An exciting time

[John Dean]

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 will be part of the DCI Jack Harris series. It’s one of my favourite times as a writer, a very creative time, because having spent so many months on the same book, you can finally cut loose and focus on something new.

As I was finishing the Blizzard novel, I was already turning over ideas for the Harris one. I had the kernel of an idea and allowed it to grow into something more substantial over a number of weeks and months (mostly while walking the dogs!).

How does the author develop an idea? One way I find useful is to delve into my main character's past and doing that on this occasion brought to mind a storyline that I had mentioned in a couple of previous novels but which was not yet fully developed.

I always knew that it had the potential to be something bigger and by allowing my mind to roam, I developed a storyline that brings it out of Jack Harris's past and into his present life.

I love developing characters to give them extra depth and Harris has become a complex character over the series, which gives me, as an author, plenty to play with.

It can be a few weeks before I actually start writing but it is time well spent; the idea becomes  well-formed and I have the beginnings of a synopsis which give me a road map for each chapter, usually the first seven or eight chapters.

The story is not one hundred per cent formed; it will twist and turn during the writing process with ideas emerging from characters who are part of the series' well-established ensemble cast plus new ones who will probably only appear in one novel but will bring with them the energy that comes with something fresh.

It is, all things considered, an exciting time for an author and today I will type those words that are so full of promise - Chapter One.