Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I describe myself as the ultimate multi-tasker. Sometimes I even have to remind myself who I am for the day. Why?
Because I write under three different pen names and in three very different genres. As Debrah Martin I writes literary fiction. Falling Awake is a dream-like tale where truth IS stranger than fiction. I also plot fast-paced and compelling thrillers as D.B. Martin, with the first two in the Patchwork trilogy, Patchwork Man and Patchwork People, out now. Its fallen hero, Lawrence Juste QC faces a future as tricky as his past when his previous misdeeds catch up with him and his dead wife blackmails him, apparently from beyond the grave. The grand finale in the series, Patchwork Pieces will see an explosive ending to Lawrence’s story when it’s released at the end of Spring 2015.
And not to be overlooked is my YA teen detective series, penned as Lily Stuart – THE teen detective. Irreverent, blunt, funny and vulnerable, Lily’s diary tells the tale of her mother’s internet dating spree – and the murderer she meets, interspersed between daily life as a teenager, with all its bitching, banter, and vulnerability. Webs will be followed by Magpies in Spring 2015, and plenty of odd secrets for Lily to root out.
So why not stick to just one name and one genre?
Well, the do say variety is the spice of life – and I have all these ideas; they have to come out somehow! All those ideas have already taken the form of six books – three previously penned as Debbie Martin and of which one will be re-released in 2015 under Debrah Martin; a very unusual love story …
My past careers have spanned two businesses, teaching, running business networking for the University of Winchester and social event management. In 2014 I added to my ‘hat’s’ by also chairing the Wantage (not just Betjeman) Literary Festival in my home town as well as organising my two daughters and our dog.
‘See – more multi-tasking!’
You can find out about all of my books and latest releases on my websites www.debrahmartin.co.uk and www.lily-stuart.co.uk
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is the second in the Patchwork series – Patchwork People. The first in the trilogy, Patchwork Man, was conceived as a result of my mother’s description of how the rag and bone man used to tour the streets when she was young. It immediately conjured up images of post Second World War Britain to me and I wanted to write a novel with its roots in that period. To begin with, it was to be a stand-alone book, but as the twists and turns in the plot grew, and the characters developed, I knew I couldn’t contain the entirety of it in one book unless it was to be a mammoth tome like War and Peace.
I wrote up the rag and bone description, researched other common features of the time and came across a series of anecdotes about life in children’s homes in the fifties, at the time my mother would have been in her late teens to early twenties. She’s now eighty. A theme common to the reports was emotional isolation and the desire to leave the past behind them when the child reached maturity. So much of the way we are able to tackle the problems of the present depend on the emotional nurturing we received in the past. I began to imagine a man, emotionally deprived as a child, burying his past in favour of a future he’d manufactured, yet unable to deal with the consequences when that past could no longer be buried. That obviously provided the possibility of wanting past misdeeds to be buried too, and for it to be these that later came back to haunt the protagonist. He, or she, therefore had to be a ‘fallen hero’; on the face of it successful and well-adjusted, but underneath intrinsically damaged. Seeing an adaptation for the theatre of To Kill a Mocking Bird was the finishing touch and Lawrence Juste was ‘born’, enabling my long-time admiration for the message in Harper Lee’s masterpiece to become a central part of the life lessons Juste has to learn on his journey from damaged to whole.
I was extremely lucky to have a contact who introduced me to a High Court Judge and he initially checked the procedural sections for credibility and accuracy. He remains nameless of course, but he was of immense help with Patchwork Man.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I have a writing studio and the dog and I spend at least part of the day there, plotting. If I get stuck we go on a walk and it’s amazing how being out in the countryside – it’s beautiful around Oxfordshire – clears your head and writer’s block …
What authors, or books have influenced you?
As a child I steadily worked my way through the local library’s book shelves, starting with Enid Blyton, then onto Ruth Rendell, P.D. James, Patricia Cornwell via Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers and so on, until I reached Dan Brow –as everyone does. I also read thousands of other psychological and crime suspense novels in between. I love a good thriller, especially if it’s a brain teaser. Gone Girl was good too, but I worked the plot out about five chapters in, and that showed me how much the psychological thriller format eventually worms its way into your psyche. All that reading taught me how to write thriller plots, but my reading background is far wider.
I studied English Literature at university (a long time ago) and also developed a love of all kinds of genres – Shakespearean and Jacobean Revenge tragedy amongst them. If I took an overview, I can even see little traits of them in Patchwork Man, as well as the kind of moral twist there is in books such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird, which will always be one of my all-time favourites. It’s maybe also why I write in more than one genre. There is too much I love to read to stick to just one, and also too much to say in a lot of different ways!
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on Magpies, the second in the Lily Stuart YA teen detective series. I’ve just finished Patchwork Pieces and it’s now in the final throes before publication – watch this space! Writing the Patchwork series made me realise how much fun it is to stay with a set of characters beyond one book. They have time to develop more and allows the reader to take more of a journey with them. It’s also quite a challenge to decide where that section of the story ends and the next begins – and I do love a challenge… And after Magpies I have another idea already bubbling away, but that’s for later!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Word of mouth is always best, but of course it’s a big old world with an enormous number of books in it. Online there are a variety of sites that link writer to reader and I think that’s really good. I use all kinds to try to get awareness of my books out there – that’s the biggest battle, I think.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep reading, keep writing, keep re-writing. It’s a log road not only to publication, but also to getting your book in front of a reader once it is published. The best way of doing it is persistence, writing well, talking advice from readers and professionals, and then writing some more. I also think that writer’s groups and forums are invaluable – for advice , support and feedback. I belong to several and no matter how many books I write, I know there will always be something else to learn, someone else to learn form and something I can improve on.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t give up.
What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading The Hundred Year Old Man who Jumped out of a Window and Disappeared and also The Goldfinch. A read a little like I write – never just one thing at a time. Whicihever book fits my mood, that’s what I carry on reading.
What’s next for you as a writer?
More writing, and then more writing again … that’s not a chore, but a pleasure though!
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
An epic like The Lord of the Rings to keep me absolutely riveted, The Complete Works of Shakespeare (if that’s not cheating and counts for more) to keep me inspired, my absolute favourite YA fiction – My So-called Life by Joanna Nadin – to keep me laughing, and probably some poetry – perhaps Maya Angelou – for the soul. All in print because I like the feel of a real book most, and my Kindle would run out of battery eventually 😉
Author Websites and Profiles
D.B. Martin Website
D.B. Martin Amazon Profile
D.B. Martin Author Profile on Smashwords
D.B. Martin’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account