BarryHutchison.com

I realised this morning that BarryHutchison.com was born exactly two years yesterday. On 15th February 2008 I was on a train, heading to Glasgow, where I was due to meet up with Kathryn Ross, who I hoped would become my agent.

We spoke about the work I had been doing for Egmont, about some ideas I had, and about a little manuscript I was working on featuring a boy whose childhood imaginary friend returned seeking revenge. At the time, that manuscript went by the working title Imaginary Friends Reunited. You, of course, know it better as Invisible Fiends.

It’s an old cliché, but it does seem like only yesterday I met Kathryn. Prior to that I had tried submitting a couple of manuscripts for both adult’s and children’s novels to various publishers, with zero success. So it’s a testament to the abilities of Fraser Ross Associates that now, exactly two years later, the manuscript we discussed at that first meeting has been published by one of the world’s largest and most respected publishing houses.

Did I think when I started this blog that two years later the first book in my six-book horror series would be on the shelves? No. I hoped so, of course, but things move slowly in the publishing industry (unless Michael Jackson dies, then they’re all like ferrets up a drainpipe) so even with the best will in the world I thought we might have secured a deal by now, with publication still a long way off.

I’ve already mentioned how I owe pretty much the whole thing to Kathryn and Lindsey at Fraser Ross Associates, but my editor, Nick, at HarperCollins had a big part to play, too. There was someone else involved in the book being taken on, though. Someone I don’t give credit to often enough.

Me! I’ve always had doubts about my abilities as a writer. Now that I’ve seen my first book on the shelves, and read the positively glowing reviews it has been receiving, I’m prepared to admit that, yes, I’m actually pretty good at this whole writing lark.

Note the phrase “pretty good”.

I’m not very good. I’m nowhere near great. But I hope to be one day. I feel that every book I write is a little better than the last one. Every time I finish a story, I grow as a writer. It’s cliché time again, but practice really does make perfect. I’m working on the fourth Invisible Fiends book now, and it’s showing all the signs of being the best one in the series so far.

So yeah, I’m pretty good. One day – many years from now – I may well be great.

Hey, a guy’s got to dream, right?

To celebrate BarryHutchison.com’s second birthday, here’s a picture of me with an odd facial expression. It was taken at the launch event held at Scottish Book Trust HQ in Edinburgh recently. Thanks to Chris Newton for the photo. More to follow in a day or so.

Me and Mr Mumbles. I'm on the left.

As you might have noticed, yesterday I didn’t make a blog post, and so I have failed in my attempt to make a post every day during the month of December.

There’s a good reason why I didn’t post anything. It’s a very good reason, actually.

You see, I did write a post, but there was this dog that ate it.

No? OK then, a big boy stole it and chucked it in a puddle?

Oh, all right, the truth is I forgot. I was so caught up working on something else (something which will be revealed on Wednesday) that I just forgot to make the post.

So, that’s it, then. The mission was a failure. Disappointed as I am, though, I’m going to keep going and try to post entries every day for the rest of the month.

Fingers crossed.

Last year I set myself the challenge of posting a new blog entry every day through November – a challenge I’m pleased to say I managed to meet, if only barely in some cases.

Anyway, this year I’m going one better, and setting myself the goal of posting a new blog entry every day throughout December. That’s 31 days instead of 30. That’s why I said it was ‘one better’. See? Tch, keep up, people.

As this is the first day of December, this is the first post in the 31 day challenge. At this very moment I’m actually wandering around Newcastle somewhere, getting ready to do my first proper HarperCollins event to promote INVISIBLE FIENDS, but more on that tomorrow when I get back.

Thanks to the wonders of technology, though, this entry should auto-post itself without me having to do anything. Hopefully. If not the whole exercise is snookered before it has even begun.

Anyway, off to chat to some librarians. Come back tomorrow for a full report.

I’m in the middle of planning out some future video blogs (although I use the word “planning” in its loosest possible sense) and I thought it’d be good to get some questions from readers of this ‘ere blog, which I could answer in the videos.

So, if there’s something you’ve always wanted to ask an author (well, this author in particular) now’s your chance. It can be about the process of writing, getting published, finding ideas, creating character, etc, or it can be something completely different. Maybe you want to know what my favourite book or character is, or maybe your question is completely unrelated to the business of reading and writing.

It might be that you want to know if both my feet are exactly the same size, or what foods I like, or where I’d like to go on holiday. Maybe you’d like to ask me which of the muppets I reckon I could take in a straight fight.

Whatever the question, ask it here in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer it in an upcoming video blog.

Although my knowledge of anything that might prove useful in the real world is sorely limited (how to fix cars, how to administer first aid, how to cook anything that isn’t toast, etc, etc), one thing I do know a bit about is writing.  That’s why I’m allowed to do books an’ that.

As such, I’ve been asked to run a series of evening classes at my local college, where I’ll be teaching everything from creating rounded, memorable characters, to writing a killer query letter and synopsis.  It should be interesting, not least of all for me, as I try to put words to all those little writing tricks I now do instinctively.  Classes start in August, so if you happen to live near Fort William in the Highlands of Scotland, contact Lochaber College for more details.

You might also have noticed a new option has appeared in the menu up above this post somewhere.  I am now offering a manuscript critique service, where – for a fee – I will provide editorial feedback on novels-in-progress.

I should probably point something out here.  If you have leaky pipes and call a plumber, would you be happy if he told you everything was fine, and left you with water running down your walls?  Or if the house was burning down, would you be content for the fire brigade to turn up, compliment you on your curtains, then zoom off again with their lights blaring?

Probably not.  So, likewise, if you employ someone to give critical feedback on your manuscript, expect just that.  Don’t anticipate a glowing review which fails to find fault with a single word you’ve written.  Positive feedback is nice, but it’s not helpful.  I’ve lost count of the number of times people have taken offence at me pointing out even a minor issue with their work, despite the fact I always make a point of highlighting the positives first.

So, if you’re the type of person who is looking for reassurance of your own brilliance, please don’t bother getting in touch.  If, however, you’re someone who has a story to tell and would like a little help making it as good as it can possibly be, then I’d love to hear from you.

Go check out the Manuscript Critique page and get in touch.

I’ve changed the look of the blog, as you may well have already noticed.  I still need to do a few things to get it looking just right, but what do you think so far?  Better?  Worse?  I’d love to hear your comments.

I’ve now added a bookstore section to the site, where you can buy a selection of books from Amazon.  I’ve read all the books that will be going up, and they won’t be listed unless I think they’re genuinely worth buying.  Hopefully you’ll find something in there worth reading.