The catalyst - the author's friend

[John Dean]

Much of the writing process relies on catalysts, little bombs that explode and infuse the narrative with energy (I appreciate that chemistry practitioners may now be yelling at the page in protest at the mixed metaphors contained in that sentence but you get the idea).

So what do these catalysts look like? Well, an example from the new DCI Blizzard crime novel on which I have just started work for my publishers The Book Folks may give you a good idea.

The opening chapters of a new novel can be a challenge. Yes, the author may well have done the planning but the story has not yet gathered its momentum yet and the writer may find themselves continually faced with a blank page (more so than in the later stages of the writing when the story has gathered momentum).

With the writing stalling, the author needs a boost and, in this case, it was provided by a character who has been created just for this novel, her appearance strengthened by the catalyst that is sense of place.

The woman I have created is a feckless person short on morals who lives in a rundown tower block which is gradually being evacuated prior to demolition (with such characters the author has to make sure that they are realistically-drawn and do not slip into cliché). The catalyst was provided by sense of place which led to a bleak scene, stairwells that reek of stale urine, concrete walls crumbling, lifts that don’t work.

Once the detectives who had gone to see her were in her living room, sense of place dropped more energy into the story in the shape of a sofa. How come a sofa can be so powerful, you may well ask? Well, in this case my detective sergeant was proudly wearing his new pale grey suit and as he sat down on the grubby sofa, he felt something soft sticking to the fabric. Chewing gum.

Small points, observations dispensed with through the use of just a few words, but observations that, for all that, gave this particular author a welcome dose of momentum on the long journey towards the welcome words The End!