Crime writer Dave Warner on turning a skeleton of an idea into a fully fleshed plot
Dave Warner‘s Broome detective Dan Clement is back in When It Rains, investigating crime as plentiful as wet season rain. In this article, Dave takes us behind the scenes of his award-winning crime writing procedure.
What is it like to work with a protagonist over a number of books? Do you think about Clement between times?
It can be quite challenging working on book series where your main character, in this case Dan, has a lot of internal reflection. Poirot and Sherlock Holmes give us little or no insight into their own thoughts but with Dan I have to ask myself what has happened in his personal life lately and how does this affect his behaviour generally and in particular, his relationship to the case. So, yes, even while working on other books I do spare a thought for Dan. It has become a bit of a cliché that no detective can be well-adjusted and happy, and I try to fight against this. I want Dan to be happy just not boring.
Do writing crime and writing songs have anything in common?
I can only answer for myself, and I’d say that many of the songs I have written are from a persona, not Dave Warner’s personal autobiography. That persona may have nothing of me in it or quite a bit and so with the characters in my books. Another common point is the moment of inspiration. An idea for a song can often hit me – a few words and a melody together and then not long after a song theme is teased out. With my crime novels, it can be a similar moment – a short but almost fully formed snapshot of an idea that might sustain a whole book, like looking down at an island through a bank of clouds and getting a clear picture for a second or two.
How do you go about plotting a crime novel? What comes first?
When It Rains is an exception for me. I wanted to write a Dan Clement book and the title popped up in my head suggesting a mood for the book – an inundation of crime with Dan feeling like he’s bailing out a boat destined to sink. Usually though it’s an idea that grabs me – a ‘wouldn’t it be great if …’ and the idea of that ‘if’ arrives almost fully formed; if – in 1961 a hitman hears surf guitar and tries to reshape his life using a guitar instead of a gun (River of Salt); or if – Sherlock Holmes never died when he fell off the Reichenbach Falls but was frozen until a new female Watson could unfreeze him in the present (Over My Dead Body), etc. Once I have the germ of the idea, I set about constructing a basic skeleton that will largely remain intact until the story is completed. Then I flesh out all the major plot points. Once that’s done, I try to lift it all by more complex twists. Sometimes those only happen in the midst of the first or second draft.
What is next for Dan Clement? What’s next for Dave Warner?
I really have no idea what is next for Dan. Other than desiring to do another Dan Clement story, I have nothing in train. However, there is plenty for Dave Warner. My next novel is already at first draft, and it will be another change of pace and style as I strive to deliver a Golden Age classic whodunnit in the Agatha Christie-style, set in 1929. Live event–wise I will be looking at doing library talks – books with music where possible. I’m also working on a stage musical, a new album of country/rock songs, and a couple of screenplays, and yes, I do have at least two more sketchy ideas for crime novels that I will be developing, one that involves my other WA detective Snowy Lane.
When It Rains is available now in all good bookstores and online.
