My debut novel Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests started life many years before I got down to the business of actually writing it.
As an avid reader since I was little, Iโd dreamed of one day writing my own book. Like many people, Iโm an eclectic reader, jumping from commercial psychological thrillers to character-led literary novels, feel-good โwomenโs fictionโ, occasionally historical. Just whatever strikes my fancy, depending on my mood and what has risen to the top of the pile of books by my bed.
So I didnโt have a particular genre in mind when I daydreamed about my future life as an author.
But I did have a scenario. Iโd been to a wedding some time in the noughties and ended up sitting on a table of ten single people, all strangers to each other. At the end of the wedding breakfast, waiters handed out small white envelopes to us all. I watched everyone open theirs and, it struck me, what if there was something significant inside, something shocking and life-changing, that these very different people would have different reactions to?
In fact, the envelopes contained lottery tickets which sparked a discussion of how each guest would spend their winnings. I was intrigued by the range of different and unexpected answers. One elderly guest commented: โNo amount of money would give me what I want โ my wife back.โ
Finally, at the start of 2020, with my children at school and nursery, I enrolled on an online novel writing course and returned once again to that table of strangers and the envelopes that would change all of their lives. But in my book, the envelopes didnโt contain lottery tickets, they contained the ages that each guest would die.
I finished the course in the February. With the kids settled in school and nursery, finally Iโd have time to write, right?
Wrong. The COVID lockdowns wreaked their havoc and suddenly my two young children were back at home, with no playdates, clubs or classes to break up the days.
But Iโd caught the bug of writing this story and just kept adding words when I had a chance, grabbing an hour early in the morning or in the evenings once the children had gone to bed.
In the end, it became a sort of therapy or escape. I disappeared into this world of my seven characters and their individual journeys as they reacted differently to their death ages. The story was taking shape, although I still wasnโt sure what genre it would land in.
My background is journalism, particularly interviewing and writing up real-life stories for newspapers and magazines. So, when I set about writing Seven Reasons, my aim was to create authentic and believable characters who speak in a realistic way. I let my characters guide the story, while I was sitting back and reporting on what was happening. Then suddenly, as I was writing, one character admitted to the murders. It was a scene that didnโt make the final cut, but it was crucial as it told me I was writing a murder mystery.
I know that different authors view the writing process differently. Stephen King famously compares novel-writing to uncovering a fossil, as if the story is already in existence and the author is simply uncovering it. Others, such Agatha Christie, meticulously plan out their books before they begin.
It remains to be seen if Iโll stick with this character-led approach for my future books, but it certainly felt right for this one.
Kerry grew up in Cumbria and studied English Language and Literature in London. She is an experienced journalist, having written for national newspapers and magazines for the last 20 years, specialising in real life stories.
Ever since reading The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark as a child, Kerry dreamed of being a novelist. In 2020 she attended Curtis Brown Creativeโs novel writing course. Her first novel, Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests is publishing in September 2025.
