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Embrace the idea of multiple drafts – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer
I’ve spent a lot of my writing life harbouring under the delusion that my first draft needed to be perfect. Or close enough, anyway. If my first draft was a disaster, I was a failure. I still struggle with this perfectionism, but it’s good to remind myself that my first draft of Dead Ringer was…
Let your readers hear your protagonist’s thoughts – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer
Dead Ringer started life as a third-person novel, until my agent suggested I make it first-person. This was a big change, but it made the protagonists’ voices much clearer. The reader gets to sit in their heads, hear their thoughts. This, I think, is the superpower of novels (versus TV or movies). You get to…
Don’t give ’em a reason to stop reading – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer
One of my favourite pieces of feedback I’ve got on Dead Ringer is: “I stayed up past my bedtime reading it.” During one of my later re-drafts of the book, I did something bold. I re-cut all the chapters. I made them shorter and I changed the places where the chapters ended. My purpose (and…
Dead Ringer book launch event – in pictures
Friday 28 February saw the official launch of Dead Ringer at Foyles in Bristol. Here’s some pictures and notes from the big night. I started off with a little speech and a reading of the first chapter of Dead Ringer. As you can see, there were many #faces during the reading… I missed my calling…
The North/South Divide in Crime Fiction (guest feature on CrimeTime)
I wrote a feature for CrimeTime about the North/South divide in crime fiction and how setting can impact on a story. Name an island off the coast of England. Isle of Wight? Isle of Man? Maybe Lundy, if you’re feeling clever. How about Walney Island? It’s an island, a beautiful windswept island, off the north…
Make your protagonist the type of person who jumps into the fray – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer
In life, I’m a risk-averse person. I always weigh up my options and try to act prudently. In novels, I’ve found that prudent characters make for boring protagonists. Dead Ringer got immeasurably better when I added in a second narrator, Jem. She’s reckless and rebellious and will always throw herself into the fray. For this…