Relationships between characters are at the heart of all stories, and crime novels are no different. In this week's #TuesdayTip, I want to look at how we can write realistic relationships.
First of all, I firmly believe that you can't write a relationship unless you know the people that you are writing about. This is as true of minor, secondary characters, as it is of long-standing, series regulars. So before you start writing a scene, think about who will be taking part.
How two people interact depends on a range of factors.

• Their personal history (if they have one).
• The power balance between them (think about how you might bite your tongue when your boss says something really foolish, compared to when your best friend does something really asinine).
• If one individual needs something from the other (a police officer may nod sympathetically whilst listening to a murderer confessing, putting aside their personal revulsion to get to the truth).
• The public façade that each character wishes to portray to others (a guilty person in interview might try to come across as helpful and open; their interrogator may want to seem as though they are trying to help them out).
• Jealousy (the green-eyed monster can affect any relationship , whether it be sexual jealousy or plain old avarice).

With that in mind, it's worth considering the types of relationships that occur in real life.
Lovers / Spouses / Exes.
These relationships are so often at the heart of dramatic fiction, and for good reason. In a crime novel, where the aim is to dig below the surface, it's worth spending some time building up the layers for key couples/former couples.
(Note that I make no assumptions about whether these relationships are same sex, opposite sex, or non-gendered. I will be writing a future blog about writing LBGQT+ characters, but the questions below should be true of any relationship).
So ask yourself a few questions:

• How long have they been together?
• What is their relationship status?
• Are they committed/exclusive?
• Are they open with each other? Is there, or has there been, infidelity?
• Is there a power/financial imbalance?
• Are they happy? Is there abuse or anger or jealousy?
• What challenges are they facing/have they faced?

• If they are no longer together, how long were they together for?
• When and why did they break up? Did they ever get back together?
• Was it a happy relationship?
• Was it committed?
• Did they keep secrets from one another?
• How was the break-up? Was it mutual? Have they both accepted it and moved on?

Parent / child or between siblings.
These are amongst our closest relationships, rivalling even that between lovers and spouses. These people have known us for many years, and we have evolved and aged together. Even in close, loving relationships, there is often emotional baggage that will forever colour how we interact. They know what makes us tick, and what buttons to press. They have often seen a side of you that nobody else has, such as temper trantrums.
How have the relationships evolved? Do the chcaracters 'regress' to childhood patterns of behaviour when they meet up with them? Do old memories and feelings resurface?
Old friends.
Friends are like family - but different.
Think about the people you grew up with - they know all your secrets; including the ones that you kept from your family. They know about your likes and dislikes and what makes you laugh.
Are your characters still in touch, or have they perhaps drifted apart? What happens when they reunite? Again, do they regress?
Then there are new friends.
A new friendship group, perhaps as a result of moving, or going to university, can be an opportunity to reinvent yourself.
Would old acquaintances recognise the 'new' person, if they were a fly on the wall?
Then there are your work colleagues.
We often spend more waking hours in their company than we do friends and family. Sometimes they become best friends, other times they are people we (barely) tolerate. Even the most open and friendly colleague is probably showing you a different face than that seen by their closest loved ones. I am sometimes struck by how a colleague's social media posts often seem to be that of a complete stranger. Doubtless they feel the same way about me.
Casual acquaintances.
Is the relationship friendly, antagonistic or neutral? How did they meet? How often do they see each other? How much do they know about your character? Do they know things about the person that might be unexpected (eg something they overheard or saw)?
So, what if all these different people meet?
Weddings are unique occasions when two families and circles of friends meet, often for the first time. I've written before about how people often regress when they meet up with childhood friends. What happens when your character finds themself sitting on a table with people they went to school with, people who shared a flat with them as a student, and the people who know them primarily through work? How will your character deal with that?
In a crime novel, a police officer interviewing acquaintances of a victim or suspect might get different responses depending on who they interview. Who should they believe?

Things to keep in mind
Keep the relationship consistent - but remember, relationships evolve.
This is not a contradiction! For there to be a change in a relationship, there needs to be a catalyst. That catalyst could be something as inevitable as the passage of time, but as a rule if two workmates are warm and friendly one day, then cold the next, then something must have happened. This is the assumption that your readers will make, so take care not to lead them down the garden path by being careless - they won't appreciate it.
Don't forget the importance of relationships between secondary characters.
A couple of lines is all it takes, but it will help round out a character and make them realistic. The touch of a spouse's hand on their partner's shoulder can tell the reader lots about their relationship without ever being explicit.
Two people may have an entirely different view of their relationship.
There are plenty of people sideswiped by the unexpected ending of a relationship that they though was going fine. Or consider that sudden explosion of anger after a few too many at Christmas, when you realise that your constant 'joking' about your sister's weight was actually only funny to you...
Then of course there is jealousy or unrequited feelings.

So how can you write realistic relationships?
Observation is key:
Look at friends and family. Pay attention. Is there a relationship in your life, or someone you know, that matches the one that you are trying to write?
Of course, this comes with a big health warning - think carefully about how comfortable you (or they) will be if it becomes apparent who the character is based on.
For that reason, it may be safer to take note of how relationships are dealt with in books and on TV. Soap operas are pretty much nothing but relationships, but of course the quality and realism varies. Choose wisely! As a reader or viewer, you probably have a gut feeling for what works and what doesn't, so follow those instincts.

So, what are your thoughts about writing relationships? Are there any really good examples that you would recommend?
Feel free to comment below or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul

According to the file creation date on the Word document that would become the first draft of the book that would eventually be published as The Last Straw, DCI Warren Jones came into being on Tuesday 12th April 2011 - exactly ten years ago today. So for this reason, I decided to bring forward this week's #TuesdayTip and put together an article sharing some of that journey and what I've learned in those ten years.
For a quicker, more light-hearted read, you may want to check out my post on the HQ Stories blog, where I catalogue the 10 things I've learned in 10 years.
https://www.hqstories.co.uk/2021/04/08/ten-things-paul-gitsham-has-learnt-in-ten-years/ 


Your debut novel probably won't be the first book you have attempted to write.
An oft-quoted saying can be paraphrased as 'the first million words don't count'.
Whilst there are exceptions to every rule, most authors have at least one previous attempt locked away in a drawer somewhere. I have several. Some are literally in a drawer - I became quite the expert at purloining blank exercise books from school for my scribblings*, and these unfortunate attempts will never see the light of day. Neither will the three hidden on my hard drive.
Yet none of these were a waste of time. Writing is like any other skill. You need to practise, and whilst a million words seems like a lot, when you add up those abandoned manuscripts, the various short stories and essays I've written for creative writing classes, and my rambling missives on social media, I'll bet it isn't far off.
But, The Last Straw was the first novel I completed.
The key point I am making is do not despair at a perceived lack of progress. Your first finished book is just the visible point of a very big pyramid.
 (*For the avoidance of doubt, I pilfered these exercise books when I was a pupil, not as a teacher twenty years later!)
Titles come and titles go.
The title of my first book was The Straw That Broke The Camel's Back.
It was clever, fitted the story perfectly and highly original. It was also ridiculously long.
Take a look at the titles of a typical crime fiction novel and you'll see why my publishers promptly renamed it The Last Straw. If nothing else, at least that fits on the cover!
Since then I have published a further ten titles - all of them follow the loose theme of a play on a well known phrase. I'd love to take credit for these titles, but really I can't. Naming a book is an art form in its own right and only a few are mine. No Smoke Without Fire, Forgive Me Father, Blood Is Thicker Than Water and At First Glance are the only names that stuck. The rest have either been tweaked by my publisher or are entirely a product of their marketing department.  Aside from a couple of times where I have fought my corner, I've generally been content to accept the wisdom of those more experienced than I. 
And so do names!
I've written previous articles on how to name characters (TuesdayTips 31, 32 & 33). But don't let that fool you. Since day one, I've found choosing the perfect name for characters almost impossible. When I started writing The Last Straw, the two lead characters' names were place-holders - Smith and Jones. Fans of British comedy will know why that pairing was never going to be the final choice. As it happens, I became very attached to Warren Jones, but Tony Smith became Tony Sutton  - a popular surname in Essex, the county from where he comes. Other characters in that manuscript changed in the final draft. With the benefit of hindsight, I would go back and tweak the names of a few of the series regulars - some are very similar to each other - but I'm stuck with them now, and I've grown to like them.
Finishing the book is just the start.
First of all, if you've just completed your first draft, congratulations! Seriously, give yourself a pat on the back.
My best friend, upon hearing that I had completed The Straw That Broke The Camel's Back, told me I should be proud of myself. 'Do you know how many people have started but never finished a novel'? And he was right. Probably hundreds of thousands of people have ideas for a book. Tens of thousands have tried to write it. Yet only a small number actually get to type The End.
Even if that's the final step of your journey, you have accomplished something that many people attempt, but never quite manage.
But that first draft is just that. By the time I was ready to shyly ask some close friends and family to have a look at my book, it had gone through months of revisions. That first draft was completed at the beginning of November 2011 - a little over 6 1/2 months after I first started writing it, but it was the best part of a year before I bought my copy of the Writer & Artists Year Book and started submitting to agents and publishers.
Rejection, rejection, rejection.
Aside from a lucky few, almost all writers have a pile of rejection slips (or more likely unanswered emails) evidencing their attempts to get an agent and/or publisher. It's not personal. There are a million reasons why you aren't signed. The chances are good that it has nothing to do with your writing! Agents and publishers have very clear ideas about what they are looking for at any given time, and it can be something as simple as the fact that they have just signed a writer similar to yourself - if you'd submitted before them, they could have taken you on instead. Keep on plugging away!
Back in 2012, I was still a full-time school teacher and self-publishing was in its infancy. Many authors were starting to take advantage of the new opportunities offered by Kindle and forging very successful careers. Some are extremely well-respected today and have earned an impressive following. But many of the tools and services that exist now were not available, and I just didn't have the time to do all the hard work that publishers do when it comes to editing and polishing a book, choosing a cover, typesetting, converting and uploading to Kindle, then marketing it etc.
It would have been a fascinating project to take on, but I wanted to spend my precious free hours writing more books and so traditional publishing was the best route for me. If I were starting today, perhaps I would have chosen differently, but I don't dwell on that . 
Publishing the first book gets in the way of writing the next one!
After finishing book 1, I was buzzing so much I promptly started on book 2. But that soon ground to a halt when my first beta readers gave their thoughts. There were months of work to be done on book 1 before I could start submitting it. The same thing happened with book 3; feedback from book 2 came in and I had to put that manuscript to one side. Nevertheless, by the time I finally got the call in summer 2013, from a new, digital-first publisher. I was half-way through book 3. They offered me a three-book deal. Now I had to juggle writing book 3 with editing books 1 and 2 again as my publisher sent them back for revisions and rewrites.
Some novelists only produce a handful of books during their career, with a gap of years between them. They finish a book, publish it, promote it and then start thinking about what to write next. For an ongoing series, momentum is the key to building a following. And so you find yourself stepping onto a treadmill; many writers I know are working on three books simultaneously: completing the edits for the upcoming book, writing the next in the series and planning the following book. 
Publishers change.
The publishing industry is very dynamic. Personnel come and go constantly, accepting promotions within their organisation or moving to a different publishing house. The traditional concentration of the industry in central London can make such career changes quite easy. Even the publisher itself can change.
My original publisher was Carina UK (their logo can be seen on the original editions of my first four books). Carina was a digital-first imprint of Harlequin, a publishing house known primarily for its women-oriented fiction, including the famous romantic fiction imprint, Mills & Boon.
I vividly remember my only visit to their headquarters in Richmond. I was buzzed into the office and upon reaching the first floor was confronted by a sea of pink, a massive M&B logo and a room full of women.
"Anyone expecting a delivery?" was how my presence was announced by the receptionist.
"Actually, I'm an author," I said.
Now, it's a myth that all romance writers are women - I know quite a few male authors of romantic fiction, but they usually hide behind their initials or pen names, so I can forgive her assumption.
"I'm with Carina."
"Ah, that makes sense," she said, pointing towards a corner of the room that had been painted the distinctive blue that they still use today. Back then, I was one of only a handful of male authors, and even fewer crime writers, working for the fledgling imprint - something that changed rapidly over the coming years.
After my first four books were published, it was all change. Harlequin was bought by HarperCollins. The Carina UK imprint (which shared its name with a different imprint in the US) was renamed, along with the rest of Harlequin and became HQ Digital (later HQ Stories as they started to publish more physical books and audiobooks), retaining its distinctive blue branding. For obvious reasons, they kept Mills & Boon as it was, given its name recognition and heritage.
Since then, I have had many more books published with HQ and have had several editors over the years. It's always sad when they move on, but change is a part of life, and I have always forged enjoyable and productive partnerships with their successors.
Covers aren't as unique as you think.
One of the lovely traditions when releasing a new book is the cover reveal. I had mine for Out Of Sight just last week. If you are with a traditional publisher, then the chances are it will have been cooked up by the design team (or whoever they subcontract to). There's no question that there are certain tropes within the genre.  A recent joke doing the rounds on Facebook was asking if anyone knows who the woman in the red raincoat is that features on so many covers, since she probably needs counselling!
When choosing the cover, there is quite often some dialogue with the publisher, and you may be asked your opinion. For a series, there will be an attempt to unify the fonts, colour palette and layout to allow for a consistent branding. I have been very fortunate over the years, with my publisher completely changing the covers of my first four books after a few years to make a more distinctive look as the series expanded.
All well and good, but there is a little secret...
The original cover for my second book, No Smoke Without Fire, perfectly encapsulated a key scene in the book. I loved it. So imagine my horror when a few months later, I spotted the exact same cover image on a different book. The title and genre were different, but they'd even used similar fonts! I checked the publication date and it had been released about a month after mine. Plagiarism! I sent an urgent email to my publisher...
Well it turns out that generally speaking, they don't have teams of photographers scouring the world for that perfect image... Instead they use a stock photo from a database and then modify it. Ten minutes with Google reverse image look-up revealed that the picture had been uploaded to one of the major stock image databases a couple of months before publication date - roughly about the time that our respective cover designers will have been choosing the perfect image...
Show me the money!
Everyone has heard of the six, seven or even eight figure advance. It usually helps if you are a celebrity. Unfortunately, the reality is different. Only a select few authors get to sign contracts for life-changing sums of money. In fact, surveys have shown that median income for writers is now far below that needed to live on if it is your sole source of income and it appears to be declining. And most of that income is derived not from advances, rather royalties on books sold.
I remember well the excitement and anticipation of my first royalty cheque. At the time, Harlequin paid its authors quarterly, so this cheque would be a bumper sum covering three whole months of sales.
£50.60 for 52 copies sold.
The following quarter was a breath-taking £217.60 as 242 copies landed on Kindles... Since then, things have picked up, and whilst sales will always be up and down, all my titles continue to sell. The annual release of a new book also renews interest in earlier entries in the series.
But you know what? Whilst I am grateful that I earn enough from writing that I have been able to reduce the hours in my day job to part-time, I couldn't stop writing about Warren if I wanted to. Over the past ten years, he and his team have become like friends to me and no longer chronicling his adventures would leave a gaping hole in my life. All that being said, if Netflix are reading this, please don't be shy, my email address is on the image at the top of he page...
And finally, whilst we are on the subject... Amazon Sales Rankings tell you nothing of any value! Obviously, a book in the top ten of the paid book chart is selling more copies than one languishing around the 500,000 mark. But the algorithm used to calculate your sales ranking each hour is a closely-guarded trade secret that takes into account everything from actual sales in the past hour to historic sales data over an unspecified period, the outside temperature and the colour of Jeff Bezo's underwear last Tuesday. Unfortunately, because rankings are relative to other books, yours depends on others' performance as much as yours. There are services that attempt to use the hourly changes in the rankings to calculate when sales occur, but Amazon deliberately makes it difficult for them to work accurately. I suspect this might be because authors publishing directly via Amazon have privileged access to real-time sales data, one of the key selling points for their services.


So there you have it. Ten years since I started writing DCI Warren Jones and just over seven years since The Last Straw was published. A further ten novels and novellas have since been written, with the seventh full-length, Out of Sight, just a couple of months away, and more are in the pipeline. 

Happy Warren Jones day!

Easter egg:
1. an artificial chocolate egg or decorated hard-boiled egg given at Easter.
2. an unexpected or undocumented feature in a piece of computer software or on a DVD, included as a joke or a bonus.
Definition from Oxford Languages.
The term Easter Egg was first used to describe a hidden message in a 1979 Atari video game. Since then its usage has expanded somewhat, and here I am going to extend it further to series novels and broaden the scope of the original meaning.
Why should you consider including them?
One of the joys of reading a series of novels is the sense of familiarity that they evoke. Familiar characters, well-known locations, and even in-jokes, can make a reader's return to your fictional world all the more rewarding. I left university over twenty years ago. In the intervening years, I have kept contact with a handful of good friends and former flatmates and we have done our best to try and meet up for a weekend at least once a year. In that time we've moved on: marriages, kids, grey hair and proper grown-up jobs, yet when we get together it's as if we are all in our early twenties again. Old jokes resurface, well-worn anecdotes and otherwise forgotten stories come back and I feel a comforting warmth. Over the years, partners that didn't know us back then have joined us and I often wonder what they must think. I know that my fiancée sees a side of me that she doesn't witness in our daily existence, and I imagine it is the same for the others.
I feel the same when the latest book in a favourite series is released and I spot the little asides and Easter eggs that the author has included.
So here are some of the reasons it's worth having them.
It keeps readers returning.
As much as I enjoy a good standalone with new characters to get to know, I also like revisiting old friends. Are there character quirks that your readers will look out for, such as favourite music? Is there a regular antagonist that your character will butt heads with? Is there something that they will do that they shouldn't? In Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series, one of the series regulars, Win, will usually do or say something that again has you questioning if he is actually a psychopath, even if he is a 'good guy'. I look forward to seeing what he'll do in each new novel. Successful TV series that last for many seasons often use these as hooks to retain their viewers' loyalty.
It makes your readers feel part of the 'club'.  
The inclusion of a few regular tropes can make loyal readers feel like they are privy to a small secret. Somebody reading one of my DCI Warren Jones books for the first time may find Warren's exasperation over his colleagues' avoidance of using the honesty jar to pay for their communal coffee an amusing aside. Those who have followed the series from the start will know to look out for that scene, hopefully remembering it from different books and looking forward to seeing how I include it this time.
It helps remind readers what they are reading.
There are several dozen police procedurals released every year. All are different, but all have undoubted similarities, especially if the writer tries to adhere to accuracy. The inclusion of these little vignettes can give the series its own unique identity.

• Spends time brooding on a balcony over-looking Los Angeles at night, listening to Jazz - that'll be Harry Bosch.
• Takes time out to have a pint and do The Times cryptic crossword - that'll be Morse.
• Carefully dismantles a sandwich or a burger to discard the salad - that'll be Warren Jones.    

It rewards rereading.
It can be a lot of fun going back to an earlier book in a series, and these little Easter eggs can provide little ah-ha moments as you spot something that you maybe skimmed past the first time, but which now has more resonance.
Material for a prequel or a short story.
Many authors have dabbled with prequels - going back to the early part of their main protagonist's career or life. This can provide a great opportunity to see the genesis of a character's quirks, or the start of an established tradition in your books. It's fun for the writer and fun for the reader.
Setting up future books or plot lines.
In one of my recent books, a long-established scene became part of the investigation. A variation on this scene had appeared in every book, and this novel was no different. It probably slipped under the radar for most readers, with regulars logging its expected appearance and moving on. Hopefully, they felt some recognition when they realised that I'd used it to smuggle in a plot point.


The pitfalls:
Easter eggs should be treats for the regular reader, but shouldn't exclude those new to the series.
Resist the urge to assume that everyone reading will be familiar with (or remember) previous references and hang a plot point on it. You risk people feeling confused and cheated if they can't work out how your detective realised that the text message supposedly sent from their colleague was a fake because they had used punctuation and their spelling was correct, when every other book had made a joke of their garbled communications.
Nobody likes to feel they aren't part of the club.
Despite our best efforts, I've no doubt that the partners of my university friends have at times felt bemused or even excluded slightly as we all roll around guffawing at some story that is really only funny if you were there. Try not to include too many in-jokes that will make new readers feel that they are missing something. The chances are it will diminish their pleasure and make it less likely that they read more in the series.
Don't try too hard to shoehorn them in.
There may be times that it is just not plausible for a regular scene to take place. There may be a highly amusing scene in every book where two characters go to ever increasing lengths to secure their favoured parking spot. But if this book is set away from the station, engineering the narrative so that this scene can appear may impact the book as a whole.


What are your views on Easter eggs? Do you have any good examples from favourite authors (no spoilers!)?
Feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul.    

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Today's #TuesdayTip is actually a book review: How To Catch A Killer by Katherine Ramsland, PhD.
I decided to place it here, rather than on my #RecommendedReads blog, as it is more of a useful resource than a 'story'.
Prof. Ramsland teaches forensic psychology and criminology and is the author of numerous books and academic articles, as well as an advisor for many documentaries.
There are lots of books out there about serial killers or murderers, and they vary from the lurid to the informative; those that seek primarily to entertain and those that are geared more towards academic study. This book can be seen as a catalogue of case studies, written by an academic for the mass market.

The first thing to note, is that a lot of thought has been put into how the book is organised. There are 30 case studies, a mixture of well-known individuals, eg BTK, ABC Killer, Son of Sam etc and more obscure ones, such as The Mad Carpenter. The earliest case dates from 1898 with latest cases almost in the present day. There is a strong bias towards the US, but there are also examples from the UK, Europe, Central America and Africa.
Each study consists of a couple of pages describing the crime(s) and victims and what is known about the individual who killed them, followed by an account of the capture. These are given in an easy-to-read prose style. Next there is a short key facts summary. Finally, Ramsland gives a commentary from her perspective as a professional.
Ramsland has chosen to divide the cases by the manner in which they were captured. This distinction is rather artificial to be honest, with sections such as Forensic Innovation, Mistakes and Miscalculations or Witness Reports. A lot of the cases overlap but it is as good a way to do it as any. A comprehensive index at the rear increases its use a as a reference guide.

I bought this book for a number of professional reasons but primarily, I am always looking for tools that can help me craft a realistic and compelling antagonist.

To make a fictional killer work, you need to consider several different components.
Motivation
This is true of any character - good or bad - but especially one as complex as a murderer. In the real world, it isn't always obvious why somebody commits such crimes, but in fiction "we'll probably never know why he did it" is rarely acceptable. Neither will the reader be satisfied with "he's just barking mad".
I wanted to gain an insight into realistic motivations. The book seeks to explain (and sometimes put forth the killer's explanation) for what they did.
Character Traits
Murderers and serial killers come from all walks of life. Some are weird, scary loners. Others are quiet but apparently normal, and some are the centre of the community and loved by everyone. Many, but by no means all, had a very bad childhood. Some appear to have had brain damage, others might be genetically pre-disposed. Others are a mystery. The book has multiple examples of them all.
Then there is the persistent stereotype of a lone white male etc etc. The book contains numerous case studies of offenders that don't fit this profile.
Offending Pattern
One of the ways that many serial killers are caught, or linked to additional crimes, is through similarities in methodology between different crime scenes. Some serial murderers are driven to bizarre rituals that are so unusual that their crimes absolutely must have been committed by one individual. Others are less obvious, and so may not be noticed by investigators. Again this book has plenty examples of them all. 

With all that said, as a writer, you have a choice.
First, you can attempt to craft a serial killer that readers will understand and recognise. These characters are enormously popular, and whilst we all try to bring something original to the table, you will see characters that range from those where the writer has latched onto an idea seen in the real world and greatly expanded upon it, to stories where the character is clearly heavily influenced by one or more real individuals. This can be enormously effective - Robert Harris' Silence of the Lambs is one of the most lauded fictional depictions of serial killers in literature or film. Both Lecter and Buffalo Bill are inspired in part by real-life people.
The advantage of this is that your character, whilst extreme, will feel 'real' - after all, somebody once upon at time was just like that!
The alternative is to try and craft a serial killer that subverts many of the stereotypes or common tropes. If successful, it will feel highly original. The danger is that if you have a character that bears no resemblance to anyone real then it might feel far-fetched. There maybe a good reason why nobody has thought to have a character do that before!
In either scenario, there is a strong argument to be made that research into these killers can only help - either by providing inspiration, or by helping you know the rules so you can break them more effectively. A book like this can be very useful.

Final Thoughts.
My partner and I watch a lot of documentaries about murderers and serial killers. We are familiar with most of the 'big names', and the basic facts about the cases. Sometimes, we've seen the same person examined by more than one series. What I enjoyed about this book, is that it often gave a very different perspective to a case I thought I knew.
A very good example is that of Ed Kemper, the gigantic man known as the Co-ed Killer. In documentaries, and on the NetFlix semi-fictionalised series Mindhunter, much is made of Kemper's thoughtful, self-reflective intelligence, willingness to cooperate and help law enforcement  and the fact that he is a model prisoner. Indeed, it is sometimes easy to almost overlook the horrific nature of his crimes and see him as a fairly affable, friendly man. Ramsland gives little space over to that, and her insights remind the reader of what a monster Kemper really was (and perhaps still is).


Have you read this book? What did you think? Would you recommend any other, similar books?
Feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next week,
Paul

Welcome to this week's #TuesdayTip.
​Today is all about writing about UK police.
I'd planned on doing something along these lines for months, but recently I have been hanging around some writers' forums and I've realised that writing about the police, especially if you've never written a crime novel before, can be very intimidating. Furthermore, if you aren't a resident of these fair isles, then getting those little details that make a book set in the UK feel 'authentic' can be really difficult.
This is an unapologetically long post, so feel free to skim.
First of all, full disclosure. I have never been a police officer, and there are many who are far more qualified than I to answer specific questions about procedure etc. But I am a lifelong UK resident, and I have written more than ten police procedurals that - touch wood - readers seem happy have got it mostly correct.
If you're looking for specific details, you can do far worse than to check out Graham Bartlett's blog.
Basically, this is a bluffer's guide for crimewriters. Any errors are mine. If you spot one don't be shy about letting me know!
About this article.
First, I am going to assume that you are writing modern police procedure (ie set within the last 10 years or so). Second, that you are setting your book primarily on the UK mainland, not an overseas territory, and your officers work for a territorial force, not a specialist force such as the Ministry of Defence Police, the British Transport Police or the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. Third, my books are all set in England, so everything is based on English and Welsh law. Both Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own legal systems. Whilst a sworn police officer from one UK jurisdiction can exercise broadly the same powers in any of the other two jurisdictions (subject to certain rules being met), terminology and rules vary, so I urge you to double-check the details if you are setting your story outside England and Wales. A Scottish reader will not be impressed if you talk about the Crown Prosecution Service, rather than the Procurator Fiscal in a book set in Edinburgh!
The Basics.
The UK has 45 territorial police forces.

• 43 in England and Wales, based geographically.
• Police Scotland (consolidated from 8 regional forces to one single organisation in 2013).
• The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). This was known as the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) until 2001, when it was rebranded in an effort to make it more inclusive, particularly to members of the nationalist communities.

Policing in England and Wales is overseen by the Home Office which is headed by the Home Secretary. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for courts etc. MI5 and MI6 are the domestic and overseas intelligence services respectively, and as such are not considered police.
A key difference between the UK and many other countries is that the police service is very joined up. This contrasts with the States, where a region can be policed by a city police department, the state police and even the local sheriff's department, all of whom have different responsibilities and organisational structures etc. For convenience's sake, you can generally regard the UK police service as a single organisation, with regional branches.
All forces use the same major computer systems. For example the Police National Computer (PNC) and the Home Office Large Major Enquiry System (HOLMES2). All vehicles are registered at the DVLA in Swansea, Wales. Therefore UK police are not plagued by the issues suffered by some countries, where an offender can mask their criminal history by simply committing crimes in different parts of the country. Details of an offence recorded in Devon and Cornwall for example, are immediately available to colleagues in Newcastle, should they have reason to look up that individual on the PNC. For major enquiries, such as murders, details previously inputted into HOLMES2 in Manchester about one crime, may be drawn to the attention of officers in London investigating a similar crime (the system has a form of Artificial Intelligence that allows it to recognise patterns and suggest courses of action).
Addressing misconceptions.

• We do not have an FBI.

The United States needs a federal law enforcement agency that can act across multiple states and jurisdictions. For the reasons listed above, the UK doesn't really need one. The National Crime Agency (NCA), is sometimes referred to as the UK's version of the FBI, but it isn't. It specialises in organised crime, rather than the FBI's broader remit.

• "New Scotland Yard" or "The Met" are colloquial terms for London's Metropolitan Police Force.

Although the biggest force in the UK, they are not like the FBI. Other forces are typically quite capable of dealing with most crimes, and the Met will not swoop in uninvited to take over. A smaller force might request assistance if they feel that the Met has additional resources or skills that would be useful. In Golden Age detective novels (think Agatha Christie's era) small, rural forces might never have dealt with a murder and so they might 'send for Scotland Yard', but that is no longer the case in modern times.

• All UK police officers are constables.

Regardless of rank and title, whether they are on the beat or behind a desk, they remain a sworn constable with the same powers of arrest etc.

• UK Officers carry Warrant Cards, not badges.
• Suspects are charged by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The CPS (Procurator Fiscal in Scotland and Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland) authorises charging of suspects for serious crimes. The closest analogy in the US would be the District Attorney. The CPS will work with officers to determine if they have reached the 'threshold' for charging and then conduct the prosecution. CPS Direct allows for charging decisions to be made electronically or by phone 24/7.

• UK suspects are entitled to a solicitor not a lawyer.

It's a small detail, and is essentially just a label, but lawyer is a rarely used term in professional circles (although the public will often refer to them that way). In the UK suspects have solicitors, and are represented at trial by barristers.

• Suspects are entitled to free legal counsel if they cannot afford their own.

Police stations have lists of independent 'duty solicitors' who can provide this. Unlike the US, where detectives will try and stall suspects from 'lawyering up' as long as possible, in the UK suspects will typically request one as soon as they can. I am assured by defence solicitors that it is not unknown for an interviewing officer to try and push a suspect to get a solicitor - ultimately, it is better for everyone concerned if it is all above board. The 'no comment interview' is as popular in the UK as the US!

• Custody Officers are responsible for a detainee's welfare.

When a person is arrested, they are taken to a police station for detention or questioning. The custody officer (usually a sergeant) authorises their detention (books them in) according to strict criteria. They are then responsible for their wellbeing - physical, mental and legal. They take this role seriously, and cannot be compelled to bend the strict rules surrounding time limits or access to legal counsel by a senior officer. Unless your book specifically has a corrupt or negligent custody officer as part of your story, don't try and fudge this.

• The rules for arresting or cautioning suspects, detaining them, conducting searches and interviews etc are the same across the entire country.

In England and Wales this is governed by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984 (PACE). Scotland and NI have broadly similar documents. I am going to write a specific blog post on this, but it is worth downloading a copy as reference. Unless your officers are bent, they will adhere to this. Wikipedia is a good introductory source.

• The term WPC (Woman Police Constable) fell out of use years ago.

No distinction is made between male, female or non-gendered officers.

• The correct term is 'senior officer' not 'superior officer'.
• Detective is not a title or mode of address.

Officers would be addressed by their rank or name, not as 'Detective Jones'.

• Detectives do not outrank non-detectives (see below for more detail).
• UK Police Officers are not routinely armed (see below for more detail).

UK Police Ranks
With the exception of the most senior ranks, which can vary slightly between forces (eg the head of the Metropolitan Police is called 'Commissioner', rather than Chief Constable), UK police forces use the same rank structure.
(Note that the abbreviations in brackets can vary, so are only a guide to some of the more common ones).

• Constable (PC or Con)
• Sergeant (PS or Sgt)
• Inspector (Insp)
• Chief Inspector (Ch Insp)
• Superintendent (Sup)
• Chief Superintendent (Ch Sup)

Then there are the chief police officers, who are largely managerial.
Assistant Chief Constables (ACC)
Deputy Chief Constables
With the head of the force referred to as the Chief Constable.

All these officers typically wear uniforms, and are often referred to collectively as 'uniformed officers' to distinguish them from plain-clothed detectives.

Officers who undergo additional training and pass appropriate exams to join the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have the prefix 'Detective' added to their rank, however it is not a rank in and of itself. They typically wear smart business attire or clothing appropriate to their role.

• Detective Constable (DC Det Con)
• Detective Sergeant (DS)
• Detective Inspector (DI or Det Insp)
• Detective Chief Inspector (DCI or Det Ch Insp)
• Detective Superintendent (DSI or Det Sup - there can be some variation here)
• Detective Chef Superintendent (DCS Det Ch Sup)

The prefix is not used for chief police officers, who typically have a wider managerial role than just investigation.

It is important to stress that Criminal Investigation is a specialism, not a promotion. A detective constable does not outrank a regular constable. A constable joining CID won't be promoted to DS. A sergeant joining would not have to start again from the rank of DC.
Not everyone guns for promotion. Many officers happily remain as constables or sergeants for the entirety of their career, having found a role that suits them. Many become extremely specialised and are respected for their skills, rather than their rank.

Firearms.
This is probably the thing that most confuses non-UK citizens.
(Note: Because of the Troubles, the rules in Northern Ireland are different.)
Rank and file police officers are not armed and are not trained in firearm use. Gun crime is very rare in the UK and the private ownership of handguns is illegal. Other types of firearms are strictly licensed.
Armed officers are referred to as Specialist Firearms Officers (SFOs) and have to undergo specialist training. The guns are issued as needed, under strict authorisation. They are returned after use and officers are subject to the same laws as any other citizen, so they certainly do not take them home, nor do they have a personal weapon.
Only SFOs can use guns - regular officers cannot simply go and get tooled up, no matter the situation (decades ago, this was not the case, especially after the war when many officers may have done military service, which is why older crime fiction might have officers pulling a gun).
SFOs called to an incident will be in Armed Response Vehicles (with the guns secured in the boot of the car - not the trunk, that's an American term).
Armed patrols do exist of course. For example at ports or even on the streets during heightened terrorist activities, but again these will always be trained officers. Special Branch is a division of the Met and will provide armed protection for VIPs.
TASERS are similarly restricted.
A typical uniformed police officer is issued with a metal extending baton (ASP), the modern replacement for the old wooden truncheons, and incapacitant spray. It might not be as glamorous as a Glock, but I'm reliably informed it gets the job done!

Modes of address/nicknames.
Although the UK is a rather informal society, the police is still a hierarchical structure.
Senior officers would refer to junior officers by rank (eg constable) or by their name (or nickname).
More junior officers would refer to senior colleagues by rank or titles such as Sir, Ma'am or more informally Guv (abbr of Guvnor), Boss, Chief, Super (Superintendent) etc. This will vary regionally and within groups. As in any organisation, friendships develop and in more informal settings long-standing colleagues may refer to senior officers by their given names or nicknames.
The police are often referred to by the public as Coppers or Bobbies (after Robert Peel, father of the modern police service - the related term Peelers is rarely used these days). Regional terms might include Bizzies (for example on Merseyside), as well as less polite terms such as Pigs. American terms such as Fuzz or even 5-0 or Feds are occasionally used, although usually by younger people.

Well, I think that's about it!
As I stated at the outset, this is a bluffer's guide for crimewriters and is not comprehensive.
If you spot anything that is missing - or any errors! - please don't hesitate to let me know, and I am open to editing the post.
I hope it is helpful.
Until next time,
Paul

If ever you decide that you fancy visiting some of my character DCI Warren Jones' favourite haunts - for example the ruined Middlesbury Abbey featured in Forgive Me Father or The University of Middle England that is central to The Last Straw - then I have some bad news for you.
None of them exist.
The north Hertfordshire market town of Middlesbury is entirely a product of my imagination.
In this week's #TuesdayTip, I want to discuss the pros and cons of setting your books in a fictional locale, or telling your tales in a real place.
For me, setting my books in an imaginary town was more a product of necessity than choice, having lived a fairly peripatetic lifestyle for the past quarter-century. After leaving Coventry where I was brought up to attend university, I have rarely lived anywhere for more than a couple of years at a time. I have worked at or attended universities in four different cities (on two continents), have lived in at least seven different counties and about ten different cities. If you think that makes me sound like some metropolitan sophisticate who can set his books in a host of different places, then you'd be wrong.
The problem is that I have never really lived anywhere long enough to absorb the feel of a place. Police officers intimately know their beat and if that beat exists in the real world then those that write them need to know it equally well. Even worse, some of their readers will also know that place and will let the author know if they screw up!
I would dearly love to have set my series in a real town. I greatly admire writers like Ian Rankin or Michael Connelly, whose depictions of Edinburgh and Los Angeles are so vivid one feels as though you are walking alongside Rebus or Bosch. A few weeks ago, I binge-read and reviewed Rachel Lynch's DI Kelly Porter series. Set in the Lake District, there is no faking Rachel's intimate knowledge of that part of Cumbria. MW Craven also writes about that area and his knowledge of the county shines through.
Unfortunately, at the time that I started writing the book that would eventually become The Last Straw, I was living in a small north Hertfordshire town chosen purely for its cheap rent and proximity to work. Good road and rail connections meant that my socialising was done in far more interesting places, such as Cambridge. Even were there anything of note in that perfectly pleasant, but desperately bland town, I never had the time to get to know it. Back then I was still a full-time teacher, and my weekends were spent either visiting friends and family in other cities, or installed in the local library trying to become a writer...
Therefore, I decided that Middlesbury had to be fictional.
Tip: if you locate your town geographically in the same place as a real town,  then you have some easy anchors. You can keep track of nearby transport links for consistency, Google Maps can calculate realistic travel times to other cities and you can even pinch some of the real location's demographic information etc if the town is similar to your imagined place.

What should you consider?
Advantages of a real place:
Readers love real-world locations. Whether they get a kick out of seeing somewhere they know really well on the page, or they enjoy escaping to somewhere they've never been but might one day visit, books intimately associated with a place can do very well. You may even persuade the tourist office to stock a few copies, and libraries and bookstores love a local author, or someone that writes about their hometown.
Furthermore, much of the hard work has been done for you! There are maps to plan your character's routes, real shops and landmarks that you can photograph to help you when writing a description. There are local legends and documented events that can stimulate your own stories.
The downside:
You need to do your research. Unless you set the book in a fictionalised version of that area (and make that explicit in the book's disclaimer), any errors that you make WILL be noticed and remarked upon!

Advantages of a fictional place:
Your town, your rules! One of the limitations of wedding your story to a real place is that you are stuck with what that location has to offer. When I wrote The Last Straw, I needed a small, regional university. The real-world location for Middlesbury didn't have one, and I didn't want to set it in the academic behemoth a couple of junctions up the M11, so the University of Middle England was born. Easy peasy.
Need a ruined medieval abbey attached to a priest's retirement home? Check.
A multiplex cinema? Yes.
A housing estate with a half-dozen tower blocks? OK.
A nice open common, that nevertheless has enough trees for somebody to be killed out of sight? Yup, Middlesbury has one of those.
The downside:
Keeping track of it and having to invent so much! I don't mind a bit of town planning, it can be quite fun, but it is also time consuming.
Tip; You can help yourself by using other places that you know well as a framework. The centre of Middlesbury, which I needed to properly lay out for The Common Enemy, is based on a small town I once lived in. The shop names and other details are different, but as I can picture that town if I close my eyes, I can always visualise Middlesbury if I need to.
Once you've written a few in the series, it's inevitable that you are going to need to start revisiting some of these locations, otherwise your town can become bigger than London!
Tip: Keep a file noting some of the key landmarks. It'll save you hours of trawling through previous manuscripts to find the correct spelling of the red light district (true story).
Of course you will also need to populate your imaginary town with imaginary businesses that have imaginary names - I wrote a previous article looking at how to name fictional businesses.

So what about a middle ground?
Some authors have taken the approach I use of placing a fictional town in a real location much further. Peter Robinson sets his DI Banks series in the Yorkshire Dales, referencing and even visiting real places, but seamlessly switching to fictional locales whenever he needs to. On the other hand, were one to use Kate Rhodes' excellent Alice Quentin series as a map of London it would probably end in disaster, with some significant cartographical liberties taken in the name of telling a good story (it's probably worth including a disclaimer if you choose to do this). Colin Dexter famously expanded the number of colleges that make up Oxford University, so that he can give Morse a really meaty case without sullying the name of such august institutions.

​So where do you stand? Do you want to set your books in a real place with all of its history and architecture and character to draw upon? Or do you want the freedom of a blank canvas and the opportunity to invent somewhere perfect for your story?
Feel free to share your thoughts either here or on social media.
Until next time, take care.
Paul

"At no point in the history of policing, has a criminal ever said 'it's a fair cop, guv.'"
This was the response of a retired senior police officer when I asked him about his views on swearing in police procedurals.
It goes without saying that most criminals don't wish to be apprehended, and are wont to disclose their displeasure verbally at the arresting officer.
So how should one deal with this in crime fiction?
I will assume for the purposes of this post that you are a writer of fiction for adults - the debate about what is acceptable if your target audience is 8-12 years or below is doubtless a vigorous one, but I'm going to hazard a guess that the C word and the F-bomb are off limits.


The problem with swearing is it can be a very divisive issue. If one takes profanity in society as a whole, modern attitudes may well have become more relaxed in recent years, but there are still those that hate it with a passion. On the flipside, there are those who love a good bit of clever swearing. Billy Connelly, famous for his remarkable fluency with four-letter words, strongly disputes the notion that people swear because they have a limited vocabulary or they lack imagination, and I agree. To writers, vocabulary is a tool, and we take care when choosing the words we use  including expletives. Some writers seem to eff and jeff at every turn, and it is tempting to assume that they just throw those words down with little thought. Nothing could be farther from the truth. That initial draft will have been scrutinised repeatedly and every word that makes it through - profane or not - has fought for its place.


Scriptwriters for the BBC political comedy series The Thick Of It reportedly employed a swearing consultant to whom they would send scripts for vetting. Not to tone down the language, but rather to elevate it; the epic, foul-mouthed tirades uttered by the series' Scottish spin doctor, Malcolm Tucker, verged on the poetic.


Of course it isn't just disgruntled criminals that might swear. There are also the other characters in the story and crucially, the police themselves.
Members of HM Constabulary are trained professionals, working in a professional environment. But they are also human beings dealing with other human beings. The language you depict them using needs to be realistic. In face-to-face interactions with the public they are likely to be firm but polite, avoiding swearing as a rule - the manager of your local supermarket probably wouldn't tell a customer to F-off, unless they were being really difficult, so neither would a police officer. When dealing with an aggressive suspect, then they may very well swear. Your job is to try and find that balance. Look at the scene you are writing, and if in doubt ask somebody else's opinion as to whether it seems plausible or realistic.
Away from the front-line, much detective work is office-based. Consider the sort of language you might hear in a normal office, populated by typical adults.
The world of teaching has a surprising number of parallels with policing. Teachers deal with the public (pupils and occasionally parents) face-to-face all day. Sometimes those dealings can be confrontational. Swearing would neither be expected nor tolerated, except in the most extreme of circumstances (most teachers, when pressed, will admit to accidentally swearing when taken by surprise. I'm a science teacher, we handle hot objects... you get the picture). But in the staffroom, away from prying ears, the language is what you would expect: some staff never swear - because they don't swear in daily life. Other staff would make Malcolm Tucker blush. Junior teachers would probably watch their language around the senior leadership team, but unlike the police, schools aren't especially hierarchical.


So here is what you need to consider.

• Is it appropriate for the time and setting?
• Is it appropriate for the characters ? Don't forget to consider each person individually. It can be an intrinsic part of that character's voice.
• Does it fit with 'your brand'? Readers get to know a writer's style, and it can be jarring if basic things like profanity change significantly. It can also be embarrassing if somebody recommends you on the basis that you generally write clean, family-friendly fun but your central character calls someone a 'C U Next Tuesday', and tells them to 'Foxtrot Oscar' on the opening page of your next novel...
• Will the narrator swear, or will you confine it to dialogue? I never swear in any of my books, but some of my characters have real potty mouths! For this you need to consider the point of view - is it first or third person? Will readers feel that you are the narrator, and thus associate what is written with your personal views?
• What words do YOU feel are acceptable in your books? Some people have a real problem with the C word. Leaving aside your audience, do you feel comfortable using certain words, even if your characters probably would use them in real life?
• Just how realistic do you need to be?
• Can you avoid spelling out the swearing, but imply it? Authors of children and young adult books are limited in what they can portray, so if you want to really avoid it try seeing how they deal with the issue. Another trick (although you should use it sparingly, so that it doesn't become silly), is to have a character start a sentence, then get interrupted or just trail off.​ "Oh for F...." started Warren, before biting his tongue. It wasn't her fault, she was just the messenger..

So, where do you stand on swearing in books?
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next week, all the best.
Paul

"When you introduce Character X for the first time, can you just remind readers about..."
So said an editorial note on my latest manuscript.
My editor was referring to a very significant occurrence that happened in an earlier story that still has repercussions several books later. To avoid spoilers it shall be referred to from herein  as 'the big event'.


My instinct, like a lot of writers, is to clutch my secrets close to my chest. I spend a lot of time working out exactly how and when to make key revelations in my novels. Like many authors I despair at Amazon's steadfast refusal to takedown, edit, or even flag with a spoiler tag, instances where the reviewer has literally given away the big twist in the book. I want the reader to be surprised, and so naturally, I'm not going to write on the blurb "don't worry folks, it all comes right in the end" or "heads-up people, get the tissues ready, because your favourite character isn't going to make it past chapter 52!". Feedback from readers suggests that 'the big event' took them by surprise, and evoked the emotions that I wanted from them. Good!


The problem of course is that I write a series and all books set after 'the big event' are impacted by it. The status quo changed in a way that can't be undone. In a TV show, it is increasingly common for there to be a sixty-second recap before the opening credits. That's fine if your audience watches each episode in sequence and doesn't miss one. In these days of catch-up and on-demand, that's pretty much the norm now. The recap won't spoil anything that has happened in previous episodes, as you've already seen them. Rather it is an aide memoire.
But books aren't like that. For everyone following your books as they are released, or who decides to seek out book 1 & 2 in the series before diving into book 3 which they bought as it was on sale, there are readers who bought that reduced copy of book 3 and started reading it immediately.


And there in lies every writer's dilemma. How do I refresh the memories of previous readers of my series about 'the big event' - which they may have read several years ago - without ruining 'the big event' for those reading out of sequence, who might then decide to go back and read the book it actually happened in?


This exact situation occurred to me recently for a different 'big event'. For this summer's book, I enlisted another beta reader. When I sent them the manuscript for Warren Jones 7, they happened to be partway through reading Warren Jones 6, A Price to Pay, which had just come out in paperback. Keen to help out, they immediately put aside book 6, and started book 7. Unfortunately, they had stopped book 6 whilst the characters were facing a crisis that could have gone either way. It's pretty clear early on in book 7 how that crisis was resolved. I felt a little sad that somebody willing to take the time to help out with a series they enjoy was inadvertently denied a small part of that enjoyment.
Ultimately, I value all of my readers. Whether they have been with me for ten books since 2014, or they just downloaded a copy of whatever was on sale that week, willing to try a new author, I want to serve them both.
So, if you are a series writer, you need to consider how to address this.
How much detail will you include in later books? The presence or absence of a character in future books will inevitably hint at the outcome of any mortal situation that you place them in in any earlier books. How will you deal with that? Do you just gloss over it and never mention it? You can do that with a minor character, but it will seem strange to loyal readers if a major character is bumped off in book 6 and then apparently written out of history, never to be mentioned again. And I dare say that if a reader joins the series at book 7 and enjoys it so much they decide to buy your back-catalogue, they are gong to be somewhat confused also.
Sometimes, you can't avoid the elephant in the room, but you don't have to describe exactly what happened, or even when. You don't have to say,
"The team still missed Beauregard. His violent stabbing at the hands of Mrs Blenkinsopp, the unlikely serial killer who terrorised the neighbourhood six months ago, had been unexpected; coming as it did at what they thought was the end of the investigation, the man she successfully framed behind bars, lulling Beauregard into a false sense of security..."
You have well and truly spoiled whatever book was set 6 months ago.
Instead, keep it vague.
"The loss of Beau remained raw, the team still mourning him."
All that tells you is that he was (probably) killed relatively recently. It could have been in the previous book, or the one before it. It may have happened at the start or the end, and the circumstances are yet to be discovered by new readers. Hopefully, this simply adds a little frisson of foreshadowing. Inevitably, every time poor Beauregard is placed in danger in earlier books some readers will now wonder is this it? But that anticipation might be a good thing. For returning readers, this is hopefully just a trigger to remind them why Beauregard has yet to make an appearance five chapters in.


So accept that you will need to risk ruining the surprise sometimes. It is unfortunate, but with careful writing you can still give readers new and old the experience that they deserve.
Do you write a series? How have you dealt with on-going storylines?
Feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul

Attend enough writers' conventions and festivals, or watch enough author interviews, and eventually, somebody in the audience will ask the dreaded question "Where do you get your inspiration from?"
The question has, somewhat unfairly, become a bit of a cliché - often the sign of somebody new to these events. Seasoned veterans of such gatherings tend not to ask, instead trying to think of something a bit different.
(If you think I am being somewhat snobbish and unfair, I mean no disrespect and place myself firmly in this category. I too eagerly awaited the answer to the infamous question - before eventually realising that it is one of the most tricky questions you can ask, and steering clear.)
But when it, or similar queries are asked, the response from the panellists is often the same - a deep breath, a pursing of the lips, followed by the apparently gallant "why don't you start us off...", with the person they have successfully passed it over to trying not to glare.

So why is it so difficult? Well the thing is, inspiration rarely comes with an audit trail. Even informal conversations between groups of writers in the bar - away from the pressure of a stage, microphone and audience - will often show that we rarely know where our ideas come from. They just appear. And if we knew exactly where they did come from, we'd all be camping there, armed with a notepad and a Dictaphone.
The question "Where do you get your inspiration from?" can be deceptively overwhelming. For a start, what is the questioner actually looking for? A general feel for what we are doing when the magic comes? A curiosity about what led to some specific choices that you have made? Or are they a writer themselves, perhaps seeking guidance on where they too can find and bottle some of that wondrous elixir?


That's not to say we can't necessarily relate the genesis of a specific idea - the theme for a book or an individual character may well be born of a particular event or person that we met or read about.
For example, my daily commute once involved driving along a wide, flat, open road across the edge of the Cambridgeshire Fens. Looking around me, the surrounding farmland seemed to stretch endlessly and on a quiet morning it was desolate and lonely. One day, the morning news bulletin on the radio was reporting on the arrest and conviction of a family that had enslaved vulnerable men for decades, forcing them to live in horrendous conditions on their remote farm and coercing them into working for nothing. At that moment, an idea was born. It percolated in my head for years, but I know with certainty that the seeds for one of my books were planted that morning. 


Other ideas are more nebulous. One of the themes in Forgive Me Father concerns gambling addiction. I cannot tell you when my long-held, instinctive uneasiness with the general notion of gambling, and the industry that runs it, metamorphosed into something that I felt angry enough to write about. But eventually it did.

So here is my advice:
Questioners: Try and be more specific. Instead of asking "Where do you get your inspiration from?" try "Where did the idea for X come from?"
That sort of closed question helps the author focus their thoughts and answer your question more satisfactorily.


Authors: Prepare some stock responses. If you have some generic answers that you can give eg "All my books are set in rural Ireland, because I grew up there and I know the people and the landscape..." that's terrific.
If, like me, you would struggle to come up with something like that, then why not just pretend the question was more specific?
"Where do you get your inspiration from?"
"I started my career in research, and so when I came to write The Last Straw, I drew upon my years of working in academia..."
If you are there to promote a specific book, then think about an answer that points back towards that book or perhaps another in the series.


But finally, let me try and answer that question myself.
Ideas can strike anywhere, but as a writer of crime - and police procedurals in particular - there is one good source that has provided many a spark that has eventually grown into an idea.
My partner and I watch a lot of true crime documentaries (perhaps too many...). As I watch them, I occasionally find myself jotting down an idea on my phone. But if you were to then read that one-line thought back, I defy you to work out how the programme I was watching led to it. Because it didn't, not really. Rather a stray comment or thought led to me thinking, "if that happened, then maybe this could happen. Which surely would mean this is possible and oooh, there's a thought, what if somebody decided to hide their tracks by using a..."
And so there we have it. An answer that attempts to respond to the question that we all dread. Would it be satisfying or entertaining to an audience? Who knows? I'll let you be the judge.


So where do you get your inspiration from?
Share your thoughts in the comments or on social media.
All the best,
Paul

There can be few things more heart-breaking/satisfying/controversial* for the writer of a series to kill off a regular character.
*Pick the most appropriate response.

Killing off a long-standing character happens regularly in TV soaps. The reasons for the decision can vary from the actor wishing to move on/being sacked for sexual impropriety, the character not engaging viewers, the story arc reaching a natural conclusion or the producers needing an excuse to get their flagging show on the front page of TV Quick.
Most of those reasons don't apply to novelists, obviously, but there are still good reasons that a writer may decide that it is time to get rid of someone.
There are also reasons why you should think carefully before doing it.

The Pros
It proves that nobody is safe.
One of the best TV dramas of the early 2000s was the BBC's Spooks. Not only was it full of lots of fun spy stuff and intrigue, they also made a very brave decision that stuck with me.

Spoiler Start - skip the next few lines if you've never watched the series!


The publicity for the first season centred largely on two of the main characters, Matthew McFadden's Tom and Lisa Faulkner's Helen. In the second episode, Helen is murdered, brutally, never to reappear. The series runners pulled a similar stunt for series eight, with Rupert Penry-Jones doing large amounts of publicity, only for his character to be killed off early in the first episode.
Other series regulars also met grisly ends.


Spoiler End - it's safe to continue reading!

By killing off series regulars - with no warning - the writers sent a clear message. In Spooks nobody is safe; and when a character is in mortal peril, they might not make it.
If you compare this to James Bond, we all know that ultimately, he will defeat the odds and save the day. His companion for that film might not make it to the end credits, but Bond will. In Spooks we really couldn't bank on that certainty.

It was incredibly powerful and it stuck with me. I wanted to recreate that feeling of genuine jeopardy in my series. Without giving anything away, there are major characters in the first books that are no longer in the later books. Hopefully, now when I place my creations in mortal danger the reader can't be sure if they will survive. I also place some of them in dreadful situations that may not be resolved happily.
Not only do I want my readers to have the same response that my beta-reader Cheryl did when editing one of my books - she literally greeted me with "you bastard!" when she got to that part of the book - I also want my readers to find themselves thinking, "Is this all going to end badly? Because he's shown that he's a big enough git to do it!"

It's an opportunity to take the series in a new direction
Killing off a series regular is like throwing a hand grenade into a crowded room. There will always be collateral damage. What will be the emotional impact on everyone left behind? Will that death have unforeseen repercussions, such as other team mates being blamed? Will it cause others to re-evaluate their priorities?

In literature, a number of really big authors have taken what seemed to be a very dangerous gamble and killed off a beloved character, often as a cliff-hanger at the end of the book. In fact one author even placed a hidden page on their website where they explained that yes, they had indeed killed that person and that no, they wouldn't be coming back.
Another author killed the person that his hero loved most in the world and was the primary motivation for why they did what they did. It felt like a needlessly cruel ending to the series - until I looked online and saw that the next book was due out the following year. There was no way it could be a trick with the character not really dead, the series was continuing without them.
In both of these cases I read the following books with a sense of trepidation, worrying that the author may have screwed up. In both of these cases, the series suddenly became turbo-charged; the fallout lead to the need for something of a reset for everyone and a wealth of new and exciting narrative opportunities.

It stops the series getting stale
In neither of the previously mentioned series did I feel that things were getting stale. Which tells me that the author timed their bombshell just right; with hindsight, I can see that in their current configurations, the series' set-up might have started to get repetitive, and so I applaud their decision.

You can bring in fresh blood
My series has a number of core and supporting characters that are there in every book. There is the team that work with Warren, and his family. By having characters leave, I am reflecting reality; death, promotion, illness etc. Warren has been in Middlesbury for several years now. It would be peculiar if nobody moved on.
Every change brings opportunities. In Warren's investigative team, there are roles that will need to be filled. Do I do a straight substitution - character X leaves, to be replaced by character X version 2? Do I instead move an existing character into that role and use it as an opportunity to get to know them better? Do I rejig the whole set-up?
What will new people bring to the ensemble? I have used the opportunity to bring in entirely new types of person, exploring different character traits.

Ambiguity - was the death final or does their shadow hang over the series?
A character's apparent death, or disablement, doesn't have to be permanent. With enough foresight, you can write it so that they can return. But this may require planning. Somebody stabbed to death in front of loved ones is more tricky to bring back plausibly than somebody who drowns at sea, with their body never recovered.
And what about that return? Will it be a surprise for characters and reader alike, or will their absence loom over the series? Are they really gone or not?

The Cons:
It can really upset your readers!
Readers become attached to characters, and there might be those that decide that with their favourite gone, there's no point continuing to read the series.

It can limit your future choices.
You might have just scuppered your chances of writing a brilliant future story that the character was essential for. This is another reason why you need to think carefully before doing it. However, there can be ways around this. Flashbacks with the character, a short story released as a treat for readers, or even a prequel are potential options. Of course another option is to write the story about your character and then include their demise at the end. This is a potential double-whammy, as if the story is central to this person, then your readers will be especially invested when you bump them off at the end.

It may look desperate.
Readers will forgive you if the next book in the series is really good, but killing the character off because you can't think of what else to do can be dangerous and readers aren't fools.

Their replacement isn't sufficiently different.
Think carefully about how you will fill that void. If you just swap them for somebody almost identical, like trading your car every three years when its lease is up, then you may as well just have stuck with the original. Take the time to sketch out this new person fully. See it as an opportunity to bring something new to the series, not just a way of getting you out of a creative hole.

Of course, all of the above can be mitigated somewhat by careful planning.
Killing off a character that you may have lived with for years can be heart-breaking and shouldn't be done on a whim - but do it right, and it may be one of the best decisions you ever make.

What do you think about killing off characters?

As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul.