Today we have another guest writer on 52 Ways To Write A Novel - Chris Hill, author of SONG OF THE SEA GOD and THE PICK-UP ARTIST.
Lovely to have you here, Chris.
First off, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
First off, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
Thanks
for having me along today, Jane, it’s a real pleasure to be here! I live
in Gloucestershire and I’m married with two towering teenage sons and a
Cockerpoo called Murphy. I spent a lot of years as a journalist working
on regional newspapers in the UK - I started as a reporter and finished
as an editor. Now I work in PR for a children’s charity called
WellChild who provide nurses for seriously ill children so they can be
cared for in the family home rather than hospital. I’ve
always written fiction, I started with short stories and improved over
time, winning a few awards including the Bridport Prize. Later, I
progressed to writing novels.
What are your ambitions for your writing career and which writers inspire you?
I’d
like to write a book I feel entirely proud of, something I think is the
best thing I could possibly write. I doubt it will ever happen. Most
things I write I just try to make the least bad they can be. My books
are all different from each other, which I know makes no sense
commercially but it pleases me. All authors inspire me - all of them,
good ones, bad ones, self-published, small press, big publisher. I think
writing books and stories is a tremendous thing for people to be doing,
we hold a mirror up to society, we are its conscience and its soul.
That’s no small thing to be involved in.
What have you written and/or are writing at the moment?
I’ve
had two books published so far. Song of the Sea God (Skylight Press
2012) which is literary fiction, a kind of creepy fairytale about a man
who comes to a small island off the coast of Northern England and
convinces the locals he is a god. And The Pick-Up Artist (Magic Oxygen
Publishing 2015) which is an off-beat rom com about a young man’s
hopeless attempts to find love with the help of PUA movement who claim
to be able to use psychological techniques to attract the opposite sex.
I
have another one done, a crime novel based on my years as a reporter.
It’s sitting in a drawer waiting for me to dust it off and find a
publisher. There’s also a short story collection I’d like to find a home
for. And I’m currently working on a new novel which feels like it’s
going to be a sort of thriller. Most of what I write can be appended
with the word ‘quirky’ for which I feel equally cursed and blessed.
How much research do you do?
It
depends on the book I think. For Song of the Sea God I had to do all
sorts of reading around ancient myths and religions, for The Pick-Up
Artist I learned about the rather murky world of the PUA movement. For
the crime book I’d lived it as a crime reporter over a number of years
but I did a fair bit of fact checking on technical details.
When did you decide to become a writer, and why do you write?
I’ve
been writing fiction pretty much since I learned to write I suppose.
Scraps at first in notebooks, then proper stories and later novels. I
don’t know why I write except I feel compelled to. I don’t necessarily
enjoy it that much, it can be a chore, though I do feel better during
periods when I am doing it. Less fidgety, more at peace with myself.
Do you write full-time or part-time?
I’ve
always worked full time and I have a family so I’m one of those people
who write around the day. That’s probably one reason why it takes me so
long to finish anything. I quite like it this way though, I don’t think
I’d change it even if I could.
Do you have a special time of day when you like to write or a special place where you feel most creative or hard-working?
I
carry a notebook around in my man-bag and scribble in it in all sorts
of places - on the bus often. But I also need to sit down in front of
the laptop in the evening a few times a week and work in that more
organised and focussed manner.
Are
you a plotter? Do you tend to work to an outline or synopsis, or are
you a 'pantser', someone you prefers to see where an idea takes you?
I
have a kind of middle way. I do some planning at the outset and more as
I go along. I like to know where I am going to end up from the start
but I don’t have a complete roadmap of the entire journey. We all find
our own way of working of course but for me this feels like having my
cake and eating it.
How long on average does it take you to write a book?
It
takes me about two years in all, one for the first draft, one for
rewrites, and I procrastinate a lot before I even get started. I don’t
suppose I will ever be particularly prolific!
Do you ever get writer’s block?
Not
as such, though I do take a long time to get started and then a long
time to write anything to the level where I am satisfied with it. I do
envy writers who talk about having crashed out a book in just a few
months.
Ha, I'd better not rub it in then that I wrote my last 100,000 word novel in 9 weeks. Do
you read much - I know I find it hard to make time for reading these
days - and if so who are your favourite authors? Is your drug of choice
fiction or non-fiction? Any particular kind?
I’m always
reading, I don’t think I could trust a writer who didn’t read. It’s
mostly fiction though I go through non-fiction periods too. I read
literary fiction mostly but I have read books in most genres too I
suppose, over time. My first love was the work of the American novelists
of the last half of the 20th century - now recently deceased. People
like Updike, Heller, Vonnegut, Bellow. They combined fabulous writing,
great narrative voices and amazing plots and characters. But since then
I’ve spread my interests fairly widely.
For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or 'proper' books? (Personally, I love an improper book.)
It’s
dead trees all the way for me. I do have a Kindle and have read books
on it but for all kinds of reasons: emotional, physical, nostalgic,
sensory, I prefer a book made of paper. There was a report recently in
the media about the decline in ebooks and the resurgence of print ones.
I’m sure there’s room for both but I don’t see print disappearing when
it comes to books. Newspapers are a different matter.
What are you reading at present?
The
last three books I’ve read have been A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering
Genius by Dave Eggers, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and I’m half way
through American Gods by Neil Gaiman. All wonderful books in their own
way and an eclectic selection as always.
Tell
us about your book covers and how they came about, and do you think
that the cover plays an important part in the buying process?
I
suppose it must be important though personally I don’t think I have
ever bought a book because of the cover. I work with my publishers on
them. Small press publishers tend to be quite collaborative so I’ve
enjoyed the process. We’ve discussed ideas, I’ve shown them covers I
like and so on. With Song of the Sea God I even gave them photos I liked
which were taken by a friend of mine on Walney Island where the book is
set, and one of those ended up on the cover.
How do you market your books, and do you have any advice for other authors on how to market their books?
I
do PR and marketing for my day job so it’s a bit of a busman’s holiday
for me, that side of things. I enjoy social media and blogging. I don’t
think there’s a magic bullet; awareness grows over time. At my last book
launch, my eldest son was with me. After about the fifth person had come
up to me like an old friend because they knew me online, my lad said:
“Wow dad, you might not be famous, but you are Twitter famous.”
What
part of your writing time do you devote to marketing your book, and is
there any marketing technique you've personally used that had a strong
impact on your sales figures? (We all want to know this!)
I’m
doing less at the moment as I’m between books - I get on it a lot more
when I have a new one out but I always try to be classy and not bang
people over the head with my ‘product’. That’s a big turnoff for all of
us, isn’t it? I don’t think you can beat physically standing in front of
people at events and talking to readers. I do that when I can.
I quite enjoy clouting people over the head with my books. Thanks for coming along to chat to us today, Chris. How can readers discover more about you and your work?
My website
Facebook
Twitter
Song of the Sea God
The Pick-Up Artist
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Many thanks, Jane Holland