A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an important interview scene for my current work in progress.
It came in at about 2,500 words. I was very pleased with it. There were key revelations that moved the story forwards. The dialogue between the interviewee and their interrogators flowed nicely. The suspect was emotional and, under pressure, finally revealed the truth that the police needed.
In the final book, the entire scene takes up little more than a paragraph, and is reported second-hand.
Now I know what you are thinking: we've all been there. The wordcount for the book has exploded out of control; tough decisions need to be made and this scene had to be cut. All that is true. But here's the thing.
I started writing that scene, knowing that it was never going to be more than a paragraph.
On the face of it, that seems mad! The original scene took me over a day to write. I can knock out a paragraph in less than an hour. So why would I waste a whole day writing something that I knew would never make the final cut?
Because that resulting paragraph is better than anything I could have written if I'd set out to write a scene of two hundred words or fewer from scratch.

I am not a big planner. When I set out to write an interview scene, I start with just a few lines to guide me. Essentially, what information needs to be imparted during the interrogation and a rough idea of whether the suspect is going to be honest from the outset or if the truth will need to be prised out of them. Will they have a solicitor present? Will they heed their solicitor's advice to no comment or will they be unable to keep their mouth shut?  
From then on, I write the scene as it comes to me and just allow the story to lead me where it wants to. In the process of writing it, unexpected revelations are made and new ideas come to mind that I jot down for later in the book.
Perhaps the characters say something that I hadn't considered? On more than one occasion, I've gone back and made changes to earlier scenes, because if the suspect claims that X happened, then I need to change the crime scene to match that admission. Perhaps they swear that they were at home that night? In which case, I need my investigators to verify their alibi - do I need to  have someone speak to their neighbours or get DS Mags Richardson to check CCTV or Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras to determine if their car was parked outside their house all night? Can Rachel Pymm look at the movements of their mobile phone to see if it was somewhere it shouldn't be?
It is the actual process of writing the scene that is more important than what eventually finds its way onto the page.
I refer to this as writing backwards: taking a lengthy scene and watching as the number of words actually shrinks, rather than expands (our usual goal!). It is a process of distillation.
Many authors do similar things. I know writers who will spend a day making a LEGO model of a key location. Doubtless this is a fun procrastination activity, but more importantly it allows them to visualise exactly where the event took place, so that when they describe what happens there in the story, they can see it clearly in their mind's eye. They place LEGO figurines around the model and then move them as the scene progresses. At any given point in time, they know who was doing what and where. Then it becomes akin to reportage, rather than having to make it up from scratch. The writer is omniscient and they simply choose what to share with the reader. It also allows them to avoid simple errors such as having a character in two places at the same time, and perhaps reminds them that character Y is still present and the reader will want to know what they were doing whilst the drama unfolded.   


Do you "Write Backwards"? Or do you spend large amounts of time doing things that, on the surface seem to be a waste of time, but are actually crucial to your writing process?
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time, best wishes.
Paul

Click here for more details about DCI Warren Jones 7, Out of Sight.
 Out in eBook on June 4th 2021 and paperback and audiobook on August 5th.
Amazon Link.
Consider buying paperbacks from Bookshop.org to support independent sellers.

Hello, and welcome to the latest #TuesdayTip.
This Friday sees the publication in eBook of the seventh full-length DCI Warren Jones, Out of Sight. And so I thought it would be interesting to relate the journey of this, the eleventh book in the series - a book created largely during one of the strangest years in my, or anyone's life.
It all started so well...
Officially, I started writing what would become Out of Sight during the first week of September 2019. I had just submitted the first complete draft of book six in the series, A Price to Pay, to my editor at HQ Digital, the imprint of HarperCollins that currently publishes my series. That book marked the completion of my latest contract - three novels and three shorter novellas published over the previous three years. I had pitched my latest ideas for another six books a couple of months previously and although I had not yet received confirmation that I would get another contract, I was keen to start work on the next instalment, which I intended to be a novella.
The basic premise, as is normal for me, was little more than a collection of loosely-linked ideas. I'm not a great plotter, and tend to write out of sequence, so the final product usually bears only a passing resemblance to the initial outline. However, HQ have always been generous enough to let me crack on and see where the book leads.
I had also started a new job, teaching science three days a week at a new school, so I had quite a lot on my plate!
By October, I had written about 15,000 words - and then my editor phoned to discuss my next contract and the future direction of the series. The upshot was, that for a number of (very good) reasons, it had been decided to stop publishing my novellas. Rather they wanted to concentrate on full-length novels.
My first thought was "what the hell am I going to do with this partially written novella?" Ditching 15k words and starting again seemed like a cruel blow.
But then a nagging worry that had been keeping me awake at night suddenly had a solution.
As stated earlier, I am not a plotter. And for the first time, this was proving to be a potential problem. You see, I kept on having really good ideas, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that they weren't all going to fit into a short novella. But suddenly, I had 120k words to play with. Ideas that I had reluctantly concluded wouldn't fit into the book could now be used.
It was as if a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
Immediately, I set about rewriting what I had already completed.
For the next few months, I happily juggled writing book seven with completing the edits for book six and the forthcoming novella, At First Glance.
Then March happened!
Suddenly I found myself installed on the kitchen table, our lovely office given over to my partner who needed its privacy more than I did. On top of that I, and thousands of teachers around the country, found themselves remote teaching with little notice. It's hard to overstate the size of that shift. My school was better equipped than many, with all learners having devices to use at home, and already versed in Google Classroom, nevertheless writing and rewriting resources for a practical-based subject such as science for students to use independently was a huge undertaking.
Experienced teachers such as myself may take 30-60 minutes to plan a typical lesson. Suddenly, each lesson was taking up to two hours to prepare. The need to track our learners' progress - normally done by walking around the classroom and interacting with students - became ever more important and time-consuming. I resigned myself to the fact that my jealously-guarded, two-day-a-week writing time was going to have to take a back seat. No longer needing to produce two books that year became an even bigger blessing. Then there was the small matter of having to reorganise a wedding (repeatedly)…
A faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
By June, I had found a new rhythm. Lessons that I and my colleagues had written in April could be tweaked and delivered again to a different class. Both of 2020's books had been published, and by the end of the summer term I had largely regained my two writing days. Now the challenge was to hit my September 1st deadline!
One of the biggest jobs at this stage, is to start putting my book into the correct order. I write out of sequence, and so, by the time I hit 90 to 100,000 words, I have scores of short sections that need placing in a logical order.
In July I moved all these fragments into 'working draft 2.0' and started identifying what sections needed rewriting, what chunks of text needed moving again (for example references to the forensic analysis of a piece of evidence needs to take place after the evidence been discovered!) and what needed writing from scratch.
At the end of July, school ended and I could become a full-time writer again. 2020 was the summer without a holiday, so there were no excuses there and I ploughed on, taking advantage of the nice weather to do some red-penning in the garden.
By the beginning of August, the book was ready for its next stage. It had been through several drafts and it was time for a fresh set of eyes. By now, Public Health England were inviting people at random to take home tests for Covid-19 to monitor its prevalence in the community. My partner and I were fortunate enough to be selected; the timing couldn't have been better. Since the very first book, The Last Straw, was completed, my father has been a beta reader, alongside my partner. And so, armed with our recent negative tests, we took advantage of the relaxation in the rules to surprise my Mum for her birthday (they were shielding, as were we, so our negative tests meant that we could be confident that it was safe to do so). Alongside her gift, I also presented them with a bulging lever-arch file...
Some new eyeballs.
Now it's time to wait! What would they and my partner think? I emailed my editor to explain that the book was completed, but that pandemic logistics meant that I might not quite hit my September deadline. My editor values the input of my beta readers almost as much as I do and so was more than happy to give me a bit of leeway.
A few days later, my partner finished her read-through. Lots of red pen, but she liked it! And importantly, hadn't spotted any significant errors that would necessitate a big rewrite. I worked my way through her edits, then had my first ever editorial meeting by video, with my Dad! He had spotted many of the same errors as my partner, plus some others, and had some interesting ideas which he read out, and I either corrected there and then on my laptop or noted for later. He then suggested that as Mum (a former teacher) was at a loose end, she could have another go at it. Needless to say, the following week's meeting had even more corrections!
Barely a fortnight after my initial deadline, I emailed my editor the most polished submission of my career!
The waiting game.
Of course that's only the first stage, but I could now start writing book eight, summer 2022's novel. At the end of October, my editor sent her initial feedback. It was positive! She liked it. But I needed to lose about 8,000 words and make some changes. She suggested a deadline of December and so I placed book eight on hold, printed out a copy of the manuscript and her editorial letter, and wielded the red pen again. I've written before about the editorial process (#Tip 48), so won't go over it again, suffice to say, some darlings were killed, some new ideas incorporated, and what emerged was meaner, 4,000 words leaner, and all the better for it.
Then some wonderful news - my editor was leaving to have a baby! I was disappointed that we wouldn't be working together for the next book, but she handed me over to Dushi, who had worked on the series previously so was familiar with the characters. I knew I was in good hands.
Christmas came and went, and mid-January, Dushi sent back her thoughts. This is the first time that I have had two editors go through a manuscript and it was a fantastic experience. Dushi did a brilliant job, and so I printed it again and spent the next week or so incorporating her suggestions. It was now even tighter, with a further 2,000 odd words ditched. We also finally settled on Out of Sight as the title.
Mid-February, the manuscript came back from Dushi with her line edits.
This time, there was no need to print. These are done on Word, using the 'track changes' feature. Dushi had corrected my spelling and grammar, rigorously applied the HarperCollins style guide, tightened some sentences and used the comment function to suggest some more tweaks and request clarifications. That took two full days, largely consisting of me clicking the 'accept change' button, adding or removing a few sentences, as per Dushi's suggestions, and writing my own response to some of her comments. Remarkably, it was now three hundred words shorter!
Amusingly, despite dozens of passes by me, three beta readers and two editors, it was only then that I noticed a character picked his daughter up from school on a Sunday... A hasty correction fixed that problem before I received emails from bemused readers, and snarky comments from Amazon reviewers - bullet dodged!
The final push.
I submitted this draft on February 23rd, along with my acknowledgments and dedication. I always leave this to the very end. Last year I was nearly caught out when I referenced events that should have taken place in May but were cancelled, so had to rewrite my acknowledgements just before publication. Lesson learned!
A final set of edits came back from the copy editor, with some more tweaks and then it was off to the proof reader. By now we had a fantastic cover, and the team at HQ had written a nice, punchy jacket blurb.
April the 8th was set for my cover reveal, neatly coinciding with my self-declared 'DCI Warren Jones Day' a few days later. The book became available for pre-order on all the major eBook sites, and the paperback and audio release dates set for August the 5th. I am going to write a separate post detailing my interactions with my long-standing audio narrator, so keep an eye out for that later this summer.
Marketing a book is always interesting. My publisher does a lot of work behind the scenes of course, but I'm no Richard Osman so much of the hard work falls to me. I actually quite enjoy making my own graphics and videos, it's a creative process that I never realised was so much fun. You may have seen some of my posts on social media. There will be plenty more to come, particularly in the run up to the audio and paperback releases.
Now it's just a case of sitting back and waiting for the glowing reviews and multi-million dollar royalty cheques to come rolling in... And finishing book eight.
I hope you enjoyed this insight into the creation of a book, particularly in a year that threw up unique challenges.
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Best wishes.
Paul

Aaaah, research! I have written previously about the issue of accuracy (#Tip 60) - when pedantry becomes procrastination, and the compromises that we sometimes need to make to balance the need for absolute accuracy with our duty to tell a compelling story.
So let's talk about research.
Writers starting out on their career are often told "write what you know". This is perfectly sound advice. But the chances are, that as you progress in your career, you will eventually exhaust the topics on which you can write authoritatively based purely on your own knowledge and will need to do research. And this is where it is all too easy to fall into a trap.
It has been said that a good writer can sound like an expert on a subject that they know very little about. This is a little uncharitable. Many writers can become something of a genuine expert on a particular topic. They spend hours reading books and articles, watching documentaries, speaking to people and even going on research trips (sometimes joking referred to as tax-deductible holidays - there are definitely times I regret setting my DCI warren Jones series in an area within fifty miles or so of where live! Sending a DCI from Hertfordshire to Venice to solve a baffling murder, and thus requiring me to go and scout out locations in person, would be a hard sell if I am ever inspected by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs!). I have friends who write historical fiction and they love perusing the archives of the British Library, or tramping around graveyards.
The problem is that having worked so hard to become an expert, you really want to share all that knowledge with your readers!
But do you run the risk of turning a crime caper that your readers picked-up for entertainment into a text book with a story bolted on? Where is the line between an entertaining story that a reader will finish and say "that was a cracking read and I also learnt something" and "It was all very interesting, but not a lot happened."
When I wrote Forgive Me Father, I set the story in a fictional ruined abbey. I had been planning the book for ages, so my partner and I used it as an excuse to go and visit old cathedrals and abbeys, (which we thoroughly enjoyed and I DID NOT claim on expenses, in case HMRC are reading). I bought guidebooks and spent many hours online reading about the dissolution of the monasteries and other history that I never learned at school. I made detailed plans of the abbey as it would have been in its heyday and then modified them to account for centuries of neglect.
Almost none of this research made it into the book.
And that is as it should be. A good rule of thumb with research is that the author should know far more than appears on the page! Or to paraphrase another common piece of advice "wear your research lightly." Aim to leave your readers feeling that you know your stuff, and if they felt so-inclined, they could ask you to expand at length - good writers are good bluffers!
The same is true of characters.
I've spoken previously (#Tip 39) about the need to plan characters - to keep a biography of key events to stop you contradicting yourself in later books; sometimes this can even act as a stimulus. Have a middle-aged character who's getting a bit stale, and you're not sure what to do about them?  Ooh look, they turn fifty in a few months - give them a mid-life crisis! Buy them a motorbike! Embroil then in a messy affair!
But again, just because you know that about them, doesn't mean you have to tell the reader about it.

​What's the best way to accomplish this balance?
The key is in the editing.
Stick everything in the first draft.
Do it! You've worked for that knowledge, and you never know what might be important. Get it out of your system. The first draft of Forgive Me Father was full of rambling diversions about medieval monastery life. And I dare say that taken in isolation, some of that stuff was pretty well-written. But it didn't add to the story. So it gradually disappeared over subsequent drafts.
Then kill your darlings.
Some of my earliest blog posts (#Tips 27, 28, 29, 30) were about editing out stuff that you might love, but which the book doesn't need. Remember, to justify its place, something has to either advance the story, set up future stories or add essential details. Look at your book with a critical - even brutal - eye. Keeping something in a book just because it took a lot of effort to write, because you like it or because you spent ages finding it out, is not justification enough to keep it in. Console yourself with the fact that a decent editor will tell you to chop it anyway, you've just saved everyone time and effort by wielding the scissors yourself!
Know your audience.
Tom Clancy was (in)famous for his meticulous attention to detail. His thrillers are sprawling, geopolitical behemoths with sometimes eye-watering amounts of detail about weapons and submarines etc. Since he died, a series of writers have continued his series, and have maintained this exacting style. Why? Because his loyal readership expect it. I have read almost all of the recent books, and will happily set aside a couple of weeks to work my way through one. They even come with maps and appendices... but these are the only books I would tolerate that from these days. Give the same story to most modern thriller writers and they'd tell it in half the space. But that's fine, for Tom Clancy. He is the exception to the rule.
Beware the information dump.
Sometimes, the need to impart a lot of information to the reader is unavoidable. One of my favourite recent reads was Rachel Lynch's Blood Rites.  The story centres around poorly understood ancient religions and cults. She could not assume any prior knowledge on behalf of her readers. The skill she demonstrated was the way that the information was trickled out in easy to digest chunks, as and when it was needed. I came away from the book having learned a lot of new information, in an enjoyable fashion, but never felt bludgeoned by it. It will come as no surprise that Rachel is a former teacher.
Avoid too much exposition.
This is related to the previous point, and I am going to write a separate article about it. Suffice to say that the old maxim "show don't tell" is worth repeating and just because you impart the knowledge through dialogue, doesn't mean you can ignore all of the above!
A final thought.
As with anything to do with writing, you can't please everyone. I've had reviews where readers have criticised my books for too much detail, and others that feel my procedural accuracy is a strength of the series.
All I can recommend is to read other books similar in style to the one you want to write to get a feel for the balance. Ask readers experienced in the genre to look your manuscript over and have an honest dialogue with them. Ask them to tell you if they think some of the research is overdone, or even if they feel a bit more is needed.
And as always, remember it is YOUR story.
Where do you stand on research? Do you like to come away feeling that you could write a short essay on a new topic, or would you rather the author just got on with the story?
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time, all the best,
Paul

Last week it was the elephant in the room, this week it's opening a can of worms - yes, May is cliché month!
Like it or not, we live in a society where racism still exists, and if we as writers wish to reflect reality then it is something we need to consider. This was something that I was forced to grapple with when writing my 2018 DCI Warren Jones novel, The Common Enemy.
The book centres around the murder of the leader of a far-right extremist party, during a march against the opening of a so-called 'super-mosque' in my fictional town of Middlesbury.
By necessity, the book was populated with extreme racists, as well as members of Middlesbury's Muslim and Sikh communities.
The simple fact is that if I wanted the book to feel authentic, I had to realistically portray the attitudes of these characters and that included the offensive language used by them.
I'm not going to lie; writing this book took me well outside my comfort zone.
I am a white man of English heritage. I was brought up in an ethnically diverse city and was taught from an early age that certain words and phrases are deeply offensive; they simply aren't part of my normal vocabulary.
Writing them was hard for me, and I was extremely conscious that reading them would be deeply uncomfortable for many of my readers. My series is far from cosy, but this was an aspect of society that I had not previously explored.
When does it switch from authentic to gratuitous?     
It was a given that my white supremacists were going to use the N-word, the P-word and other pejorative terms. But I was keen not to have the manuscript dripping with these words and so I had to think about ways of finding a balance between minimising their use and writing an authentic story.
How can you tread this line?
Use the terms occasionally - to give a 'flavour' of the language they would use, but in other instances, simply allude to them.
For example, report dialogue 'second hand' rather than deliver it.
"Joe Blog's account of the incident, delivered in typically offensive fashion, matched that of other witnesses."
If the incident in question involved non-whites, and the character Joe Blogs has been previously established as a foul-mouthed racist, then your reader can fill in the gaps for themselves without you needing to spell the words out explicitly.
Actually use the terms 'N-word' or 'P-word'.
If a person is reporting dialogue second-hand, and is themselves not racist, then they often won't say those terms in full. It can look clunky, but then it feels that way in real-life. The person is already rewording the language to make it more comfortable for them to say, so it probably will feel unnatural.
For example.
"He's a real bully, officer," the man looked uncomfortable, his voice dropping almost to a whisper, "A couple of times I heard him call the old lady next door a 'lazy N-word', if you know what I mean."
or
"He's always wiping graffiti off the wall." He blushed. "'Go Home P-word', that sort of thing."
Interrupt their speech.
Modern police officers simply won't tolerate a foul-mouthed racist rant, they can and will insist that witnesses and those they are interviewing moderate their language. Something that isn't always appreciated, is that the law in England & Wales regarding hate speech doesn't necessitate it being directed at the protected group that it concerns. In other words, a white person over-hearing racist language about Asians can report it as a racist incident, even if there are no Asian people within earshot.
The language needs to be specific to the era, the society and the character.
Language evolves at an incredible pace, and terms that were acceptable just a few years ago are now no longer appropriate today.
The term 'coloured' was once seen as a relatively inoffensive way to refer to black or Asian people (at least by white people). That is no longer the case. In recent years, the term 'People Of Colour' (POC) has become a more favoured term. Similarly, 'half-caste' is now no longer acceptable, with 'mixed race' or sometimes 'bi-racial' more appropriate.
But as a writer, you have to consider if the newest terminology is the most appropriate language for your book. Characters in a novel set thirty years ago wouldn't realistically use the term POC. Similarly, older characters in a modern setting may still be using terms that have gone out of fashion. Is it realistic that an elderly white woman refers to her bi-racial neighbour that way, or is she more likely to describe them in an interview as 'half-caste'? It doesn't necessarily mean she's an overt racist, just somewhat out of touch with the latest trends in language.
An extreme example of this involves a former flatmate of mine from (very) rural Ireland, who in the year 2000 asked me if I wanted anything from the P-shop when he popped round there. He was absolutely mortified when I explained to him how that word was simply not acceptable in England and told him a little about how the word's usage had mutated from a simple abbreviation of Pakistani to something far more offensive and sinister.  
Used correctly, their use of language can inform the reader about a character.
For example.
"Look, DCI Jones. You're not racist and neither am I, but we both know that since they started letting the Asians move in, the area has gone down hill. Of course two white blokes like us could never say it out loud, we'd be crucified."
Think about what we've just learned about this character.
First of all, he clearly is a racist - just putting the word 'the' in front of Asians telegraphs this. However, he has enough self-awareness to realise that he doesn't want to be perceived as such, hence the 'I'm not racist but...' caveat. He is also aware that his views are increasingly unpopular and so he is seeking approval from someone he hopes is a kindred spirit.  
Is it the writer speaking or the character?
One of the inescapable problems that all writers face is that some readers can be so drawn into a novel that they find it hard to separate the views expressed in the book from those held by the author. This is especially true of the narrator. For those writing first person - in other words '"I did this", "I thought that" - it can make the reader feel as if the writer is sitting down and telling them a story about events that happened to them and sharing their innermost emotions and feelings. Obviously that is what a good writer strives for, so it seems a cruel irony that readers who don't know the author personally can subconsciously imbue them with character traits and attitudes that bear no resemblance to them in real life.
I am fortunate enough to write in the third person, and my narration is most closely associated with DCI Warren Jones, who I have openly admitted shares many of my personal views. This means that I can disassociate myself somewhat from the more unpleasant individuals that I write about through Warren's thoughts. To reinforce this in The Common Enemy, I made certain to draw the reader's attention to Warren's personal revulsion at the views expressed by some of the racist characters in the book. 
Avoid the temptation to write a 'pantomime villain'.
When writing about characters that you find personally offensive, it is all too easy to fall into the trap of giving them no redeeming features whatsoever.
In The Common Enemy, my far-right extremists are violent, offensive thugs. Yet they still have loved-ones, they perform acts of kindness and they have a sense of humour: in other words, they are human!
One of the reviewers of the book stated that they expected it to "tar anyone right of centre as an extremist" but were pleasantly surprised that it was more balanced. Although it should be said that they then gave away their true feelings on the subject by objecting to my use of the 'meaningless term' islamophobia (it isn't) and refusing to accept that the police would waste resources on a hate crime unit (these exist in real-life, and the police do monitor online race-hate groups), and criticising my apparent lack of research.
Whilst I'm never going to lie awake at night worrying that I may have offended some thin-skinned racist, I found the review rather satisfying, as I felt it showed that I had done my job as a writer.
Draw your own red lines.
We all have our own views on this subject and there are lines that we don't personally feel comfortable crossing. For example, I don't feel I am able to write dialogue between black people, where they refer to themselves using the N-word.
There is a belief by some in the black community that it is possible to 'reclaim' the word. It, and an alternate spelling, are used in some forms of black music, and dialogue between (usually) young people. However, its use is nuanced and like a lot of language it evolves rapidly. As a white person who is not part of that community, there is a strong risk that any attempts by me to use it will be clumsy and unintentionally offensive. Furthermore, it is likely to age the book - something I might get away with in 2018 may make me cringe with embarrassment five years later.
I am also conscious of that fact that there are many who don't agree that the word can or should be 'reclaimed'. Some years ago, I saw a documentary interviewing some of the people who lived through the American civil rights movement of the 1960s, and experienced horrific racism in the decades before. I was especially struck by an old lady whose first-hand experience of that word meant that she found it deeply upsetting when she heard young black people using it. For her, it will forever evoke memories of violence and fear.
So for those reasons, I will steer well clear of doing it.   
Final thoughts.
Racially-charged language will always be a potential minefield. I thought long and hard about whether I wanted to dip my toes into this particular paddling pool. However, the desire to write The Common Enemy had been nagging me for several years and with racism and extremism always close to the top of the news agenda, it was something that I felt I could no longer ignore.
Ultimately, all that any writer can do is try to write the best story that they can. Crime fiction provides the opportunity to explore the most topical of issues and we should not shy away from them.
My advice would be to do your research (watch documentaries, and read articles from all sides of the issue) and then run it past trusted readers.
Doubtless there are things that I have got wrong, and I'll listen and take on board any valid criticism, but touch wood, in the three years since the book was published, it has been generally well-received, with no serious objections that I am aware of, and I found it a rewarding experience.


What are your thoughts about using racist language in books? Is it a complete taboo, or do writers have a duty to reflect the uglier side of human nature?
As always, please share your thoughts here or on social media.
Until next time,
best wishes,
Paul.

Oh boy, 2020 and 2021 are going to be a challenge for writers of up-to-date fiction who like their books to be as accurate as possible!
It all boils down to one simple dilemma - do you mention Covid in future books or not? And if you do, to what extent?
At the time of writing, Covid has been with us for almost eighteen months if you go back to the early reports coming out of China in late 2019. It will be with us, in some shape or form, for probably the next twelve months at least, with a legacy that will stretch for decades.
By the summer of 2020, there were already readers complaining on Amazon that new releases set in July of that year were unrealistic because characters weren't socially distancing. Of course, this is absolutely bonkers; anyone with any understanding of the publishing industry knows that it typically takes many months to write a book, and further weeks or months for it to go through the editing process. For those who are released via big publishing houses, the book's release date will have been set months or even years in advance. I signed my latest contract in autumn 2019, with provisional release dates for June 2021, 2022 and 2023. I will submit the manuscript the preceding September, after six months or so of writing.
Last June's release, A Price to Pay, was written in 2018/19, submitted in September 2019, and had gone through the final editing stages a month before Covid kicked off in March 2020. The only change I was able (or wished) to make, was to the acknowledgements which referenced events that should have taken place in the May, but didn't.
Nevertheless, this does raise interesting questions about reader expectations and also reader desires. There are those who are adamant that they don't want to read anything about the pandemic. Reading is escapism and they don't want to be reminded of the wold outside. Equally vociferous are those who point out that a book set in 1940 that ignores WWII would seem very strange.
So what's the solution to this dilemma?
There are several potential things that a writer could do:
Skip 2020 entirely.
There will be a glut of books set in late 2019/early 2020. Unfortunately, with no end date in sight and rapidly changing circumstances, those hoping to set a book after the pandemic may find themselves waiting for quite some time before they can write it accurately.
Simply ignore Covid and carry on as usual.
Authors can avoid being too explicit about the date their book is set - unfortunately, if you write books set in contemporary times, it can be hard to entirely conceal when the book is supposed to happen, so some readers will doubtless complain. It also runs the risk of ageing poorly. You can always pretend it is in an alternate reality, where Covid never happened, but if your previous books are noted for referencing current events, that may be a hard sell.
Wait until it all blows over before tackling it.
There were plenty of books released between the wars and shortly after WWII that sought to avoid the topic. Similarly, 9/11 was a taboo subject for a few years. But, time can be a great healer and it delivers valuable perspective.
Embrace it and use it as a plot device.
There are already plenty of writers considering the use of Covid - and specifically the huge societal changes that have taken place - as an opportunity. A murder during lockdown presents interesting narrative opportunities. However, reports are mixed as to the appetite of the reading public and publishers for stories exploiting the pandemic, at least in the short term.
A light-touch compromise.
Acknowledge the pandemic, perhaps by referencing some of the social distancing requirements, but don't dwell on it too much and try not to let it unduly influence the story. The balancing act here will be making it seem natural, rather than feeling as if it was 'bolted on' to a first draft that was completed pre-pandemic.
Where does this leave DCI Warren Jones?
Unlike some of my peers, I am in a somewhat fortunate position. Although my series progresses a year or so each book - and so I can't ignore 2020/21 forever - they are also set three or four years before their publication date. Even allowing for the need to start writing the book eighteen months before it hits the shelves, I hope to have a couple of years of 20/20 hindsight (pardon the pun) before I need to tackle it in earnest.
I am likely to take the route of a light-touch compromise, with a book set in early 2020 containing a little light foreshadowing, then a book set eighteen months later (this coming summer), hopefully when the restrictions have eased somewhat. This book will have to reference Covid, but I'm hoping it is not a big thing. Perhaps I'll mention two-metre distancing in the office, some remote working and Warren grabbing a facemask and hand-sanitizer before going to interview someone, etc. I may even use it as a story device - for example facemasks making it impossible to positively identify a suspect on CCTV - but  I don't plan on writing a 'pandemic book'.


What are your thoughts on Covid in novels? Are you writing a book set in 2020/21 - how will you deal with it?
Feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time, keep safe.
Paul

Hot on the heels of last week's #TuesdayTip about writing realistic relationships, I am staying with that broad theme and this time want to examine realism in general.
I write police procedurals grounded largely in reality. I am not a police officer, and have no experience in law enforcement, but I try to be as procedurally accurate as possible, whilst acknowledging that compromises need to be made in order to serve up a dramatic story (see #TuesdayTip49 for more on this).
I also like to get as many verifiable details about other, non-procedural things as correct as possible. I will never forget one of my proof-readers early comments for my first novel, The Last Straw. The book is set in the summer of 2011, but as is the way with these things, it was well into 2013 by the time it was submitted and edited. In one throw-away comment, I mentioned how the dry weather had affected Warren's lawn. My proof-reader's comment was succinct: 'I looked it up and the summer of 2011 was actually quite wet in Hertfordshire'. A later comment on the same manuscript noted that the radio station that Warren was listening to in the car had changed its name the year before.


A couple of years later, I received not one but TWO comments in my Amazon reviews for Silent As The Grave (both from Americans, bizarrely) pointing out that a hospital in Coventry, UK, wasn't built until a couple of years after I had a character being born there.
Since then, I have been a stickler for trying to get as many of the small details correct. Not only is it a way to avoid those negative reviews and save my proof-reader some time, it also provides a brilliant excuse for procrastination!


Promoting Pedantry
My books always have a date (although I tend not to specify the year), so here are some of the things I do.

• Susan, Warren's wife, is a teacher, so I look up the term dates for Hertfordshire schools, to work out if she is likely to be off school during the period it is set in.
• I check for public holidays (remember, Easter etc can move around).
• I look up sunrise and sunset times - if my killer is disposing of the body after dark, then they won't be doing it at 7pm in June!
• I check when the clocks change. It hasn't caused me problems yet, but you can guarantee that the one time I don't check will be the book which requires a precise timeline that straddles early evening on one day, finishing in the early hours of the following day, and I set the scene over the weekend when the clocks go back.
• The BBC and Sky etc archive their TV listings, so I can have a character give an accurate alibi or have Warren settle down to Have I Got News For You, confident that it was showing that evening (for bonus points, I can even reference the guests, knowing that somewhere out there I have just thwarted a pedant!).
• Similarly, football fixtures are archived (with kick off, score etc) - useful if a character claims to have been watching the footie.
• When describing cars, I double-check that the model of car was available in the UK for the registration date I give. Wikipedia and online car magazines can provide photographs to help in its description. For one book, I changed the timeline to ensure that a car with a particular feature was on sale during that time period.
• The BBC News website has archived its content, making it easy to find out what the major news stories were that day. No matter how horribly gruesome my murder is, it isn't going to have made the top story on the day of the EU referendum! Even if it has no impact on the plot, it adds a little colour and texture to the story.

Where to find that information
Googling for these little details is an obvious solution, but sometimes it's difficult to phrase the question properly. In this case you can post questions to forums on Reddit etc - you'd be amazed at the trivia that somebody out there is an expert on. Similarly, firms that provide services or goods that you need details about are often very willing to answer strange questions. I always start my email by explaining that I am a crime writer - the communications staff for large companies spend much of their time dealing with the same routine questions from the public. Something a bit different will often pique their interest. For my latest book, Out of Sight, I needed some specific guidance on the laws surrounding the drafting of a will. I found a firm that specialised in this and fired off an email on a Friday afternoon. A partner replied within a couple of hours, saying that they thought the question was fascinating and they'd get back to me. Sure enough, Monday morning I received their response. It was really lengthy and detailed, and they had clearly spent time looking up what I needed to know in their own time.  
For other precise facts, Wikipedia is a remarkable resource. I just finished writing a short story, and in the first draft, I blithely mentioned a life insurance company. Fortunately, I always flag anything like this with a comment to verify later. It turns out that not only did I have their name incorrect, it had also sold its life insurance business years before my book is set!
Finally, don't forget Facebook. I know nothing about guns, but there are dedicated writers forums populated by US cops who can tell you everything you need to know and more! If you have a wide and diverse group of friends, then sometimes it's worth posting the question and letting the FB hive mind do its thing.
Don't let the (inevitable) mistakes get you down.
How much effort you put into finding out these little factoids is entirely up to you, and I am well-aware that I am probably at the more obsessive end of the scale. It can be a tremendous time-suck, if you aren't careful.
Unfortunately, mistakes still occur, especially for things that you are convinced you know  - I was certain that I had the name of that insurance company correct, and was really only double-checking capitalisation and spelling, I had no idea it no longer sold life insurance.
Even if you are correct, there are plenty of readers out there who won't believe you (I had a recent surreal email exchange with an overseas reader who took exception to my pluralisation of a word, refusing to back down even when I cited the Collins dictionary). Some readers even write to authors to castigate them for giving incorrect directions for a fictional route between two places that only exist in the writer's imagination!
There will always be those who loudly proclaim on social media or review sites that an author's faux pas 'ruined the whole novel' and they had to 'put it down, never to read one of their books again'. Sometimes they call into question the author's attention to detail, accusing them of not bothering to engage the services of a proof-reader or, something that really irritates me, implying that the proof-reader is useless and unprofessional - they aren't, they're human.
Dig a little deeper and you'll find that such an over-reaction usually says more about the reviewer than your book. Often, they are using it as a platform to broadcast their supposed expertise on a niche subject that nobody else really cares about.
To be honest, aside from absolute howlers that are embarrassing, my advice is not to lie awake at night. If there is an opportunity to change the manuscript, then perhaps do so, if only to avoid having to reply repeatedly to the same questions on social media. Otherwise, wear it as a badge of honour. You aren't really a successful writer until you've had your first unjustified one star review!


How bothered are you by small inaccuracies? Do you have an obsessive attention to detail? What tiny details do you always strive to get correct?
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Until next time,
Paul.

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.