Showing posts with label Charlie Cochrane. Show all posts

Feature Friday - Charlie Cochrane - Writing a Mystery


Welcome to Charlie Cochrane, today's guest for Feature Friday, Charlie is here to talk about writing a mystery novel, take it away Charlie...

How do you create suspense in your stories?

There are all the well-known techniquey things to draw on - shorter sentences, fast paced action, cutting down on description etc - but I think in the end it comes down to good plotting and good writing. I've just read two of the British Library series of classic mysteries and you couldn't have had two better examples of what to do and what not. One of them was so slow, even in the supposedly tense bits, because the author had the habit of never saying something once when he could say it four times. The other was really gripping, with a great climax where the reader was allowed to get into the head of the person-you-thought-was-the-killer-but-actually-wasn't and depicting their emotions and muddled thoughts.

Do you start with the crime/mystery then work the story around it or do you wing it?

Wing it, wing it, wing it. You see, when I write a mystery it's like I'm watching the story unfold on the television or hearing it on the radio. In half hour instalments, maybe, each of which corresponds to a chapter or two. I see the body being found, the characters being introduced, the clues lining up, and as I follow all of this I start to wonder who might have done it. This may sound totally ludicrous, but it works for me.

What are the ethics of writing historical figures?

In my humble opinion (as they say), I believe you have to make them act in line with what is known of their character. I know in historical fiction any and everyone is seen as fair game, so you can have the fictional Horatio Hornblower rubbing shoulders with real life admirals like Pellew or Nelson, which is fine so long as they do what the real Pellew and Nelson would have done. However, particularly in fanfiction, I've seen both of these gents acting in a way that would be called libellous if it were written about a living person. Frankly, it can be insulting. (Ooh, I got all cross there.)

In fiction anything is fair game, do you like finding obscure ways of bumping people off?

In a word, no. I'm not a writer whose mysteries focus on clever methods of despatch or highly complicated denouements. I'm more interested in the why someone was killed than the how, so my victims tend to be bludgeoned or poisoned or something straightforward, leaving the reader's mind uncluttered so they can concentrate on the characters and their motivations.

Have you ever had to go back and *hide the keys*? (stealing cues from Bill & Ted)

To my shame, I confess I had to look up that reference. If you mean do I have to go back through the manuscript when writing to plant clues/red herrings, then yes, I do sometimes, but it's a risky business. If you don't have a light touch and a sure hand, it can scream "Look! Look! Clue!" Funny thing is that usually the references I need are in the story already, so when I go back for a first review I'm amazed at how things hang together. Like my sub-conscious has been far more effective than I have at subtly seeding the story with what I'd need.

What part of the process do you find the hardest?

Writing sex scenes. Which is why it's great writing the Lindenshaw series and the recent Cambridge Fellows novellas, all of which are fade to black.

About Charlie

Because Charlie Cochrane couldn't be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes. Her mystery novels include the Edwardian era Cambridge Fellows series, and the contemporary Lindenshaw Mysteries. Multi-published, she has titles with Carina, Riptide, Endeavour and Bold Strokes, among others.

A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People and International Thriller Writers Inc, Charlie regularly appears at literary festivals and at reader and author conferences with The Deadly Dames.

Links: http://www.endeavourpress.com/?s=charlie+cochrane
http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/two-feet-under

Charlie's Amazon Pages - Amazon US | Amazon UK


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Hump Day Interview - Charlie Cochrane


It's Hump Day Interview time again and today we have the irrepressible Charlie Cochrane in the hot seat...


What is the first book that made you cry?

Well, I remember the first film that made me cry, which was Born Free. I recall a huge queue of children with their parents heading for the toilet – were we being taken there to be cleaned or splashed with cold water or just to get us out of the way? That bit escapes me.

I fail to recollect the first book that made me cry, although I did get in a right lather about the end of Lord of the Rings, when Frodo goes sailing into the west without Sam. *sniff*

What is your favorite childhood book?

I used to love books of myths and legends. I had one about King Arthur (may still have that somewhere) and was very taken with Galahad and the rest. Sir Bors, he was a good ‘un, too. There was also a book by Robert Graves that had all the Greek myths retold for children (all the rude bits taken out, no doubt).

But my absolute favourite childhood reading was my big brother’s comics. I learned to read before I went to school, just by following the adventures of William Wilson and ‘The tough of the track’. It’s no wonder I write about blokes.

What was the last gift you gave someone?
Ah, now. It’ll be touch and go whether the gift arrives with the recipient through the post before this post goes up and gives the game away. I was at an antiques/craft/etc fair on Sunday and saw a handmade foldable shopping bag which was crafted from material featuring classic seaside saucy postcards. I knew just the person who deserved it. (And that’s all I’m saying until it’s delivered.)

What are the ethics of writing about historical figures?

That’s a really good question. I admit that I do occasionally feature historical figures in my stories although rarely on page, as it were. There’s usually a reference to somebody meeting them and an account of what happened, or maybe some sort of veiled allusion. One of the characters in Lessons in Loving thy Murderous Neighbour, Dr. Beattie, keeps a photograph of a handsome, moustachioed man who is – in my mind – Wilfred Owen.

In all these cases, I try very hard to keep an accurate picture, based on what I’ve read about them. For example, the family Stewart are well in with royalty in my Cambridge Fellows books, and snide remarks are made about Bertie (Edward VII) and his womanising. That’s well documented and therefore fair game. If I presented him as a homosexual, that would be untrue to his nature as we understand it and therefore, as far as I’m concerned, off limits. To write about Owen and Sassoon having an affair (even though it’s unlikely they did) would be reasonable. To write about Owen and Lloyd George in a relationship wouldn’t.

Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

The latter. Absolutely. I hate writing to a plot, because I find it so constraining – I want to start changing things everywhere. Normally I start writing a story with something very basic, like a conversation or a description of a setting. It’s like sticking a bit of yeast into a mixture and seeing what happens. Except that, when I start, I only have the yeast and no mixture to speak of.

When I write, I feel I’m either watching or listening to a story that’s being told in episodes, and I’m relating the plot as I see or hear it unfold. I sometimes run across the most amazing plot twists en route that come as a total surprise to me, let alone the reader.

For your chance to win a backlist ebook from Charlie, answer this question...What was the last gift you gave someone? 

Lessons in loving thy Murderous Neighbour - OUT NOW

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Jonty Stewart and Orlando Coppersmith like nothing more than being given a mystery to solve. But what happens when you have to defend your greatest enemy on a charge of murder?

Author Bio

Because Charlie Cochrane couldn't be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes. Her mystery novels include the Edwardian era Cambridge Fellows series, and the contemporary Lindenshaw Mysteries, while her romances feature in the Portkennack series.

A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People and International Thriller Writers Inc, Charlie regularly appears at literary festivals and at reader and author conferences with The Deadly Dames.





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The Best Corpse for the Job (Lindenshaw Mysteries Book 1) - Charlie Cochrane - Book Bub special offer



Tea and sympathy have never been so deadly.
Schoolteacher Adam Matthews just wants to help select a new headteacher and go home. The governors at Lindenshaw St Crispin’s have already failed miserably at finding the right candidate, so it’s make or break this second time round. But when one of the applicants is found strangled in the school, what should have been a straightforward decision turns tempestuous as a flash flood in their small English village.

Inspector Robin Bright isn’t thrilled to be back at St. Crispin’s. Memories of his days there are foul enough without tossing in a complicated murder case. And that handsome young teacher has him reminding himself not to fraternize with a witness. But it’s not long before Robin is relying on Adam for more than just his testimony.

As secrets amongst the governors emerge and a second person turns up dead, Robin needs to focus less on Adam and more on his investigation. But there are too many suspects, too many lies, and too many loose ends. Before they know it, Robin and Adam are fighting for their lives and their hearts.

Runner-Up: Best Gay Mystery / Thriller in the 2015 Rainbow Awards
Amazon US | Amazon UK

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Household phrases and foot-in-mouth disease - Charlie Cochrane

I was inspired by a post I saw about local sayings and how they mean very little to those outside the area; it made me think about the things we say chez Cochrane, and whether they’re unique to us.

Some of them must be – I can’t imagine any other family says “Go for it, Marjorie!” when one of them wants to attempt something ambitious. That comes from way back in prehistory, my in-laws playing golf with friends and the aforesaid Marjorie being urged by her hubby to attempt an impossible shot.

Now it’s part of Cochrane folklore as is the (also golf based) exhortation to “Keep walking!” It’s often used in its full form, “In the words of your uncle, keep walking!”, when we need to get away from the scene of the crime, either ours or someone else’s. Refers to a wayward golf shot at a seaside links course which flew over a fence and bounced along a row of parked cars.

I’m fairly certain other people use the expression, “I haven’t laughed so much since we mowed the cat” or its variation, “I haven’t laughed so much since Granny caught her tit in the wringer.” The cat expression usually goes into the dialogue:

“I haven’t laughed so much since we mowed the cat.”
“We haven’t got a cat.”
“Not since we mowed it.”
Can’t help feeling we got that from a comedy show, as we got other Cochrane catch phrases.

Clearly some ‘in-house’ expressions are almost a code, indecipherable to the outside world, a sort of shorthand to save long winded explanation. All Cochranes know where ‘The place we swam outside in the rain’ is and ‘the place which has chickens which doesn’t have chickens any more’ makes sense to us. Exaggeration, the skilful embroidering of the tale, is part of the fun. “The day Mum got drunk and set the restaurant on fire,” is a vile embellishment of an occurrence involving one or two glasses of wine and a mild incendiary incident.

Sometimes things get repeated because they were a classic case of foot in mouth and people will never be left to forget about them. In “The Best Corpse for the Job”, the first Lindenshaw book, Adam couldn’t help saying the wrong thing when Robin’s around, probably because he fancies the pants off him. “I guess that makes me the chief suspect” is hardly the sort of phrase to use when you’re being interviewed after finding a dead body.

By the time “Jury of One” (the second Lindenshaw book) takes place, Adam and Robin are an item, but they still have a habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. And then having to live with the consequences.

Link: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/jury-of-one

The Book


Inspector Robin Bright is enjoying a quiet Saturday with his lover, Adam Matthews, when murder strikes in nearby Abbotston, and he’s called in to investigate. He hopes for a quick resolution, but as the case builds, he’s drawn into a tangled web of crimes, new and old, that threatens to ensnare him and destroy his fledgling relationship.

Adam is enjoying his final term teaching at Lindenshaw School, and is also delighted to be settling down with Robin at last. Only Robin doesn’t seem so thrilled. Then an old crush of Adam’s shows up in the murder investigation, and suddenly Adam is yet again fighting to stay out of one of Robin’s cases, to say nothing of trying to keep their relationship from falling apart.

Between murder, stabbings, robberies, and a suspect with a charming smile, the case threatens to ruin everything both Robin and Adam hold dear. What does it take to realise where your heart really lies, and can a big, black dog hold the key?

Bio and links:


As Charlie Cochrane couldn’t be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes. Her favourite genre is gay fiction, sometimes historical (sometimes hysterical) and usually with a mystery thrown into the mix.

She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People, and International Thriller Writers Inc., with titles published by Carina, Samhain, Bold Strokes Books, Lethe, MLR, and Riptide. She regularly appears with The Deadly Dames.

To sign up for her newsletter, email her at cochrane.charlie2@googlemail.com, or catch her at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charlie.cochrane.18

Twitter: http://twitter.com/charliecochrane

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2727135.Charlie_Cochrane

Blogs: http://charliecochrane.livejournal.com and https://charliecochrane.wordpress.com/

Website: http://www.charliecochrane.co.uk

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Charlie Cochrane talks murder

Charlie, you started out writing romances, so what made you turn to crime?

I wish I could steal Nicky Slade’s answer to this. She was once asked, over dinner, by a posh and patronising bloke, “What do you do, my dear?” To which she replied, “I murder people.”

That’s part of the appeal in being an author. When you write romances sometimes you feel you’re living that romance – the excitement of flirtation comes alive, the love scenes stir your emotions as you commit them to the screen, the characters become real and alive. So what about when you write a thriller or crime book? Do you get the thrill of “committing a murder” and getting away with it? Actually, I’m not sure that’s the sort of thrill I want.

What I do like is the sense of creating, and picking apart, a puzzle. I’ve always liked puzzles, quizzes, games and the like and have always read a wide range of mysteries. Maybe it was natural to try my hand at creating my own, whether historical or contemporary. And writing these books appeals to my inherent belief that good should triumph over evil. Maybe that brings us full circle to romance again?

Link: http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/best-corpse-for-the-job

Blurb:


Tea and sympathy have never been so deadly.
Schoolteacher Adam Matthews just wants to help select a new headteacher and go home. The governors at Lindenshaw St Crispin’s have already failed miserably at finding the right candidate, so it’s make or break this second time round. But when one of the applicants is found strangled in the school, what should have been a straightforward decision turns tempestuous as a flash flood in their small English village.
Inspector Robin Bright isn’t thrilled to be back at St. Crispin’s. Memories of his days there are foul enough without tossing in a complicated murder case. And that handsome young teacher has him reminding himself not to fraternize with a witness. But it’s not long before Robin is relying on Adam for more than just his testimony.

As secrets amongst the governors emerge and a second person turns up dead, Robin needs to focus less on Adam and more on his investigation. But there are too many suspects, too many lies, and too many loose ends. Before they know it, Robin and Adam are fighting for their lives and their hearts.

Excerpt:

As if on cue, the rozzers—it had to be the police, Adam thought, as no other grey-suited individuals would be lurking around the school—came through it.

“Ah, Inspector Bright,” Victor said. “We were just wondering when you’d be here to tell us what’s going on.”

“A murder enquiry’s going on.” The inspector’s voice preceded him into the room.

Christine clasped her hands to her mouth. “Murder? Oh . . .”

The inspector appeared, nodding sympathetically. “I’m afraid so. Which means we’ll need to get a statement from each one of you before you can go.”

If the policeman said anything else, Adam didn’t quite catch it. He was feeling confused enough, so to have—Wright, Bright, what the hell had Victor said his name was?—walk through the door looking like that sent his thoughts off in ten directions. Policemen weren’t supposed to be so tall, dark, and stupidly handsome. Apart from in Adam’s fantasies.

Oliver’s voice interrupted the unwanted germination of some inappropriate thoughts in Adam’s brain. “Perhaps you could take Mrs. Probert’s statement first? She has two small children at the school, and they’ll need her to pick them up at the end of the lessons.” His unexpected thoughtfulness earned him one of Christine’s stunning smiles.

“Happy to oblige,” the inspector said with kindness.

Why did Adam never seem to meet blokes who reacted to his smile the way they reacted to Christine’s? Why couldn’t this policeman favour him with a flash of those dark eyes?

“Perhaps you could come along now, Mrs. Probert, and my sergeant could take you through things?” The sergeant looked like that was the best news he’d heard all day. “Anyone else need to get away urgently?”

For a moment—only a moment—Adam felt like shouting, Take me, take me now! but this was serious business. Was it defiance or denial in the face of sudden death that made him feel like behaving like a schoolboy? Or was it simply the incongruity of somebody like the inspector walking through the door? Instant chemistry, that’s what they called it, but he’d never come across such a sensation before. It was the romantic equivalent of being hit over the head with a sock full of wet sand.

Then he remembered why the police were here—Youngs’s body, those awful teeth—and felt sick again.


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Excerpts from 8 fabulous UK authors... and me!

You may recall I attended a UK MM writers signing event in London in September, arranged by the awesome Sue Brown.

I came up with an idea of collating excerpts from anyone that wanted to and creating a file for people to download to read the various excerpts.

Contains content from Chris Quinton, Faith Ashlin, Josephine Myles, SA Meade, Charlie Cochrane, KJ Charles, Julie Bozza, Clare London and me.

The files are listed here:

PDF file  |  ePub file  |  Mobi (Kindle)
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