Guest post: Point of view by Rosemary McCracken

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of point of view is brought to you by journalist, short story author and mystery novelist Rosemary McCracken.

Before you keyboard your opening sentence, you will need to decide on what point of view your novel will take. I didn’t do this when I began Safe Harbor. I plunged into the story, writing it down from the POV of a third-person narrator. For some vague reason, I felt that the use of a first person narrator was way too prevalent in mystery novels, especially those by North American writers. The late Robert B. Parker used it in his Spenser series. Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky use it. I must say that I like the works of Parker, Evanovich, Grafton and Paretsky, but I was determined to be different.

I completed the first drafts of Safe Harbor in third person, and early in 2009 I entered the manuscript in Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger competition, a contest open to English-language writers around the world who haven’t had a novel published. The CWA never got back to me, which meant, in a competition that attracts hundreds of entries, that I hadn’t made its shortlist.

I went back to Safe Harbor and applied more polish. Later that year, veteran Canadian crime writer Gail Bowen was writer-in-residence at the Toronto Reference Library and she read the first part of the manuscript. “This book needs to be written in the first person,” she said when we met for our discussion. “We need to know what Pat Tierney is thinking and feeling every step along the way.”

I felt like the carpet had been pulled out from under my feet. Safe Harbor is a murder mystery, but it’s also the story of Pat’s personal journey of coming to terms with her husband’s infidelity and getting on with her life. The story’s major events – Jude’s murder and the danger Tommy is in – affect Pat deeply because of her personal involvement in them. Jude was Michael’s mistress. Tommy is Michael’s son and a living reminder of his affair. I needed to get deeper into Pat’s head. And the best way to do that was to let her tell the story.

I rewrote the book in the first person. I knew Pat intimately, so I felt completely comfortable jumping into her shoes. And right from the start, I knew I’d made right choice. I felt an energy emanating from the story that hadn’t been there before. I showed several chapters to members of my writers’ group, and they agreed.

Safe Harbor had been written in the limited third person, a form of narration that lets the reader see events from the POV of a single character or of a few characters at the most. The focal characters in the original drafts were Pat and, to a lesser extent, Farah Alwan, her young housekeeper. Now with Pat as the book’s narrator, Farah’s role is much diminished. It’s limited to what Pat can tell us about her.

Early the next year, I entered the rewrite in the 2010 Debut Dagger competition. Same title (at that time it was Safe Harbour, with the Canadian and British spelling of Harbour; it was changed to the American spelling when the novel was released by Imajin Books), same story line as my previous submission, but this time told in the first person. That year Safe Harbor emerged as one of 11 novels – out of about 1,100 submissions from around the world – that were shortlisted for the award. I was astonished…and overjoyed. Being on that shortlist has been one of the highlights of my life.

I believe the intimacy created by the first-person narrator made all the difference in attracting the judges’ attention. I’ve learned that every standalone novel and every series demands a certain point of view, depending how far the writer needs to get inside certain characters’ heads. If you’re uncertain which to use at the outset, I suggest you write versions of your opening chapters from different points of view and settle on the one that is most comfortable for you as a writer and the most effective for your story.

Thank you, Rosemary, and congratulations!

Born and raised in Montreal, Rosemary McCracken has worked on newspapers across Canada as a reporter, arts writer and reviewer, and editor. She is now a Toronto-based freelance journalist, specializing in personal finance and the financial services industry.

Rosemary’s short fiction has been published by Room of One’s Own Press and Kaleidoscope Books. Her first mystery novel, Safe Harbor, was shortlisted for Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger Award in 2010. It was released by Imajin Books this spring, and is available as an ebook and a paperback on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Visit Rosemary on her website and her blog.

Synopsis, Safe Harbor

Safe Harbor opens when a frightened woman barges into financial planner Pat Tierney’s office with a shocking request: “Look after my boy; he’s your late husband’s son.” The next day the woman is murdered and police say the seven-year-old may be the killer’s next target. In a desperate race to protect Tommy, Pat’s searches for the truth and uncovers a deadly scheme involving illegal immigrants, trafficking in human body parts and money laundering.

***

If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with non-fiction author Marlene Caroselli – the four hundred and seventy-sixth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me. I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Interview no.402 with Hersilia Press publisher Ilaria Meliconi

Welcome to the four hundred and second of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with Hersilia Press publisher Ilaria Meliconi. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Ilaria. Can you please briefly explain the structure of your publishing house… perhaps who’s involved along the process of an acceptance to the book / story being published.

Ilaria: I publish Italian crime fiction including translations of books by Italian authors and English books set in Italy. I’m the publisher and owner, so I am the person who looks for new books to publish and makes the final decision on whether to make an offer for the rights acquisition. For translations, when I find a suitable book I send a copy to readers, who are fluent Italian speakers living in the UK, and they give me their opinion on it. On the basis of their reports and my own judgement I then make a decision on whether to make an offer for the translation rights. For English manuscripts I usually work with agents (meaning the manuscript has already had a first round of editing) but may suggest some further structural editing. All manuscripts are copyedited before being published.

Morgen: Now I wish I spoke Italian, it’s sounds a great process to be involved in (hard work of course but…). The $64,000 question: out of all the submissions you receive, what makes a book / story stand out for all the right reasons?

Ilaria: Good writing is essential, and I really don’t like big words used for their own sake and affectation. It is rarely appropriate to the crime genre and if an author can’t use different styles in different genres then that’s something they have to work on.

I like an unusual story that makes me believe I know what happened and it turns out it was something else, and a story where the explanation of some event or behaviour is not obvious. A good crime story doesn’t need a troubled, alcoholic and divorced detective to work, but it can work even without a professional detective. What makes people snap and kill others in a particular situation is fascinating to investigate.

Morgen: And then be an ultimate page-turner. Without naming names, what makes a book proposal / story stand out for all the wrong reasons?

Ilaria: Stories that follow a fad, Templar knights mysteries and unoriginal titles that copy other, more famous ones.

Morgen: And possibly better written. How can an author submit to you?

Ilaria: Just email a book synopsis and the first chapter to submissions@hersilia-press.co.uk, with a short paragraph about yourself.

Morgen: Can you suggest some do’s and don’t’s when submitting to you.

Ilaria: Do write the submission as if you were applying for a job, not writing to your sister. Use paragraphs and don’t use text speak in the submission, even if it’s an email. Do read the information on my website before sending a submission. Don’t email me submissions for genres I don’t publish. Don’t ask for advice on how to get published, or a free publishing consultation – you wouldn’t ask your electrician to work for free!

Morgen: Common sense, you would hope. To your knowledge, have any of your published books / stories won or been shortlisted in any competitions?

Ilaria: I try to select good quality books so many of them have won or been shortlisted in competitions.

The first two books in the Commissario Cataldo series by Luigi Guicciardi have been shortlisted for the Premio Scerbanenco, Blood Sisters by Alessandro Perissinotto has won the Premio Grinzane Cavour in 2005 and the Premio Camaiore in 2006.

Maurizio de Giovanni, author of I Will Have Vengeance, has won the Premio Camaiore in 2011 and has been shortlisted for the prestigious Premio Scerbanenco in 2010; it has also been shortlisted for the CWA Ellis Peters Award for historical crime fiction and the CWA International Dagger for translated novels.

Morgen: That’s fantastic. I don’t know the aforementioned Italian awards (sorry about that) but the CWA (Crime Writers Association) is highly respected here.

What do you feel about an author writing under a pseudonym? Do you think they make a difference to their profile? And would you recommend an author writing under different names for different genres?

Ilaria: I do. When an author writes in more than one genre, it helps readers identify what type of book they are looking at, even if the external layout should be clear enough. It might also help an author get “into character” when writing.

Morgen: I’d not thought of it like that, the ‘getting into character’. Quite a few household names write under pseudonyms for their different styles, Ruth Rendell = Barbara Vine, Joanna Trollope = Caroline Harvey to name a couple. Another semi-priceless question: do you think an agent is vital to an author’s success? How would you suggest an author gets one?

Ilaria: It’s vital that a manuscript is professionally edited – and having an agent reassures a publisher this has been done. If you can have your manuscript professionally edited (not just read by a friend or relative who likes books) and don’t have an agent, some of the work has been done but it is still more difficult to place it with a publisher. Lot of publishers don’t accept manuscripts from unagented authors.

Morgen: I’ve learned from this blog how many authors there are out there and most are trying, or have tried to get an agent or publisher but we all know it’s the profession for testing your determination. Now for, in theory, a simple question: what’s your opinion of eBooks, do you publish them and do you read them?

Ilaria: I publish them and read them, and love them! I believe eBooks and paper books can easily coexist.

Morgen: Oh, so do I. Most of the authors I’ve spoken to read both and can’t imagine being without them. Like me, they read paper at home but love the fact that they can have hundreds of titles with them if they go away.

Ilaria: eBooks focus solely on the content, p-books are visual and tactile objects so the physical experience is also important (e.g paper weight and colour, cover). Almost all my submissions are read on an eBook reader. The most important next step for the technology is to become standardised and more reliable: at present, even the same file isn’t rendered in the same way in all eBook devices. This is something that technology companies have to work on. And in my opinion DRM will have to be linked to a digital signature, allowing people to read the book they have legally bought onto as many platforms as they like and own (e.g. eBook reader, mobile phone, computer screen).

Morgen: It’s certainly a learning curve. I held a 2-hour talk at one of my writing groups on Thursday evening about creating eBooks (with a 9-page handout) and even those with little computer knowledge were less daunted by it (although most said they’d like to bribe me with cups of tea and biscuits to go to their houses when they come to put their eBooks together). Poetry and short stories are, in my opinion anyway, the two most hard done by genres… what do you see as the future for them? Do you think the eBook revolution will help given that eBooks seem to be getting shorter?

Ilaria: I think there has been a revival of the short story. A number of publishers are taking advantage of the e-format and are publishing free short stories on their website (Hersilia Press included). There has also been a huge growth in flash fiction which I like very much. Flash fiction is probably among of the hardest type of writing, it needs a lot of work and a lot of honing down to the very essential: it is the best way of showing not telling, where you can let your reader imagine most of the story.

Morgen: I’ve been writing a story a day since May 1st (for Story A Day May then 5pm fiction, as well as one a week for Tuesday Tales) and because of the timing (or lack thereof), they’ve turned out to be flash fiction so it’s what’s coming out at the moment, but I love them so… Apart from the stories in your publications, what do you like to read? Any authors (including those you’ve published) that you’d like to recommend?

Ilaria: I try to read something very different just to switch my brain off crime fiction, so I turn to popular science and academic essays – my training is in science so a part of me wishes to keep up with the recent research (but I don’t usually succeed).

Morgen: But presumably science comes in really handy with the technical side of crime writing. Are you involved in anything else writing-related?

Ilaria: Yes, I help running a writing group called Group 2012, with Blackwell’s bookshop in Oxford and The Oxford Editors. It started in January 2012 and it’s gone from strength to strength: we have a fantastic group of writers. We meet once a month, and usually have an author talking to us about their experience, while in the second half of the meeting we concentrate on writing, with exercises and manuscript feedback. Have a look at www.group2012.wordpress.com.

Morgen: I have, and sadly your group clashes with one I belong to (Towcester Writers Group), the third Wednesday of the month. I’m not long back from volunteering near you actually, at the first Chipping Norton Literature Festival. I was in the green room part of the time which was fantastic. I hope to be involved again next year (and others in between). What do you do when you’re not working?

Ilaria: I like to cook and eat, and do manual things to try to use the other parts of my brain: gardening and pottery (with rather poor results in both).

Morgen: Oh dear. We’ve had a lot of warm and wet weather here in the UK so the garden’s bound to get out of hand (that’s the excuse I’m using anyway). Well, thank you so much Ilaria, lovely to ‘meet’ you today.

Ilaria Meliconi studied astrophysics at the University of Bologna, then an MSc and a DPhil (or a PhD for non-Oxonians) in history of science at Oxford. She fell into publishing, working first on the journal of a learned society and then moving on to managing various journals and commissioning books. After a decade of experience she wanted to recommend her favourite crime fiction books to her English-speaking friends, and found they were not available yet, so decided to do it herself and founded Hersilia Press.

***

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have 
http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com
 on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

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As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).

The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• 
  http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
  
• 
  http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374
  

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• 
  http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
  
• 
  http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189
  

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• 
  http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
  
• 
  http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934
  

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• 
  http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
  
• 
  http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017
  

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• 
  http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
  
• 
  http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445
  

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

Author interview no.389 with crime fiction guru Chris Simmons

Welcome to the three hundred and eighty-ninth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more (and my 1,001th blog post ). Today’s is with Crime Squad website host, CWA judge and author Chris Simmons. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Chris. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you became involved in the writing industry.

Chris: Hi, Morgen. I am based in the UK and since a teenager when my Nana Simmons gave me a couple of Agatha Christie’s to read I have been a huge crime fiction fan. When I was a young there wasn’t the great choice teens have today. There wasn’t such a thing as ‘Teen Reads’! So I was very bored with the limited choice. Then Nan gave me the Christie’s and the rest as they say is history! I became involved in the industry because I was fed up with the lack of good reviews out there for crime fiction.

Morgen: It’s my favourite genre and I’m surprised when I don’t have a body in one of my stories, however loosely connected. Your website is
http://www.crimesquad.com
– how did that come about?

Chris: It was started in 2004 when I talked about it with different people. One conversation led to another and I began to put together a ‘Wish List’ of what I would like to find on my version of the ideal crime fiction website. Then in early 2005 I started putting it together and in March 2005 Crimesquad.com was launched upon the world.

Morgen: One of your features is Author of the Month – how do you choose who to feature, and of all the authors you’ve spoken to, does anyone stand out?

Chris: I have a fantastic team of reviewers who will come to me and tell me about a great book they’ve read and that they’d think it a great one for ‘Author’ or ‘Fresh Blood’. I also keep my ear to the ground and listen to what books people in the industry are getting excited about. I also like to mix it up a bit so that all publishers (big and small) get a bite of the cherry.

Morgen: You just mentioned Fresh Blood which features new authors – do you pick them or do they approach you (or perhaps via a third party)?

Chris: ‘Fresh Blood’ is a very heavily contested page – THE most heavily contested page of the site. With the number of visitors to Crimesquad.com and with our standing within the industry, they know that any new author who doesn’t necessarily have a huge marketing budget will be instantly seen on Crimesquad.com. And if it is also on ‘Fresh Blood’ then they feel that it automatically has a seal of approval from a crime review website like Crimesquad.com. (Those are not my words BTW – but from different people in the publishing industry).

Morgen: Reviews, as you say, is another aspect of your site – with all the books to choose from, what grabs you to review the ones you do?

Chris: My team of reviewers who include Helen, Sylvia, Sarah, Michael, Graham and Kirstie thankfully all like different sub-genres within crime fiction. So I am blessed that they know what they like and that I am going to bring something new and fresh to the table every month and that there will be such a mixed bag that there will be something for everyone who visits Crimesquad.com.

Morgen: They’re pretty generous, with everything currently reviewed receiving 4 or 5*s (I love your magnifying glass rating system), have there been any books to your knowledge that they really didn’t like?

Chris: I wouldn’t call it ‘generous’ – just what books get us reviewers excited. I do not decide on the ‘Spyglass’ ratings. That is down to the individual. We have scored some threes but never a two or a one (or even a zero!). The whole point of Crimesquad.com has always been to ‘promote’ crime fiction. I want to tell our visitors out there what is good and current and fresh. We don’t review with rose-tinted glasses. We will say if something in the book jarred or we weren’t quite convinced by the conclusion – but there will always be the positives. Whenever a new reviewer comes on board I tell that exactly what I have written here. I want to PROMOTE crime fiction – there are enough places you can go to who are more than happy to rip a piece of work to shreds, to tell you how crap a book is and fill their site with negativity. We read plenty of stuff that doesn’t float our boat or is so-so. In those instances we simply don’t review it. I want to get our readers buying those great, shiny new books. Only the other day I got an email from a guy who came to Crimesquad.com and bought three books we had reviewed. For me, that is what it is all about.

Morgen: You’re absolutely right because listing books that no-one should buy would be wasting your and their time and readers want recommendations, don’t they. Do you have any tips for anyone who’d like to become a reviewer?

Chris: Be honest – but not too honest that you become unkind. If you hate a book, put it aside and read the next one. The next one may blow your socks off where the previous one left you cold. And if you’re going to review either of them let it be the one that excited you and wouldn’t let you go. Spread the word! With all the debate about e-books vs. the printed word and literacy, we need to give people a good reason to get people in bookshops or downloading on to their e-reader. And that is with honest reviews.

Morgen: I enjoyed your Classic Crime section – apart from the language used and police procedures, are there differences are between crime writing of the early 20th Century and now?

Chris: There are masses of differences. In Christie’s day DNA hadn’t even be thought of. There wasn’t a CCTV camera on every corner of every street. You couldn’t find a killer with a simple piece of fluff. Then it really was a matter for the ‘little grey cells’ whether you were Poirot or not. In the Golden Era characters were sacrificed for the sake of the plot. As crime fiction developed in the 50’s / 60’s the lives of the people became as important as the plot. Practitioners of this were excellent writers like Celia Fremlin and Margaret Millar who wrote exceptional crime novels in the 50’s both of which won the Edgar for Best Crime Novel. Millar in 1955 for ‘Beast in View’ and Fremlin in 1959 for ‘The Hours Before Dawn’. Both excellent books. I have recently written a piece about The Heritage of Crime Fiction for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate which is on the 19th – 22nd July and is a must for any crime fiction fan.

Morgen: I’d love to go to that, hopefully next year. You also have an Events listing – do you manage to get to many of them?

Chris: Thankfully I don’t live too far out of London so I can get to a number of events. It is always good to meet the authors as well as catch up on news from the publishers.

Morgen: I’d go to everything if I could. Now I don’t have a day job it’ll certainly be easier, just the small matter of affording them all. Are you involved in any competitions?

Chris: Not at the moment but it is something I am currently exploring.

Morgen: I’m sure it would be popular. You write as well – is this in the crime genre too?

Chris: I have written a novel which ISN’T crime fiction and is being looked at by an agent. I am currently writing some crime short stories, though for an e-book.

Morgen: Oh good luck with your novel (and your shorts, of course), do let me know how you get on and I can add it as an update to this posting. eBooks are pretty easy to do but give me a shout if you get stuck, although I’m sure you have loads of people who would help you. Have you had anything else published to-date?

Chris: I haven’t had anything published. I am one of those terrible writers who thinks that anything they write isn’t good enough. However, in recent years I have decided that won’t get my work in print so I have a few projects that are currently in progress.

Morgen: I’m not great at submissions, I keep writing but rarely send anything out so I only have 28 rejections, less acceptances sadly but I’ll be working on that this year with my shorts to magazines, online etc… and I’d like to do more guest blogging and interviews on others’ blogs (in case anyone reading this would like to ask me ). Do you write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?

Chris: I try to write every day but work, Crimesquad.com take precedence so sometimes writing takes a back seat. No, if anything I am the opposite. I have to curb myself from writing too much. And my head is always full of ideas so I want to get on to the next book / short story whilst still writing the current one!

Morgen: I’m the same. I’ve been writing a short story every day since May 1st (Story a Day May then 5PM Fiction) so 33 stories so far (34 as at 5pm today ) and it’s great, hard work, but great. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Chris: I have tried many different ways from meticulous plotting to simply running with it. The one I feel comfortable with is having an outline / sketch and then seeing if I keep to the path or go off in a different direction. For me, too much plotting made me feel too constraint. I know it works for others and talking to many writers they all have a different approach to writing.

Morgen: Again I’m the same. I plotted more for my first novel (a lad lit about a hitman, which I plan to eBook this year) but then realised that the characters took over so have plotted less with each one – I’ve written four and a half and will be doing another this November for NaNoWriMo). What’s your least favourite aspect of your writing life?

Chris: It is when you get to a point in the book and you begin to doubt yourself. Many writers, even the big sellers have that ‘moment’. Their advice is to simply work through it and believe in yourself.

Morgen: Because it’s going to be a first draft, so no need to worry until it’s done and you have to go back through it by which time you’ve (hopefully) loved the story and found it all hangs together. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Chris: Keep writing! As long as you have that fire in your belly you can create great fiction.

Morgen: I do. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?

Chris: That’s a difficult one. I’d like Agatha Christie as it was her book, ‘Sad Cypress’ which got me on the crime fiction road. I know it has been well documented she was painfully shy but it would be nice to have her at my table. Oscar Wilde would be my second choice as he was so witty and acerbic and went through such trials during his life. A great talent cut short by a close-minded society. My third choice would be the novelist, Margaret Millar. She wrote some great crime fiction and really pushed the envelope by writing about taboo subjects like race and homosexuality in her novels during the 50’s. Plus she was a screenwriter in Hollywood and I am sure she will have some VERY interesting tales to tell about the Golden Era of the silver screen. And can I be cheeky and have a fourth guest? Eartha Kitt who was an amazing woman who went through so much adversity during her lifetime. She’d be by the piano purring away with that divine voice of hers.

Morgen: As it’s Eartha you could definitely have a fourth, she’s great… I’d get her to purr all the way through the meal. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?

Chris: I have a week where I use a word and try to put it in a sentence. This week’s word is ‘umbrage’. Don’t ask me why – it just popped in to my head!

Morgen: It’s a great word. Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than your website and writing?

Chris: I am currently a judge for the John Creasey / New Blood CWA Dagger for first published debut crime novel. It has been a great honour being a judge for this award as new writers are and always have been my passion. It is always wonderful to welcome someone new to the party! Also, I will be moderating at Crimefest this year, which is a great honour for me. Again, I will be interviewing five fresh, debut authors.

Morgen: How wonderful. I hope you’re there when I go. What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?

Chris: Reading! I am currently reading all the time. I still have a few books for the Dagger to read and then a couple of the panellists at Crimefest. Then I have a summer of reading more – but this time I get to choose what books I want to read! I also enjoy the theatre and cinema.

Morgen: I love the cinema and have a season ticket for one of the ones in Northampton so can go as often as I like for £15 a month, it’s great. What do you think the future holds for the writing industry?

Chris: I think it is a very exciting time for publishing at the moment. Lots of people fear the e-book but I believe that like everything else it will all calm down and there will be equilibrium between the printed word and e-books. There are those that are scaremongering that the days of the printed word are numbered. I believe that books and e-books can and will live happily alongside each other / hand-in-hand. But for any new writer, e-books are a great opportunity to get your book out there. What I do advise is to get any book edited and checked professionally. If you put your book out there without making sure its flies are done up and shoe laces tied properly, then you will have to live with people saying how shoddy your work is – and no writer wants that!

Morgen: I totally agree. I have an editor and two regular first readers (as well as my writing groups) and put my shorts / writing workbook on Smashwords first because of the daunting 70-something page style guide but it turned out just to be thorough and after that Amazon was a breeze – I’d also recommend doing it that way round as Smashwords provide free ISBN numbers which Amazon asks for. I’m doing a talk on the subject at one of my writing groups in a couple of weeks which will (hopefully) be fun. Your site is
http://www.crimesquad.com
– is there anywhere else where can we find out about you and your work?

Chris: I think one website is enough! I rather it focus on the books than be about me, really. When publishers and writers sing Crimesquad’s praises I get quite embarrassed. Maybe when I’ve printed my own book I will have my own website – for now Crimesquad.com suffices.

Morgen: I know what you mean. It’s lovely when people say good things about this site (which I’m very fortunate that they often do), it makes the late nights and early mornings worth it. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Chris: I’d like to mention my exceptional team of reviewers – Helen, Sylvia, Sarah, Michael, Graham and Kirstie. I have been blessed to find so many great people who have become great friends as well. Plus, they are as intense and as passionate about crime fiction as me – so I don’t feel quite so alone anymore!

Morgen: I’m lucky that I love being a solitary writer (although I have a dog and a new lodger so not alone) and I’ve made so many friends through my blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc. that I can’t imagine feeling lonely. Thank you, Chris. It’s been great ‘meeting’ you and hopefully our paths will cross in real life before too long.

Chris Simmons conceived and created Crimesquad.com seven years ago. It was his passion for crime fiction, in particular debut novels that started this path. With ‘Fresh Blood’, Crimesquad.com has highlighted many new and exciting writers who have gone on to receive awards for their first novels (Stef Penney, Ryan David Jahn, Louise Penny amongst others). Due to this passion Chris was approached by the CWA and is currently a judge on the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger for best crime fiction debut.

***

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have 
http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com
 on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See 

Amazon.co.uk: Morgen Bailey's Writing Blog: Kindle Store

or 

Amazon.com: Morgen Bailey's Writing Blog: Kindle Store: Morgen Bailey

 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).

The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• 
  http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
  
• 
  http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374
  

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• 
  http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
  
• 
  http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189
  

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• 
  http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
  
• 
  http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934
  

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• 
  http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
  
• 
  http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017
  

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• 
  http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
  
• 
  http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445
  

We look forward to reading your comments.