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It’s Author Interview Thursday…Woohoo! Now I have to admit that I have been looking forward to today’s interview for months. First of all, I got introduced to today’s special guest by Matt Posner who surely most have an underground lair where some very creative beings congregate to sip on their favourite beverages and exchange ideas. Our guest on the hot seat made a worthy contribution on Matt’s book ‘How to Write Dialogue.’ What I found intriguing was the fact that our special guest comes from my neck of the woods here in England and also writes in a genre I’m currently feasting on – Mystery/Crime Thrillers. His Richards & Parish series are selling very well on Amazon UK and the first book in the series (which I’ve read and you can see My A Life for a Life Review) has more than 200 glowing reviews. He was Amazon KDP’s special guest at their stand at the London Book Fair 2014 and it’s such a shame I didn’t meet him because I was there too! Well, we all get to meet him today. I believe his experience and forthrightness will flush out any cobwebs holding you back and give you wings to soar to another level. Without further ado, please join me in welcoming the one and only Tim Ellis.

Can you tell us about the first time someone complemented you on something you had written?

In the early days – 2008–2011 – as well as writing novels, I also wrote short stories, which I entered into competitions. My first success was with ‘The Expedition’ (included in my short story collection – Untended Treasures) for the Wind in the Willows centenary run by the River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames. I was awarded 3^rd prize, and was invited to the Museum for the presentation. I took my wife and we had a lovely day out. Certainly, 3^rd prize is a complement, and it made me feel as though I was shuffling in the right direction.

You’ve successfully written in different genres. Can you tell us the advantages and disadvantages of this? 

I don’t know whether there are any advantages or disadvantages to writing in different genres. Some people suggest that the readers will become confused about what type of writer I am. I think we have to give readers some credit for understanding that some writers – like myself – are multi-genre writers as well as readers. I particularly like The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov (Science Fiction); Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (Fantasy); The Emperor series by Conn Iggulden (Historical Fiction) to name a few. Sometimes, readers who have enjoyed my writing in one genre will try my books in another genre, so that’s a distinct advantage to both the reader and myself. I did think of using a pseudonym, but life’s complicated enough without having multiple personalities.

I have to say your book covers are very evocative and can be noticed a mile off. Can you tell us the process in creating your book covers and its place in the successful marketing of a book? 

Someone mentioned not too long ago that the font I used on my covers wasn’t very good. After I’d picked myself up off the floor and penned a strong letter of complaint, I decided they were right. In fact, I realised that the covers themselves weren’t much good either. I did plan to get someone else to design the covers for me, but I felt that designing my own covers was part of the creative process – I usually have to have a title and a cover before I start writing.

Anyway, I did plenty of research and re-designed them all myself. I found a font that I particularly liked, then I discovered a site which allows the free use of photographs. I download the pictures, crop them to the correct size in Paint (free with Windows), modify them to my liking and add my name, title and anything else in Picasa (the free photo-editing software by Google), and hey presto – eBook covers.

You have multiple published books in the ‘Richard and Parish’ series. Was it a conscious decision to write a series and what led you to do it?

On the downwards slope of the 13^th Parish and Richards book now: In the Twinkling of an Eye. Yes, it was a conscious decision. I suppose, what led me to do it, was because I like to read series myself such as, Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy and RD Wingfield’s Frost series. In fact, the majority of my books are series. The only standalones are the novellas, but I always leave the door open to make them into a series if the opportunity arises.

What key ingredients should a good crime/mystery book possess? 

I think there’s lots of advice out there about the ingredients of a good crime/mystery novel – a seemingly unsolvable crime, a likeable protagonist(s) faced with apparently insurmountable obstacles, a depraved villain of the worst kind, lashings of danger and tension as the protagonist(s) moves ever closer to solving the crime(s) and confronting the villain. Let me tell you what I think. Yes, include all of that, but you have to hook the reader with the first sentence. I start my latest with a question: “What’s that?” Richards has bought something from a stall at the car boot sale, but she’s not telling Parish what it is – a minor mystery at the beginning that mushrooms into an ongoing thread and a bigger mystery. I like to write multiple threads running in parallel throughout the book – readers get two, three or four investigations instead of one. I write in scenes, making sure they’re lean and mean. I like to see lots of white space – dialogue. Whole blocks of text turns people off – they turn me off, so why inflict them on others. Keep description to a minimum – readers like to use their imaginations. Cut out the boring bits that people skim over and keep moving the story forward with dialogue and action.

You made a worthy contribution on Matt Posner’s ‘How to Write Dialogue‘ book. What in your opinion makes great dialogue?

Dialogue is important. My books are dialogue heavy. Stories are about people. The reader wants to immerse themselves in a story, root for believable characters and not be bothered by authorial interference. Keep focused on the characters, give them voices that the reader can associate with each character, make it flow – abbreviate where necessary. Gurus say: “Listen to people talk.” I don’t think that’s helpful really, unless you’re trying to get dialect right, which should be kept to a minimum because it makes for hard reading. Other gurus say: “Read aloud.” Yeah, all right, if you must, but I can hear the characters speaking the dialogue I’m writing in my head. I don’t hear Parish saying: “What is that?” I hear him say: “What’s that?” So, my advice, is to write what the characters are saying in your head – or maybe it’s just me hearing voices! “Aye, what’s that?”

What three things should writers avoid when writing dialogue? 

I’ve already mentioned dialect. Sometimes it can be funny though – I use dialect in a couple of my books, but make sure readers can understand it, or they’ll give up very quickly. Second, don’t use adverbs to qualify speech tags – he said loudly. Related to this, I’m a great believer in a picture telling a thousand words. Use body language or actions to convey a character’s behaviour.

Have you ever struggled to give a character a distinct voice and what did you do to solve this?

I must admit, I don’t struggle much nowadays. After having written so many books, writing is second nature. I don’t get writer’s block, I’m never stuck for ideas and I always enjoy sitting down to write. As I said earlier, I see and hear the characters inside my head like a roll of film that I can stop, pause or rewind when I want. I think I’ve got the knack of creating memorable characters by now, and giving them a distinct voice and personality.

What book or film has the best dialogue that inspires you to be a better writer and why?

Conn Iggulden writes good dialogue (No he didn’t pay me to say that). When I go in a book shop (if I can one these days), I read the blurb on the back, and I riffle through the pages to see if there’s loads of dialogue. If there’s chunks of text, I don’t bother. RJ Ellory is another who writes good dialogue, you can tell he’s thought about what his characters will say. As for films – Lord of the Rings, of course; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Jack Nicholson is brilliant with Nurse Ratchett. What a name – Nurse Ratchett for a psychiatric nurse! It make you want to re-name all your evil characters with names from a toolbox.

Your first book ‘WARRIOR: PATH OF DESTINY (GENGHIS KHAN)’ was published in November 2010 and you’ve gone on to write more than 30 books. Can you recommend a book or course that gave you a good grounding as you began your writing odyssey?  

I started writing, and then I read the instructions on how to write. I suppose men have this inability to admit that sometimes they know nothing. There were four triggers early on. 1) After reading the Emperor series by Conn Iggulden I thought: I can do that. Reading those books were a joy. Through his writing, he made reading effortless; 2) Les Edgerton’s book: Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers on Page One and Never Lets Them Go; 3) Elements of Fiction Writing: Scene & Structure by Jack Bickham; and 4) the peer review site: youwriteon.com, which is free to join and you learn through peer reviews, how to write, what works and what doesn’t.

If you could be a cabinet minister in the Government, which Ministry would you like to head and why?

Sad to say, politics doesn’t interest me. In fact, talking about politicians makes me want to kill a few off. As a nation – we’ve become too nice, and in the process lost some of our Englishness. If there isn’t a Ministry of Englishness already, they should create one and re-establish a national pride.

Can you tell us a bit about a book you’re currently working on? 

In the Twinkling of an Eye (Parish & Richards 13). Parish and Richards are trying to solve the case of a gifted boy murdered on the fourteenth green at the local golf course; Richards is also trying to find out if a 1966 diary, written by a captive 15 year-old girl called Loveday that she bought at a car boot sale, is genuine; Stick and Xena are working to solve the case of a young woman’s thawing body found in a wood. Jerry Kowalski is back, and she becomes involved in the trial of an architect who is accused of murdering his wife. His barrister is going to get him acquitted, but Jerry has seen something in his eyes and she knows he’s guilty, so she calls Cookie.

Any advice for authors out there who are either just starting out or getting frustrated with the industry?

As the saying goes – just do it. If you’ve got a book gathering dust on your hard drive – publish it. Create a cover, write a blurb, upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) – it couldn’t be easier. Agents and publishers are no longer the gatekeepers who say what can and can’t be published, and what readers can and can’t read. Now, we’re all masters of our own destiny. If your book is no good, the readers will soon let you know, so make sure it’s the best it can be.

Thanks for spending time with us today Tim. There is just such a wealth of information you’ve shared today that I know will be beneficial to readers of this blog. I’ve gone ahead and added the books you recommended to my Amazon basket. Can’t wait to devour them. Tim and I would love to hear your questions and comments. As you can see, Tim is very generous and it’d mean a lot to hear what part of the interview really resonated with you. I’m also happy to announce that Tim’s latest book – got released earlier this week. You can grab it and all Tim’s books plus connect with him at one of the links below

Website - http://timellis.weebly.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tim-Ellis

Twitter - https://twitter.com/timellis13

Amazon – Tim Ellis Books on Amazon

It’s Author Interview Thursday…Woohoo! Now I have to admit that I have been looking forward to today’s interview for months. First of all, I got introduced to today’s special guest by Matt Posner who surely most have an underground lair where some very creative beings congregate to sip on their favourite beverages and exchange ideas. Our guest on the hot seat made a worthy contribution on Matt’s book ‘How to Write Dialogue.’ What I found intriguing was the fact that our special guest comes from my neck of the woods here in England and also writes in a genre I’m currently feasting on – Mystery/Crime Thrillers. His Richards & Parish series are selling very well on Amazon UK and the first book in the series (which I’ve read and you can see My A Life for a Life Review) has more than 200 glowing reviews. He was Amazon KDP’s special guest at their stand at the London Book Fair 2014 and it’s such a shame I didn’t meet him because I was there too! Well, we all get to meet him today. I believe his experience and forthrightness will flush out any cobwebs holding you back and give you wings to soar to another level. Without further ado, please join me in welcoming the one and only Tim Ellis.

Can you tell us about the first time someone complemented you on something you had written?

In the early days – 2008–2011 – as well as writing novels, I also wrote short stories, which I entered into competitions. My first success was with ‘The Expedition’ (included in my short story collection – Untended Treasures) for the Wind in the Willows centenary run by the River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames. I was awarded 3^rd prize, and was invited to the Museum for the presentation. I took my wife and we had a lovely day out. Certainly, 3^rd prize is a complement, and it made me feel as though I was shuffling in the right direction.

You’ve successfully written in different genres. Can you tell us the advantages and disadvantages of this? 

I don’t know whether there are any advantages or disadvantages to writing in different genres. Some people suggest that the readers will become confused about what type of writer I am. I think we have to give readers some credit for understanding that some writers – like myself – are multi-genre writers as well as readers. I particularly like The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov (Science Fiction); Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (Fantasy); The Emperor series by Conn Iggulden (Historical Fiction) to name a few. Sometimes, readers who have enjoyed my writing in one genre will try my books in another genre, so that’s a distinct advantage to both the reader and myself. I did think of using a pseudonym, but life’s complicated enough without having multiple personalities.

I have to say your book covers are very evocative and can be noticed a mile off. Can you tell us the process in creating your book covers and its place in the successful marketing of a book? 

Someone mentioned not too long ago that the font I used on my covers wasn’t very good. After I’d picked myself up off the floor and penned a strong letter of complaint, I decided they were right. In fact, I realised that the covers themselves weren’t much good either. I did plan to get someone else to design the covers for me, but I felt that designing my own covers was part of the creative process – I usually have to have a title and a cover before I start writing.

Anyway, I did plenty of research and re-designed them all myself. I found a font that I particularly liked, then I discovered a site which allows the free use of photographs. I download the pictures, crop them to the correct size in Paint (free with Windows), modify them to my liking and add my name, title and anything else in Picasa (the free photo-editing software by Google), and hey presto – eBook covers.

You have multiple published books in the ‘Richard and Parish’ series. Was it a conscious decision to write a series and what led you to do it?

On the downwards slope of the 13^th Parish and Richards book now: In the Twinkling of an Eye. Yes, it was a conscious decision. I suppose, what led me to do it, was because I like to read series myself such as, Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy and RD Wingfield’s Frost series. In fact, the majority of my books are series. The only standalones are the novellas, but I always leave the door open to make them into a series if the opportunity arises.

What key ingredients should a good crime/mystery book possess? 

I think there’s lots of advice out there about the ingredients of a good crime/mystery novel – a seemingly unsolvable crime, a likeable protagonist(s) faced with apparently insurmountable obstacles, a depraved villain of the worst kind, lashings of danger and tension as the protagonist(s) moves ever closer to solving the crime(s) and confronting the villain. Let me tell you what I think. Yes, include all of that, but you have to hook the reader with the first sentence. I start my latest with a question: “What’s that?” Richards has bought something from a stall at the car boot sale, but she’s not telling Parish what it is – a minor mystery at the beginning that mushrooms into an ongoing thread and a bigger mystery. I like to write multiple threads running in parallel throughout the book – readers get two, three or four investigations instead of one. I write in scenes, making sure they’re lean and mean. I like to see lots of white space – dialogue. Whole blocks of text turns people off – they turn me off, so why inflict them on others. Keep description to a minimum – readers like to use their imaginations. Cut out the boring bits that people skim over and keep moving the story forward with dialogue and action.

You made a worthy contribution on Matt Posner’s ‘How to Write Dialogue‘ book. What in your opinion makes great dialogue?

Dialogue is important. My books are dialogue heavy. Stories are about people. The reader wants to immerse themselves in a story, root for believable characters and not be bothered by authorial interference. Keep focused on the characters, give them voices that the reader can associate with each character, make it flow – abbreviate where necessary. Gurus say: “Listen to people talk.” I don’t think that’s helpful really, unless you’re trying to get dialect right, which should be kept to a minimum because it makes for hard reading. Other gurus say: “Read aloud.” Yeah, all right, if you must, but I can hear the characters speaking the dialogue I’m writing in my head. I don’t hear Parish saying: “What is that?” I hear him say: “What’s that?” So, my advice, is to write what the characters are saying in your head – or maybe it’s just me hearing voices! “Aye, what’s that?”

What three things should writers avoid when writing dialogue? 

I’ve already mentioned dialect. Sometimes it can be funny though – I use dialect in a couple of my books, but make sure readers can understand it, or they’ll give up very quickly. Second, don’t use adverbs to qualify speech tags – he said loudly. Related to this, I’m a great believer in a picture telling a thousand words. Use body language or actions to convey a character’s behaviour.

Have you ever struggled to give a character a distinct voice and what did you do to solve this?

I must admit, I don’t struggle much nowadays. After having written so many books, writing is second nature. I don’t get writer’s block, I’m never stuck for ideas and I always enjoy sitting down to write. As I said earlier, I see and hear the characters inside my head like a roll of film that I can stop, pause or rewind when I want. I think I’ve got the knack of creating memorable characters by now, and giving them a distinct voice and personality.

What book or film has the best dialogue that inspires you to be a better writer and why?

Conn Iggulden writes good dialogue (No he didn’t pay me to say that). When I go in a book shop (if I can one these days), I read the blurb on the back, and I riffle through the pages to see if there’s loads of dialogue. If there’s chunks of text, I don’t bother. RJ Ellory is another who writes good dialogue, you can tell he’s thought about what his characters will say. As for films – Lord of the Rings, of course; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Jack Nicholson is brilliant with Nurse Ratchett. What a name – Nurse Ratchett for a psychiatric nurse! It make you want to re-name all your evil characters with names from a toolbox.

Your first book ‘WARRIOR: PATH OF DESTINY (GENGHIS KHAN)’ was published in November 2010 and you’ve gone on to write more than 30 books. Can you recommend a book or course that gave you a good grounding as you began your writing odyssey?  

I started writing, and then I read the instructions on how to write. I suppose men have this inability to admit that sometimes they know nothing. There were four triggers early on. 1) After reading the Emperor series by Conn Iggulden I thought: I can do that. Reading those books were a joy. Through his writing, he made reading effortless; 2) Les Edgerton’s book: Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers on Page One and Never Lets Them Go; 3) Elements of Fiction Writing: Scene & Structure by Jack Bickham; and 4) the peer review site: youwriteon.com, which is free to join and you learn through peer reviews, how to write, what works and what doesn’t.

If you could be a cabinet minister in the Government, which Ministry would you like to head and why?

Sad to say, politics doesn’t interest me. In fact, talking about politicians makes me want to kill a few off. As a nation – we’ve become too nice, and in the process lost some of our Englishness. If there isn’t a Ministry of Englishness already, they should create one and re-establish a national pride.

Can you tell us a bit about a book you’re currently working on? 

In the Twinkling of an Eye (Parish & Richards 13). Parish and Richards are trying to solve the case of a gifted boy murdered on the fourteenth green at the local golf course; Richards is also trying to find out if a 1966 diary, written by a captive 15 year-old girl called Loveday that she bought at a car boot sale, is genuine; Stick and Xena are working to solve the case of a young woman’s thawing body found in a wood. Jerry Kowalski is back, and she becomes involved in the trial of an architect who is accused of murdering his wife. His barrister is going to get him acquitted, but Jerry has seen something in his eyes and she knows he’s guilty, so she calls Cookie.

Any advice for authors out there who are either just starting out or getting frustrated with the industry?

As the saying goes – just do it. If you’ve got a book gathering dust on your hard drive – publish it. Create a cover, write a blurb, upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) – it couldn’t be easier. Agents and publishers are no longer the gatekeepers who say what can and can’t be published, and what readers can and can’t read. Now, we’re all masters of our own destiny. If your book is no good, the readers will soon let you know, so make sure it’s the best it can be.

Thanks for spending time with us today Tim. There is just such a wealth of information you’ve shared today that I know will be beneficial to readers of this blog. I’ve gone ahead and added the books you recommended to my Amazon basket. Can’t wait to devour them. Tim and I would love to hear your questions and comments. As you can see, Tim is very generous and it’d mean a lot to hear what part of the interview really resonated with you. I’m also happy to announce that Tim’s latest book – got released earlier this week. You can grab it and all Tim’s books plus connect with him at one of the links below

Website - http://timellis.weebly.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tim-Ellis

Twitter - https://twitter.com/timellis13

Amazon – Tim Ellis Books on Amazon

Sometimes, you pick up a book and you don’t get hooked till a few pages or chapters in. Most times, (I suspect like most people), I don’t have the patience to discover this ‘hook’ if it’s not present in the first few pages. A Life for a Life got me hooked in the first few sentences!

Straight away, you’re made aware that the first character we’re introduced to is going to shortly meet his demise. It’s cold. It’s calculated. And it happens in an instant.

We soon get introduced to the main characters in this series – Detective Sergeant Jed Parish and PC Mary Richards. Jed is in his late thirties while Mary is in her early twenties. They have a wonderful relationship that’s almost akin (in my opinion) to a big brother and his little sister as opposed to a Police Detective and a new recruit. What makes their relationship work so well is the banter that flows between them. Richards (as Jed Parish chooses to refer to her) is not afraid to point out Jed’s poor social and health choices. Parish is not afraid to remind Richards whose Boss. It’s this mutual respect/disdain that they have for each other plus their shortcomings that I found compelling and drew me into the story.

It becomes obvious very soon that we’re dealing with a serial killer. Tim Ellis goes against the grain of most mystery/crime thrillers where the reader is presented with several suspects and has to work with the protagonist(s) to figure out the perpetrator of the heinous crime. I’m struggling not to give too much away but you’ll agonise with Parish and Richards as they struggle to link the dots and capture the killer who seems to have an established pattern associated with every murder. There’s something about the murders that make you empathise with the killer as the story plays out. This killer is on a mission and we get to know what it is in the final denouement.

The sub-plot that runs alongside the main murder story is Jed’s love life. There’s a scene that occurs between Jed Parish and a PA at the local council that completely took me by surprise. This Jed Parish guy is human.

So what did I not like about this book. While I loved the chemistry between Richards and Parish and feel it’s one of the factors that makes this book a winner, on a few occasions, I think it strayed into the realm of ‘Really?’ Sometimes Richards came across as an emotional, naïve, little girl who wanted her way or she’d throw all her toys out of the pram. Maybe its this naivety that endears Richards to Parish. Maybe its this innocence that’ll have you rooting for her. Still, it made me stop reading the book now and then and ask the question, “Really?” Please let this not stop you from picking up this book. It’s set in London and it really gives you a feel for the local banter common to people who live in and around London.

The final climax was worth the wait and ties everything beautifully together.

I understand there are now more than 10 books in this series and I can only imagine it gets better with each episode. Grab a copy today as I believe you’ll enjoy the ride.

A Life for a Life on Amazon

Stephen King said in his book ‘On Writing’ that there are 2 things every writer should do: Read a lot and Write a lot.

I try to do both but sometimes one of these activities supersedes the other. I’m currently in a read a lot mode.

The book I’m currently reading is called ‘Girl Jacked’ by Christopher Greyson. It’s a mystery thriller and I’m at the half way point. My interest in the thriller/mystery genre was inspired by a chat I had with Stephanie Bond at the London Book Fair. Stephanie has more than 6 million books in circulation and writes in the cozy mystery genre.

I’ve been reading a few articles about mystery writing and Greyson’s book is the second novel I’ve read/am reading since my curiosity for this genre was piqued. The beauty and I guess popularity of the mystery genre is that the reader gets to play the role of a sleuth along with the main protagonist in the book. I believe it’s this interaction with the facts and clues revealed in a mystery story that make them so enjoyable. At the heart of every mystery story is a puzzle that needs to be solved. Most of the times this puzzle is the murder of someone related in some way to our main protagonist. The story usually ends with a resolution of the puzzle and the protagonist living to fight another day.

In ‘Girl Jacked’ (SPOILER ALERT, don’t continue reading if you have any intention of reading this book which I highly recommend) the murdered victim is Michelle who is the foster sister of Jack Stratton, a detective at the local police station.

Compared to other mystery books that I’ve read, the murder was revealed quite late into the story. There was always a dark cloud hanging to suggest that something diabolical had happened to Michelle but when it was finally revealed, I found myself saying aloud ‘Oh No!’ Girl Jacked has had more than 175 glowing reviews on Amazon and I think what really works for this book is that you get to empathise with the main character who is facing some emotional battles and his side kick – Replacement. I found myself chuckling when the origins of this nickname was revealed. There is a down-to-earth way Greyson narrates this tale that’s free of BS and gets you rooting for the Jack. At the half-way point, o real suspects have really been identified but this has not taken from my enjoyment of the book.

The next book on my list to read is ‘A Life for a Life’ by Tim Ellis. I can’t wait to get into this book for two reasons. One is that I’ll be interviewing the author on Author Interview Thursday a few weeks from now and Tim’s books are very popular on the Amazon UK site and have more than 200 glowing reviews.

Like Stephen King advised, I believe we should all be actively reading and sometimes read outside the genre we write in. You never know what new idea you could stumble upon while doing this.

What are you reading at the moment?