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
ianmulville | author 