Tom Mead On Writing And Other Mysteries
On The Table Read, “the best book magazine in the UK“, author Tom Mead shares his creative writing process, what inspires him, and his passion for murder mystery stories.
Written by Tom Mead
For years before I was a published writer, I was an?aspiring?writer. I wrote whenever I could find the time, and I researched endlessly, hoping to stumble across the formula for literary success. I studied textbooks and websites and interviews with famous authors, all of whom basically said the same thing: the only way to succeed as a writer is just?to?write. As that’s what I was already doing, it seemed like pointless advice. But now that my book?Death and the Conjuror?has seen the light of day, I think I’m starting to realise what they were talking about.
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Murder Mysteries
I have loved murder mysteries ever since I was small. I think it’s the joy of seeing the puzzle solved before your eyes; the satisfaction of seeing the pieces slot neatly into place. That’s the feeling I have always wanted to evoke in my readers. To begin with, I focused on short fiction. This was because I didn’t know how to go about writing a full-length novel, and also because I considered the short story to be a good way of developing my creative skill set. I still believe that to be the case, as writing short mystery stories is a brilliant and worthwhile challenge. When done right, they can pack the same punch as a novel.
Personal favourites for me include Agatha Christie’s “The Dream” and Carter Dickson’s “The House in Goblin Wood,” as well as the Father Brown tales of G.K. Chesterton. I am also in awe of Edward D. Hoch, who is one of the few authors of the twentieth century to make a living exclusively from his short fiction. His series character Simon Ark was one of several inspirations for my own fictional detective Joseph Spector.?