International troubleshooter Jake Foreman loses his job, house and wife all in one day. And when an impulsive move lands him in even deeper water - the kind that could lose him his life - he decides it's time to make some smart decisions. The trouble is, knowing the right moves and making them is a whole different game. And Jake, who has been happily rubbing along things he always suspected were just a shade away from being dodgy, finds it all too easy to go with the flow. Now he's got to start learning new tricks. If he doesn't, he could end up dead.
Smart Moves by Adrian Magson was published in paperback by Dome Press on 16 August 2018. My thanks to the publisher who invited me to take part in this Blog Tour.
I'm delighted to share a piece of writing by the Author entitled 'It Helps to Know The Place'.
It Helps to Know the Place
When setting out with all my writing, I like to have a fairly clear picture of the settings my characters will inhabit. It helps with description and atmosphere if I can see and get a feel for where the action takes place. I’ve never been comfortable making up places, so I always try to use areas I’ve been to for that little extra touch of realism, even if I change the name. (And, of course, there’s always Google maps and street view to check detail where somewhere might have changed).
Of course, readers will paint their own picture from what they read, each one seeing it differently. But if knowing a place helps me do a better job of writing, then that’s important.
In ‘Smart Moves’, my latest book, the story takes place in London, mainland Europe and the US, all places I’ve lived, visited or worked. That was a big plus.
Depending on the book, I sometimes find myself having to describe a setting where I haven’t been, or where getting there could be, shall we say, problematic. For that I have a simple answer: I can always find somewhere like it, certainly close enough to give me a real feel for the area, the geography or architecture – even the movement of traffic and people.
But description itself doesn’t take much – and nor should it. I know from experience that putting in too much descriptive detail merely serves to slow the story down. As an editor said to me a long time ago – ‘Less of the birds in the trees and more of the action!’
In ‘Smart Moves’, there’s certainly action as Jake Foreman, my adventurous ‘hero’, who has lost everything through simply not paying attention to what was important, steers his way around London, across Europe and America, in an attempt to get ahead of the trouble that dogs him and reconnect with family, friends and even the real world.
In doing so he finds out who his real friends are – and they’re not always what he expected.
Hailed by the Daily Mail as “a classic crime star in the making”, Adrian had written 21
crime and spy
Adrian also has hundreds of short stories and articles in national and international
magazines to his name, plus a non-fiction work: Write On! - The Writer’s Help Book (Accent
Press).
When not writing books, he’s a reviewer for Shots Magazine and writes the ‘Beginners’ and ‘New Author’ pages for Writing Magazine (UK).
Adrian lives in the Forest of Dean and rumours that he is building a nuclear bunker are
unfounded. It’s a bird’s table.
Blog: https://adrianmagson.blogspot.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/adrianmagson1
Facebook: https://facebook.com/adrianmagsonbooks
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