Tag: writing

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Influence

I am often asked in interviews about my influences as a writer. Who are the writers who have influenced me? This has become an even more common question since I started writing crime fiction, as, I suspect, interviewers try to get a sense of my books, or give a sense of them to readers who haven't read me. All well and good. But in fact it's a question I've never felt entirely comfortable with. It's the one I drag my feet over and leave till last, like the homework you always left till late on a Sunday night, somehow hoping it would magically disappear. And I usually come up with a list of people who I think may have influenced my writing, trying to answer honestly, but more often than not simply mentioning the last few writers I've read and enjoyed, or whatever jumps out at me from my bookshelves at the time. It's not that I don't think I've been influenced by anyone. I have. But who exactly? And in what way? In effect every book I've ever read has exerted an influence, whether I've liked it or not, feeding into the general pool of stuff that's floating around somewhere inside me. The fact is, I've always thought that writing should come primarily from living and experience, not from other writing. It's what happens and how I digest it that provides the bulk of source material for me. Not what I get from other books, (unless it's straight information). I've always known this, but have never really had the courage to say so, always falling into the trap of thinking that if a question is asked, it must have an answer. If I'm asked for my influences, I should provide a list of them. But today I decided to change that, thanks to a passage I read in an inspirational book called IMPRO, by Keith Johnstone. In it Johnstone talks about his time as a play-reader at the Royal Court Theatre in the 50s. The vast majority of plays he rejected on the grounds that they were 'pseudo-Beckett' or 'fake-Pinter' etc. Only plays that came from the 'author's own experience' were considered. 'It wasn't a matter of lack of talent,' Johnstone says, 'but of miseducation. The authors of the pseudo-plays assumed that writing should be based on other writing, not on life.' Sometimes it takes something like this - a comment or quote - to help see clearly what you yourself really think. I'm there with Johnstone. Which just means I've been influenced by something I've read... But I like these sorts of contradictions. Anyway, next time I'm asked a out my influences, I may just say what I really think.

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Agent Garbo

Today, 14th February, would have been the 100th birthday of the Catalan Juan Pujol. Under the alias GARBO, Pujol was a hugely important double agent working for MI5 during WWII, and played a crucial role in the success of the Normandy landings. He is the subject of the book I am currently working on (and the reason why I haven't been blogging so much in recent weeks.) My book, currently titled AGENT GARBO, will hopefully appear in late 2013 or early 2014.

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Webster's Golden Social-Media Rules for Authors

Rule No.1 (there is only one):

THERE ARE NO FUCKING RULES

It's social, right? You don't have to sing karaoke every time you go to the pub, or play strip poker every time you're invited to a dinner party.

It's the same with social media. If you want to sit quietly in a corner listening to others, that's fine. If you want to strike up conversation with strangers, that's OK too. If you want to talk when you feel like it and then disappear for a few days or weeks, that's great. In fact, as a serious writer, that's not a bad idea at all. It's in those moments of slower quiet, removed from the noise of the world, that real ideas can come, as many others have commented, most recently Pico Iyer in the New York Times.

So ignore the articles out there promising to give you instant publishing success by following a few guidelines for Twitter, Facebook and the rest. Who cares how many followers Neil Gaiman has? So you've only got a few dozen. Let's hope they actually read your tweets. If you generally say something interesting, the chances are that they are.

What's important is authenticity. And you're either being yourself or you aren't. People can generally tell over social media as much as when meeting in a bar.

The thing is, there aren't any rules to be passed on about authenticity.

That's the beauty of it.

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New cover for the next Max Cámara novel

UK publication is due in June 2012.

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Or the Bull Kills You interview

A new, short video has gone up on YouTube, where I talk a little more about the first in the Max Cámara series of detective novels, Or the Bull Kills You. You can see it by clicking here. The interview was shot by Catherine Tosko, a film-maker currently working on a documentary on bullfighting, called The Bull and the Ban.

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German edition

The German edition of Or The Bull Kills You has just arrived in the mail. Title: La Muerte. Looks great. You can see it by clicking here.

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New book title

The second in the Max Camara series of detective novels will now be titled A DEATH IN VALENCIA in both the UK and the US. So please ignore any previous comments about a book called Some Other Body. That title came to me in a dream as I was writing the book, and it kept me going through some of the more obscure moments when I wasn't so sure which way the novel was going. But it has been decided that the new title will work better on both sides of the Atlantic. Eso es lo que hay as they say in Spain.

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New US title

The US title for the second Max Cámara book (Some Other Body in the UK) will be A DEATH IN VALENCIA. Publication due September 2012.