May Day, May Day

By Ian Mulville

Author: Full Circle (Crime/Fiction, Launch date 1^st May 2014)

A big THANK YOU TO those you who’ve been following my journey since my ‘bloke with an idea in his head and a blank piece of paper’, up until now. This will possibly be my last post before the book officially goes on sale.

Yes, the countdown has started and my debut, (possibly) future-best-selling novel will be available for purchase across all platforms from 1^st May 2014.

Although there’s a full ‘Acknowledgements’ page in the novel, I would like to give credit to some special people who helped me to get the project over the line.

• Jeff at MediaFX helped me with the YouTube interview videos.
• Sarah and Greta at Seed &Sprout PR set up and populated the social media links for me, plus lots of other ‘PR stuff’, which is still ongoing.
• Allie at Cre8tive Solutions put the website together, and has been constantly updating it for me.
• Paul Francis from Doodlejam stepped in on a couple of occasions when technology got the better of me.
• And Jutta – who does get a longer mention in the book – helped with the cover design concept and took the photo’s of me for both the book cover and for the website/blog/FB pages (plus much more besides).

Early next week I’ll be releasing an animated ‘trailer’ for the new book. It’s been such fun – and hard work – putting it together. The concept started out as a punchy thirty second clip, but has now stretched to one minute, twenty seconds (it could easily have been ten minutes long; and why stop there?). Apart from capturing the imagination of potential readers, I’m also hoping it will catch the attention of scriptwriters, screenwriters and even film directors; I’m aiming high. Any literary agents who ‘passed’ on the Full Circle manuscript, can also view the trailer to visualise the novel, and then contact me about my future projects. Once you’ve seen it, I’d really appreciate any feedback.

There was an early ‘leak’ this week, when somebody who received an advance copy of Full Circle, proudly displayed a shot of themselves reading it on their Facebook and tagged me. It led to a brief flurry of “why didn’t you tell us it was out?” messages and – as a bonus – some early sales.   How amazing it was to sell my very first hardback copy, which is a milestone in itself, however modest. That’s another “thank you” right there…

There are now links straight from the ‘Shop’ page on the website www.ianmulville.com which really makes it easy for people to make a purchase. Rather than directing them straight to Amazon or Barnes and Noble, they can now take a quick tour of the site, and get to know more about me if they wish.

Immediately post-launch, I have a couple of competitions in mind (which I’ve mentioned in a previous blog), and I’ll update you in a follow-up blog. Don’t want to give the game away, but I haven’t seen them done before, so it’s another exciting project to take the project to the next level.

So much to do. Now it’s time to get some reviews, ramp up the PR and social media and generally ‘get the word’ out. Once again I thank you for your support and encouragement. I’ve enjoyed sharing with you, and reading some of your own blogs, which have been inspirational. There’s so much talent out there.

Whatever stage of writing you’ve reached, please keep at it. I hope you’ve been able to take a little something away from my experience and musings of the writing journey, and I wish you every success.

Cheers

Ian

Everything’s Come Full Circle

By Ian Mulville

Author:  Full Circle (Crime/Fiction, Launch date 1^st May 2014)

The countdown has now officially started and my debut, (possibly) future-best-selling novel will be available for purchase across all platforms from 1^st May 2014.  (Psst:  it’s actually available already on Amazon and also on Barnes & Noble, if you want to beat the rush…).

I can’t explain how good it felt to have the first freshly-printed, ever-so-shiny advance copy of Full Circle in my hands.  It wasn’t quite up there with the birth of my children, but still… there was an amazing feeling of achievement, of relief, of completion, all tinged with disbelief that it had actually arrived safely.

I’m sure anyone that’s ever written a book can relate to it: so much effort goes into the writing – physical and emotional – that it veers towards the masochistic.  The rewards though, when you reach certain milestones – like the first page, the first thousand words, the first chapter, the final full stop – are immense.

Personally, I feel I’ve grown so much in the process.  It’s been a steep learning curve, not having come from a writing background, and very challenging with real highs and lows.  Like any major undertaking, actually starting – writing the first line of a 135,000-word journey – was the most daunting, and there were regular obstacles along the way, like writer’s block, plot holes, spending weeks crafting a very exciting or entertaining scene, before realising that  it actually diverted from the plot or slowed the pace down.

But that’s all behind me now and, regardless of how it’s received, I did it.  I did it!

The writing, the editing, reviewing, the editing, the proof reading, the editing, the cover design, the editing, the social media, etc.  Did I mention the editing?  Do believe everything they say about writing the book being the easiest part:  it’s the editing which can make you want to give it all up.  Well, me, anyway.  However, I was lucky enough to have an excellent support team:  Team Mully.  They believed in me and supported me and I am truly grateful.

There are many others who have helped me on this journey, and if they’re not mentioned in the Acknowledgements page, then they will be in the next blog.

The pre-launch activity has now begun in earnest. The website’s been updated, and I’m just awaiting the links to be added which will enable online purchase direct from the site.  In the next few weeks, I hope to launch a competition, and ‘get the word out’ on FB, Twitter, Instagram, etc., that it’s finally about to be released on an unsuspecting world.

So, literary agents, (screenwriters, film directors) here it is; my debut novel.   I hope you like it and, should you find yourself inspired, impressed or intrigued, then please make contact, and I’ll give you an update on my future book-writing projects (contact details on http://www.ianmulville.com).  This is just the beginning.

Thank you so much for following my progress.  I hope you’ve found it informative, and I value your support.

Many thanks.

Ian

 

Frank Feedback

By Ian Mulville

Author:  Full Circle (Crime/Fiction, Launch date 31^st July 2013)

 

Having received feedback and comments from family and friends – which were all positive and encouraging – it was with trepidation that I awaited the results of the ‘Editorial Evaluation’ from my first external, truly objective source; somebody impartial who wasn’t afraid to hurt my feelings and could offer professional advice regarding the overall state of my debut novel.

And you know what?  It wasn’t too bad (considering I’m a new author with a new book).  A good, original story with great characters, but in need of some work on the technical side.  I thought: I can deal with that. 

The editor provided examples to support any observations and recommendations and I agreed with the vast majority of their comments.  For the remainder, I felt that perhaps it was a difference of opinion rather than a technical defect, so I stuck with the original version or made only a minor tweak.

It was exactly the feedback I needed.  The main issue highlighted was the ‘Point of View’; maintaining consistency with who’s talking or taking action, and in what tense.  I needed to ‘change the camera angle’ and make the book move through a series of scenes, with as many as possible of the scene-endings taking the plot forward.  This was a tough one but, using the examples provided, I could see what they meant; I as the writer must be invisible, and any thoughts, emotions or discoveries must originate from the character, not me.

Another comment was that although the dialogue was relevant and meaningful, there was simply too much and some of it came across as a monologue.  Again, good to hear, and I took out quite a bit of dialogue, replacing some of it in the text rather than in parentheses.

A further observation was that much of the character development in the first couple of chapters was slowing the pace down.  It was all valuable stuff, but could or should be cut-and-pasted further into the novel.  Once again, I fully agreed.  It made sense; I want people to get straight into the guts of the story and become engaged with it, and then fill in the detail later.

In the editor’s opinion, a couple of the sub-plots/storylines came across as anecdotal and although they were interesting and entertaining, they didn’t move the plot forward.  This was where I really struggled.  I had invested a great deal of time in getting those lines down, and was attached to them, so it was really hard to let them go.  A few I amended and a few I removed altogether.  It will never be wasted effort or material; it was a great learning curve for me and who knows, they might make it into book two..?

The final feedback was around ‘layering’; building suspense, creating expectation, alluding to past events and letting the reader fill in the blanks without spelling things out for them.  There were a couple of places where I’d summarised, in the mind of one of the characters, what had led them up to that point in time, and on reflection it was unnecessary; all was eventually revealed in good time.

Now all that sounded pretty daunting, but as I’m very open to feedback I got stuck straight in, making the recommended changes and adjustments.  And the outcome?  I’m extremely happy with the result.  It seems so much more polished; it flows well, builds nicely and there’s no fat (well, less than there was, anyway…).  I was already confident that I’d created something worthwhile, and now I know that it’s the best it can be.  You can’t ask for more than that!

In the next week or so I’ll be posting some of the revised content on www.ianmulville.com so please take a look.  You can compare the ‘before and after’ versions and make your own mind up whether it’s progress or not.  I believe it is.  All feedback is welcomed on the blog.

I’m convinced it will all help in my search for positive reviews and later, my search for a literary agent, so all the additional effort will definitely be worth it.

And so to the important bit: when will it be available?  Well, the book is in production and the target date at this point is still 31^st July.  If there’s any change to that date, then I’ll certainly let you know.

As usual, many thanks for following my writer’s journey and I’ll be back soon.  My next blog will be about the cover design, marketing and insert pages of the book, which is a journey all by itself.

Cheers

 

Ian

Come to the Dark Side (We Have Cookies…)

By Ian Mulville

Author:  Full Circle (Crime/Fiction, Launch date July 2013)

 

Welcome back,

 

In my research, I learned the importance of identifying an ‘avatar’ for my novel: who am I targeting?  Are they male or female?  What age?  What demographic?  Another important piece of advice was to identify the genre in which I’m writing – sci-fi, romance, thriller, etc. – and stick to it.

And so I started out writing my new book, Full Circle, as quite a dark, action-oriented, crime thriller, targeting a male audience in their thirties and above.  The story started out well enough along that theme, profiling the two male leads, their various youthful misdemeanours, sexual encounters and a little random violence.  Before long I introduced some serious criminals, drugs, guns, blackmail, kidnap, torture and all manner of generally antisocial behaviour, thereby ticking many of the boxes my male thirty-something avatar would expect to read.

However, something happened.  The two characters are from the same social background and have been friends since childhood, but they find themselves in serious trouble and have to go on the run.  One of them finds that no matter how hard he tries, he gets pulled over to the dark side by some invisible magnetic force.  The deeper he gets in, the more difficult it is to extract himself.  Yes, there are cookies, but at what cost?  His health, freedom, relationships, sanity and even his life are threatened, but the lure of the cookies is strong, Luke.

In the meantime, as I continued writing, the second character took a path which couldn’t be more opposite and I found myself becoming immersed in the light side; the Karma part of ‘Drama, Karma, Body Armour’ (more about that in my next post).  What would my Avatar think now?  As it turns out, my female readers have really connected with the second character, unsurprisingly perhaps, and so I’ve gained a whole new audience without deterring my original readership.

If ‘Jaws in Space’ can successfully combine two genres and audiences, why not ‘Lock, Stock meets Eat, Pray, Love’?  Guess I’ll have to see.

Have a read of Chapter One on the website and I’m sure you’ll figure out which character goes ‘dark’.  Then ask yourself the question:

What would you do?

As usual, many thanks for following, and I’ll be back soon.

Ian

G.S.O.H.

By Ian Mulville

Author:  Full Circle (Crime/Fiction, Launch date July 2013)

 

 

I was once at an International HR Conference in Dublin.  (That’s Human Resources, or ‘Human Remains’ as some people refer to it).  The main speaker was the HR Director of a greenfield, billion- Dollar biopharmaceutical facility which was just about to open after four years development.  It was on-time, within budget and with all specifications met.  A remarkable achievement.

The HR guy talked passionately about the challenges he faced in attracting the highly-skilled scientists and technicians required to run such a sophisticated operation, plus all the many hundreds of support staff, contractors and consultants, and here it was all finally coming together.  It was an incredible story, full of changing priorities, obstacles overcome, stress and pressure, but – as a team and despite the odds  – they’d done it, and exceeded all expectations.

After all the stats, facts and figures, he paused and, with a glint in his eye, delivered the final line of his presentation, his punchline:

 

“But of course, we couldn’t have achieved any of this without a healthy dose of (the) Craic”.

 

As anticipated, this drew a very mixed response from the assembled audience:

The Irish, and some of the British, laughed and some even applauded. The Europeans smiled politely, not quite sure what had just been said, and why people were laughing.  But best of all, the Americans present all froze with a “did he really just say that?” look on their faces.

He then went on to explain that ‘the Craic’ in Gaelic, is a generic term for banter, jokes or storytelling, usually in a social context; a good sense of humour.  So they had used humour to keep their spirits up in the face of adversity.  The Americans breathed a sigh of relief, and the Germans nodded.  Humour.  Ja.

The Craic is deeply ingrained in the Irish culture, and if there’s one thing I inherited from my father, it was his sense of humour (although watching my YouTube clips, you wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell that!).  In my new book, Full Circle, I’ve tried to let that ‘sense of humour in the face of adversity’ come through, though there are plenty of stand-alone stories and incidents which will also make you smile.  Or wince.  (A ‘final draft’ version of Chapter One is available to read on my website http://www.ianmulville.com and might give you a little flavour of what follows…).

Humour is very subjective.  What some people will find amusing, others may find upsetting or disgusting, or may simply not ‘get’ at all, especially when different languages or cultures are involved, as evidenced by the example above.  Eddie Izzard is especially inspirational in this regard, and has managed to successfully perform a stand-up comedy routine in France, in French, to rave reviews.  Not content with that, I recently read that he’s determined to now do the same in German, Spanish, Russian and Arabic.  How’s that for a challenge?

I cannot claim to be the inventor of the following joke, but I was fortunate enough to be able to try it out first-hand, and still laugh about it now.  I met two Austrians in a bar (in Sumatra) and asked them.

“Who was that famous Austrian racing driver who nearly died in a crash, back in the eighties?”.

“Lauda”, they responded.

So I raised my voice a little and said “you know, the one who got badly burned.  Lost his eyebrows and his ears”.

“Lauda”, they again responded, in unison.

I pushed on, raising my voice still further “I think it was Nikki something-or-other”.

By now they were both wondering who this dumb guy was in front of them.  “Lauda!”, they said.

So I really shouted to them “I think he started his own airline”.

“It’s Lauda.  Nikki Lauda!”, they roared, exasperated.

Then they saw that I was nearly peeing myself with laughter, and the penny dropped.  Could have gone either way, but at the time it was perfect.

Anyway, enough of this humour stuff, and let me leave you with a quote by Winston Churchill, who apparently offended a lady with a badly-timed joke and, after having been accused of being drunk, reportedly said:

“I may be drunk madam, but you are ugly.  At least in the morning I shall be sober”.

Thanks for reading.  Be back soon.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

Letting Go (Gulp)

By Ian Mulville

Author:  Full Circle (Crime/Fiction, Launch date July 2013)

 

Aaah, the Editorial Review process.  Up until this point, the feedback I’ve received for my new book, Full Circle, has all been positive and encouraging.  Yes, I’ve invited people to be honest – brutal even – with their feedback, but it’s been very difficult for them to be totally frank and honest as they know me: would they really be able to tell me if the book sucked?  It’s a tough one, not wanting to hurt somebody’s feelings, and although I believe I could take bad news, secretly I’m glad that I haven’t had to deal with it.  Yet.

 

Well here it comes, the first objective feedback, and it’s a nerve-racking experience.  Like every other author, this work is my baby and I want people to be nice to it, to cuddle it.  To love it, as much as I do.  But will they?

 

People deal with criticism (however well-intentioned) in differing ways: anger, denial, deflection, blame, etc., and editors know that.  So it came as no real surprise when my editor sent through the following explanation of their process, which contains several not-so-subtle messages/reminders about what to potentially expect.  I thought I’d share it with you.

 

Dear Ian,

By submitting your manuscript for an Editorial Evaluation, you’ve proved that you are not only willing to devote the time necessary to write a book but also ready to receive straightforward feedback from publishing professionals about how your book can be improved – even if what they have to say may not always be what you want to hear.

As an author, you may find that it’s easy to be offended by any critique of your book- no matter how constructive it may be – because your writing, in many ways, represents you as a person. If nothing else, your manuscript is the culmination of countless hours of your hard work and creativity on a subject or story you feel passionate about.

While you wait for your Editorial Evaluation to be completed, remember that every successful book has been reviewed by an editor, and many authors have experienced the same reactions as those you are likely to have. Here are some observations from Susan Senator, author of Making Peace with Autism:

“Anytime I get my work back from an editor, I grind my teeth and reach for the antacids. The fear and anticipation is usually worse than the reality. I read what the editor has said and, frequently, disagree right away. I have to read it a few more times- and take a break-in order to see the wisdom there. It is a scary, messy process but all the more miraculous when your beautiful work shines through better than ever.”

For many successful authors, accepting criticism from editors, publishers and critics is a key step in creating books that eventually become best-selling hits. Quality matters.

Your Editorial Evaluation will likely provide constructive criticism of your manuscript and show you areas in which you can make your book even better and refine your skills as a writer. Keep in mind that no author – no matter how successful – writes a perfect first draft. Writing is a process of continual growth. But with a commitment to writing a great book, the willingness to accept an honest critique of your manuscript and the patience to continue revising, you are guaranteed to create something beyond your expectations. The evaluation process generally takes about two weeks. Once it’s complete, you can expect to receive the completed evaluation.

And so I wait, hoping that there is a sympathetic Editor who will immediately connect with the core essence of my debut novel and treat it kindly/respectfully/reverentially, with the feedback full of words such as Wow, Perfect, Awesome, Gifted and Talented.  I’m just putting it out there.  To the Universe.  That’s all.

You see, I’ve let go.  Honest.

Thanks for caring.

Ian

Drama / Karma / Body Armour

 By Ian Mulville

Author:  Full Circle (Crime/Fiction, Launch date July 2013)

Welcome back.  In previous posts I’ve given a little insight into my background and motivation, and also my writing journey and the process of getting the completed novel out there.  Now I feel it’s time to reveal a little about the book itself, and I’ll be disclosing a little more each week throughout May and June and up until the launch in July.  (Watch out for a couple of competitions starting soon).

So I’ve written my new book, all 130,000 words of it.  In many respects, that was the easy part: the editing was equally – if not more – challenging, and I’ll come to that in a later post.  But it’s not over there.  Once you believe you have a final edit, then there’s the synopsis to write (no longer than two sides of A4), the back cover blurb of the book (recommended at less than 250 words), and the ‘elevator pitch’, which should capture the essence of the book in one short, catchy sentence.  It’s like composing a haiku; every single word must be of value.  No fat.

The chances are that some of the people reading this post will have been attracted by the header – Drama, Karma, Body Armour.  If so, then my research has been worth it; you can’t beat the power of a catchy by-line.  It distils the elevator pitch down yet farther, and maybe even becomes it.

In Hollywood folklore the most successful pitch of all time is said to have been made by screenwriters Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shuset in the late seventies, at just three words.  Capitalising on two blockbuster movies of the time, they came up with the pitch of ‘Jaws in Space’ for their screenplay Alien, and the rest is history.  At the time, O’Bannon drew inspiration from many previous works of science fiction and horror and later stated that “I didn’t steal Alien from anybody. I stole it from everybody!” (Source: Wikipedia).

I started out with a lengthier pitch, which I’ve by no means abandoned, and that is:

 

‘Lock, Stock meets Eat, Pray, Love’

 

Still catchy (I think…) and people who’ve enjoyed watching either of those movies (or read the latter), can immediately relate to it.  Of course, they’re two widely differing genres, but that’s the core of Full Circle; light/dark, good/bad, yin/yang.  There are distinct elements of both, intertwined throughout the story.

It certainly isn’t easy to convey the essence of a whole book in one sentence, let alone a handful of words, but it you’re able to manage it successfully, then it can become your greatest marketing tool.  I can already visualise Full Circle as a major action film with my by-line emblazoned on the movie posters.  Why not aim high?

Good luck, thanks for following and keep writing.

Ian

Write. Now.

By Ian Mulville

Author:  Full Circle (Crime/Fiction, Launch date July 2013)

 

Hi,

 

In this post, I wanted to explain what my inspiration and motivation were for writing Full Circle.

Three or four years ago I read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and it had quite an impact on me.  At the time I thought “I can do that.  Here’s someone who’s gone out and done what I’ve been threatening to do for years.  Time to get off the fence and put pen to paper “.  That provided the inspiration for me, though where on earth that ego and naïvity came from I have no idea.  However, as usual, other commitments conspired to hold me back.

Shortly afterwards, I met a numerologist in Bali who told me that my ‘direction’ was to be an artist.  Well, I don’t paint, sculpt, compose or play music, so I figured that maybe she was talking about the writing (rather than my drinking).  Still, I couldn’t find the time or the will to commit.

Finally an event occurred which gave me the push to write seriously and I knew I just couldn’t ignore the ‘messages’ anymore; it was the passing away of a close personal friend, far too young.  His death brought my own mortality into focus, and I decided there and then that if I was ever going to write this book, now was the time.  I’ve dedicated it to his memory.

Things fell into place after that, and I somehow created the space to write the novel.  I did some research and discovered that the guideline for a first book is around 120,000 words, which equates to approximately 300 pages in printed form.  That was a pretty daunting prospect, especially as I didn’t know how many words I’d be writing in a day, or even if I had a story!

It was like preparing to take the first step in training for a marathon; the psychological pressure was enormous, and yet again I was presented with 1,001 seemingly valid reasons why it was always a good idea to start writing the following day.  Or the day after.  Or never.  Eventually, less than a month after my good friend passed away, I said to myself “enough”, then cleared the decks, took a deep breath and started writing.

Just to write the first paragraph was a huge breakthrough, but once I’d taken it, and the many others that followed, there was an enormous sense of relief.  After the first chapter it already felt like quite an achievement; only another thirty to go.  Not much later, I was thinking “why didn’t I do this years ago?”

As it happened, once I settled into a pattern, my raw output was between 3,000 and 4,000 words a day (on an uninterrupted day…  Life can tend to get in the way, especially when you’re in full creative flow).

I believe that once you make the decision to write a book, you should have an over-arching reason for doing so.  Maybe it’s a moralistic tale you feel you must share, or you have visions of being the next big author.  For me, primarily, I want to entertain.  Pure and simple.  If I can give even one reader the kind of pleasure – the escape – I’ve experienced when in the grip of a good story, then I’ll have achieved my goal.  The close circle of people who’ve been kind enough to read my manuscript and offer me their feedback and thoughts have all, without fail, given me the confidence to continue and to reach out and entertain an unbiased audience.

In terms of influence, one of my heroes is Ben Elton. He started out as a stand-up comedian, then went on to write scripts, screenplays and books, several of which have been turned into successful movies, stage and TV shows. His books are funny, but usually have a real message within them.  I haven’t set out to copy his style, but even though much of the material in my book is fairly dark, I’ve tried to add a touch of humour to lighten the mood and there are a couple of not-so-thinly disguised messages in there, without any attempt at being moralistic.

Returning to the Stieg Larssen books, between them they contain elements of crime, suspense, pursuit, political intrigue, revenge and many other genres, and are woven together seamlessly, whilst touching upon contemporary and often controversial areas such as abuse and incest, bisexuality, people trafficking, cyber crime and sadomasochism.

When writing Full Circle, if I ever felt that a subject might be contentious or uncomfortable, I was reminded that what may have been regarded as too shocking for mainstream consumption twenty or even ten years ago, has now been rendered less shocking by the availability of internet access and the willingness of authors such as Larssen to push the boundaries.

Of course, I have to ask the question “how do I get published ?”.  Now that I’ve poured my passion into creating this story, I need to get it out there and of course I’m hoping that the book will get noticed by a literary agent or a publishing house so that it can find the widest possible readership.

On that note, please keep following the Blog and I’ll be updating you on how the project of ‘launching a debut novel using social media’ is proceeding.

Thanks again for joining.

 

Ian