Breaking News!!!! New novella to be written via Social Media

LEADING CRIME WRITERS INVITE THRILLER FANS TO COLLABORATE ON NEW NOVELLA THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

Crime thriller enthusiasts are being called upon to help co-create a brand new novella this autumn, using social media to assist three celebrated crime authors in a unique literary experiment.

In a partnership between Specsavers and Penguin, crime fans will contribute ideas through Facebook and Twitter including characters names and personalities, locations, crimes and other narrative details for bestselling writers Nicci French and Tim Weaver, and debut novelist Alistair Gunn, to turn into new works of fiction. With each author given with the framework suggested by fans, there will be three original stories published with very different takes on the same source material. A digital only ebook will be given away free from mid October, and fans will be also be able to suggest titles and cover designs.

The mass participation event, called #youdunnit, begins on 16^th September, was created and project managed by Manning Gottlieb OMD. Contributors can find all information about the campaign by visiting www.specsavers.co.uk/youdunnit. The site will guide them through every step of the process, and all the details about the progress of the stories.

Nicci French said “We’re looking forward to seeing ideas from crime readers for the #Youdunnit experiment. To have much of the plotting taken out of our hands could be a blessing or a curse – time will tell!”

Dame Mary Perkins, founder of Specsavers, said: ‘As autumn creeps in there’s nothing I like more than curling up with a good book, the more bloodcurdling the better. How exciting to think that fellow enthusiasts and I could help create a new story. The authors we have lined up are some of the best crime thriller writers in the business. That combined with the collective imagination of everyone contributing ideas means we are expecting great things from this.’

Penguin Marketing Manager Tim Broughton said: ‘Penguin is delighted to be partnering Specsavers for the #youdunnit experiment this autumn. Three outstanding writing talents have been selected to contribute to the venture. It will be fascinating to see them apply their own individual writing styles to the narrative framework created by the crime fiction community online.’

The authors:

NICCI FRENCH is the pseudonym for the hugely experienced writing partners Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. Their first novel together, The Memory Game, was published to great acclaim in 1997. They have since written over 15 novels together as well as continuing to pursue solo writing careers. The next Nicci French novel, Thursday’s Child, continues the series which features London-based psychoanalyst Frieda Klein, and publishes in January 2014.

TIM WEAVER is the critically-acclaimed author of the David Raker thriller series. His latest novel, Never Coming Back, published in August 2013 and is a Richard and Judy Book Club selection. His previous novels – Chasing the Dead, The Dead Tracks, and Vanished – have all been Sunday Times bestsellers which submerge the reader in the murky world of missing persons investigations.

ALISTAIR GUNN is a debut thriller writer. His first terrifying novel, The Advent Killer, introduces DCI Antonia Hawkins as the hero who is tasked with foiling the murderous escapades of a serial killer at Christmas. The Advent Killer publishes on the 21^st November with a second novel in the series to be published in 2014.