'Be proactive and keep pounding on the door'

 

“I think writers have to be proactive: they've got to use new technology and social media. Yes, it's hard to get noticed by traditional publishers, but there's a great deal of opportunity out there if you've got the right story.” – Ian Rankin

Rankin, born in Scotland on April 28, 1960 is best known for his “Inspector Rebus” novels, even though he did not set out to be a crime writer.  In fact, he didn’t think he even had “the right story” for the "crime fiction" genre.  He thought his first novels Knots and Crosses and Hide and Seek were more “mainstream” keeping with the Scottish traditions of Robert Louis Stevenson and Muriel Spark.  

 

But his readers disagreed and so far he’s had some 40 books published, many of them not only best sellers but also adapted into TV movies.  He makes his home in Edinburgh where he sets most of his novels and “educates” his readers about his hometown in the process.

 

Rankin uses “life experiences" in his writing and he's had many, beginning as a worker in his dad's grocery store.  He also worked as a grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher (I’d definitely like to hear more about that one), hi-fi journalist, college secretary, and punk musician in a band called The Dancing Pigs.

  

“I am, of course, a frustrated rock star - I'd much rather be a rock star than a writer,” he said.  “Or own a record shop. Still, it's not a bad life, is it? You just sit at a computer and make stuff up.”