Archer’s arsenal

He has had a book release every year, for the last four years. And this is going to continue till 2017 for the 73-year-old Jeffrey Archer whose book, Be Careful What You Wish For had a worldwide release this month. This book is the fourth instalment of the Clifton Chronicles, a series which begins with Harry Clifton being born in Bristol to a docker, and falling in love with Emma Barrington, daughter of the man who owns the docks.

After Archer had finished the fourth book, it dawned on him that he can’t possibly “kill off” his protagonists in the next book. “I think that is the challenge of writing a book that goes from 1920 to 2015. Initially, I thought that it would be comfortably covered in five books but at the end of Book 4, Harry is only 40 years old and Emma is only 38, so I realised I couldn’t kill them off in the next book, and it would be more natural for it to be seven volumes, so the Clifton Chronicles are now going to be seven volumes,” says the author.

And so every year, Archer takes off for a few months and spends time at his home in Majorca, an island off Spain, where he spends his days working on the books, “I write for about eight hours a day, and the first draft is ready in 45 days, and about 300 hours, then I take a month’s break. That’s when I come back to England, where I’m able to do other things like going to the theatre, having a social life, going to watch a cricket match, whatever it might be, so I don’t mix up the two. I’m very ruthlessly disciplined about my writing.”

The author, who still writes his novels on paper, works relentlessly, writing up to 14 drafts for each of his books, before letting his publisher have a look at any of his material. “I need to be convinced first that it is the best thing I’ve ever done. So I don’t rely on the publisher to even see it before I’ve done 14 drafts, and I guess that will go on, because the Clifton Ch-ronicles Book 2 sold 40 per cent more than Book 1. Book 3 sold 28 per cent more than Book 2, and the early shines for Book 3 are the highest pre-orders ever for me. So all the hard work is proving worthwhile,” he adds.

Jeffrey Archer, whose readership is the largest in India, is worried about the fact that copies of Wendy Doniger’s book on Hinduism were withdrawn by its publisher after it came under attack. He says, “I don’t like censoring of books. It’s not something that appeals to me. Bad books usually die very quickly but books that have something worth saying and are correct have a long life.  I always think you should leave the reader to make that decision.”

In present times, when social media marketing seems to be the call of the day, Archer admits that for an old school writer like him, things have changed too. “As a young man, I used to tour cities, I would do 21 cities, my record is 17 cities in 21 days in United States for Kane and Abel. But nowadays, one can interact on Twitter or Facebook. I also have a blog,  which can be read by 3 million people. Although, I must confess the exception to that is India because I love travelling around India; so many people turn out to see me. I had one session in Mumbai with 3,000 people coming in. When that happens, it’s very exciting,” he says.

It is easy to assume that for the former member of British Parliament, a lot of his characters bear close resemblance to actual political personalities, but Archer assures that’s not the case, “I think an author must be true to the reader and settle down and write a story that he hopes the reader will enjoy. If you start trying to pontificate or moralise, the reader will become bored. Of course, you are bound to be influenced by the people you’ve met and the things that have happened in your life, but writing a novel is not about apostatising; it’s about telling a story and making people want to turn the pages.”

With the general elections coming up in India, Archer says that Britain and India could learn plenty from each other, when it comes to making administrations work. He says, “We can take lessons from you just as easily as you can take from us. I’m fascinated by your politics — stability appears to me to be the vital thing. It would be interesting to see what would happen if you had a one-party government.  That would be very interesting because you have some very fine leaders and getting them to work together, as we found in this country, is not an easy thing to do.”

Archer, who had his first book published at the age of 34, says his only advice to young writers is to take it slow. “The first thing they have to decide is whether they are a writer or they are a storyteller. And I advice young people to start with short stories, or write a column in a newspaper or write an article... Or just begin to hone and practice your skills before you start writing a book.”