NEW BEGINNINGS

Writing for a new genre is not easy, but it is a wonderful opportunity to try something completely different. The new books look great. They really stand out from the rest. When I saw them at my local Tesco I wanted to buy all four, and I am sure a lot of other people will feel the same.

But now I have to think of a new set of characters to go with the new plots. Criminals and psychotic killers, detectives and stalkers, moments of high tension and heart-stopping danger - this is not something I was writing about in a pocket novel a year ago. Judging by the books already published, it seems Maggie is open to most ideas, but she also stresses that a thriller must be thrilling and a cime novel should include a serious crime, preferably with a dead body. Romance will still be there, but it is no longer the heart of the plot.

So how am I going to start writing a thriller or a crime novel? I'm not one of those people who have a eureka moment - a sudden blinding flash of inspiration. For me it always starts fairly slowly. A small idea I hope will blossom into something bigger. A thought that sits around in my head for a few days and either disappears or grows into something I can work on.

Cara found the bones of a plot in Turkey. A woman, possibly all alone, in a foreign country. She is on a deserted mountain road with a storm raging overhead, the narrow road slippery with rain and mud. Then what? Please write this one, Cara, I can't wait to read it.

The story I have just sent Maggie starts with a girl driving down a dark lane at night. Suddenly she hits something. Thinking it might be an animal, she has to stop the car and get out - but it wasn't an animal she hit. The new story I am working on begins with a body floating in a swimming pool and a sociopathic killer. So far so good. I hope I can finish it, because endings are just as important as beginnings.