b l o c demo

Back in the mid-eighties, Alan
Clayson was about to give up
writing. Fortunately he broke
through his writer’s block and
is now the author of over twenty
books including a number of
luminary biographies.

Getting started
Researching and writing
Making a living
Agents & marketing books
The interesting & rewarding bits
A defining moment in a writer's career

What was your first piece of printed writing and how did you get it published?
In 1982, I was buying some guitar strings in a musical equipment shop in Camberwell when I recognised that the counter assistant was a former member of the Dave Clark Five. The lengthy conversation that followed was the basis of an article about the group that I submitted to Record Collector. This was accepted, and more commissions followed. My work was noticed by a publisher, and I was approached to write my first book Call Up The Groups!: The Golden Age Of British Beat, 1962-1967 (Blandford 1985).

Your next book Back In The Highlife: A Biography Of Steve Winwood was published in 1988, how did you research and write it and get it published?
Because Call Up The Groups! was a critical success, a more prestigious publisher asked me to pen a biography of Steve Winwood. After weighing every word, I wrote to the man himself requesting assistance. He did not deign to reply. Into the bargain, his record company’s press office stonewalled me too. However, others who had known and worked with Winwood were willing to talk. At times, however, I was riven with self-disgust when wheedling an interview from someone who only wanted to crawl away and hide – and my nerve failed completely when I noticed Winwood’s former wife two seats to the left of me in a London theatre.

There were also rich sources of secondary research such as Melody Maker’s archives – to which I gained access via the editor (who when a cub reporter in 1977 had interviewed me in my capacity as chief show-off with Clayson and the Argonauts).

After accumulating a filing cabinet’s worth of tapes to transcribe and exercise books full of scribble to decipher, I began to write the book itself. Because I was doing a ‘proper’ job at the time, I would return home, and, following two or three hours' convalescent sloth, be hunched over the typewriter well into the graveyard hours.

Is research for a posthumous biography or an unwilling subject like Winwood easier or harder than somebody with whom you can communicate directly?
If a subject is either dead or refuses to co-operate it is regrettable but by no means disastrous. After all, a recent biographer of Alfred the Great hadn’t interviewed his subject either. With regard to what is easier, it depends on how much information is available. Even if there isn’t much, there are still avenues for arriving at intriguing divergent conclusions.

How long does the research/ writing process usually take?
How long is a piece of string? There are so many variables, particularly the completion date on the contract and how much I care about the subject in question.

Can one earn a living from writing biographies?
It depends on the subject. Income from Edgard Varese barely covered the advance; but Backbeat, a film tie-in, was in a profit position before it had even reached the shops.

Can you tell me about the hardships of being a writer?
Self-denial and self-motivation. Generally, however, it’s the same as that of any self-employed worker – the constant undercurrent of insecurity.

How do you supplement your earnings?
See my website www.alanclayson.com. I was a performer, composer and recording artist long before I became an author. I also write for such disparate journals as Record Collector, The Guardian (mostly obituaries), Mojo, The Times, Mediaevil World, Guitar, Hello! and The Independent as well as connected commissions such as writing and presenting a show based on Death Discs for BBC Radio Two.

Do you have an agent?
I’ve never really had one, preferring to rely on my own tenacity and string-pulling. Publishing is full of very dodgy geezers who have failed in other branches of business. However, if you are taken on by a reputable company, you could be guaranteed work for as long as you can grip a pen.

To what extent are you involved in the marketing of your books?
In my case I maintain an intense and often unwelcome interest in every link of the chain from sub-editing to pressing plant to marketplace. It’s too easy to reap the church-mouse harvest of being lackadaisical about business. At the very least, I make sure I am available for book signings, radio and TV exposure and further promotional strategies – as long as the expenses are covered.

Which of your books is your favourite?
Backbeat because it bought me a new car, a loft conversion and a three-week summer holiday. But, from purely artistic perspective, Beat Merchants, Jacques Brel, Edgard Varese and, if in a perverse mood, Death Discs.

Who is the most interesting person you have ever met?
In the context of writing biographies, Screaming Lord Sutch and Reg Presley were prime candidates; but, the most interesting person I have ever met was the late Vivian Stanshall, one of Steve Winwood’s lyricists.

Vivian wasn’t very well, having not slept or eaten for three days when he conducted me into his Muswell Hill flat one rainy September evening in 1987.
Neither drunk nor sober, he sprawled like a sultan on his double bed while a girlfriend of timorous beauty filled our glasses at regular intervals as we talked of many things – surrealist poetry, Crazy Horse, the Afghan war, animal rights and, every now and then, of Steve Winwood.

Vivian was one of the few I’ve ever encountered who could be described as a mystic – even if, in a voiceover for an ITV commercial a few weeks later he was extolling the virtues of Cadbury’s Crème Eggs.

Is there anybody you would be interested in writing about?
In order to exorcise many ghosts, I want to attempt an autobiography. However, I hope to move into fiction – though certain people would say that most of what I write is fiction.

What would think of as a defining moment in your writing career?
It was quarter to five in the morning, and I was two thirds of the way through Call Up The Groups! Red-eyed and unshaven, I was rocking back and forth in front of a typewriter in the evening of its life. My fingers were sticky with Tippex, and, for nearly half-an-hour, I hadn’t been able to think of anything constructive to say about a singer called Chris Farlowe. I’d had enough, and was on the point of giving up the entire book – and probably any sort of future as a professional writer.
If I was more tidy-minded (or lazy), I’d say that a Great Light Dawned and an Idea Came to Me in a Flash. Instead, a few more minutes passed, and then my brains, like old millstones, quivered, stirred and groaned reluctantly into action, and I ground out the next Tippex-drenched sentence.

To read more about Alan and his ‘many attempts to become rich and famous’ both as a performance artist and a writer, visit his website www.alanclayson.com.

About writing