Saturday 22 June 2019

An evening with Ben Aaronovitch

Last Monday evening, we spent a very pleasant one and a half hours in the company of author Ben Aaronovitch (The Rivers of London/Peter Grant series).  He is a large man, both in physical presence and personality.  For those of you not familiar with the Rivers of London series, they centre around the Metropolitan Police in London (usually) and various departments therein but with a magical twist, including River Gods and Goddesses.
He talked about the spin-off series of novellas, of which The October Man is the first.  There are three more to come, so far, one about Abigail, one about Agent Reynolds and one about Nightingale (in the 1920s).  However, an audience member did suggest one about Lady Ty, which he said he hadn't considered before, so you never know.
He talked about being a writer:

  • Write what you love and hope that someone will read it
  • Don't bother going on writing courses where you offer your work to fellow students to critique - give your work to a couple of people whose opinions you trust
  • Keep writing until you find your own voice and style
  • Be nice to booksellers
  • Don't give your characters skills that you don't know anything about, unless you are prepared to research
  • Embrace the Nerd (the reader who contacts you as an author, putting you right on the fact that the Police didn't use the particular sort of baton you mentioned until such and such a time - or any other fact you got wrong).  Apparently, the nerds become writing advisors!
  • Even small characters will take on a life of their own - he said that several characters were just there to open a door, but insisted on taking part (including the foxes)
  • A novel is around 90,000 words and a novella is around 40,000
He also advised would-be novelists to read the book 'How not to write a novel' by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman.  
Apparently, the character of Peter Grant was originally going to be female, called Simone, but then 'Peter' just strolled into view, fully formed (with a chorus of heavenly voices) and that was it.
Of course, all of this was from Mr Aaronovitch's experience and also illustrated with many an anecdote about the publishing world/writing/scriptwriting.
I have read the Rivers of London series and enjoyed them - the next one is due in November 2019 and although he didn't give much away, he did say that the story wouldn't be going where we necessarily thought it would. He also mentioned 'children' (plural) too...  

6 comments:

  1. I am going to give this author a try, have ordered the first book frm the Library. thanks for the post.
    Briony
    x

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    1. Dear Briony
      I hope you enjoy it - I'm always a bit apprehensive if I recommend a book, but the good thing is that you can find reviews online which will give you a bit of an idea of whether you will like it. If you like crime, humour, a bit of magic and a fantasy element, set in London (usually), I don't think you can go far wrong with these.
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  2. I envy you. As you know I am a fan of the Rivers of London series (but which that he was quicker at continuing it). Call me greedy. I am. I often like seeing minor voices in the original work given a story of their own. Well done it adds to the original in unexpected ways.

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    1. Dear EC
      I thought of you when we booked the tickets - I think it was your recommendation that got me hooked on the series in the first place. (My only slight niggle with the new novellas is the price at the moment - certainly for the Kindle versions - which doesn't necessarily reflect the length of the books, in my opinion). No doubt I shall still end up buying them though...sigh...
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  3. Hi sweetie, sorry I have been AWOL 😞, trying to have a bit of a catch up.

    Your author sounds interesting, might give the first book a try, thanks. xx

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    1. Thanks, Jayne. I hope you do give the first book a try - that got me hooked on the series though!
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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