JM Simpson
What made you decide to become a writer?
I never longed to be a writer. It was never on my radar. Growing up in the West Country, it was certainly never presented or even considered as a career choice!
I had an idea for a book when I was about thirty – but life then got in the way and I wrote a few chapters of that book and then put it aside; dream jobs, finishing a PhD, a wedding, two houses totally refurbished and two kids later I had an idea one day that I couldn’t stop thinking about when I saw the local lifeboat at Tenby launch. I wondered who these people were that would risk their lives to save a stranger; what had they left to come and plunge into the dark ocean into the unknown? That for me was the seed to me to start writing – I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I created characters, I thought about storylines, and that’s really when the idea of Sea State (the first novel in the Castleby series) happened. I started writing then and I haven’t stopped – but I manage it around my day job and other things.
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?
I don’t usually plot. But my latest Work in Progress has been a little different from the others in how it came about – I was in Brighton one evening with my husband and I had a two minute conversation with a woman in a pizzeria that evening. Five minutes after that I had the whole plot of a new novel in my head. Just from a conversation. So that is set in Brighton and it feels very real to me, because parts of the book are that conversation in that setting. I do base my characters on real people if I see them clearly and some of them are people I have come across over the years. My parents had a shop for years that I used to work in – so lots of people inspired that!
Sometimes, I will hear about, or see, or read about an event and that is enough to inspire me to write a story or create a character. I love a flawed character. Someone with emotional baggage or very hurt from something and trying to navigate normal life. I like the light and dark of people’s nature. I also love a villain. I love to write a baddie. It’s permission to unleash your darkest thoughts in some ways!
What comes first for you – the plot or the characters?
I don’t really start my books with a plot as such. I don’t religiously plan out my plots at all – they just seem to happen and evolve. But to start - I always start with a place. To me the place is a character in itself so that’s really important. I need to visualise it and be ‘in it’ to be able to write about it. Then I will have an event. That event is usually a death, or a body, or something happening – I get inspiration about these in all sorts of places and settings – so it’s quite random. Then I’ll have the beginnings of a character and I’ll build it from there. I’m a great one for a prologue – so invariably, once the prologue is written the story starts building in my head from there!
How many books have you written and/or published and which is your favourite?
So far, I have written 12 books – 6 published so far. I’ve published the Castleby series which is set in a coastal town, and begins against the backdrop of a lifeboat crew. It moves from suspense thriller slightly more into crime thriller as the series develops. My favourite in that series is the third book – Sea Shaken, because we have a real mix of events happening and we also have a veteran who is struggling with life changing injuries. His story was so special and the research for that really moved me. I wanted to be sure I did veterans the justice they deserve in telling his story.
I think my absolute favourite book is the second in my Scottish series – (the first book is published March 25 – The Ophelia Murders), because there is a wonderful relationship that develops between two key characters, and I genuinely adore both characters. I was thrilled when they got together (which was a bit of a surprise to me! I hadn’t planned on them getting together!). But with everything going on in that book – their relationship is the light against the dark.
Did you need to do research for your book? If so, how much did you do, how did you do it?
I do a lot of research for my books. I do research for a living, so it comes quite easily for me. I’ve done some very difficult research for books I’ve written and some has been very moving too. I’ve spoken to survivors of domestic violence; spoken to veterans who have really struggled leaving the forces and living back in normal society. I wrote a book where the main cast of characters were the local fishing community – so I went and spent the day interviewing local fisherman learning the terms, and their tools of the trade. I’ve spent a lot of time in lifeboat stations too over the years. But with all research, you have to be careful not to overload the reader with it, as too much can affect pace – so invariably, you have to use it sparingly and sometimes you have to add in a bit of literary licence to keep it interesting and the story rolling along.
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 need a place to be real to me. For my Castleby series, this is largely set in Tenby, but with parts of the west country and others thrown in for good measure. Because I’ve added bits in, I decided that I’d call it a fictional name, but most readers can relate to it being Tenby! I think about Tenby when I’m writing about it.
For my Scottish series out in March, I have been to many places in Scotland because I love it so much. I did go on a purposeful research trip there – covering a variety of towns and obviously spending the time I needed to in the Cairngorms, so for that series, I’ve mashed all my favourite locations together to create another fictional town.
It's not always fictional though; I’ve written a Cornish crime thriller, set in Bude and another crime thriller set in Hastings. So, it depends on the location and the idea really.
