July 2020 Blog Posts (6)

Write every day

I was asked in an interview the other day for my golden rules for new writers. I replied: “Write something every day because you cannot be a writer if you do not write – it may not always be brilliant but at least you’ve done it.” It's advice that my good friend the children's writer Mike Watson lives by. I suspect that many authors do the same.

I also said that they should not write for themselves. Always write for the reader. Think what the reader needs to understand your…

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Added by John Dean on July 16, 2020 at 14:43 — No Comments

And no one asked me!!!

As I have said in previous blogs, you can create the most remarkable writing but you cannot make your stories live unless you have vivid characters. And that includes being prepared to let minor characters develop into someone more important.

That is happening to me (and not for the first time) as I write the latest DCI Jack Harris crime novel for those good people at The Book Folks.

The character in question did not even figure in my planning of the novel nor, as I reached…

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Added by John Dean on July 15, 2020 at 10:00 — No Comments

Encouraging reviews

Delighted to say that the latest in the DCI John Blizzard series published by The Book Folks is attracting some encouraging reviews on Amazon. I am very grateful.

In The Latch Man, Doris Hornsby, the bed-bound matriarch of a notorious criminal family, calls in the police after she sees an intruder in her room. Blizzard attends in person,…

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Added by John Dean on July 9, 2020 at 14:30 — No Comments

Sugared sweetmeat, anyone?

The use of words is something dear to all our hearts as writers. They are the tools of our trade and we wield them with care.

That means that every word should earn the right to be on the page and that authors should be forensic in the examination of what they write, even if it means that some words slip from our usage or at least appear much less frequently. For example, I became aware some years ago that there were some words I used too often in my writing - ‘murmured’ and…

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Added by John Dean on July 6, 2020 at 11:19 — No Comments

Online courses

I am pleased to say that I have been running a number of online creative writing courses during lockdown and continuing into the more relaxed situation, both for individuals and groups, some focusing on crime fiction, others looking at more general fiction, both short stories and novels.

Some exciting work is being produced by those taking part,…

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Added by John Dean on July 1, 2020 at 13:53 — No Comments

Getting inside the reader's head

As a writer, I have always been interested in triggers, the images, concepts, places, people, utterances that evoke reactions in your reader.

That reaction will often be based on something the reader has actually experienced, or maybe something that they dread ever having to experience. It is why crime, horror and ghost stories work so well.

I am thinking about this because, in writing the latest Harris novel, I found myself stuck at the start of what felt like it should be an…

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Added by John Dean on July 1, 2020 at 11:45 — No Comments

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Festival announces top quality line-up

One of the strongest features of Kirkcudbright Book Week right from its early days has been the popularity of crime fiction - and the 2025 event is set to continue the tradition.The programme to run in the South West Scotland town between March 3-9 includes appearances by several best-selling crime fiction authors as well as those starting out  on their writing careers.One of the highlights will be a performance by award-winning crime novelist Chris Brookmyre and Dr Marisa Haetzman, who was a…See More
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How to keep a long-running series fresh

Writing a long-running series of novels, as can so often be the case for crime fiction authors, brings its own set of challenges, not least how do you keep the writing fresh for reader and writer alike?As I start the latest DCI  Jack Harris novel for my publisher The Book Folks, the twelfth in the series where the action is divided between the North Pennines and southern…See More
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An exciting time

Having just completed my latest DCI Blizzard crime novel for my publisher The Book Folks, this is both a nervous time and an exciting time. Nervous because, however experienced you are (and this is Book 25), it’s always a tense time as you wait for feedback from your publisher. You are never too old to learn!Exciting because your thoughts turn to the next book, which…See More
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Injecting energy into your crime novel

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
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A challenge for the reader

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
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