Writing – research – Toxicology-01

No self-respecting crime writer would be without their guide to poisons – the so-called coward’s weapon.

The ancient Greeks called the herb monkshood or wolfsbane “stepmother’s poison”. The citizens of Imperial Rome were forbidden to grow it in their gardens. Yet poison usage was so common that the rich employed food tasters.

There are many known natural poisons, mostly of plant origin. Their attraction – besides their efficacy – was that they were undetectable in a dead body.

More recently the mineral arsenious oxide – arsenic – became readily available for poisoning rats and other vermin. It was the most common substance employed for murder, its faintly sweet taste not noticeable in food; the lethal effects were attributed to acute gastric disease.

In 1836 a simple and definite test for the presence of arsenic in a dead body finally became available, but to get to that point took several chemists several decades. In 1775 the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovered that when arsenious oxide was treated with nitric acid and zinc  granules, it became a poisonous gas (subsequently named arsine). Later, German chemist Johann Metzger showed that if arsenious oxide were heated with charcoal a mirror-like deposit would condense on a cold plate held over it; the element arsenic. In 1810 in Berlin Dr Valentine Rose extracted the stomach contents of a suspected victim of poisoning, dried the liquid to a white powder, and heated it with charcoal to obtain the characteristic mirror; thus the Metzger test proved sufficient evidence against a domestic servant who had poisoned several of her employers.

Then in 1832 an elderly English farmer, George Bodle, was alleged to have been poisoned by his grandson John. James Marsh, a former assistant to the eminent scientist Michael Faraday, was asked to demonstrate at the trial that Bodle’s coffee had contained arsenic. He did so, but the jury were not convinced so found the grandson not guilty. Frustrated, Marsh went back to Scheele’s initial discovery and developed the Marsh test – treating the suspect matter with sulfuric acid and zinc, he passed the arsine that was evolved through a narrow glass tube, which was heated over a short distance. The arsenic mirror formed further along the tube; any undecomposed gas was burned at the end of the tube and formed a second mirror on a porcelain plate. As little as 0.02 milligrams of arsenic could be detected in this manner, and in 1836 Marsh was awarded the Gold Medal of the Society of Arts for his technique.

 
The first forensic use of the Marsh test was made by Mathieu Orfila (1787-1853), a Spaniard. In later years, he wrote, ‘The central fact that struck me, that had never been perceived by anyone else … was that toxicology does not yet exist.’

Mateu Josep Bonaventura Orfila - Wikipedia commons

 
He published his first Treatise of General Toxicology in 1813. In 1819 he was appointed professor of medical jurisprudence at Paris University.
 
In 1840 Marie Lafarge, a 22-year-old was accused of murdering her husband. Prosecution declared that arsenic was found in the food, but not in the organs of the body. Orfila used the Marsh test and proved conclusively that the previous tests were botched. Furthermore, he stated; ‘I shall prove, first, that there is arsenic in the body of Lafarge, second that this arsenic comes neither from the reagents with which we worked nor from the earth surrounding the coffin, also that the arsenic we found is not the arsenic component that is naturally found in every human body.’ He did and Marie Lafarge was found guilty and sentenced to prison with hard labour.
 
More to follow in due course.

 

A writer’s research - Noises off

Photos - Wikipedia commons

Spain has the dubious distinction of being the second loudest country in the world, second to Japan. This prompted me to write a story about it. The result was ‘Big Noise’, a Leon Cazador tale which addresses this serious issue but also injects humour, usually at the expense of the noisy miscreant: here’s the beginning…

“You’ve come to the right person, Mr. Santos!” Darren Atkins said, speaking louder than was necessary in the tapas bar that overlooked the Plaza Mayor. “My product is the best on Spain’s south coast, take my word for it! I’m the big noise around here!”

Every sentence tended to end with an exclamation. This self-styled important person was big in other respects as well. Even when I use my real name, Leon Cazador, rather than my undercover alias of Carlos Santos, I stand six feet high in my open-toed sandals; yet Atkins was a couple of inches taller than me. His Hawaiian-style short-sleeved shirt bulged due to his big muscles and shoulders. Because he had shaved his head, his big ears appeared more prominent and tended to press forward like little radar. I wondered if that feature prompted him to go into the acoustics business.

“I’m pleased to hear it,” I said, nodding. “I only want to use the best equipment.”

“Too right! Sure, in the UK, I was just a little fish in a big pond, but out here, I’m a big fish in a little pond! Know what I mean?” At least his questions ended on a lower note.

“I think you mean that you can produce the right sound, no?”

“Too right, Mr. Santos. Or should I call you Carlos, eh?”

“Carlos is okay. As I told you on the telephone, I want a good sound system, the best I can afford.”

“You’ve come to the right man and the right company!” He ran a big hand over his cranium’s stubble. “As the name says, Big Noise is big.”

I stroked my false moustache as if in thought. “That is what I want. But it must be within the right parameters, according to the safe recommendations, no?”

“Hey, you don’t want to take any notice of all that so-called safety stuff. Statistics! In the history of the world, what did statisticians ever do, eh, I ask you?” He shook his head. “My equipment will knock your punters’ socks off!”

I glanced at my feet. “Even if they only wear sandals?”

Atkins chuckled good-humouredly. “A sense of humor! I like that in a foreigner! The French, they’re a bit too serious for my liking!”

“Thank you, I think.”

“Right, then,” he said, rubbing his big hands together, “let’s talk specifications, shall we?” From his jeans’ back pocket he pulled out a pen and a small spiral-bound writing pad. “Big question is, how much noise do you want to make?”

– from Spanish Eye (see below)

***

The research

Much of the information here was obtained from Wikipedia. This is a table of decibels raised by certain machines and other sources:

 
140 dB          Fireworks/Plane taking off/Pain threshold
120 dB          Fire engine
100 dB          Pneumatic drill
90 dB            Disco
85 dB            Levels above this may harm our hearing
70 dB            Vacuum Cleaner
50 dB            Boiling Kettle/Rainfall
40 dB            Refrigerator
30 dB            Bedroom at night (depends on what’s happening, who’s snoring etc?)
10 dB            Breathing
 
Loud noise can cause hearing problems, but it can also cause annoyance, which leads to stress.  Noise interferes with concentration and learning ability, it disrupts the sleep pattern, and it has even been used as a weapon in military or siege situations.  The notion that we become used to noise is debatable; those habitually in a noisy environment may be in denial; one good aspect of health and safety has been the insistence on ear-defenders when using equipment such as pneumatic drills.

Traffic noise accounts for 66% of the total noise generated outside dwellings in the UK, with 32 million people being exposed to high levels of noise (55 - 75 decibels); so, judging by the above table, it’s safe – if not endured for long periods, I suspect. Traffic noise is caused by engine noise and the vibration of tyres on the road surface; at speeds of over 40mph vibration from tyres on the road surface is dominant. Research suggests that noise-reducing modern asphalts are the most effective way to reduce traffic noise at source. The material is laid in such a way as to achieve a very even running surface which reduces tyre vibration. Conventional types of road surface use projecting aggregate (crushed stone) to provide skid resistance, which cause tyre vibration. Modern asphalts have a 'negative texture' with skid resistance provided by gaps in what is otherwise an even surface resulting in minimum tyre vibration and a dramatic reduction in traffic noise. Lower speeds can bring about a reduction in noise levels. Research from the Conservation Law Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, showed that a 12-15mph increase in speed results in noise levels rising by 4-5 decibels. This doesn't apply when speeds are lower than 35-40mph when most of the noise is created by the engine. However, a car travelling at 31mph makes one-tenth as much noise as one going at 56mph. The noise from vehicles moving at speed is particularly noticeable in rural areas. Traffic calming has become common in urban areas. It is usually done for safety reasons. Yet it can increase noise levels if it results in more 'stop/go' vehicle movements. Traffic volumes continue to rise, particularly in rural areas, despite government efforts to encourage local authorities to stabilise or reduce traffic in their areas – government now requires local authorities to reduce traffic on their local roads, but, so far, has shied away from national traffic reduction policies.

 
Hearing Impairment. For most adults, a one-off noise has to be very loud to damage their hearing.  Probably it has to reach 140 decibels. For children, it is lower – around 120 decibels. (Toys may exceed that level when children hold them very close to their faces and ears). Noise levels of anything over 75 decibels can damage a person’s hearing if exposed to it regularly over a prolonged period. This has implications for large sections of the population:

Rock concerts: 100-120 decibels
Night Clubs: 95-110 decibels
Personal Stereos: 80-110 decibels
Jet taking off: 110-115 decibels
Car at 50km/h: 60-80 decibels
HGV at 50km/h: 75-100 decibels
I would add film directors – TV and the movies – who clearly have impaired hearing and force the audience to listen to foreground music that obliterates the dialogue of the actors.

When exposed to prolonged noise on a regular basis, hearing impairment is gradual.  Dulled hearing or tinnitus (ringing in the ears) are often the first signs of something going wrong. After a rock concert 63-73% of young people report dulled hearing and/or tinnitus.  After a visit to a night club 47-66% do so. After listening to their personal stereo, it is 17% (3).

 
Sleep Disturbance. The WHO calculates that if people’s sleep is not to be affected, then continuous noise heard indoors shouldn’t exceed 30 decibels. There are two important exceptions to this: low-frequency noise which is not 'loud', but which takes the form of a low hum (an air-conditioning system, for example); and environments where there is a combination of noise and vibration – eg heavy lorries of trains. To achieve 45 decibels indoors, outdoor sound levels should not exceed 55-60 decibels.  Night flights exceed this limit over 10 miles from the airport.
 
Not everybody is woken by noisy events.  Older people, and noise sensitive people, are more likely to be affected; children are less likely to be woken up, but show a larger heart rate response during sleep; some people can adapt to noise at night. And of course there are shift workers who sleep during the day, even with all the noise that abounds then; their bodies seem to cope; or do they? Even if people are not woken by noise, there is considerable evidence that the body is being affected.  It can cause increases in the heart-rate and blood pressure levels; alter the depth and quality of the sleep; and cause changes in respiratory movements.
 
Acute noise can lead to temporary changes in blood pressure and heart rate. After prolonged exposure, susceptible individuals may develop permanent problems such as hypertension and heart rate associated with high blood pressure levels. There is evidence that these effects can be experienced with constant exposure to noise levels from 65-70 decibels upwards. Similar physical effects can take place as a result of exposure to low-frequency noise.
 
Annoyance is a big issue. Noise can be so annoying that it blights the quality of life of millions of people. Fine, somebody likes a certain kind of music, but they shouldn’t foist it upon their neighbours: this is the ‘ghetto blaster mentality’. There’s a debate over what constitutes "the onset of community annoyance" – 50, 55 or 57 decibels.  Interestingly, ‘over 600,000 people experience noise of 54 decibels or more from aircraft using Heathrow Airport.’ Annoyance from noise can lead to anger, disappointment, dissatisfaction, withdrawal, helplessness, depression, anxiety, distraction, agitation or exhaustion; and of course there have been murders as a result, notably in the US.

***

Leon Cazador makes an aside further into the story:

'And yet, there are laws about noise levels, even in Spain. Of course, respect for authority is pretty far down the list for the majority of Spaniards. Many well remember those years under the dictator, when the walls had ears. Perhaps that was why people shouted—just to prove they weren’t whispering and didn’t have something to hide. Now, of course, I wonder if it’s because they were deafened at a young age with all those marvellous fiestas.'

 

***

Spanish Eye, released by Crooked Cat Publishing is available as a paperback for £4.99 ($6.99) and much less for the e-book versions.

 

 

Paperback - Amazon UK here

Paperback - Amazon COM here

e-books:-

US: http://amazon.com/dp/B00GXK5C6S
Canada: http://amazon.ca/dp/B00GXK5C6S
UK: http://amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GXK5C6S
France: http://amazon.fr/dp/B00GXK5C6S
Germany: http://amazon.de/dp/B00GXK5C6S
Austria: http://amazon.at/dp/B00GXK5C6S
Italy: http://amazon.it/dp/B00GXK5C6S
Spain: http://amazon.es/dp/B00GXK5C6S
Japan: http://amazon.jp/dp/B00GXK5C6S

 

http://www.crookedcatbooks.com/

 

Blog guest - Alison Morton - roaming through history

Today, my blog guest is Alison Morton, who writes Roman-themed alternate history thrillers with strong heroines and lives in France. No relation. Welcome, Alison!

First of all, thank you, Nik, for hosting me today. We Mortons must stick together!

Alison in Rome - copyright Alison Morton, one-time use for this blog

 

My pleasure, Alison. There seem to be a lot of us about, too. Today's date is appropriate, as, on May 11, 330 Byzantium was renamed Nova Roma, though the name didn’t stick and instead Constantinople became common usage. What inspired you to use that form of New Rome for your series of thrillers?

Choosing ‘Roma Nova’ for my series was very pragmatic. It’s the Latin for ‘New Rome’, but with the classical positioning of the adjective after the noun. When the first settlers founded their new colony it had a much longer name, as most Roman settlements did, Colonia Apulinensis Roma Nova. Apulius was their leader and it was his late wife’s father who gave them their first land. But that’s a mouthful so copying prevailing practice they shortened it to ‘Roma Nova’.

 

I’ve always been attracted to alternate history books and stories and you mention some in your website about Roma Nova history. It can’t be an easy task, setting up changes in history as we didn’t know it. How did you tackle that?

Well, you start by studying the social, economic and political conditions at the time when the alternate timeline split from our real one, technically called the ‘point of divergence’.  This gives you a baseline. Rome changed quite a bit during its 1229 year existence in the West. By 395 AD, when the first Roma Novans set out, solidi had replaced sestertii and denarii, for instance. Regional government was localising with ‘barbarian’ warlords acting less like client kings of Rome and more like allied or even autonomous leaders with fully delegated powers.

Projecting your alternate historical line forward from its divergence point needs to follow historical logic. You can’t cater for every eventuality over hundreds of years or you’d never write a word! Think about the basic values of your society and work through how, as a people, they would react to events or push them forward. All peoples/nations run through different cycles during their history; even Roma Nova suffered from downturns! And you need a great deal of thinking time to build your world; you can’t make things up ‘on the hoof’ and expect to keep it plausible. As J K Rowling has said, it has to be all worked out first in your head.

Who is your favourite character from one of your books and why?

Of course, I love Carina, my protagonist; I even interviewed her. But equally intriguing are the triangle of men around her: Conrad, her husband, undoubtedly the love of her life; Lurio, the cop, also her colleague and ex-lover; and Apollodorus, criminal and ex-associate who keeps his own counsel until one day in PERFIDITAS...

What are you working on now, besides SUCCESSIO?
 Book 4 of the Roma Nova series! I will be announcing details in my next newsletter, but there are at least three more books planned and we’ll still be in Roma Nova!

How much research goes into each book?

A lot! Reaching into the past means getting inside the heads of the characters, imagining what they see in their everyday world, what they smell, eat and touch. If you set your story in a different country, you can visit the places the characters would live in, smell the sea, touch the plants, walk under the hot blue sky, or freeze in a biting wind. But if you invent that country, then you go about it differently.

You need to think about your country’s approximate location and research real countries nearby for scenery, weather, transport, farming plus industry, political trends, architecture, even the type of cuisine. Roma Novans eat a diet approximately Italian/central European, but with quite a lot of echoes back to ancient times e.g. honey cake.

Luckily, I’ve breathed in history since I was a kid, particularly the Roman type. I even ‘went back to school’ to take a history masters’ thirty years after my first degree. So I have a reasonable grounding in the aspects of Roman history I want to draw on to start the story.

 

Constantine Arch, Rome - copyright Alison Morton, one-time use for this blog

I write the basics of a complex scene, then mark the text up in bright blue square brackets which gives me a visual signal to research more. For example, my 21^st century Romans follow the traditional system of burning their dead. I knew how the pyres were built and that libations were thrown into the flames, so I could write the scene. But then I went back to the sources and refreshed my memory, I saw I’d totally forgotten that the family party has to walk three times round the pyre.  Basically, you need to check everything and if there’s even a tiny worm of doubt, check again.

Many thanks, Alison. I might add that there is a great deal more interesting detail in your blog (see below). Now, please tell us about your books.

Well, Roma Nova started with INCEPTIO (Kindle version on special officer this weekend until Monday 12 May!), then continued in PERFIDITAS. The third in series, SUCCESSIO will be out in early June.

Roma Nova – the last remnant of the Roman Empire that has survived into the 21st century – is at peace. Carina Mitela, the heir of a leading family, but choosing the life of an officer in the Praetorian Guard Special Forces, is not so sure.

She senses danger crawling towards her when she encounters a strangely self-possessed member of the unit hosting their exchange exercise in Britain. When a blackmailing letter arrives from a woman claiming to be her husband Conrad’s lost daughter and Conrad tries to shut Carina out, she knows the threat is real.

Trying to resolve a young man’s indiscretion twenty-five years before turns into a nightmare that not only threatens to destroy all the Mitelae but also attacks the core of the imperial family itself. With her enemy holding a gun to the head of the heir to the imperial throne, Carina has to make the hardest decision of her life…

About Alison

Alison Morton holds a bachelor’s degree in French, German and Economics, a masters’ in history and lives in France with her husband.

A ‘Roman nut’ since age 11, she has visited sites throughout Europe including the alma mater, Rome. But it was the mosaics at Ampurias (Spain) that started her wondering what a modern Roman society would be like if run by women…

INCEPTIO, the first in the Roma Nova series, was shortlisted for the 2013 International Rubery Book Award and awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion^® in September 2013. The next in series, PERFIDITAS, published October 2013, has also just been honoured with the B.R.A.G. Medallion^®.  Alison is working on the third book SUCCESSIO which will be out in June 2014.

Alison's links  

Connect with Alison on her blog: http://alison-morton.com/blog/

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton

 

Find where you can buy Roma Nova stories (multiple retailers)

INCEPTIO:  http://alison-morton.com/inceptio/how-to-buy-inceptio/

PERFIDITAS:  http://alison-morton.com/perfiditas/how-to-buy-perfiditas/

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPhyUE0JvE

 

 

A writer’s research – Morocco

When researching a place for a novel, it takes a little time. Even if you’ve been there, it’s prudent to do some research to back up reminiscences, as memory can prove faulty. True, research sources can be at fault, too. The ultimate fall-back argument is that “it’s fiction”, so artistic licence applies!

Still, it’s good to strive for as much accuracy as possible.

I’ve started my next novel (one of two works in progress), which is predominantly set in Morocco. I’ve been there, but need more detail than I could dredge from memory and photographs. A great deal of the following won’t appear in the book, but it’s certainly interesting!

Tangier

A fascinating history; this port has been inhabited for over 2,500 years, a strategic point on the strait that separates Europe from Africa. They all been and gone: Phoenicians, Romans, Visigoths, Arabs, Portuguese, British and Spanish, among others. Tangier changed hands often, until the English were ousted in 1679.

The Moroccans had control then until the mid-19^th century, when the port became the object of great rivalry between the French, Spanish, Italians, British and Germans. The situation was partially resolved by the Treaty of Algeciras in 1906, which meant the British were paid off with Egypt and the Italians with Libya, leaving the three remaining powers vying over the spoils. Morocco became a French protectorate in 1912, with Spain receiving control of parts of the north.

Then in 1923 the status of Tangier and the surrounding countryside altered again and was declared an ‘international zone’ controlled by resident diplomatic agents of France, Spain, Britain, Portugal, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, Italy and the USA. (A few other powers had got in on the act, clearly...) And that was more or less how it stayed until Morocco received independence from France and Spain in 1956 after years of violent struggle.. 

Literary links

Tangier has always had a reputation for notoriety. Samuel Pepys complained of the sleaziness and debauchery of the then British possession. Mark Twain visited in 1867.

‘When a man steals cattle, they cut off his right hand and left leg and nail them up in the marketplace as a warning to everybody. Their surgery is not artistic. They slice around the bone a little, then break off the limb. Sometimes the patient gets well; but, as a general thing, he don't. However, the Moorish heart is stout. The Moors were always brave. These criminals undergo the fearful operation without a wince, without a tremor of any kind, without a groan! No amount of suffering can bring down the pride of a Moor or make him shame his dignity with a cry.’ – The Innocents Abroad, Chapter 9. (1869)

Paul Bowles (author of The Sheltering Sky) landed here in the 1930s, made it his home in 1947 and his home became a stop-over point for visitors to the city. He was encouraged to come to Tangier by Gertrude Stein. He studied and wrote an account of Berber music. Playwright Tennessee Williams visited Bowles for a time, as did Truman Capote. Then in the 1950s the Beat writers descended – William Burroughs, Alan Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Jean Genet and Samuel Beckett spent time in Tangier too. English playwright Joe Orton spent the summer of 66-67 just outside Tangier with his lover Kenneth Halliwell. Becoming jealous of Orton’s success and the loot he earned, Halliwell killed Orton and himself in London shortly after a trip to Tangier.

 

Heads up

Moulay Ismail, the second sultan of the Alawite dynasty (which still rules today), certainly marked his ascent to power at the age of twenty-five in 1672. As a warning to unruly tribes, he sent the heads of 10,000 slain enemies to adorn the walls of the two great imperial capitals, Fes and Marrakesh. His first twenty years of rule were filled with bloody campaigns of “pacification”. More than 30,000 people are said to have died at his hands alone.

He needed plenty of labour to complete his building plans. For example, for the construction he ordered in Meknes, he used 25,000 Christian prisoners as slave labour, as well as 30,000 common criminals. His great stables housed 12,000 horses.

 
He was denied the hand of Louis XIV of France’s daughter, Princess of Conti. This probably didn’t distress him too much, since he had between 360 to 500 wives and concubines (sources vary) and 800 children by the time he died.

Print is mightier than the electron

Well, maybe for a little while longer, anyway.

Ricoh Americas Corporation researchers interviewed over 800 readers and discovered that, regardless of media hype regarding electronic publishing, ‘Nearly 70% of consumers feel it is unlikely that they will give up on printed books by 2016.’  Why they chose 2016 is anybody’s guess. Anyway, the majority of those questioned claimed to have an ‘emotional, visceral and sensory attachment to printed books. Despite their perceived popularity, 60% of e-books downloaded in the US are never read.

Apparently, since 2012, the growth of e-books has slowed noticeably as dedicated e-reader sales decline and tablets are increased which offer alternative forms of entertainment.

College students prefer printed textbooks rather than e-books as they ‘help with concentration’.

The top three reasons given for preferring printed books are: lack of eye-strain, the look and feel of the physical book, and the ability to add the book to a library or collection. (I make that four reasons, since ‘look’ and ‘feel’ are two separate sensations. [Sourced this from a market item in Writers’ News, February 2014.]

I’m happy with my home library of about 4,000 printed books and 150 e-books. I’m surprised that college students don’t seem to have taken to the e-book, as the search facility must be useful in their learning process. Both media have their place and although it isn’t mentioned I suspect that e-readers have encouraged young people to read. And of course the sales in erotic fiction has climbed considerably since nobody can see the book’s possibly lurid cover!

 

Happy reading!

 

My e-books are:

Blood of the Dragon Trees (Crooked Cat Publishing)

 

Spanish Eye (Crooked Cat Publishing)

 

Write a western in 30 Days (John Hunt Publishing)

 

Bullets for a Ballot (BTAP Publishing)

 

Death is Another Life (out of print)

 

When the Flowers are in Bloom (Solstice Publishing)

 

My paperbacks are:

Blood of the Dragon Trees (Crooked Cat Publishing)

 

Spanish Eye (Crooked Cat Publishing)

 

Write a western in 30 Days (John Hunt Publishing)

 

Death is Another Life (out of print)

 

When the Flowers are in Bloom (Solstice Publishing)

 

 

'The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.' - Jane Austen

 

FFB - Write Away

WRITE AWAY by Elizabeth George was first published in 2005, and is still a useful and interesting writing guide.

from Amazon.co.uk here

 

Born in 1949, Elizabeth George wrote since the age of seven yet tended to avoid writing seriously as an adult until much later, finally getting her third attempt at a novel published in 1988. From that point on, she has written a novel almost every year, to great acclaim. She has won several writing awards and taught writing techniques. Much of her writing experience and teaching has been distilled into this excellent book.

Writers must read. It’s surprising how many would-be writers hardly ever read books. They can read and speak English, so they can write, can’t they? Well, probably not... They should read books on the subjects that interest them, the types of books they want to write, as well as books on how to write. In my time I’ve received so many manuscripts that lack even the basic understanding of page layout, sentence construction, paragraph formatting and punctuation – and yet all these basics are plain to see in any printed novel if the fledgling writers bothered to look.

Like all art forms, writing has to be practised and learned. Good writing is a combination of the craft and the art. You can’t teach someone to use the right vocabulary, to paint word-pictures in the reader’s mind – that has to come from within. But you can teach the technique of writing – and this is what George does with the aid of many examples from her own and other writers, such as PD James, Stephen King, EM Forster, Harper Lee, Toni Morrison, Martin Cruz Smith and Dennis Lehane.

There isn’t a right way to write a novel. There are thousands of authors and probably all of them have different approaches. But what the majority do have is bum glue - discipline. If you don’t sit down and write, then you don’t get the work done.

That’s the other thing to recognise – it’s work – hard work. Just because the writers enjoy what they do, it doesn’t mean that it comes easy to them. They have to apply themselves. And this shines through with Elizabeth George. She’s meticulous in her pre-writing planning.

Yes, you need to know what you’re going to write before you start, who you’re going to write about, what it will concern and probably how it will end. That requires planning and research. Not every writer plans in detail or even at all, but George advocates that the whole process of writing is far easier if you have a plan and she starts off by getting the idea then expanding on it to see if it has legs, then concocting the primary event that will propel the story from its beginning – in essence, the plot.

Then you need to people the world your story depicts – list the characters both generically and also specifically. By doing this, you’ll reveal relationships and sub-plots you hadn’t thought of, which is often a great feeling. You must always bear in mind that character is story and dialogue is character, too.

 
Then comes the research. The great danger with research is that it becomes so interesting – and time-consuming – that you never get round to the writing phase!

Up to now she still hasn’t begun the book. It’s still going on in her head in the subconscious. Now she creates the characters in depth then the settings – which include landscape – the physical places and the inner landscape of the characters. This is followed by a detailed step outline which will probably contain phrases and dialogue to be used in the actual writing, but it’s all steam-of-consciousness writing at this stage. A plot outline – where the logic of the storyline is checked - is the last preparation. All this has involved the craft of writing.

 
Now comes the decision where to start the novel – at the beginning, before the beginning or after the beginning, where the beginning is the primary event, the main plot. Once you’ve made that decision, it’s time to start writing the book!

The first rough draft of the novel is, to her, the easy bit – because she’s done all the background and familiarisation. The story flows and she can concentrate on the art side of writing. Usually, she writes three drafts – the third being the finished novel, ready for the publisher.

 
Of considerable use are her examples and guides in the final section. Here she reveals the Seven-step Story Line, breaking down the structure of a novel into seven major elements. Then she discusses The Writer’s Journey by Chris Vogler (a book I’d recommend for all budding writers or scriptwriters). This model actually divides a story into twelve parts that follow a pattern long-established in Western mythology.
 
If you aspire to being a writer and you haven’t read any ‘How to’ books on the subject, this is a good place to start; if you have read similar books, this is still worthy of your attention. Aspiring or accomplished, as a writer you’ll take away something from this book.

So, if you fancy yourself as a writer, read. In particular, read this book and learn from it.

***

Of course, if you want another viewpoint, you could try my book Write a Western in 30 Days, which reviewers point out is useful to writers of all genres, not just westerns!

 

E-book available from Amazon.co.uk here

and from Amazon.com from here

Editing tips - Just the facts, Ma'am

Just the Facts, Ma’am

It’s so easy to become wrapped up in the interesting facts in your research for your novel or short story. Yes, often I need to do research for a short story, too. The danger is not only spending time on the research rather than writing, but also in extracting too much information. Yes, it’s fascinating, but is it all pertinent to the story and the characters? Does it help move the story forward? Probably not.

Of course, this doesn’t stop some authors who commit that annoying sin of lumbering their readers with the dreaded ‘infodump’ – literally, paragraph upon paragraph of fact, information gleaned during research that the author considers so interesting that you’re bound to want to know all about it too.

Sure, some bestsellers do it – but you aren’t a bestseller, so be kind to your reader and avoid falling into the infodump trap. Really, infodumping is lazy writing. Be circumspect with the research details you use.

       
Naturally, you want to divulge the pertinent facts in some manner. Not as cold author intrusive text. Preferably via character exposition, and not directly in the narrative. Even here, you have to tread carefully. Some authors think if they disguise their infodump text in dialogue, it will be all right. Not so. It still seems stilted, unreal and declares that the author was too indolent to weave the research material into the fabric of the story.

- Extract from Write a Western in 30 Days (p22)

'Morton has a brilliant way of condensing a great deal of information into manageable junks without sacrificing clarity or content. The resulting book works both as master class and as a refresher course.' - Amazon.com review, September 2013.

'This has to be the best book about writing I've read for ages, even if the title is a misnomer. It should be 'Write a Novel in 30 Days', as it covers all the key aspects beginner writers need to know about the skill of writing any novel, not just Westerns. I have recently completed my first book and wish I'd had this to hand when I started! Excellent; full of easily digestible tips.' - Amazon.co.uk review, July 2013.