TELLING A TALE - Story settings

 TELLING A TALE

STORY SETTINGS

I think it's really important to describe the settings in the stories I write. I like to paint a word picture so the reader can fully imagine the location where the action is taking place. In Blood on the Tide, a WWII bomb is retrieved from the mud at Compass Point (Rye Harbour). I tried hard to describe the concern of the soldiers as they sweated to get it out, while watching the tide gradually roll in.

In Blood on the Shrine, DI Sonny Russell is sent to a Buddhist retreat, almost as a joke by superintendent Vic Stout. But Russell is much more spiritual than his boss realises and delights in being there. I drew on my own, not insignificant experiences, of Buddhism to describe the peace and serenity encountered at a retreat.

The story in Blood on the Strand revolves around gold and silver valuables that were stolen towards the end of WWII. The net shops in Hastings play a large part in the story. I wanted to recreated the sight and smells of these iconic buildings and the surrounding fishermen's beach.

In the fourth DI Sonny Russell mystery the occult and fortune tellers come to the fore. During my research I was delighted to discover that the occultist Aleister Crowley, once named 'the wickedest man in the world', ended his days in a nursing home in Hastings. I described a visit made made by Septimus Pike, a sinister antique dealer, to the infamous character and the sad situation he finished up in.

My current work in progress, book five in the series, begins with an investigation into the disappearance of two characters. Quite a lot of the action takes place at a grand manor house, named Sowsden Manor in my story. But, it's actually based on a place I know well - but I'm not telling!

AUTHOR AUTHOR!

AUTHOR AUTHOR!

Fishermen's rail track and hut - Dungeness

You'd think that in these straightened times I'd be cracking on with writing the next instalment of the adventures of DI Sonny Russell and his loyal terrier, Aggie. Well I should be. But... some sort of ennui has set in and, in the evening, when I'd normally lounge on the sofa with the laptop, I seem to be gorging on crime dramas on Netflix or BBC iPlayer. I doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about writing - I am - it's just that I'm not actually doing it although I have started.

Old bridge over the Royal Military Canal at Appledore

But that's part of the problem. I've started not one, but two books. One, provisionally titled BLOOD IN THE GARDEN, is planned to be the fifth in the DI Russell series set in the 1950s. The other, THE WRONG CAR, is my attempt at writing a contemporary story, more in keeping with the current trend for grittier, up to the minute writing. My dilemma, as well as a general laziness, is choosing which one to continue with. 

Netherwood House, Hastings

Last home of Aleister Crowley

I seem to be developing a following for my 1950s series and have sold 1/4 of the first print run of my new novel, BLOOD ON THE CARDS, plus the kindle sales have been encouraging. So perhaps I should stick to this and trust that the momentum continues. However, like most writers, I would like to sell more books and wonder if I should be writing in a style that's currently in vogue.

Suggestions would be gratefully received. The photos I've used above are from scenes in BLOOD ON THE CARDS which is available from me or on Amazon.

  

JOURNEY'S END - well not quite

JOURNEY'S END

well not quite

A few days ago I finished writing the fourth book in the DI Sonny Russell series of crime novels, BLOOD ON THE CARDS. It came as something of a surprise.

I started writing it back in December 2018 with only the germ of an idea  - that the body of a fortune teller would be found in a WW2 pillbox near Appledore in Kent. Besides that, I hadn't a clue where the story was going to take me. 

I remember listening to Anne Cleeves, the author of the Shetland and Vera novels that have been so successfully transferred to the small screen. She was choosing her eight records on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and said there were two types of writers - plotters and pantsters. 

Plotters know exactly where they are going, even to the extent of creating a graph or wall chart, showing the characters, the locations and the plots and just how they are going to react with each other. Pantsters, on the other hand, literally fly by the seat of the pants, following every twist and turn of the story they are creating. Writing like a reader, they are never sure where the narrative is going to take them. I'm one of those. 

I do enjoy the writing, above everything else - editing and promotion for instance - and feel quite bereft when I come to the end of a story that I have been wrapped up in for nearly a year. I would quite like to get on with the next instalment, but first the hard work really starts.

I will have to go through this first draft, carefully checking for inaccuracies, to make sure the chronology is correct and that the narrative floes. I will then hand my baby over to my better half, Greer, who after a lifetime in journalism is more than qualified to check for errors I've missed. I then like to pass it on to a beta reader* to get his opinion of the story. (Very sadly, a good friend who fulfilled that function on the last manuscript, passed away recently so I will have to find another trusted friend to take his place. Not an easy task.)

Then, when all are satisfied, it's off to the printer. So, although the writing is done, there's still a long way to go. However, if you haven't already met DI Sonny Russell, Aggie, his faithful Jack Russell terrier and DC Johnny Weeks, the first three books are available in paperback or kindle.

*A beta reader is usually an unpaid test reader of an unreleased work of literature, who gives feedback from the point of view of an average reader to the author.