You don't know what you don't know

The evidence never lies, Nick

Mark Billingham tells a story about sharing a festival stage with a pretentious literary writer who spoke at length about how she felt her characters’ presence when writing and how they, rather than she, dictated the story. When the spotlight turned on Mark, he explained his own creative process thus: ‘I just make shit up’.  

I’m certainly of the making-shit-up school, but sometimes my imagination needs to be augmented with solid facts. I’m a big fan of research, not just because I don’t like to get things wrong, but because of what I call the ‘You don’t know what you don’t know' principle. While fact-checking, I regularly learn something completely different to, and often more interesting than, what I set out to discover. This happens most often when I involve people, rather than books or the internet, in the process. Here are three examples of how the YDKWYDK principle has helped me in writing No Stranger to Death.

CSI: Scotland

Writing my first novel started with a single idea: using a village’s Guy Fawkes bonfire to dispose of a body. This idea also presented me with my first challenge, to find out the extent to which that body would be destroyed. This was many years ago, when I was a mature student at Edinburgh University, so I made an appointment to meet with someone in the Forensic Medicine department. It was the first time I ever used the ‘I’m writing a novel and need to know . . . ‘ line which I’ve used many times since. Feeling sure they would assign me a student to speak with, I was amazed when it turned out the head of the department had made room in his diary for me, and then overawed when he told me he was used to talking to writers, in fact he often advised Ian Rankin!

This lovely man was so generous with his time and advice. The effect of fire on the human body, he told me, depended on many factors. He offered to show me photographs, but seeing the look on my face, thought better of this. Then he suggested the victim could be wrapped up in something like a carpet, because ‘that way she would be baked rather than burned’. Needless to say, I have used this, and I took great delight in having one of my character ghoulishly describe the dead woman as ‘Chrissie en croute’. In addition, as I got further into the novel, I realised wrapping her in that carpet provided yet another twist to my story, and solved a plot problem which had worried me for some time.

Who do you think you are?

I remember how I got the idea of a body in a bonfire: at a village Guy Fawkes party. But what on earth possessed me to make Kate Mackenzie, my ‘Dr Watson’ character, a genealogist? This was a job I knew nothing about. So, although Kate’s work isn’t vital to the plot of No Stranger to Death, I thought I should at least know what she would have on her desk and what she would spend most of her time doing.

I emailed a genealogist based nearby to find out if she would allow me to ask her a few questions about her job and we agreed to meet at the M&S café at Berwick (oh the glamour of being a writer!). She made genealogy sound fascinating and deserving of so much more than a bit part in my stories. 

They'll never take . . . our freedom!

I learnt that many Americans, while keen to prove they have British ancestors, would much prefer to find they are of Scots descent over English. Apparently, some of them also like to believe they’re related to William Wallace, the 13^th-century fighter for Scottish independence, but they have a bigger chance of being related to Mel Gibson, who played him in the film Braveheart! This gem set my pen scribbling, and is now a line spoken by Kate. I’ve also come up with a way of giving Kate’s job a far bigger role in Book Two.

Fight club

During my recent edit of No Stranger to Death before sending it to an external editor, I realised a scene where my main character Zoe Moreland fights off an attacker didn’t work. I rewrote it several times but it remained unsatisfactory and over far too quickly. John saw from my face that things weren't going well and asked me what was wrong. I tried to explain the problem, and the next thing I knew we were acting it out. Without the weapon, I hasten to add. And as soon as we did this, I knew how Zoe would instinctively act and how her attacker would try to prevent her from escaping. Better still, I came up with yet another way to obey this valuable piece of writing advice: think of the worst thing that can happen to your character, then make it even worse.

There is, of course, a downside to research: it can be far too enjoyable and distracting. When I’m struggling to write an awkward scene, it’s easy to kid myself that looking at pictures of tattoos or reading about the derivation of Scots words is a legitimate part of my creative process. Research is up there with Twitter when it comes to being a time-suck for writers, but also like Twitter, it can introduce us to people and experiences with the potential to enhance our writing and our lives.

Hanging up my L-plates?



This writer's best friend



I’m now looking down into the abyss waiting to be filled with words which is planning Book 2. Writing it is a daunting prospect for many reasons, not least because I intermittently worked on Book 1, No Stranger to Death, over a long period. This time I’m giving myself a year to get Book 2 written, edited several times and polished to a shine.

Below are some of the things I learnt during the writing of Book 1 which I’m hoping will help me with its follow-up.

Plotting: There’s no telling what will work for you

Because I’m by nature a planner I started out imagining I could (or, rather, should) plan the entire novel before writing it. I wrestled with the enormity of that task, and felt worthless when I couldn’t do it. In desperation, with the idea of an opening that revolved around the discovery of a body in a Guy Fawkes bonfire, I just started writing. And soon the pages began to fill with characters and events. 

Every time I ran out of plot I grabbed one of my many ‘how to write’ books and read. If I struggled with making a character come to life I’d write a page or two in their voice telling me about their past. Eventually an outline for the next few chapters would reveal itself to me. And so it went on.

Several strands of the story, such as the resolution of the murder which kick‑started it, needed to be brought together towards the end of the novel. This required more detailed planning, although by then I had written the final chapter so I knew where I was heading. Long walks with the collie were great for working out particularly knotty problems. A bit like passing my driving test (on the 3rd attempt), I couldn't quite believe it when I completed the task.

I hope I haven’t made this sound easier than it was. Because it was staggeringly difficult. But by the time I got about two-thirds of the way in I felt able to relax. I’d travelled so far in this strange fashion, there was no reason why I couldn’t get to the end.

It turns out I’m more of a pantser than a planner. No one’s more surprised than me.

Editing: It is possible to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear

We’re all familiar with the saying that every first draft is shit (was it Graham Greene?). But it’s hard, when you’re starting out, to accept that means yours too. When I write copy for business clients I wouldn’t dream of showing them anything without editing it time and time again. This is especially true when I’m writing for the internet, which demands precision and brevity. So how could I possibly imagine being able to write 96,000 words and get them right first time?

Once I’d got that revelation out of the way I ploughed on with writing the first draft. I only reviewed what I’d written the day before. Any ideas which came to me about changes I should make were recorded in a separate file to look at later.

I actually enjoyed the editing process. However, it took much longer, and involved lots more reiteration than I’d expected. Reading out loud and using my Kindle have proved invaluable. And I’ve learnt to trust my instinct: if I’m the least bit unsure how good a phrase, sentence or paragraph is, I work on it.

Research: You don’t know what you don’t know

I’ve heard writers say they don’t do any research until after they’ve written the book, when they go back and fill in the gaps. This stops them wasting time by getting bogged down in superfluous information. I recognise this is sensible – there are already enough distractions (see Social Media below) conspiring to keep us away from writing. However, the ‘experts’ I’ve consulted have each done a lot more than just answer my questions.

For example, I asked a forensic pathologist for information about how extensively a body in a Guy Fawkes bonfire would burn up. His response, that this depended on different factors, wasn’t particularly helpful. Then he said, ‘But you could have the victim wrapped in a carpet, and that way she’d be more baked than burned.’ This was horrible – and irresistible. It also enabled me to add a further layer of complexity to what occurred before the body was put into the fire.

Most people are happy to talk about their job if you ask them nicely enough. I’ve only been rebuffed by one person – a genealogist – so far. I went on to find another professional in that field who said yes. She was lovely and gave me a lot more material than the first chap probably would have, as well as a brilliant one-liner I’ve used in the novel.

Social media: ‘Building a platform’ can be fun

In common with many writers I’m not a party animal. I enjoy the company of others, but in small groups or better still on a one-to-one basis. I was happy to have a website, blog a bit on it, but start talking, albeit via the internet, to complete strangers? Not for me! Or so I thought. Then, almost a year ago, I went on one of Nicola Morgan’s training events for aspiring writers. And came away having promised to give Twitter a try.

It was strange at first, talking to myself. But gradually I gained enough confidence to respond to others’ tweets, some of which developed into conversations. As at today I’ve tweeted over 4,500 times, am following 417 tweeps (I don’t like that word) and have 370 followers. I’m still not particularly gregarious, but I have made friends. And, I’m delighted to say, I’ll be meeting some of them in real life during 2012, mainly at book-related events. Entering a room full of strangers suddenly got a lot easier.

I’ve now dipped my toe into Facebook (but have a lot of catching up to do) and yesterday signed up to Pinterest. Will any of this make Book 2 easier to write and improve my chances of getting published? Hmm. Probably not. But I think that’s the best attitude for an unpublished writer to have. Enjoy social networking and look upon any other benefits as a bonus.

This isn’t, of course, everything I’ve learnt during my journey from ‘Chapter 1’ to ‘The End’. But, as I've already said, writing for the internet involves precision and brevity. So I’ll stop here. And anyway, I’ve got a novel to write.

If you’re a writer, what lessons have you learnt? I’d love to hear about them, so please leave a comment below.