Writing Magazine

Tailoring the classics

Fashion plays a big part in writing, as it does in so many walks of life. I mean literary fashion, by the way – if writing success depended on having elegant dress sense, I’d have abandoned hope long ago. The harsh reality is that if the type of story you’re writing isn’t in vogue, it becomes much harder to sell. But all is not lost!

Let me tell you a story about my own experiences which I hope will give encouragement – especially to anyone who shares my love of detective stories in the classic vein. For most of my life, this passion of mine has seemed dismally unfashionable. Not ‘cutting edge’. Not in the least ‘noir’.

Like all authors, I’m also a voracious reader. My ambition to become a crime writer dates back to when I was eight years old and read my first Agatha Christie, . It took me a long time to fulfil that dream, but eventually my debut novel appeared, launching a series of eight books

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