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It’s a Wrap

Ferret in London

Thirty months ago I set out to write a novel, not really having a clear idea of where to begin. Being the sort of chap who learns best by doing, I threw myself headfirst into the task of producing a framework with major plot points. It took six weeks to create the novel’s back story and the character arcs. The writing commenced shortly afterwards and I proceeded at pace, adhering assiduously to the plan. Two months in, I published some excerpts to this blog and after considering the feedback, realised that what I’d proposed was: a) far too long for a first book; and b) was not going to fly in its current form.

Rather than soldier on, I changed track, rethought the plot and cut the size down, turning one book into two. In the process, I was forced to edit out two of my favourite scenes. That really hurt.

The first draft took nine months nearly full time. I spent roughly 4 days a week, 8 hours a day writing, and 2 days a week reading advice columns, character hints and other writer’s blogs. All very useful stuff and I urge anyone who’s struggling with a first draft to do the same. The ending was all a bit rushed, I needed to get it finished so I could go back to work. So much was missing, so many loose ends untied. That was June 2013.

Steady, cowboy

Two years later and the second draft proper is finished, with the ending now complete. One of the advice columns I read – I can’t remember who said it, or I’d post a link – but paraphrased it goes like this: think of yourself not as an author but a pilot. The audience has climbed aboard your plane, participated in the take off, flown the flight. If you’ve done the catering right, they’re all still aboard (apart from the ones who freaked and parachuted out early on). Now, they’re trusting you the pilot to land the effing plane, so you better not disappoint. In the case of Ferret, the plane has an outbreak of snakes, there’s a pair of armed terrorists aboard, food poisoning has incapacitated the flight crew, the landing gear is jammed and there’s a storm directly ahead. Oh, lordy…

Truth be told, it’s the most fun I’ve had in years. Well, since IBM declared me persona non grata for producing a series of films, with the participation of their top brass, which supposed the firm was run like the mafia. They terminated my contract and tried to impound and incinerate every one of the DVDs. Fortunately, they failed. Anyone who know me knows that every once in a while I have to create some noise and cause trouble. It’s a genetic trait – I blame my father for instilling in his children a healthy disrespect for the establishment and their organs of justice. Company newsletters were my thing for a while. Three times I went too far for the liking of management, collecting one written and one verbal warning. Fidelity Investments took great exception to a piece about tattooing barcodes on the back of their employee’s necks and checking them in and out with a barcode reader, for security purposes. Shortly after that I moved on to short stories published in various magazines, regarding working practices in IT, with names changed to protect the guilty. The guilty may not have spotted themselves, but their co-workers did, which forced me to switch to a series of pen names.

All in the Edit

Ferret ups the ante considerably.

Whilst it is a work of fiction, it takes many real life experiences garnered from hanging about with consultants, working in high finance and on confidential government projects. I’ve not set out to spill any secrets, merely write a tale of how these organisations behave under the covers. Believe me, this is a full-on cage rattler – lord knows, I’ve taken enough time to get there.

I’m now commencing the final edit, which I’m really looking forward to. I know from making movies, that the editing studio is where those six hours of footage become 5 minutes of freaky fun. Hard work looms, but I can’t wait to see what comes out the other end.

Tags: blog, creative writing, fiction, novel, writing, writing tips

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Categories Ferret Files, Uncategorized, Writing Tips

Ferret goes to Highgate Cemetery

17 Jun

Here’s a sneak peek at the second illustration for the Ferret Files, courtesy of my good pal Richard Argent over at www.argentart.co.uk.

We were working on this scene, busily rewatching old Hammer Horror films when the sad news of Sir Christopher Lee’s death was announced. I suspect that Ferret & Emily may well be making their way into the world of merchandising…

Tags: artwork, blog, creative writing, detective, fiction, hammer horror, illustrations, novel, paranormal, Sir Christopher Lee, strange tales

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Categories Artwork, Ferret Files, Hammer Horror

Boo to Banksters

10 Jun

Bankster: what a great Portmanteau word which succinctly communicates everything that’s rotten with our current financial system.

The first time I laid eyes on the City of London, it was the early 80s and everyone wore bowler hats. Fast forward to the late 80s, when I started working there for real, and double breasted suits with red braces were the fashion of the day. I confess, I couldn’t get into one of those suits – immortalized by 1930s Chicago – fast enough, although red braces were a step too far. The City was pure madness, fueled by a mixture of greed, never ending bonuses, drugs, champagne, fast cars and loose women. Sadly for me, I didn’t live that lifestyle, I simply helped support it with IT systems and software – anything to make stocks and futures move faster. Looking back, it’s probably a good job I wasn’t a trader, as I’d either be dead or else hulking around a collection of knackered organs, bludgeoned into failure through massive overindulgence.

Michael Douglas as Gordon ‘Greed is Good’ Gecko in the movie Wall St epitomized the world of finance in that period of time; more recently the role of monied bad boy was reprized by Leonard Di Caprio in the movie Wolf of Wall St. Both films portray the period as one massive hedonistic binge, which resonates with my experiences. We all knew there were some bad people working the system, but they were our bad people, people who’d fought their way up from the bottom, displacing the Old Boys in their bowler hats. It was all one big splurge of harmless fun.

Somewhere along the route that all changed. Once the bankers in their bowler hats had been thoroughly displaced, the financialization of everything began in earnest. Our people, with their wide boy attitudes and disregard for regulations paved the way for an influx of used car salesmen and outright crooks, who in turn begat bigger crooks. Under their tutelage, finance became a massive part of the economy, the search forever on for ways to make ever bigger profits. It should come as no surprise to discover that once the real crooks found their way in, they clamored for looser regulations. When government employed useful tax inspectors, the financiers offered them more money to change sides. The bought the regulators; they employed rocket scientists to create financial mechanisms that no-one but other rocket scientists can understand. The party went from a few mates and a few beers, to neighborhood riot, advertised on Facebook. Instead of stopping it when called, the police joined in and the party got larger still.

And here we are today.

If you follow the financial news you’ll see fines for LIBOR rigging, fines for rigging the currency market, all shrouded in a culture of denial. It was one bad apple, guv – honest. The truth is, the banksters moved in and slowly but surely they captured every market and bought off the opposition. They hypnotized government, then bought them off too. Rigging markets is like you and your teenage mates drinking a bit of your dad’s scotch when he’s out. To hide the crime you top the bottle up with water. You get away with it, so you do it again and again, until it becomes impossible to stop. Soon, the scotch is all gone. So you fill the bottle with cold tea and hide it at the back of the booze cabinet. Then you start on the gin and vodka. Pretty soon the entire booze cabinet is colored water. Next you spend all your time thinking up ways to keep your dad out. In the end, you leave home and when the crime is discovered, blame it all on your baby brother. I know he’s only 5 dad, but hell can he drink!

I propose that the international crime syndicate that captured our financial system operates as a secret society, thoroughly ingrained in the City of London and Wall Street. Ferret, the hero of The Ferret Files belongs to said organization and knows many of their secrets. As we’ve previously established, he’s a charming consultant who works in the City and thanks to insider trading has become very wealthy. Now he’s bored and wants to follow his childhood dream of becoming a detective. However, his friends are having none of it and unless he starts earning again quickly, he’ll soon discover how his superiors deal with foot soldiers who they deem are no longer of any use.

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Tags: blog, city of london, consultant, creative writing, detective, finance, novel

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Categories Finance

It’s been a while…

21 Jan

It’s been a while since I posted on this blog, but then so much has happened over the last eighteen months.

On a personal basis, a family bereavement stopped me in my tracks. My mother had been ill for some time, fighting Lymphoma. I was desperate to finish the Ferret Files while she was still alive, and thus muffed the ending, which only became apparent on first read through. Back to the drawing board for the last six chapters. More importantly, from a writer’s perspective, I was faced with a huge dilemma. The key event in my hero’s life is the death of the father he didn’t get to know. This is an allegory for the relationship with my own father, which was strained for many years (to put it mildly). With him being a good few years older than my mother, we’d always assumed as a family that he’d pop off first. But then the stubborn ole bugger never has done anything according to plan.

That was Sept 2013.

The death of a loved one certainly brought clarity to my life and gave me a whole bunch of hitherto unexplored emotions to draw on in my writing. It also made me question what I was doing. Is writing really that important? I’d grafted very hard to accomplish something, only to get it wrong at the last. Perhaps I should have spent more time with my mother, rather than keeping my head down and persevering with the details of an imaginary world.

And so it was, with great pain in my heart, I put my writing down while I worked through the trauma. My mother used to be a teacher, which is where I get my love of literature from, including comics, which was part of her dissertation. Later on, she fell into business and ran her own successful employment agency. As I discovered, she also had a secret life beyond all of this, which none of us knew about. I suspected, but it was only once she’d gone that confidentiality was surrendered and all the pieces fell into place. She was an amazing woman to have three lives. So competent. Yet at the end, so feeble and addled with massive quantities of prescription drugs. That’s what hurts the most, the loss of strength and vitality.

I miss her and I want her back

For a while I thought I was writing Ferret for her, and with her gone, there was no point to anything.

It’s taken over a year, but I now realize that I’m writing for me. And for you. Because ultimately, it’s the YOUs of this world that have helped me get through the loss. The real life YOUs, who say hello on a daily basis, who chew the cud over a noisy beer. The Facebook YOUs who I laugh and joke with, but have never met. The Twitter YOUs, who make me giggle out loud with your delicious sense of humor. The Pinterest YOUs, who are so inventive it hurts. There is pain out there in the world, yes – but there’s also so much more. As an author, it’s my job to find the good in all that pain, and turn it around into something positive. I’ve never stopped loving, but for a long time I did stop feeling loved.

Opening up was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do.

It was also one of the most rewarding.

I want my mum back, just not the mum who died on me. The one before she got ill.

I’m descended from Vikings. Hence the Old Gods suit me. They suited my mother too. She used to like a good drink, a cuss and a swear. I can’t imagine her sitting on a cloud, playing a harp somehow. Neither can I imagine her sweating in chains, moaning. If she’s anywhere, she’s with Odin tossing axes in his Great Hall, sloshing beer with the gods. The code she lived by was a Viking code. She wasn’t perfect by any means, but she always did her best to show respect and not hurt other people, even when she was off pillaging in her long ship.

Here’s raising a glass to her in Valhalla!

Tags: blog, creative writing, novel, writing

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Categories Personal

This is THE END (my friend, the end)

30 May

I recently wrote those two little words that I didn’t think I’d ever see: THE END.

Two weeks later, I realise it’s anything but! It’s simply the beginning of another cycle of hard work, towards creating a complete product. Overall, I’m very happy with where I am, although a couple of key characters did things I hadn’t planned them to do near the end, which made for a few hairy moments. As an author, if you don’t let your characters be themselves and express their flaws, then really you don’t have a body of work. So they did their thing, created chaos and also revealed secrets I was previously unaware of. One reveal has repercussions right the way back to the beginning of the book, which actually gave me a squeal of delight, as it helps to make sense of a pair of earlier scenes.

On the negative side, it’s taken nearly six months to write the Ferret Files. I’d allowed three.

On the plus side, I did a word count and was delighted to come in at 105K – 25k less than I feared.

On the negative side, I’ve now got to go find a paying job.

On the plus side, an old friend who I’d lost contact with resurfaced, and with her a brilliant comic book artist who remains mostly unknown – now onboard for cover duties and illustrations. I’m very excited about working with this guy, his drawings are nuts.

Mostly, what I’ve taken from the experience of writing my first novel is a feeling of great satisfaction. I knew I had the stamina and will to finish, but that’s not the same as actually doing it full time (I tried part time, it didn’t work for me). What’s come out the other end in terms of first draft and story exceeds my expectations. Considering my plan went to hell after three months, that’s good. Yeah?

Neil Young got me started and saw me over the finishing line. Nightwish and The Ramones supplied a lot of fuel in the middle. FYI – I took a break to Berlin last weekend and let hair down at Rammstein. Visited The Ramones museum just off Oranienburger Strasse – if you get the chance, go. It’s a proper rock n roll shrine. Bat for Lashes helped slow things down.

Jim Morrison and the Doors provided the closing song, with ‘The End’.

As long as the influence of all the great music this novel is infused with seeps out in the reading, you’re gonna have fantastic fun with this one. I set out to write the novel I want to read, which no-one else has so far written. And succeeded. The rest is dominoes, all the way to the bookshelves.

A quick brush-up and it’s time to find some readers…

Tags: blog, blogosphere, creative writing, ENTERTAINMENT, fiction, geek, geek humor, investigation, nightwish, novel, paranormal, ramones, urban fiction, writing, writing tips

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Categories Writing Tips

The Daniel Day Lewis Method of Writing

19 Feb

Here’s a question for you:

An addictive substance yesterday

Your hero has a cocaine habit. In order to appreciate his/her viewpoint, do you seek out the drug and take it as part of the writing process, or do you simply imagine what it might be like when you write about it? Do you talk to known users as part of your research? Equally, when it comes to preparation, do you simply read about it in the press and make it up, or do you try it yourself?

Drugs are one of those things that are illegal, but a lot of people participate in – hence my question, which really boils down to this: for the sake of authenticity, is it important for you as an author, to know about what you’re writing about in detail? And if so, where do you draw the line?

It’s possible to become a drunk for a night, or a week as part of your research. You can even sleep rough if you want. You can develop a cigarette habit until you cough, and know what it’s like to hack one up every morning. All this is perfectly legal. Then we come to the illegal – joints, lines and injections, each increasing in addictive qualities and physical effect. If you try something once and don’t like it, what do you do if a regular user tells you ‘you gotta get a habit man, to appreciate it’?

Then there’s the question of murder. Obviously I’m not advocating killing others in the name of authenticity, but is it something you might consider?

The question is open to the floor: how far are you prepared to go?

Tags: #amwriting, blog, blogging, creative writing, ENTERTAINMENT, fiction, novel, Research, urban fiction, writing, writing tips

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Categories Writing Tips

Location Scouting for Bunkers

24 Jan

In the last few days I’ve had a bit of a locations ‘mare, in that I’ve got action happening in a government establishment that’s strictly off limits to the public. Unless you’re a really well known author with connections, how do you write about such a place without ever having been there?

Grrr! Communications, Soho Square

My locations scouting for the Ferret Files to date has consisted of Google Earth, Google Maps, public transport and my legs. I’ve set the majority of the action in London, with some of the defence industry shenanigans taking place in Bath. Having worked in London on and off for most of the last 20 years, I know the place really well, above and below ground. I had a mental list of places I wanted to use, well before I began the project, some of which are well known, others not so. I have a keen interest in architecture and that includes burrowing, as in the creation of underground tunnels and complexes. If there’s a London tour which takes in tunnels, chances are I’ve been on it. My fundamental belief is that it’s not possible to get the vibe of a location if you haven’t been there. And by been there, I mean recently. If you don’t experience the vibe firsthand and lock it in, chances are your readers will notice, especially if they follow your characters around.

A Boris Bike Yesterday

I live in Bath and have done for 12 years. I’m just nutty enough to commute to London on a daily basis, which is OK for a short period, provided the end destination is near to Paddington. Last year, I spent 8 months in the capital, living in hotels. That allowed me to revisit all of the places I wanted to use, in my spare time. One day, I needed to check out Regent’s Park, and let me tell you – it’s a long walk around the perimeter. That’s when I used a ‘Boris Bike’ for the first time. As an author wanting to get the feel of an area, the Boris Bike is an absolute boon. It’s faster than feet, allows you to cover an area quickly and when you’re done, the bike is no longer your problem! Thanks Boris!

My method of working, then:

Get a general feel for an area using Google Earth or Google maps
If there’s a building of interest, research it on the net, especially its history. What was there before?
Go visit and employ your author senses to spot those interesting details that others miss.
If you can get inside, do. These days, with security, it’s a lot more difficult than it used to be, but a mixture of cheek and charm works wonders. I’ve been really fortunate, in that I work in IT and often get sent to random locations. If I end up at one that’s interesting, I’ll use it.
Take a paid tour. The London guides are really knowledgeable and they’ll show you things you’d otherwise miss.

The Secrets of Porton Down

Back to the original question: given that I’m an eyes on sort of guy, how the hell do I get inside of Porton Down, in order to write about the chemical and biological weapons research that took place there? The answer is to use your imagination. I’ve driven past Porton Down many times, but never actually been inside. I have been to a dozen military bases scattered across the South West and Salisbury plain, during my time working in Defence, on a 6 month contract that lasted 12 years.

I love being around the military, they have a great mindset and an insane sense of humour. They work on the premise that being underfunded, stuff will break or fuck-up – that’s life, get on with it then communicate the fix. For Porton Down, I know the sort of people who work there from my visits to DSTL in Portsmouth, I know that stuff broke or went wrong. So I’m going to concentrate on the historical screw-ups that got us to where we are in the story, rather than precisely how it all looks. All of the military bases I’ve visited in the South West are similar in design, so a generic bunker will do.

When all is said and done, I’m writing a conspiracy novel. Anyone wanting to locate the exact bunker where the chemical experiments into psychic phenomena took place won’t be able to find it on a map. Surely, that’s because the government buried it? Or could the real reason be that I have secret inside knowledge of a black project, communicated to me by a scientist who worked on it and I’ve purposefully moved the location from nearby Boscombe Down, in order to throw the reader?

You’ll have to make your own mind up on that…

Tags: #amwriting, blog, creative writing, ENTERTAINMENT, fiction, location scouting, locations, novel, Research, strange tales, urban fiction, work, writing, writing tips

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Categories Writing Tips

Here’s a dilema for you… What should I do?

9 Jan

Here’s a question for you:

Four months ago I quit my job in the city to take time out and write the Ferret Files, excerpts of which I’ve been printing here. Today, I was offered a six figure sum that doesn’t begin with ‘1’ to go back to work for a bunch of banksters doing something I regard as morally wrong, until this time next year.

On one hand it’s a LOT of money, on the other it means abandoning Ferret for the next year, which means in turn it’ll probably never get finished.

Over the last 15 years I’ve worked in Defence, Finance, Telecoms and computer gaming. I’ve got a lot of experience in all of these areas, the constant thorn in my side being Management Consultants, who I simply *love* taking the rip out of.

Ferret is the biggest rip of the lot, by far: he is one. A management consultant in a defence conspiracy, with millions at stake.

So, should I continue writing, or should I take the money and run?