Swearing in Books

I had an e-mail this morning from a reader who said he was a big fan of my books, which was nice of course. But he also pointed out that the characters in the Death Force series used the word ‘sodding’ all the time, and it got a bit repetitive.

He’s right, of course. They do, and it is.

There is a reason, however. They are soldiers. In real life it would be fu%£kig this and f!c£king that. And for some reason, I don’t think swearing works very well in books. I don’t have anything against it in real life, and it can work fine in films, but I print it somehow falls flat.

So I use sodding instead.

But maybe that doesn’t quite work either?

Death Force On Kindle

Death Force is now available on Kindle. Buy it here.

Let It Snow

It’s cold at the moment, as you’ve probably noticed. Everyone else has, understandably enough, been moaning about the weather. But when you are half way through writing a book called ‘Ice Force’ it does have certain advantages. When I need to get in the mood for another description of snow storms swirling through the Arctic glaciers, all I have to do is step out into the garden.

One of the things you have to do as writer is create a believable atmosphere. Books vary, of course. Some are set in very, ordinary everyday locations -- the suburbs, for example. I like to set my books in fairly exotic places. I think that is part of the appeal of the adventure-action thriller genre. There is a big element of escapism in these books. Nobody wants to escape to Swindon. They want the book to take them somewhere exciting, and preferably dangerous as well.

That does, of course, mean the writer has to create believable detail. You need to make it real, without overdoing the travelogues. The best way is to focus on little things. When I was writing about Helmand in Afghanistan for Death Force, for example, I mentioned the smell of the wild irises that grow in the mountains along the Afghan-Pakistan border. In Ice Force, I’ve mentioned the grinding noise that the plates of ice moving beneath you make as you trudge towards the North Pole.

The atmosphere has to be woven into every sentence you write.

And, of course, it helps if it is snowing outside while you are doing it.

A Life or Death Match....

I was talking to my editor Martin Fletcher at Headline yesterday about the next book in the ‘Death Force’ series, which is going to be called ‘Ice Force’. The outline is looking great. But we were discussing whether one of the character should die, as they have done in each of the previous three books in the series.

We decided one should.

But who?

We picked a pair of characters, and decided to kill off one if England beat Slovenia today. And another if they get beaten.

So it really is a life or death match.

The Ten Best British Thrillers

On the Headline blog, Crime Files, I've been listing the ten best British thrillers. You can read it here.

Reading Aloud....

Last week I was up in Newcastle and then Norwich, giving some library talks, and visiting bookshop, promoting both ‘Death Force’, and the sequel Fire Force’.

As well as talking about where the books come from, one thing I do is read out loud a chapter from both books. And it struck me there is something really interesting about reading something you’ve written to an audience. You get a very real and immediate sense of what sentences work and which don’t. I’m not a skilled enough reader to really look at people closely when I’m reading – I’m looking down at the page – but it doesn’t make much difference. You can just tell from the vibe in the room when you have people’s attention and when you’ve lost it. And you have an immediate sense of how the rhythms of the sentences work, something which is hard to figure out when you are juts looking at words on a page.

If I could find a willing audience, I wouldn’t mind reading a whole book out loud.
After all, it is the most elemental form of story-telling – something like sitting around a fire in a cave, telling a tale. It would be similar to bands playing their songs live for six months before they go into the studio to record them. And I suspect the book would be a lot better for it.

Is Crime Fiction Too Sadistic?

There's an interesting debate going on over at The Bookseller. The reviewer Jessica Mann was reported as saying she was giving up reviewing the genre because she was fed up with "outpourings of sadistic misogyny" that now characterises so many crime thrillers - although, in fairness, Jessica points out out later on that she is only giving up on those kinds of books, not the entire category.

Still, it's a debate worth having, and one that authors should take seriously. At some point in the last decade, the crime genre seems to have transformed itself into a 'serial killer' genre. A lot of the poster campaigns you see for books these days appear to be designed to be as gruesome as possible, and may well be putting off as many people from the genre as they attract.

I don't have anything against violence in books myself - and I don't suppose that someone who has written a book called 'Death Force' is in any position to complain about it. It has always been a big part of the crime and thriller genre, and there are good reasons for that. We are all fascinated by death. And, of course, it is only life and death situations that really create the necessary drama and tension that writers are seeking to create.

There are two problems, however.

Much of the crime genre appears to have slipped into a kind of torture porn. The crimes get more and more horrific, much of it dircted against women and children. I'm not convinced that is either healthy or wise.

Next, it isn't really very realistic either. Unless I've missed something, this country has hardly any serial killlers. The US has a few more, but not that many. At yet the bookshelves are groaning with serial killer stories. They aren't reflecting the world around them.

I wouldn't want to dictate what people should write about. But I can't help feeling that Mann is onto something when she complains that the genre is disappearing into a ghetto which, while it may do something for a minority of readres, alienates the mainstream audience.

An Editor's Pick....

Death Force is an Editor's Pick on Play, a great website which I buy from regularly myself. It is also at number two in its war and weestern chart....

A Great Review Of Death Force

There is a great review of 'Death Force' in the Lancashire Evening Post. "Lynn's superbly realistic thriller is one of those good old-fashioned adventure yarns that sets your heart thumping and your mind racing", it says. Great stuff....

Pirate trips...

According to this report, some Russian companies are offering pirate-hunting cruises. Given that the third book in the Death Force series is about pirates, maybe I should book myself a ticket.

Death Force In The Charts

Death Force is at 25 in the Asda charts today, which is fantastic. If you go into the WH Smith Travel shops at the stations or the airports, it is at number 60. Exciting....

Death Force in Paperback

Death Force is out in paperback today. I was in London yesterday, and it had great positions in WH Smith at Waterloo and Charing Cross. It was prominently displayed at No 60 in the top 100 at the front of the shop. It's an amazing experience to see a book you've worked on displayed like that. Of course, now I'm worried about whether people will buy it or not....but that's better than worrying about why it isn't in the shops.

The Airport Tour

The Curzon Group has been plotting an airport tour to promote our books. You can read all about it in The Bookseller today. It should be fun. Writers don't usually go to airport bookshops and that's where people buy thrillers.

The Deighton Dossier: Thriller writers love to cook...

Hat tip to the Deighton Dossier for this link. The Deighton Dossier: Thriller writers love to cook... Thriller writers doing cook books, those were the days. Maybe I should ask my editor at Headline if he is interested.

James Bond In Afghanistan

From Helmand With Love. No, that probably doesn't quite work as a title. Still, fascinating news that the producers of the latest Bond movue are thinking about setting the film in Afghanistan. My own book 'Death Force' is of course set in Helmand, and I suspect it is only a matter of time before we start seeing a lot more war fiction coming out the country. All the elements are there: a vicious war, a terrifying enemy, great power politics, terrorists, drug dealers and their fortunes. Indeed, the only surprising thing is that it has taken writers so long to catch onto it.

A Conversation About Death Force

I'm doing an author chat about 'Death Force on the Book Army site. You can take part here.

Reading in Hammersmith

Martin Baker and I tried out the first Curzon Group public reading in Hammersmith last week. It went pretty well - and Debby Wale who organised it has very kindly sent us some pictures taken by Adrian Lewis.

Death Force In Large Print

'Death Force' is now available in large print. You can buy a copy here.

A Great Review Of Death Force

There is a great review of Death Force on the Motorbar website. You can read it here...

How To Beat The Pirates

In The Spectator this week, I've been writing about the mercenaries who are taking on the pirates. It was a really interesting piece to research, because the range of techniques is so wide. The third in the 'Death Force' series is going to tackle the issue of piracy - there hardly seems a better subject in the world for a thriller right now.