I'm not sure if it's really a new shop as such, since it may be one that's been lurking for a while in the wings, waiting to be brought on by the set crew. I think there are more sets stored back-stage, more characters in the green room, than I've had room for on the …
next steps
So far the characters in my quirky mystery novels have attempted several different kinds of crafts, although only in one case has this been very relevant to the plot. In 'Crime in the Community' I introduce Maisie Sue McPherson, an American quilter who pops up occasionally in the other novels in the series. In the second, …
timelines
I'm not sure how much time the average quirky mystery covers. Is the action typically all over within a few days or is it drawn out over weeks or even months? My instinct is to rush through all the action as quickly as possible before I forget where I'm going with it. Sometimes this is …
Auspicious day
Today, Monday 24th January, isn't really a very special day in most ways, but for me it's when I draw a line under 'Reunited in Death' (yes, that's the final title - until I change my mind again) for the moment and move on to start editing 'A Reformed Character'. As I am not very …
cosiness for winter days
So what are the elements that make a mystery novel 'cosy'? I usually describe my mystery novels in this way but I am never quite sure they fit into the sub-genre, except that not much blood or violence is visible and the characters occasionally abandon crime in favour of scrapbooking or knitting. In the latest …
A Discovery about Themes
During this year's NaNoWriMo I made the startling (to me) discovery that it was a big help to have decided the theme of the novel in advance. I don't think this is quite the first time I've done this, but in this case the theme permeated the whole story to such an extent that instead …
More about the place
Because I'm writing about a fictitious town, Pitkirtly, I have had to invent its geography and town plan from nothing - or almost nothing. It has similarities to Culross, which I know slightly, but I don't want it to be the same as Culross. So for instance I don't want it to have a railway line …
Themes – why do we have them?
Sometimes the theme of a novel is not immediately obvious - or is even completely different from the one the writer has in mind. As part of an effort to be a real writer I have been giving some thought to my themes. These are not great big unmanageable themes of life, death, good and …
writing about the seasons
As a coastal town, Pitkirtly bears the brunt of quite a lot of weather, although perhaps not as much as if it was on the North Sea itself. Instead it's quite a way inside the Firth of Forth, past the Forth Bridges and with a harbour that's partly sheltered. The weather plays a large part …
Something more about my mystery novels
My mystery novels are set in the imaginary small town of Pitkirtly on the south coast of Fife. You can see Longannet power station and Grangemouth oil refinery from the harbour, so in that sense it is quite like the picturesque village of Culross, but in many ways it is not at all similar to any real …
