Susi Qs – Week 50 – Luca Veste

At last… the endless year comes to an end, and the final Susi Qs is here – you might say I saved the best till last? And while that *might* be true, I think it’s fair to say that every single week has been an absolute treat and I’m very glad I did this little series! For anyone who hasn’t been with me from the start, the 10 questions asked are randomly generated from a set of 50 (inspired by the Smash Hits biscuit tin of days gone by: here’s an example of Little Mix doing the same questions as The Spice Girls) – anyway, without further ado – thank you to all my guests this year – and you never know, Susi Qs *might* return one day. In the meantime, here’s this week’s fabulous guest – Luca Veste… who I first met and interviewed in 2014, when we were both still at school (haha).

Luca Veste is of Italian and Liverpudlian heritage and studied psychology and criminology at university. He is the author of the Murphy and Rossi series and numerous standalone novels including The Bone Keeper, The Six, and the forthcoming You Never Said Goodbye. He is the host of the hit podcast Two Crime Writers and a Microphone, co-founder of the Locked Up Festival, and bass player in the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers. He lives in Merseyside, with his wife and two daughters.

So, Luca…

Who was the best Beatle?

Much to many people’s shock and chagrin, I’ve never been a fan of The Beatles. Growing up in Merseyside, it’s been very easy to roll your eyes at constant mentions of that particular band – mainly as every time you’re on holiday abroad, and you mention where you’re from, it’s the first thing that is talked about! So, I’ve always had a disdain for them. Right up until I watched the Get Back documentary on Disney Plus. I thought it was astounding. I devoured all nine hours of it and could have happily watched more and more of it. I instantly reappraised the albums, and while I still can’t get on board with 99% of pre-1965/6 Beatles, I am now a huge fan of the later albums. And for me, the obvious best Beatle, is Paul McCartney. John has some good stuff, but post-Beatles I can’t get along with. George has some brilliant tracks (While My Guitar Gently Weeps has been a favourite for a long time), and Ringo… well, Ringo should be very glad of being in the right place at the right time. Said with Peace and Love. But, Paul has been consistently the best songwriter of them all and is massively underrated as a bass player. 

What’s your favourite kitchen appliance?

We’ve just renovated our kitchen, which has taken me a few months and a lot of hard work. This gave me room for a dishwasher. I’ve never had one before. It is magic. I still don’t know how it works. I have never been happier in my life. The joy I am getting from loading and unloading, seeing how clean it gets plates and pans, is indescribable. I actually rang my dad the other day just to talk about the dishwasher. 

Have you ever broken a bone?

I’ve broken many, many bones. Legs (tibia and fibia), ankles (broke that a few times – the last time in Harrogate at Theakstons Crime Festival), both arms, my nose about six times, fingers, toes, all of them. Usually playing some kind of sport. Or during my misspent youth.

Do you have any weird habits?

I have OCD, which involves compulsions surrounding numbers. I’m constantly counting. I add numbers I see together and divide them by 4. I count to 5 if I think I’ve done something unlucky. Odd numbers are evil. I guess this counts as weird, but I think everyone should be doing it. We may have had a better couple of years if we had.

How many pairs of shoes do you have?

I own 4 pairs. One pair of posh shoes to go with a suit. One pair of dark trainers to go with jeans. One pair of white trainers to be sporty in. One pair of walking boots. And I still think I own too many.

When did you last sleepwalk?

I’ve never had a sleepwalk. It has always been a source of disappointment for me. I’d quite like going for a wander and waking up in front of the fridge or something. 

What was your first gig?

My first gig was quite late in life (if you discount the many I played as a wannabe rockstar during my teen years). I was 18, and went to see Muse at Manchester Apollo in 2001. It was epic. Two weeks later I saw Wheatus in the Liverpool Royal Court. That was a good fortnight. 

How many times have you seen Top Gun?

I have never seen Top Gun. There are a bunch of huge films I’ve somehow never seen. I only saw Die Hard for the first time a couple of years back. I’ve never seen a single James Bond film. It’s like my party piece – name a classic film that everyone has seen and Luca will probably shrug his shoulders and tell you about watching Goodfellas for the 216th time.

Did you like school?

I loved school. I never tried, which was probably a mistake, but I was too busy having a good time. My high school had a fantastic drama department, led by two incredible teachers Ms Moore and Miss Schofield. I was in school musicals every year, I played football, and had loads of fun. I wish I’d appreciated it more at the time.

What are you wearing?

A pair of Friends lounge pants, from my huge collection of lounge pants – the greatest clothing ever manufactured. I have over 50 pairs of them now. And a jumper, because it’s cold. I plan on getting dressed properly at some point in 2022.

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If you want to know more about Luca, you can find him on twitter @LucaVeste. His books can be found HERE.

 

Girls On Top: Sex in Crime (Part 2)

‘Don’t you think there should be more people handcuffed to beds in thrillers?’

…says Mark Edwards (The Devil’s Work) over at CrimeThrillerGirl (aka Steph Broadribb)’s blog, where we are talking about SEX in crime fiction (you should read PART 1 first!) Part 2 continues below…

[STEPH] Many of the female crime thriller writers we spoke to agreed with Mark and enjoy putting sex into their books. Angela Clarke has a sex scene in a disabled toilet in her thriller Follow Me, and Elizabeth Haynes has her detective almost die in a queening box in Under a Silent Moon.

Alexandra Sokoloff said, ‘Most of my books have the common theme of an equal male and female protagonist (or in my Huntress series, an equal and combative male protagonist and female villain) joining forces to solve some horrific crime. And erotic tension is just part of the mix, and when those two people finally come together (yes, I meant that) it has to be explosive and character revealing.’

Marnie Riches writes a lot of sex scenes in her ‘The Girl Who…’ series, she said of women writing sex scenes, ‘Maybe we have the vocabulary for desire more naturally and are less embarrassed.’

[SUSI] I think Marnie makes a good point here. I don’t think there are many female writers out there who didn’t read some of their mum’s books with the naughty bits in, as teens – you know, stuff like Jilly Cooper and Jackie Collins – girls, I think, are more inclined to explore these images of desire, and thus as adults are possibly more inclined to write about them? Mark Edwards aside (who makes a good job of it, so to speak), I think females might have the upper-hand when it comes to making sex scenes sexy and not cringey! My biggest problem with sex scenes is when people use what I consider to be THE WRONG WORDS, especially too many of the wrong words… Doing research for this article I searched several novels for certain words and found that ‘penis’ came out as a very over-used word (especially by male authors) – please… come on. It’s cock, surely?

[STEPH] I totally get that, there’s nothing more likely to put you off your stroke than a badly used sex word. ‘Her sex’ is particularly cringe-worthy to me, as are ‘lady-parts’; she’s a woman, therefore all of her is a lady part – be specific! My only exception to this is that I think it’s important the choice of word fits the character – so if the character is very repressed maybe they would call it ‘her sex’ (shudders) but if they’re a tough talking, kick-ass woman that’d be the totally wrong fit.

While we were writing this the only area of disagreement Susi and me had was over ‘panties’. I have the word panties in DEEP DOWN DEAD at least once – during flashback to when my lead character was working as a stripper. It works for the scene and it works in the American voice, but I know the panties set Susi’s teeth on edge!

Even if you decide you’re going to include it, writing good sex is a tricky business. Too little information and its just confusing, too much and it reads like a sex manual – neither are much fun, and neither are sexy – so how to get the perfect balance? If the nominees in the annual Bad Sex Award are anything to go by, the more metaphors and similes used when describing sex increase your risk tenfold. Critically acclaimed writers can fall foul of this too. And, if you’ve not already had the chance, I recommend listening to the hilarious Bad Sex Award special podcast by the brilliant Two Crime Writers and a Microphone.  Listening to Steve Cavanagh and Luca Veste reading out each nominated scene makes the pitfalls of writing a sex scene abundantly clear!

[SUSI] Exactly. Just as in the art of seduction itself, writing a good sex scene involves giving it just the right amount, and no more. The words used are important, and you need to make sure it’s just the right length (ahem!) – any more and you’re venturing into erotica territory, and that’s not what we’re talking about here (btw, for brilliantly written erotica/crime – try something by Ava Marsh… for grubby but nonetheless entertaining erotica/crime… try L.S Hilton‘s Maestra) As author Mel Sherratt – Watching over You – says, go for the ‘hot and horny, but quick scenes.’ This is spot on. Don’t get too graphic, but don’t be too scared to give us a decent flavour. My top tip for writing a sex scene – if it turns you on when you are writing it and reading it back, it will most likely have the same effect on the reader.

[STEPH] That’s a great tip! Another thing I’d say is that although books (and films) like Bond have always included a lot of sex scenes, and they’re always told from the male point of view. Personally I always give a little cheer when I’m reading a book and the female character takes the POV for a sex scene. Maybe that’s one of the subconscious reasons I wanted to write a sex scene from Lori Anderson’s point of view. Maybe I just like to see girls on top!

[SUSI] I agree. I definitely think women writing it from the female POV works best. You know, all the way through this, all I’ve been able to think about is the reverse cowgirl squat, which would be quite apt for Lori, don’t you think?

[STEPH] Oh hell yeah!!

So, we’ve had our say, what do you think – do you like a sprinkling of sex with your crime? And, if you do, what’s the most memorable sex scene in a crime thriller for you? Tweet us at @crimethrillgirl and @sjiholliday using #GirlsOnTop to let us know.

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Steph Broadribb is an alumni of the MA Creative Writing at City University London and trained as a bounty hunter in California. Her debut novel DEEP DOWN DEAD is out now – here’s the blurb: Lori Anderson is as tough as they come keeping her career as a Florida bounty hunter separate from her role as single mother to nine-year-old Dakota, who suffers from leukaemia. But when the hospital bills rack up, she has no choice but to take a job that will make her a fast buck. And that’s when things go wrong. The fugitive she’s chasing is JT, Lori former mentor – the man who taught her all she knows … the man who also knows the secrets of her murky past. Find out more at www.crimethrillergirl.com.

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This article was first Published on Barry Forshaw’s blog: CRIMETIME

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You can buy my books here: SJI Holliday’s Amazon Page (and in all good book shops)

Join my mailing list HERE to be entered into competitions and receive my occasional newsletter.

Chatting to Pete Sortwell

SJIH: Hi Pete, thanks for popping in. The kettle’s on. Help yourself to biscuits! Your novel ‘So Low So High’ has just been re-released… how does that feel?

PS: It’s a mixture of feelings really. I’m hopeful that it might find a lot more readers this time, while I’m also a bit nervous that maybe the only people who bought it last time where the only ones who wanted it anyway.

I can say that I’m really pleased to have this back in my stable and under my control. That is the over riding sense I have, which I suppose we’d have to mark down as relief.

I can promote this as I please and not have to worry about running it past anyone or having to put up all the budget myself while still sharing the profits.

SJIH: Can you tell us about it in a couple of sentences? No spoilers please…

PS: So Low So High is a thriller, but not like a normal whodunit, it’s more a Willhelive. It’s written as that but also to put the reader into the eyes of someone with a chronic addiction.

SJIH: You’ve based it around the world of an addict. How ‘real’ is your fictional portrayal? I imagine you had to do a lot of research?

PS: A lot of the situations surrounding the story are true, although not to one person. I’ve worked with people either in or in recovery from addiction for almost nine years now, also being in recovery myself, some of the feelings and thoughts are that of how I felt when I was going through it. So in that sense very real.

SJIH: You’re better known for writing comedy and parodies. What made you want to write this one? What was your favourite thing about writing it? Was it the characters… the setting… the subject matter?

PS: I actually wrote this one first. It took me just under two years from start to finish. The comedy books were a bit of an aside which came about because I’d just lost a close friend who a character in the follow up is based on, and also because I’d just signed SLSH with a publisher and felt that I could now self publish without feeling like a failure. An outlook I no longer hold, and probably never should have, however, that was how I thought in 2012.

The comedy books have just done better than this one, which is one of the things that’s exciting about releasing this again as I can use all the tools I learnt with my other books to get this one out there.

My favourite thing about writing this book was to get to say something of things in the fictional world that I never could at the time (in the small parts that are based on real events).

I think the subject matter was something that motivated me to write this, I just wanted to put out there what it was like to live in that hopeless world of not being able to choose what it was you did that day. I know a lot of people say addiction is a choice. It’s a lot more complex than that, I have never met anyone in Simon’s position who left school thinking ‘I’m going to be injecting in my neck in ten years time’.

SJIH: Was it hard to be inside Simon’s head the whole time?

PS: I think it was actually quite therapeutic to write. It was nice to be able to look at things from the other side and add in the dry humour. I know it’s a tough subject to wonder what there is to laugh about but there is humour to be found in all situations, it’s just a case of how your portray it.

SJIH: So what’s next? What are working on now?

PS: I’m slowly working away on the follow up, Die Happy, Die Smiling. It’s something that is almost four years in the making. I’m committed to finishing it and releasing it next year though and am looking forward to really editing it into a good book.

SJIH: Who (or what) inspired you to start writing?

PS: It was being at school and seeing a book my father wrote in the school library. I thought it was so cool that he had his name on a book. For me there’s still something almost magical about books. Kept well they’ll last a lot longer than us and in a way they are a way of making us, if not immortal, then certainly a lot more memorable than the three score and ten we get if we’re lucky.

SJIH: What’s the most exciting thing about being an author? Are there any downsides? Do you have any advice for anyone just starting out?

PS: I think the most exciting things about being an author are sometimes overlooked (by me) by the amount of rejected or feelings of not being able to pull off the next book, but all in all there are exciting things, one of best that spring to my mind is hearing that my first short story was going to be published. More recently, hearing that an editor at one of the big five liked what she’d read and wanted to meet with me to discuss working together. Finally, and I’m not sure if I’d but this under the ‘exciting’ banner but meeting a lot of crime writers either at festivals or book launches is pretty.

SJIH: What have you enjoyed reading recently? Do you have any favourite authors we might not know about? You listen to a lot of audiobooks, don’t you?

PS: My book of the year is Steve Cavanagh’s The Defence. I met him last year and saw he had an audiobook out so I got it and listened, he has a fantastic way of story telling and the style is just right for me to listen to as I drive to work in the mornings. I do like Audio, mainly because my reading speed isn’t as quick as I’ like it to be, but also because I can listen to the books when I normally wouldn’t be able to read, I.e. driving. I’ve also enjoyed Luca Veste’s books which where recently released on audio and I have yours all lined up ready to go, too.

SJIH: Thanks – hope you like mine! And finally, the question that I ask everyone… What does no one ever ask you that you wish that they would ask you? 

PS: Q: How would you like your payment, gold or platinum? A: Both please.

SJIH: Er… the cheque’s in the post? Thanks, Pete. It’s been a pleasure talking to you. Best of luck with ‘So Low So High’  – I predict exciting times ahead…

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You can find out more about Pete and his books on his Amazon Page, on his Website and on Twitter and Facebook.

 

My first author events

I’ve been pretty busy since my last post, despite being on ‘holiday’ from work (i.e. waiting for a new project). As well as working on book 2 (of which I have made some progress, and shifted to a more sensible deadline of the end of June), I’ve had my first two author events. Exciting!

The first one was online – where I took part in THE Book Club‘s first ever Book of the Month event. Black Wood was chosen by the readers, who first selected the genre (psychological), then the book – I was up against Mel Sherratt and Megan Abbott, and in the end it was a very close thing!

Where I won by a mere 6 votes!

A Q&A was held on 30th April (after a month, where the members of the club had to download and read my book) and then the fun began. I say fun, it was 5h of hard work, as hundreds of readers left comments, feedback and questions and I had to keep up with it all, discussing the book not only with those who enjoyed it, but those who didn’t. I did three competitions – one to win a signed book, one for a tote bag and the third for a character name in my next novel. Overall, it was great fun but not for the faint hearted – but what it taught me (apart from the fact that most of these readers were used to reading far gorier books than mine) is that people who might not like my book might still like me, so I think I managed to convert some detractors who are now looking forward to the next book. From the feedback received, i think the readers really enjoyed it too.

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Then came my first real life event – a panel at Newcastle Noir over the bank holiday weekend.

This was held at the historic Lit and Phil building in Newcastle, which has the most beautiful library I’ve ever seen. This is me outside 🙂 I didn’t take any photos inside, but there are some on their website here.

Me on the programme!

I arrived on Saturday afternoon, and after meeting up with some of the other authors, attended an event that is always worth seeing – Mark Billingham and Martyn Waites in Conversation. I’ve seen these two before, and I love the way they use their skills as actors and comedians to talk about their lives and their books in the most hilarious of ways. That evening, it was a night out with the other authors (again!). Yes, it was a late one.

Music, beer and conversation in a classic venue

The next day, we had a quiet morning, before having Sunday lunch and on to the next event – Steve Cavanagh, Clare Donoghue and Peter Murphy. This was a fantastic panel about the legal profession and how these authors have used it in their books. Steve, in particular, was hilarious – especially as he told us he only became a lawyer as he joined the wrong queue at university!

It was great to see my books on display at the shop run by Helen from Forum Books…

Then it was off to prepare for the last panel of the weekend… The Girls! Me, Eva Dolan, Susan Wilkins and Kati Hiekkapelto, chaired by Sarah Ward.

I wasn’t really nervous at all, until I sat down and looked at the audience while Jacky, the organiser, sorted out the microphones etc. Once I started though, it was easy to be led along by the excellent questions from Sarah and the responses from the other panelists. We all got on well and seemed to cover a variety of issues, keeping things entertaining by quips from Eva Dolan – who was asked at the end if she’d ever considered switching from crime to comedy! The weekend was topped off with a trip to another bar, and a late night sausage roll from Greggs… only in Newcastle!

I loved the whole event and it was great meeting up with authors, reviews and readers – only sorry I missed the other panels, I will definitely go back next year. My first two events were a great success – and I can’t wait for the next one – Crimefest in Bristol, next weekend!

Three Book Launches

One of the big things that many authors (especially debut authors) get excited about is book launches. It’s certainly something that I daydream about while waiting to hear the fate of my book with publishers. Often self-published and small-press authors have to arrange and pay for the launch themselves. Some publishers may not see a huge benefit in doing anything at all – after all, it might not translate into sales… but I think the birth of your book-baby is something to be celebrated, no matter on what scale.

I’ve been to three launches recently (two of them this week!), and they were all very good and very different.

Sarah Pinborough launched THE LANGUAGE OF DYING at Foyles, Charing Cross Road in December. There was a lot of book browsing, an author Q&A with Will Carver, wine & cookies, and afterwards everyone went to the pub across the road. It was perfect, simple, and I met loads of interesting people, including Uber-Reviewer, Liz Wilkins.

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On Tuesday, Mel Sherratt launched WATCHING OVER YOU upstairs at The Fellow, Kings Cross. As this was a private room in a pub, this basically involved lots of drinking and mingling with authors, readers, and Mel’s friends and family. Mel’s agent, Maddie Milburn, gave an impassioned speech, followed by the lady herself thanking everyone who had helped her along the way. It was a lovely night (with a few amusing drunken antics and loads of photos, of which I took none) and felt like the perfect celebration for Mel reaching the pinnacle of her long journey to becoming a successful author. Note that I said pinnacle of her journey, her already successful career is now surely set to rocket 🙂

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Finally, my agency-mate Luca Veste launched DEAD GONE at Belgravia Books, nr Victoria on Thursday. This was a shop I had never been to before, and I instantly fell in love with the table of books, covered with so many unusual titles that I could easily have spent a fortune. Luca’s editor, Sammia (Avon), gave a lovely speech, followed by a humble and hilarious one from the man himself. Again, this event was centered around wine, nibbles and nattering… and afterwards, a trip to a nearby curry house (I didn’t go… wish I had…)

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I hear that Luca and Mel are carrying on the celebrations in their home towns of Liverpool and Stoke next week… I’m looking forward to seeing photos and hearing all about those!

Thanks to Sarah, Luca and Mel for inviting me to their launches: three perfect venues, three great authors, three must-read books.

Now it’s back to daydreaming about my own… 🙂

Dead Gone by Luca Veste #review #interview

This week sees the publication of Luca Veste‘s debut crime thriller – DEAD GONE. Luca has been a well known ‘face’ in the crime writing community for the last few years and I confirm that he is a top bloke who has worked bloody hard to get here – championing fellow writers in his OFF THE RECORD charity anthologies, blogging and encouraging others… and now it’s his time to shine 🙂

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A snippet of my review: “The story opens with ‘Experiment 2’ and an un-named girl locked in the dark… Which begs the obvious question, what was Experiment 1? … Set in Liverpool, we are thrown into the world of a twisted serial killer who is performing sick psychological experiments, leaving the police with gloating letters and a spattering of cryptic clues…”

You can read the full review of DEAD GONE over at Shots Mag: here

…and I probed him with some interview questions too [here’s a taster]

SJI: I read recently that you started Dead Gone after hearing a lecture about Dr Harry Harlow’s experiments – can you tell us a bit more about your influences?

LV: Well, that lecture was a major influence on the idea for the serial killer in Dead Gone. It was supposed to be a jokey aside type of thing, with the lecturer giving us examples of past psychology experiments that would never pass an ethics board now. Almost all of them involved animals, and I instantly thought “what would happen if you did that to humans instead…?” which I admit is a pretty weird thing to occur to someone! The Harlow experiments are some of the worst imaginable acts to commit on humans in the name of research – especially those concerning isolation – but they are fascinating studies.

You can read the full interview here…

and you can buy DEAD GONE on eBook now (paperback will be released in January 2014).

Best of luck, Luca!

When an Agent Calls

Canopied Penny Farthing from The Prisoner
Image courtesy of David Stimpson

I don’t tend to post much about the novel I’m writing as I’m always scared that telling the world will jinx it and it won’t happen.

But it’s too late for that now… because I’m delighted to say that I have been signed up by a literary agent:

Phil Patterson of Marjacq.

As I can no longer hide, I thought I’d share a bit about how recent events have brought me to this point.

After several failed novel attempts – failed as in, not completed – over the last six years, I finally worked out what I wanted to write and how I was going to write it. The novel is called BLACK WOOD, and it falls under the genre of  ‘psychological suspense’, but that’s all I’m saying about it for now.

What finally got me to where I am today, was learning from my failures. My start-stop technique of writing did not help, but then everyone has ‘real life’ to deal with, so I couldn’t blame that forever… My main failing was having a big idea, then running out of steam. No, actually, that’s not true. My main failing was thinking that I couldn’t write.

I’ve had some success with short stories and flash, but the novel is a different beast entirely, and not everyone can do it. I admire anyone and everyone who has ever written a novel, even more if they’ve written more than one; and that’s irrespective of whether I’ve read or enjoyed their book(s). Writing a novel is a huge achievement for anyone.

My technique varied a little, but always ended the same way. I used to start with a brief outline, a snippet of an idea, some notes on the way. A few character ideas. The basic plot was always clear. How I was going to fill in the thousands of words to get there, less so.

Then in January 2013, a couple of things happened.

(1) I had a very strong idea. The most obvious one (as it was sparked by true events) but one I hadn’t considered before. So, I wrote a detailed outline, synopsis, and started writing full steam ahead

(2) I hooked up a critique partner – RJ Barker – and we started to chapter swap

This went ok for a while. Really well, actually. RJ was very encouraging, and I enjoyed reading and commenting on his work.  But sometimes the ideas that were tossed around led me to think too much, and while RJ finished his first draft, I floundered and eventually stopped again. Note: RJ has since signed with Rob Dinsdale of Dinsdale Imber and is working hard on his masterpiece as we speak…

I thought about giving it all up. Decided I could never write a full length novel. I enjoy writing short stories. Maybe I should stick with that? But then by putting the novel aside for a bit, it cleared my mind. I had a few plot epiphanies. The suggestions from RJ had shaped it into something else in my mind. Something better. Thank you, RJ (this will be one of the first thank yous of many… he just came up with a great blurb for me, too.)

But I digress… how did I end up with an agent, you may ask….

(1) I entered the CWA Debut Dagger and as an indirect result of that, got some feedback on early chapters (thank you Keith B Walters, Luca Veste and Keshini Naidoo) which boosted my confidence that the story wasn’t shit and that I wasn’t the worst writer in the world

(2) An author friend of mine, (again, that Luca Veste – who has his first novel DEAD GONE coming out in Jan 2014 and it looks bloody brilliant), someone who prophesied ‘You’ll have an agent by Harrogate’, spoke to his agent about me… his agent was Phil… and I was invited to ‘submit the full manuscript when complete’ – I was very excited about this, but doubted I was going to be ready for my (and Luca’s) deadline of Harrogate which is in two weeks time (but I was in no rush… I was biding my time, plugging away… dreaming…)

(3) I entered my prologue in the MR Hall crime writing comp; and got a runner up place, which I was thrilled about

(4) I attended Winchester Writers’ Conference on Friday 21^st June, and realised (after doing a little course) that I didn’t really need any more ‘how to write’ advice (as my primary failing was losing faith in myself), but enjoyed the networking aspect, which included three one-to-one sessions with an editor, an agent and an author (Eileen Robertson, who wrote me a lovely note) – all three were extremely positive (in fact, all three said ‘this book will be published’) and this boosted my confidence further (note that at this point, I’d been writing like a demon and written over 10k in a week, which is a lot when you work full-time!)

(5) On Monday 24th June – I was contacted by Phil, who, after seeing my tweet about the MR Hall comp, asked if I was ready to send him something… The novel is not finished, but I had a well edited 10k and I had just tweaked the first chapter after the advice from the one-to-ones, so I decided to bite the bullet and send him what I had ready. I hoped he would like what he saw, and hoped he’d repeat his request to send me the full thing when it was finished.

I wasn’t really prepared for what happened next.

A bit of background – I’ve met Phil before, at Harrogate (Theakstons Crime). He seemed like a top bloke. He has an excellent reputation and an interesting and varied mix of clients. I always planned to submit to him (partly because of his agency being co-founded by George Markstein of The Prisoner fame… ), mainly because of the attention he clearly gives to his clients. I wanted an agent who could identify with me, see me as ‘me’, be flexible, supportive, excited about my work and, most of all, be honest (I am not a number… etc).

Anyway, he called me less than 24h later. I was in the toilets at work. ‘Is this a good time,’ he said. I didn’t realise until I got into the car after work that my zip had been undone all day…

(6) On Friday we met at the Marjacq offices in London. We talked books – other peoples, and my own. We discussed my plans. We talked about ghosts… and we sealed the deal.

So I have an agent.

Surreal. Exciting. Unbelievable.

This is only STEP ONE in the ‘Getting Published’ saga. But it has happened a lot quicker than I expected. Don’t worry though, I am under no illusions. Having an agent does not guarantee success. But it’s definitely a nudge in the right direction… And it certainly gave me a bit of credibility when talking to dozens of authors at last night’s Crime in The Court party!

I have a lot of work to do now to get my manuscript ready for Phil’s red pen, but I am completely and utterly ready for the challenge.

I’ll keep you posted on the journey 🙂

Pretty Woman: Snippet and Interview #OTR2

Remember this film?

Remember Off the Record 2 – the short story anthology based on film titles?

Remember that the proceeds go to children’s literacy charities?

Well, now you can read reviews of the book at:

Crime Fiction Lover
Z7HQ
CrimeSquad

…and you can read an excerpt of my story below  – enjoy!

*

…Finally she turns round and sees me. For a second, she just stares then she catches herself and decides to speak.

‘Got a lighter?’

‘Sorry, I don’t smoke. There might be some ma─’

She flared her nostrils; reminded me of a bull getting ready to charge.

‘Fuck’s sake,’ she said. ‘It’s all right for you.’

I was genuinely confused. All right that I didn’t smoke? I suppose, but…

‘You don’t have to put up with it like I do.’ She sounded agitated; she was pacing about, one hand on hip, the other waving her unlit cigarette.

‘What?’ I said, carefully as I could. I wasn’t really up for listening to her rant but I didn’t seem to be getting a choice.

‘Everyone fucking coming on to you all the time. Pawing at you. Smacking your arse…’

Now I was intrigued. ‘Who’s smacked your arse? Someone here?’ I instantly suspected Paul, the trainee butcher. I’d heard other girls complaining about him before. He wasn’t particularly nice to me either, but that’s another story…

*

If you want to know more about what inspired the story, you can read an interview with me here

(and with many of the other authors here)

And if you want, you can read the rest of my story (and all the others too) by clicking on one of the links below:

• Amazon UK
• Amazon US
• Smashwords
• Lulu (a really nice paperback – a perfect Christmas present…)

Off The Record 2 – At The Movies #OTR2

I haven’t posted anything here for a while, but that’s not because I’m a slacker… it’s actually because I’ve been doing a lot of writing – which was my main aim after Harrogate (it was also to get the first draft of my novel finished, but that’s another post, coming soon…)

So I’d like to tell you about one of the things I’ve been up to.

You might have heard of a pretty cool short story anthology called Off The Record, where all the stories were based on song titles and all the proceeds went to charity… if not, you can download it for kindle here.

After the success of the original, editor Luca Veste has gone and created another one (this time with the help of Paul D. Brazill). It features stories from the likes of Helen Fitzgerald, Clare McGowan and Steve Mosby to name just three (the full list is here)

Again, the proceeds will be donated to literary charities (National Literacy Trust – UK and Children’s Literacy Initiative – US), but this time, instead of songs, the stories are all based around a diverse range of movie titles such as ‘Dead Man Walking’, ‘The Graduate’ and ‘Gregory’s Girl’… and also, ‘Pretty Woman’ – which was written by me. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to be invited by Luca to submit a story… and I’m delighted to be included in this collection with so many fantastic writers. I don’t really want to tell you much about ‘Pretty Woman’ as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who decides to read it, but all I will say is that it’s of the crime genre, and it ain’t pretty!

It’s out on 26th September on Amazon – and I really hope you’ll take a look. A short story collection with a great cover, filled with great authors and great stories and all for a great cause – what more could you want?!

(note to self: buy new thesaurus)

*

Some of the other contributors have also blogged about the collection – please go and take a look (I’ll update when I have more)

• James Etherington blogs about OTR2 here
• RJ Barker blogs about OTR2 here
• Erik Arneson blogs about OTR2 here
• Mel Sherratt blogs about OTR2 here