Copyright Ella Bernhardt |
It had taken
three years to write The Last Winter of
Dani Lancing – but that was part-time while I had a real job and I had a
two-year-old to look after a couple of days a week. Surely, as a full-time writer with a daughter
now at school, I could write a book in a year.
Twelve months. Twelve whole juicy
months. Easy. But… the thing is that
there weren’t twelve months. Here is
what happens.
A week after the
phone call I met with my editor. I knew
from my agent that they loved the book but didn’t like the title. We had sold it to them when it was called A Half-Remembered Death. My agent had taken it on when it was called A
ferocious love and, for most of the three years I was writing it, the title was
Three Drops of Blood. Over lunch my editor outlined a few areas she
would like me to work on with the novel (I was fine with that), we talked about
the title and about tweaking my name. ‘Initials
are hot’, she told me, and ‘P.D. Viner has that ring about it’ (what the D
stands for is a story for another day). Then
she outlined the timetable for getting re-writes done, her notes on those, then
having the copy editor read it and give notes and finally getting a manuscript
to publication. The book would be ready
in March/April. She smiled. I counted on my fingers – that left 6 months
for the second book. Then she talked
about writing blog posts, upping my Twitter profile (you can follow me
@philviner) and attending the Theakston Crime Festival in Harrogate. Plus there would be meetings here and there
and parties. ‘Oh.’ I said.
Inside I was thinking about how it looked like I only had five months at
most to write the second book. But then
I opened my mouth and said something incredibly stupid. ‘I did all this research for the first book,
and I have these two stories in my head.
The case that makes Tom Bevan’s career and allows him to set up his Serious
Crimes Unit and the story that Patty Lancing breaks to make her crime journalist
career. The Sad Man and The Ugly Man. I COULD WRITE THEM AS NOVELLAS AND THEY COULD
BE GIVEN AWAY FREE.’ I meant that they
would be written after I completed book two, but my editor loved the idea. ‘Can you write them now?’ she asked. NOW? Now,
as a marketing idea it is good (and they are both fabulous reads and available free
from all good eBook stockists), but as a pressure on me during my twelve months
(already down to five) – it was crazy. I
came out of that meeting with a list of areas in my book to look at, a new
title to come up with, a tweak of my name to consider and I was writing two
novellas and a second novel. I realised
we had not even discussed the second novel.
Could I do it all? I wasn’t sure
I could. Maybe the jump from part-time
writer to full-time was too much. With
the first book there was no expectation, only hope and very supportive people
around me. I had put myself on a
fantastic two-year writing course that meant I had people who would read my
book chapter-by-chapter and give me feedback.
But that support was gone. I was
alone – or at least that was how it felt.
The rewrites on
the newly titled The Last Winter of Dani
Lancing (and now I cannot think of it as anything other than this, as I
love the title) were fun to do and I really enjoyed working with an editor. The copy editor was brilliant at getting me
to tighten the time line (it is a very complex structure over twenty-plus
years) and I was writing the back-story novellas as I put the finishing touches
to the book. The novellas, in part
because I had been plotting them over the last three years, came very easily –
though at 30,000 words each, they became a lot more substantial than I had
originally conceived them. But The Last Winter of Dani Lancing was put
to bed and both the novellas were written by the end of May 2013 (I also
directed the audiobook version of Dani Lancing, but that is also another story;
the story of my Kurtz-like insanity in the jungle). I had five months left. Gulp!
On the positive
side, I also had lots of ideas and from (almost) the start I had conceived of
this being a trilogy; the mystery of Dani Lancing and how her death affects
those who loved her would twist and turn over three books and four novellas. Each one was planned so that they could be
read as stand-alone works, but if you read them all you will get more from each
one. I also had seeded into many
of the elements and characters I would develop in books two and three. I also had a title – book two would be Summer of Ghosts. I wanted it to be my Godfather II or Return of the
Jedi. I did not want Exorcist II. No pressure then.
So I began to
write in earnest, surrounded by a stack of notebooks that I had been jotting
ideas in for months. (At this point I
would like to point out that I only use Moleskine notebooks. I am including this fact, as I want Moleskine
to send me a lifetime supply of notebooks, I want to be the face of Moleskine. Because I’m worth it.) So I began writing just as the first reviews
started coming in for TLWODL and I
really began to start feeling the pressure… feeling that the second novel is
more important than the first. Debuts
can make a flash. They can even take
over the world – I am thinking of Before
I Go To Sleep – but then how difficult is that to follow up? Crime fiction is not like literary fiction;
there is the expectation that a new book from Peter James or Sophie Hannah (or
P.D. Viner) will appear every year. With
each book you build a relationship with your readership and forge your career. For every mega debut there are a hundred
crime writers out there who are building a universe for their creations and
body of work. Val McDermid and Ian
Rankin have both said recently that they didn’t start selling in large numbers
until books five or six, but by that time they had a back catalogue that could
fly off the shelves, and had found their voices and characters. Personally I think there is nothing better
than discovering a writer and then finding they have other books you can buy,
borrow, rent or steal – so you can stay in their world a little longer. That is reading bliss. But it is also writing pressure.
Then there is
your own publicity. I was being called 'a
master of mystery' (I’m sure that was a marketing person) and I was being
compared to ADD FAMOUS NAME HERE. I also
imagined people actually paying money for my books and expecting them to be
good….
Agh! I have to be good as well. When you’re writing your first book in the
anonymity of a shed or a coffee-shop (my office of choice), I don’t think the
audience enter into your mind as anything more than a formless lump. But with book two looming I became more and
more concerned that the book wouldn’t be twisty enough, wouldn’t be exciting
enough wouldn’t be enough. Plus, some
writers I love, like Sophie Hannah, Stav Sherez, and Mark Billingham, were
saying fantastic things about TLWODL. My hat wouldn’t fit. There are many stories of bands that spend
months and even years trying to perfect a follow-up to a hit album. There are bands that have split up over the
second tricky album. And there are
writers who have never followed up a big hit novel (To Kill a Mockingbird II anyone?).
In the August of 2013 I was in danger of imploding. As the launch of Dani Lancing approached (September
12 2013), I was second-guessing reviews (oh my lord I had to stop reading my
GoodReads reviews, they are too much a rollercoaster of highs and lows) and
erasing most of what I had written. I
could have gone up like a rocket at any moment.
So what happened?
Research. I spent time with the Sussex police – who
were fantastic. In August 2013, I spent
a Saturday night with the 999 response team under the guidance of Andy Kille
(real name) and then another Saturday cruising the mean streets of Brighton. I got to see arrests, macings, drug tests, domestic
violence and the best and worst of humanity.
It was deeply affecting. After
that I spent time with CID teams, in briefings and with officers and their
case-load. I got to talk drugs gangs and
psychonauts. It grounded my writing in
real experiences and then I let my imagination loose from there. I also found that my agent and editor were
fantastic resources, as were other crime writers. Some of those figures I had admired so much,
made me feel really welcome in their ranks.
Crime writers are incredibly generous, and that sense of joining a
profession made it easier to write. And
of course a deadline helps to galvanise the spirit.
Did I get the
second novel in for October? No. But by the time the contract was done in 2012
I had until November 30th 2013. Did I
get it in by then? No. Actually I handed Summer of Ghosts to my editor in the first week of January 2014. What did I think? I could not be more pleased with it. I think it is my French Connection II. But,
of course, I am still a little scared. When
I handed it in, no one had read a word of it.
Even now only about ten people have read it (the response of those few
has been pretty encouraging). Proofs
went out last week and soon I will feel the groundswell of opinion. But you know what? I can’t sit and wait with crossed fingers to
hear what people think. I have a
deadline. Book three is knocking at the
door. It is titled The Fall of Hope (at least today it is), and I have three notebooks
(Moleskine) full of ideas. I think that
what I have learned from my tricky second novel is that, if I am going to
create this universe of the Sad Man and the troubled Lancing family, and then I
have to totally trust my own spider senses to mould and create their world. Feedback and reviews are great, but it is me
at the end of the day (okay, with some pushing and snipping from my editor) who
makes the choices. So, roll on August 14th 2014 and the release of my second
tricky novel. And then roll on Autumn 2015… and pretty much that’s the road
map.
No comments:
Post a Comment