Final Competition Questions.

Today I’m going to revisit the earlier questions in my If I Never competition and give you the final two questions. Once you have your answers email them to me by clicking here and, once I’ve sorted them, I’ll send those with the correct answers over to my publisher who will then randomly draw the winner out of a hat — or something suitably hat-like. Competition closing date is Friday the 11th of September. Good luck!

1) Which (living and working) American author frequently uses the following motifs in many of his novels: prostitutes, bears and absent parents?

2) Which Joseph Heller novel features the travails of the first-ever Jewish Secretary of State?

3) Which 1962 novel, set in an asylum, explores the possibilities and effects of subtly coercive discipline and the emasculation of men in society?

4) “I was looking for a quiet place to die. Someone recommended Brooklyn, and so the next morning I travelled down there from Westchester to scope out the terrain.” The opening sentence of which 2005 postmodernist novel?

5) A black, chemical cloud and a professor in Hitler’s Studies. Which National Book Award (US) winning novel and author?

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

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

© 2009 Gary William Murning

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Today’s Reader Photograph.

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Katie McCullough (sans quiff, alas)  with her copy or If I Never —  the novel by that Gary William Murning bloke.

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

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

© 2009 Gary William Murning except for photograph.

Ask the Author (Part Two.)

No audio today, I’m afraid. I’m all little on the tired side after a busy week and my voice is a little more croaky than usual. My voice recognition software can understand me — just — but I’m not about to take any chances when it comes to you understanding me, especially with such fantastic questions!

So, continuing where I left off in the previous podcast… the next questions comes from Stephie:

Hi Gary, what keeps you focused and confident about your writing? How does it stay fresh in your mind if you are constantly rereading and checking your work?

I suppose I have a very tried and tested way of working, now. It’s something I’ve been doing for a very long time and I’ve developed a pattern and attitude to my writing that feels very natural — so natural, in fact, that I actually feel very strange when I’m not writing.

Focus and confidence is something that comes with time. I can still very easily be distracted but it is much easier for me to pick up where I left off, these days. Planning thoroughly beforehand helps, of course. I’m much more confident when I have a solid outline to work from.

As for keeping it fresh — well, I try not to reread and check too much whilst I’m actually writing the novel. I write a thousand words, read through and make possibly minor changes, read through the week’s work over the weekend and then tend not to look at it again until I around the halfway mark when I quite often do a thorough readthrough (though not a major edit at this stage.) I never do any major anything until the first draft is complete — and I always allow enough room in the outline for improvisation and unexpected developments.

And that’s it for today. Thanks to Stephie for her questions and watch out for more of my replies a very shortly.

The most important factor in keeping it fresh, I’d have to say, though, is love of character. If the characters interest and fascinate me, that’s half the battle. If I like hanging around with them, the freshness comes naturally.

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

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

© 2009 Gary William Murning

In the Gloom Cupboard and Writers’ Forum.

Today, I had the good fortune to be featured in both Gloom Cupboard — an excellent online literary magazine — and the wonderful Writers Forum magazine.

To read my interview in the Gloom Cupboard (one of the most enjoyable I’ve so far done, I have to say), please click here.

I will, hopefully, have a scan of the Writers Forum magazine piece very shortly. When I do, I’ll post it here.

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

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

© 2009 Gary William Murning

Review and Reader Photographs.

Today I took an afternoon away from the computer, telephone etc and escaped to the country. A pleasant if tenebrous afternoon — with low, dark clouds, rain and, you know, atmosphere. Felt myself winding down with every second. Just what the doctor ordered. So to speak.

Returning home, the afternoon was rounded off quite perfectly with news that the first review of If I Never was in. You can read the review by clicking here.

Also, it seems that many of you are now receiving your copies of If I Never. And, as promised, I plan on posting a few photographs of readers/friends with their copies. If you want to be included, just send me a photo or a link.

To get the ball rolling, here’s Franny with her copy of If I Never. They look like they were meant for each other, don’t you think?

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

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

© 2009 Gary William Murning except for photograph.

Next Question and Roundup.

Since many of you were away or busy over the Bank Holiday weekend in England, I thought I’d just take a few minutes to reprise “the events” of the past few days — in bullet points, to prevent me from waffling on too much!

• Saturday. If I Never launched and promptly sold out on Amazon.co.uk.
• Many people turned up on Twitter, letting me know where they were getting their books from, who had had theirs dispatched and who, even, had already received theirs!
• As Amazon was sold out, started directing people over to Book Depository. Said site promptly crashed (not sure if we were actually responsible, but I claimed it anyway!)
• Posted the first question in the If I Never competition.
• Sunday. Knackered after the busy day before, I nevertheless posted my first “Ask the Author” podcast.
• Monday. Posted the second question in the If I Never competition. An interview with me was also featured on the Fuel Your Writing website.

Today has been fairly quiet. I finished yet another interview (with some really fascinating questions you won’t want to miss… trust me!) this morning and sent out more promotional material.

So it only remains to post the third question in the If I Never competition. This one is a little easier. Especially if you know the answer 😉

Which 1962 novel, set in an asylum, explores the possibilities and effects of subtly coercive discipline and the emasculation of men in society?

(Incidentally — if you’re having problems with the questions, for heaven’s sake Google them. Like your teacher used to tell you way, way back, if you don’t know the answer, look it up! 😉 )

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

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

© 2009 Gary William Murning

Question Number Two.

And now we how the second question in my launch week competition. If you missed the first question scroll down a couple of posts and check that one out first.

Question number two…

Which Joseph Heller novel features the travails of the “first-ever Jewish Secretary of State”?

Keep watching this space for further questions! Details of where to send your answers will be provided later this week.

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

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

© 2009 Gary William Murning