“Detective Inspector January David has always put his professional before his private life, but the two worlds are about to clash horrifically as he visits his latest crime scene. He is confronted by a lifeless figure suspended ten feet above a theatre stage, blood pouring from her face into a coffin below. This gruesome execution is the work of an elusive serial killer.
Three women from three different London suburbs, each murdered with elaborate and chilling precision. And as January stares at the most beautiful corpse he’s ever seen, he detects the killer’s hallmark.
But Girl 4 is different: she is alive – barely. And January recognises her…”
Asking Will:
What inspired you to write ‘Girl 4′? Where did you find that first seed of a story? Honestly, I had never thought about writing a thriller or crime novel. I had written a book before ‘GIRL 4′ which was something of a dark comedy, so very different. This made its way to a few publishers. One piece of editorial feedback suggested that my style may actually suit a thriller and they would be interested in reading one if I ever decided to write that type of story. I wrestled with the idea for a while eventually deciding that, if I was going to try this, I was going to do something different.
The first thing I came up with was the ending and the reason and manner in which the victims meet their demise. Obviously I can’t say what this is without giving things away. I had the image of ‘The floating corpse’ seen on the front cover from the outset, and that was really my starting point.
I knew that I wanted to tell the story in a different way, too, giving a voice to every character - the detective, the killer and the victims - each of them telling their side of the story in the first person, each of them telling the truth or their version of it.
Writing didn’t really start until I’d added the final ingredient. I wanted to give my detective something extra to set him apart from his peers. I was throwing ideas around, some of which were woeful, some which got me more excited, but it was something my brother said me: ‘Why don’t you just write a supernatural thriller?’ It was a bit of a throw-away comment and I wouldn’t say that ‘GIRL 4′ is strictly a supernatural thriller, but it triggered the idea of The Smiling Man character for me, and allowed me to explore that line between reality and fiction, what is dream and what is fact. A huge part of this story is that everything is not what it appears to be, what is true is not always what is real.
Despite only being one aspect of the entire story, my brother often likes to tell me that the whole thing was his idea, especially after a few beers. I prefer to think that I had the seed, buried it, watered it, and he accidentally kicked over some Miracle Grow.
I love to hear publication journeys, so tell me, how did you come to be published? Getting ‘GIRL 4′ published was relatively swift, I am told, but there was a lot that went before this book.
I turned down the opportunity to play rugby professionally when I was around 17-18 years old. I loved it, of course, but I never wanted it to be my career. I wanted to go to university and learn; I wanted to do something more creative. I always knew that this was the case.
I fell in love with the novel form after reading ‘Fight Club‘ by Chuck Palahniuk and knew that was exactly what I wanted to do. So I wrote a book while at university.
After university I spent a year trying to get a job that would be interesting and creative so that I would continue to be inspired while also affording me the opportunity to write more. In that year I managed to work for three days as a driver for a documentary crew while continuing my part-time job at the local Starbucks, eventually obtaining my first position in the film industry renting out DVDs at my nearest Blockbuster Video Store.
This was not what I had in mind and I could easily interpret the look on the faces of people I told that I wanted to be a writer: it was pity or judgement or a nod to my delusion.
But then Sam Bulos read the book I had written. She liked my style but gave me some very honest and constructive editorial feedback. I rewrote the entire thing and sent it to her again. She became my agent and started getting it onto the right desks.
In February of 2009, I was made redundant from another IT sales job. I had been researching my idea for ‘Girl 4′ since December and decided to take this opportunity to just write it, not in the evenings after a full day driving around the country talking to buyers about laptops or software, but all day, every day. I finished it in June and it was submitted to publishers in July.
A lot of editors loved it but wouldn’t quite take that final leap. Eventually, it was put into the hands of my, now, editor at Random House. There was a brief, intense period of negotiation, and in the first week of November I was signing a contract to turn ‘GIRL 4′ into a series of three books. It all happened very quickly. A month later, just before Christmas, my daughter was born. So, becoming a published author, something I had wanted for so long, suddenly became only my second favourite gift that year.
Is writing your full-time occupation? Yes, it is. It is one of my full-time jobs.
My wife works for half of the week in London, so on those days I am at home taking care of our daughter, who is now 17 months old. This is my other job, and another which I love greatly.
I sometimes write a little in the evenings or during her nap in the morning, but I get most of my work done on the days that my wife is at home, when I lock myself away to write.
I feel very fortunate that I am able to write as my profession and earn money to live and eat while doing something I love and never get bored of; I don’t come home and complain about my boss or the long hours, because my boss is me and I love the long hours. But one of the best things is that I also get to spend so much time with my daughter, seeing and helping her grow up, which means I don’t miss out on anything. I also get to see my wife more. On the days when she is home and I am writing, we always have a coffee break and chat when my daughter has her morning nap; it has become part of our routine.
I enjoy both of my jobs: they are both interesting, rewarding and exhausting.
Can you offer any tips for people wanting to be published? Maybe stop buying lottery tickets or having a flutter on the Grand National because you will want to save up all your luck for the book.
I’m not sure. I don’t often like to give writing tips or advice because the things that work for one person won’t work for another. And I think I know even less about how to get published than I do about how to write a book in the ‘proper’ way.
However, I will say that feedback is the best thing in the world for a writer. And honest feedback is even better than that. There is little point in assessing the quality of your work based on the comments of people who love you unconditionally. Yes, it is great to hear and they may even drop in a few things that didn’t necessarily sit well with them while reading, but it is not going to help get it to the level an agent or publisher wants to see.
There are editors and reading groups out there who can be used to obtain feedback; you can work with these to really tighten your novel. I have learned more about writing from people telling me the things that are wrong than I have about listening to the strengths. A writer needs that critical eye, because there are often things we do not see as we are so close to the text.
Revising/editing is my least favourite part of the writing process, but it is the most crucial.
And what do you plan to write next? Well, I have already written the second book in the January David series, THE TWO”, out in November. Our hero is thrust into another high-profile case, on the hunt for a killer seemingly using Pagan ritual in their murders. However, this person has already been taken into captivity by a vigilante known only a V. Now January is searching for not one lost soul but two. . .
I’ve also recently finished the third in that series but it requires some editing before I think about submitting. I’m part way through a stand-alone novel and have started the research for the fourth in the January David series, which will precede the events of ‘GIRL 4‘. So I am still very busy and writing while the ideas are coming to me.
Have you learned anything about the industry that has shocked you/surprised you? I never even really thought about the publishing side of things, I was only ever concerned with writing. I feel like I am learning something new every day about the way things work. It was a little surprising to find that I had to wait sixteen months to see my book on the shelf after signing a contract, but that time did fly by.
I think the biggest shock is actually the amount that is expected of you as a published author. I naively thought that I could just write a book, get it published, write another, get it published. But there are a lot of other things you have to do which I had never considered. Interviews, Q&As, writing blog articles or pieces for certain websites. It all adds up. Mostly it just means more writing, which is fine, but I don’t think I really gave this much thought beforehand.
There are festivals to attend throughout the year too. I am being interviewed on stage at the Hampstead and Highgate literary festival in September. I’m giving a talk at the Reading Crime Festival in October. It’s mind-blowing but exciting.
All of these things obviously surprised or shocked me in a good way. I haven’t really encountered anything yet where I’ve thought, ‘Noooo. That can’t really happen!’
Who do you feel would be your ideal reader? I hope that fans of crime fiction in general would enjoy ‘GIRL 4′, but also readers who are looking for something out of the norm - a book that breaks a few rules and doesn’t conform to established conventions of the genre. I don’t spoon-feed my reader; I like to challenge their expectations, make them think, keep them guessing and throw in a few shocks along the way. I would not describe my writing style as safe, so my ideal reader would be looking for books with shock impact rather than cosy comfort.
From the reader feedback I’ve had so far, it looks like there are plenty of people out there looking for exactly that - and I’ve had an overwhelmingly favorable response from a real cross-section - young and old, male and female, thriller fans and readers who are entirely new to the genre. I guess this is the best that I can hope for - that readers will be eager to try a new author and will be open to something new and different. The fiction market can easily become dominated by big, established names, and it’s gratifying when readers take a chance on a debut novel - even better when they ‘get’ my style, and enjoy it. Ultimately that has to be my ideal reader - anyone who loves my book and looks out for the next one.
And, finally, (with the skillful smoothness of the finest of interviewers) do you in any way know Simon Cowell? One of my university lecturers was also a cameraman on Pop Idol, but that’s as close as it gets.
*
About the author: Will Carver can be stalked found online at his website, on twitter, on Facebook and ‘Girl 4′ is part of Sainsbury’s Book Club this month.
