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Entertaining the ladies of Southampton Tangent Club with tales of crime
On this day in 2015 I was delighted to be the lunchtime guest speaker at the Southampton branch of the National Association of Tangent. It was bitterly cold and the Covid-19 pandemic had not reared its ugly head. It was imaginable then that lunches such as this would become impossible in 2020 and at the time of writing still impossible. In the absence of me being able to give talks to groups I've been spending time looking back over the ones I've given, hoping that towards the end of 2021 and in 2022 my talks can resume.POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JANUARY 20TH, 2021 AT 6:15:14 UTC
What are the best writing routines? How many hours a day does a writer write?
I'm often asked about my writing routine. Do I have one? If so what
is my writing routine? How many hours a day do I spend writing? What is
the most successful writing routine? There is no hard and fast answer.
All writers differ. Some find it easy to write early morning some late
in the day. It also depends on whether or not you have a job and need to
fit your writing around it or around home care.
The main point though is that nothing gets written unless you sit down to WRITE!
POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JANUARY 18TH, 2021 AT 6:19:58 UTC
How to create and develop fictional characters
Creating a likeable, interesting and complex main character, one the reader can have empathy with, one they want to trust, feel his/her pain and disappointments, root for throughout the story is the key to creating a riveting read and a successful crime series. In order to do this you need to know their backstory, their motivations and personalities, their strengths and weaknesses and these might only be formed as you write the novel because no matter how many notes you make about your character/s they don't come to life until you:
- start putting them in different and often trying circumstances
- have them interacting with other characters
- put dialogue into their mouths
And it's not just the main character it's also the supporting cast, the villains and the walk-on parts who all need characteristics that are believable even if they are eccentric.
Read more of this article
POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JANUARY 15TH, 2021 AT 5:48:59 UTC
On location in Portsmouth, Milton Common with DI Andy Horton in LETHAL WAVES
LETHAL WAVES (13) is a multi-layered and complex investigation in the DI Andy Horton crime novels series of which there are fifteen. It is set against the backdrop of the sea, my trademark or brand if you like to call it. While Horton gets a step closer to discovering the truth behind his mother's disappearance when he was a child he is also embroiled in an emotional case which demands all his intuition and skills to solve, uncovering dark secrets that have led to lethal waves of destruction.POSTED BY: UNKNOWN
JANUARY 14TH, 2021 AT 6:13:01 UTC
The inspiration behind Blood on the Sand, a DI Andy Horton Mystery
BLOOD
ON THE SAND ( no. 5 in the DI Horton series) opens on a cold grey
January morning in Bembridge Marina on the Isle of Wight, where Andy
Horton has decided to put in on his small yacht. It's hardly the sailing
season but after a difficult Christmas - his first spent apart from his
young daughter, Emma - and following some tough criminal
investigations, Horton, has decided to take a few days break. He also
needs time to think through the startling revelations he's uncovered
about his mother's disappearance thirty years ago. But he barely gets the time to do so when walking across the abandoned golf course on the Duver near Bembridge Marina he finds himself facing a distraught young woman with a gun in her hand leaning over a corpse in one of the discarded bunkers.
Read more
POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JANUARY 11TH, 2021 AT 6:16:59 UTC
The inspiration behind DI Andy Horton Mystery LETHAL WAVES
The inspiration for LETHAL WAVES (13) came from seeing one of the
regular ferry services sail from Portsmouth into the Solent and out
around the Isle of Wight on its way to the Channel Islands, the Condor
Commodore Clipper Ferry. I started with the idea of a body on that ferry, that of a woman who is found dead in her locked cabin when the ferry docks at Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Of course I asked Condor for their permission to allow me to have a fictitious body on their ferry and was delighted when they agreed and even more so when they offered to give me free reign of the boat and the opportunity to question their staff in aid of my research.
Read about the inspiration behind Lethal Waves
POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JANUARY 10TH, 2021 AT 6:37:16 UTC
The Page 69 Test - Read the extract from DI Andy Horton, DEAD MAN'S WHARF
The
first I heard of the Page 69 Test was when a member of the public
approached me in a bookshop where I was doing a book signing and said
she always applied it when deciding which crime novel to purchase. She
didn’t buy one of my novels so I’d obviously failed to reach her
exacting standards, whatever they were! I can't recall which crime novel
it was or when but I have applied the Page 69 Test to some of my crime
novels including the Inspector Andy Horton procedurals, A KILLING COAST
(7) and SHROUD OF EVIL (11). This time, as it is January and DEAD MAN'S
WHARF is set in January I've applied it to this crime novel. Read the extract - Page 69 of DEAD MAN'S WHARF
POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JANUARY 9TH, 2021 AT 6:10:16 UTC
The inspiration behind Dead Man's Wharf- a DI Andy Horton Mystery
'Rowson turns out an exemplary procedural with the requisite plot twists, double-crosses and all loose ends tied up neatly in a sailor’s knot.' Starred Review Kirkus (USA)
Read about the inspiration behind DEAD MAN'S WHARF, number four in the Horton series of fifteen
POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JANUARY 7TH, 2021 AT 6:19:21 UTC
Are characters more important than plot? What come first?
The
prescribed wisdom states that novels are either plot driven or
character driven. What, you may ask is the difference? And it's a very
good question. Essentially character driven novels centre around the
protagonist's journey, his or her internal thoughts, the experiences
he/she undergoes, the choices he/she makes which ultimately drive and
affect the plot. Whereas plot driven novels focus on yes, you've guessed
it, the plot. Here the protagonist takes a particular action which drives the plot and there are plot twists and turns as a result, action and conflicts which in turn drive the
plot to its outcome. If that sounds rather confusing then don't worry,
you are not alone. For me the distinction between the two is rather
blurred although essentially critics and reviewers will say that my
novels are plot driven and I agree to an extent. But the two aspects -
character and plot - are invariably interlinked. POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JANUARY 6TH, 2021 AT 6:00:50 UTC
It's January and DI Andy Horton is on three investigations
Three of my DI Andy Horton crime novels, DEAD MAN'S WHARF, BLOOD ON THE SAND and LETHAL WAVES are set during the month of January, so what better time to promote them!
Here is a taste of what's in store for DI Andy Horton in each of these mystery novels.
Here is a taste of what's in store for DI Andy Horton in each of them.
POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JANUARY 4TH, 2021 AT 6:36:45 UTC
What's on in 2021 for crime author Pauline Rowson
The words 'who knows!'spring to mind. After 2020 no one can predict what the forthcoming year will bring, we hope and pray that it will be better than 2020. For me 2021 will be filled with writing. I'm delighted to say that two of my crime novels will be published - the Art Marvik mystery thriller 4 DEAD SEA in March 2021 and the third 1950 set Inspector Ryga mystery DEATH IN THE NETS in September 2021 so something for my readers to look forward to. And for all you DI Andy Horton fans there will be another. I am currently writing number 16 in the series and that will be completed in 2021 and published early 2022 ( God willing!).
POSTED BY: PAULINE ROWSON
JANUARY 1ST, 2021 AT 6:27:04 UTC
- 2021
- January
- Entertaining the ladies of Southampton Tangent Club with tales of crime
- What are the best writing routines? How many hours a day does a writer write?
- How to create and develop fictional characters
- On location in Portsmouth, Milton Common with DI Andy Horton in LETHAL WAVES
- The inspiration behind Blood on the Sand, a DI Andy Horton Mystery
- The inspiration behind DI Andy Horton Mystery LETHAL WAVES
- The Page 69 Test - Read the extract from DI Andy Horton, DEAD MAN'S WHARF
- The inspiration behind Dead Man's Wharf- a DI Andy Horton Mystery
- Are characters more important than plot? What come first?
- It's January and DI Andy Horton is on three investigations
- What's on in 2021 for crime author Pauline Rowson
- January
- 2020
- 2019
- 2018
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
- 2013
- 2012