Danny King
Danny King (21/12/07)
Question.
Hi,
Many established authors advise up and coming writers to come up with a character who can be used in a series of books, in order to have a greater appeal to Agents and Publishers.
Thinking this through, I have become increasingly convinced that the only characters that can justifiably have repeatedly exciting and often life threatening events in their lives, what be either police or the military. That implies a requirement to have an in depth knowledge of forensic science, firearms and/or military strategy.Good writing seems to need to come from the heart, however for anyone wanting to better their chances of breaking through, there almost seems to be a need for a great deal of research.
Any thoughts on this? Is this just a misunderstanding on my part, or is there a need to accept that technical research is a necessity?
Danny.
This is the question that’s caused me most problems. The short answer is don’t know.You’re right when you say that most long running series are military or crime related, though I’d throw in medical too. But this isn’t 100% so.
Sci-fi and fantasy often make long running series, but I’m not sure that Issac Assimov has any first hand experience of space flight.
But getting away from fantasy, military, crime and medical series are popular because these are what people like to read. A working knowledge of these areas is great, but not necessary.Research is useful in that it not only gives you a grounding in your subject but it can also inspire plots and twists.
But at the end of the day it all boils down to the writing. If you can make corky the dustman sound interesting and a fun guide to be in the company of, there’s no reason you can’t write half a dozen books on him.
Auf Weidersein Pet is a long running series about a bunch of builders after all, albeit a TV series.
Question.
Hi Danny,I’m just picking up on one of your replies here.
How much do you rely on the editor, if you feel that a certain piece is good and the editor wants changes who has the final say.
Danny.
It depends. I guess it all comes down to who’s publishing you. If you’ve been given £500,000 advance and a million book print-run deal by one of the giants them you’d probably better do as your editor suggests.My editor, John Williams, is great because unlike a lot of editors he adopts the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach to editing.
That said, the larger rewrites on the Hitman Diaries and The Pornographer Diaries he put forward definitely made them better books, so I trust whatever John has to say.
I guess it comes down to being able to look at your own work objectively. Which is always a hard thing because it could’ve taken you blood, sweat and a couple of weeks to write this stuff. Then you get a phone call from your editor saying something like “yeah, I think chapter 5’s getting in the way of the story. Let’s lose it. And chapter 6 and 7 too.”
You can argue your case on a few of the points you really and strongly believe in, but on the whole you have to learn to be able to judge this stuff for yourself.
And it’s always a bit soul-destroying when you come to the conclusion that John’s right, chapters 5, 6 & 7 are a bit flowery aren’t they? Looks like I haven’t finished writing this bloody book after all.
Question.
This isn’t so much a question as a point of view which you may want to add your tuppence worth to.I was reading some of the critique on your website and I’ve seen similar bollocks written about other authors,
quote:
Well it’s not Shakespear, it’s not very deep, it doesn’t really address the core problems of this sensitive issue.
Newsflash
I dont bloody want Shakespear, I want to be entertained and that’s what I get from Danny King, I am quite sure that yourself and Geoff Thompson for instance did not sit down to write your first book, stroke your chin and think now how would old Bill Shakespear have tackled this story line.
Danny.
Yeah, some critics couldn’t put a cogent argument together if their English degree depended on it. But you learn to take the rough with the smooth and don’t take any of it to heart.I mean, I could say about Romeo &
Juliet that it was alright but it wasn’t exactly Fawlty Towers. “I didn’t laugh once”. But what would be the point?Critics have to write something, so when they can’t see an angle they’ll make one for themselves. You have to accept it if you want to do anything in the public domain.
No, reviews are all very nice and it’s fun to see your name in the paper but you’re asking for trouble if you start taking them too seriously – especially the five star 10/10 brilliant reviews. Those are actually the most dangerous reviews to believe.
Not that I’ve ever had any of them.
Question.
Some of the better novels that I have read recently seem to have contained mind-blowing twists and turns in their plots, sometimes to the point of losing me completely. At times I have kept reading because of an interest in what happens to the main characters, even if I have lost track of the constantly changing plot.Do you think it is necessary to find ever increasingly complicated twists and turns, or is it better to focus of developing believable main characters so that the reader actually cares what happens to him/her?
Danny.
No, I think characters come first. I write in the first person so my narrator’s voice is key. If the reader doesn’t like their guide through the stories, they’ll ditch him before very long.As for twists and turns, it’s always good to have some twists and turns planned, and on my earlier books I had very rigid story structures I tried to stick to, but these days I’ve come to learn that the best twists and turns are thrown up while you’re acutally writing the book. It shouldn’t be a paining by numbers experience, you should almost discover the story yourself as you’re tapping the keys.
Apologies if that sounds a bit poncey and arty, but it’s true. It’s all about learning to trust your own instincts, though this just comes with practice.
A first year pianist will sit down with sheet music in front of miself and adhere to it to the letter, while a veteran musician won’t have owned a sheet of music for probably a decade. But which would you rather listen to?
Question.
From your website I saw that you struggled to get your first novel published, and collected a great number of rejection letters along the way. Could you tell us what happened, and how you came to finally getting that first book published?
Danny.
Well the short answer is persistence. I wrote a book of short stories and this wasn’t published. Then I wrote a book of humourous poetry, this wasn’t published, then I wrote a detective novel, this was published, then I wrote a couple of films and a stage play and another collection of short stories and so on, for about 15 years, before I hit upon the idea of The Burglar Diaries.I wrote this book, thought it was great and thought I’d have publishers biting my hand off for it, but disappointingly this wasn’t published either.
I was about to throw in the towel, wheh the editor of Serpent’s Tail phoned me and told me not to be disheartened, and asked if I had anything else. I mentioned that I had been toying with writing the Bank Robber Diaries and the Hitman Diaries if the Burglar Diaries had been published, and a couple of days later I got a call from Serpent’s Tail telling me they’d changed their mind and that they wanted to publish Burglar after all, and offered my publishing deals for the other two as yet unwritten books.
So take from that what you will, but on the whole I’d say it was persistences. I always wanted to be a writer and have a book published and I told myself that if it didn’t happen, it wouldn’t be down to lack of effort on my part.
Writing a book’s easy. Getting it published? Now that’s the hard bit.
Question.
Another question I wonder about is when you sell your book to a publisher, is the book still yours or is it the publishers property?
Danny.
Er… I’m not sure. I think a publisher buys certain rights to a book. See there are dozen of different rights to any given book. English language, French, Italian, German, Chinese… etc, audio rights, serialisation, film rights, TV, cartoon, reality TV rights, radio dramatasation, the list goes on.So actually, now that I come to think of it, my publishers (Serpent’s Tail) only have the rights to publish in English and sell in GB and the commonwealth, as my agent has sold my books numerous times.
See, if you get a small advance like £5k for a book, that’s not necessarily the end of it, as you can end up making ten or twenty times that if you’re able to sell it abroad, to audio publishers, to a film company etc. Though it’s not actually you selling it, you need a agent for that, but when those unexpected cheque comes in for a couple of grand for a Spanish version of the Bank Robber Diaries, those moments are to cherish.
Question.
loved the three minute short that was made for “The £50 challenge”, do you know if there are any plans to re-screen “Thieves like us” by the BBC.
Danny.
Thanks. I don’t know about Thieves Like Us being repeated. It was repeated in the summer and was left to my dad to notice it in the TV Times and tell me about it, so that should tell you something about how important the BBC think it is to keep me in the loop.Shame it wasn’t recommissioned as I didn’t think it was the worst thing on TV and it made me laugh, but who knows about these things?
Question.
Who are the writers you seek out on the shelves. The authors who you really respond to?
Danny.
Anyone who starts with ‘K’. Then I move them all aside so that I can turn my books out cover-first.Though like I say, I’m innundated with recommendations and have a pile of 50 or so books waiting to be read, so I haven’t actually bought a book in a while. I’ll get another half dozen for Christmas, you see, and have those to read as well.
The last book I read, however, was FAT by Rob Grant. It was alright, and interesting in places, but I read it because I used to love the Red Dwarf series and books.
Question.
I’m curious how you maintain momentum with your projects.Writers I have spoken to in the past mention a mid-book dip in enthusiasm. The nitty-gritty point where the writing needs to be tightly tailored and structured. The stamina required for completion is admirable and I wondered if you ever found it a struggle?
If so what are your methods for getting past that point?
Danny.
Yes, that’s true actually and I’ve experienced it myself.The secret (or at least what works for me) is to just concentrate on the next sentence. Don’t look at your book as a whole, just do bite-sized bits. I set myself a target of writing 1,000 words a day. Some times I can do that in two hours, sometimes five or six, but as long as you’re getting some words down, it’s all progress.
You don’t even have to do 1,000, some writers aim for 600 (which is about two pages) while some (like Stephen King) do 2,000. I find 1,000’s enough for me, but sometimes I’m on a roll and do 2,500, which means I can spend the next day in the pub and the following morning recovering.
Question.
Looking around your website I found you forthcoming publications.
I saw some projects are in first draft stage, others in second draft. How many drafts does it usualy take before a book is ready for publication?
Danny.
It depends, largely on what constitutes a draft. I tinker with my books all the time, typos, spelling, reworking, but I only allocate it a new draft number if the changes I’m making are sufficiently weighty that I’m actually losing stuff from the earlier draft i favour of the new.Burglar and Bank Robber Diaries, and the
Milo books were pretty much done in one draft, but Hitman and Pornographer needed whole chapters deleting, or rewriting or amalgamating.It basically boils down to when you and your editor are happy to go ahead and publish
.
Question.
Hi there,my question is were do you get your inspiration to write this genre of book? Have you been influenced by the big screen or from other great reads. I am also looking at investing in some reads for the christmas holiday. So I thought I would purchase yours. Are your books best read in a certain order?
Danny.
No, I don’t think it’s necessary to read them in a certain order, except for Milo’s Marauders and Milo’s Run, which are consecutive.As for books and reads, I like light-hearted capers. The Flashman books are great and I’ve read them all. And on TV I liked stuff like The Sweeney and Minder, which have yet to be surpassed. Most crime dramas on TV take themselves so seriously these days and are more concerned with being edgy, cool and full of chisel-chinned models in body armour. Which is a bit of a yawn.