Like Jumping on a Fast Moving Train: How One Author Began Writing Crime Fiction

Written by Marina L. Reed

I could see the lights in the distance. It was coming straight towards me. I stood on the tracks, the multi-edged rocks pushing against the soles of my shoes. The ground began to vibrate. The shape of the engine began to take form around the lights. And then everything went still as I stepped to the side, reached up my hand and grabbed the handrail, pulled my foot onto the thin ledge and felt the rush and pull against my body. This was going to be quite the ride.

And so began my journey into crime fiction writing.

This is part one in a small series of exposés on the joys and jungles of being a writer.

I’ll start with one of the jungles….

Emotions. Empathy. Authenticity. I call it a jungle because there are so many vines, and predators and foliage that make the passage difficult. Sometimes a machete is in order and you just hack away at whatever is standing in front of you; edit it all later. Other times, it is about stealth and patience and caution. Either way, if you want to write something that a reader will believe, will feel, will get the hairs up on the back of their neck or pull deep in their loins, you aren’t just writing words on a page. You are in every one of those words yourself. Feeling it, breathing it, loving it, dreading it. A jungle. And that isn’t easy at all. Especially when you are writing something with blood and bullets and battered bodies. Climbing inside that scene is gut-wrenching and painful. If I was to just write the words, then that’s all it would be, words. For you, the reader, to feel it, to be in that scene, those words must be infused with energy. Do you have to actually chop someone into little pieces? No. Your imagination can be bone chillingly real. And you can draw on all sorts of experiences you have had no matter how small. Enlarge them. Shift them. Morph them. And soon, you are there.

ON THE EDGE by Marina L. Reed (with Don Hawkins) is coming this fall from Chicken House Press. Sign up for our newsletter if you’d like to be alerted when the pre-order sale opens.

Marina has lived and worked around the world as a journalist, educator, and artist. She is the author of ten books, freelance articles, online workshops and television current affairs programs. She believes in the power and magic of the written word. Marina is currently working on her next novel. Follow her at MarinaLReed.com