Ten good questions by Alex Gray

Whenever I am talking to students of creative writing about researching a novel, I ask them to consider the following. Rather than poring over the internet or even reading lots of books, both practical ways in themselves, try going out to find experts on the subject that you want to research armed with ten good questions. My own experience tells me that I might come home afterwards with twenty answers and several great stories.

One novel that stands out to illustrate this is the fourth in my Lorimer series. I wanted to begin my story with a body being pulled out of the river Clyde, only I could not envisage just how this was carried out. A friend suggested that I seek the help of the Humane Society officer, George Parsonage MBE, and so I was introduced to him and visited his home in Glasgow Green. There, I not only saw photographs of the very process that I had in mind but heard many tales of rescues and others of fishing dead bodies from the depths of the river and made a good friend. George was a fascinating character, so much so that he agreed to be himself in the story and the book was entitled The Riverman, a nickname that George had been given. The authenticity of the setting brought the book to the attention of major publishers as well as composer, Ken Walton, who used some words from it for his choral symphony Colours of the Clyde. And all because I had gone out to seek a real person in my research! George and I have been friends to this day.

Before the advent of mobile phones, I would go out armed with a notebook and camera, photographing places and jotting down my first impressions. Being out and about in, for example, the city of Glasgow also gives one the added benefit of sensory information. I might hear sirens in the distance, the roar of traffic, sounds of local dialect, smells from street food markets and all sorts of things. My very first novel, Never Somewhere Else, is set in Glasgow’s art world and I will be forever grateful that I managed to take photographs of Glasgow School of Art and set down my detailed observations of its former glories. Who could have guessed that this gem in Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s crown would suffer two horrific fires decades later? 

My dear friend, the late Alanna Knight, had a mantra; walk the paths and touch the stones, she would say, and it was sound advice that I follow to this very day. Going out to talk to experts in their field and seeing what really happens in their world is invaluable source material. I have been fortunate to enjoy a good relationship with the police ever since I first wrote to Sir John Orr back in the 1990’s, asking for help to research a crime novel. Coming from a position of not knowing anything about police procedure and being invited into police stations then divisional headquarters was a fascinating start for this wannabe crime novelist.

My latest novel, Questions For a Dead Man, took me to Tulliallan, the police training college, thanks to the co-operation of senior officers in Police Scotland. I was invited to attend on the day of the cadets’ passing out parade, but before that I was given a talk on so many aspects of the training plus advice on how my character, Daniel Kohi, might proceed in his career. I watched my own video clips many times but actually being there and watching the parade, listening to the chief constable address the new recruits, was pure gold for this crime writer. Much of what we write is fiction, of course, but having research like this adds so much authenticity to a story and readers are forever saying how much they enjoyed the setting of different books, surely a testament to my methods. 

It is no mistake that ideas will spring from encounters with other people on visits like this. I can recall several times when a plot centred on a tiny thing that I found as I was looking for material. Not just ten answers and some good stories, but sometimes the very hinge upon which a plot might turn! Best of all, I now count several experts amongst my good friends, a lasting legacy that is even more satisfying.

Questions for a Dead Man by Alex Gray, (Sphere, £16.99) - the 20th book in the Lorimer series.

When a prominent MSP goes missing, DSI William Lorimer wastes no time in investigating. Robert Truesdale was fronting the controversial campaign to legalise drugs in Scotland, and his enemies were numerous. With every passing day, the chances of finding him alive grow slimmer. Then the worst happens. A car bomb explodes in a nearby village, and the blackened body pulled from the wreckage appears to be Truesdale's. Yet there are details that don't add up and soon Lorimer is questioning whether the victim was all he claimed to be. Lorimer calls on the assistance of his friend, PC Daniel Kohi, who has infiltrated a local gang as part of a police initiative to crack down on drug-related crime in Glasgow. As their investigation draws them into the dark heart of Glasgow's criminal underworld, Lorimer and Kohi discover that danger is everywhere and nobody is as they seem.

More information about Alex Gray and her books can be found on her website. You can also follow her on Twitter @Alexincrimeland.