Who's writing this novel anyway?

[John Dean]

Writers spend a lot of time thinking about the technical aspect of their work  - does the plot hold together, is the pace right, is there too much description, an over-use of back story, poor grammar, literals etc etc?

That is all important stuff but writers need also to take time to let the story do its own thing, to let it grow organically.

For instance, in the recently-published Death List, DCI John Blizzard becomes a father. It was never planned - when I created him, he was a lost cause, a curmudgeonly and confirmed bachelor.

However, he had different ideas. First, he introduced me to a girlfriend (I know I invented Fee Ellis but it feels like it was Blizzard’s work, I have always heard him talking to me!) and now he’s a Dad. I never thought that would happen either.

That was gratifying enough for me as a writer because it meant the character was real but it had an extra meaning because Death List concludes the story started in Strange Little Girl, which deals with a powerful child sex abuse ring.

As a dad, as a human being, I did not set out to explore the theme of child abuse, abhorrent as it is, but my experience as a journalist had introduced me to the idea of powerful forces at work and, as a writer, it was something that I felt I needed to explore. The idea of people so powerful that they could control lives intrigued me and writers tend to follow the story when it grabs them.

Which is where Blizzard’s baby suddenly made so much sense because the development allowed me to deepen the DCI’s character by exploring his reaction to the men he was investigating not just as a police officer but as a new father.

And that’s organic storytelling.

You can see the results at

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DEATH-LIST-following-prison-targets-ebook/...