Today I have Erin Kelly on my blog talking about how research unravels knots in her plot. Erin's next book, He Said/She Said, will be published by Hodder & Stoughton in February 2017.
The Killer Women Festival is taking place at Shoreditch Town Hall, London, on 15 October 2016 - more details at the end of this blog post and on Friday.
I’m about ten thousand words into my seventh novel,
which is a psychological thriller set in an old Victorian asylum. There are
three stories – one in 1958, when it was a working mental hospital, a second in
1988 when it was derelict and now, when it has been turned into luxury flats.
Usually my writing day is always the same – start
as soon as the kids are at school, stop when it’s time to go and get them
– but this novel is different. They say ‘write what you know’ but after a
couple of books that would get very tedious for both author and reader and now
I find I research more with every book. I’ve got the bones of a plot and some key scenes
sketched out in a Scrivener document and on a million scraps of printer paper
stuffed in bags and all over my study. I make pages and pages of plot notes in
longhand and then never look at them again: over time I’ve found that the right
ideas will stay with me.
With this book, more so than most of my
others, I’m hitting plot knots that need research to unravel them. This week,
it’s
the highly unsexy but crucial intricacies of hospital administration in the
early 1980s; I’m interested in how the Care in the Community policy was implemented
when the old asylums were finally shut down. When this happens I’ll catch the Tube
to the Wellcome Library in central London where they have metres of shelves
devoted to the history of psychiatry. It’s the most amazing space – light, airy but rich
with history – and I’ve started going in even on ‘writing’ days because I find it
so inspirational.
About Erin Kelly
Erin
Kelly is best known for The Poison Tree, which was a Richard and Judy
bestseller and a major ITV drama. Her next psychological thriller, He Said/She
Said, is out next February. It’s about a couple who witness a crime and only doubt their version
of events after the trial, with deadly consequences. She has no plans to move
into romantic comedy.
Find out more about Erin Kelly on her website and follow Erin on Twitter - @mserinkelly
Find out more about Erin Kelly on her website and follow Erin on Twitter - @mserinkelly
The Killer Women Festival
The FIRST
EVER Killer Women Crime Writing Festival takes place on Saturday 15th October 2016 at Shoreditch Town
Hall, London EC1.
Founded in
2014, Killer Women is a collective of female crime writers from London and the
South East. As well as the Killer Women themselves, other high-profile authors
taking part in the Festival include Ann Cleeves, Martina Cole, Mark Billingham
and Val McDermid.
The day-long
programme includes readings and debates, masterclasses, an exclusive Murder
Mystery, Killer Women cocktails and much more.
Learn more through the Killer Women website and follow Killer Women on
Twitter - @killerwomenorg
Read my other Killer Women Festival Week blog posts
Day One - DE Meredith
Day Two - Tammy Cohen
Day Four - Sarah Hilary
Day Five - Crime Writing Festival Special
Read my other Killer Women Festival Week blog posts
Day One - DE Meredith
Day Two - Tammy Cohen
Day Four - Sarah Hilary
Day Five - Crime Writing Festival Special
You have made my day - I love Erin Kelly's books, The Burning Air is one of my favourite reads of all time so I'm thrilled that there is a new book in the pipeline and I do like intersecting time lines so He Said/She Said is now delightfully anticipated.
ReplyDelete