Tag: East Sussex

No Bodies is the second novel in the Kent Fisher mystery series. It follows hot on the heels of No Accident, the first novel. If you want to read what I learned from writing No Accident, you can check the post here.

Both novels began their uncertain lives just after the millennium under different titles. After No Accident was published in 2016, I revised and rewrote much of No Bodies to bring it up to date and into line with the first.

1. Books aren’t written, they’re rewritten (Michael Crichton)

Okay, the rewrite was carried out over 12 years after the original version was written. Only the plot remained intact. The story was revised into the new style I’d developed. My newfound love of editing reduced the size of the book and sharpened the prose, allowing my characters to ‘leap off the page’ – something a literary agent didn’t find when she read the original version.

The story and treatment were similar to No Accident, but there was more purpose and drive to the investigation and a greater personal threat to Kent and those nearest to him. I also had the chance to expand Columbo’s unique relationship with Kent.

Robert with Harvey, aka Columbo

The rewrite proved challenging as the characters had changed but the plot had to stay the same. Times had also moved on, demanding a different approach to several of the issues raised by the story. Both restricted my freedom and new ways of working, drawing me to my next conclusion.

2. Planning was at the heart of my failures

No Bodies was originally planned in great detail. It’s a complex murder mystery with two separate storylines that ultimately crash into each other, helping Kent to solve the murders of several missing women.

My method of writing at the turn of the millennium was based on detailed planning of the plot and main events. I wrote copious notes, which filled a Lever Arch folder. Everything from character profiles, descriptions of settings, time lines and ideas for plot events found its way into the folder.

An outline of the story and main events helped me convert the many notes I’d written into a more detailed synopsis. This became the blueprint I kept beside the PC while I wrote the first draft.

It didn’t take long before I discovered how restricting this was.

My mind continued to produce ideas. Some were so tantalising, I couldn’t resist them. Many couldn’t be easily accommodated in the synopsis. It led to some bloating and diversions from the main plot that took the edge of the pace and momentum.

Looking back, I also believe the constraints of the synopsis smothered my natural creativity and immediacy. Planning dulled the prose. Planning resisted the unexpected moments that often lift a story or send it running in a new, but more exciting direction. Planning took the life out of the story and characters, as the literary agent discovered.

It also made me more determined to breathe the fire back into the story during the rewrites.

3. Nothing’s impossible. The impossible just takes a little longer.

Until the rewrite, I never fully appreciated one of my guiding principles.

Whenever life didn’t meet expectations, I would remind myself of this principle. Most of my writing failures were the result of rushing, impatience and a failure to recognise, or deal with, the shortcomings in my approach.

I hated editing and revising, which meant I often did it badly, if at all. I told myself editing destroyed the immediacy and essence of my narrative. It’s easy to make excuses for the things you don’t want to do. The trouble is, you don’t learn or progress either.

When faced with the challenge of updating a long novel I knew to be less than perfect, I was tempted to leave it and write a new story instead.

Only I couldn’t. I’d written No Accident to dovetail into No Bodies

With my guiding principle in mind, I didn’t rush the rewrite. The impatient and frustrated writer of old was replaced by a calmer, more determined one. Having parted company with the publisher of No Accident, there were no deadlines or pressures from outside.

I could even afford to make the story better and more realistic.

4. Google doesn’t have all the answers

Kent Fisher had to visit Glastonbury to confront a suspect. Naturally, things didn’t go to plan, leading to a chase across town. Having already visited and loved Glastonbury’s unique atmosphere and buildings, I’d written the chase from memory.

 

With the advent of Street View on Google maps, I had the chance to check out the route so I could describe it more fully. Within seconds, I discovered my memory was faulty. Google allowed me to plot a better route using Street View.

A few months later, Carol, Harvey and I went to Glastonbury for a break. We started to walk the Google route, but it soon went in a different direction to the one I thought I’d chosen.

Reverting to traditional shoe leather, written notes and photographs, we recorded the exact route I wanted Kent to take, murals included.

5. Just ask a police officer

The final detail I wanted to check for authenticity was the police interview facilities. The days of small, cold rooms with concrete floors and uncomfortable chairs, squeezed into the basement of the police station, have long gone.

The principles are the same – table, chairs and recording equipment, only the custody suite is more modern and uses video and PCs.

Thanks to a friend, who’s a former police officer, I was given a guided tour of the custody centre by the sergeant in control of the place. He took me from the area where suspects arrive, through the processing point, past the cells to the interview rooms. Along the way, he explained how they worked and used the facilities. He answered my many questions and even suggested how to improve the scene I was setting there.

Apart from the fascinating insights, the visit meant my scene has authenticity and accuracy, even if I had to lose a few of my more dramatic flourishes. To me, this equals credibility and hopefully builds trust between the reader and author.

The details are in No Bodies, as is an encounter I had with someone who walked from the suite into the waiting area where I was seated. She was bouncing along, grinning to herself when she spotted me.

“Just had some brilliant news,” she said, strolling over. “I got bail.”

I had no idea what to say, but I simply had to put her into the scene in No Bodies.

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No Bodies is available from Amazon on Kindle and paperback.

Click here to learn more about me and the Kent Fisher mysteries.