You may’ve noticed this occasional blog has been a bit more occasional over the last few weeks. I’m still writing at the same rate, but the “spare” time I used to maintain Wordcount and do other things (like step away from the laptop) has been used up by the impending launch of my new TV crime drama Luther (BBC One, May 4th, 9 p.m.) Not least of this, I’ve had to do about a dozen written interviews … which if nothing else has been an interesting exercise in answering similar questions in different ways. I’m hoping Wordcount will return to some kind of regularity next week, but right this moment I’m finding it hard to see past the first episode of Luther actually being broadcast … after all that work, I’m strangely reluctant to see it loosed into the world. Even after the incredible press we’ve had, this is probably the most nervous I’ve been since the day I got married.
(On the plus side, it’s given me an idea for a post about what it’s like to see your book in the shops for the first time … and how what you feel may not be what you always expected)
Meantime, here’s my latest blog entry, written not for Wordcount but for the BBC. It’s edited somewhat, to conform to their house style:
The character that became Detective Chief Inspector John Luther was pinging round my head long before he had a name – or I had any idea how to use him.
He started as means to connect two ideas from different genres within the broad church of crime fiction. Luther has some of the Sherlock Holmes about him – some of that disinterested analytical genius.
Read the rest on the BBC’s website.
