Gary Cockaday
What made you decide to become a writer?
That’s an easy question to start with, thank you, Kathryn.
I felt compelled to try. I had always wanted to write a book, time was my enemy, I’ve always been busy. That said, I’ve always found time to read, as a child I borrowed 5 books a week from the local library. On holiday I can read a book a day.
Reading is a huge part of my life.
At the onset of covid my A&E Nurse wife continued to work, whilst I had little to do apart from walk our dog and prepare supper. One sunny morning I grabbed an old handwritten manuscript that I had started a few times, some 25 years previously. I blew the dust off and began to type. My days became full of words with beautiful walks nearby if I needed a timeout.
I’m very organised in my real life but when writing quickly discovered that I worked best with nothing other than my imagination. I finished the first draft in about ten weeks,
How do you decide your plots? Are they taken from events that have happened to you? Do you base your characters on real people – or do you prefer to be fully creative and make them up?
That’s another good question. With Full Circle, my first, I knew the ending, I’d imagined the ending from the very first word. I just had to destroy Richard’s world first.
I cast the characters once I begin to think about them, it helps me to picture them, but they are imagined, created, becoming people I’d like to know… well obviously not the killers, they’re best left in my imagination.
What comes first for you – the plot or the characters? And why?
That’s not an easy one for a pantser, someone who writes as they make it up. I guess the plot and the characters appear as needed. I remember waking up one morning knowing that I had to ‘kill’ one of my favourite characters. That death resulted in a very emotional funeral, changing the story direction but never the ending.
Only after, I realised that those around him needed the space to grow.
How many books have you written and/or published and which is your favourite?
Full Circle was my first, published by Hobart Books.
My second, A Moment’s Madness is self-published. I love them both.
The first was high energy, with more than a dash of sex, language and violence. I loved writing as if being in the room but calmed down my second. It’s not ‘cosy’ but it’s an easier read. The violence is police / forensic conversation.
Tell me more about your favourite book – the plot, characters, setting, POV, tense…
Both my books are MPOV - when reading I like to be inside everyone’s head, so I write multiple points of view, even changing heads mid-scene. Both books are set in the beautiful County of Norfolk. The second is not a sequel but my two favourite cops forced their way in – so it became a sequel of sorts. Both books require Mickey & Jo to catch a serial killer.
Both books work through a beautiful marriage breaking.
What is your favourite genre to write in? Tell me why.
I guess you probably know the answer.. crime fiction with a dollop of love / romance included. I love to play with peoples lives.
I love writing second chance relationship stories set against a background of a killer piling up bodies. I love writing about Mickey & Jo but like to play with their lives rather than too much police procedure.
Did you need to do research for your book? If so, how much did you do, how did you do it?
Both books include hospital visits – Mrs C helped hugely. I also pestered an acquaintance who worked with Norfolk Constabulary.
Would you travel to the area where your book is set? Do you already know the area? Have you written about that area because it’s a place you know? Have you used the original name of the area or manipulated place names?
I’ve lived in various parts of Norfolk all my life, so it seemed obvious to base my story here. I travelled to certain places to find a big house for Reggie and a penthouse for Faye, taking lots of pictures. I haven’t named the exact locations.
How do you feel about killing off popular characters? Is it something you enjoy doing in your own books? Have you done it?
I shed tears when killing one of my favourites, I shed a few more each time I rewrote that scene.
Would you write any genre or do you stick to one?
I’ve found my niche which is gritty crime fiction love stories.
Do you write under a pseudonym or your own name?
My own name, I sometimes wonder if I should have used a pseudonym as sometimes I think people think I’ve used one!
Does your family read your work? If not, would you like them to? Are you books their thing? Would it bother you if they weren’t interested in reading any of them?
I’m very lucky that my family both reads and supports my efforts. My eldest son has just finished A Moment’s Madness which he enjoyed. He gave up on Full Circle. 'Dad too much sex and I can’t read that, knowing you wrote it.’
They ask how it’s going. I have five readers who give me honest feedback as the writing takes shape, two are family.
How many hours a day or week would you say you spend writing? Is it a potential career for you, is it something you do outside your day job?
I’m 66, retired once, now helping my boys with their business. When writing I wrote for a few hours most weekdays.
Is writing therapeutic for you, or does it cause you to stress out?
I’m driven, I hadn’t intended to write A Moment’s Madness but made the mistake of sitting in my study on a beautiful day and looked outside for a few moments with an open word doc.
Faye entered my life so I had to create a world full of people around her.
I’m happy playing football, golf, spending time with my family, we share 5 between us and when reading and writing.
How do you market your books?
This is the hardest and most frustrating aspect of writing stories. Writing is easy. Marketing is hard work, I’m not a lover of social media. I tweet – it's twitter not X and I boost Facebook posts.
How do you react to reviews? Would you prefer just good ones or are you okay to receive a bad one occasionally? How does this make you feel?
I’ve had reviews from complete strangers in Europe and the USA and to-date they’ve been very complimentary.
I’ve bumped into two people recently that I didn’t know who happily tell me that they greatly enjoyed reading my books but when asked if they left a review met with blank looks.
Reviews are massively appreciated by a writer and indeed the suppliers. It’s the age-old problem if you sell you get promoted, if you struggle you can become invisible.
Some of the best stories are unread.
