I started my day researching places to sell photography online. Next thing I know, I’m chatting about art, photography and how to build a business online. Yes, have been derailed from work for the day, but the connections I made are more than worth it.
I met David George Clarke a few months ago after tweeting to ask if anyone out there had used Red Bubble. Lea Woodward, online strategist and entrepreneur, tweeted back to say her father had.
He had also just launched his first online novel, Rare Traits, a scientific thriller that takes place over 500 years told through a lens of art and genetics.
We e-mailed. He gave me advice. I read his book. I see where Lea gets her drive, ambition and lovely, positive nature.
Thank you, David, for saying yes to this interview.
1. You write about your inspiration for Rare Traits on your blog, but what was the process that took you from inspiration to the actual writing?
I had thought about writing a novel for some years, and I’d come up with a number of very sketchy plot outlines. Given my background in forensic science, they all tended towards thriller and crime-related ideas.
During the year before coming up with the ideas for Rare Traits, I had been helping my wife, Gail, get her head around Photoshop for illustrating a children’s’ book she had written – Patrick’s Birthday Message. This coincided with our decision to spend half the year away from Italy, initially travelling, but then settling on spending around six months in Phuket.
Since we’re not people who enjoy just sitting in the sun, we both needed projects. Writing was an obvious choice for both of us.
2. Do you have any particular writing habits or tricks that you’d recommend to others?
I wasn’t very disciplined about chapter outlines when writing Rare Traits. I just let things happen. The problem with this was that the chapters got very long with a tendency to shoot off at tangents.
Halfway through editing Rare Traits, I discovered Scrivener. It’s a word processing program designed for authors, and it is simply brilliant. You can keep everything in one place. Chapter drafts, outlines, synopses, research notes, the lot, and concentrate on the writing, chapter by chapter.
For my follow up novel, Delusional Traits, I have a full set of chapter outlines, but I’ll still let each chapter evolve. However, this time it will be with a far greater awareness of the need to keep to the essential elements of the plot.
Proper professional proofreading and editing is essential. For Delusional Traits, I intend to bite the bullet and employ two proof-readers and at least one editor.
Finally, I recommend not to write in Word. It inserts all sorts of hidden stuff that can become a problem later when formatting for an e-book.
3. Does your experience as a forensic scientist shape the way you work as a writer?
I think it initially hindered me since I felt a need to explain everything to the nth degree.
My initial explanation of junk DNA went on for about four pages, and I was very pleased with how concise it was! It’s now about two lines. It was the same with many areas that needed some form of explanation, but I’ve learnt to reduce the prose and distill my thoughts to essentials.
One advantage of writing too much is that you can always edit down. I think it would be much harder to be trying to expand a text that was too thin on detail.
4. Are you also an artist?
I can draw quite well, and I’ve always been a photographer. More importantly for Rare Traits, I have an interest in art, particularly Renaissance art.
I also spent some time when we first moved to Italy following a course on art restoration. After that, I worked part time in a restoration studio for a couple of years, so I became familiar with many of the techniques, even if I wasn’t necessarily very skilful at applying them. Ced Fisher, the scientist of the novel, evolved from that, although his techniques are still very much in the realms of science fiction.
5. Was publishing Rare Traits online your first foray into social media and how do you like using it?
I already had a Twitter account with I think three followers. No tweets and no understanding of what it was all about. I’m still learning, but since focusing on other authors who tweet, I’ve found many like-minded souls and I’m starting to get it.
Prior to Rare Traits, Facebook was only for family and friends. That has also changed since I now have a public author page on Facebook as well. I think the other important aspect of self-publicising is having a good website. I was fortunate in that my daughter, Lea Woodward, and her husband, Jonathan, are professional website designers, so I got a lot of help. I’m still building a newsletter list on that site, but that takes time.
6. How was your experience of publishing online? What were the challenges? What were your favourite parts?
It was quite daunting to start. There are many hoops to jump through, and things aren’t always explained as well as they might be. Amazon and Createspace make it quite easy, but the best help I found was the Smashwords free e-book on formatting.
It needs revising now in the light of the latest Kindle formats, but it’s still excellent, especially the idiots guide to table of contents building. I still haven’t gone down the Smashwords route, having chosen to start with Kindle Direct Publishing, but I think I’ll try Smashwords next.
My favourite part was once the book was up, and I started my two-day free promotion. I had over 1250 downloads in two days and the book shot briefly to number one in the science fiction thrillers charts before settling at number two.
I also loved getting positive feedback. I love hearing that someone can’t put the book down. What satisfaction it gives me to know that I’ve entertained someone with my words and imagination.
7. What are the most important tools to use when publishing online?
I’ve only published with Amazon. They have an online mock up of your book in various Kindle formats once you’ve uploaded the file. It’s essential you check each of these since they don’t all format in the same way, which is very irritating. My book still doesn’t work properly on the Kindle Fire.
8. What’s the most important lesson learned so far?
One book is not enough. You need a list of published works and a readership who will buy your next book when it comes out. I reckon a catalogue of six books would be about the minimum to get noticed on a more regular basis and to make any sort of money. But hey, it’s not about the money; it’s just fantastic fun. One down; five to go!
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You can purchase Rare Traits on Amazon right now. And for more information on George David Clarke, follow him on Twitter, Facebook or check out his website.
