BLOOD TYPE: David Young @djy_writer @BonnierZaffre #amwriting #writingtips

CRIME AUTHORS SPILL THEIR GUTS ABOUT WRITING. Every Thursday top-notch authors of psychological thrillers and crime fiction share their writing secrets – and the secrets to their success – with you and me.

“Cast against type – to try to avoid stereotypical characters.”

This week: DAVID YOUNG

Tell us about yourself…

For most of my working life I was a journalist, starting as a reporter on weekly and daily local and regional newspapers and then for more than 25 years as a news editor for BBC World radio and TV. But by the end I was desperate to escape, and doing the City University London Crime Fiction MA led to Stasi Child, a three-book deal and – with the help of redundancy from the BBC – a full-time writing career. Stasi Child was reasonably successful commercially, and is also the current CWA Endeavour historical crime novel of the year, so it’s been an exciting time. My second novel Stasi Wolf – set a few months later comes out in today, 9 February 2017, and I’ve just signed a new three-book deal.

How do you go about plotting your book?

I am very much a plotter rather than seat-of-pants writer. I tend to start with an overall idea, then develop it into a flow diagram of possible plot development. From there, I’ll work up a plan for around… TO READ THE INTERVIEW IN FULL, CLICK HERE

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