Monday 10 April 2017

Writing Crime Fiction
Two weeks ago, my writing friend, Helen, and I attended a crime writing workshop. It was held in the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea and an added attraction was that no previous experience was necessary, just a murderous imagination! Neither of us are writing crime novels per se but crime does play a part in both our stories. 

The presenter was Katherine Stansfield, a novelist and poet living in Cardiff. She is a lecturer in creative writing at Aberystwyth University in Wales and an associate member of the Institute of Cornish Studies at Exeter University. Katherine made us feel very welcome and it was clear from our introductions that the writers attending varied widely in experience. However, we were all there to learn more about this very popular genre of crime fiction.


Over the course of the afternoon, through discussion of various examples and linked writing exercises, we explored the characteristics of both detectives and criminals. It was interesting to examine the classic detective as well as non-traditional sleuths. When creating detective characters we looked at the balance between their skills and flaws, their greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses. It was suggested that a great flaw is someone who doesn't think they have any flaws. We were given plot generator envelopes containing possible settings and characters. In pairs, we brainstormed what kind of crime it could be with the character and setting. 

As for the criminal in a story, it is worth thinking about incidents in their past which have impacted on who they are in the present when the crimes have been committed. Thank you to Katherine for the following quote in one of her handouts:
"Don't neglect your criminal. Even the villain is the centre of their own story as they see it and believes that what they do is in some way justified. This is especially true of thrillers. A deranged killer with no moral sense, killing at random, may be interesting news, but does not make good fiction because we cannot empathise." Rosemary Rowe, Masterclass: Writing Crime Fiction (London: Hodder, 2014), page 38.


We covered a lot in a short time and it certainly whetted my appetite to enrol on Katherine's ten week course, Writing Crime Fiction, at Cardiff University next Autumn. Thank you to Katherine for an excellent workshop and to Helen for her company. 

Katherine's crime novel, Falling Creatures, is based on a murder that took place in Cornwall in 1844. It was published by Allison & Busby in March this year, with a sequel to follow in 2018. You may find details of the book HERE.


Look out for my interview in a few weeks' time with debut crime novelist, Jan Newton. Her book Remember No More was published on March 16th by Honno.

Are you a crime fiction fan? Who is your favourite detective? What flaws does he or she have? Do you write crime fiction?

Thank you for reading. You may also follow me on Twitter @JanBayLit and on my Jan Baynham Writer Facebook page.

11 comments:

  1. I have never written crime but I do like to read it sometimes. Mostly I read US cosy crime, but I also enjoy psychological thrillers and good old-fashioned whodunnits. The British Library has reissued a number of 1930s crime novels and I have read some of those, enjoying the writing style as much as the mystery. My favourite crime novel is The Religious Body by Catherine Aird, which has the cleverest murder weapon ever. Thanks for an interesting blog, Jan. Are you going to do the crime course?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sue. Yes, I'm hoping to do Katherine's course in September. Like you I enjoy reading crime novels especially psychological thrillers. I am intrigued to know what the cleverest murder weapon could be in your favourite so I shall have to read 'The Religious Body' to find out. :-)

      Delete
  2. Sounds like a fantastic workshop, Jan! :) I'll look forward to your interview with Jan Newton.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sam. Yes it was. I loved Jan's novel so I'm looking forward to hosting her on the blog.

      Delete
  3. Really interesting post, Jan. I've been to some courses run by the Dylan Thomas Centre and they're always excellent. Probably 1 in 5 of the books I read is a crime novel. My all time favourite is Ian Rankin and I also love Belinda Bauer's take on crime (she lives in Cowbridge and can't write books fast enough as far as I'm concerned!). I'm really looking forward to reading Jan Newton's new novel too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sara. I shall certainly look up Belinda's crime novels. I meet writing friends in Cowbridge often. I think it's good to read local authors so I'll pass on your recommendation to them, too. You'll love 'Remember No More', I'm sure.

      Delete
  4. A few years ago I went to a Honno workshop with Lindsay Ashford (Honno author) on crime writing. I went largely out of curiosity & partly because I know Lindsay & like her books.
    It soon became clear that hardly anyone attending wrote crime! We cracked on anyway & the second thing that became blindingly obvious was, good story structure is pretty much the same across the board. Lindsay offered us the Three Act Play structure which is brilliant. I came away with a huge amount of useful information which I still apply to my own writing.
    I've also done a workshop with Katherine & thoroughly enjoyed it. She's lovely & very smart.
    Great post as ever, Jan. Look forward to your next & the interview with the other Jan! xXx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Carole. Yes, I'm looking forward to having Jan on the blog. I'll look out for Lindsay's books. I'm looking forward to learning more from Katherine.

      Delete
  5. That sounds right up my street, crime fiction workshops are far and few between in these parts. Glad to hear you had a good day out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Maria. This was the first one I'd seen but Katherine runs a ten week course I'm hoping to attend later in the year. It's a shame you don't live closer! Thank you for popping by to leave a comment.

      Delete
    2. Now I've found you, I shall try to visit more often.

      Delete