The Word Cloud

Since my novel ‘Clan’ was published in 2008, it has been on a remarkable journey, a journey I could not have anticipated when I first sat down to write it.

It had its genesis in my family history. A story that started with my father giving me a copy of ‘The Steel Bonnets’ by the greatly missed George MacDonald Fraser, which first introduced me to my heritage in the Borders of Scotland, to ‘Border Reivers’ and to my own much loved Elliot Clan. I have, of course, read many other books since, but his was the catalyst. That was over 30 years ago. My father died in 1978.

The more I learned about my ancestry, the more remarkable it seemed, as legends of Scottish history, William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and my favourite villain (I’m sure much maligned and unfairly singled out by me for literary purposes), William de Soulis.

Was he really locked up in Dumbarton prison for life for conspiring against The Bruce? Or was he truly boiled in lead on ‘Nine Stane Rig’? And what of his evil familiar ‘Robin Red Cap’, the benignly named but vile little creature who has managed to keep a number of my readers awake at night, wondering if that tapping at the window is really the wind or Robin seeking to ‘blood his cap’!

But always there, brooding in the background and calling me to visit whenever I am in the Borders, is Hermitage Castle, the ‘Strength of Liddesdale’. It is said that it has sunk 6 feet into the ground from ‘the weight of the iniquity bearing down on it’ and it guarded the entrance to what was once known as ‘the bloodiest valley in Britain’. Hermitage is the picture that always I see first in my mind’s eye, whenever I think of ‘Clan’.

‘Clan’ has put me in touch with friends and family all over the world, with readers in 15 countries - at least that I know of. It has become an audio book, has been translated into German and is finding a great new audience over there; it seems the Germans love Scotland!

Above all, though, it has given me the opportunity to make friends all over the World, wherever Scottish blood, however diluted, flows in the veins of men and women. I have made friends and found family.

It would be iniquitous to mention anyone by name. By naming one and not another I insult people who are deeply important to me, but take it from me, everyone who has ever connected either personally or through ‘Clan’, you are friend or family.

But I’m sure you will forgive me if I do single out one person, a very special person: our Clan Chief Madam Margaret Eliott of Redheugh. Before ‘Clan’ was published, I forwarded a copy to her and spent a very worrying time waiting to hear her thoughts. I’m not sure what would have happened had she hated it – but fortunately it seems she didn’t, and her comments now proudly grace the cover of the book.

So there we are, 15 countries, from Scotland to Australia, the USA to Brazil, Canada to New Zealand, Germany to Israel - ‘Clan’ has travelled.

I am proud to say, courtesy of our Chief, it sits in ‘The Elliot Clan Museum’. It also is available in the Liddesdale Heritage Centre and Hawick Museum in the borders.

But there has always been one place it has never been:  The one place which is its spiritual home, the one place above all others it should be, and that is at Hermitage Castle itself.

But that is about to change.

The guardians of Scottish heritage, ‘Historic Scotland’ have decided that ‘Clan’ deserves a place within Hermitage itself and they will be making it available for sale to visitors to the Castle.

I couldn’t be prouder. When I first opened my copy of ‘The Steel Bonnets’ and started a remarkable journey of discovery, it would have been sheer fantasy for me to consider that one day it might be on a shelf at Hermitage alongside it!

‘Clan’ is finally home.

I was hugely impressed with this new web site called 'Book Drum'. It is on the face of it, an entirely new and exciting site for those interested in books and writing.

The site enables 'contributors' (authors or readers) to register and put up reviews of favourite books, which is not of course in itself unique.

But what is new and innovative about this site is, it enables, through the use of 'bookmarks' a facility where the contributor can take a quote from the book, and attaching to that page additional information which can be video, photographs, drawings,  sound files, maps, map co-ordinates, research, documents etc., which add to the total story behind the book - hence 'Beating the Drum' for the book.

I'm proud to say that at present my book 'Clan' is the 5th most popular book on the site - only 2 places behind Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (Number 1 is 'Saturday' by Ian McEwan) so feeling totally unworthy in such illustrious company!

For those of you who have contributed to my blog discussion on 'Literary Fiction' that might be quite amusing!

Below is a sample of a video included as a bookmark in 'Clan'

What is ‘Literary Fiction’?

I suppose, not being an intellectual, I struggle with the concept of the categorisation of books as 'Literary Fiction'.

A few months back there was a discussion on one of the groups on LinkedIn when I asked the question what is 'Literary Fiction?' The question was a serious one as the issue had been exercising me for sometime.

As an author of fiction, I spent a long time concentrating on looking for an agent rather than a publisher as the conventional wisdom is that an unknown author of fiction will never make it passed a Trade Publisher's 'Slush Pile' (that mountain of solicited and unsolicited dreams sent in by aspiring authors) unless it has effectively been pre-filtered by an Agent.

The theory is understandable; Agents make money based on a percentage of the author’s earnings. If the author earns nothing then the agent earns a percentage of that nothing, which is of course still nothing. So if the agent is respected, a publisher may take a more serious look at a book if the agent feels there is sufficient potential revenue from the author to make it worth his while.

There is still no guarantee the publisher will take the book on of course, but it raises the prospects.

But whether an author is talking to a potential agent or publisher the question of genre will certainly crop up.

It seems to me that people are obsessed with genre - and if you get it wrong, well you are pretty much banjaxed!

People are often very prescriptive - call it the wrong thing and many people will just refuse to read it! "I don't read - (horror/Sci-Fi/thrillers/crime/historical/romance)” - enter almost any genre you can think of - is often a knee-jerk response.

I called my book "a historical, supernatural thriller" my publisher called it "horror" - but then I think that's because he is a wimp!

Bookshops insist on knowing what genre it is - apparently unless they are told on which shelf to put the book, booksellers can be seen marching up and down their shops with a book in their hand not knowing what to do next until they collapse from starvation.

Then of course, what genre a book is, is very subjective anyway. Often people will tell me 'Clan' is fantasy. I try to explain it isn't - I don't even like fantasy, successful though they are Terry Pratchett and Tolkein leave me cold - I did struggle through The Hobbit once and I have read a Terry Pratchett - but I can't remember which one because it did very little for me - but at least I tried!

I have a deep respect for all writers - I know how hard it is so I feel the least I can do is finish it. I always feel I must get to the end even if I'm hating it - it is some kind of masochism I was brought up with - like finishing the food on your plate because children in Africa are starving. I even finished a Jeffrey Archer once - that's how dedicated I am!

You will see therefore I am the same as all other readers - by declaring "I don't like fantasy" I am making generalised and sweeping assumptions that I have no doubt will lead to me missing some excellent writing.

(Incidentally the difference between fantasy and supernatural for me is that fantasy creates entirely fantastical worlds, Middle Earth, hobbit languages and all that kind of thing - supernatural is about strange things happening in the real world - hence SUPERnatural)

So genre is a minefield - but even that is not as difficult as this concept of so-called 'Literary Fiction.'

Agents and publishers will often tell you they are not interested in your book because they only handle 'literary fiction'.

So what is my writing - 'Illiterate fiction’?

That may sound a little defensive and maybe it is - but there is no doubt that the term is often used as some kind of intellectual snobbery. Ask twenty people what 'Literary Fiction' is and you'll get twenty different answers, I know because I've tried it. 

Some will say it is beyond genre, it is about beautiful language rather than plot and story, it is cross genre, or simply that it can't be good if people actually want to read it - that's commercial fiction, no intellectual would be seen dead reading something that was actually enjoyed by the hoi-polloi. Popular means bad.

Some people have never forgiven the BBC for using Nessun Dorma sung by Pavarotti as the theme for a football tournament - God forbid that some builder/soccer fan should enjoy the tune without having dressed up in a dinner suit and paid £200 for a seat at the Royal Opera House!

There are still people who say Stephen King is not a "proper writer" because before he became one of the World's most successful writers he submitted short stories to Sci-Fi magazines. Whatever next!

One of my favourite quotes is by Robert Benchley "It was fifteen years before I realised I was no good as a writer, but by then I was too famous to stop."

So - until somebody can come up with real definition of 'literary fiction' that actually has to do with something other than intellectual snobbery I will continue to claim I write literary fiction as well as commercial fiction, thrillers, mystery, crime, romance, horror etc - even if in the end - they are actually all the same book!

So I think we should let readers decide what they like and spend a little less time trying to categorise things.

I have recently been in touch with a guy called Dan Cafaro who is founder and publisher of Atticus Books a new publishing initiative in the USA who has similar objectives of bringing good books and readers together - you can read his take on it here!