1946-
David Armstrong was born in Birmingham but now lives on the Wales Shropshire border. He left secondary school without qualifications, but later read English at University in Cardiff.
Whilst teaching at a college of further education in Shropshire, his first book, Night's black agents, (1993) - set on the waterways of Birmingham and the West Midlands - was short-listed for the Crime Writers' Association Best first crime novel.
He has published four further novels: Less than kind (1994), Until dawn tomorrow (1995), Thought for the day (1997), all published by HarperCollins and Small vices (2001, Allison & Busby).
He has also published poetry and short stories, written for the stage, and contributed features to The Times, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, London Evening Standard and Manchester Evening News.
In July, 2003, his first non-fiction title, How not to write a novel (Allison & Busby) was published.
After relatively modest sales of his crime novels, How not to write a novel - a book that catalogues the rejections and setbacks that are part of most writers lives - is, ironically, out-selling all of his other books put together, and has been bought by a book club!
The book combines information for would-be writers on things like agents, editors and bookshops, with the author's own first-hand experiences as a writer.
"It's really an antidote to the "How to" writing guides that often appear to tell would-be writers how straight-forward it is to write a novel and then get it published."
"Whenever I looked at these books on writing, I felt that the kind of guidance that they offered would be unlikely to help people who actually want to write a book. All that dry-as-dust stuff about creating character, writing dialogue and shaping the story is, I think, likely to kill off any creative spark rather than be a bellows for it. Also, I wanted to write a book that would be of interest to readers as well as writers."
Novelist and critic, Terence Blacker, speaking on Radio Four's Front Row, said that "if you are only going to read one book about writing, make it this one. As the blurb says: Read How not to write a novel. If you're still writing at the end of it, you'd better accept it, you're probably a writer too!"
David is available for talks and readings for readers' and writers' groups, as well as writing workshops for schools, colleges and other interested groups.
© David Armstrong, August 2003.
Works marked with an asterisk (*) are available in the West Midlands Creative Literature Collection:-
Night's black agents (1993)*
Less than kind (1994)*
Until dawn tomorrow (1995)*
Thought for the day (1997)*
Small vices (2001)*
How not to write a book (2003)
Page created 18 August 2003 and last updated
19 August 2003
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