‘Don’t misquote me’

We are all liable to misquote from time to time, whether that’s due to a faulty memory, using a suspect source or from pure laziness.

Currently going the rounds on Facebook is a quotation from Isaac Asimov: 'If my doctor told me I have six minutes to live, I’d type faster.’

Amusing, and typical of the prolific Asimov. But it is patently wrong.

As a scientist, Asimov wouldn’t say that because – a) no doctor would give anybody just six minutes; 2) no matter how fast you type, you couldn’t achieve much in six minutes.

The actual (if less pithy) quotation was: ‘If my doctor told me I had only six months to live, I wouldn’t brood, I’d type a little faster.’

 

Isaac Asimov - Wikipedia commons

Asimov knew all about fast production. He would write up to eighteen hours a day. Typing 90 words a minute, he could clock up about 50 pages a day. He said, ‘Thinking is the activity I love best, and writing to me is simply thinking through my fingers.’ He let nothing interfere with his concentration. How he would have coped with social media is a moot point, perhaps, but he did say ‘You could put on an orgy in my office and I wouldn’t look up – well, maybe once.’ I can imagine him saying that with an irrepressible twinkle in his eye.

To counter his argument for speed writing, he stated, ‘To write quickly and to write well are usually incompatible attributes, and if you must choose one over the other, you should choose quality over speed every time.’ I suspect the phrase ‘usually incompatible’ applies him, regarding his unusually prolific output.

The prerequisite for good writing is constant writing. Some writers have said you need to write a million words before you can become a writer, or words to that effect! Certainly, beginning writers need to write, write and write some more. Asimov said, ‘It’s the writing that teaches you. It’s the rotten stories that make it possible for you to write the good stories eventually.’ [My italics].

There’s one other requirement for writing: ‘The one absolute requirement for me to write,”’ Asimov said, ‘is to be awake.’ In other words, he lived for his writing. And it served him well; he published in excess of 300 short stories and 500 books. With regard to style and characterisation, he wasn’t a great writer – but he was a very popular author, with books in 9 out of the 10 major categories in the Dewey Decimal Classification; no mean feat.

 

Isaac Asimov - 1920-1992

 

 

 

Book list - 1966

What was I reading so long ago? Does it matter? Trends and general interests change. The early 1960s, thanks to Dr No et al, was crammed full with espionage thrillers, many of which have indeed withstood the test of time. There were plenty of good popular mainstream writers available in paperback, too, and most paperback lists contained a generous sampling of science fiction and westerns. Eventually, spy books would make way for crime thrillers and both the western and the sci-fi books would end up in ghettoes for several years.

Wreckers must Breathe is an unusual submarine spy adventure from Hammond Innes (which has just been reissued as a Vintage Classic). In contrast, I read Up the Junction, social realism in fiction, depicting the lives of Ruby, Lily and Sylvie in 1960s London (now reissued as a Virago Modern Classic). Having read the previous two volumes, I now finished That Hideous Strength, the conclusion of C.S. Lewis’ science fiction Cosmic Trilogy: the hero Mark is a Sociologist who is enticed to join an organisation called N.I.C.E. which aims to control all human life (Hmm… nothing to do with the current named organisation, of course!)

 

Harold Robbins’ The Carpetbaggers, which I found quite remarkable; two films evolved from its pages. It interlinked lives over decades; I feel that, along with A Stone for Danny Fisher, it’s one of his best, before he deteriorated into lazy writing and excessive sex scenes.

 

Death on the Prairie is a sweeping narrative of the Indian wars on the western plains by Paul I Wellman. Part of the blurb on Amazon, which sums it up well, states: 'There is never a quiet page as Wellman describes the Sand Creek Massacre (1864), the Fetterman Massacre (1866), the Battle of the Washita (1868), the Battle of Adobe Walls (1874), the Battle of the Little Big Horn (1876), the Nez Perce War (1877), the Meeker Massacre (1879), and the tragedy at wounded Knee (1890) that ended the fighting on the plains. Celebrated chiefs (Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Black Kettle, Satanta, Joseph, Ouray, Sitting Bull) clash with army officers (notably Custer, Sheridan, Miles, and Crook), and uncounted men, women, and children on both sides are cast in roles of fatal consequence...'

I enjoyed Isaac Asimov’s original Foundation trilogy, and felt it came to a satisfying conclusion – though some years later, he embarked on additional books in the series.

Trial by Terror is by an author now hardly read, yet he was big in his day, Paul Gallico. He couldn’t easily be pigeonholed. This book was about an American reporter imprisoned as a spy by the Hungarian authorities. I was reading it as research for future writing. Gallico created Hiram Holliday – there was a comedy TV series about this character. He wrote Thomasina, the Mrs Harris adventures, The Small Miracle, The Snow Goose, The Poseidon Adventure and The Hand of Mary Constable, and my favourite, Scruffy, an amusing tale about an ape of Gibraltar during WWII.

 

1066 And All That by Sellar and Yeatman. History as it wasn’t, tongue in cheek, and still funny. Followed by a darkly humourous classic, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller.

There was little humour in King Rat by James Clavell. I’d already been won over by his monumental Tai Pan. Rat was in complete contrast, drawing upon his own experiences as a POW under the Japanese. The film never did it justice.

 
I continued to read Dennis Wheatley’s books, notably his Gregory Sallust adventures. He was a fictional spy even before James Bond came on the scene. The Scarlet Imposter (took place in August-November 1939, and was published in 1940), Faked Passports, The Black Baronness, V for Vengeance, and Come into my Parlour. I also read his Richleau novel set in WWII, Codeword Golden Fleece and his extraordinary Ka of Gifford Hillary.
 
At this time, some Edgar Rice Burroughs manuscripts were being released in paperback apparently for the first time, so I grabbed them from WH Smith’s at Waterloo Station on the way home on leave - Tarzan and the Madman, Tarzan and the Castaways and The Chessmen of Mars.

I still enjoyed Leslie Charteris’ Saint books and read The Saint’s Getaway and The Saint Meets His Match (previously titled She was a Lady).

And I discovered a new thriller writer, Gavin Lyall, with his two adventures The Most Dangerous Game and The Wrong Side of the Sky. He drew on his experience as an RAF pilot to pen adventure stories that usually involved dangerous flying missions in exotic places by cynical young men of dubious morals. He was married to columnist/author Katherine Whitehorn.

 

As is quite obvious, I was keen on spy books. I’d read a number by Helen MacInnes by this time. She was dubbed ‘The Queen of Spy Writers’ and the title was well deserved. This year I read The Venetian Affair, a classic cold war espionage thriller. Titan Books has recently reprinted her books in attractive covers.

 
My Bones and My Flute (1955) is a haunting ghost story by Edgar Mittelholzer, an author I discovered with the book Kaywana Stock and others in the plantation series, which are sadly hard to get hold of these days...

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice, as well as The Real World of Spies, revelations about spying in the early days of the Cold War; pretty tame by later accounts. And Understrike, the second adventure of Boysie Oakes by John Gardner, an author who subsequently took on the task of writing new James Bond thrillers. Also, Deighton’s Funeral in Berlin (1964), the third in the unnamed hero series (Harry Palmer in the movies); I saw the film in the same year.

The Moving Target (1949), Ross MacDonald’s first novel to feature his sleuth Lew Archer. MacDonald is justly highly regarded. The 1966 film of this book starred Paul Newman, scripted by William Goldman.

 
The Ginger Man, J.P. Donleavy’s 1955 novel (once banned in Ireland and the USA for obscenity).  

I was still reading non-fiction, mainly about war escapades: among them, Escape Alone (We Die Alone), The Dam Busters, The Frogmen, I Will Survive, and Mark of the Lion, the incredible story about Charles Upham who won the Victoria Cross twice! He was a sheep farmer who fought in the war, won his medals and then went back to his sheep.

Overload (1959), Undertow (1962), Shockwave (1963) and Feramontov (1966), novels in the Johnny Fedora series by Desmond Cory; greatly underrated, regarded as 'the thinking man's James Bond'..  

 

“Why isn’t it selling?”

Today I was telephoned by an acquaintance whose autobiography has been published as an e-book by a small press in UK. She despairs because the book hasn’t sold very well at all, barely getting into two figures.

I sympathised. I pointed out that no matter how well written, sadly, autobiographies by ‘unknowns’ – that is people who are not celebrities – will not sell well unless they’re aggressively marketed. Even then, it will be an uphill struggle; but I've seen it done. A small publisher will have little or no marketing budget. I would advise against paying large sums of money to advertise the book, too. I asked if she used the Internet. Her answer: no, but I have a friend who does…

Whether we authors like it or not, if we want readers, we usually have to get involved in marketing our work. And that means books published by publishers as much as those self-published.

‘If I could I would always work in silence and obscurity, and let my efforts be known by their results.’ – Emily Bronte.

Most authors would prefer simply to create the next book. Now, that’s fine, but if the first one doesn’t get out there, a second one won’t necessarily do any better.

Things haven’t changed all that much, really, since the ‘good old days’.

Mid-list authors, like Jack Higgins who served his apprenticeship on crime and action fiction, were retained and nurtured in the hope of finding an audience that would not only follow them but also in the belief that the author would produce that breakout novel after years of honing his craft (as Higgins did, spectacularly, with The Eagle Has Landed) .

Mid-list authors didn’t sell in large numbers, as a rule, but gained a following as they added to their output. Reviews in the press for mid-list authors were virtually non-existent. Sales, not reviews, determined whether the mid-list author would be retained.

I’m generalising here, and there are always exceptions even to generalisations, but the trend seems to be along these lines.

Nowadays, publishers’ so-called mid-list authors are rarely maintained by the big five, since they’re considered uneconomical. They can’t afford the cost and time to nurture mid-listers.

Actually, mid-listers haven’t gone away, they’re read in the e-book world.  

E-book authors are also published in Print On Demand paperback format, but these are not mass market paperbacks, so they’re always going to be dearer to buy.

Print reviews of mid-list authors in e-book or POD are virtually non-existent.

Now, however, new authors and mid-list authors can market their books via the social media. Now, they can gain reviews online at online bookstores, and in various book blogs and Facebook groups. Indeed, mid-list authors can obtain reviews where before they never could.

You can probably see where this is heading.

‘A boy has to peddle his book.’ – Truman Capote.

Authors need to market online, because that’s where your book will be visible most.

Yes, authors love to have their books on bookshelves in bookstores. But stop to think about it. Unless you’re a big name, who commands considerable shelf-space, you’ll be lucky to see one or two copies of your book there – and they won’t be there long, because every week thousands more books are published, all fighting for that same limited shelf-space; your book’s life on the shop’s shelf is measured in weeks, if not days. Online shelf-space is slightly more egalitarian – new unknowns can rub shoulders with the famous by dint of the category or selection of the online browser.

I’m a writer, not a salesperson! That’s the cry of many authors. Fair comment. But it won’t wash in the floodtide of competition out there. You’ll just be sunk – almost without trace.

Primarily, I believe the majority of writers have to write because they want to be read; payment for honest toil is welcome, of course. But we need to be read – and unless we produce a tome that sells by word of mouth, we’re going to have to market it. No, don’t use the sales pitch of a snake-oil salesman – ‘a wonderful account of…’ Be honest about what your book offers; it won’t be for everyone – so think about the niche market it will appeal to, and try aiming your endeavours there. If you get honest reviews, quote them, because the reviewers have been good enough to read and comment on your work, after all.

‘A book is like a garden carried in the pocket’ – Chinese proverb.  Now, the author has to sow the seeds to see his book grow in popularity and readership.

This doesn’t mean posting a blatant sales pitch every day on Facebook. Besides being irritating to regular browsers, they’ll be deleted from email links without reading. You need to genuinely connect with your online readership. If a subject crops up that relates to your book’s theme or subject, fine, give it a plug, but don’t belabour the point. The most annoying adverts on TV are the ‘shout ads’ that demand you use this, buy that; I’m surprised they’re still around, surely they turn off most viewers?

Bear in mind what Isaac Asimov once said: ‘Writing is the most wonderful and satisfying task in the world, but it does have one or two significant flaws. Among those flaws is the fact that a writer can almost never make a living at it.’ You might, if you grasp the marketing nettle. If you don’t, then you probably won’t.

 

H.G. Wells and Mickey Spillane

What have the following authors got in common?

Aileen Armitage, Isaac Asimov, Tracy Chevalier, Charles Dickens, George MacDonald Fraser, Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, Gabriel García Márquez, J.B. Priestley, Annie Proulx,  Georges Simenon, Mickey Spillane, Jim Thompson, J.R.R. Tolkein, Anthony Trollope, Mark Twain, Mary Webb, H.G. Wells, Oscar Wilde, Jacqueline Winspear.

H.G. Wells

 

Mickey Spillane

 

They’re all mentioned in Write a western in 30 Days…

Why? They haven’t written westerns!

Writers should read as well as write. That’s a given.

Naturally, they should be familiar with their preferred genre. But to expand knowledge of fiction writing, to learn, always learn, it’s essential to read outside the genre as well.

Almost all published authors can provide insights into the handling of emotion, conflict and atmosphere; they can show how scenes come alive, how description draws the reader into the fictional world. Some of their personal stories can inspire, such as Aileen Armitage’s and Asimov’s, while others will show writers that the pitfalls faced are not new, they’ve been encountered and overcome before.

As several reviews stipulate, Write a western in 30 Days – with plenty of bullet points isn’t simply about writing a western. It’s a very useful guide about writing genre fiction.

 

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