Of Course There Is A Future For Books

by Matt Lynn

Leigh, I think people get too excited about the technology - and many publishers in particular think about this as a technological rather than commercial challenge. E-books are just a slightly different form of paper, plus a different distribution system. All this stuff about enhanced e-books, pictures, audio, etc, is all nonsense. The book will still be the book, just as the song is still the song, whatever the format. That's why I find it strange that so many writers are so hostile. Printers, I can understand. But writers? I don't get it.

Making It All Worthwhile

by Matt Lynn

There’s always plenty for writers to moan about. Not having our books prominently displayed in the bookshop for example. A miserable sales ranking on Amazon. And that’s before we even get started on the publishers and agents.

            But every so often something comes along to make it feel worthwhile.

            A couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail from a woman whose son was very unwell. He wouldn’t be having much of a birthday, she said, and his situation made it hard for him to get out and meet people. But he was a big fan of my first two books, Death Force and Shadow Force. And he would really like it if I sent him a birthday card.

            In fact, I sent him a signed copy of Shadow Force.

            It’s nice to know your work has got through to someone enough that they would be pleased to hear from you, even though they don’t know you. I guess that is what all writers aspire to.

            I hope he has a good day. 

Coincidences

I tried to post here yesterday but couldn't sign in. That may be as well since Sunday is supposed to be my day for posting. Although I've been so busy with promotional events for my new book (launched 2 weeks ago - is it really only two weeks?) that I've not been posting much here lately. It's a happy coincidence that I managed to sign in now, on the right day.

Life's like that, isn't it? Riddled with coincidences, some insignificant, some life changing. So hands up if you've never experienced a coincidence which seemed unbelievable. It happens to us all. But it only seems unbelievable, because of course these coincidences really happen. I could relate three anecdotes from my own life straight away, one of which is so eerily strange that I hesitate to relate it to anyone in case they think I'm a fantasist or bonkers. Or both. But it did happen, this completely unbelievable coincidence. It happened to me.

Fiction can't behave in that way. I remember being told (by The Editor), "Readers don't like coincidences".In my genre of crime fiction that's true. Writing crime thrillers, I try to make my books  plausible and authentic. I think that makes them more frightening. Introducing a coincidence would immediately make the plot less convincing. It's not fair, is it? Real life can get away with the most absurd and unbelievable coincidences. Fiction can't.

On a more positive note, I chanced to sign into facebook yesterday evening where a fellow author had sent a message of congratulations on a great review of Dead End in The Times Saturday Review. I read the message just in time to nip out and buy a copy before the local supermarket closed, so was able to read it for myself. That's what I call a happy coincidence!

Free Tickets....

by Matt Lynn

On May 16th, I'm going to be chairing what promises to be a fascinating talk featuring Stuart Tootal and Patrick Mercer discussing how their experiences in the Army have helped shaped their writing. More details here. We have a couple of free tickets to give away. To claim them just e-mail michaelamaffia.chalke@hotmail.co.uk. First come first served....

How To Make Money From Writing....

by Matt Lynn

It might not always feel like it, but there is money in the thriller writing business….eventually. The TV channel Alibi has put together a list of the highest-earning crime and thriller writers, on both sides of the Atlantic. Ian Fleming is top of the British list, with earnings of a £100 million-plus, followed by Agatha Christie, and then by Jeffrey Archer (although I don’t think of him as a thriller writer).

Over in the US, it is headed by John Grisham on an extraordinary $600 million, followed by Dan Brown on $400 million – although I reckon if work it out per book, Brown has done better.

Are there any lessons in this for the rest of us writers? Two, I think. The first is that it takes a long time. All the writers on both lists have been writing for a long time – even Dan Brown published his first book in 1998 and it was a while before he had any success.

The second is that you have to write a lot. All the writers on the list are prolific, knocking out book after book. There are no one-hit wonders.

Anyway, I guess the moral is to keep plugging away. Riches await….although hopefully not after I’m dead.

Why do we call hindsight a benefit?

I just logged onto my blog as it’s about time for another post, with no idea what I was going to write about, and stumbled across a list of recent posts on blogs I follow, with links. How did I never discover it before now?
That happens to me so often with technology, which I make no claims to have mastered, and – even more galling – with life. It’s always struck me as a devastating stroke of irony that we learn from experience, because there are situations in life where we need to acquire knowledge before the experience and, once the experience is over the knowledge becomes superfluous. If only I’d known something – anything – about parenting before my children arrived. Yes, I learned a lot about parenting through being a mother and, with the uncomfortable benefit of hindsight could do it all so much better now…
Writing encapsulates the sting of hindsight because once a book is published you can reread it – and it’s too late to change anything! As a rule I’m not one for looking back with regrets, but I wonder if other people’s stories turn out exactly how they want them to be.
Would you change anything about your writing if you could turn the clock back?
Posted by Leigh Russell
CUT SHORT (2009)
ROAD CLOSED (2010)
DEAD END (May 2011)

Nothing stops the writing

Under doctor’s orders to take it easy I may be, having recently been laid up with pneumonia, but it can be hard putting your life on hold.

Tomorrow is my first book signing since pneumonia hit. Hopefully I won’t peg out too early, especially as a newspaper which is running a feature on my books is sending a photographer along in the morning. Can’t you just see the headline? ‘Author sent to sleep by her own books’.

It’s great receiving invitations from stores asking to host book signings (though sadly I’ve had to decline over a dozen branches of Waterstones so far for 2011 - there just aren’t enough weeks in the year). But author promotion isn’t restricted to book signings. Already invited to appear at a number of literary festivals this year, I’m hoping to join some Curzon Group Panels again this year as they are always lively affairs!

Promotion can taxing, it can be fun, but it’s all froth on top of waves powered by unseen currents of writing. Dead End comes out in May, the next book has been delivered to my agent, and I’m 20,000 words into the one after that.

Nothing stops the writing.

Now, what was I saying about doctor’s orders?

Leigh Russell

The Right Audience

Posted by Leigh Russell
F Scott Fitzgerald said: ‘You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.’ That was certainly my experience. I’ve written elsewhere that the only fiction I wrote before my debut Cut Short was in my school reports... As a writer it seems I buck the trend because I had no lifelong ambition to write books. I simply had an idea for a story, wrote it down, and was fortunate enough to attract the support of a publisher. Only since becoming a published author have I appreciated what a widespread ambition I’ve achieved. Like Richard and Peter, I encounter numerous people who want to write a book. WHY? So many people appear to believe that writing a book is easy. It isn’t. Producing a decent book – not self-indulgent rambling, but a book that thousands of strangers will enjoy reading – takes many months, in some cases years, of dedicated application. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard people say: ‘My life is so interesting/inspiring/courageous, I really should write my autobiography.’ But such personal reminiscences don’t attract publishing contracts because publishers know what the authors of such chronicles fail to understand. No one is going to buy these journals, unless you’re a celebrity and even then success is unlikely. All of which is not to say that such individual histories aren’t interesting and valuable to the right audience and for the right reason. We all have our stories to tell - just don’t expect hundreds of thousands of people to read them. I’ve asked my father to write down his personal memories of a lifetime through the war and then as a GP whose career has spanned the rise – hopefully not the demise – of the NHS. The family would read and treasure it, with each generation adding its own narratives, but I wouldn’t try to publish it because, outside of our family, who is going to be interested? It would be like stringing holiday videos together and hoping they’ll become a blockbuster when – hello, reality check - they won’t even make it to the cinema.

Why I've missed a few posts

Posted by Leigh Russell
In some ways writers are similar to visual artists, in their close observation of details. Painters seeing a landscape might rearrange the composition in their heads, select colours for a canvas, respond to light and shade (I’m guessing here.)
As a writer even the most mundane detail transforms into words in my head – a carrier bag flapping in a gust of wind, the smell of earth beneath dry leaves – anything can be used to help set a scene somewhere in a book.
Recently I had a very different experience of noticing detail, spending a week in hospital suffering a severe bout of pneumonia. Looked after by a wonderful team of NHS staff, I was reminded how much I take for granted every day. That first cup of NHS tea when I was able to drink, the feel of dry sheets after I managed to dislodge my drip which leaked in the bed (it was the drip), the joy of eating a piece of toast!
Not much about writing here but I have been a bit off the case recently - although I did have a clear view of the hospital car park, deserted after dark. One night I watched a lone figure hurry along the walkway and couldn’t help thinking “What if…”
…a second figure leaps unexpectedly from the shadows, brandishing a knife, and the patient becomes an unwilling witness, three floors up. Before she can move or cry out the victim staggers and falls, the assailant vanishes into the darkness… The patient presses her buzzer and watches as the victim bleeds to death far below in the deserted car park…
Ionesco wrote that "A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing." Seems we can't stop writing or thinking about writing!

Getting Voices Right....

by Matt Lynn

As I might have mentioned last week, I am making revisions to ‘Ice Force’ right now. For me, that mainly means working on the language, and in particular the dialogue.

One of the hardest things writers have to do is give all the people in the their book a distinctive voice, and that is something I find I have to continually check. It is especially hard for me, because there are ten characters in the military unit in my stories, and although some of them are more important than others, they are all pretty crucial to the series.

So I need to make sure they all speak in a way that is convincing throughout the book, and which also separates one man from another.

I don’t do it through accents. That is partly, if I am being honest, because I am rubbish at writing them. I have no ear for putting a Welsh accent into easily written form. But its mainly because I think it is distracting. You don’t want the book to turn into an exercise in showing off how good I am at accents.

Instead you have to do it by the kinds of things the men say. It is there in the way they react to situations, how they respond to jokes, and in the kind of ideas and thoughts they have.

But you need to have thought through your character completely to know what they would say all the time.

And you need to make sure they never say anything out of character. That would shatter the illusion for the reader in an instant.

When you get it right, it is very satisfying. The right dialogue really makes a book come alive.

But you have to keep checking you haven’t got any of it wrong.

Revisions, Revisions....

by Matt Lynn

I finished the first draft of ‘Ice Force’ last week, so now all I have to do is revise the manuscript before I hand it in to Headline. I enjoy revisions. As I’ve pointed out before on this blog, I plan my plots in a lot of detail before I start writing the book, so the difference between the first and second draft is not going to include any very radical re-working of the storyline.

Instead, it is all about the prose. I write a book straight through. I don’t go back and re-read anything until the whole book is done. So when I am revising, there is a fair amount of tinkering around to be done. But it is mainly about tuning up sentences, and punching up dialogue. That is all fun. It’s probably the bit of the job I enjoy the most.

But I was struck by a post on Roy Greenslade’s blog this week about how Rudyard Kipling revised his work.

"Take well-ground Indian ink as much as suffices and a camel hairbrush proportionate to the intersperse of your lines,” Kipling advised.

In an auspicious hour, read your final draft and consider faithfully every paragraph, sentence and word, blacking out where requisite.

Let it lie by to drain as long as possible. At the end of that time, re-read and you should find that it will bear a second shortening. Finally, read it aloud alone and at leisure.

May be a shade more brushwork will then indicate or impose itself. If not, praise Allah, and let it go and when thou hast done, repent not."

Kipling, as Greenslade points out, was talking about his newspaper pieces in India. But much the same advice applies to a book as well. Obviously we can skip the bit about the Indian ink. Apart from that, it is good stuff. Always read it carefully, put it aside for a while, then read it again. And once it is done, stop worrying about it.

The one thing I don’t do is read it aloud. But I think it might be a good idea. Words and sentences have a different flow when read out loud, and they might well be improved. I might try that this time around.

I’ve never killed anyone. I haven’t even had a broken nose

by Leigh Russell,



I’m not a police officer, have no medical training, and have never killed anyone. So perhaps it’s not surprising that I’m often asked how I do my research.
There are advantages to working in an establishment that employs over 100 people. My nose has never been broken (yes, yes, I was born looking like this). So when one of my characters had his nose broken recently I needed to do a little research. Would it hurt like hell, or would the initial shock prevent him feeling any pain straight away, as happens with some severe injuries?
I dashed off a group email asking if anyone had ever had a broken nose. Over the course of the day I was surprised to discover how many of my colleagues had broken their noses, but the first response came back immediately. ‘Many times,’ the writer told me. ‘What do you want to know?’ So I was able to write my scene confident that readers who’ve experienced a broken nose would continue to suspend their disbelief while reading my book. Job done.
Like any author, I have a growing number of anecdotes from my research, and it’s always been a positive experience. I once spent an entire afternoon at my local fire station with all the firemen while researching how domestic fires can start. The team couldn’t have been more helpful and it was great fun - although they did say that if they were called out to a real fire, they would have to abandon mine.
When I interviewed a Borough Commander and a Detective Inspector and arrived early having mixed up my times, instead of sending me away they invited me to join them for a fabulous pasta meal. Over dinner they answered all my questions, and more, and continue to answer my queries promptly for which I’m very grateful.
I’ve picked the brains of market traders, the Human Remains Department of a national museum, a Professor of Forensic Science, a furniture historian, IT experts, medical practitioners – a vast and disparate collection of people all enthusiastic about their particular area of expertise and eager to share their knowledge.
So is writing a solitary experience? Maybe it is for those who write about their own field of expertise. Perhaps I’m fortunate that I don’t.

Getting the word out

By Peter Stuart Smith

Along with the winter 2010 edition of The Author, the journal of the Society of Authors, was an interesting enclosure entitled Authors' Appearances. It was basically the result of a survey the society conducted into the promotion of books by the authors who write them. In short, the dreaded book signings and other publicity-inspired events.

I suppose that my experiences in this field have been fairly typical. For me, a book signing normally involves me discovering an unexpected treasure trove of my novels on the shelf of some bookshop, and asking the manager, or whatever spotty nerd I can lay my hands on, if he or she would like me to sign them. A signed book is a defaced book, and cannot normally be returned to the publisher, so every signature is actually a sale. Yipee!

That's the covert version I suppose. The overt is rather more organized, and involves a table, usually tucked away at the back of the shop, where you sit beside a pile of your own books, looking cool and confident on the outside, while sweating buckets inside, and hoping that somebody, anybody, will come along and talk to you. Even if it's only to ask the way to the loo, or why haven't they ever heard of you.

Most authors, according to the survey, regarded book signings as largely a waste of time that could otherwise be spent in more gainful employment, or simply in getting drunk. Many said that they would only undertake them if there was a reasonable probability of shifting a LOT of books, though this was balanced by the feeling of loyalty that most authors have towards bookshops which are, after all, quite literally our shop window.

Talks and personal appearances are the other popular ways for an author to get his face in front of the public. I've done a fair number of these, because my background in the military means that I'm always happy to stand up on my hind legs and make a fool of myself in front of a jeering crowd. And if I was asked to describe these events, I suppose the best adjective would be 'mixed'. I've talked in front of crowds ranging in number from zero (the library in question not only forgot to advertise the event, but also cleverly booked it at the same time as a popular boy band was appearing in the town) to several hundred on board cruise ships. OK, they're a captive audience, but they still came.

I think the worst talk, from my point of view, wasn't the one that nobody attended, but one in a small provincial library where I took about a dozen people from a local writing circle through the process of writing a book and getting it published. It all seemed to go reasonably well, until the very end, when I'd answered all the (mostly sensible) questions, and we were all milling around enjoying the refreshments.

Then, the lady who'd organised it took me to one side and said that one of the participants had asked her why they couldn't have a well-known author come along and give a talk, and mentioned in particular that she'd like to listen to Jeffrey Archer. To do the librarian justice, she did tell the woman that she doubted very much if Mr Archer would have the slightest interest in travelling for miles on a wet autumn evening to talk to 12 people in a small library, for no fee and the bare minimum of travel expenses. She also pointed out that I had, at that time, already written and had published six books, which was six more than the combined literary output of the writing circle since its formation.

All the same, that hurt, and it must have showed in my face, because the librarian promptly rescued an unopened bottle of decent red plonk and gave it to me, presumably so that I could take it away and drown my sorrows. Unfortunately, I'm extremely limited socially, because I don't smoke and I don't drink alcohol, but I did appreciate the gesture, and so did my wife when I gave her the bottle.

And then there are literary festivals and book fairs, but they're a different animal entirely, and I'll talk a little about those the next time I appear in this blog. In the meantime, happy writing, and if you do get involved in a book signing, just remember to keep smiling. It can't go on for ever, even if that's the way it feels ...

Why Stories Matter....

by Matt Lynn

Over at the International Thriller Writers website I've been leading a discussion on why stories matter. You can read the other contributions over there, but here is what I had to say.

Why do stories matter? It’s a good question for a writer to ask themselves. If you made cars, or taught kindergarten, or worked as a farmer, it would be much easier. Your work matters because people need it. It fulfils some function. But do people need stories? What function do they have?

You could argue – not much. After all, they are just a made up series of events.

I think they do have a function. After all, we’ve been telling stories ever since cavemen sat around the first camp fires. Probably a fair numbers of those stories were thrillers (featuring hair-raising bison chases, and the inevitable double-dealing Neanderthal). A fair number would have been romances as well. It must be the case that stories perform some kind of useful function, otherwise they wouldn’t have been a feature of very human society we’ve ever known. Their function might not be obvious, like a spade, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

So what is it? In my view, the function of a story is to make sense of the world. Its takes the chaos and randomness of life and gives it some sort of shape and purpose. In fiction, there are no co-incidences, and no loose ends. That isn’t always terribly realistic. But it is a lot more satisfying for the reader because it helps to make the world seem a more structured, ordered place than it probably really is. It helps make us feel our lives move towards a destination, rather than just wander around. Along the way they may also be entertaining, diverting, amusing and sometimes even educational. But that is their core function – and realising that helps you to become a better writer.

It's All A Game...

by Leigh Russell

We have a glitch in our television which defaults to Sky sport. It’s a strange sort of glitch which happens every time I leave the room, (but curiously never when my husband is out.) Thanks to this mysterious glitch, I do sometimes watch cricket and football (while busy on facebook, blogs, email, etc and yes, sometimes even writing…)
So I thought I’d share a few thoughts on cricket and football.
Cricket seems to me very similar to life, in that it’s generally completely incomprehensible. Occasionally I have a glimmer of comprehension, and think I understand something, but then it’s gone in the toss of a cricket ball and I’m baffled again. Yes, just like life.
Football is altogether simpler to understand. There’s a goal post at each end of the pitch and – well, you know the rest. The goals are a standard size and are always in the right place. In short, it couldn’t be less like life, where the goal posts move all the time.
Less than two years ago, I thought I’d be satisfied if my book was just published. Once Cut Short hit the shelves, all I wanted was to see a decent number of my books sold. When Cut Short sold out – and sold out again - all I wanted was to have a positive review.
Good reviews started to roll in and I just hoped Road Closed wouldn’t be a letdown – the 2nd book syndrome. Over that hurdle, with sales and reviews better than ever, and I’m on to wondering about how Dead End will be received.
But this evening I’m taking a break from thinking about my books.
A few days ago I sent the corrected proofs for the ebook of Road Closed to my publisher.
Yesterday I sent the tweaked and polished final draft of my WIP to my agent.
Today I sent the corrected proofs for Dead End back to my publisher.
Tomorrow I’m back to work, (and thinking about my next book which I’ve already planned!) But for this evening, I’m forgetting all about the goals, the books, the anxieties and aspirations.
Cricket, football, books – it’s game over for this evening!

Welcome(s)

by Leigh Russell

First of all, I’d like to wish everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Secondly, at the risk of sounding like A A Milne, welcome to James, James, Max and Peter to the Curzon Group - 3for1 beating even the 3for2 beloved of Waterstones.
Pseudonyms are a funny idea, really, aren’t they? I wonder how many authors write under their real names? I can understand starting a fresh series, or writing a different kind of book, under a new name. But why do so many of us write the first book under a false name? Is it the alphabetical placing on the shelves? (And why didn’t I think of that before I chose a surname beginning with R?)
When I started out – not long ago - my publisher asked me to use an androgynous name in case my own name put some male readers off. (JK Rowling wasn’t allowed to publish as Joanna because no boy would have touched her books, but surely 21st century males are more open minded....?)
As it happens I was happy to write under a pen name, in case my books flopped. Thankfully that didn’t happen so (issues of vanity aside) I’m now quite happy to have my photo published in my books and all over the internet (not happy with the photos – must get my hair cut… but happy to emerge from my own closet of privacy.)
Many reasons are cited for using pseudonyms but if we’re honest, how many of us start out hiding behind assumed names, in case it all goes wrong and our books don’t sell?
That said, juggling not one but three names – four if you include the ‘real’ one – is a feat in itself. As a fan of James Barrington, James Becker, and Max Adams the authors, I have to admit I’m also in awe of Peter Stuart Smith for running the show from behind the scenes. So, out of the closet and into the Curzon gang - welcome to all three and one of you!

The Middle of a Book

by Matt Lynn

I did an interview the other day with Write Words. One of the questions was what is the worst thing about writing? I found that a hard one, because on the whole I really enjoy writing, which is I guess why I do it for a living.

But in the end I answered: the middle. The beginning of a book is exciting, because it is a fresh start. And you always think you are about to write the most amazing book ever.

And the end is exciting, because it’s nearly finished, and you can see how the whole thing looks.

But there is a chunk in the middle, between about 40,000 and 60,000 words, where it is all a bit of a slog. It’s then you need to dig deep to find the will to get it finished, and not to get distracted.

I’m there right now with ‘Ice Force’. Getting up to about 60,000 words though, so hopefully after Christmas I’ll be into the home straight.

Let It Snow

by Matt Lynn

It’s cold at the moment, as you’ve probably noticed. Everyone else has, understandably enough, been moaning about the weather. But when you are half way through writing a book called ‘Ice Force’ it does have certain advantages. When I need to get in the mood for another description of snow storms swirling through the Arctic glaciers, all I have to do is step out into the garden.

One of the things you have to do as writer is create a believable atmosphere. Books vary, of course. Some are set in very, ordinary everyday locations -- the suburbs, for example. I like to set my books in fairly exotic places. I think that is part of the appeal of the adventure-action thriller genre. There is a big element of escapism in these books. Nobody wants to escape to Swindon. They want the book to take them somewhere exciting, and preferably dangerous as well.

That does, of course, mean the writer has to create believable detail. You need to make it real, without overdoing the travelogues. The best way is to focus on little things. When I was writing about Helmand in Afghanistan for Death Force, for example, I mentioned the smell of the wild irises that grow in the mountains along the Afghan-Pakistan border. In Ice Force, I’ve mentioned the grinding noise that the plates of ice moving beneath you make as you trudge towards the North Pole.

The atmosphere has to be woven into every sentence you write.

And, of course, it helps if it is snowing outside while you are doing it.

A Serious Business

by Leigh Russell

In unusual circumstances, books can be published within weeks. Michael Jackson’s biography was clearly prepared in advance and given regular updates, right up until his death at which point I seem to recall there was a race to be the first to have a book on the shelves.
For most authors, the process takes longer. There is a time lag between delivery of the final manuscript and publication. So the manuscript for Road Closed was delivered in December 2009, if I remember correctly, for publication in June 2010.

Addicted to writing, I started on Dead End as soon as Road Closed was finished in December 2009. By writing I refer not simply to the secretarial task of committing words to paper or screen, but also to the thinking, research and editing that go into producing a book.
A year has passed and YESTERDAY I sent Dead End to my publisher! The story that has dominated my thoughts for the past year is now out of my hands. Finished. Handed over. Delivered. Submitted. Gone.

Am I pleased with what I have achieved? Am I excited about the publication of my next book? As is so often the case, reality is very different to my expectations. So yes, I would have expected to feel happy at delivering my manuscript, but in reality a word like terrified might be closer to how I’m feeling right now!

True to form, I’m already working on my next book. The final manuscript is due with my agent in a month’s time, so I’m currently working on final edits for the book that follows Dead End. I’ll have to wait more than a few weeks to see that one in print but, in the meantime, you can guess what I’ll be doing... yes, the killer in my fifth book is already clamouring to be heard.

The last thing I want to do right now is think about Dead End, as it is prepares to be launched into the public domain, to run the gauntlet of reviews.

While writing is fun, I am beginning to realise that being an author is a serious business.

http://www.noexit.co.uk/authorpages/leigh_russell.php

The Pathetic Fallacy

by Leigh Russell,

When I was a student (a very long time ago) I remember learning about the Pathetic Fallacy in literature, where natural events reflect human experience. It seemed to involve a lot of bad weather: Lear, a former king, naked in the tempest; storms at times of emotional turmoil in Thomas Hardy.

I was thinking about the pathetic fallacy while driving into work this morning in ominous weather. I don’t enjoy driving in the best of conditions and at this time of year I always start to feel a little nervous. What if the roads are icy and my car skids...?

This kind of anxiety may be pathetic in a different way, but being a worrier probably feeds into my writing and I wonder if a tendency for Shakespeare’s “horrible imaginings” goes with the territory of being a crime writer. Readers often ask how I think up plots for my crime novels and the answer is simple; I start with a ‘What if...?’ question, imagining a worst case scenario.
Let’s say you work in an office. One evening you are the last person to leave. As you are going to bed you recall leaving your mobile phone on your desk at work, so you go in early next morning to arrive before any of your colleagues. Entering the office you discover a dead woman sprawled on the floor. Only a few people have keys to your office, and no one admits to knowing the murder victim.

This raises a number of questions. Who is the unknown victim? Why was she killed? You were last out at the end of the day and first in next morning - does suspicion fall on you? How do the police find the killer? If you write answers to the many questions raised by the body in the office, a basic crime thriller will virtually write itself.

Of course it’s not that simple. It takes a certain type of imagination to develop a starting point like this into a plausible novel with intriguing plot twists and convincing characters, and this requires a lot of thought. So life as an author can be hard work. Following the writing itself comes the need for promotion, and success has imposed increasing demands on my time until there are times when I watch my life slipping out of control, like a car on an icy road...

As for the road ahead, if anyone had predicted sixteen months ago that I would have two bestsellers to my name by now, one of them shortlisted for a CWA Dagger Award, I would have laughed. So I’m taking my journey as an author one day at a time. Who knows what the future holds?

At least my car didn’t skid this morning - although if there was any ice on the road I wouldn’t have seen it through the dense fog up ahead...

Leigh Russell is the author of the Geraldine Steel series
http://www.noexit.co.uk/authorpages/leigh_russell.php
CUT SHORT (2009)
ROAD CLOSED (2010)
DEAD END (2011)