Why Crime?

I always knew I wanted to be a writer but it never seemed like an actual career choice. I left school without many qualifications and found myself homeless for a year in my late teens. It was a tough time but one thing that I’ve always done, and which I continued to do, even on the move was read. I schlepped from place to place for a year with a large back-pack mainly full of books which I’d whizz through then take to charity shops stocking up on more.

I think writers are readers. I think it’s the only necessary qualification for the job – not to say others won’t help but this one seems vital.  

Anyway, at 20 I was working in a call centre and had some idea that perhaps I could go to University despite my bad grades and I was extremely lucky to gain a place with a few conditions. I studied drama and English Literature. My favourite module was Creative Writing and my lecturer was very encouraging. It was the only thing I got a first in and he urged me to finish writing what I was working on and send it out for publication.

What I was ‘working on’ was, I guess, ‘autobiographical’. Really it was just a lot of ramblings – me trying to make peace with the few years before I’d started University. I didn’t finish it, it didn’t get published and I’m really pleased. Having faced the horror of amazon and good reads reviews for fiction I suspect 21-year-old me would have crumbled under criticism of my actual life.

I wasn’t to attempt to write fiction again seriously until I was in my mid-30’s, pregnant with my second son and working in PR (I was bad at this). I had an MA in Journalism by then gained while I was a single parent to my first son and during that time, I had a few writing gigs – mainly short articles for parenting websites and scripting some news pieces for my local radio station.

My husband suggested whilst I was off at the end of my pregnancy and on maternity I may as well try and write the book I was always saying I would. I love story above all else and I will read anything and everything if it keeps me turning the pages but, my first real, true love is crime fiction. I like a good pace in a book and a lot of crime fiction has that, I also like the social commentary that the genre seems to embody. Mainly I read for character and perhaps on some level identification, and a lot of crime fiction felt like it was about people like me and people I knew.

I guess it was only natural when I sat down to write that a crime novel is what came out. After quite a few false starts, a lot of terrible openings and a huge dollop of self-doubt I wrote a first draft of what would become my debut. It was pretty bad, but I had something to work with and I did. I polished it, read it, and re-read it. It changed a lot from its early state and by the time I sent it off I figured it was as good as it was going to be. Then I sent it out on sub and started writing something different (but also crime).

My road to publication was surprisingly easy. I think the stars aligned and my manuscript hit the desks of an agent and an editor who were looking for what I’d written. My (limited) understanding of publishing since is that an awful lot is down to luck and timing.

My second novel ‘The Lies We Tell’ is just out, it follows on from my first, but I think will be where that series is left. My debut has been optioned by Expectation Entertainment.

I’m still writing crime though my current project is different to my first two in tone, theme and sub-genre. I think this is another thing I love about being a ‘crime-writer’ it’s a broad church with a lot of scope. I’m also polishing the manuscript I was working on while my debut was on submission (the best advice I was ever given – write while you’re waiting).  

Will I always write crime? I don’t know. I like a lot of YA and I have some ideas for a kind of sci-fi series too. But for now, I’m very comfortable where I am on the darker side of fiction.

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing