Guest post by womagwriter and novelist, Jane Bettany

Today's guest is Jane Bettany.

In January 2019, after several years writing short stories for the womag markets, I decided it was time to start the crime novel I’d always dreamed of completing. In this short post, I explain what happened next, and reveal how being a subscriber to Patsy Collins’ blog helped turn my dream into a reality.

Making a start

I began my novel by developing a cast of characters and getting to grips with their backstories. Next, I focused on the plot, which grew from the following premise:

When DI Isabel Blood is called to investigate the discovery of a body on a local housing estate, she realises the crime scene is the property she grew up in as a child. The forensic team estimate the body has been in the ground for up to forty years – coinciding with the time Isabel’s family lived in the house. . . and Isabel’s father vanished without a trace when she was fourteen years old.  

My aim was to create a novel that involved the unravelling of a family mystery, as well as the solving of a crime. I planned the first five chapters carefully, and the rest developed organically once I started writing.

I made my protagonist, DI Isabel Blood, the same age as me (56 at the time of writing the book). However, unlike me, Isabel has three children, goes running regularly, and has spent the whole of her career in the police force.

What happened next…

By July 2019, as I was nearing the end of the first draft, I received an email from Patsy Collins, with one of her

regular blog updates. In this particular post, Patsy shared information about a novel writing competition from Gransnet and HQ. It was for women writers over the age of 40 who had not previously had a novel published, and the novel’s main character also had to be a woman over 40. As Isabel and I easily met the age criteria, and it was free as are all the competitions Patsy features, I thought I’d give it a whirl.

Entrants were asked to submit the first 20,000 words and a synopsis by 30 September 2019, and anyone longlisted would be expected to send in the full manuscript. This deadline gave me the impetus I needed to finish the first draft and move on to the editing process (which I really enjoyed). I submitted my novel a few days before the competition closing date.

To my delight, I received an email a few weeks later asking me to send the full manuscript. Needless to say, when I eventually received the phone call to tell me my novel had been chosen as the winner, I was (quite literally) jumping for joy.

I’m immensely grateful to Patsy. I always enjoy reading her blog and, if I hadn’t subscribed to her posts, I wouldn’t have known about the Gransnet HQ competition.

My novel, In Cold Blood, will be published by HQ Digital (part of Harper Collins) as an eBook today and released as a paperback on 12 November.

Congratulations on your publication, Jane – and thank you so much for letting me know I played a small part in helping to make it happen. I'll be continuing to post links to more free to enter writing competitions, so hopefully more of my blog readers will be able to share their own good news in the future.