Tag: crime fiction
How I Became A Writer
I became a writer when I was ten years old, the same year that I discovered Agatha Christie – and therefore crime fiction. On Christmas Day 1984, I unwrapped a notebook and a box of pens, and after lunch, while everyone else dozed chipolata-stuffed in front of the TV, I made a nest in the corner […]
Music And Manuscripts: Why I Couldn’t Have Written My Bestseller Without A Soundtrack
“Music thudded through Amy’s body and seized her heart,” My debut novel Try Not to Breathe begins. “Music so loud that her eardrums pounded in frenzy and her baby bird ribs rattled. Music was everything. Well, almost everything.” The word music appears three times in the first 30 words, and with good reason. It’s at […]
Time Management For Writers
It’s 7.07 on a Monday morning. I have just got on a train to Plymouth where I’m going to be interviewed (live!) by the BBC. I could be reading the novel that’s in my handbag. Or I could be catching up on my sleep after an early start. But instead my fingers are flying across […]
5 Crime Fiction Blunders To Avoid
In addition to being an author, I am a big crime fiction, psychological thriller and mystery fan. Though I have always read this genre, I’ve spent the last year absolutely immersing myself in it, reading and reviewing everything I can. In addition, I’ve been discussing the genre with lots of other fans as part of […]
Women In Crime Fiction
Women in early crime fiction are often placed in the role of helpless ‘damsel in distress’. This is not inevitably the case. Apart from his nemesis Moriarty, the one person who succeeds in outwitting Sherlock Holmes through sheer strength of character and intelligence is a woman, Irene Adler. But she is perceived as outside the […]
Writing Fiction Based on Fact, or ‘How to Make Life Difficult for Yourself’
In December 1836, a bricklayer found a torso resting in a pool of frozen blood beneath a paving stone on the Edgware Road, London. Over the next few months, the remaining body pieces were found, and in May 1837 two people were tried: James Greenacre was convicted of murdering Hannah Brown; his lover, Sarah Gale, […]
Settings in the Shade
He thinks of the beachfront as a veneer, shining and welcoming, yet just a few streets away, hidden behind the façade, this place is so very different. Beachside one would only find discarded candy floss wrappers, back in Doublestraat they are replaced with used needles and discarded cigarettes. Above is an excerpt from my novel, […]
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