Darren Sant is, as most of you will already know, an active member of the crime writing community. Darren's first publication was the short story A Good Day, the first in a series of extremely popular tales set in the Longcroft Estate. (Here's my two penn'orth. The others in the series so far are Community Spirit and the recently released Rowan's Folly.) He also has available a collection of short stories, Flashes of Revenge ( I said this about it), and he is collaborating on a series of zombie apocalypse tales. Add to that forthcoming appearances in Off The Record, Brit Grit Too and Radgepacket 6 (Darren is a regular Radgie gadgie) and you can see that the man is kept busy. How does he do it all? Over to you, Darren.
Tell me about your book.
I would describe my short stories series Tales From The Longcroft Estate as gritty urban tales. Housing estates, council estates or ‘schemes’ as the Scots refer to them are places where you can find a broad cross section of society. These are the salt of the earth folk. People who will cross the street to help a friend, a neighbour and even a stranger. These folk know the true meaning of the word community, to them it is not just a politician’s buzz word but a way of life. This is what happens when you have thousands of people living in close proximity. These are places where everyone knows everyone else’s business. However, in every barrel there are a few bad apples and the same applies to our estates. The Longcroft tales is a series of short stories that deals with those folk that live on the margins within these communities. The drug dealers, addicts, football hooligans, loan sharks, gangsters and the lost and misguided souls. Tales From The Longcroft Estate deals with the shades of grey rather than the black and white.
As the series progresses I hope to give a full colour high definition vision of the Longcroft Estate and its many and varied denizens. There will be laughter, tears, highs and lows.
The latest story just released is called Rowan’s Folly. This tells the tale of young electrician Andy Rowan and how a choice he makes lands him in some very hot water. Here is a link to the blurb for Rowan’s Folly on Amazon.
I would describe my short stories series Tales From The Longcroft Estate as gritty urban tales. Housing estates, council estates or ‘schemes’ as the Scots refer to them are places where you can find a broad cross section of society. These are the salt of the earth folk. People who will cross the street to help a friend, a neighbour and even a stranger. These folk know the true meaning of the word community, to them it is not just a politician’s buzz word but a way of life. This is what happens when you have thousands of people living in close proximity. These are places where everyone knows everyone else’s business. However, in every barrel there are a few bad apples and the same applies to our estates. The Longcroft tales is a series of short stories that deals with those folk that live on the margins within these communities. The drug dealers, addicts, football hooligans, loan sharks, gangsters and the lost and misguided souls. Tales From The Longcroft Estate deals with the shades of grey rather than the black and white.
As the series progresses I hope to give a full colour high definition vision of the Longcroft Estate and its many and varied denizens. There will be laughter, tears, highs and lows.
The latest story just released is called Rowan’s Folly. This tells the tale of young electrician Andy Rowan and how a choice he makes lands him in some very hot water. Here is a link to the blurb for Rowan’s Folly on Amazon.
What's your favourite part of the creative process?
My favourite part is getting the words down. The magical process of turning a basic idea into a first draft. The self-editing is trickier. I’m always happy when it reaches the stage where I can turn it over to a professional editor to help me shape my idea into a polished story.
How much difference does an editor make?
In my case a massive difference. I am very aware of my shortcomings as a writer and it is very gratifying to see your story emerge from its dowdy cocoon as a sparkling butterfly. A good editor can never be appreciated enough.
How important is a good title?
Vital. It’s the first thing a reader will ever see, it must catch the attention. Finding the right title is a tricky process and I love that eureka moment when it pops into your head.
How important is a good cover?
As I write e-books, a striking cover is essential as the reader usually only sees a thumbnail. It has to stand out from the herd.
What aspects of marketing your book do you enjoy?
I don’t know if enjoy is the word I would use. Marketing is satisfying if you get an end result. If my marketing leads to me meeting new readers and networking with other writers, then that is what I enjoy the most. I’m a friendly guy and I like to get to know new people.
My favourite part is getting the words down. The magical process of turning a basic idea into a first draft. The self-editing is trickier. I’m always happy when it reaches the stage where I can turn it over to a professional editor to help me shape my idea into a polished story.
How much difference does an editor make?
In my case a massive difference. I am very aware of my shortcomings as a writer and it is very gratifying to see your story emerge from its dowdy cocoon as a sparkling butterfly. A good editor can never be appreciated enough.
How important is a good title?
Vital. It’s the first thing a reader will ever see, it must catch the attention. Finding the right title is a tricky process and I love that eureka moment when it pops into your head.
How important is a good cover?
As I write e-books, a striking cover is essential as the reader usually only sees a thumbnail. It has to stand out from the herd.
What aspects of marketing your book do you enjoy?
I don’t know if enjoy is the word I would use. Marketing is satisfying if you get an end result. If my marketing leads to me meeting new readers and networking with other writers, then that is what I enjoy the most. I’m a friendly guy and I like to get to know new people.
How do you feel about interviews?
I’m just happy that anyone is willing to listen to what I have to say!
How do you feel about reviews?
There are things to be learned from positive and negative critique. Most people will say that they like negative reviews IF the reader has obviously read the story or novel and if what they say is genuine and intelligent. I recently saw a one star Amazon review of somebody’s writing which simply said: Too short. That says everything about the reader and nothing about the writer.
I like positive reviews where it is clear that the reader has ‘got’ what I was trying to convey in the story. Sometimes I see things in reviews that I didn’t intend in the work, but someone had read it at another level entirely. I love that too, because reading is all about interpretation.
Where do you find out about new books?
These days word of mouth from writing friends or from blogs such as Allan Guthrie’s Criminal-E.
What are you reading now?
I’m just about to start McDroll’s short story collection Kick It and your own novel Heartbreaker.
What makes you keep reading a book?
I’m a tolerant reader and rarely give up on a book. However, an engaging story will always keep me reading. I appreciate believable dialogue, interesting characters and a fast moving plot. If a book has some of those elements I’ll keep reading.
What are you currently working on?
I am all over the place and hopelessly over committed, to be honest. Other than the Longcroft series, I have decided to concentrate my efforts on another flash fiction collection that will have an interesting twist to it which I’ll keep to myself for now.
I’m just happy that anyone is willing to listen to what I have to say!
How do you feel about reviews?
There are things to be learned from positive and negative critique. Most people will say that they like negative reviews IF the reader has obviously read the story or novel and if what they say is genuine and intelligent. I recently saw a one star Amazon review of somebody’s writing which simply said: Too short. That says everything about the reader and nothing about the writer.
I like positive reviews where it is clear that the reader has ‘got’ what I was trying to convey in the story. Sometimes I see things in reviews that I didn’t intend in the work, but someone had read it at another level entirely. I love that too, because reading is all about interpretation.
Where do you find out about new books?
These days word of mouth from writing friends or from blogs such as Allan Guthrie’s Criminal-E.
What are you reading now?
I’m just about to start McDroll’s short story collection Kick It and your own novel Heartbreaker.
What makes you keep reading a book?
I’m a tolerant reader and rarely give up on a book. However, an engaging story will always keep me reading. I appreciate believable dialogue, interesting characters and a fast moving plot. If a book has some of those elements I’ll keep reading.
What are you currently working on?
I am all over the place and hopelessly over committed, to be honest. Other than the Longcroft series, I have decided to concentrate my efforts on another flash fiction collection that will have an interesting twist to it which I’ll keep to myself for now.
How can we keep up to date with your news?
You can catch me on Twitter as @groovydaz39 and @Longcroft_tales.
My website, which I am updating regularly, is: http://darrensant-writer.yolasite.com/
I review everything I read here: http://santsrants.blogspot.com/
I am fairly well known as Old Seth on the excellent blog Close To The Bone:
http://www.craigrobertdouglas.com/
Thank you, Darren - I'm looking forward to seeing what the new collection is all about!
Readers will have gathered that as well as being a writer, Darren reads and reviews other people's work and also interviews other writers. In fact, he's very generous with his support and promotion of others and a stalwart of the crime writing community.
Darren's e-books may be found at Amazon in the UK and in the US.
You can catch me on Twitter as @groovydaz39 and @Longcroft_tales.
My website, which I am updating regularly, is: http://darrensant-writer.yolasite.com/
I review everything I read here: http://santsrants.blogspot.com/
I am fairly well known as Old Seth on the excellent blog Close To The Bone:
http://www.craigrobertdouglas.com/
Thank you, Darren - I'm looking forward to seeing what the new collection is all about!
Readers will have gathered that as well as being a writer, Darren reads and reviews other people's work and also interviews other writers. In fact, he's very generous with his support and promotion of others and a stalwart of the crime writing community.
Darren's e-books may be found at Amazon in the UK and in the US.
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