Whenever I set out to write a new novel, I do the same thing so many other authors do. And when I’ve finally finished procrastinating, I get to work. With my new series, a common theme was kicked off by two major things.
To give a little context, the first in the series, The Flood, sees my lead character trapped in a valley by rising floodwaters. They take shelter in a farmhouse with other characters, but there is a killer in their midst.
The first kernel of an idea came to me while watching a news report about flooding. There was a video accompanying that depicted a wide swathe of countryside that was now nothing more than flood covered plains with a few roofs sticking out of the murky brown waters. Yet on top of a small piece of high ground that formed an island, a house sat untouched. It didn’t take any great logical acumen to imagine the people whose homes were submerged seeking shelter at the house on the high ground.
It was at this point, my crime-writer’s nature kicked in and started asking questions. What of those seeking shelter had all the normal neighbourly disputes so common in society? What if one of them took an opportunity to exact a revenge? What if some of the group were harbouring dark secrets?
The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to write this story. To pit a small group of residents thrust together by circumstances they couldn’t escape against one another while simultaneously forcing them to work together for a greater good. Conflict creates drama and what could be more dramatic than people being distraught at the loss of their home, having to battle a killer and the elements?
This all led me to realise the story forming in my head was both a classic whodunit, and a something of a locked room mystery, although I prefer to think of it as a locked environment. Rather than a wide open space where rescuers could easily come, I chose a valley in the Scottish Borders as my setting. Not a real valley I must stress, but an amalgamation of dozens of different valleys that each had a feature I could use.
I had one road in and out of the valley. Steep, unforgiving sides that forbade any easy trek to summon help. A bridge crossing the river that would become blocked and cause the flood which set everything in motion. When it came to the characters, I knew I wanted to create a lead who had the wherewithal to solve the puzzle by their own means, but I didn’t want them to be this super detective like Poirot. I had to make my lead unique, yet have them somewhat hampered by inexperience and a complete lack of back up.
I wound up going for a police officer. Fiona MacLeish isn’t a sergeant or a detective, but I did give her a very strong reason to push forward and become a detective.
For the other characters, I blended a mix of decent people, assholes, innocents and villains so I had an eclectic mix of personalities present. The more disparate I could make the group, the more conflict would be created.
However, something that came to me during the planning for The Flood which doesn’t usually come until at least the second or third novel in a series, was a whole arc for Fiona’s story. I know where her back story will take her. What career progression, if any, she’ll achieve, and best of all for a crime-writer like me, I’ve worked out some of murder methods that will feature in her future novels and they are horrifyingly macabre.
As she moves into the next two books, The Island, and The Shelter, Fiona MacLeish finds herself thoroughly tested by the cases she picks up, the characters she meets and the weather conditions she encounters. I do hope this article has been interesting to you, and I’d love it if you’d be so kind as to join Fiona and I as we tackle case after case.
Graham Smith is a time served joiner who has built bridges, houses, dug drains and slated roofs to make ends meet. Since Christmas 2000, he has been manager of a busy hotel and wedding venue near Gretna Green, Scotland.
He is an internationally best-selling Kindle author and has six books featuring DI Harry Evans and the Cumbrian Major Crimes Team, and four novels, featuring Utah doorman, Jake Boulder. His ‘Lakes’ series which has three novels featuring DC Beth Young has received much critical acclaim.
Graham is the founder of Crime and Publishment, a weekend of crime-writing classes which includes the chance for attendees to pitch their novels to agents and publishers. Since the first weekend in 2013, sixteen attendees have gone on to sign publishing contracts.
Graham also writes as John Ryder and G.N. Smith.
Graham can be found at
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