I am currently 43,000 words into my latest DCI Blizzard crime novel for The Book Folks and key to getting the process right is to ensure that the story continually benefits from injections of energy to maintain its momentum - and increase it, where necessary.But how do you do that? It’s not as simple as the old crime writers adage that if you want to inject momentum into…See More

Crime writer Ian Robinson has a new novel out, marking the return of renegade police officer Sam Batford in his latest undercover assignment for the Metropolitan Police.In Lines Crossed (The Book Folks), an armed gang is robbing cash vans in North London, and Detective Sergeant Batford’s bosses want his help catching them. That’s not all that they want, though.…See More

As I have said in past blogs, the wise author listens when the story speaks to them and if that means changing the original plan then so be it.But how far should the author be prepared to change the story that they originally decided to write? I mean, it was the author’s idea long before those pesky character stuck their oar in, wasn’t it? There has to be a limit,…See More

Each year, Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival in North Yorkshire welcomes a stellar line-up of bestselling authors and celebrated speakers to the Harrogate stage and this year these include Theresa May, Victoria Hislop, Ros Atkins, Peter Reid, Monty Panesar, Alison Weir, William Hanson and many more.In association with Yorkshire Life Magazine, the organisers are …See More

Writing has the capacity to continually surprise the author who is doing it, and that can often take them somewhere unexpected.Sometimes that means a nod to the past, which is why I have found myself using an Agatha Christie technique without setting out to do so.What was planned for my latest DCI John Blizzard novel was a series of disparate plot lines with no obvious…See More

The other day, I was surfing the web seeking inspiration for my latest blog when I came across a number of articles on the vexed subject of profanity in fiction.I, like most authors who use swear words in their writing, receive the occasional review from readers for whom profanity is an issue. For some of them, it is reason enough not to buy a book.I tend to use swear…See More