Author Interview: Scott Mariani
Hi Scott, thank you for joining us. Could you tell us a little about your writing process?
It’s pretty simple, really. I wish I could make it sound exciting and glamorous, but writing is just a job like most others – there’s no special mystique to it. I don’t take long walks on windswept beaches in search of the muse, or anything like that. Six days a week, after breakfast and feeding the dogs and other sundry duties, I go up to my study, coffee in hand. As I climb the stairs I start getting my brain in gear thinking about what I need to do that day. It could be an action scene, or it could be a scene between two characters involving lots of dialogue, or it could be something with a lot of geographical or historical content. In the latter case, I might need to have various reference books or maps around me to refer to. In the former case, I may have nothing at all to rely upon other than my poor overworked imagination. Then I sit down and spend the next few hours trying to do whatever it is I need to do, as effectively as possible. I don’t like to leave the desk until I’m happy with what I’ve set down, which means I might sometimes have a very long working day. Some days are hard, others fly by and I’m able to hit whatever word quota I’ve set myself and stop early to go and attend to the thousand other things I invariably have to do, living out here in the country, like cutting wood or strimming the meadow. Oh, yes, and trying to have a life.
Tesla was a great inventor. What do you wish you’d invented, and why?
He was responsible for, or at least instrumental in pioneering, many technologies that we find essential and take for granted in the modern world (apart from also being, very possibly, a dangerous lunatic). But you don’t necessarily have to be a scientist or an engineer to be an inventor. I think that writers, as designers of stories, are inventors too. I regard what I do as a kind of industrial design job, blending technical and creative abilities in the same way that an automotive designer might come up with the sleek, beautiful form of a new Ferrari or Porsche, or some other end product aimed at appealing to the public. And being a writer, I can’t think of anything I’d rather have invented than a fictional character like Ben Hope, the hero of my books. Readers say they feel they know him like a real person, a friend even, someone they love to share time with, in whose world they love to dwell a while. That’s good enough for me.
by 
Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: CSI Writing Prompt
Friday 7th August 2015: CSI
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt: Your character, male or female is a crime scene investigator and they have just got to a botched crime scene. What happens next?
by Blog Tour: Rembrandt’s Mirror by Kim Devereux
Kim Devereux
I’m very excited to be welcoming author, Kim Devereux to Novel Kicks. Her novel, Rembrandt’s Mirror was released on 6th August by Atlantic Books. As part of her blog tour to celebrate the release of her book, Kim talks to us about what drew her to write about Rembrandt and the challenges and research she faced. Over to you, Kim.
I remember seeing Rembrandt’s Self-portrait at the age of 63 in my early twenties. I remained standing in front of it in the National Gallery for a long time and tears came to my eyes. There is something so moving about Rembrandt’s relentless depiction of his own aging face and his steady gaze amidst the wrinkles and sagging flesh. All this he must have observed so carefully in a mirror. He has painted his own decay and yet it is somehow magnificent too, the pose full of dignity and strength.
Imagine what it must have felt like for Rembrandt to scrutinize his face for weeks or even months on end. This is how long it took to paint a large self-portrait. Throughout his lifetime he painted and drew himself at least seventy-seven times.
Who would take a selfie these days that highlights their own decrepitude and still manage to turn it into an absolute triumph? The late self-portraits do just that. I started to puzzled over the fact how, despite suffering heavy blows of fate towards the very end of his life, he still managed to paint breath-taking images full of love and beauty such as The Jewish Bride. It is this question – how he arrived at the late works – that drove me to write Rembrandt’s Mirror and what it would be like to see the world through his eyes. I feel he had an unconventional way of seeing. He was able to put pictorial conventions and prejudices to one side and see things afresh. I feel that he is able to home in on what it is that makes us human. He never objectifies anyone. You always get a sense of the person. He seems to empathize with his subject or he’s very good at painting a face in a way that makes us feel we can get a felt sense of the character on display.
by Blog Tour: The Hiding Place by John Burley – Review
We are happy to be welcoming back John Burley to Novel Kicks today and his blog tour for his novel, The Hiding Place. The e-book was released by Avon on 30th July 2015 with the paperback following on 27th August 2015. Here’s a little about the book:
Dr Lise Shields works alongside some of the most dangerous criminals in America. As a psychiatrist she goes further than many, trying to work out what motivates these depraved and deadly individuals. When she gets close to one patient, Jason, she realises that his story isn’t black and white, and perhaps they’ve got the wrong man. But in letting Jason in, and believing his story, Lise soon realises she has put herself in terrible danger as she uncovers secrets, lies and unanswered questions. Is Lise living on borrowed time? And when she reaches the point of no return – where will she hide?
The Hiding Place is set in a psychiatric hospital in the US which houses some of the most deadly prisoners in the country. It’s a dead-end where none of the patients ever leave as they are all guilty and incurable.
Dr Lise Shields works with some of the most difficult. One day a transfer patient arrives with no paperwork and no patient history. This patient, Jason Edwards, causes Lise to ask questions and seek answers to perceived injustices leading her further and further down the rabbit hole, into a web of concealed truths and covert observation.
Laura had read No Mercy, the previous novel by John Burley and had really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to reading The Hiding Place.
This book is a well written and throughly enjoyable psychological thriller. All the clues are there from the start but I didn’t see the end coming until a few pages from the end. It kept me turning the pages and drew me through the book, always tempting me on a page further. The mystery of the novel drew me in.
by Courses and Competitions: Mslexia Novel Competition 2015
Mslexia’s Women’s Novel Competition is still open. If you’re a previously unpublished woman’s novelist then you can submit your novel for the chance to win £5,000.
Mslexia are looking for novels of 50,000 words and over in any genre as long as it is written for adults or young adults.
The closing date is 21st September 2015. At this point, they are asking for the first 5,000 words by the closing date. The full manuscript will then be required in October if your novel makes the shortlist.
The fee to enter is £25 per novel.
Judging the competition this year is novelist, Marina Lewycka, literary agent, Juliet Mushens and Di Speirs, the Books Editor at BBC Radio & Music.
by Book Club
