The story behind – Left for Dead
When writing this book, I didn’t want to just write another regurgitation for what was already on the market. Recently, (and some of my fans have also said this) thriller have become boring. Repetitive. Laking in variety. A cop who is plastic and fake. A bad relationship that is predictable. A twist you see coming from a mile away.
I wanted to write something different. Something darker. Grittier. Something that sticks with you long after the final page. So, the first thing I did, was throw the rule book out of the window, and I made something truly one of a kind.
Throwing Out the Rule Book
Thriller and mystery writers are notoriously plotters, in order to plan the red herrings and twists into the plot. That means that they know what is going to happen before it happens, making the story predictable to the reader. But what if you wrote a story that even the writer didn’t know what was going to happen?
Being a pantser (someone who writes as they go without a plot) this was my first hurdle.
But I didn’t see it as a detriment. I saw it as an advantage. I saw that if I throw out the rule book and I don’t know what’s going to happen, then my readers are going to be more devastatingly winded when those twists punch them in the gut.
Flesh and Bone
Then it came to the flesh and bones of the story. What makes my telling of a crime thriller unique, is that I have been there and done it. I have interviewed psychopaths. I have driven police cars on blue lights to emergencies. I have broken down doors. Fought with drunks and angry giants who have devoured too much of the devil’s dandruff. I have seen more dead bodies than I can remember, and I have solved hundreds of crimes.
That’s what makes me and my work, different. Because of my background, I was able to write an authentic thriller, with easter eggs in them which when people have read it, they have laughed, and it is relatable.
The inspector who is worried about getting a complaint. The smell, touch and sight of a three-week-old corpse. The description of questioning in a police interview. The mental breakdown after a rough shift. It’s something you can’t simply research. It’s things you have to live and feel in order to make it real.
Breaking the Mould
Image from Google
Then came the characters. Boy were they fun to write.
The main character, Laura Warburton, is more than just a detective inspector. She is a survivor of domestic violence and coercive control. I have both investigated, and suffered, such relationships myself, meaning I could dive deep and get into the meat between the bones of such subtleties of this kind of abuse, from gaslighting, false executions, personality disorders and mind bending interactions.
I broke the mould with her. She is a fierce detective but broken in many ways. A viper amongst mice. A thick armour with a soft interior. She’s kick ass, bad ass, and a hard ass, and I loved writing her. I loved exploring her struggles. Her mental health. Desperate for love but so chaotic with it. Her character arc. Her desperately trying to do the right thing through unconventional methods.
And then there’s the killer. Ominous. Dark. Sadistic.
But you’ll have to discover why for yourself…
If you’re bored of repetition. Predictability. Thrillers that you can put down and not think twice about, then discover Gaslight, the free prequel to Left for Dead.
You have been warned. There are some things you can’t unsee.
J
