Dawn Brookes

Author

Self Publishing

Travel Journal Asia 1982 Day 8

Wednesday June 23rd 1982

Our last day in Singapore. Sad to leave in so many ways, but we’re excited to be starting the next leg of our journey. We realise that we have lived a life of luxury for the past 7 days that won’t continue! After saying our goodbyes to Suzie and her friends, we were amazed and delighted when, at the last minute, she and her cousin Bernie told us they have decided to join us in Malaysia. They’ll get the bus tomorrow evening and we’ll meet them on Friday morning.

We boarded the bus to take us to Butterworth and it left at 7pm. We were concerned it might not have air conditioning – quite the opposite!

Travel Journal from 1982

Forty years ago today, I embarked on the trip of a lifetime. A friend and I set off for Asia and visited eight countries over three months. This is extract from the journal I kept is from day one. I’m keeping it pretty much as I wrote it, so not making too many corrections.

Day 1: June 16th 1982

Weather Forecast for the day Source: https://weatherspark.com/h/m/147876/1982/6/Historical-Weather-in-June-1982-at-London-Heathrow-Airport-United-Kingdom#Figures-Temperature

The weather forecast was correct; a dull and drizzly day when we left.

Well, today’s the big day. Woke up at 9:30am following a wonderful sleep. Who knows whether we’ll sleep tonight, perhaps not!

We have slight hassles at the moment, our reliable travel agent, alias Mr Messy hasn’t quite sorted out our insurance correctly, we haven’t got the premium in other words – so it’s 12 midday and we’re off to Regent St to collect it. It’s all part of what’s going to be a totally disorganised holiday for two in Asia. Perhaps we should have gone for two weeks to Bognor Regis!

Poor old J is having ladies problems at the moment! Went to travel agent and sorted out insurance (sigh!). Also gained his father’s address in Delhi. One more for the road.

We contacted the agent’s father when in Delhi a few months later and were invited for dinner. I’ll cover this in a future post.

Arrived at Heathrow at 1:30pm and checked in. Having a quiet time preparing ourselves for the flight.

3:30pm passed through customs. J was searched on her way through by a lady who was rather sour faced and she became even more unhappy when I laughed at the prospect of J being towed away before we even set off! We’re now sitting in the boarding lounge waiting to board a rather ferocious looking aeroplane which has its nose staring through the window at us.

The aeroplane that took us as far as Karachi

4:40pm boarded the plane five minutes later than takeoff. Fortunately it didn’t take off before us. 5pm we’re off!

Landed at Frankfurt airport at 6:30pm and went for a walk around the airport. Due to take off for Dubai at 8:20pm local time (7:20 UK time). 9pm flew into darkness and suppers came round. I thought it would be OK being vegetarian on Pakistani Airlines but it’s a little more difficult. Still I managed to get a dish with rice and vegetables although I almost burnt my mouth out with a green chilli pepper.

They showed ‘Arthur’ on a screen on the aeroplane. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing that again. The film finished at 11:30 pm. Have now been flying for 6 hours without a break.

The film Arthur had been released the year before and I’d seen it at the cinema in Leicester Square.

Monday 7th March 2022

I finalised events for the literature festival I chair and managed to get them all up on the website. The day pass tickets are now up for sale, so if you live near to Derby, feel free to take a look here.

I’m continuing edits on my two-thirds finished draft of Murder in the Highlands and made steady progress with it today. It’s starting to come together and I’m getting a handle on the characters and suspects, developing them at the same time.

I’ve spent a few months exploring the social media platform Tiktok and will be creating more videos for my author presence there. If you would like to follow me you can find me here.

Morality in Crime Writing

Introduction

As a writer of murder mysteries I have had to make some decisions in relation to the ethical dilemmas of writing about crime and murder. Some authors go down the road of graphic violence and explicit detail while others steer clear, focusing on the mystery element rather than the crime itself.

Sometimes there appears to be an appetite in society for sensationalist gratuitous violence or sex, and scenes that shock within suspense fiction. This is often coupled with frequent use of strong language whether or not it fits the story. It’s almost expected. But do we always need a sledgehammer to break an egg?

Sensationalist Fiction

Sensationalist fiction is not new and emerged as a genre in the Victorian era. Murder was just one of the many scandalous topics addressed in books of the late 1800s (Rubery, 2011). The difference between then and now is that such literature produced an outcry when it was first introduced, whereas now there is a general hunger for more of the same. Why might this be?

Chandler (1950) argued that the classic genre of crime novels was too detached from reality due to the murders occurring off-screen. He was scathing of classic crime writers such as Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan-Doyle, arguing that their characters lacked depth. His opinion was that hard-boiled (at the time, American) crime portrayed the real world and crime writers should incorporate this. His point being that fiction is intended to be realistic.

I agree with Ainsworth (2014) who argues in her dissertation that Chandler missed the point that, although the murders are more subtle in classic crime, writers such as Sayers addressed real psychological issues. Shell shock being one of these (Sayers husband had been a sufferer post WWI).

Arthur Conan-Doyle also included the topic of nerves and trauma suffering in his work and there is none sharper or more adept than Agatha Christie at delving into the human psyche. 

The Growth of Crime Fiction

Crime fiction grew in popularity from the mid 1970s but not everyone believes this is due to voyeurism. Some suggest it might be more of a way that people come to terms with their own mortality.

Or it could be that readers have become desensitised by graphic novels in the same way that news broadcasts no longer shock us. The more we are exposed to suffering, violence, swearing and graphic sex, often through the television screen and also through reading, the less shocking watching or reading it becomes. Perhaps that’s why there’s a trend towards the horrific.

Chandler would argue that its necessary for authors to portray the ‘real’ world and highlight the horrific and darker side of society through hard-boiled crime writing. It’s not either/or, it’s down to choice both as a reader and a writer. Crime novels are many and varied with many striking a balance between that which is gratuitous and that which is realistic.

The Cozy Audience

There are those who buck the trend towards the more graphic novels, and never more so than during the pandemic. Many people have found and do find the world shocking enough without subjecting themselves to hours of reading grim novels. It’s this audience that takes pleasure in the cleaner side of crime and lean towards classic crime novels alongside the popular trend of humorous cozy crime.

Sticking with Clean Crime 

There is more to writing crime fiction than shock value, and there’s an audience for every type of writing, including clean crime. I have made a deliberate and personal choice to focus on plot and psychology rather than feeding a shockaholic frenzy. Having recently published a crime novel grittier than a cozy mystery, but emphasising the investigation and the people rather than the forensic detail, I believe it can be done. I hope you like my latest offering.

What about you?

New Year, New Decade

Reflections on 2019

With every New Year comes new optimism for what lies ahead, but first, I thought I’d look back at 2019.

In many ways the year in the UK was marred by a new type of toxic politics that did nothing to make us a proud nation. On top of that was and is a real concern about the impact that global warming is having on our planet. Whilst the first has had some sort of resolution, the second will remain a deep concern over the next decade and we can only hope that world leaders act soon and that we each do our bit to help turn the tide.

On a more relaxing note, I enjoyed a Baltic Cruise in August, taking a well-earned break from writing. I couldn’t resist doing a little bit of cruise research, though!

Now back to me and my life as an author! I had a productive 2019, releasing four books throughout the year:

April: Killer Cruise book 3 in the Rachel Prince Mysteries was launched

August saw the release of Dying to Cruise book 4 

November was celebrated as I finally fulfilled a promise for a final nurse training memoir. Hurry up Nurse 3: more adventures in the life of a student nurse

December completed a marathon year when A Christmas Cruise Murder book 5 in the Rachel Prince mystery series was released

In September, I started an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Derby and felt pretty exhausted by Christmas. Having recharged my batteries, it’s time to look forward to 2020.

Plans for 2020

Continue Writing

Rachel Prince Mysteries

Dawn Brookes, author

My main focus for the coming year will be to continue writing. I hope to publish three more Rachel Prince Mysteries throughout 2020. The next book, I am already working on, Murderous Cruise Habit will be released in March.

Children’s Books

With the environment in mind, and plastics in particular, I have just written a children’s book called Suki Seal and the Plastic Ring. This book is currently being illustrated and I hope to launch it towards the end of January.

Memoirs

I will be starting a vocational memoir of my district nursing years but can’t promise a 2020 release at this stage.

Studying

I start semester two of my MA towards the end of January so no doubt will be studying hard. I also hope that my writing will improve as a result of the MA, who knows?

Radio/YouTube Channel

I have been wanting to host a book-themed local radio programme for some time now and hope to be working with my local community radio station to achieve that goal. Until that happens, I will be spending more time developing my YouTube channel to focus on all things writing.

Audiobooks

I will continue to make my work available in as many mediums as possible with more audiobooks to be released throughout 2020.

Dying to Cruise will be released in audiobook format in early January.

Audiobooks are expensive to produce as well as being time consuming. I realise that not everyone can read and that many people now prefer the audio medium so I am working with Alex Lee, narrator of the Rachel Prince Mystery series to produce audiobooks that coincide with book launches, rather than four months later. 

I intend to narrate my third memoir myself and will let readers know when this is available.

Foreign Rights

I will be looking into translation or sale of foreign rights of my Hurry up Nurse and Rachel Prince mystery series in 2020 as there are large parts of the world where English is not the first language. Initially, I will be thinking about German and Spanish.

Keeping in touch with readers

Readers of my books are the most important part of my growing business and if you’re one of them, I can’t thank you enough for supporting my work by buying my books and reviewing my work. I am especially grateful to beta readers who give their time to read and comment on early drafts.

I almost forgot! I adopted a rescue dog in December from the RSPCA. Molly has had a difficult life and comes with many issues but I’m pleased to say that she is responding to love and attention.

All that’s left for now is to wish you a very Happy New Year with health and happiness! May your dreams come true in 2020.

An author’s take on reviews

Bad Reviews: Do they make or break authors?

I’ve recently come across a number of posts by authors on social media feeling hurt by negative reviews. The temptation is to want to hit back, have the reviews removed (not going to happen), or be reassured by others that the reviewer is the enemy which is not the case. 

When I received my first one-star review, like so many authors before me, I was devastated. How can someone dismiss my work out of hand when it took months and months to create something decent enough to put out there? It turns out, quite easily in fact because mostly it’s not personal. It was amazing how, in spite of loads of positive reviews, all I could see was that one-star – I read it over and over – it was almost like self-mutilation. Many authors respond in the same way because we are seemingly programmed to focus on the negatives!

I have since realised that bad reviews are quite acceptable and the one and two star reviewer is entitled to his/her opinion, after all that’s what the review process is all about. Not only that, but when I got things in perspective, I realised I had arrived as an author. Every author has one-star reviews at some point.

The reality is that not everyone is going to like your book. Once an author puts their work out there, its in the public domain and someone, somewhere is not going to like it. Some reviewers will be just plain rude about it. 

Since that first low star review, I have developed a thicker skin in terms of reviews but if the reviewer offers any useful nuggets of information as to why they didn’t like the book rather than comments like, ‘utter drivel’, I will try to improve the next book. 

Thankfully, the good reviews far outweigh the bad which means that the majority of readers enjoy my work and I assume that’s the same for other authors. On balance, if someone has taken the time to write a review, I am pleased they felt strongly enough about the book to do so, no matter what the star rating. I have read books that are bestsellers with hundreds of five star reviews and hated them so why shouldn’t someone be entitled to dislike mine?

There are trolls out there, and some unscrupulous competitors or friends of competitors who might leave a poor review because they misguidedly believe it helps their own or a friend’s book but these people are few and far between, and pretty obvious. It only takes a minute to look at their reviews and discover that all books in the genre receive one-star reviews except for one! 

Some reviewers are just plain negative with a reviewing average of one to two stars, perhaps they have exacting standards or perhaps they are unhappy people, who knows? Whatever the reason, it’s not my problem and I will go on seeking to improve my craft.

I have occasionally discovered a flaw in my writing if a consistent theme pops up in the lower star reviews, this makes them helpful. I would be distrusting of any book that only has high star, good reviews because it’s just not possible to please everybody.

When I see a one-star review these days, it’s less of a dagger through the heart and more of a sigh moment, sometimes I have to laugh at the comments! One thing I never do is to respond or engage with the reviewer. Firstly because it would look like sour grapes and secondly, it could also seem like I’m stalking reviewers. Neither do I contact Amazon or other platforms and request the review be removed. Why should it be? I think the only time I would do this is if the review was in breach of Amazon’s terms and conditions. 

Instead of focusing on the negatives, we need to read all the positive reviews of our books and realise that the majority of readers appreciate and enjoy our work. This is what motivates me to write more and to put my work out there for criticism and for praise. 

Don’t let bad reviews break you, let them make you a better author and a stronger person.

Dawn Brookes is author of the Rachel Prince Mystery series and the Hurry up Nurse series of memoirs.