Northern Noir Crime Novel Competition

This competition, run by the Bradford Literature Festival, gave ten winners the opportunity to attend a residential writing course at the Arvon Foundation's wonderful Lumb Bank. It was, of course, Ted Hughes's former house, and Sylvia Plath is buried in the graveyard in Heptonstall a mile or so away.

the view from my room

I was fortunate enough to be one of the winners and this week I attended the course, led by Cathi Unsworth and AA Dhand. It was excellent, truly thought-provoking and providing a fantastic insight into the writing process.

Sylvia's grave, looking a bit unkempt

The story I won with is a novel based on a true crime in 1930s Perth. It's a story that fascinates me, as much for the aftermath and trial as for the investigation, although that is extraordinary enough. I have finished two drafts so far and I have been deliberately ignoring it for some time to allow me to come back to it for the third draft with a more objective view. I'm very glad I did because the information I gleaned from the course will have a dramatic influence on the novel's direction. In the very first session, on the first afternoon, I realised I'd made a mistake with my main character and I wasn't making anything like enough use of him. So I will be focusing on that in the next few months.

three quarters of a mile, steep uphill, an absolute killer...

I would like to thank Cathi and Amit and all the other attendees for the participative and supportive time we spent. For all of us aspiring writers, juggling writing with real life irritations like working for a living, the chance to devote so much time to our fiction is very welcome.

the group, photo borrowed from BLF Facebook page

And, of course, I came home to three rejections. The life of a writer is never smooth...