good books

The making of a novel – inspiration & method

Posted by Clare Chase on December 13, 2016

Posted in: Cambridge, Choc Lit, Clare Chase - books, For writers - all posts, For writers - methods, For writers - resources, good books, Journey to publication, Uncategorized. 4 Comments

The University of Cambridge’s Department of Architecture

I’m celebrating today as my second Cambridge mystery, One Dark Lie, is now available across all ebook platforms. It’s set in the run-up to Christmas: cue lots of snowy pics!

Writing a novel can be a bit of a long, slow process, and encouragement along the way truly helps, so it seems like a good time to share some of the bits of advice and inspiration that have helped keep me going.

Plotting and planning

I know lots of panster writers – those who create their plots as they go, without having any kind of plan when they begin their work. Famous examples include Lee Child, Donna Leon and Ian Rankin.

It goes without saying that they get excellent results! Personally, I’m a scaredy-cat. Jumping in like that would fill me with fear. I plot and plan before I start, but rather than making my writing stilted, it seems to free me up. I know I’ve got a structure to fall back on so I can relax, and because of that the words flow. If the plot changes whilst I’m writing, that’s fine; I’ve got a recovery plan if things go pear-shaped.

The view towards King’s College from outside Gonville and Caius

My inspiration for planning my novels came from Elizabeth George’s book, Write Away. She plots even more extensively than I do, which makes me feel quite laid back – perfect for when I want to imagine I’m actually a cool customer who’s happy go with the flow…

Recently, I was also galvanised by this post on first drafts by mystery writer Elly Griffiths. It’s part of a great series on the same topic on Rebecca Bradley’s website, where you can also find advice for writers of police procedurals and much else besides. (I love Rebecca’s crime novels too!)

My approach

I collect ideas that excite me and I think would form the basis of a new mystery.
I pick the one that I simply can’t ignore and start mulling it over whilst I’m doing mindless chores.
I ponder all the different ways I could approach the central idea, and then pick the one that seems likely to work best.
I start teasing out ideas relating to that approach, noting them down on paper or post-it notes.
Bit by bit I assemble them into some kind of order, and usually transfer them into an Excel spreadsheet at this stage, with one row for each main plot development. I use other tabs in the same worksheet to record details about characters, settings, etc.
As the ideas settle I start to see new patterns in the plot. I end up amalgamating some developments and adding extras here and there until each Excel row represents the contents of one chapter.
Once I’ve got to that point, I start to write. I keep updating my word count in Excel so that I know how I’m doing, and I adjust the plot as I go along when new ideas come to me.

For inspiring posts on revisions and edits, I have to turn to Rebecca Bradley’s excellent blog

Snowy lions outside the Fitzwilliam Museum

again. She’s just started a new series on this topic, and Marnie Riches has provided the inaugural post. Like Elly Griffiths above, she has a no-nonsense approach and has to keep to a tight schedule. This makes perfect reading for me when I’m feeling a bit can’t-be-botheredy, haven’t-got-timey. One dose of their words of wisdom and I’m back to thinking, come on Chase, sort your life out. Very beneficial.

My own favourite editing tips are:

Leave a gap of a few days between finishing the first draft and editing
Read the work aloud – clunky sentences stand out better that way
Read the work on Kindle – it’s weird how typos I’ve missed on my computer screen and even on paper leap out at me on my eReader.

I have not read this post on Kindle. I hope it’s not full of typos…

One Dark Lie – Cambridge Crime – A Ruby Fawcett and Nate Bastable mystery

one-dark-lie-high-res The truth can hurt, and sometimes it leads to murder …

After becoming embroiled in a murder investigation, Nate Bastable and Ruby Fawcett have decided to opt for the quiet life. But crime has a habit of following them around.

When her work dries up, Ruby finds herself accepting a job researching and writing about Diana Patrick-John, a colourful and enigmatic Cambridge academic. Simple enough. But then there’s the small fact that Diana was found dead in suspicious circumstances in her home – the very place where Ruby has now been invited to stay.

As she begins to uncover Diana’s secret life, Ruby’s sleuthing instinct kicks in, leaving her open to danger and retribution. But can she rely on Nate to support her once again? Especially when his behaviour has become increasingly distant and strange, almost as though he had something to hide …

Sophie Hannah and Jill Dawson at the Cambridge Literary Festival

Posted by Clare Chase on December 2, 2016

Posted in: Cambridge, Cambridge - Events, For writers - all posts, good books, Uncategorized. 2 Comments

The event was held at Trinity College

Last weekend I had a thoroughly self-indulgent time attending a talk by Sophie Hannah and Jill Dawson.

Hannah has recently written Closed Casket, her second Hercule Poirot mystery, commissioned by Agatha Christie Limited. Meanwhile Dawson’s latest book, The Crime Writer, is about novelist Patricia Highsmith, and according to The Guardian “achieves a wonderful blurring of the lines between fact and fantasy.”

I was keen to find out how they’d each approached their projects, and I was especially interested because Christie and Highsmith represent such different aspects of the genre.

The session was chaired by another crime writer, Jim Kelly, who asked some great questions. These are just some of the topics that came up:

The right voice

Sophie Hannah said she decided to use a different narrator for her mysteries – abandoning Christie’s Captain Hastings – so that there was an organic reason for the tone and style to vary from the original. She said that when she signed up to write the books it was on the understanding that she wouldn’t try to mimic Agatha Christie. Instead, she concentrates on delivering what she knows fans want from a Christie novel – and she understands those elements inside out because she’s a huge fan herself.

She said she loves the way Christie’s novels begin with a seemingly impossible puzzle, and pointed out that she has always started her own psychological thrillers in the same way.

Jill Dawson, on the other hand, was very definitely trying to get Patricia Highsmith’s voice. She said it was made more difficult because she wasn’t given permission to any of Highsmith’s words that had been published in print. However, material from recorded interviews was allowed, so she managed to sneak the odd authentic phrase in that way! She also read and re-read all of Highsmith’s works, as well as her biographies, and talked to one of her biographers, Andrew Wilson.

A sense of place

Each author was asked how they’d managed to inject a sense of place into their books. Sophie Hannah set her latest Poirot mystery in Ireland after travelling there, and found the large country house she used as the main setting on Rightmove. (I love using Rightmove for research too…! It’s definitely not a displacement activity.) Jill Dawson described visiting Earl Soham, where Highsmith lived in Suffolk, and going alone to the local pub. It was almost deserted, and she drew quite a lot of attention from the other drinkers. She could only imagine that Highsmith, doing the same in the sixties, must have been a hot topic of local gossip, and that helped her envisage what life in the village must have been like for her.

Real characters in fiction

Along with Patricia Highsmith, Jill Dawson features the writer Ronald Blythe in her book, and sought his permission in advance. He was a friend of Highsmith’s, but there was a sexual element to their relationship too. There’s an interesting article about him here. Dawson kept in close touch with him as she worked on the book, and at the end he told her she’d stayed true to their connection in her writing.

Sophie Hannah, of course, wasn’t writing about a real person, but she did say she based several of the characters in her book on people she knows in real life. Most interestingly of all, she explained that three of them in Closed Casket are based on her! She said each of these characters represents one of three ways she feels about one of the other characters in the book, who’s based on a real life connection. I’m fascinated now and will certainly have to read the novel to find out more!

There’s a review of Jill Dawson’s book here, and you can read an extract from Sophie Hannah’s here.

This is nothing to do with the event, but it’s been very pretty on my cycle commute to work recently!

Out today: Please Release Me by Rhoda Baxter

Posted by Clare Chase on September 10, 2015

Posted in: Choc Lit, good books. 1 Comment

Today I’m posting in celebration of the launch of Rhoda Baxter’s new novel, Please Release Me. It’s out today, and sitting on my Kindle ready to go!

Here’s the blurb, so you can see why I was tempted:

What if you could only watch as your bright future slipped away from you?

Sally Cummings has had it tougher than most but, if nothing else, it’s taught her to grab opportunity with both hands. And, when she stands looking into the eyes of her new husband Peter on her perfect wedding day, it seems her life is finally on the up.

That is until the car crash that puts her in a coma and throws her entire future into question.

In the following months, a small part of Sally’s consciousness begins to return, allowing her to listen in on the world around her – although she has no way to communicate.

But Sally was never going to let a little thing like a coma get in the way of her happily ever after …

Here’s the buy link: myBook.to/PleaseReleaseMe

Rhoda’s asked everyone taking part in her launch-day festivities to respond to three prompts. They relate to her story, since all three of her characters are stuck in some way. Here goes!

The thing I’m stuck on now…

Anything I put is going to seem a tad frivolous, given the predicament of Rhoda’s heroine, but if I let that get to me, then the thing I’d be stuck on is writing this post. So… By the end of this month, I’ll have spent twenty-four hours stuck on trains, travelling to university open days in Lancaster, York and Edinburgh with DD1. I can’t pretend it’s a hardship though since a) I’m hugely curious to see what each university is like b) I enjoy train travel and c) Edinburgh and York are two of my favourite cities. It was my first visit to Lancaster (the one journey already in the bag) but it’s right up there with the others.

If I could be stuck anywhere (with anyone)…

As I type, rain is battering the roof window overhead, and the whole of Cambridge is dripping. There’s also that feeling of impending autumn brought on by the sudden influx of unfeasibly large house-spiders. To take me away from all that, I fancy being stuck somewhere warm, with plenty of nice food and drink, and interesting places to explore, with my OH and daughters. Let’s say Rome. (Thanks for asking, Rhoda. I presume just wishing it here will make it come true…?)

Stickers

These are the stickers I’m currently dreaming about. (OK, they’re post-it notes really, so I hope I’m not cheating.) I’m in the process of plotting a third novel in a new mystery series, set in Cambridge, so I’m keeping track of my clues, red herrings and love affairs with the aid of the study wall and some judicious colour coding.

Right. This post has now come to a sticky end… (I know. I’m sorry.)

The mystery ingredient…

Posted by Clare Chase on March 20, 2015

Posted in: For writers - all posts, good books. 3 Comments

I had great fun on Sunday, taking part in a blog feature run by my fellow Choc Lit author, Rhoda Baxter. Her Inheritance Books series is inspired by the Inheritance Tracks slot from BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live. You get to share a book that was passed down to you from the previous generation, as well as one that you’d like to hand on. I love the series, and the reasons for people’s choices are fascinating.

As you can imagine, it took a looong time to decide what to go for. And as well as the books I mentioned there, there’s an extra one, which was really important to me as a child. Septimus and the Danedyke Mystery by Stephen Chance was the first crime novel I ever read, before I was old enough to start on Margery Allingham, PD James and Ruth Rendell. It gave me a taste for crime fiction that’s never left. I got to thinking about the elements that made it so appealing, and here they are:

Where is that book? Perhaps the kiwis know…

Cast

Chance’s sleuth is Septimus Treloar, a CID Chief Inspector turned parson. I always found him an interesting and sympathetic character. He’s aided and abetted by the local GP, and I really like the portrait of their friendship, and the cast of characters overall.

Setting

This is the imaginary village of St Mary’s Danedyke, in the heart of the East Anglian fens. We live on the edge of them, in Cambridge, and they’ve always fascinated me. I love their starkness, the acres of black, peaty soil, and the wide skies that go with the flat landscape.

In You Think You Know Me, I used London, and the mountains of the Lake District. I find both mountains and flat-land compelling, and each can be threatening, beautiful and claustrophobic in their own way. In the Lakes, the huge masses of rock give a physical barrier to escape, but in the fens, you sometimes feel you could run for miles without finding rescue. There are no barriers, so you can see far into the distance, and know you’re alone or – potentially worse – that you’re not… And of course, both places are very watery! I find the straight, seemingly endless drains of the fens and the great sheets of water in Cumbria awe inspiring.

A mystery to solve

At the centre of this story is an ancient chalice, the missing Danedyke Cup, a much older version of the replica that’s on display in Septimus’ church. The book has clues that can be pieced together, and I enjoyed following the trail. This is still really important to me. However deep the characters are, and however much action there is, I do like a puzzle I can fathom out as well.

Pace

Along with the slower, more thoughtful elements of the book, which focus on unravelling the clues, there’s a good dose of action and suspense.

The book was originally meant for teenagers, but I never quite knew why. I’d like to re-read it now, only I can’t lay my hands on it, which is why there’s a photo of a bookcase with this post, instead of the book itself.

Dammit. I really need to have a sort out…

PS Thanks so much for all the supportive comments last week. The advice and encouragement was really helpful, and I’ve managed to get going again.

Stephen King’s Joyland, and the benefit of hindsight

Posted by Clare Chase on February 15, 2015

Posted in: For writers - all posts, For writers - methods, good books. 2 Comments

I recently finished Joyland, by Stephen King. It’s only the second novel of his that I’ve read, the first being 11 22 63. I can’t think why I didn’t start sooner.

Neither of these particular examples belong to the genre that King’s most famous for, but each has elements that waive the normal scientific rules of life. I found I was instantly absorbed by both books, and suspending disbelief wasn’t a problem for an instant; I just enjoyed the ride.

Joyland tells the story of Devin Jones, a student who takes a summer job at a run-down amusement park. The descriptions of the lifestyle and characters are wonderfully evocative, and there’s a mystery too, the murder of a young woman, a couple of years previously. But it’s also a powerful coming of age story, and a book about life and the joys and tragedies that make up its pattern.

The novel has a supernatural element, and plays on the idea that some events in people’s lives are preordained.

I think part of what made the story so haunting, from my point of view, was the way King handled the narration. The book uses first person, with Devin telling the story of what happened to him as a young man. I was hooked right into that period of his life, but as a narrator, every so often he pulls back, and you’re conscious that he’s now in late middle age. That means King can get you immersed in the reality of 1973, but then suddenly jolt you back to the present and show you just how history panned out.

That brings the idea of preordination much closer, because the narrator really is able to reveal the future to the reader, albeit with the benefit of hindsight. Each time I was tricked because I’d been so absorbed by the 1970’s story. I found it created a wonderfully poignant effect that sent tingles down my spine.

It also gives one the feeling of being let in on a series of secrets. In that respect, Liane Moriarty creates a similar effect at the end of The Husband’s Secret, where an all-seeing narrator lets the reader in on various bits of privileged knowledge.

I found it a highly effective and inspiring technique, and loved reading the book.

Books, buckets and blogs…

Posted by Clare Chase on September 5, 2014

Posted in: good books. Tagged: Journey to publication. 6 Comments

Tagging has been the order of the day in the last couple of weeks.

First of all I got tagged on FB to list ten books that have stayed with me over the years. (Thanks, Julie – although I agonised over the list, it was great fun!) I finally came up with:

The Cuckoo Tree by Joan Aiken – a fantastic adventure story I re-read endlessly as a child
Septimus and the Danedyke Mystery by Steven Chance – the book that introduced me to crime fiction
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith – a brilliantly observed, funny and moving coming-of-age story
Bleak House by Charles Dickens – I never forget the chilling way in which Rick is transformed by his hopes of an inheritance
Wildfire at Midnight by Mary Stewart – romantic mystery at its best. The way Stewart reveals the murderer is shiver-inducing
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier – another great example of the genre: atmospheric and compelling
Look to the Lady by Margery Allingham – classic crime, and Campion and Lugg are brilliant creations
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh – simply very funny
The Sea House by Esther Freud – I love the setting, which is based on Southwold, and also the dual plot lines, one contemporary and one historical
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver – the powerful way Kingsolver uses the voices of the four daughters, and the role of the father in the book, really send shivers down my spine

The next tag involved the MND ice bucket challenge, with my entire family being nominated at once. We managed a coordinated effort with a combination of buckets and washing up bowls, and I hope synchronised bucketing might eventually become an Olympic sport. Anyone who’d like to donate in the UK can text ICED55 and an amount to 70070.

Finally ace-blogger and writer Julie Stock kindly tagged me in a list of recommended blogs when accepting the One Lovely Blogger award. Julie’s site is full of information for writers, posts on her journey to publication, and much more besides – definitely recommended.

And in writing news

I’ve just heard that I’ll receive my first set of edits next week. I’m a bit nervous, never having been through this process before! I’ll let you know how it goes. (Unless I make a complete mess of it, in which case I might mysteriously forget…)

The Lakes, Catherine Ryan Howard, and WordPress.com websites…

Posted by Clare Chase on August 22, 2014

Posted in: For writers - all posts, For writers - resources, good books. 2 Comments

Just back from a holiday in the Lake District. Its beauty alone makes it a great setting for fiction. Then the lack of mobile coverage in many places is an absolute bonus if you’re writing crime. Your heroine doesn’t need to run low on battery to stop her calling for backup… It’s where Anna, the main character in my debut novel, ends up.

Derwentwater

Whilst I was away, I read Catherine Ryan Howard’s Self-Printed: the Sane Person’s Guide to Self-Publishing. Although I haven’t opted for that route, the book’s got a lot of content that’s universally useful, and I’m really glad I bought it. There’s an updated version coming soon; Catherine’s blog has some information on which sections will be revised.

I enjoyed the bits on blogging and social media, and her style of delivery’s informal and humorous. She’s also convinced me to migrate my blog to WordPress.com. Although I’ve really enjoyed using Blogger, I’m now after a full website, with more flexibility. I was feeling a bit can’t-be-botheredy, technophobey about the whole operation. However, I’ve found that a) WordPress.com has excellent help pages and b) Catherine’s book offers the ultimate in hand-holding. She also covers useful add-on issues, like how to set up an info@ email address for a custom domain.

So in the next week, I will hopefully manage the final hurdle of mapping www.clarechase.com over to the WordPress site, and the transfer will be complete. It’s possible to import all existing posts, with labels, pictures and so on from Blogger, which is darned handy.

Of course, once I’ve stopped twiddling about with websites, I will actually need to get on and do things like scything down the grass in the back garden and evicting spiders from the dining room. But enough of that; I feel the urgent call to faff around with background colours…

Clare Chase

London & Cambridge mysteries