Today with have writing duo Sean and Daniel Campbell as our guests. They are the author’s of yesterday’s book Cleaver Square. Here is a link to the post if you missed it. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4p2
Let’s find out more about them.
Sean Campbell
1) Where is your home town?
We’re both from Portsmouth, which is a Naval city on the south coast of England. Sean’s been a Londoner on and off for all of his adult life, but Dan’s still in Portsmouth and is currently at the city’s Highbury Catering College (which includes culinary luminary Claire Smyth among it’s alumnus).
2) How long have you been writing as a duo?
We’ve been writing together since 2012, when we made a St Patrick’s Day bet that we could write a novel in 90 days or less. Dead on Demand, our first book, was the result.
3) Where did the title of the book “Cleaver Square” come from?
It’s a real place – with one of London’s finest pubs in it. There is no 36B, but we’ve otherwise been pretty faithful to reality. The square is a unique slice of London that is almost surreally quiet, with gorgeous townhouses and a huge green that is used for street parties and boules in the summer.
4) If this your first murder mystery?
We had several murders in Dead on Demand, but that was told from the point of view of the antagonist, who tries to plot the perfect murder (and comes pretty close to succeeding!). Cleaver Square is our first book that’s firmly in the ‘mystery’ bracket, but it also crosses into the suspense genre too.
5) What writing roles did you both take on?
Dan does some of the big picture stuff, but I get the research elements (so if you find an error in forensics or police procedure, that’s probably my fault).
6) How long did it take to research the material for the book?
It took a little while – we took nearly eighteen months over this on and off. I trained as a barrister so the legal side is dead easy, and I have a number of friends in the forces as well as some handy contacts in the world of forensics to annoy in the hopes of getting things right.
7) You’ve got some great characters in the book, mine were the Lovejoys purely because their name conjured up memories of a favourite TV series of mine. Which character was your favourite?
Probably Tina – she’s a bit of a tart, but she’s loveable with it. And who doesn’t like drinking/ board game mash-ups?
8) Which were the hardest parts of the story to write and why?
Charlie’s back-story – he’s had a rough time of it, and getting the timings/ age consistent with all the minor elements of the forensics, as well as making sure that little things like sunrise times stay consistent takes a lot of co-ordination. Thankfully, we had some excellent editors on board to catch our faux-pas.
9) Tell us about some of your other books
Dead on Demand is the most well-known – there are tens of thousands of copies out there in the readersphere, and we hope to reach a few more this year. We’ve also got a few non-fiction titles out, including one on the British Peerage system. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the ‘Become a Lord or Lady’ Christmas gifts, where you buy a square foot of land, and allegedly become a Lord, but they’re, at best, misleading. Laird is simply Scottish for ‘landowner’ rather than denoting a title. There are ways to become a Lord, but a square foot of mud probably doesn’t cut it.
10) Do you have ideas for another murder for Detective Chief Inspector Morton to investigate?
Absolutely – we’ve got an idea that we’re outlining at the moment that combines a dash of political intrigue with what we hope our most original murder method yet.
Dan Campbell
1) Where is your home town?
Portsmouth.
2) How long have you been writing as a duo?
Duo? I do all the hard work.
3) Where did the title of the book “Cleaver Square” come from?
Well, we thought about Knife Octagon for a while, but that’s just too multi-sided.
4) If this your first murder mystery?
I never killed nobody guvnor. Honest, I didn’t.
5) What writing roles did you both take on?
I wrote. I looked pretty. Sean provided the requisite age to get taken seriously (I was 16 when ‘we’ wrote Dead on Demand)
6) How long did it take to research the material for the book?
Sean did that. Or so he says. I think he just makes it up. He’s got that convincing look about him.
7) You’ve got some great characters in the book, mine were the Lovejoys purely because their name conjured up memories of a favourite TV series of mine. Which character was your favourite?
Bertram Ayala – he’s almost as vain as I am.
8) Which were the hardest parts of the story to write and why?
The middle is the worst. You’ve not got that “just started” motivation, and the end isn’t in sight yet.
9) Tell us about some of your other books.
I’m doing a couple of solo projects this year – watch out for The Utopia Project, an ‘End of the world’ story that comes out in December.
10) Do you have ideas for another murder for Detective Chief Inspector Morton to investigate?
Yes – can’t say exactly what just yet, but if you think an ice bullet is clever, this will blow your mind.
Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
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Rosie Amber 