I LIED ON NANOWRIMO

Wendall-- every other Thursday

I cannot tell a lie. Actually, it turns out, I can.

 

I first attempted National Novel Writing Month—i.e. NaNoWriMo—years and years ago for three reasons. One, I heard a piece about it on NPR, two I had wanted to try to write a novel for thirty years and hadn’t had the nerve to do it, and three, my husband was going to be in England for the first two weeks of November.

 

Also, I always loved the logo...

 

Even though the idea of writing 50,000 words in a month, or even 10,000 words in a month, seemed absolutely impossible to someone who second-guessed themselves as much as I did, I decided to try.

 

And I astounded myself by actually writing more than the required 1667 words a day for the first few days. There was something about entering my word count and watching what it did to the graph they provided that was inspiring and invigorating. I wanted to get ahead of the curve. So the words piled up, I made progress. Actual progress. On a novel.

 

First title page of my first NaNoWriMo draft

 

It only happened because I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t revise. I couldn’t change my mind. And I definitely couldn’t delete anything—that would cost words. I could only go forward. I’d been a screenwriter for twenty years and I’d never done that before. It was a revelation. I kept thinking, if I can just write another hundred words, if I can just write another two hundred words, I’ll be ahead for tomorrow. It involved, of course, plenty of coffee, working in restaurants, and more than a little wine. But it worked. 

 

Sometimes the coffee worked. Sometimes the wine.

 

So, by the time my husband came home I’d already surpassed my 50,000 words, and by the end of that 30 days, I had 300 pages of my first novel, Lost Luggage. Back in those days, you actually had to submit your novel on the NaNoWriMo site, so that meant, for copyright protection, you had to “scramble” it to verify the word count. It looked like this:

 

Lost Luggage, scrambled.

 

Lost Luggage, published.

 

Granted, it was a hot mess, and it would take another year and a half to get it even close to something other people could see, but it existed. And I was hooked. It had been the thing I needed to, for once, get through a first draft without getting in my own way.

 

I have done the November challenge every year since, as well as an occasional “Camp NaNoWriMo” in April or July. I’ve used it to do first drafts of all my novels, as well as their rewrites. 

 

The beginnings of Cheap Trills.

 

To date, I’ve earned nine “completion” certificates, bought a variety of coffee vessels, gotten half price on Scrivener, and lots of other perks of “winning.”

 

The very first coffee cup I bought on my very first try.

A newer incarnation

As the years have gone by, of course, it’s transformed itself into something that’s much bigger—and hipper—than it was when my first time. I remember mentioning it at a Sisters in Crime LA meeting when I first started and no one had any idea what I was talking about. Now, almost every mystery writer I know participates. The National Chapter of Sisters in Crime does daily “write-ins,” writers post their word counts on Twitter, and it feels almost uncool not to participate.

 

See what I mean???

 

So, this year, I signed up, registered my book, and took a deep breath, waiting for the November 1 start date.

 

Since Cheap Trills came out on October 30th, I was still in the midst of writing guest blog posts and trying to create very amateur graphics, so the first few days were a struggle. 

 

 

Marketing was never my strong suit.

Still, I managed to do the daily words. Barely. Then, the fourth day, I fell behind—only 500 words. And the next day, I got nothing done at all. And the next day, nothing again. And the next day, 200 words. The equivalent of nothing.

 

Suddenly, the graph was no longer my friend. How was I ever going to catch up, especially since I seemed to have no energy for writing? At all. My status page just sat there shaming me. The guilt! The embarrassment! After so many years of succeeding at the 50,000 word challenge, the idea of failing was devastating. How could this happen? How could I live with myself? Plus, all my “buddies” could see my word count. Did I just look like a lazy jerk?

 

On the sixth day, in a moment of weakness, I just added to my word count with words that didn’t exist. That I hadn’t written. For the graph. For my what I mistakenly thought was my self-respect. Flat-out lied. On NaNoWriMo.

 

The graphic illustration of an epic fail.

For the love of God!

 

The irony was not lost on me. It was horrible. I took the words off the next day, but the fact that I did it at all made me take a real look at myself, at my writing, and at what the hell I thought I was doing, anyway.

 

First, who was it I was writing for? Who cared about my word count? Anyone? Did anyone even care that I was writing a novel at all? I had always seen myself as a non-competitive person, so where had this ludicrous ego come from all of a sudden? Had it morphed with my crippling sense of responsibility, to rationalize such bad behavior? Was I horrified at myself, or just not willing to deal with the fact that, this year, I wasn’t up to it.

 

 

In the end, I realized the only person I needed to write for was myself. I was the only one I'd let down. Which meant I was the only person who could let me off the hook. So, in the end, I did. The new book is still burbling in my subconscious, where, right now, it belongs. And that’s okay. Novel writing is a long game. And it’s not all about the word count.

 

I still love you, NaNoWriMo, I just think we need some time apart.

 

---Wendall

 

You can hear Wendall talk about writing, movies, music, songbirds, and all things Cheap Trills on Baron R. Birtcher's THE WRITERS BAR here:

https://youtu.be/S32L679n08k

 

 

 

 

 

 

WRITING IN HOTELS part one

 Wendall -- every other Thursday

This week, my post is more pictures than words, as James and I are trying to both pack and unpack—our new apartment still resembles a bit of a bombsite and we are also getting ready for our trek to San Diego to see so many friends, authors, and readers at Bouchercon 2023. 

 

 

Right now, though, the thing I’m most looking forward to is staying in the hotel. 

 

Bouchercon's host hotel -- the Marriott Marquis!

 

I love hotels. Any hotel. Or motel, for that matter. I associate them with happy family vacations when my brother and sister and I were young—my Dad always made sure there was a pool and sprung for “Magic Fingers” just to watch us laugh. Once I had my driver’s license and could travel on my own, my heart leapt up every time I spotted a Motel 6, a Howard Johnson’s, or a Holiday Inn on 1-95 or the Jersey Turnpike.

 

Ice cream! Clams! Orange roof!

 

Seeing a hotel summons up my first visits to Europe, Australia, Santa Fe, San Francisco, and really, anywhere. For me, they scream travel, adventure, new restaurants, memorable sunburns, wake-up calls, free coffee and body lotions, and fresh sheets I will never have to wash.

 

When I worked on the film Young Guns, I lived in a hotel in Santa Fe for four months. I was in heaven.

 

Charlie Sheen once climbed into my room from this balcony, to hide from double-booked girlfriends...

 

Now that I’m a writer, hotels are still where I do my best work. I almost always go away alone at the beginning, middle, and end of every book, for the concentrated time I can create in a hotel room and its surrounding restaurants and bars, where I can work over coffee or a glass of wine. 

 

Here are my favorite places in Carpinteria.

 

Corktree Cellars.

Spaghetti and meatballs and notebook at Little Dom's

.

Esau's great breakfast. Michael McDonald eats there. The back of his head is below.

There are a few hotels I’ve gone enough times, that they actually will always give me my “lucky” room, since, like many writers, I’m superstitious about things like that. So today, I’m going to share a few images of my hotel writing life in two LA-adjacent hotels, in Downtown LA and Carpinteria.

 

Here are a couple of photos from my "lucky room" in Carp.

 

 

 

 I love to write on the balcony, even when it's freezing in the morning.

And for "staycation" writing, the Westin Bonaventure is my favorite. They also always give me my favorite room...

 

By (obviously windy) day.

By night.

 

These are a few of the everchanging views from my lucky room.

 

 

And a few shots of the space age interior.

 

 

All the rooms are octagonal.

And some of my haunts when I actually leave the room...

Nick & Stef's for their Oaxacan Old Fashioned.

Drago for happy hour wine.

And when I'm really splurging, Bottega Louis, for the most expensive pizza in the world.

 

I'm sure more wonders await us all in San Diego, and will report back about Bouchercon, and its host hotel, the Marriott Marquis, when next we convene.

 

Here is my Appearance Schedule there, if anyone wants to stop by and say hello:

COZIES AND COCKTAILS

Wednesday night Aug. 30 8:30pm  Check schedule for location

 

SPEED DATING

Thursday Aug. 31 at 7am(!) North Tower Pacific Ballroom 15-17

 

HUMOR AND HOMICIDE: How Authors Kill At Both

Saturday Sept. 2 at 1:05 Rm 3 GB 3

--- Wendall

The Queen Showers Us With Her Take On Crime

 

Jeff–Saturday

Last week I posted photos relating to our trip to Reykjavik for Iceland Noir, a mystery festival driven by the energy of some of Iceland's (and the world's) finest crime writers.  We here at Murder is Everywhere are particularly proud that one of our founders,Yrsa Sigurdardottir, is also a founder of the festival and the undisputed "Queen of Iceland Mystery Writers." 

Some of Yrsa's MIE posts remain among our most popular, and one in particular struck me as the perfect follow-up to a week spent in the land of the Vikings immersed in all things crime. Yrsa's  piece posted here a dozen years ago under the title "Something Old..."  and in it she describes the challenges faced by crime writers searching out murderous plots in her land of fairies, ghosts, and sagas. What she has to say will surprise, amuse, and entertain you...for that is Yrsa's way.  .

A mere 300.000 people live in Iceland. It therefore stands to reason that Icelandic crimes are relatively few and far between. This is a quite good state of affairs for the general public but extremely depressing for a crime writer, especially considering the fact that the few crimes committed are excruciatingly boring. There is seldom any question about the identity of the culprit as 99,9% of the population are not into serious crime, leaving the police 300 suspects to work from. Considering that half of these 300 people have already been incarcerated, police investigations are not a mammoth task in Iceland as they do not require a great sense of deduction, simply time. It is therefore quite a challenge to write a crime novel that takes place in my small country and yet manage to make it interesting and plausible. No one, least of all Icelanders, are willing to read a full length book about a murder which occurs in a kitchen following an argument between two drunken men – one of whom happens to pick up a butcher knife to emphasise his point. Particularly not when the murderer is apprehended by the police ten minutes later, still standing in the kitchen holding the murder weapon and wondering what the hell possessed him to do such a thing. As a result, the typical Icelandic murder as described is hard pressed to hold up even a short story. An Icelandic murder lacks motive and the murderer is never egged on by any evil impulses, merely stupidity and impaired judgement.

Of course there are some exceptions to the above. Two cases jump to mind, one of which involved a man that tried to kill his girlfriend by setting her on fire, only to have his plans foiled when his lighter did not work. The girlfriend, doused in gasoline, managed to escape while he was busy trying to coax a flame from the lighter and headed straight for the police station. He was charged and found guilty of assault as the judicial system considered it impossible to prove attempted murder. The other unusual case was the man who tried to make his suicide look like murder to collect insurance for his heirs. He went a bit overboard as he not only stabbed himself in the chest but also hit his own head repeatedly with an iron bar and cut his throat with large wire clippers from a construction site. Obviously this should have had the police scrambling to find the sadistic and brutal murderer on the loose if it were not for the stroke of genius that made the man lock his door from the inside so as not to be disturbed while attempting to take his own life. It should be noted that despite this unfortunate man’s obvious eagerness to depart this world he did not succeed – he was revived and remains amongst us, a bit scarred but none the worse for wear all things considered.

In addition to the lack of ingenuity common to most Icelandic criminals there are other factors that keep Icelandic crime uninteresting. To name one, the courts always pass the same sentence for murder no matter what the circumstances. This sentence is called a life sentence but is in actuality 16 years. It is unclear how the relationship between life and 16 years came about but is perhaps a remnant from the days when life expectancy was somewhat lower than in today’s society. Whatever the reason, no one holds their breath during murder trials and reporters can probably write their articles in full at the onset. Another factor is the investigation technique used by the police force to solve cases which involves gathering up the suspects, putting them in solitary confinement and waiting for them to confess. Given that they seem to have an unlimited time period for which to keep people locked up without charges this usually results in a confession. There is little or no CSI required as clues like cigarette butts and saliva droppings do not often enter the frame.

To be fair Iceland does have a special elite police unit called the Viking Squad. Members are allowed to carry guns, unlike regular policemen who are only armed with clubs. These men also get special training which focuses on making them adept at crawling on their stomach in ditches. To a layman this does not seem particularly up to date as the last ditch has long been removed from modern day Reykjavík but at least Icelanders can sleep soundly knowing that if a crime is ever committed in a ditch, the Viking Squad will certainly be prepared. As this has yet to occur, this elite force does not have much opportunity to justify its existence and the few times they are in the media it is usually because of some fiasco. One of their media highlights was when they were photographed standing ramrod straight, in bullet proof vests, backs against the wall, trying to coax out a dangerous criminal that has been observed welding a particularly menacing shotgun which turned out to be a vacuum cleaner nozzle held by an old lady cleaning her curtains. Another example is the attempted recovery of a body from the bottom of a nasty canyon which turned out to be a dummy used by the Icelandic rescue squad to practice rescuing people off the bottom of nasty canyons a year previously. It stands to reason that the staged rescue failed miserably since the rescue squad left the dummy behind. The Viking squad was unfortunately no better and the dummy still rests at the bottom of the nasty canyon.

All of this probably relates to Iceland’s history and our beloved Sagas, written at the time when there was no such thing as murder – merely killings. You killed someone and in turn his relatives killed you back. No big deal. No Viking Squad, no lawyers, no particular sentiments and certainly no attempts to conceal the act. One of the nation’s favourite characters from these ancient writings is Egill who first killed at the hardened age of four. The victim was one of his father’s workers and his father was upset seeing that good help was hard to come by even in the year 914. When admonished and asked why he did it the child replied that the man was so well positioned for a bludgeoning. This more often than not seems to be the motive or reason for modern Icelandic murders. Nothing ground shaking or earth shattering, just someone unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So one might ask, why bother writing, much less reading, about fictional crime set in Iceland? Despite everything described above this is not a difficult question to answer. Iceland has everything needed as a background for interesting murders and out of the ordinary drama, mercifully something criminals have yet to discover. It is a small society unlike any other, with quirky characters looming at every corner. It has landscape that just begs for creepy occurrences and allows for endless ways of getting rid of bodies or evidence – not to mention the abundance of possible, unusual ways to murder someone. Also, although not acted upon Icelandic society is brimming with motives - an abundance of money is (past tense would be more proper now) circulating, love and sex are all around, an irresponsible or what-me-worry attitude is general as is the belief in ghosts the occult, and the close connection and relevance of the past invites vendettas and related revenge. So writing about crime in Iceland is a bit like fishing in uncharted waters – you throw out your net of text and can be lucky with your catch by capturing the imagination of the reader or you can be unlucky and your story seems pretentious and downright silly. Whatever the outcome one always recites an unconscious prayer in the hope that the criminals don’t catch on as in real life boring crime is preferable to the fascinating. 

 

–Jeff

NOT Newcastle Noir with Neil Broadfoot, Noelle Holten, Ed James and Zoë Sharp

Zoë Sharp

Over the first weekend in May, I should have been in Newcastle, attending Newcastle Noir, organised by the wonderful Jacky ‘Dr Noir’ Collins. I was lucky enough to attend the very first crime fiction event Jacky organised, back in 2014 at the Literary & Philosophical Society—the Lit & Phil.

The event has grown hugely since those early days and is now a fixture in the crime writing festival calendar (ahem, 2020 excepted, of course). It now finds its home at the Newcastle City Library, a fitting place for readers, authors and books to combine.

Jacky is still planning to hold some virtual panels online but in the meantime, having got together with my intended fellow panellists for the Murder They Wrote item on the programme, I thought it would be fun to do a bit of a Q&A on writing and publishing with them here.

So, working strictly in alphabetical order, sitting to my virtual left, is Neil Broadfoot.

Described by Ian Rankin as “a true rising star of crime fiction”, Neil Broadfoot’s debut novel, FALLING FAST, featuring journalist Doug McGregor and DS Susie Drummond, was shortlisted for both the Dundee International Book Prize and the Bloody Scotland Book of the Year Award. His Stirling-set series, which features close-protection expert Connor Fraser, has been hailed as “tense, fast moving and bloody” and “atmospheric, twisty and explosive”. NO MAN'S LAND was long-listed for the 2019 McIlvanney Award. NO PLACE TO DIE, which is out now, has been hailed as “amazing” by New York Times bestselling author Mike Lupica. 

As a father of two girls, Neil finds himself regularly outnumbered in his own home. He is also one of the Four Blokes In Search of a Plot, a quartet of crime writers who live write a story based on suggestions from the audience.

Zoë Sharp: You were a journalist for fifteen years before you became a crime writer. Why choose to make Doug a journalist? It is a case of write what you know? And were there things you discovered as a journalist that you weren’t allowed to use but you wanted to find a way to tell those stories?

Neil Broadfoot: The creation of Doug, and his being a journalist, was purely an act of necessity. I got into journalism because all I’ve ever wanted to be was a writer, so I figured reporting was a way to make a living with words while I was trying to get published. But that was a road paved with a thousand rejection letters, and I was getting frustrated. I was out on lunch one day and I looked up at the Scott Monument. I was so hacked off about not being published that, me being me, the thought of throwing someone off the top of the Monument came to mind. So I went home and wrote the scene, but that’s all I had. No plot, no characters, no nothing. So I created Doug and we attacked the story together as a journalist would. I pulled my head out of the screen 80,000 later, and had Falling Fast—and Doug McGregor. As for stories I’ve come across in my journalistic career that I couldn’t tell, no comment. But I’ve covered some pretty big stories in my time, from Gulf War Illness to the expenses scandal and the fall of Gaddafi (when we had reporters on the front line and I had to try to make sure they were safe) so you can take a guess!

Zoë Sharp: You wrote three books with Doug McGregor, then went for a change of scene to Connor Fraser, close-protection specialist. Why the change? Why that character? And how much harder has it been to research his day-to-day life?

Neil Broadfoot: Again, this was, like almost everything with my writing, a lucky co-incidence. I was happily writing the fourth Doug and Susie book when I went to Bloody Scotland, the annual crime writing festival held in Stirling. I was up at Cowane’s Hospital watching the Scotland vs England crime writers’ football match, and the idea suddenly occurred to me that it would be a great place to dump a body. I took the idea and went for a walk to play with it a bit. And as I walked around Stirling and really took in the way the historic and the modern sat cheek to cheek, it hit me that it would be a great place for a crime series. Connor came about as a result of that—given the opening of NO MAN’S LAND it was apparent early on that there would be some very serious, very dangerous people in the book. And I wanted a protagonist who could match then. I spent a lot of time in Belfast in my misspent youth, and I always wanted to reflect that in my work, so I made Connor a former PSNI officer, which gave him a level of training that I needed. After that, he grew organically, and I’m lucky that I had a few police friends I could call on when I needed some extra background information.

Zoë Sharp: What was your path to publication and particularly to self-publication? How did you get hooked up with Ed James, who I note did the content layout and covers for some of your books, now reissued by Constable?

Neil Broadfoot: I met Ed properly for the first time in Harrogate a couple of years ago, and we proceeded to go on a monumental pub crawl that still gives my liver pangs of pain whenever I think about it. When we sobered up, we got talking about our works, and I mentioned about getting the rights back for the Doug and Susie books. Ed’s an absolute whizz at self-publishing, so he helped me out in reissuing the Doug and Susie’s. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from that, and readers getting in touch to ask when they’re coming back, which is nice. So Doug and Susie will be back next year.

Zoë Sharp: Why go from indie to traditional publishing?

Neil Broadfoot: Again, lucky fluke. After I took my walk in Stirling, my now-publisher, Krystyna Green of Constable, got in touch and said she was in Stirling and would I like to meet up for a drink. We got chatting and she said she really wanted to publish me, but couldn’t take the Doug and Susie’s mid series, so did I have anything else I was working on. She must have thought I was mad when I burst out laughing and started talking about Connor and the ideas I had had earlier that day. From there, it was a quick outline, some sample chapters and the deal was done.

Zoë Sharp: What’s next? More Connor Fraser? Or back to McGregor & Drummond?

Neil Broadfoot: Both! Doug and Susie are still rattling around in my head, and readers are asking for them to come back, so they’ll definitely be back. As for Connor, I’ve just signed up with Constable for two more in the series, so he’ll be back in September (in THE POINT OF NO RETURN) then next year and the year after. I can’t wait to get the next Connor, THE HUNT, under way, it’s the story I’ve been (subconsciously) building to since I started writing the series.

Zoë Sharp: I read a recent quote from you that said: “I love twisty B-roads and a car that can handle them.” What do you drive?

Neil Broadfoot: Unfortunately, I’ve got a dadmobile at the moment—a trusty old Honda CR-V. But my dad is an engineer so I grew up with him tinkering with his cars and cranes, so I guess that enthusiasm has rubbed off on me. I’ve had my fair share of sportier cars, including an RX8 like the one Doug drives (which was brilliant fun when you switched off the traction control and hit those B-roads). One of the most fun cars I’ve driven for a long time is my neighbour’s Renault Clio Renaultsport. He very kindly gave me a loan of it when I was heading up to Nairn for an event as my car was in the garage. That drive was a lot of fun—and that car is going to crop up in a standalone book I’m toying with.

Zoë Sharp: What’s the one thing you’d like readers to take away from your current book?

Neil Broadfoot: With everything that’s going on right now, I just hope people enjoy my work and get some pleasure from it, and it provides a distraction for a couple of hours. On a wider theme, I guess I’m saying that justice has a way of being done, and never underestimate the lengths a half-Irish gym addict will go to to get to the truth.

Zoë Sharp: My thanks to Neil. Next to him—but sitting the requisite dead-body-length apart, naturally—is Noelle Holten.

Noelle turned the tables on crime, moving from dealing with murder and criminals by day into writing about it by night!

Zoë Sharp: You’ve been a successful and award-winning book blogger for how long? What came first—desire to write a crime novel or to blog about crime novels?

Noelle Holten: My blog, CrimeBookJunkie turns FIVE this year—late May. I started in 2015 after never even knowing what a blog was until the end of 2014. I actually never believed I would do either a blog or write a book, so I’d have to say my interest in crime itself came first. I’ve been reading crime fiction since my early teens and Nancy Drew / The Hardy Boys before that. All my university studies focused on crime in one form or another. The blog and then the book(s) just were things I never believed would be seen by anyone but myself… I had always enjoyed writing stories in my teens, I just never believed I could write a book.

Zoë Sharp: You were a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, have three BA Hons—Philosophy, Sociology (Crime & Deviance) and Community Justice, and a Masters in Criminology. Great background for writing crime. Why make DC Maggie Jamieson a straight detective rather than a profiler or something on the psychological side?

Noelle Holten: The series itself takes a multi-agency approach to solving crime and is more an ensemble series so each novel has not only DC Maggie Jamieson but also a Probation Officer, Criminal Psychologist, Social Worker, and other agencies/leads. I covered all bases! 

Zoë Sharp: You’ve written two books so far in the Maggie Jamieson series, the latest of which is DEAD WRONG. Do you see this as a long-running series, or do you have a set number in mind?

Noelle Holten: My contract is for five books so I have two more to deliver. I have quite a few ideas so it could definitely be a long-running series, but that will be up to my publisher!

Zoë Sharp: Your books are published by One More Chapter, an imprint of Harper Collins, but you are also online marketing guru for Bookouture. How do you juggle so many hats? And do you find there’s any conflict between the publicity work you do and reviewing other publishers’ books?

Noelle Holten: I have to be very disciplined balancing my full time job with Bookouture, writing and blogging. After work I set aside time for writing but my blog has definitely taken a backseat as I can’t do it all. I don’t think there is a conflict at all—I can easily champion all the books, no matter who publishes them. Bookouture are incredibly supportive of everything I do. Oh, did I mention I don't sleep much either…?

Zoë Sharp: What was your road to publication?

Noelle Holten: This could be a long answer, so I’ve highlighted the main points here: 

• I attended a writing course—Crime & Publishment with only the prologue to my debut in 2017 and with some encouragement I wrote the first draft in 12 weeks when I returned home.
• In 2018 I returned to the course and pitched my book to Karen Sullivan—who asked me to submit. This gave me the encouragement to submit to other publishers. 
• At Harrogate in 2018, Graham Smith and Abi Fenton introduced me to Finn Cotton—an editor at Killer Reads (now One More Chapter)—I pitched my debut to him on the Saturday. He emailed me the Monday and asked for the full MS. The following week he offered me a two-book deal and a few other publishers made offers but Finn understood the book so I signed with him. 
• Before my debut was published, I was offered a further three-book deal—then DEAD INSIDE was released in May 2019 and it has been a whirlwind since. DEAD WRONG was just released and the third book in the series comes out in October 2020.

There was a lot more to it than this, but with hard work and support from an amazing bunch of people, I finally had a book published!

Zoë Sharp: How many more Maggie Jamieson books in the pipeline?

Noelle Holten: I’m halfway through finishing Book 4 and the final book I’m contracted for is due Dec 2020—after that…who knows!

Zoë Sharp: Is there anything you encountered during your time in the probation service that you would write about, but know nobody would believe you…?

Noelle Holten: Now that would be telling! My debut actually mixes fact with fiction—and many reviewers commented that a probation officer would never find herself in an abusive relationship…sadly for thirteen years, I did. I am always amazed when I see reviewers comment “as if that would ever happen”—that just shows how much more education is needed on the subject of domestic abuse.

Zoë Sharp: What’s the one thing you’d like readers to take away from your current book?

Noelle Holten: That no one agency is responsible for solving crime—it takes a village.

Zoë Sharp: I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s found that sleep is very overrated… Thanks Noelle, and finally—strangely sitting as far away from me as he can get—is Ed James.

Ed is the author of multiple series of crime novels: Six books in the bestselling DI Simon Fenchurch series is set on the gritty streets of East London. The Scott Cullen series of Scottish police procedurals features a young Edinburgh Detective Constable investigating crimes from the bottom rung of the career ladder he's desperate to climb. Spinning off these, the Craig Hunter books star a PTSD-suffering ex-squaddie now working as a cop investigating sexual abuse cases, with lots of slapstick and office banter.

As well as continuing the Cullen books in a series of novellas and short novels, Ed has also published two DS Vicky Dodds books, two FBI Special Agent Max Carter books set in Seattle and SENSELESS, a serial killer thriller with a twist. He lives in the Scottish Borders, Scotland and writes full-time. He used to work in IT project management, where he filled his weekly commute to London by literally writing on planes, trains and automobiles.

So, your latest book is TELL ME LIES, described as first FBI Special Agent Max Carter book. And you’ve more planned?

Ed James: Yes, the second one—GONE IN SECONDS—will be out in the summer, date TBC. I finished it around Christmas and edited it just as Seattle was going in to lockdown, so it was pretty strange. I’ve got another one planned in that neck of the woods, but good old Max might take a back seat in that and let someone else take lead.

Zoë Sharp: TELL ME LIES is with Bookouture when previous books have been indie. Why the new direction?

Ed James: Not strictly true. I published six novels with Thomas & Mercer, the Amazon Publishing imprint, five Fenchurch books and a Vicky Dodds, which they’ve graciously returned the rights on and I’ve self-published them all, some even without completely re-editing. Ahem.

Zoë Sharp: So, you started off with DI Simon Fenchurch? Then DC Scott Cullen, then Cullen & Bain, plus Craig Hunter, Max Carter, and Scottish vampires and standalones. (Another who thinks sleep is much overrated!)

Ed James: Cullen was first, eight years ago, then I raced through four in a year. Then I did a supernatural crime-y thing, which was a disaster and has sold absolutely bugger all. I keep unpublishing and relaunching but it never stuck, so I bowdlerised it for the third Hunter book, though it bears very little similarity. Then another Cullen, then the first Vicky Dodds book, Snared, , then another Cullen, but instead of a sequel to Snared, I wrote the first Fenchurch, which had been about vampires but became about the sex trade in London. Then after another Cullen, I did two spin-offs in the Hunter series which are more Reacher-y fighty blokey type books. And I’m back doing more Cullen now with some short novels which are as daft as they are dark. And, finally, the second Dodds book, Flesh and Blood, set in my home town of Carnoustie.

Zoë Sharp: SENSELESS, featuring DS Corcoran and Dr Palmer came out in March 2020. Is this the start of another new series?

Ed James: I hope so. It’s published by Headline and they’ve been great, but it’s a completely different world to indie where you can be your own boss and make a complete disaster of whatever you like. It’s out in paperback in July and we’ll see if there’s an appetite for more, but I’ve certainly got ideas for more in that world.

Zoë Sharp: What’s the story of your road to publication from the perspective of indie vs traditional?

Ed James: See above. I’ve sold a ton of books through APub, but I think I’m at my happiest when I don’t have crushing deadlines and can work with freedom. This year has been a weird one for lots of reasons, but I feel like I’m on home turf publishing so many indie books that I’m really loving writing.

Zoë Sharp: Is the fact you used to work in IT in London why you set the DI Simon Fenchurch books in London but now write about Scotland when you live in the Borders?

Ed James: Well, I wrote about Scotland long before London, but I find the geography is as important as the characters you write about. My old publisher wanted me to change the location for the first Fenchurch book to Dundee, but it just doesn’t work. It’s set in the sex trade and there’s one lap-dancing bar there, versus about ten in Shoreditch alone. (And you know this how exactly? ZS) Similarly, writing about Seattle in TELL ME LIES is a very different prospect to writing about, say, Craig Hunter and his dodgy father dicking about in the Highlands, or Vicky Dodds unearthing an old case her dad worked back in the 90s.

Zoë Sharp: Does your girlfriend still do your covers?

Ed James: I do them now, but she’s trained me in the art of Photoshop, etc. And she’ll tell me how shit they are!

Zoë Sharp: Why did you take back control of your work from Thomas & Mercer?

Ed James: I had a good relationship with my old editor who pushed my books like crazy, but she moved on. Unlike a lot of similar things in publishing where they’d move to another imprint and take some authors with them, she moved to Amazon Video. After a lot of soul searching, I decided that it was best to take ownership of my back catalogue and market them myself. 

Zoë Sharp: Are you still Amazon exclusive?

Ed James: My indie books are all exclusive to Amazon as they offer so many advantages, such as price promotions and the lending library, which is over 50% of my income. I dabbled in “going wide”, as they say, but found that one day’s Page Reads was 90 days’ sales income elsewhere. Other genres and territories will vary, but Scottish police procedurals with slapstick and lots of swearing seem to be at home on Amazon. 

Zoë Sharp: What’s next? (Is there anything you haven’t yet tried?!?)

Ed James: Lots of things. I’m planning at least another two Cullen and Bain books. I’ve just finished the first Vicky Dodds book, so it needs editing. Then I should do another Fenchurch as it’s been too long, though like Cullen I did fall out of love with him writing too many books back to back. I’m finding variety is the spice of life just now, and being able to switch between projects at whim is very satisfying.

Zoë Sharp: Are the chickens still laying?

Ed James: They are. Just started again, getting 6-10 a day. It’s that time of year where the ex-battery ones starting getting ill and, unlike cats or dogs, hens don’t really come back from illness. On balance, letting them peck around our fields for two years seems a fair compromise for the nine months of sheer hell they had in cages. We took in some ex-free rangers last year (poultry farmers tend to get rid of birds after nine months) and they seem a lot hardier and a lot less damaged so hopefully they’ll last longer.

Zoë Sharp: What’s the one thing you’d like readers to take away from your current book?

Ed James: A wry smile.

Zoë Sharp: I asked my fellow panellists if they had a question for me that could be safely answered in public. This is what they came up with:

Neil Broadfoot: How are you coping with the lockdown—other than getting various power tools delivered for your next project? And how do you think the current circumstances are going to be reflected in future books, not just yours but in the genre generally? (I’d really like to know the answer to this as I’m struggling with how to frame it myself!)

Zoë Sharp: To be honest, the current UK lockdown due to Covid-19 has not changed life much for me. I’m pretty isolated where I spend my winters anyway. Just me, acting as staff to a couple of high-maintenance cats, and pottering through renovations alongside the writing. I think the only real difference is that I seem to be getting more contact from people than usual—and I’m getting through more bleach…

It’s interesting to think about how we’re all going to take the global pandemic into account in books that are written either now or in the future. I don’t think this virus is entirely going away for quite a while. But, if social distancing of one form or another becomes a regular part of life, I think we’ll absorb it into the framework of our books just as we do any other behavioural changes. We no longer have characters smoking in pubs or restaurants, for example. The difficulty is going to be working out how much change, how quickly, and how long-term.

The book that comes out this month, BONES IN THE RIVER, was obviously written largely before the virus hit, so there’s no mention made of it. Next in the planning is a standalone that will probably be set at some unspecified point BC (Before Covid-19). But then I’ll be working on the next in the Charlie Fox series, and I’ll take stock before I dive into that as to how much I need to make allowances, because it will tie the book to a precise date that might be a drawback in the future.

Noelle Holten: How much research did you have to do for the latest series and were you shocked/surprised about anything you found?

Zoë Sharp: I did a load of research before I began writing BONES IN THE RIVER, and while I was writing it, come to that. I remember at one point I had about eight different non-fiction books spread around me as I was working. Because of the setting at the annual Appleby Horse Fair, it required research not only from the perspective of the Gypsy and Traveller characters, but also because it involves police procedure—both by detectives and crime-scene personnel—that is very different from the Charlie Fox novels. She is all about threat-assessment and danger rather than straightforward crime.

At the same time, I knew I didn’t want to turn this book into a How-To manual for investigators, so I tried to strike a balance of including just enough technicality without overdoing it. As with the first book in the Lakes crime thriller trilogy, DANCING ON THE GRAVE, I’m concentrating as much on the effects of crimes on the characters as I am on their part in the crimes themselves.

Ed James: If you could co-write a novel with any living author, who would it be?

Zoë Sharp: That’s a really tricky question. You, of course, Ed. When do we start?

This week’s Word of the Week is misericord, meaning a narrow-bladed dagger used for killing a wounded enemy. From the Latin misericordia, tender-hearted.It can also mean a turn-up seat in a choir stall, which offers the user support when standing; a room in a monastery where some relaxation of rules was allowed; and mercy, forgiveness, or pity.