Tag: Authors

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Sam Smith Mystery Series

To #1

Over the weekend of July 16-17-18, Sam’s Song reached the #1 position on the amazon.com private detective chart and #62 on the main amazon.com chart. With this series of articles I intend to offer background on how my book reached those heights; hopefully, this information will be of interest to followers of the series and fellow authors alike.

To start at the beginning, the writing of Sam’s Song. I have always been an avid reader and my favourite genre is the private detective novel. In particular, I admire the series created by Robert B Parker and Marcia Muller. I wrote my first play at school, aged nine, so writing has always been a part of my life. After a number of minor writing adventures, including articles and short stories, I wrote four private detective novels featuring two private detectives. I regarded those novels as my apprenticeship and they were not offered for publication. After those novels, life moved on and with my long-term partner I started a family. I continued to write during that time, mainly for my own amusement.

Then, in 2014, I decided to write another private detective novel. But who should I have as my narrator? My first draft featured a woman who was a bit flaky to say the least and the novel developed into a comedy. However, I soon discovered that my comedy was centred on one joke, and that, over the length of a novel, that joke would wear thin. So I placed my notes in a file and started again.

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Sam at #1

I knew that I had the basis for a novel, but no central character. I knew that my narrator would be female, in her early thirties, that the story would contain some humour, and that the book would have a strong psychological thread. But still no central character presented herself. Then, one day – I can picture the scene now – I was sitting sideways at my desk, scribbling notes when I looked up and paused for thought. At that moment Samantha whispered into my ear, “Why don’t you write about me?”

I don’t believe in ghosts, the supernatural or anything mystical, yet when Samantha walked into my life it was a magical experience. I believe that writing is basically a craft you fashion through hard work and dedication, yet this character was talking to me. And she told me her life story. Everything about Samantha and the main characters in Sam’s Song was done in one take. I didn’t require a list of names, locations or personality types, Sam, Alan, Sweets, etc came to me fully formed. I couldn’t believe my luck. Could writing really be that easy? Yes, and no.

The next step was to find a subject to write about. This time I did make a list, and because I love music, I settled on that. Again, the characters of Woody, Derwena and Milton came to me quickly and I wrote the first draft in no time. While reading through that draft, I elaborated each chapter until I had the story mapped out. At that stage, the chapters with Dan, Sam’s abusive ex-husband, were the most detailed, but soon the other chapters developed as well.

With the storyboard as my guide, I sat down to write Sam’s Song. What you see in the book is basically the first draft, with editing modifications and proofreading corrections. When the first draft was complete there were no major rewrites.

If I wrote Sam’s Song today, it would be totally different, probably more serious, reverential, and less fun. But from day one, I allowed Sam to tell her story in her style. I type out her words and edit them, but they are Sam’s words, Sam’s stories. Sam’s Song would be different if we wrote it today because Sam is a slightly different person, a bit older, a bit wiser and, on a good day, more secure.

So, I had a 250 page novel, which I was proud of. More importantly people close to me, people who don’t offer praise lightly, liked the book. What to do next? Seek out a publisher? Publish it myself? More about that next time.

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Hannah's Diary

An Invitation

An Invitation to Join Author Central on Facebook

A few years ago, Mark Coker the founder of Smashwords wrote, ‘Back in the old days of publishing (four or five years ago), many writers viewed self-publishing as the option of last resort. Self-pubbed authors were the black sheep of the writing community. They were considered failed authors because they couldn’t find an agent or sell their book to a big publisher. They were ridiculed as “vanity” authors. Sadly, much of the most vitriolic criticism came from fellow writers. We don’t hear much of that anymore. Self-publishing is finally earning the respect it deserves. High profile indie author successes – utilizing the best practices contained herein – are climbing the bestseller charts. Their commercial success is changing perceptions about self-publishing one reader at a time.’

That comment contains several interesting lines and I’m sure you can relate to them. Independent authors are often regarded as second class, by the industry and, sadly, by some authors. However perceptions are changing. A small example of this…yesterday a leading university invited me, a humble independent author and publisher, to attend a conference on the future of publishing. This is a free event, so they are not after my money, just the sharing of opinions. Independent authors and publishers are the future. Farsighted people are aware of this. Often, in the struggle to make our voices heard and get our books read, we lose sight of our value and feel isolated in the struggle. This group has been created to help banish that isolation, to support authors and their books in every way possible, to laugh at the absurdity of some aspects of publishing, and to help writers expand their network and reach new readers.

If you are on Facebook and would like to join us, please follow this link: Author Central

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A Writer's Diary Sam Smith Mystery Series

A Writer’s Diary #2

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The editing of Family Honour is underway. I love every aspect of writing apart from the self-promotional aspects and the editing. I have experimented with various methods of editing and almost all lead to aggravation. I think this is because I write in a stream of consciousness style, basically my narrator, Sam, does the writing. Then I come along and try to impose my ideas in the editing and my narrator objects. That might sound strange, but it is true. I write very fast and edit very slow. I would guess that 95% of my manuscripts, if not more, remain as written. Yet that extra 5% of polishing the words can be so vexatious. Maybe writing offers freedom of expression while editing brings the realisation that your words have to make sense. I believe Raymond Chandler said, ‘I write better when I write fast’. And I agree with him. I have also discovered that I edit better when I edit fast and, for me, this is the best method. Fast or slow, the manuscript usually turns out the same.

I am also storyboarding Sins of the Father. Storyboarding is fun because you are getting to know your characters and because you are allowed to make mistakes. I love it when the characters take control of the story and develop it for themselves. When the characters are in control of a chapter I know that it is working well. And when the characters are in control there is no such thing as writers’ block. On the rare occasions I feel stuck, I question the character and the character always comes back with an answer.

Meanwhile, the recording of The Big Chill, the third Sam Smith audio book will start shortly. More news of that next time.

Happy Writing,

Hannah xxx

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A Writer's Diary Sam Smith Mystery Series

A Writer’s Diary #1

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The writing of Family Honour, book seven in the Sam Smith Mystery Series, is complete. Over the next two weeks I hope to edit the manuscript and prepare it for the proofreader. Then the book should be on sale in May as an eBook and in June in print. An audio book should follow somewhere down the line.

Meanwhile, I have been storyboarding Sins of the Father, book eight. I storyboard all the stories in detail and find that helps greatly with the writing. I am halfway through the storyboard with firm ideas for the second half. I create character profiles before the storyboarding and the ideas flow from them.

As with all writers, getting readers to believe in you is the hardest part. It seems that readers are only attracted to hyped books these days. Personally, I dislike that aspect of the business and try to avoid it, in my reading and writing. I am fortunate in that I have a core following who have loyally read my books from book one. These readers mean a lot to me and if any of you are reading this then please accept my sincere thanks for your support.

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Hannah's Diary

A New Service For Readers

With millions of books on Amazon alone to choose from, where do you start? You could accept the titles that Amazon promotes – books published by ‘major publishers’, or through Amazon themselves. Or you could wade through the thousands of new books released each week. In terms of finding a good read, all of the above might not be that appealing. However, now there is a third way. Read on.

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A group of authors known collectively as The Writers’ Cooperative have created A Reader Recommends as a Facebook page and website. The page came about from a general discussion between authors. With millions of books to choose from, where should readers go to make their selection? They thought it would be a nice idea to assist readers in the selection process by highlighting their favourite books and by showcasing books from talented up-and-coming authors.

The authors in  The Writers’ Cooperative nominate their favourite books and these books are allocated a place in the schedule. They also accept nominations from authors not associated with the Cooperative and they have a weekly slot for these books. Their aim is to present the reader with a wide variety of quality books, all genres, styles and subjects are considered. The one thing they have in common is the q-word, quality.

There are no restrictions for inclusion on A Reader Recommends, although spammers are frowned upon and their posts will be removed. Everyone else is welcome. The aim is to connect readers with authors, introduce readers to new and classic books, and enrich the reading experience for all who love books.

A Reader Recommends is an exciting new venture for writers and readers. Books posted on the Facebook page can reach over 1,000 readers. Some services charge hundreds of dollars for that sort of coverage, but A Reader Recommends is free. Click this link, like the Facebook page and discover a new author and a great book today.