’s happening. The first of Aurelia’s adventures, SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT, is being launched here this week, and the others will follow. They’ll still be there in the USA, so I have the best of both worlds, and that’s Dream Part 2 sorted.

The launch party for SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT (formerly GET OUT OR DIE) is being given by the UK publishers, Head of Zeus, on Thursday November 22 at Waterstones in York from 7.00 to 8.30. All sorts of friends are coming along for a drink and a chat…including some real live Roman soldiers! They’re part of a Roman history re-enactment group called Comitatus that I recently joined (well I never could resist men in military gear!) This photo gives a flavour of the wonderful displays they give. I don’t think the horses will be at  the party, but the guys look just as impressive on foot.  And if anyone is thinking of daring to utter a critical word about me, my books or my publishers, just bear in mind that Roman justice could be short and not very sweet!

No, this is going to be wall-to-wall fun. And all book lovers and history enthusiasts are welcome to come and help me celebrate my Dream Part 2.

Long live the BBC

It’s just 90 years to the day since the BBC sent out its first broadcast. That’s something well worth celebrating.

Oh yes, in spite of its present troubles, the BBC is still the best broadcasting organisation in the world. I know. I’m not only an enthusiastic listener and viewer, but I’ve worked for it as a freelance radio reporter and programme maker over more than 40 years – and I still do very occasional pieces on air now. I’m proud of that.

Of course I’m angered and saddened by recent revelations: deplorable not-very-investigative journalism that any cub reporter would be ashamed of, and horrifying stories of admired stars abusing their position in order to abuse youngsters. These are disappointing and sickening and just plain wrong. They must be investigated, the faults found and corrected, those responsible named and punished.

But while this is being done, let’s not forget the good things about the BBC. Most of us who contribute to it work hard and with integrity. We do our very best and we achieve good results. We give information and advice, we try to sort truth from lies and to see justice done…and on the lighter side, we stimulate all the arts, we amuse and entertain.

I’ve broadcast mostly for Radio 4 current affairs and magazine programmes, like “Woman’s Hour”, “You and Yours”, and one of my favourites, “In Touch”, the weekly magazine aimed at blind and partially sighted listeners…I say aimed at, but it has a widely varied audience, and it’s been going for 50 years, a respectable age even for a veteran corporation like the Beeb.

I’ve covered every topic from aviation to zoo-keeping, I’ve collected and distilled expert advice on everything from designing a new garden to using computers when you can’t see to read the screen.
I’ve done my share of digging out secrets that large organisations would sooner have kept hidden, and helping individuals get redress when treated by the authorities with neglect or stupidity or callousness. I’ve interviewed explorers and folk singers and inventors and a lion tamer and a bomb disposal expert and many other extraordinary people. I’ve enjoyed every minute.

AND I haven’t accused anyone of wrongdoing without checking my facts fully, or bribed or corrupted anyone, or been bribed or corrupted myself. I hope that I was a broadcaster that listeners didn’t rush to switch off, and that my radio colleagues thought of as honest and reliable.
I’ve turned my energies to mystery writing these days. But the BBC’s multitude of programmes are still full of reporters and investigators who work to high standards and believe in them…you can hear and see them every day. While that’s so, despite occasional rotten apples that have to be thrown out of the barrel, the BBC will be safe.

Many happy returns, BBC. May you still be here in another 90 years, and still able to show the rest of the world how broadcasting should be done.

The Master of Comedy Songs

I’ve been  on a Noel Coward binge these last few days. It’s been wonderful.

As regular visitors will know, I’ve recently had some surgery done on my right elbow. It’s gone well, and I’m definitely on the mend, but I’m still in plaster down to my right wrist, so I’m not able to be enormously active. A great excuse for listening to music…and I received a stack of Noel Coward CDs for my birthday last week, songs written and sung by The Master in his inimitable style, which I’m certain are helping my recovery along nicely.

Why is he The Master of comedy song-writing? How long have you got?

For starters, he chose such wonderful subjects to make fun of. Like “Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the Midday Sun”, or “Nina from Argentina”, the girl who wouldn’t dance. And who else would ever have thought of “Don’t put your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington”?

And then again his songs were so finely crafted, rhythm and rhyme and verse structure perfect. Some of his rhymes are beautifully surprising:

“People’s behaviour
Away from Belgravia
Leaves one aghast…”

That’s from “I Went to a Marvellous Party”, about high jinks on the French Riviera, as is one of my very favourite bits of Cowardiana:

“If you have any mind at all,
Gibbon’s divine Decline and Fall
Sounds very flimsy,
No more than a whimsy.
By way of contrast
On Wednesday last
I went to a marvellous party….”

I love that description of Edward Gibbon’s heavyweight (in all senses) magnum opus about Rome! Some day I plan to give a talk entitled “Gibbon’s Divine Decline and Fall” and see how many scholars are shocked.

To me the best thing of all about his lyrics (Coward’s, that is, not Gibbon’s) is his compact, snide wit, cramming a thousand words’ worth of meaning into a brief couple of lines…as when he describes the hapless Mrs. Worthington’s daughter:

“Though they said at the school of acting she was lovely as Peer Gynt,
I believe on the whole an ingenue role might emphasise her squint.”

Oh boy, I wish I’d written that!

And I must mention that The Master could use his word-power in more serious and yes, sentimental, numbers. My favourite is “London Pride”, a tribute to the city he loved written in 1941 in the darkest days of World War 2. It sends shivers down my spine with its hope and courage at a point in time when it can’t have been at all clear that London, or Britain even, would win through:

“Every blitz your resistance toughening,
From the Ritz to the Anchor and Crown,
Nothing ever could over-ride
The pride of London Town.”

I could, as you can tell, go on for pages more. If you’re a Coward fan you’ll know why. If not yet, give some of his songs a try, and I bet you soon will be. Either way, I’m sure you’ll excuse me if I slip away now and play a few more tracks.