Charlie Garratt – Author of Mystery and Historical Fiction

Tag: Detective fiction

  • Research for Historical Fiction -3 Top Tips

    Research for Historical Fiction -3 Top Tips

    As authors, we create worlds which we want to be believable. In science fiction and fantasy, the world may be another planet or a dystopian future. In historical fiction this world is the past. Good research is the key.

  • Elementary my dear Watson

    I’ve recently returned from a long holiday in France and whilst I did do some writing (honest) a lot of my time was spent reading. I’d loaded my Kindle with a mix of material but I set myself a goal in the first few days of getting through an anthology of the complete collection of…

  • Sorted!

    A couple of years ago I damaged my back so now find it difficult sitting at a desk for long, consequently I use a laptop in a good armchair when I’m writing. This still wasn’t a problem whilst doing the edit on a paper copy, the way I prefer. However, over recent weeks I’ve been…

  • The vagaries of tense

    I tend to write in the first person and in the past tense. I’m in the process of redrafting my second novel and discovered I continually tripped over a particular passage, though couldn’t work out why. Then I made a couple of minor changes, just to see how it looked, and hey-presto, no more tripping.…

  • Musings

    This week I visited The Four Masters bookshop in Donegal Town to ask if they’d  take some of books. To my surprise, and unbounded joy, they already had them on the shelf. I was so impressed I’ve put a photo as my new header image. I’m plodding through my redraft of my current novel, though it…

  • And soon the fun begins

    Only three days to go to the publication of A Shadowed Livery and I’m becoming nervous. There’s an on-line launch party on Friday 24th April which is a first for me. I know there are people popping in from several different time zones so it will be interesting to see how that works. Then I’ve a…

  • It’s getting closer

    Only two weeks to go to the publication of A Shadowed Livery and I’m excited to think it will soon be out there. It’s an odd feeling when something you’ve worked on for so long eventually grows wings and flies the nest. There’s nothing else can be done with it, the darling either flies or it…

  • What’s in a name?

    I was recently listening to an interview with a well-known crime fiction writer in which she was complimented on her character’s names. She said she knew the area her characters inhabited so the names came to her quite naturally. Her words confirmed for me that authenticity isn’t just about the historical facts or geographical description but also…

  • Researching for a novel

    I’ve just signed up for a session at Stratford Literary Festival, intriguingly entitled ‘The Gory Details: Researching for Crime Writing‘. I’ll be doing a reading and signing there of A Shadowed Livery the previous day so thought it would be good fun to look in on this one. Writing any kind of novel probably requires…

  • Sticky end

    I’m musing over a villain I want to dispose of and can’t decide between a number of options. This bad guy isn’t the main one in the novel, though he’s caused quite a bit of trouble for our hero, a police inspector, let’s call him Henry,including kidnapping him and attempting to kill him.The options are:…