What am I working on now?

As well as writing David’s next curious case, a disappearance in 1970s London that doesn't even have a title yet, I am revising, editing, and generally fussing over the fourth book in the series, Darkness in the Forest. The second book, Gate in the Shadows, which was briefly published as the first book to see how that would work, is now back where it should be as the second in the series. It is almost there, currently with some amazing helpful readers, and when everything is checked, and I build up the courage, it will be published, hopefully May 2026. As if that little lot were not enough, I have written a classic ghost story, The Gamekeeper's House, and that is also being worked on, but before doing any more with that, I need to line-edit the third in the David Hammond series, Destruction of Faith. Writing a classic ghost story was such fun, I am drafting out another; Something Disturbed.

If that sounds like madness, it isn't, and bear with me. If I work on a story, I become too familiar with it, too close. It takes a lot of work to take a story from the first draft that appears on paper, to the finished work that somebody can enjoy reading. That means going over the same words again and again until they are right. If you know them too well, you see the story you have built up in your head, not the words on the page as a reader will see them. It is therefore essential to have a few stories on the go at any one time, to work on one, put it aside for a few weeks, and work on something else. When you come back to a story, you should be able to read it afresh. Think of it as clearing my short-term memory.

Everybody thinks writing is the best part of, well, writing, but actually it is editing and revising. This is definitely my favourite part, where the story emerges from mere words and truly comes to life. What initially falls out of my head onto the page is the full story, usually, but not always in the right order, and definitely not in the right words. The truly hard part is getting the story right, a painfully slow process, but I just love doing it.

All writers work in their own ways. I like to write onto paper with a pencil, a process that can involve long walks and making cups of tea, then hours of writing without a break. When this first draft is finished, I will leave it for long enough to forget most of it, and go off to do something else. Then I can come back to it with fresh eyes and edit it into the keyboard, another slow process because I am not the best at typing, and I make so many changes at this stage. I will then leave it for a while again, and now you see why most writers have a few books on the go at any one time.

Then come the final revisions and edits, including the very best part, which is seeing the book emerge onto paper as a paperback for the first time. I do not know why, but I cannot get the story told as it should be told by staring at a screen and hitting keys. I need to see it on paper, and not just out of the office printer, as a book I hold in my hands, then just as at the very beginning, the book is finished using a pencil on paper.

That is my way of working. After that it will go to some wonderful people who offer amazing feedback, seeing parts of the story I cannot see because I am just too personally involved, and so begins a round of discussions and revisions until it is as perfect as it can be for you to read.

Writing is more editing than writing, and I love it.

The Books.