Thursday 23 May 2013

The Roving Eye Interviews David Mark


Today's Roving Eye interview is with crime writer, David Mark. David spent more than 15 years as a journalist, including seven years as a crime reporter with The Yorkshire Post. Dark Winter is his first DS Aector McAvoy novel, and has been followed by his newly released ORIGINAL SKIN which is out now in all good book shops.


When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?

I’ve always written for a living. I’ve been a journalist since I was 17. I’ve wanted to write novels since I was tiny. I’ve written loads of books but only got good enough to
be published a couple of years ago.

What made you chose crime fiction?

I’ve been obsessed with all kinds of story-telling for as long as I can remember but it was when I discovered the crime genre that I really discovered what a page-turner was all about. I’d just finished my umpteenth Famous Five story and was getting a bit sick of Julian and my nana suggested I try Agatha Christie. Death in the Clouds changed my life. There’s something about the structure of the crime novel that appeals. It’s got a very specific structure, which you can then improvise around. Essentially, you have aberration, then investigation, then redemption and restoration. From that basic spine you can do a lot. My own experiences as a journalist have rather dictated that as an author I gravitate towards crime, as that’s what I know a bit about, though I do think that crime fiction is a very broad church and that there are lots of sub-genres within it. I hope that if you took the crime element out of my work you would still have something that looked a little like literature. What I mean is, you can still write well and use a little poetry and insight when you’re writing about why somebody killed somebody else.
  
What crime novel would you most like to have written?

Ooh, you are clearly a bastard. Off the top of my head, I reckon The Ninth Life of Louis Drax by Liz Jensen as it is just a perfect piece of fiction. But there are so many books I admire, and it’s hard to separate the books you enjoy and consider your own underground discoveries, with those that have made a fortune and turned their creators into household names. I’d like to have written something that Cormac McCarthy wrote, because then I’d be as good as him. But I’m not, which sucks.

Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?

Probably Pat Barker. She just has a way of dragging me in to whatever world she is creating. Sebastian faulks has also left me truly breathless with the beauty of his writing. And I am proud to say I adore the escapist, populist and truly brilliant worlds of Terry Pratchett in terms of fantasy, and Bernard Cornwell in terms of historical action.

What’s the earliest memory you have of writing a story?

I used to do plays with my mam when I was little more than a toddler and when I had to go to bed I would carry on the games I had been playing with my toys earlier in the day, but using just my imagination and constructing a narrative as I was falling asleep. That was sort of just telling myself a story and I’ve never got out of the habit. I only discovered recently that I was weird. Thankfully, my kids have inherited the gene.

If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

Spree killing? I really don’t know. I was an okay journalist but I hated it. I never really wanted to be anything other than a writer. I’d probably have become a jaded and cynical teacher. I was a decent boxer for a while and I could play the saxophone but really, my only skills were in describing what I could see, and coming up with stories people wanted to hear the end of. Come the zombie apocalypse I’m going to be no use at all.  


What is your least favorite part of the writing process?

Waiting. I am not a patient man, and my previous life in journalism ensured that I tended to get swift answers and immediate replies to my queries and feedback came within the hour. Nowadays I spend weeks and months waiting for news on whether my latest book is any good or foreign publishers are going to renew contracts or the like. There is always something about to happen that you can’t influence any more than you already have done. That’s hard to take when it feels like your whole life depends on the outcome.

One record and one book to a desert island, what would you take?

The record would be The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash. I’ve never heard a life so expertly transformed into music. The book? The Idiots’ Guide to Building a Boat Without Any Skills Whatsoever. If that isn’t a book, somebody should write it. Failing that, The Bible. I find it fascinating. I actually considered a degree in theology for a while. It’s a book people should read before forming an opinion on.

With the rise of ebooks and self publishing, what are your thoughts concerning the current state of the literary world?

We’re in pretty good shape but we have to be careful. I like the idea of self publishing as it does give people an outlet for their work when they have struggled to get a conventional deal. But sometimes that struggle has come about because the book is not particularly good. That’s certainly what happened to me. I felt there was a conspiracy against me for years, when in truth, I was just writing bad books. Things happened for me when I wrote something good. But I can only say that in hindsight. At the time, I thought publishing was old-fashioned, exclusive and elitist. I just hope readers prove themselves to be discerning and turn their nose up at stuff that isn’t great. Saying that, the top ten hardbacks usually make for depressing reading. How many cookbooks and comedian autobiographies do we actually need? Thank goodness for Hilary Mantell.

Sum up your latest novel in less than 20 words.

The secret world of pleasure-seeking is brought into the light – and somebody is ready to kill to keep their private life hidden.  Is that 20? If it’s more, tough.

And lastly, just for fun...
Have you read or would you ever consider reading 50 Shades of Grey?

I’ve had a flick through it and it does exactly what it says on the tin. But there is plenty of erotic fiction out there that is better written. I wish that one of the unfulfilled housewives reading this stuff would take a chance and read Sons and Lovers or The Story of O. It’s a damn sight more grown-up and erotic than loads of tame sado-masochism. I do think it would be funny to find out it was written by a bloke. Can you imagine the outcry? 

Thursday 16 May 2013

The Roving Eye Interviews Chris Carter


Today's Roving Eye interview is with Sunday Times best selling and acclaimed crime writer, Chris Carter. Chris is the author of four novels, The Crucifix Killer, The Executioner, The Night Stalker and The Death Sculptor, all of which feature Criminal Behaviour Psychologist turned Detective Robert Hunter. His fifth novel, Watch Me Die, is out this coming August.


When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?

The truth is that I never planned to write a book.  I wasn’t planning on a career in writing and I wasn’t thinking of stories I wanted to write down.  One day, out of the blue, many years after I had left the profession of Criminal Behaviour Psychologist, I thought of a plot for a crazy story – not a crime thriller.  I mentioned it to my girlfriend one morning and she said - ‘You know what?  You should write that book.  It’s a good idea.’  So I said - ‘You know what? I will.’  And so I wrote the first chapter of this crazy story I had in my head.  Once I got to the end of that chapter, I thought to myself - ‘This is crazy.  If I’m gonna put effort and time into writing a book, I should at least write the type of story I like reading – crime thrillers.’  I also thought that due to my background in Criminal Behavior Psychology, I could probably come up with some interesting plot for a psychological thriller.  So I decided to write the first chapter to a crime novel as well (I had no plot whatsoever, I just wrote a chapter that I thought it would make a good opening for a thriller).  A week later I gave both chapters to my girlfriend, asked her to read them and give me her truthful opinion.  Even though crime thrillers aren’t really her thing, she said - ‘I must admit that the crime thriller chapter is more exciting than the other one.’  And that was it, a decision was made.  Crime thriller it was to be.  I then took some time to come up with a story.  That story became The Crucifix Killer.

What made you chose crime fiction?

I’d say that the main reason is because crime fiction appeals to a very larger readership.  So many people are fascinated by them, including me.  But I also wanted to add the criminal psychology aspect to my stories.  A criminal profiler can only profile an offender if he or she is a repeat offender, because repetition creates a pattern, and that pattern is what is analyzed by psychologists.
 Of all the different types of serial criminals, killers are no doubt the most intriguing.  Hopefully I have made them interesting my stories as well :-)

What crime novel would you most like to have written?

None, really.  The reason other crime novels are good books, or become successful, is because those are that author’s ideas and words.  If anyone else had written it, it would not have been the same book.  For that reason, I don’t wish I have written any other book other than the one I have :-)

Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?

I couldn’t say I have a favourite author.  I read a lot, and there are so many authors that I like and admire that it would be very hard to narrow it down to one.

What’s the earliest memory you have of writing a story?

The Crucifix Killer, really.  Before writing my first novel, I had never even written a short story.  As I have said - I never planned to write a book, and I wasn’t planning on a career in writing.

If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

Probably selling the Big Issue on a street corner somewhere.

What is your least favorite part of the writing process?

Reading the proof.  When the proof comes, it means that the whole novel is pretty much set to go to press.  All the edits have been done, and you cannot really change anything.  The problem is, it doesn’t matter how many times I edit any of my novels, as soon as I read it over, I’ll find things that I could probably had done better, and would like to change.  That happens every time I read the proof, but I can’t change it anymore. To me, the proof is quite a frustrating read.

One record and one book to a desert island, what would you take?

Yes, very tough question.  Record, probably the one that I consider one of the best rock albums ever made – Appetite For destruction from Guns and Roses.  I love every song on that album.  Book?  That’s even harder.  Maybe The Analyst by John Katzenbach.  It’s a great story.

What are your thoughts concerning the current state of the literary world?

I don’t really have any.  I’m not a literary writer, I’m a commercial writer, and I believe that the situation at the moment is tough for every profession.

Sum up your latest novel in less than 20 words.

Hunter is after the toughest serial killer he’s ever encountered.  Full of twists and turns :-)

And, lastly, just for fun.

Have you read or would you ever consider reading 50 Shades of Grey?

Yes, I’ve read it. And I do understand it’s appeal to so many women.

Saturday 11 May 2013

The Roving Eye Interviews Alex Grecian


Today's Roving Eye interview is with crime writer Alex Grecian. Alex is the author of the acclaimed Murder Squad novel 'The Yard' of which book two in the series, 'The Black Country' is out this month. Alex is also the author of the long-running and critically acclaimed comic book series Proof. The series stars John “Proof” Prufock, a special-agent-sasquatch.


When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?

When I was a child, I wanted to be a veterinarian. To help animals. I’d read All Creatures Great and Small, the rest of those books, and that seemed like a pleasant and noble sort of occupation. My school had a program to help certain kids reach their career goals and they got a fetal pig for me to dissect.  I was probably twelve years old. But the pig had been improperly preserved. Its intestines had burst inside its body cavity and created this horrible mess. I spent six weeks trying to dig through pig shit to find and identify its organs, as the pig slowly decayed in the classroom. I finally gave up and started writing poetry and short stories. That set me on my course.

What made you chose crime fiction?

Is there another kind? All drama comes from conflict, and much of it comes from violence, from sin and crime. The thing I’m obsessed with, in all my writing, is the suddenness and meaninglessness of violence. When violence is visited on us, it’s usually without warning. There’s little we can learn from it. It just is. And that’s a hard thing to grapple with.

What crime novel would you most like to have written?

I don’t know if it qualifies as a crime novel, but I’d probably choose The Man In My Basement by Walter Mosley. I think it’s his best book, but among his most obscure. I’ve bought multiple copies and I hand them out to people. If not that, I guess I’d go with The Talented Mr Ripley. Highsmith’s themes are just so meaty.

Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?

Graham Greene, hands down. He was obsessed with many of the same themes I am, but his prose was gorgeous. His work is the benchmark I aspire to, and I named my son after him.

What’s the earliest memory you have of writing a story?

The first story I can actually remember writing was called “Don’t Ride the Subway Today, My Child.” I was probably twelve years old. This would have been right after the pig incident. I know I wrote lots of stuff, including cartoon strips and little comic books when I was younger than that, but they haven’t stuck in my memory the way “Don’t Ride the Subway…” has. It was about dinosaurs somehow running around subway tunnels in New York and, from the title, it was obviously pretty heavily influenced by Ray Bradbury’s short stories, which I would have been reading right around that time. Of course, I lived in the Midwest and had never even seen a subway. My father says he still has that story in a box somewhere in his basement, but I’m sure it’s absolutely awful stuff so I hope it never gets found.

If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

Perhaps sleeping in a doorway somewhere. Or maybe a refrigerator box in an alley.

What is your least favorite part of the writing process?

The writing part. Except on the days when it really flows, but those days are scarce. Most days I get up from my desk convinced that I’ll have to completely rewrite everything I’ve written that day.

One record and one book to a desert island, what would you take?

Today I’d take John Irving’s The World According to Garp and Lou Reed’s Transformer. Tomorrow I might choose something different.

With the rise of ebooks and self-publishing, what are your thoughts concerning the current state of the literary world?

Personally, I’m not a fan of ebooks. I like actual physical books, but anything that encourages people to read, that makes reading seem cool or more convenient, is a good thing, as far as I’m concerned. The only real downside is that there aren’t enough gatekeepers in place yet. Everybody in publishing seems to be worried, but everybody in publishing always seems to have been worried. People will always read and they’ll always need to be able to find new things to read without having to wade through a metric ton of amateurish crap. So I think there will continue to be publishers and editors and agents. Self-publishing is just too easy. Since anybody and everybody can “publish” their first awkward attempts, it can be hard to find the real quality stuff lurking out there.

Sum up your latest novel in less than 20 words.

A dark secret from the past devastates an entire Black Country village.

And, lastly, just for fun…

Have you read or would you ever consider reading 50 Shades of Grey?

I have not. Really, I don’t have enough time to read the books I want to read, or should read. And 50 Shades of Grey may be a perfectly wonderful book (and I’m glad so many people seem to have enjoyed it), but it clearly wasn’t written for me so I don’t know that I’d get much out of the experience.

Tuesday 7 May 2013

The Roving Eye Interviews Mark Sennen

Today's Roving Eye interview is with crime author Mark Sennen. Marks first novel 'Touch' was a number one best-seller on Amazon in the thrillers category and was in the top 100 best-selling ebooks for 2012, before being released in paperback in April 2013. His second novel, 'Bad Blood' will be published in ebook form in July and the paperback in September.
 
 
When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?

Too long ago! By which I mean I wanted to write for a living years back, but although I jotted down ideas and scenes and wrote the occasional short story I didn't put in the hard work necessary. I eventually managed to write a science fiction novel around fifteen years ago and submitted it to several agents. The rejections didn't exactly come flying in because back then agents were pretty slack - they took months to turn around a manuscript. When they eventually got back to me the answer each time was a 'no thanks'. It wasn't until two events - the beginning of the recession and the arrival of the Kindle and Amazon KDP - that I took up writing seriously again. The recession left me with plenty of free time (I was a freelance programmer) and Amazon provided a means to bypass those pesky gatekeepers who argue that they know what people want. Turns out they don't!

What made you chose crime fiction?

I had previously written a large chunk of a JJ Ballard type novel (and here I'm comparing the style, not the quality!) featuring a first person account of a serial killer. The story was, I thought at the time, an oh-so-clever examination of a deranged mind. It was also on reflection much too disturbing. What the killer needed was a foil, hence the gradual dawning on me that here was the germ of a conventional crime novel. Having read and liked authors such as Graham Hurley, John Harvey and Peter Robinson I knew the sub genre for me would be the police procedural. All I had to do was write the thing.

What crime novel would you most like to have written?

I'd have been proud to write the Faraday and Winter series (Graham Hurley). The story arc across the twelve books is beguiling and the depiction of Blair's broken Britain superlative. If you are looking for a standalone then I think Birdman by Mo Hayder was a brilliantly chilling and original book.

Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?

I'm a massive fan of Patrick O'Brian. His twenty book Aubrey–Maturin series set in the Napoleonic Wars is a long way from gritty present-day crime novels, but perhaps that's why I like it. I sail, so I love O'Brian's use of nautical terminology (he rarely provides any explanation of terms for the landlubber!) and I'm fascinated by the descriptions of the naval battles. The books also have a different pace from contemporary fiction, a pace I guess suited to the period they describe.

What’s the earliest memory you have of writing a story?

Back in primary school I can remember writing a story about some sort of war or apocalypse. The exact details are misty but I recall not being able to finish it in time. The result being that I tacked a line on the last paragraph which was something like 'we struggled on, knowing one day we would be free.' If I can't think of an ending for a book in the future I might try and sneak that one past my editor.

If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

I love sailing, boats and the sea so something marine-based I guess.

What is your least favorite part of the writing process?

There's two particular stages I hate. One is the three quarter's of the way through the first draft when I find I don't quite have enough plot to fill the book. I have to sit down and come up with something which at first seems totally alien to the story. Second is just the opposite when the first draft is complete and the story has grown too long. Then scenes which seem indispensable to the development of the plot have to be axed which is very painful.

One record and one book to a desert island, what would you take?

Yessongs and the Bible. I'm not religious, but I figure there's a ton of plot ideas in the Bible. Yessongs is a couple of hours of the greatest prog rock band of them all(!) and I could while away many a day playing along with coconuts for drums and bits of bamboo for sticks.
 
With the rise of ebooks and self publishing, what are your thoughts concerning the current state of the literary world?

I think it's in a very good state. The entire industry is in a process of flux as the old guard struggle to accept the new paradigm, but the one relationship which matters - the one between reader and writer - is stronger than ever. Readers decide what they want to read and writers decide what they want to write. Publishers and agents might not like that... well tough. The better and more imaginative ones will survive. I think there's an issue about so-called "discoverability" - meaning finding stuff, but hey, you know what? - the answer to the problem is the same as it's always been and it doesn't involve signing up to Goodreads or trusting Amazon to show you relevant "also boughts". You just ask a friend the following simple question: "read any good books lately?"

Sum up your latest novel in less than 20 words.

I've been asked this exact question before, so I'll use the same answer: A thriller set in Devon with far more clotted blood than clotted cream; more scream tease than cream teas.

And, lastly, just for fun..
Have you read or would you ever consider reading 50 Shades of Grey?

I've read the sample (the bit you get for free on a Kindle). That was quite enough and I'm not talking from a prudish point of view.

Friday 3 May 2013

The Roving Eye Interviews Mel Sherratt


Today's Roving Eye interview is with the best selling self published crime writer Mel Sherratt. Mel's first novel 'Taunting the Dead' was set against the backdrop of her home town of Stoke on Trent, and went on to become a #1 best seller. She has since gone on to pen the acclaimed 'Estate Series' of novels that comprise of Somewhere to Hide, Behind a Closed Door and Fighting for Survival.



When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?

I’m not sure I ever thought of it as writing for a living until I was older, but I’ve wanted to write since I was in my teens and used to read short love stories for a True Love magazine. I never managed to get one published though.
  
What made you chose crime fiction?

A combination of my mind going darker with every book that I wrote, starting to read more crime fiction, watching programs like Shameless and anything written by Jimmy McGovern and also my job as a housing officer which gave me great background knowledge. 

What crime novel would you most like to have written?

Gone Girl because my crime mind wanted a very different ending, although I thought the ending in the book was just so perfect and thought inducing - and sinister.

Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?

Caroline Smailes - her work is dark, wonderful, lyrical, daring and such a great thing to be lost in for a few hours.
   
What’s the earliest memory you have of writing a story?

I wrote about sweets in a sweet shop - Gerry the Gobstopper was kidnapped and the rest of the sweets, Black Jack and Fruit Salad etc went off to rescue him.

If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

Hmm, I think I’d have to do something creative, maybe a florist or a seamstress, both of which I have done when I was younger but never to a professional level.

What is your least favourite part of the writing process?

Always the part I’m working on - when I’m drafting I can’t wait to have a full manuscript to edit and when I’m editing, I can’t wait to write something new!

One record and one book to a desert island, what would you take?

Raise your Glass by Pink because I’d need something optimistic and Broken by Daniel Clay because it’s the only book I’ve read over and over.

With the rise of ebooks and self publishing, what are your thoughts concerning the current state of the literary world?

It’s changing but still has a long way to go. It’s exciting to see how technology is altering the landscape and more people are reading because of it. I think there will always be a place for print books, maybe hardbacks more so. And more choice - though hopefully some sort of quality control.

Sum up your latest novel in less than 20 words.

Watching over You - a hint of SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, with a dash of PANIC ROOM and a liberal sprinkling of FATAL ATTRACTION.

And, lastly, just for fun…

Have you read or would you ever consider reading 50 Shades of Grey?

I haven’t read it as I haven’t had time. I’m catching up at the moment after finishing my last book and also I put three out in quick succession last year, from last summer when 50 Shades was at the top of the charts - I can’t read when I’m drafting or editing. I would definitely consider reading it as it’s great to check out why a book or series went stratospheric. And I like erotic fiction - that’s clear from my own books…