Nick Quantrill was in Beverley today at the WHSmith store signing copies of his book ‘Broken Dreams’. Nick was kind enough to answer a few questions about being a writer, about his new book and if he plans on writing about Beverley.
Tell me a bit about “Broken Dreams”?
“Broken Dreams” is my first published novel and revolves around Private Investigator, Joe Geraghty. When a woman Geraghty is watching for a client is found murdered, he finds himself implicated in the police investigation. It’s a story which connects back to the city’s former trawler industry and looks at its current regeneration, so in many ways it’s also a story about Hull.
Why did you start writing?
I always wanted to be a footballer or a musician, but it was quite apparent my skills were never going to take me beyond the Sunday League pitches of Hull and that my lack of ability in mastering chords was going to be a problem! I’ve always been a big reader, so writing felt like a natural progression. I needed a new passion when I decided to stop playing football, and luckily for me, writing gives me that same fire in my belly. I doubt I’ll ever stop now.
Why choose to be a crime writer?
The vast majority of what I read is crime-fiction, so it just felt right. Reading a lot taught me the nuts and bolts of how to write, but more importantly crime writing means I can address the issues which I want to touch on. If you want to take a look at society and the way we live today, crime fiction seems to be the most effective vehicle for it. There’s nowhere crime fiction can’t go. You can wrap a serious point in an entertaining read and that seems perfect to me.
Who inspires you?
I think true inspiration comes from close by. My writing has brought me into contact with a variety of authors, poets, playwrights, musicians and local media from around East Yorkshire. I’ve found that anybody who has a vision and is prepared to work hard at it and succeed on their own terms drives me on to do the same. In terms of writers, I look up to Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin and Lee Child. They’re the ones setting the standard, but I’ve genuinely yet to meet a fellow writer who hasn’t been prepared to help and share when I’ve needed it.
Do you have any tips for budding young writers?
I think the main things to bear in mind are persistence and perspiration. It took me about five years from my writing my first short story to having “Broken Dreams” published. In that time I wrote an unpublished novel and several more short stories, hopefully improving as I went. They’ll be good days and bad days, but it’s important to be clear on your goals and to be able to self-motivate. That said, it’s great fun, so just give it a go and don’t be afraid of showing your work off. There’s plenty of websites looking for content and it’s a great way to get feedback.
Will we see Joe working on a case in Beverley?
I’ve not set any stories specifically in Beverley yet, but I’d say there’s every chance it’ll happen in the future. Beverley is geographically close enough for Geraghty to work in, but more importantly, it would give me the chance to draw on similarities and differences between a market town and a city, especially when they’re so intertwined with each other. Watch this space…
