Guest Post: How Important Is Research In The Modern Crime Novel? - MJ Lee

I'm thrilled to welcome MJ Lee to the blog today, talking about researching a modern crime novel!

How Important Is Research In The Modern Crime Novel?

In the old days, life was quite different for crime writers. Agatha Christie didn’t have to research modern forensic science, nor did she bother herself with the minutiae of police hierarchy or the competence of a Coroner.’

Instead, she researched the effects of poisons, a knowledge boosted by her time spent as a nurse during World War One. Hercules Poirot relied on his ‘little grey cells’ to solve a dastardly murder. While Inspector Japp was content to bungle on until his incompetence could be demonstrated.

While the ‘cosy’ mystery still exists, it has been replaced by a much stronger emphasis on authenticity in crime fiction. People have watched CSI and so they are well aware of the methods of DNA analysis or of blood detection in a crime scene. They had watched countless episodes of COPS so they aware of the communication procedures of police on the beat. And ‘fly on the wall’ documentaries of actual cases, the most recent being the brilliant ‘Making of a Murderer’ ensure that the reader has a pretty good idea of what should happen in a crime story.

So it’s important for the writer to get it right if he or she wants to maintain credibility. So before I even touched fingers to keyboard for Where the Truth Lies, I made sure to get the details were as accurate as I could. In short, I had to become a detective of the process of modern detection

For this novel,  there were four main areas where I needed to make sure the facts were correct; the Coronial System, the police force, modern forensic science, and the treatment of cancer.

First, I read general books on the legal system, with particular emphasis on the Coroner’s courts. They were founded just after the Norman Conquest in 1066, created then as servants of the crown (hence coroners) to separate the investigation of death from the legal process of judgment. Not a lot has changed since then. I spent quite a lot of time attending inquests to get a feel for the language and the procedure.

I then researched the modern police forces of the UK, who I’m sure you’re aware have come under immense pressure in the last few years, talking with ex-members of the GMP, Scene of Crime Officers and police support workers. Some of their stories were fascinating and I’m sure will form the background for future novels.

To understand modern forensic science methods, I attended courses on forensics, the science behind DNA, facial reconstruction, the procedures of a Scene of Crime Officer and read extensively in the subject.

Finally, I researched the field of cancer. Luckily, Manchester has one of the world’s leading research and treatment hospitals, Christie's, and I was able to find out from patient’s themselves what it felt like to be diagnosed and treated for Myeloma.

Hopefully, this research is reflected in the book, allowing readers to understand the obstacles police have to endure to obtain a conviction based on evidence. Obviously, it is still a fiction book not a slice of real life, but in doing all this research I hope it helped create a world that feels authentic.

But in the end, all the research in world won’t make a bad book good. Because research only fills in the details making the story believable and authentic, not worth reading.

I hope you enjoy reading Where the Truth Lies. I’m presently editing the second story in the Ridpath series which should be coming out in 2019.

And, guess what, I’m now researching the decomposition rate of bodies. I hope the police never have cause to look at my search history….

About The Author

M J Lee has spent most of his adult life writing in one form or another. As a university researcher in history, he wrote pages of notes on reams of obscure topics. As a social worker with Vietnamese refugees, he wrote memoranda. And, as the creative director of an advertising agency, he has written print and press ads, TV commercials, short films and innumerable backs of cornflake packets and hotel websites.

He has spent 25 years of his life working outside the north of England, in London, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Bangkok, and Shanghai, winning advertising awards from Cannes, One Show, D&AD, New York and the United Nations.

While working in Shanghai, he loved walking through the old quarters of that amazing city, developing the idea behind a series of crime novels featuring Inspector Pyotr Danilov, set in the 1920s.

When he’s not writing, he splits his time between the UK and Asia, taking pleasure in playing with his daughter, practising downhill ironing, single-handedly solving the problem of the French wine lake, and wishing he were George Clooney.

Twitter - @WriterMJLee

5 Writing Commandments to Live By - Mike Thomas

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Unforgivable by Mike Thomas! Unforgivable is the second in the Will MacReady series, about a detective working in Cardiff and following on from Ash And Bones. Here's Mike to talk about some excellent writing commandments and don't forget to look out for my review coming later on today.

5 Writing Commandments to Live By

Every writer has Things That Work For Them. Y’know, those rituals and self-imposed guidelines and downright oddball things they do just to get a couple of pages out during a working day. Some author chums don’t wash much and live – surrounded by coffee cups and cigarette butts and a cat – in their PJs. Nabokov and Hemingway used to write standing up. Hell, Dan Brown whacks on a pair of gravity boots and hangs upside down just to get in the right frame of mind for typing about stolen maps and Jesus and old stuff with dusty clues on.

Personally, I like to wear as little clothing as possible, but we won’t get into that too much as it involves skimpy underwear, nipple tassels, and mood music. Instead, here’s five slightly more palatable suggestions for successful writing…

1. Get Those Pesky Words Out

Your magnum opus ain’t going to write itself, so aim for 1,000 words a day, minimum. Sit down, stop being all tortured artist – ‘I can’t work in these conditions!’ *checks Twitter for the 37th time that morning* – and do some work, because that is what writing a novel is: work. It is your job. Even if you don’t hit that magical 1k (and why not?) at least you’ll have something on the page. Something is better than The Flashing Cursor of Uselessness on its lovely, empty white screen. As Stephen King – you may have heard of him – says: ‘When asked: “How do you write?” I invariably answer “One word at a time.”’ But you shouldn’t really listen to other writers too much. We’ll come to that in a little bit.

2. Stuck in the Middle with You

It doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s a proven method for me: I always, always finish my writing day in the middle of a paragraph or sentence or at the very end of a scene where there’s a hook that gets me more than a tad excited about writing the next part of the story. I just stop. Word count reached, or more than reached and you’ve run out of time because you have to iron the dog or make the kids massage your back after such a terribly trying day typing and drinking fizzy drinks? Stop. This is just so I know exactly where I am going to start the following day, and I cannot wait to get back to the keyboard.

3. Save, save, save

A very personal one this, and a strange, paranoid habit that I just can’t break. I have my documents set to auto save every five minutes. And… I also click on the save icon just about every time I finish a sentence or a decent paragraph. I am obsessed about it because a long time ago I was on fire while writing a previous novel, had got close to eight thousand words in a marathon writing session… and my computer crashed. I lost all of it. Every. Single. Word. So I vowed never to let it happen again. I may have gone a little overboard: as well as the auto saving and clicking the little ‘save’ icon every three minutes, I religiously back everything up to cloud and then email myself whatever documents I’ve been working on that day. If I added up all the seconds spent saving and emailing and saving again – just in case – it would probably be enough time to write an entire novel. But I’ve not lost a word since so that’ll do me.

4. Delay the Fun

See those fun things over there? The kids, the PlayStation, the Twitter account? Ooo, those mentions! Those notifications! Hard as it is, ignore it all. And be selfish. You have to write – this is your job, remember? – and that can include the mental space to work through a plotline or decide what a character is going to say (or, whisper it, stare out of the window and laugh as you remember that really funny bit in the last episode of Family Guy). Anyway, shopping, cleaning, cooking, remembering you have a husband or wife – it can all be done later on. And social media: turn off your notifications completely. I have no alerts on my phone, laptop or tablet. Nada. I enjoy making new friends, making jokes and chatting with those friends. But I will get back to you when my work is done. If that’s too late for you, then tough.

5. Be Yourself

Don’t focus on other people, especially other authors. It achieves nothing and can make you feel worthless. Who cares how many Twitter followers they have, or if they haven’t followed you back, or have unfollowed and blocked you because you kept sending them excerpts from your new7,000-pagee fantasy/fetish hybrid novel ‘Gundar the Vikingdwarf IV: The Ice Realms of Smashfist’ (actually, never do this)? Just do your own thing. In fact, don’t listen to any author advice whatsoever. Including this. Do what works for you. Don’t emulate, or in any way try to copy, otherwise how are you going to find your own ‘voice’? If you’re really going to read those ‘How to Write a Bestseller’-type self-help books just take the little from them that you’ll need and ignore the rest. And when you are published ignore your Amazon sales rankings. Nobody in the entire universe understands their algorithms – not even the smart dudes at CERN – so stop refreshing the page and get on with your work.

About The Author

Mike Thomas was born in Wales in 1971. For more than two decades he served in the police, working some of Cardiff’s busiest neighbourhoods in uniform, public order units, drugs teams and CID. He left the force in 2015 to write full time.

His debut novel, Pocket Notebook, was published by William Heinemann (Penguin Random House) and longlisted for the Wales Book of the Year. The author was also named as one of Waterstones' 'New Voices' for 2010. His second novel, Ugly Bus, is currently in development for a six part television series with the BBC.

The first in the MacReady series, Ash and Bones, was published in August 2016 by Bonnier Zaffre. The sequel, Unforgivable, was published in July 2017.

He lives in the wilds of Portugal with his wife, two children and an unstable, futon-eating dog.

More details can be found on the website www.mikethomasauthor.co.uk

Writing: Top Tips & When To Ignore Them - Mark Latham

 

Top Tips (and When to Ignore Them)

Mark A Latham

When you’re an aspiring writer, everyone wants to give you advice. And because you’re aspiring, you soak it up like a sponge (or, at least, you probably should). The problem is that when I say everyone, I mean everyone. No matter what level of writing success a writer has or hasn’t achieved, or whether they’ve even published anything beyond that self-help book gathering dust on a Waterstones shelf, they’re still ready to throw advice at newbies. The old chestnuts are there – Find your voice! Show, don’t tell! Think about POV! Don’t use too many exclamation marks! (Cough).

However, when you actually get down to the nuts and bolts of writing and start to get your work out there for public consumption, you’ll often realise that large swathes of the advice you were offered were simply… irrelevant. I certainly did. Sometimes, by trying to obey the rules, you end up hamstringing yourself, rather than find your own path. Only by failing, do we learn, young padawan. (Cough, again).

So I’m not going to offer you any advice in this blog. Well, I am, but not like that. No, I’m simply going to pass on the best bits of advice I ever received – things that I actually think on regularly, and that have stuck with me.

Never Compromise! 

 

This is a recent piece of advice I heard from SF author Rob Boffard, which is similar – but not quite the same – as Stephen King’s famous quote ‘first write for yourself, then the audience’. What he’s saying is, if you love writing a certain way (in his case, rip-roaring, fast-paced actioners; in my case, atmospheric and macabre stories), don’t change because people don’t like your style. He’s not saying ‘never listen to criticism’. He’s saying ‘find the audience that loves the style you write in, and write for them’. People telling Rob to write some slow, atmospheric scenes is like people telling me to write a happy ending full of rainbows and ponies. Ain’t gonna happen.

Never Respond to Negative Reviews

 

I’ve heard this many times, and boy is it true! Learn from them. Shout at them. Get mad. Get upset. Or just ignore them… whatever. Bad reviews are part of life. Some of them will come about because you genuinely messed up, and that mistake was unforgivable to a particular reviewer. Some will be because the reviewer just doesn’t get what you’re about, or missed some nuance in the story that other readers were okay with. It doesn’t matter. If you are in any doubt as to whether or not you should ever respond to criticism on the internet, just Google Stephan J Harper, read the tale of woe that follows, and think again!

Listen to your Editor

 

Hmm, turns out this gem actually is mine. So I lied, I am going to give you advice. A good editor is everything to a good book. Well, not everything – you have to write the damn thing first. But a good editor will help you make it shine. What do I mean by ‘good’ editor? One who works with you in a two-way process. One who has a clear understanding of your vision, a clear vision themselves of how the book will be positioned in the marketplace, and who the target audience is. Only then can they truly advise and guide you. And the process can be painful – you might decide to ignore some of their advice, or find a different solution than the one they suggest, but do so as part of an open and collaborative process, rather than from a position of defensiveness, and the book will be better for it.

And finally, one from Stephen King himself:

Writing is about getting happy. 

 

‘Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid or making friends. Writing is magic, as much as the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink.’ I’m reminded of this every time I whinge about how hard my day has been, when the words won’t come on the page, or I feel like I’ve done a lousy job. Draw a line under it, and remember you’re doing the thing you love. It should make you happy, even when it seems like the hardest thing in the world. So go to bed, and get back at it the next morning, thinking happy thoughts!

 
Mark A. Latham is a writer, editor, history nerd, frustrated grunge singer and amateur baker from Staffordshire, UK. A recent immigrant to Nottingham, he lives in a very old house (sadly not haunted), and is still regarded as a foreigner.

Formerly the editor of White Dwarf magazine, Mark dabbled in tabletop games design before becoming a full-time author. A writer of strange, fantastical and macabre tales, his short stories have been published by Titan Books and Black Library Publishing. Revelling in the moniker ‘the Lost Victorian’, Mark’s research into nineteenth-century life has become something of an obsession, which he salves by writing on the subject for far longer than can be considered healthy.

Goodreads | Website | Twitter

Guest Post: Fictional Inspirations - Andy Briggs

 

BEST BOOKISH OR FICTIONAL INSPIRATIONS

When I was asked to write a blog on my fictional inspirations, my brain somersaulted into what a feared was an infinite loop which would result in a single answer: everything. But then I took a step back from the question and, while writing the second book in THE INVENTORY series, I started to wonder exactly what inspired me…

First, the whole notion of my new series, THE INVENTORY: IRON FIST, was inspired by comic books. More specifically, the adverts at the back of old comics that used to promise x-ray specs, hypnotic hats and gloves that let you clamber up walls. It was all very inspiring, even if the final product that arrived at your door was, basically, rubbish.

The comics themselves were a huge inspiration. Dashing characters doing impossible things was always an attraction to me. Plus, being a reluctant reader, they really pushed me forward so rapidly that I started craving books.

Then the books came thick and fast, from The Hobbit through to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Tarzan. From The Lost World to my huge collection of Fighting Fantasy (Deathtrap Dungeon being my favourite) and Choose Your Own Adventure books. The pattern, in retrospect, was one of adventure, escapism and “what if…?”

The Hobbit showed me that entire worlds could be constructed on the page, populated by incredible creatures that had their own languages and customs. It was all a far cry from my childhood town of Liverpool.

While I could escape to other lands with Tolkien, it was Chocolate Factory that taught me adventure and magic could be found in the centre of a dull industrial town, which is something I could relate to.

While lessons in school focused on what we know, it was the book, The Lost World, written by Sherlock’s Arthur Conan Doyle, that opened my eyes to the fact that there are still things in the world that we don’t know about. Even now parts of the Amazon remain unexplored and there are swathes of ocean we have never ventured into; and new species are being discovered every year. This book inspired me so much that, as soon as I was able, I started travelling the world as much as possible (even going to the same location that inspired Doyle to write the book). It was while I was in the Amazon jungle that I was further inspired to create a story called Legendary, which I later wrote and produced as a feature film. That was something I never thought I would do while reading the book in school.

One book that stopped me in my tracks was The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first of Douglas Adams’ amazing series. It taught me that ideas could be wacky and still be compelling reading. For me, this went beyond creating mere fantasy realms, but entire universes with infinite probabilities that anything could happen. And that you could also be funny at the same time.

Looking back on these inspirations, it’s no surprise that my own stories tend to combine travelling the world with some sort of adventure and puzzle. However, even as I write this, this most surprising thing of all is that the 11 year old me – reading all those books – didn’t have an inkling of where they would take me. That is the true power of a book, they don’t just change your view of the world. They make you want to go out there and want to change things yourself.

Andy Briggs is a screenwriter, producer and author of the Hero.com, Villain.net and Tarzan series. Andy has worked on film development for Paramount and Warner Bros, as well as working with Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee and producer Robert Evans. With a strong social media following, Andy tours the UK regularly, doing festival, school and library events.

Look out for my review and a giveaway of The Inventory: Iron Fist coming later this morning!

Guest Post & INT Giveaway: Kerry Wilkinson on Writing Crime & Fantasy

The Difference Between Writing Crime and Writing Silver

It's hard to define my day job. Depending on whether or not it's raining, it could be any or all of freelance journalist, amateur cyclist, TV-watcher, slow cooker enthusiast, old-man-napping-on-the-sofa, or - of course - author.

When it comes to writing, most of my time is given over to creating crime novels. I have the Jessica Daniel series, the Andrew Hunter series and other standalones with which to keep myself going. Because three books a year simply isn't enough and crime - fictional or otherwise - is far from my primary passion, sometimes I find my mind drifting.

I do enjoy writing crime, the characters, the situations - but it is limiting in the sense that it's set in the real world. I've always wanted to write a crime book where, just as the big reveal is about to happen near the end, aliens invade and everyone realises there are much bigger issues afoot. It would amuse me but, my word, would it annoy readers! Justifiably. 

Anyway, it is those mind-wanders of future technology, alternate worlds and so on that means it's liberating to step away from the real world and try something else.

The Silver Blackthorn series came from that. I'd written five, perhaps six, Jessica books more or less back to back and my mind craved something new.

Growing up, I'd always been into science fiction, fantasy and dystopia and so creating something within that genre was always likely to happen sooner or later.

It's also emancipating to think beyond the 'real' world. Setting the series in the near-ish future allowed me to create whatever sci-fi type of future technology I wanted. It allowed me to build a world without having it be too different from our present-day one.

Beyond that, of course, books - good ones at least - should always be about people. A writer can have the greatest imagination that brims with ideas and creations - but if he or she can't write characters, there's not much chance for a connection to readers. In short, why bother?

Fortunately for me, the reaction to Silver from her first appearance in Reckoning has been incredibly touching. I've had lots of people contacting me in various ways to talk about her and her gang of friends. I even had a pregnant woman email to say she and her partner were thinking of calling their child Silver!

I loved writing Reckoning, Renegade and Resurgence and frequently miss Silver, which, I suppose, is the spur to get on and create something else. Either that or I'll write aliens or mutant dinosaurs into one of my crime books.

About the Author

Despite two national newspaper reports to the contrary, Kerry Wilkinson is male. Honestly.

He is an occasional sports journalist and can frequently be spotted cycling the hills of Lancashire. He was born in Somerset but now lives in the north west. 

Giveaway

I have 2 copies of Renegade to give away, or if you would prefer, a copy of the first book, Reckoning! Just fill in the rafflecopter, it's open internationally too!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest Post - Helena Sorensen

Helena contacted me about her wonderful book, Shiloh, asking if I would to review it. I said yes as it sounded like something I would love and asked her if she would like to do a guest post on the Bookish Outsider. Here's Helena to talk about bookish influences and a bit about writing Shiloh.

Bookish Influences

I love John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. I mean, I really love him. I’ve read so much of his work and his thoughts on writing, and I’ve tried to suck every juicy detail about the lives of Frodo and Sam and Merry and Pippin and Eowyn and Aragorn and Arwen from Tolkien’s supplementary works. Of course, I love Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea Cycle. It has this wonderful, windswept quality to it, and Earthsea is alive with ancient magic. And J.K. Rowling blows me away. How can she tie up at least 72,458 loose ends into the world’s most elaborate and perfect bow?

Imagine my terror when I sat down to write a fantasy novel. Have you read The Silmarillion? Have you seen the dizzyingly detailed map of Earthsea? Do you have any concept of how Rowling navigated the whole wand conundrum in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Sigh. I had a story in my head, niggling at the corners of my brain. But the prospect of creating a fantasy world was overwhelming. I could spend years on such a venture. For pity’s sake, Tolkien spent his life on such a venture!

It was not until I read Stephen King’s The Eyes of the Dragon that a spark of hope was kindled within me. If you’ve never read this little gem of a novel, I highly recommend it. It’s one of King’s only novels that I can read without contacting a therapist, and, also, it’s delightful. King’s world is rich. There are kings and princes, dragons and wizards, towers and magic. And there are no accompanying historical textbooks or character genealogies. It’s just one little story about rival brothers and an ambitious wizard. In two or three scenes, I understood the novel’s main characters. A few paragraphs here and there told me all I needed to know about their kingdom’s history and landscape. It was so clean, so simple. I wondered if, perhaps, I could do it, too.

My first draft of Shiloh was bare bones, maybe 45k words. When I went back to flesh out the story, I took heart, remembering The Eyes of the Dragon. I drew on something I know relatively well how to do: write poems and songs. Just a few of these could tell so much about the world of Shiloh, about what the people valued and feared, about the heroes they idolized and the things they most desired. The concept was so simple, but, in the end, I think additions like “The Tale of Grosvenor” and “Far, Far Away” progressed my world building and enriched my story immeasurably.

Granted, I’m no Tolkien, no LeGuin, no Rowling. (hello, dazzling understatement) But I’m so relieved to know that a great fantasy tale can be told without several thousand years worth of family trees or charts listing the shoe size of every minor character.  If I’m wrong, and everyone loathes this book, I’m blaming it all on Stephen King.  ;)

“Far, Far Away”  (A Children’s Song)

Far, far away

In the crystal teardrops

Hangin’ from the branches o’ the Silent Trees

Gone, gone away

Ta the Hall o’ Shadows

Peerin’ through the mist with eyes that cannot see

Shine, shine away

Keep the lights a-burnin’

Never let the embers o’ the flame go out

Run, run away

Fer the Shadow Weavers

Come ta take a trophy ta their Master’s house

About the author

Helena Sorensen has studied music, taught English, and dabbled in poetry and songwriting. She spends her evenings weeping outside the homes of authors like Urusula K. LeGuin, Megan Whalen Turner, and Robin McKinley. She lives in Nashville with her husband and two children. This is her first novel.

Where to find Helena

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

Pinterest

Guest Post - About Writing by Shaunta Grimes

I was lucky enough to review a copy of Shaunta's book Viral Nation which is up on the blog today and she very kindly offered to write a guest post for me.

Three of My Favorite Writing Books

I teach creative writing classes at my local community college. Every time I prepare for one, I get to spend time re-reading and learning something new from my favorite writing craft books. If I was trapped on a deserted island, these are the three writing books I'd want with me.

On Writing - Stephen King

On Writing is half memoir, half succinct, unbelievably useful writing guide. This is one of the most readable writing books on the market as well. It inspires me every time I open it. My favorite part is the marked up copy  of a few pages from one of his novels. He also talks a lot about reading like a writer, which I think is one of the most important skills anyone who has writing aspirations can learn.

Self-Editing For Fiction Writers - Renni Browne & Dave King

Oh, I love this book! It's broken into chapters that each discuss a different aspect of writing (characterization, pace, dialogue, etc.) and then after great discussion gives bullet-points for integrating what you've learned into your manuscript. I learned my very favorite piece of writing advice from this book: RUE. Resist the Urge to Explain. Pick up the book and learn it too, it's kind of mind-blowing.

The Writer's Journey - Christopher Vogler

Based on Joseph Campbell's work on the hero's journey, The Writer's Journey is a great introduction into storytelling. Once you start to really understand how and why certain stories work so well, your own storytelling starts to fall into place as well. The Writer's Journey always helps me when I get stuck or when something in my story just isn't working.

About the Author

Shaunta Grimes has worked as a substitute teacher, a newspaper reporter, a drug court counselor, and a vintage clothing seller. No matter which direction she strays, however, she always comes back to storytelling. She lives in Reno with her family, where she writes, teaches, and perpetually studies at the University of Nevada. Viral Nation is her debut traditionally-published novel.

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