I have heard it said many times that novelists should not shift point of views back and forth between characters within the same chapter.

Well, guess what? In my new novel Love vs Honour, I do exactly that.

To be fair, this advice is often good to adhere to, as jumping in between character points of view can be very confusing. But as long as it is done in an organic and above all coherent manner, there can be exceptions to this rule.

For example, Tolkien does this quite a bit in The Lord of the Rings. More recently, JK Rowling (writing as Robert Galbraith) does this in her detective novel The Silkworm.

I made the decision to defy conventional wisdom because I wanted the two protagonists of the main narrative in Love vs Honour to have equal weight. It simply didn’t make sense for the reader to only be in one of their heads for the duration of any given chapter. Once the novel is released (see pre-order link below) readers can decide whether or not I was successful.

Here is the blurb from the back of Love vs Honour:

Two Religions. Two Deceptions. One Love.

When Johnny meets and falls in love with Sabina, their bond proves stronger than a teenage holiday fling.

Fearing the disapproval of their strict Christian and Islamic families, they undertake an elaborate deception to continue seeing one another. Johnny pretends to convert to Islam whilst Sabina pretends to covert to Christianity to appease their parents. 

But how long can this deception last before it unravels?

Love vs Honour is released on the 31^st May on Kindle.

Print copies will be available from the 7^th of June.

I have written on this blog in the past about how much I dislike stories designed purely as propaganda. People with a political or religious axe to grind are particularly guilty in this respect, so here is a little insight into how I approach the problem. Like anyone else, I hold political and religious views. For instance, given that I am a Christian, how do I try and avoid making my writing sound “preachy”?

Firstly, I always bear in mind that a story is not a sermon or a political speech. I am not trying to convince anyone of anything, I am simply trying to tell a good story. That shouldn’t just be the primary goal. Really it should be the only goal. If a writer can do that, whatever they believe politically or spiritually will be inherent in the text in any case.

Second – and this is a point specifically for certain fellow Christians – because a story is not a sermon, it does not need to be “theologically accurate”. I am astonished at how many times Christians take issue with, for instance, supernatural stories, because “ghosts are really demons”. Or when they criticise depictions of an afterlife that doesn’t adhere to exactly what is written in the Bible. When confronted with such people, I normally ask if they can honestly say, with a straight face, that Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has no moral or spiritual worth.

This problem is compounded for some Christians when sex and violence are added into the mix. Again, for me such aesthetics are merely tools that can be used well or badly. Besides, it’s always worth referring said Christians back to the Bible in any case, which has more than its fair share of bloodbaths and sexual encounters/imagery (I can think of quite a few “too much information” passages).

The important thing for a story is that it should be honest. Propaganda tales like to tie things up in neat bundles. For instance, a Christian propaganda novel often involves a very neat, sinner-gets-converted narrative, which frequently glosses over any sex/violence elements. It feels phony not just for that reason, but also because the reader knows the author’s purpose is to try and make converts.

When I wrote my upcoming novel, Love vs Honour, I wrote it for one reason alone: I thought it was a good story. It does examine both the Christian and Islamic faiths at various points, but I believe the treatment is even handed, and not what might be termed “preachy”. Whether or not I have succeeded is ultimately for readers to judge.

Love vs Honour is now available for pre-order from Amazon:

Here is the blurb from the back of the book:

Two Religions. Two Deceptions. One Love.

When Johnny meets and falls in love with Sabina, their bond proves stronger than a teenage holiday fling.

Fearing the disapproval of their strict Christian and Islamic families, they undertake an elaborate deception to continue seeing one another. Johnny pretends to convert to Islam whilst Sabina pretends to covert to Christianity to appease their parents. 

But how long can this deception last before it unravels?

Love vs Honour is released on the 31^st May on Kindle.

Print copies will be available from the 7^th of June.

This May I am releasing a new novel entitled Love vs Honour.

For the cover, my regular designer Charles Bown had a serious challenge. How to convey the mood of events in the book without giving away too much?

I had a number of discussions with Charles, and various options were considered, but many of the stronger ideas could not be used, again for fear of spoilers.

Ultimately, Charles proposed a monochrome, defocussed image with silhouettes on a beach. I am very pleased with the finished image.

The brighter area at the centre of the image with the silhouettes obviously speaks of the central romance, but the brooding sky at the top and the darker imagery beneath suggest the challenge to their relationship posed by their respective religious backgrounds. The monochrome also hints at the direction the story will ultimately take.

Charles was also the one to suggest a tagline – something I have never done before – to help sell the story alongside the image. The “Two Religions Two Deceptions One Love” tagline on the cover hopefully hints at the more dramatic elements that gradually build over the course of the novel. Although the story is a romance, it is far from straightforward, as indicated by the synopsis below.

Love vs Honour is available to pre-order from Amazon (see link below).

Here is the blurb from the back of the book:

Two Religions. Two Deceptions. One Love.

When Johnny meets and falls in love with Sabina, their bond proves stronger than a teenage holiday fling.

Fearing the disapproval of their strict Christian and Islamic families, they undertake an elaborate deception to continue seeing one another. Johnny pretends to convert to Islam whilst Sabina pretends to covert to Christianity to appease their parents. 

But how long can this deception last before it unravels?

Love vs Honour is released on the 31^st May on Kindle.

Print copies will be available from the 7^th of June.

For a fuller interview with Charles Bown from last year, check out this link:

https://simondillonbooks.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/charles-bown-interview/

You can follow Charles on Twitter here:

https://twitter.com/federalcreative

For five days only, you can download my novel Dr Gribbles and the Beast of Blackthorn Lodge absolutely FREE from Amazon.

Dr Gribbles and the Beast of Blackthorn Lodge is a gripping and scary tale involving spies, monsters, haunted houses, mad scientists and lots more besides, with action and thrills to spare. It was actually inspired by the nightmares of my youngest son, and the book is duly dedicated to him.

Here is the blurb from the back of Dr Gribbles and the Beast of Blackthorn Lodge:

September 1987.

Curiosity lands Tim Rawling in a world of secrets, spies and a desperate race against time.

The haunted house, the monster and the mad scientist are only the beginning of a terrifying adventure.

If you prefer to actually spend money and order print copies, they can be ordered here:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/simon-dillon/dr-gribbles-and-the-beast-of-blackthorn-lodge/paperback/product-21564790.html

Someone recently asked me, of the various genres I write, which are the most difficult? I had a think about this, and decided to answer in a blog post. So herewith a top 5 of genres I have written, in descending order of difficulty.

5. Thrillers – In relative terms, I find thrillers easiest out of the genres I write. Obviously they are still difficult, especially as they divide into so many sub genres – ie murder mystery, supernatural thriller, political thriller, conspiracy thriller, historical thriller and so on. But as long as the setting is contemporary and they are aimed at adults, these stories are frequently a joy to write. The Birds Began to Sing is a good example.

4. Adventure – Most of my adventure stories are primarily aimed at children (though grown-ups do enjoy them). These can be slightly trickier than straightforward thrillers as writing for children is always harder due to the discipline of experiencing events through the eyes of a child. Other factors can complicate these novels too. For instance, Dr Gribbles and the Beast of Blackthorn Lodge is set in the latter years of the Cold War, so historical accuracy comes into play.

3. Horror – Whether for children or adults (yes I have written horror for children – check out previous blog posts), horror can be very difficult to get right. Again, the genre overlaps with many others, so for example I have written two detective thrillers that rapidly evolve into full-blown horror (as yet, both unreleased), along with a very dark fairy tale that some will call horror (the afore-mentioned children’s story). How well I succeeded in both endeavours remains to be seen, but the next novel I am writing will also be a supernatural thriller/horror story.

2. Science Fiction – I don’t have experience of writing what I would call “hard” sci-fi, but so far my attempts in this genre include escapist adventure (the George Hughes series) and “light” sci-fi (Children of the Folded Valley). In both cases, the novels were extremely difficult to write. The George Hughes books require a huge amount of invention which has to sound pseudo-scientific for suspension of disbelief. The sci-fi elements in Children of the Folded Valley are very much in the background, but during chapters where they are expounded on, again the pseudo-science, even though it is utter nonsense, has to sound convincing enough for suspension of disbelief.

1. Fantasy – Without a doubt, I find fantasy the most fiendishly difficult of genres for several reasons. Again, there are multiple subgenres, but even without getting into that, the process of creating an entire and original world from scratch – including its politics, history, geography, culture, art, religion, languages and so on, depending on how detailed it is necessary to get – is a hideously troublesome undertaking. I have written a number of fantasy epics for both adults and children, but so far have released none, simply because they are not yet good enough, in spite of the fact that they contain good ideas. Being truly original in this genre is also very, very tricky indeed. I have half a dozen fantasy novels that I have been working on for years, and in some cases decades. One day I might actually consider one of them good enough to release, but I make no promises on that score.

Given that the above genres are what I generally write in, I was very surprised back in 2006 when I felt inspired to write a young adult romantic drama. I am finally releasing this novel, entitled Love vs Honour, this May. It is available to pre-order from Amazon (see link below).

Love vs Honour is only time I have branched out in this particular genre, and I suspect I might never do so again (though never say never). How successful I was remains to be seen, but here is the blurb from the back of the book to whet your appetite:

Two Religions. Two Deceptions. One Love.

When Johnny meets and falls in love with Sabina, their bond proves stronger than a teenage holiday fling.

Fearing the disapproval of their strict Christian and Islamic families, they undertake an elaborate deception to continue seeing one another. Johnny pretends to convert to Islam whilst Sabina pretends to covert to Christianity to appease their parents. 

But how long can this deception last before it unravels?

Love vs Honour is released on the 31^st May on Amazon Kindle.

Print copies will be available from the 7^th of June.