Simon Maltman is a Best-selling crime fiction author from Northern Ireland.
Please check out the books available on Amazon and stay in touch through the links below.
Facebook.com/simonmaltmancrimefiction
Please check out the books available on Amazon and stay in touch through the links below.
Facebook.com/simonmaltmancrimefiction
@simonmaltman on twitter
What are you
writing at the minute?
1. I’ve
just had my short story collection published last week, it’s called More Faces.
That’s been taking up a lot of my time recently. I’m also working on the follow
up to my novel, A Chaser on the Rocks, and have finished the first draft. The
series is about a modern day PI with mental health struggles, who also writes
about a 1940’s PI and the books function as a story in a story. I’m also trying
to do anything but start the second draft because I start to lose interest and
will eventually have to discipline myself to do it!
Can you give us an idea of Simon Maltman’s typical up-to-the-armpits-in-ideas-and-time writing day?
2. I’ve
recently left my job as a health care manager and am looking after my kids full
time during the day, and trying to write in the evenings. Usually I’ll get an
hour or two at it most nights and I always have small goals in my head of what
I want to get done. In-between tantrums and poo during the day, I try to do a
bit of the networking and promo side of things. I keep a notebook and like to
jot stuff down. I usually have a rough idea of where I want something to go,
but the fun thing for me is definitely in the sitting down and writing and
seeing where things end up.
What do you do
when you’re not writing?
3. I like devouring TV series with my wife, though we usually take it turn about to fall asleep by about the second episode. I like writing and recording music and I love movies, particularly old Film Noir. I’m also very partial to going out for coffee and something sweet. Coffee, generally, is a big part of the day.
3. I like devouring TV series with my wife, though we usually take it turn about to fall asleep by about the second episode. I like writing and recording music and I love movies, particularly old Film Noir. I’m also very partial to going out for coffee and something sweet. Coffee, generally, is a big part of the day.
Any advice for a greenhorn trying to break into the genre fiction scene?
4. I think that once you have worked at it and think you have something decent, then the main thing is to put yourself out there. You have to also expect a ton of rejection, because that’s just the way it is. If you send enough emails and try enough times, you’ll get there if you have something in the first place that others will enjoy. You just have to put the work in, in every aspect.
Which writers have impressed you this year?
5. I’m not great at keeping up with the trends. I wish I found time to read more actually. Recently, I’ve been enjoying some of my favourites who I hadn’t read in a while- Raymond Chandler and Richard Stark. I read a couple of Rebus’s recently too. I’ve just finished the crime anthology Dark Minds, which I was very fortunate to be included in and there are forty great writers in that who I hadn’t read before. I have a huge list of authors I want to get into more.
What are you reading right now?
6. I’m reading an ARC of the indie author Frank Westworth’s new novel- The Redemption of Charm- I think it’s actually released today. He’s very good.
Plans for the future?
7. I need
to start redrafting this novel and put it to one side haha. There’s a novella
that I want to finish from a while back too and I’ve got the starting point for
a new standalone novel. Hopefully I’ll be getting started on them in some way
in a few weeks. I like to keep busy and don’t like things I want to do piling
up in my mind!
With regards to your writing career to date, would you do anything differently?
8. I’m not sure, not particularly. I really think it’s all about building things up all the time and there’s a lot of pressure on authors now to manage every aspect of that. I’ve only really been writing fiction for about four years, so I just want to carry on and hopefully build up more of an audience as I go.
With regards to your writing career to date, would you do anything differently?
8. I’m not sure, not particularly. I really think it’s all about building things up all the time and there’s a lot of pressure on authors now to manage every aspect of that. I’ve only really been writing fiction for about four years, so I just want to carry on and hopefully build up more of an audience as I go.
Do you fancy sharing your worst writing experience?
9. Haha I’m not sure what that would be. My pet hate is going through pages and pages of track changes from my publisher- I’ll do anything to avoid that! Maybe the worst experience was talking to my Nana and Aunties after they had read my novel with all those ‘naughty words!’
Anything you want to say that I haven’t asked you about?
10. No, I don’t think so, cheers. Thanks very much for having me along and thanks to everyone who has been supporting me along the way, take care!
2 comments:
Cheers very much Gerard!
Look forward to reading Simon's latest short stories-good to hearvfrom the author himself.
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