The Shame of Never Knowing the Things That Were Never Told.

I’m no hero. I’ve never claimed to be and I very much doubt it’s in my nature to aspire to such things. Should circumstance demand it, I like to think that I would “do the right thing” – and I have, in my time, made the occasional stand of which I’ve been quite proud. But no more, I’m sure, then the next man or woman. Generally, on the rare occasion that I think of it, I consider myself an observer. Or, if I’m feeling particularly grand, a chronicler. I’m confident about the things I do – about, principally, my writing – but, nonetheless, I still, like everyone, have to battle self-doubt.

In short, I much prefer to get on with what I do without having to make the difficult decisions that occasionally arise in the, specifically, “professional” side of my life. But, of course, these decisions are unavoidable – and when a decision is called for, I do the best I can and hope against hope that the choice I make is the correct one.

I was faced with one such scenario fairly recently. Having shared my novel Children of the Resolution with my publisher, the decision was made that it was not the ideal follow-up novel to If I Never. Something with which I agreed. The two pieces are extremely different and, yes, I was concerned that my readers might not be all that receptive to a novel that was so clearly more serious in tone and theme.

The more I thought about it, though, the more regretful I became. Children of the Resolution is an extremely personal novel. Because of this, yes, I was concerned that I was not the best person to judge it. Heavily autobiographical in places, feeding off my own experience of the integration of disabled children into mainstream education in the 1970s/1980s, I was very aware that my memory could well have been colouring and shading the novel in ways that the reader ultimately would not see. But still I was regretful. Still I had a feeling in my gut that this book needed to be out there – that it, however imperfect it may be, spoke of a very unique place and time. One, indeed, that simply has not, to my knowledge, been documented in any form (at least from the perspective of those on the receiving end). And, so, as many of you will already know, I decided to self-publish Children of the Resolution (with my publisher’s blessing).

This novel is not yet widely available. It should, hopefully, be listed and stocked on Amazon et al around the end of this month, and listed in bricks and mortar stores at the same time. It is, however, available here – and those who have found themselves unable to wait for it to appear on Amazon have already started buying and reading it.

Something for which I am immensely grateful – and which has, quite typically, left me fretting through the silence of their reading! Wholly convinced within a short time that I had made the wrong call and that Children of the Resolution was destined to suffer the fabled “second novel syndrome” comments, I prepared myself, comforting myself with the knowledge that I could, if need be, withdraw it from circulation with the click of one button.

Blessedly, the first reactions have been everything I could have wished for. To quote one particular reader, Nicholas J Rogers (a gentleman whom I know would tell me if he thought it sucked like a big sucky thing): “[…] Children of the Resolution […] Opened my eyes to an entire world which, to my shame, I had never properly given consideration. Once again your key strengths are sense of character and sense of place. A real achievement.”

This in itself, I think, vindicates the decision. Nicholas speaks of “shame” – of an entire world that he hadn’t considered. But I see no shame there. Many people are, quite understandably, completely unaware of the aspects of “inclusive education” in its early guises that I explore in Children, not to mention its impact on those who experienced it. It isn’t a big story. It isn’t high drama or misery memoir exploitation. In many respects, it’s a fairly simple coming-of-age story. But its time and place, the sense of revolutionary change that, as is so often the way, failed to reach fruition… these are the things that, I believe, lend it a uniqueness.

A uniqueness that obliged me to share the truth that the fiction of Children of the Resolution, I hope, in its way acknowledges.

© 2010 Gary William Murning

Children of the Resolution – Announcement.

As some of you may have noticed, I’ve been fairly quiet over the past few days. There has been a reason for this – one that, ultimately, has led me to make a decision that I’m now actually quite excited about.

After discussing recent projects with my publisher, Legend Press, I have realised that not all my work will, by default, fit their very excellent list. My writing covers a wide range of styles and not all of my novels fall into the fast paced, plot driven scheme of If I Never. Much of my work is contemplative and – whilst it always has that page to page readability – is not always concerned with delivering thrills and spills. Legend’s focus on pacier, more plot driven work is certainly not something I’m averse to; I enjoy writing that kind of novel when a suitable candidate presents itself – but, naturally, I have to write the novel that most readily presents itself to me. To do anything other, I know from experience, is to sound a creative death knell.

This, naturally, leaves me with work that is simply sitting on my hard drive doing nothing. It’s work that, I believe, many of my readers will enjoy. I could, of course, submit this work to other publishing companies – something I intend to do with newer projects, those, that is, not suitable for Legend Press’s list – without impacting on future Legend Press novels (of which they should hopefully be more in the pipeline very soon). This, however, is a slow process and not appropriate for all of the projects I have almost ready to go.

I have therefore decided to self publish – for the time being – one of these projects, with the possibility of more should this prove successful. Something of a self publishing sceptic in the past, I’ve now come to realise that this could work quite well, in tandem with my existing, traditional publishing career, the self published work representing more personal projects – those I feel strongly about and which don’t quite fit the traditional publishing vein.

The project in question is one that many of you will already be very familiar with. A semi-autobiographical , character driven piece – Children of the Resolution.

This is completely my project. I expect to have it available within 6 to 8 weeks (I would ideally like it out before Christmas, of course, but that may not be possible). It is not yet available for pre-order but, by way of a taster, I do have the cover prepared. Let me know what you think!

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Also, UK Kindle users can now buy If I Never here. (US Kindle users here.)

© 2010 Gary William Murning

John Irving – The Novel As Performance.

A piece that I found particularly interesting…

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Also, UK Kindle users can now buy If I Never here. (US Kindle users here.)

© 2010 Gary William Murning

One Year of If I Never – Rick Hickling’s Guest Blog.

As I have said before, one of the best parts of this whole writing lark is the opportunity it provides to meet people you otherwise might not have. Many become regular acquaintances, one or two, I have to admit, become sworn enemies, but some – far more than I might have imagined – become genuinely good friends.

Rick Hickling, who I’d like to introduce you to today, is now one such person. Over to you, Rick:

I just felt that this was probably the most appropriate time to wish my Twitter buddy, Gary Murning, the biggest congratulations on the first anniversary of the release of his first publication If I Never.

Without Twitter I’m sure the book would have been brought to my attention eventually, but the fact that I actually got to interact with the author during the writing stages and also through the publication of the book, made it feel like I was somehow involved.

The book itself was a fantastic read and was finished in a couple of afternoons reading, as it always kept that ‘just need to see what happens next’ feel to it. There was also, I found, an undercurrent of comedy involved, especially with the main male and female characters and their respective medical conditions. I found myself chuckling to myself as the story unfolded. Don’t get me wrong, this was by no means a quick, laugh a minute, pass the time read. It was informative, well rounded and had a very clever, in-depth feel to it throughout, with the characters personalities being much thought about pre-writing. It is definitely a book you need to see in your personal library and I found, after a second read, you find more and more things you like about the book.

Although I haven’t, as yet, had the opportunity to meet the man himself, I’ve had many a cyber-chat with the guy and was privileged to have him talk me through a lot of what he’s been doing with the new novel. A smashing bloke who deserves to have as much success as possible with all his ventures for the future.

All the best Gary and I await the next instalment with great anticipation.

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Also, UK Kindle users can now buy If I Never here. (US Kindle users here.)

© 2010 Gary William Murning and Gregg Fraley

One Year of If I Never – Gregg Fraley’s Guest Blog.

In my week of continuing If I Never anniversary celebrations, it would be remiss of me not to include a few thoughts from Gregg Fraley. Gregg is a thought leader in corporate ideation and the author of Jack’s Notebook – the first ever business fable about creative problem-solving. His original thoughts on If I Never were unique and immensely satisfying.

Over to you, Gregg!

When I read Gary Murning’s book If I Never last year, I had been in a self-imposed fast of not reading fiction. This from someone who has, on average, read a novel a week for my entire adult life. For about six months prior to my reading of Gary’s excellent gothic story, I’d been on a diet of business books. My thinking was “I need to get serious about my work.”

Like someone on a very restrictive diet, I was starving. Starving for the unique meal that only a truly good novel, a good story, can provide. So, I broke the fast to help out a fellow writer, and devoured “If I Never” reading it in several very big gulps. Two things about this:

One – many stories I read I immediately forget. For instance I love the novels of Elmore Leonard. They read like movie scripts they move so fast (in fact many have been made into films, notably Get Shorty). It’s like eating candy. Ask me two weeks later what was in the story and I’ll be darned if I can name a character or describe details of the plot outline. Not so with If I Never. The images, and the story, have haunted me, in a good way, ever since. These characters were made real to me in a way that is rare. The dilemma’s they faced felt like real life, complex, tinged with gray areas, regret, suspicion, and the messy psychology we are all burdened with. I still recall the image of the addled boy on the heath, and the disabled woman unable to protest her situation. I so look forward to reading Gary’s next book.

The second thing that happened for me after reading the book was that a long suppressed creative force was unleashed. Not only did I have some breakthrough ideas for my day job, I finally got off my ass and started serious work on my own novel. So, in a word, If I Never was inspirational to me in two profound ways.

My original review and blog post made the point that fiction is a great way to learn and to “incubate” – in essence a form of stimulus for personal brainstorming about things totally unrelated to the work itself. Why does it work this way? I’m not sure except to say that a good novel “feeds” your heart and soul. Thanks for the gourmet food Mr. Murning (who says the English can’t cook…). Congratulations on your success, one year on, and may it continue — accelerate.

Gregg Fraley
www.greggfraley.com/blog

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Also, UK Kindle users can now buy If I Never here. (US Kindle users here.)

© 2010 Gary William Murning and Gregg Fraley

What Can I Do for You Wednesday?

As part of my continuing week of If I Never anniversary celebrations, and in an attempt to repay at least a little of the help and encouragement I’ve received from everyone over the past year, I am declaring today What Can I Do for You Wednesday? (#WhatCanIDoForYouWednesday) As the title suggests, this is a day dedicated to your projects. Post a link to something you want promoting – within reason, naturally! – in the comments section of this post, or send it to me through Twitter, and I will promote it across my various social networks.

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Also, UK Kindle users can now buy If I Never here. (US Kindle users here.)

© 2010 Gary William Murning

One Year of If I Never – Elaine Pettigrew’s Guest Blog.

Today I’d like to introduce you to Elaine Pettigrew. Elaine has now become one of my faithful Twitter posse – helping me spread the word and generally being a good mate. Elaine is from Scotland, is eligible and likes to take short breaks to exotic places. She is currently visiting Leeds.

Over to you, Elaine…

It must have been about February last year when I heard of this new all singing, all dancing social networking site called Twitter. Of course I signed up immediately, being the inquisitive (some might say, nosy) type. Fairly soon after that I made the acquaintance of one Mr Gary William Murning. I honestly can’t remember how it came about, but I’d hazard a guess that I saw an RT [retweet] pop up in my time line! But enough about that, and let’s get down to why I’m writing this blog.

A year ago, Gary’s debut novel, If I Never, hit the shelves and the airwaves, and as I’ve always enjoyed a good read and as the hubbub surrounding the launch kicked into full gear, I was looking forward to the delivery of said book.

Then it arrived, and the doubts kicked in.

What if it was awful? What if it was boring? What if the pre-publication excerpts were the best bits… Suffice to say there were quite a few ‘what ifs’ in my head. I cannot continue reading a book if I’m not totally gripped by the first few pages, and I’m not good at BSing to hide my true feelings, so I hope you can understand my feelings of trepidation. Thankfully, though I need not have worried one little bit, because as soon as I delved in I was immediately captured and drawn into the story of Price and George , and I found I really cared about the characters (yes, all the characters) and what happened to them.

In the unlikely event that there is one person who has not yet read If I Never, I don’t want to write about the ins and outs of the story; that journey is best made in your own head, and apart from that that there are other more qualified people to do so.

I’d also like to thank Gary for sharing the whole process with us. Of course I know that books just don’t appear on the shelves fully formed in their shiny new jackets, but seeing it from the author’s point of view has been fascinating, and being involved in even the teensiest way by sending the odd RT every now and again has been a pleasure and a privilege, and I look forward to doing it all again for the next one!

I also want to on the VIP guest list for the movie premier of If I Never…

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Also, UK Kindle users can now buy If I Never here. (US Kindle users here.)

© 2010 Gary William Murning

One Year of If I Never – A Few Thoughts from Gary Davison.

Not long after If I Never was published, I was lucky enough to “meet” fellow Legend Press/Paperbooks author, Gary Davison (that’s him on the right). Gary writes fast paced, fairly short humorous novels that are perfect for killing a few hours. They don’t demand too much of the reader but, nevertheless, have a certain character-depth that I like. Also, he’s a decent bloke and a shameless self-promoter – so, naturally, we got on like a house on fire.

I recently asked Gary for a few of his memories of If I Never and, after asking me to remind him who I was, this is what he said:

Let me add a few memories of my ‘If I Never’ experience.

George. He comes straight out of trap one. A character that stayed with me for days after. If I remember rightly, he was a bit of a git, but made compulsive reading. More so than Price, because you weren’t sure what nasty thing he might do next.

And style. My mate Gazza Murning is a literary writer. But he doesn’t shy away from a sprinkling of filth now and again. Maybe not filth [GWM: no, filth about covers it… so to speak!], but he gets down and dirty when he needs to which adds that extra dimension to his novel.

Great memories, great book. Has a year really passed since I read this? Christ, it is a-flying, sir!

My only question: does this milestone mean another GWM novel is close to coming out?

In reply to that final question… all I can say at this stage is “watch this space”.

So, a big thanks to the gentleman I habitually refer to as “the other Gary” for dropping by. Don’t forget to visit his website and see what he really looks like.

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Also, UK Kindle users can now buy If I Never here. (US Kindle users here.)

© 2010 Gary William Murning

One Year Ago Today.

This time last year I was, as I am now, sitting before my computer – chatting with friends and potential readers on Twitter – watching my newly published debut novel, If I Never, sellout on Amazon.co.uk and The Book Depository. At one stage The Book Depository actually appeared to collapse under the pressure, the site down for a considerable time. (This probably had nothing to do with me; nevertheless, I claimed responsibility, naturally!)

Since then, it’s been an exciting and illuminating year – something I’ll probably write more about over the coming days. As mentioned in my previous post, however, this week is intended as a mini-celebration. A few people have provided guest posts about their “If I Never experience” and I plan on revisiting some of the highlights.

To get things rolling, though, I’d like to hand you over to Tom Chalmers – my publisher (I still get a huge kick out of saying that.) Tom kindly agreed to say a little about If I Never and how Legend Press came to publish it.

It was Emma Howard at Legend Press that first alerted me to Gary’s work, encouraging me to read his novel. Then, much to my shame, time rushed on without a chance to do so. On finally seeing the manuscript in front of me and picking it up, I could immediately see what Emma had found – a fast-paced, stylish and well-written story, and, maybe most importantly, attempting something different, looking for a new and original angle at a story.

And that book was IF I NEVER, which we were delighted to publish a year ago. It has been a fantastic year and great to see the support the book has received, and the fanbase Gary has built. We are delighted to have Gary as a Legend Press author and hope he finds the success he deserves as a writer.

Thanks for the opportunity, Tom! It has been and continues to be a pleasure and privilege working with you and the rest of the Legend Press team. 

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Also, UK Kindle users can now buy If I Never here. (US Kindle users here.)

© 2010 Gary William Murning

The Book As Promotional Tool.

Whilst reading this article in The Independent yesterday on Quercus — the publishing house that bought the rights to Stieg Larsson‘s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo et al — it occurred to me just how important it is that fledgeling published authors think of their books, their first published pieces in particular, as not just products to be sold but as promotional tools.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was an obscure piece written by a dead Swede. Quercus were having trouble shifting copies and some retailers simply refused to stock. One retailer, who Mark Smith (founder of Quercus) refused to name, even stated that its customers “don’t like authors with funny names”.

Now, knowing what we know about The Millennium Trilogy, this sounds quite ridiculous — but, in fact, it isn’t all that unusual and, ultimately…

Mark Smith, who founded Quercus in 2004, became so desperate to shift copies, […] he gave them away to people reading in parks – and planted dozens of more on the back seats of taxis and on Tube trains. “At that stage we were giving away more than we sold,” Smith says. “It was getting pretty nerve-racking.”

Now, I’m not in this position with If I Never. I don’t think my publisher lurks on street corners, collar turned up, muttering, “Great book. Here. Go on. ‘Ave it. It’s free and worth every penny.” But, if he did, would that necessarily be a bad thing?

On the surface, it would suggest that not all was going according to plan. As Mark Smith said, it would be “pretty nerve-wracking”. But increasingly in publishing — especially within the mainstream “establishment” — so much is thought of in the short term. And this, I feel, is fundamentally wrong.

Many excellent novels sink without a trace. A hard fact of life. But some… with persistence and time, some break through. Sometimes it’s a lucky break. Dick and Judy or whoever read it and start lavishing praise and — whoosh! — off it goes. But more often than not it’s about building a readership one reader at a time, gradually building a fan base until it reaches a tipping point, encouraging word of mouth, paving the way for book two, book three etc.

So should we be out there giving books away? Well, actually, unless things are looking really hairy, I would generally say no. I’ve tried giving freebies to a couple of celebrities and this didn’t meet with much success (Stephen Fry, bless his little cotton socks, promptly lost his copy and doesn’t seem to be trying very hard to find it… he’s still a lovely chap, though… no, really, he is.) In my experience, free stuff is usually viewed — as I joked above — as being “worth every penny”.

Nevertheless, the book is still a promotional tool. A first-time novelist needs to understand that some people are going to buy his book and pass it on to friends. When I first heard of people doing this with If I Never, I’ll admit, my reaction was something along the lines of “NO! BUY THE FUCKING THING, YOU TIGHTFISTED BASTARDS!” And then I realised. Then I saw the very fundamental truth behind this act. People were enjoying it so much that they felt the need to SHARE IT. So now when people tell me they’ve passed it on to a friend, what do I do? Rip off their faces? Become all indignant and tell them that they’re stealing from me? No. I — very sincerely — thank them and tell them how fantastic that is. I then add, with a wink, that they should make their friend promise that if they enjoy it they actually go out and buy the next one.

Libraries are also extremely important. Copies taken into libraries count as a sale — and whilst a first-time novelist probably isn’t going to make all that much, if anything at all, on PLR, library sales in themselves can soon add up. For instance, we recently approached for the second time one of our regional libraries. They’d taken one copy in not so long ago and, when we checked, we couldn’t actually see it on their system (via the their website.) We queried this and the extremely helpful staff member confirmed that they did have a copy — and that it was out. Because of this, she promptly ordered four more.

Now these copies of If I Never in this library and all those others are going to get read. Library Members aren’t paying for the book and, unlike someone browsing in Waterstone’s, can therefore afford to take a risk. Looking for something new, chatting with familiar librarians, they discover new writers and, always assuming they enjoy what you do, talk to people about your book. Many libraries also have reading groups, of course, which means they’ll sometimes buy in something like twelve books at a time (which has happened with me.) Granted, many of these readers will, with future books, wait for them to arrive at the library and borrow them. But some won’t. Some will decide to splash out and treat themselves.

But, you know, even if they don’t — it doesn’t matter. Not at this stage. Not at any stage. These are required conditions for the propagation of word-of-mouth. Libraries are the very places where the book begins to promote itself and its author. Short-term, it may not necessarily look all that appealing.

Long-term, however… it’s fundamental.

Two sample chapters of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

© 2010 Gary William Murning