Secrets of a bestselling author

Lesley Cookman

I’m so grateful to my long-time friend Lesley Cookman for revealing some of the secrets of a bestselling novelist‘s life. Read today’s guest blog to see what you have in common with her, and get a sneak preview of the cover of her next book (which won’t be published for months yet).

Lesley is the author of the Libby Serjeant series of murder mysteries, with the eighteenth recently published – Murder by the barrel. Each new book whizzes to the top of its category on the Amazon bestseller charts, but despite Lesley’s success, the writing life is still not easy. But it is rewarding… Read Lesley’s guest blog here – and do ask questions in the ‘comments’ bit!

The first book in the Libby Serjeant series

No. 18 in the series

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Topical bonus for crime writers

Spending cuts could banjax the justice system in England & Wales, and give crime writers a field day.

(Photo credit: West Midlands Police)

The government, desperate to find ways to save money, is mothballing the forensic archives and putting the responsibility on individual police forces to file their own evidence for the future. Experts reckon this could put a spanner in the works for innocent prisoners, cold cases and current investigations.

How could you use this, as a crime writer, to spark off a plot, or make a crisis in the story, or furnish the book with a juicy sub-plot?

Read more…

Fantastic true story – inspiration for yours?

Deserted Flavel family house in Astoria, Oregon

An amazing story in the Daily Astorian, local paper for Astoria in Oregon. It reads like the transcript of a film – all it needs is dialogue: the fall of the house of Flavel.

An influential rich family come to degradation and violence, a deserted mansion full of mysteries, a missing heiress and lots of questions.

Any one chunk of this long story would inspire a novel, a play, a screenplay, a TV series – crime, mystery, thriller, horror, even romance.

If you’re searching for ideas, this story could give you the spur your imagination needs.

Read, be inspired, start writing. Let me know how it goes!