Matt Johnson's Writing Toolkit

WRITING TOOLKIT gives you an idea of an author's writing process through the tools they use. The tools can be anything (real or virtual) that they think is essential for their writing - serious, fun or even a fetish (that they're willing to own up to)! 

I am delighted to welcome 

MATT JOHNSON

AUTHOR OF END GAME

TO SHARE HIS WRITING TOOLKIT

FOR HIS BLOG TOUR

End Game was published in e-book in February 2018 and is being published in paperback on 31 March 2018 by Orenda Books. 

Peace and quiet

Peace and quiet for fairly obvious reasons. I find it very hard to focus on writing unless I’m on my own with just the computer and my view through the window of my office – the Brecon Beacons. I write in my office with a view over the mountains. As I write the fields are green, the sky blue and the peaks are dusted with snow. I can think or worse places to be.
I listen to classical music sometimes, and I’ve found a website that plays backing sounds – rain, the sound of waves, wind, thunder and others. Having that in the background can be quite helpful when I’m busy with my imaginary friends. 

Google

Where would we be without this facility to answer all manner of questions? From the correct spelling of a word through to the technical specifications of anything you may care to mention – it will provide the answer.

My computer

Old but reliable! I’m a three or four-finger typist, slow but fairly accurate. My handwriting is so poor that I struggle to read it myself so I always write creatively using MS Word. 

My professional network
Most of whom are old friends. They help jog my memory, provide answers to questions and contribute ideas. I’d be lost without them

Tea

I don’t imagine there are many former soldiers and policemen who can function without a regular brew. I think it’s a habit we get into during our service that is hard to break. 

Walking

Walking with the dogs is a time when I relax and when ideas come to me. If I’m struggling with a section of the book or need to make a decision I find that a walk in the mountains or through the local fields usually produces a solution. If not, I walk again!

THANKS FOR TAKING PART, MATT!

About Matt Johnson

Matt Johnson served as a soldier and Metropolitan Police officer for 25 years. Blown off his feet at the London Baltic Exchange bombing in 1993, and one of the first police officers on the scene of the 1982 Regent’s Park bombing, Matt was also at the Libyan People’s Bureau shooting in 1984 where he escorted his mortally wounded friend and colleague, Yvonne Fletcher, to hospital. Hidden wounds took their toll. In 1999, Matt was discharged from the police with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. While undergoing treatment, he was encouraged by his counsellor to write about his career and his experience of murders, shootings and terrorism. One evening, Matt sat at his computer and started to weave these notes into a work of fiction that he described as having a tremendously cathartic effect on his own condition. His bestselling thriller, Wicked Game, which was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Dagger, was the result. Deadly Game and now End Game, the final book in the Robert Finlay series, once again draws on Matt’s experiences and drips with the same raw authenticity of its predecessor.

Find Matt Johnson on his website, on his Facebook page and on Twitter - @Matt_Johnson_UK

About End Game

Published by Orenda Books (31 March 2018)

Publisher's description

Robert Finlay seems to have finally left his SAS past behind him and is settled into his new career as a detective. But when the girlfriend of his former SAS colleague and close friend Kevin Jones is murdered, it's clear that Finlay's troubles are far from over. Jones is arrested for the killing, but soon escapes from jail, and Finlay is held responsible for the breakout. Suspended from duty and sure he's being framed too, our hero teams up with MI5 agent Toni Fellowes to find out who's behind the conspiracy. Their quest soon reveals a plot that goes to the very heart of the UK's security services. End Game, the final part in the critically acclaimed Robert Finlay trilogy, sees our hero in an intricately plotted and terrifyingly fast-paced race to uncover the truth and escape those who'd sooner have him dead than be exposed. 

Follow the Blog Tour

BEST OF CRIME with Matt Johnson

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

MATT JOHNSON

for his Deadly Game blog tour

to share his BEST OF CRIME... 

... AUTHORS
Oh crikey, now that’s a tough one to start with. I’m limited to those authors I’ve read and, as I don’t read too many fiction books, that isn’t a very large pool. So, I’m going to stick with an author who has always managed to engage me to a put where I couldn’t put the book down – Lee Child.

... FILMS/MOVIES
The Italian Job. Although this is something of a ‘crime caper’, I’m a great fan of Michael Caine and thought that his character – Charlie Croker – was excellent. His infamous line, ‘you were only supposed to blow the bloody doors’ is oft quoted when Ordnance Disposal officers carry out work on IEDs and unexploded bombs. I particularly liked this ending – the actual cliffhanger – to this film where the team are stuck with their loot on a bus overhanging a cliff. It’s a perfect lead into a sequel and maybe one of the only films that has given rise to science competions asking viewers ‘How could they escape in less than thirty minutes and without using a helicopter’. The answer – I’ll leave you to look it up – was pure genius.

... TV DRAMAS
24, with no hesitation. I loved Jack Bauer and couldn’t wait for the next hour, the next series. Loved them all.

... FICTIONAL KILLERS
Hannibal Lecter. I particularly enjoyed the way the author established the relationship between Lecter and Clarice Starling – the FBI agent. As both hunted a serial killer whose depravity defied our understanding, the story gradually reveals how much worse is Lecter, and how brilliantly manipulative. Thankfully, in reality, serial killers tend to be less intelligent and more frustrated people. Well educated, talented psychopaths tend to explore less bloody careers, as artists, in business and – as we are coming to appreciate more and more – in politics.

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES
These aren’t getting any easier. For me, this has to be Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM. Made all the more real for me by the accomplished acting of the late John Thaw. Colin Dexter created an amazing character who appealed to all of us. His beloved Jaguar, his love of real ale, his wit, intelligence and taste in music. It all added up to a character with the kind of depth us writers can only dream of creating. I realize now, as I write this, that Dexter’s decision to have the character known by his surname was hugely influential on my decision to do the same with Robert Finlay.

... MURDER WEAPONS
‘Do you expect me to talk?’ ‘No, Mr Bond. I expect you to die.’ Remember the scene? As our hero James Bond is about to be cut in half – from his crotch – by a red laser operated by Auric Goldfinger. I couldn’t pick this for the next category as, of course, James lives to fight another day.

    

 … DEATH SCENES
One that I found particularly imaginative, although perhaps not given the creative ability of the author. In Dead Man’s Grip, Peter James has a professional hitman dispatch his target dispassionately and ruthlessly. The poor victim is handcuffed to the steering wheel of a car after being tortured. To prove suffering, the hitman films the whole death. Horrid – gripping!

... BLOGS/WEBSITES
Wikipedia, by far, even given it’s slight reputation for inaccuracy.  If it doesn’t show the answer to a question, it will point you in the right direction.

... WRITING TIPS
First drafts don’t need to be perfect, they just have to be written.

... WRITING SNACKS
Chocolate digestives to accompany that ‘never finished’ mug of tea.

About Matt Johnson

Matt Johnson served as a soldier and Metropolitan Police officer for 25 years. Blown off his feet at the London Baltic Exchange bombing in 1993, and one of the first police officers on the scene of the 1982 Regent’s Park bombing, Matt was also at the Libyan People’s Bureau shooting in 1984 where he escorted his mortally wounded friend and colleague, Yvonne Fletcher, to hospital. Hidden wounds took their toll. In 1999, Matt was discharged from the police with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. While undergoing treatment, he was encouraged by his counsellor to write about his career and his experience of murders, shootings and terrorism. One evening, Matt sat at his computer and started to weave these notes into a work of fiction that he described as having a tremendously cathartic effect on his own condition. His bestselling thriller, Wicked Game, which was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Dagger, was the result. Deadly Game once again draws on Matt’s experiences and drips with the same raw authenticity of its predecessor.

Find Matt on his website and Facebook page and follow him on Twitter - @Matt_Johnson_UK

About Deadly Game

Publisher's description

Reeling from the attempts on his life and that of his family, Police Inspector Robert Finlay returns to work to discover that any hope of a peaceful existence has been dashed.
Assigned to investigate the Eastern European sex-slave industry just as a key witness is murdered, Finlay, along with his new partner Nina Brasov, finds himself facing a ruthless criminal gang, determined to keep control of the traffic of people into the UK. On the home front, Finlay’s efforts to protect his wife and child may have been in vain, as an MI5 protection officer uncovers a covert secret service operation that threatens them all ... Aided by new allies, he must not only protect his family but save a colleague from an unseen enemy ... and a shocking fate.

Deadly Game is being published by Orenda Books in paperback on 30 March 2017 (e-book out now).

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Follow the Blog Tour

AUTHOR IN THE SPOTLIGHT - Matt Johnson

I am delighted that MATT JOHNSON is joining me on my blog today. His debut thriller - Wicked Game - was published by Orenda Books on 15 March 2016. 

You originally started writing to help with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There’s growing research and evidence that writing can significantly improve physical and emotional health. How do you think writing benefited you, as part of your PTSD management?

Yes, writing is becoming a more recognised and popular form of therapy for PTSD. My understanding on the way it works is this:

Talking about the causes, effects and symptoms of the condition can be a very emotional experience, sometimes overwhelmingly so. But it is a way of achieving acceptance and bringing unconscious memory under control. So, the more you talk about it, the less it upsets and the less of a burden it becomes. Writing is a way of helping someone who really struggles to express themselves verbally, either through lack of the words to articulate their experiences or through being overwhelmed when trying to speak about them. Writing gets you to focus and to record. It acts in a cathartic way and seems to work as if it were the equivalent benefit achieved by talking, but multiplied many times.

Wicked Game was originally self-published. Now it’s published by Orenda Books. Do you think you have grown as a writer through your experiences of the different publishing processes? If so, how?

I often read comments by self-published authors regarding the more satisfactory level of control they have over the whole process concerning the production, the design and the marketing of their book. I respect that, but for me, I have found that signing with a highly motivated and skilled publisher has brought huge dividends. I was given the opportunity to work with an editing team who were very instrumental in developing me as a writer. I have learned a great deal from them. My writing is raw, it’s me, and that means I have a style of my own, but I still had a lot to learn to polish it up ready for the commercial market. The Orenda team gave me a fast-track education in creative writing and I freely admit that the end result is a much improved version of my original story.

Other things have come about as well. The jacket design for the book was incredible and had no input from me, and that is a good thing, as I now realise just how creative are the people that produced such work. In terms of marketing, the book has reached vendors, readers and places that I would have never thought possible and which I could have never achieved when self-published. Also, I’ve been interviewed on radio and television, invited to speak at numerous literary events and festivals, and had a launch at Waterstones flagship store with over a hundred people in attendance. All this has only been possible because of the professionalism and experience of Orenda.

Wicked Game is an action thriller based on your own experiences. How easy/challenging has it been to write a book that’s so ‘close to home’?

Not too easy. But, if writing a book was easy, everyone would be doing it! Add to that the emotional engagement that my writing produces and, yes, I sometimes struggle and I do find that there are times when I have to stop and take a break. I do research, but a lot of my writing draws on personal experience. As I write, memories return of times long-forgotten and some of those recollections are not too pleasant. But, I think that emotion helps me write and I hope it comes through in the result.

Wicked Game has been long-listed for the CWA John Creasy New Blood Dagger Award 2016. What was the first thing that went through your mind when your name was announced?

You were there! It caught me completely by surprise. Firstly because there were hundreds of entries and, secondly because I thought the book had been nominated under a different category. So, when the ‘debut’ author list didn’t include me, I thought that was it. So, there I was, chatting to author Zoe Sharp and not really paying attention when the announcer read out my name and the name of the book. My first feelings were ones of surprise, then slightly confused when so many people came up to me to extend their congratulations. Within minutes, I had a text from Peter James. I then began to realise that this might be quite significant – let’s not forget that I’ve only been exposed to the publishing world for a couple of months – and so I went and gave Karen, my publisher, a kiss. Wicked Game was the result of a team effort and I felt pleased on her behalf, as I know how much she ploughs into her authors and it was nice to also see the name of Orenda up on the screen as well.

Looking at your website, you’ve had a busy year so far, with your book launch, blog tour, events, book festivals, interviews and articles. So what’s coming up next? And do you get much free time?

With the amount of hobbies and interests I have, I need free time, believe me! I watch very little television, preferring to read and to listen to the radio and the hobbies range from riding the Harley through to bee-keeping. I’m retired from full-time work now, so writing is my priority. Most of my working day is spent on social media, research and writing. I have two more scheduled literary festivals, at Crickhowell and Berwick, and an interview at Harrogate Crimefest to do with Peter James for his new YouTube channel. I now do talks with Armed Services Veterans at Combat Stress, so I’m also looking forward to doing these and I’ve just been taken on by a public-speaking agency to do talks. The audio book of Wicked Game comes out in August so I’m just about to record an interview for that production as well. And, of course, I am writing. Book two, the sequel to Wicked Game, is now with Orenda for editing. I am 20K words into my third. This will complete the trilogy that is the story of Robert Finlay, but he will be back, trust me!

Describe your writing style in 10 words or less?

Raw, authentic and, to quote Ran Fiennes, engaging.

Looking back to your teenage years, what advice would you give your younger self?

I would tell myself to study now, chase the girls later. I really should have focused on my studies more than I did. I would ignore the advice, of course. Teenagers need to learn for themselves and, with the way my life has panned out, I’ve no complaints.

If you were writing a book about your own life, what would the title be?

One life, live it.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

That’s very kind – calling me an author. Just a few short months ago I wouldn’t dared have whispered the word. I’m very new to this, so I think the best advice I could pass on would be two pieces of advice that were given to me.

1. Don’t even think about becoming an author if you don’t enjoy writing. You’ll spend many hours at the keyboard, suffer self-doubt and frustration and experience seemingly endless rejections. If you don’t enjoy the act of writing, you will never stick it.

2. Writing is a craft that you can start at any age – don’t be in a hurry. Many authors start quite late in life as it is only by that time that they have something within them worth writing about.

And lastly, why should people read Wicked Game?

Mostly I would say read it so that you can tell me what you thought of it. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the wide range of reading tastes it seems to appeal to. Now, the plug…

‘Wicked Game’ will appeal to many readers as it is a story about family secrets. Every family has one, some have many, but not every family faces the threat of being murdered if it is exposed.

Robert Finlay is a husband with a secret. It is hidden from not just his family, but from almost everybody he is now connected to.

But secrets are like seeds. Although they can stay buried for a long time, eventually they send up shoots, surface, and give themselves away.

And so begins ‘Wicked Game’, a game of cat and mouse, where Finlay’s family, his friends, indeed his very existence is under threat from a determined and unidentified enemy.

An enemy that will stop at nothing to see them dead.

About Matt Johnson

Matt Johnson is not a typical author. He is not formally trained, finished his English language education at the age of sixteen and only started writing to help with treatment for Post Traumatic Stress problems. Writing helped Matt come to terms with and manage his PTSD. Matt Johnson started writing crime scene reports as a detective, then recollections as part of his PTSD therapy, before turning his hand to thriller writing.
A quiet, contemporary countryman, Matt lives in a converted barn and, on a daily basis, exercises his four gundogs. A keen biker, he rides a ’99 Harley Fatboy and in his spare time scuba dives and keeps bees.

Find Matt Johnson on his website and Facebook page and follow Matt on Twitter - @Matt_Johnson_UK

Wicked Game
Published by Orenda Books (15 March 2016)
ISBN: 978-1910633410

Synopsis: 

2001. Age is catching up with Robert Finlay, a police officer on the Royalty Protection team based in London. He s looking forward to returning to uniform policing and a less stressful life with his new family. But fate has other plans. Finlay's deeply traumatic, carefully concealed past is about to return to haunt him. A policeman is killed by a bomb blast, and a second is gunned down in his own driveway. Both of the murdered men were former Army colleagues from Finlay's own SAS regiment, and in a series of explosive events, it becomes clear that he is not the ordinary man that his colleagues, friends and new family think he is. And so begins a game of cat and mouse a wicked game in which Finlay is the target, forced to test his long-buried skills in a fight against a determined and unidentified enemy.

Find Wicked Game on Amazon UK here.