Writing true-crime books is an important public service, writes the author of Buried Secrets, Barry Cummins, and anyone with a passion for justice and solving mysteries can try it.
Read Part 1 of this article on Writing.ie here.
True-Crime: Don’t demonise the perpetrator too much
This point needs some explaining. I have an abhorrence of inaccurate and emotive language being used to describe murderers or other criminals. Such people are not ‘animals’ or ‘demons’ or ‘scum’. They are people, very violent people, but people. And to place sensational labels on them is, in one way, to let them off the hook.
Much better to probe the circumstances in which a person became a killer. Not only to ask what were the means and opportunity of a crime taking place, but also, what was the motive? By asking ‘how can one person murder another’ you are challenging yourself to delve deeper, and write a more informative book. After thirty years of crime reporting, it would be easy for me to simply accept that crime will always happen, and while I know it will, I want to know why, and can we learn from previous crimes to better protect society.
Chase the evidence
If you’re writing about a murder which has been solved, put some of your focus on what evidence led to the conviction. There is real drama within each investigation, when a piece of DNA is found, or when a false alibi comes unravelled, for example. Those moments always involve people. My rule is don’t just say ‘a garda’ found a piece of evidence, give their name, describe the location, the time of day, the weather, how soon into the investigation it came, how a scene was sealed off, how the grieving family were told, how a suspect was identified, how an arrest was planned, how the victim was laid to rest, how a jury reached a verdict. And everything in between. The more detail, the better the book, and the more complete and unique the story.
Likewise if a case has not been solved, specify the lack of evidence, what is missing, has evidence been lost down the years, was someone wrongly arrested, did any garda become obsessed with the case and get close to solving it only to be moved on, is there a clear suspect who is walking the streets, could that suspect actually be innocent? So many ways to explore an unsolved case, and remember the victim, can they ever really rest in peace when their killer walks the streets?
Keep your powder dry
This is a very competitive market, and you may not be the only person thinking of writing about a particular crime. I’ve learned there is room for more than one book on the same subject, as long as each one is different. What’s your unique selling point? And if you’re on the road to writing about a case, there are two options – declare it publicly to try and have some form of ‘ownership’ or keep your powder dry (my choice) and say nothing to anyone (other than those you must contact for information) about what you’re at, until you have it written.
Don’t be colloquial
I write differently to how I speak. I’m very much a colloquial speaker – ‘agh sure I’m grand’ ‘what’s the craic’ and my favourite – ‘I will all right’ which I say when I really mean ‘I won’t.’ A book is so much different. Facts and information are key, and information which can travel to other countries. You can still keep Irish-isms, but don’t write a book as if it’s your thoughts unedited. Too many people with very good stories to tell write phrases like ‘before I outline the reasons for that I must tell you, the readers, of … ’ It just doesn’t work in true-crime. Maybe in a memoir, but not true-crime.
Don’t be afraid to fillet
My most recent book Buried Secrets was originally 130,000 words. The published version is closer to 100,000. I wrote every word of the original, so I would naturally claim that every single word was crucial! Certainly I originally felt that every sentence was integral to the narrative, but with an excellent team of editors at Gill I quickly realized that combining two or three chapters and culling repetitive material kept the pace going and made for a better read.
True-Crime: Be proud
Writing about true-crime is charting modern Irish history. It is a noble cause. Murder victims must never been forgotten, those serving lengthy life sentences must always be remembered.
Be patient and be dogged
My first book idea which was dismissed by Gill in 2003 – about the murder in 1979 of Phyllis Murphy, became a substantial chapter in my second book Lifers, published by Gill in 2004. The chapter only became a reality once the killer, John Crerar, was finally convicted in 2003. I learned that persistence paid off, but I also learned that Gill didn’t see it as a full book in itself, it rather became one of a dozen cases in Lifers of murderers caught over the decades!
Throw it forward
Is a killer due for release in the future? Should that person be given a second chance? Did they confess, should they be given credit for seeking to atone? Are they someone who denies they committed a crime, is Ireland safer with them behind bars? Is there someone in prison who is innocent? While the crime may have happened years or decades ago, there is much to discuss in modern and future Ireland about true-crimes of our past. Get writing.
(c) Barry Cummins
Read Part 1 of this article on Writing.ie here.
About Buried Secrets by Barry Cummins:
‘As I unknowingly sit so close to Tina’s grave, I am looking for answers, when all the while the answers are within this house.’
When beloved Cork woman Tina Satchwell vanished in 2017, her husband Richard made emotional media appeals, opened his home to journalists and insisted she had simply ‘upped and left’. But as months turned into years, nothing about Tina’s disappearance made sense, until eventually a cold-case review uncovered the terrible truth.
Drawing on Barry Cummins’s exclusive interviews and unprecedented access to the Satchwell home, this book reveals how Richard Satchwell’s carefully constructed facade concealed a calculated crime. From a claustrophobic house filled with secrets to the Garda breakthrough, Buried Secrets is a gripping true crime investigation and a personal reckoning from the journalist closest to the case.
Order your copy of Buried Secrets online here.
