The Big Ideas

It's Friday! It's not raining! I've finished my words for the day! I'm excited!

Ahem. Now that I've managed to control myself, I'm very pleased to be hosting Mel Sherratt on my blog today. Mel and I met on Twitter, and over the past year or so, we've become firm friends in real life. She's a wonderful support and a person you can count on whenever you have any author-ly wobbles. Plus, she has the cutest dog ever.

Not only is Mel a fab person with a dog you just want to smush (if you can get him to stop bouncing for just a second), she's also a wonderful writer. Her debut novel, Taunting the Dead, was an Amazon top ten best-seller for ages, and she's just released her second novel, Somewhere to Hide. I've read them both and as clichéd as it sounds, I really couldn't put them down.

So, over to Mel!

People often ask me where I get ideas from. The problem with writing books about ordinary people is that they come from everywhere. It may be a snippet overheard in the local supermarket. It may be an article in a newspaper. It may be a news bulletin on the radio or television.  I have far too many ideas, if I’m honest. But that’s people for you. We’re complicated!

I got the idea for TAUNTING THE DEAD from watching television clips of news reports on murders. Often, friends or neighbours come on camera to say how they knew the murder victim and how he or she was a lovely person. I got to thinking what if someone was murdered who people tolerated rather than liked. This then led to the fact that maybe several family and friends could have committed the murder. So it became a tangle of lies as everyone tried to cover up their tracks.   

I’ve just launched the first book in a new series, SOMEWHERE TO HIDE. The idea for these books, emotional thrillers as opposed to police procedurals, came from two sources. For eight years I was a housing officer for the local authority. It isn’t the people that I worked with on the estate that are the inspiration for the sub plots, more the community spirit plus the background knowledge of the job that I use – especially in BEHIND A CLOSED DOOR, book two which is out in October. That book follows Josie Mellor, the main character, as she works on the estate and the cases she deals with. 

The other angle was I watched an episode of THE SECRET MILLIONAIRE. There was a woman who looked after young teenage women and she was so inspirational – putting herself in danger at times but always trying to give the girls who came to stay with her some sense of belonging. I watched the program halfway through writing the first draft of SOMEWHERE TO HIDE and it was a light bulb moment. It meant the book’s main theme became about strong women. And as my writing is gritty and I like writing about fear and emotion, it was perfect. 

Thank you, Mel! If you want a good read for the weekend, hop over to the 'Zon and get Mel's books (click here for UK links). Have a good one, everyone. I'll see you all on Monday.