I recently had the pleasure of chatting with a fellow writer and friend of mine, N E David, about his experiences in writing and publishing.
As he indicated in his recent Blog (Eyes Wide Shut), he talked about how being a writer isn’t all about writing. He states, “it’s also about promoting yourself and your work – there’s no point in spending your life locked away in a draughty garret if the fruits of your labour never get to see the light of day.”
Here’s what he said when I grilled him about his recent work.
Me : Nick, you’ve just launched one of your novellas as an ebook. What prompted you to do that?
NED : Feria has been available in paperback for a while now and I thought it was time to offer it to a wider range of readers through the internet.
Me : Feria is a strange title. What exactly does it mean?
NED : Strictly speaking it’s the Latin word for ‘free day’ so it’s come to signify a holiday. More recently it’s been associated with festivals and fairs, the best known of which is probably the Feria de abril de Sevilla – the Seville April Fair.
Me : So how did you come across it?
NED : My wife and spent a week’s holiday in a small town in Andalusia in Spain in September 2006. Purely by accident it was the week of their annual Feria and we got caught up in it. I was so taken in by it all that I sketched out the plot on the plane on the way home.
Me : So some of the events you describe actually happened?
NED : Yes indeed. There was a Spanish Marching Band and free paella – I remember that we ate ours standing up in a telephone box as it was the only space we could find. But the rest is pure fiction.
Me : And what about the characters? Are any of them real?
NED : I guess not – although I do recall seeing an otherwise good-looking woman with a broken nose and I did wonder how she’d acquired it. In the end she became Carmen, the flamenco dancer, and I made up her story.
Me : Is there any other truth in the tale?
NED : Well, everyone there seems to own a dog and the keeping of goats is common. And one of the most important problems for the area is the distribution of water. Walking the countryside, you become aware of just how many concrete channels and gulleys there are that transport it from one place to another.
Me : It’s not a long book, only 20000 words. When did you write it and how long did it take you?
NED : I started on it as soon as I got back from the holiday and I suppose it must have taken me about six weeks to complete. The great thing was, it was all so fresh in the mind that I didn’t need to do much revision.
Me : You seem to like this format. Why is that?
NED : I found the conventional short story length too constricting but the plot wasn’t enough for a novel and I didn’t want to string it out . This seemed about right.
Me : And are you intending to release more of your ‘entertainments’ as ebooks?
NED : Yes, I’m planning to do a couple more of the same length in the foreseeable future. But the content will be totally different!
To buy FERIA in the UK visit http://amzn.to/Lk280v
To buy FERIA in the US visit http://amzn.to/NpUiAZ
For more information about N E David you can follow him on twitter here: https://twitter.com/NEDavidAuthor and visit his website here: http://www.nedavid.com/
Vicki Bartram 