Comments on: Winged With Death: John Baker is Here Today!

By: johnbakeronline

johnbakeronline — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:15:48 +0000

David,
I missed your comment, getting myself tangled up in the threaded comments, etc.
But thanks for your remarks. If I have managed to inspire you any way, then I’m happy to have done it.
I’d be interested to see your book when it’s published, so do please let me know.

By: bloglily

bloglily — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:37:52 +0000

John, it’s been lovely having you. I think this question of how to write what one likes and sitll reach people is so important. Thank you for giving us your insight.

And thank you too Kate and Litlove for your questions and welcome David Swinson! I spent a lot of time reading your blog yesterday and find myself thinking today about some of the people you describe — the man in orange and coach, in particular. I look forward to reading your first book, so please do let me know when it comes out.

By: johnbakeronline

johnbakeronline — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:11:29 +0000

Lily, Thanks for hosting this leg of the tour. I’ll come back frequently in case others want to contribute. But you should know it was a good experience for me to be here, and others who looked in on the conversation but didn’t comment have visited my own blog and there are, well, ripples still happening that may not be apparent here.
Tomorrow, Friday, the host will be Donigan Merritt, a novelist currently based in Buenos Aires, and who was in Montevideo just a week ago. I don’t know what his tango is like, but at least he knows the terrain. Could be interesting.
Thanks again for your hospitality.

By: litlove

litlove — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:00:43 +0000

Very interesting indeed, John. Thank you!

By: David Swinson

David Swinson — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:39:28 +0000

I can really identify with this. I confess, I have not read your book, but now buying your book will be the first thing I do when I wake up. My agent sent my book out. I break a lot of the genre rules, so we’ll see what happens. I give it a swift little kick in the a** here and there. I love what you said, ” to flex some of the muscles that the genre stuff hadn’t been using.” You have encouraged me, and I can’t wait to read your book.

By: John Baker

John Baker — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:06:23 +0000

Litlove, this is another difficult question because the industry has changed, no doubt about it, but at the same time I have also changed, so it’s not easy to see exactly in what ways we have grown apart.
I believe when I published my first novel there was still a vestige of tradition left in the publishing industry. The men in suits had not quite taken over and editorial decisions still tended to be made by editors rather than account exectutives.
That is no longer the case now. Publishers are interested in best-sellers and very little else. The idea of the mid-list author has completely disappeared. Whereas in the old days most publishers would go along with the idea that a young writer needed to be ‘brought-on’, and that he or she needed to build a backlist and eventually would come up with something special, but now that idea is not even paid lip-service. (I didn’t think I’d ever hear myself talking about the good old days.)
Now a new writer will be given a two book deal, and if sales are excellent, perhaps another two-book deal, but the publisher will be looking for a fast return on their money, and will not pursue someone who has had only average sales.
So much for publishing.
For me, the writing itself has grown to be much more important than it was originally. I’m not overtly interested in massive sales, but I am massively interested in producing texts which work on all levels.
Perhaps story in itself, the ongoing narrative is the least of my considerations. Or I take it as read that the story I have to tell is going to be told to the best of my ability. I don’t mind if it resolves itself or not. But the characters must be characters with which my readers can identify, not necessarily positively, but they must be recogniseably human. The thematic concerns of the narrative must be something that I find timeless, because I don’t know how long the novel is going to take to complete, and I may have to live with it for several years.
And my metaphors, particularly the central metaphor (Dance in Winged with Death) must be something that fits exactly, and is specific, and is true.
There are still some publishers around who will take the kind of novel I want to write. Obviously, Flambard have just published my novel. But my own path has diverted considerably from the path of main-stream publishing, so much so that until something changes I cannot see us doing much business together.

By: John Baker

John Baker — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:46:44 +0000

Hi Kate. I didn’t know I was writing a series with my first novel. In fact I wasn’t. As far as I was concerned at the time I’d finally written a novel that seemed to be complete and with which I was more or less satisfied.
When the novel was accepted my editor pointed out that it should be regarded as the first novel in a series, and I was green enough and grateful enough to accept that at face value.
Another outing for the same characters followed, and then another, and another, though I did always make sure that the novels stood alone, i.e. you didn’t have to have read one before you could read the others, and they didn’t follow any kind of sequence.
With Winged with Death I have broken away from that completely. There will be no sequel.
My next project will be a novel set in the middle of the nineteenth century and will have no connection to any of my previous novels, or to any that might follow it.
I suppose the main difference is that there is a sense of completion in Winged with Death, which is never there in a series novel. Each novel in a series is a kind of step, whereas, from a writer’s point-of-view, a stand-alone novel can have the characters, themes and metaphors which pertain to that text alone, and these elements of the novel don’t have to bent or shaped in any way to fit the narrative.

By: John Baker

John Baker — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:37:07 +0000

Very difficult. My publisher and agent were both against the idea, so I ended up changing both of them (there was no other way forward).
But as a writer it was important to me to be able to flex some of the muscles that the genre stuff hadn’t been using.
The corporate environment doesn’t like change, so, especially for first-time novelists, it may be important to be sure that what you are presenting is something you really want to carry on with.

By: litlove

litlove — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:51:30 +0000

I’m interested to know how the publishing industry has changed (or not!) over the course of 8 novels – which is some feat by the way and deserves recognition in itself. And I’m wondering whether John’s relation to writing has altered over the course of those books, too. If it’s deepened or changed or whether, like parenting, there are always good bits and bad bits but neither stay the same?

And Winged with Death sounds very intriguing – I’d read it for the tango alone!

By: Kate S.

Kate S. — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:14:59 +0000

Thanks Lily and John for an excellent interview. I’m a fan of John’s Sam Turner mysteries, and I’m looking forward to reading this new book. John, if you’re taking questions here in the comments section, I’ve got one. I know that in addition to the Sam Turner series, you’ve got another series on the go, but “Winged with Death” sounds to me like a stand-alone. I’m wondering if the process was different for you in writing a stand-alone novel than in writing novels that are part of series. (Then again, maybe when writing the first in a series, one doesn’t yet know that one is writing a series?) If you have any reflections on that question, I’m most curious to hear them.

By: bloglily

bloglily — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:41:22 +0000

Okay, here’s a push: After writing 8 mysteries, you’ve written something that’s not in that form, something that could be described as “literary fiction” — a category which is of interest probably mostly to libraries, agents and publishers. I don’t know how it works in the UK, but my impression is that, at least for American writers, it’s difficult to move from one form to another — did you find this to be true?

By: John Baker

John Baker — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:04:18 +0000

We’ll see about the bread. I have this sourdough starter which I’ve been nursing along for some years and which usually gives me good rye bread; I inherited it initially from an old friend, Terry the Shoe, who had also had it for a long time.
There are starters around, so I’m reliably informed, which go back generations. That’s a comforting thought, isn’t it?
(Note to self: Are we procrastinating here, John? Do I detect a slight reticence to talk about the book?)
{Answer to self: No, I can talk about the book, just looking for someone to give me a push.}

By: bloglily

bloglily — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:50:04 +0000

Oh John! That is funny, even if it is really embarrassing. (For those who are curious, I’d called it a book that’s not a “conventional mysery”!) Obviously, I should not post after 11:00 p.m.

Bread! That sounds so lovely.

By: John Baker

John Baker — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:50:46 +0000

Hi Lily, Thanks for the review. It was good to hear you enjoyed Winged with Death. I had to laugh at that word (second paragraph, word 10); reminds me how I often remind my students to edit their work closely, especially typos, just in case they want to leave one in.
I’m going to make some bread now. But I’ll be back later.