I began writing crime fiction when I retired at the very young age of sixty, although I could have begun at any time in my life because I’ve always had an investigative streak; when paid employment was my priority this found a release through my creating impossible-to-play board games and hosting murder-mystery parties for friends. Once I’d got my working life out of the way I eventually found time to explore the world of creative writing.
People ‘in the know’ in the writing world often speak of ‘Plansters’ and ‘Plotters’ to discuss different approaches to writing. A Plotter flies, or writes, by the seat of their pants; they have an idea and off they go. Plotters will plan the whole piece of work beforehand, writing copious notes and planning out each scene. At present, I’m somewhere in the middle. To begin with, I write a framework but often leave the ending to emerge from the story as I find my characters don’t always behave the way I planned – and consequences emerge. Hopefully, this adds spontaneity and authenticity without the work going totally off the rails.
I got started with my ‘second career’ by attending creative writing adult education classes, writing lots of short stories and poems where the support and feedback from classmates gave me the confidence to continue. During lockdown, I was delighted to discover on-line writing courses and devoured them all. I branched out into writing children’s stories, dystopian stories, short stories, longer stories, flash fiction and, eventually, a novel. As I am also an avid reader of crime fiction it was only natural that my first novel, Death in Blossom Hill, should be in this genre.
I live in the New Forest with my husband (a retired Sqn Ldr!) and ‘Bingham’ our elderly beagle, and also spend as much time as possible on the West Coast of Scotland where we have a small holiday cottage north of Oban.
CLEM HUNTER - Crime Fiction Writer 