Top Tips

More top tips for crime writing from our authors

Andrew Taylor
Write something every day, even if it’s only a line you cross out the next day. Writing is a habit, and you can acquire good ones as well as bad ones.

Jonathan Kellerman
Write some more.  Rewrite.

Nick Stone
Never give anything away.

Francesca Weisman
Know your subject matter.  First experience is great, but so is research based on real fascination.  Detail and authenticity can really transform a story.

Barry Eisler
Read like a writer.  That is, read and reread books and passages from books that you love, and ask yourself what the writer is doing that’s working so well.  Or if something you’re reading seems bad to you, ask yourself why it’s bad an how it could be made better. 

Charlie Cumming
Share your life with somebody very patient.

Jon Fasman
Plot, then re-plot, then plot again.

Stav Sherez
Write what you don’t know you know.

Jilliane Hoffman
Scare yourself.

PJ Tracy
Be human.

Cormac Miller
Keep cutting. Amputate the end of every paragraph, and see if it still stands up. Chainsaw your adjectives. Rough up your scenes and leave them unfinished.

John Boyne
Don’t describe everything that happens; things which the reader has to imagine for themselves are infinitely scarier and more moving.

Michael Ridpath
Establish two bad guys – one obvious, one hidden.

Katy Gardner
Make sure your characters have strong and easily understood motivations.

Elizabeth Rigbey
You can have the best plot in the world but without good characterisation it won’t work.

Kevin Guilfoile
Make your mystery challenging, but solvable.

John Rickards
Everyone has a motive for what they do. Every motive has reasons behind it. 'Just because I want a cool bad guy' isn't enough unless you're clever enough to pull it off with no one noticing. 

Sue Walker
I suppose this is pertinent to all genres and all novel writing - work very hard, work consistently, and be prepared for the long haul. 

John Matthews
Try and give your work something that makes it stand out from the competition or what has gone before... yet without being gimmicky. 

Jim Kelly
Remember you are writing to be read. You should give the reader a good reason to read every page. Is it intriguing, funny, descriptive, chilling, revealing, mysterious or what? Thinking about why the reader would want to read a story as you are writing it helps make sure that they are entertained in some way. Otherwise they won’t bother. Why should they?

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