Keeping track of snacks in Jimmy Coates: Blackout

Sometimes you have a habit of doing something and you assume everybody else does it as well.

Here's something I never really thought much about, but I think I always assumed every writer did it. Turns out they don't.

When I'm working on a draft of a book in one of my notebooks, I start by writing the title of the book I'm working on and the date. So far, pretty normal. Then I write where I am, something about the general conditions (my mood, the weather etc.), then what I'm listening to and what I'm snacking on.

This is obviously the most important thing about writing and the one tip I would give to anybody who wants to write a novel: always make a note of what you're snacking on.

Here are a couple of pages from my first draft of Jimmy Coates: Blackout. To me these headings are completely sane and essential.

Jimmy Coates: Blackout comes out in the UK on June 6th.

He calmly replaced a screwdriver with a gun... Jimmy Coates: Blackout notebook stuff

A lot of Jimmy Coates: Blackout was planned and written in this notebook:

I'll be posting a few images from my planning and writing between now and the book's release on June 6th. Here's an early one. I do little diagrams in which I try to encapsulate the entire plot of the book, working out how all the tensions and conflicts between characters will interact with each other.

One more for now. This is a page of raw writing from the middle section of the book. It caught my eye because there's a particularly revealing correction. At one point I seem to have written:

He calmly produced a screwdriver...

Then immediately crossed it out and replace it with:

Instead of producing a screwdriver he pulled out a gun.

I think you're going to enjoy the book. More from my notebooks soon.

Jimmy Coates: Blackout - some teasers...

Jimmy Coates: Blackout is coming out on June 6th and to help with the publicity I've got some designers working on alternative covers for the series. So far what they've come up with has been fantastic and I'll be sharing some of their designs here closer to the release of the book.

Meanwhile, one of the designers was in touch this week to ask for a few more details about what's in the book.

I thought it would be mean of me not to share these little titbits with you, so here's what I told him:

Jimmy Coates: Blackout is about a power struggle and corruption in a general election. It takes place in the 24 hours before and the 24 hours after the election and it's all set in Britain - mainly in London.

There's a big set-piece action sequence at a place called Chisley Hall which is based on a real-life place called Chichely Hall, so maybe google that and take a look at images of it if you like. There's also a final climax action sequence at a club that I called in the book 'Loco' but in real life it's based on a venue called The Forum in Kentish Town, North London, so maybe google that one as well and take a look.

Apart from that there's also a big chase sequence at Heathrow airport that ends in a plane getting blown up. Obviously.

As for objects... the one that springs to mind is a hard-boiled egg coloured black as a signal to an assassin. Also, there are codes in su-doku puzzles.

Finally, here's a cheeky montage of little slivers from these alternative cover designs while they're still works-in-progress. See which bits you like...

OK, no more secrets from me today.

Guest Blog on Words, Death & Dilemmas

I'm in the middle of a frantic schedule of school, festival and library events to get the momentum going for the June launch of Jimmy Coates: Blackout.

So I've shared a few thoughts on what I learn from my audiences over at the superb 'YA Contemporary' Blog. You'll find my little piece here:

http://www.yacontemporary.com/2013/03/joe-craig-on-words-death-and-dilemmas.html

Check it out and see what you think.

Jimmy Coates: Blackout - new book, June 6th

This is your official announcement. Put your official face on...

It's been 4 years since the last Jimmy Coates book came out. In that time, despite no new publication, the series has grown and grown. I've had messages every day - every single day - by email, facebook, twitter and even hand-written letter, asking me when Jimmy Coates: Blackout would be released.

That kind of support is incredible. It's overwhelming. Parents, teachers, librarians and readers all over the country have kept up the enthusiasm for my books even while there was nothing new to shout about. Without that, we wouldn't be here. That includes YOU, readers of my blog. A big thank you for the support that has made this possible.

And here it is. On June 6th, JIMMY COATES: BLACKOUT will be released.

I hope this book rewards everybody's dedication to my series. I think it's worth the wait. I'm also excited about a whole new generation of readers discovering Jimmy Coates for the first time.

Don't worry if you haven't read the rest of the series (or can't remember what happened). This one should stand alone. (It's set 6 months after the end of Jimmy Coates: Power - a longer break in time than between any of the other books.)

I'm pretty sure it's the best thing I've written. It's a little darker than the others (as the title suggests) and it's also a little closer to home (some of the scenes are set at locations within a minute's walk of my house).

This one, even more than the others, shows a huge Robert Ludlum influence, I think. (He wrote The Bourne Identity, as well as many other excellent thrillers).

And a major character dies. Obviously, I'm not going to tell you who. You'll find out in June.

Over the next few months I'll be doing a lot of events to support the publication, including some that are open to the public.

If you're in London, you can come and see me in Camden on Sunday 10th March at THIS event.

On Sunday 21st April I'll be performing at the Chipping Norton Literary Festival. Click HERE for more about that.

Finally, you need a link so you can pre-order the book, right? OK. But don't forget it'll also be available from actual BOOKSHOPS, including many fantastic independent stores who've done great things to support me and the Jimmy Coates series. So please consider buying my books from them.

Meanwhile, here's the blurb:

"Jimmy Coates can only trust one man to bring the country back from the brink of chaos. When that man disappears, Jimmy must battle the shadow of corruption. But the shadows are darker than they seem, and the darkness reaches further than Jimmy could ever imagine."

To pre-order JIMMY COATES: BLACKOUT right now, here's the link to Amazon.

JIMMY COATES: BLACKOUT - coming, June 6th.

Spread the word. Tell someone about the series, send them this blog, tweet it, facebook it. Make a video, do a little dance. All that good stuff.

Help me get the word out there and put Jimmy Coates back on everyone's lips.

A Writer's Research

Here's an interview that rather grandly talks about my "research techniques". I wasn't aware of having any techniques, really, just some "things that I do". The people at Writers' Forum Magazine were kind enough to show an interest and here's a picture of the resulting interview...

I enjoy interviews. I might resurrect my popular series, "Answers to Somebody Else's Interview Questions". For now, I hope you enjoy my thoughts on how I research the Jimmy Coates books.

And if you're very observant, you might spot a bit of news about Jimmy Coates: Blackout...

EDIT:
For those interested, I've found my notes from the discussion about toxins in shark meat, mentioned in the article. Here's the discussion that bounced between me and my editor after I'd seen the copy editor had wrongly changed 'trimethylamine oxide' to 'uric acid':

Page

39              Not uric acid. That’s different. Please keep as ‘trimethylamine oxide’.  Eek! Fact dispute - the copy editor checked this and made a long note about the trimethylamine oxide being non toxic. The flesh is toxic due to high concentration of uric acid which the shark uses to make the t-oxide. Would you mind double-checking? And if you still disagree, I’ll change it back.

I think the confusion here is because there’s one fairly commonly known fact - that shark meat contains uric acid and that uric acid is toxic – and another, much less known fact, which is the one relevant here. It’s the first fact that you’ll find most written about on the internet, for example. But the shark meat in the book is from a different type of shark. All shark meat contains uric acid, (and incidentally I think for uric acid it makes no difference whether you cook the meat or not – I can’t remember that specifically) but Greenland Shark (from which Hakarl is made) is dangerous when raw because the trimethylamine oxide (non-toxic in itself) produces the toxin trimethylamine when ingested.

Uric acid is still present in cooked shark meat and if you ate enough of the stuff every day you’d eventually die of it, but that’s not relevant here, and I think that’s what’s confusing the issue. What I’m talking about here is a different effect: Greenland Shark has a far higher concentration of trimethylamine oxide than other sharks (apparently something to do with the fact that it lives under ice most of the time) and that’s what is toxic when the meat is eaten raw or untreated – not the uric acid.

That’s the longish answer. Short answer: here it should definitely be ‘trimethylamine oxide’, not ‘uric acid’, because it’s a different type of shark, even though it’s also true that in ALL sharks there’s uric acid, which is toxic.

If that makes no sense at all give me a ring and I’ll try rambling more successfully out loud!

"If you put me in charge of the country..."

A journalist called Carlotta Eden has interview me for her website. I didn't expect her to type up all my verbal tics and rambling gibberish, but she did and I think the world is richer for it.

Read the full interview here:

http://themaninmybrain.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/interview-joe-craig-author-of-jimmy.html

Story Shapes

There's a particular poster I've seen on classroom walls around the world. It's not always exactly the same, but it shows the same thing: the shape of a story.

Usually, the poster shows some kind of roller-coaster. And that roller-coaster always follows the same shape. It looks a bit like this:

This is a terrible shape for a story.

I said this at a lovely school I visited recently and once I explained why, within a few minutes the teachers removed the poster. Impressive. If you have a poster in your classroom with this story shape on it, I encourage you to take it down too.

If you specifically wanted a story to be boring, this shape is second only to the completely flat line.


First, it's got a long, dull beginning. Look at it. The start of the story is completely flat. (In this particular example, it drags on for almost half the story.) Even if you think the first thing in a story should be 'set-up' (which is not true), that 'set-up' doesn't have to be a flat line. In fact it should be anything but a flat line.

This story shape does have a  climax. That's good. It comes about 60-70% of the way through. But what happens after that? Boredom. After the reader has slogged through the first 40%, which was a flat line, there's a brief period of interest and rising intensity, but the final third of the book is one long anticlimax. It's the deflating of a balloon. It's flaccid. By the end of the story you'll be lucky if the reader remembers the interesting bit.

Also, and perhaps I'm nitpicking here, in this particular illustration (and there are different versions of the same shape) the climax itself is a little flat. It's not a peak, it's a plateau. I prefer a sharp climax. A definite point of focus - perhaps even a twist.

I have a challenge for you: find me a single successful story that follows that roller-coaster shape. A book or film or short story or poem or cartoon or ANYTHING.

It's a terrible shape.

Compare it to this story shape:

It wouldn't make a very good roller-coaster, but it's a much better story.

Now, I know it's unreasonable to expect primary school kids to be writing 3 act stories, but why not introduce them to the idea that openings to stories should be exciting? Why not talk about leaving your readers on a high instead of a long, dull trailing-away?

The three-act story shape is very similar to the structure I start with when I'm planning my books. I want to grab you on the first page. On the last page, I want to leave you gasping for more, totally gripped. In the middle, I'll plan ups and downs, ebb and flow, so that each peak is more intense than the last and each revelation spins you into the next act with a new momentum.

That's the plan.

Surely there's a way to introduce THAT idea to kids, rather than a story shape that seems designed to be boring.

If you're a teacher and you're used to the idea that stories begin with a passage of 'set-up', go and look at a real story. That's not how they start. There's mystery or intrigue or humour or a puzzle or SOMETHING. And they ALWAYS start with CONFLICT. You can fill in back story later. You can develop the world as you tell the story.

So please remove your roller-coasters from your classroom walls.


An aside:
Even a very basic diagonal line from bottom left to top right would make a more interesting story than the roller-coaster. It would make a story where every page is more exciting than the previous one. Every line builds the story to a peak of interest, intensity and exciting. Tension mounts. If you're writing a short story, that's a good story shape. Perhaps it wouldn't work if you tried to sustain it over a whole novel, but for a classroom wall it might be better.

That's the Bolero of story shapes. (Or, if you prefer, You'll Never Walk Alone.) Constant build-up. Go out on a high.

Like THIS.


Hehe.