Allan Gaw is a Scottish writer and the winner of the Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Novel Prize in 2024, for the first book in his Dr Jack Cuthbert Mystery Series. A fantastic achievement for an author – but this genre of crime novels; thrillers, mysteries, and anything with blood – would this be my cup of tea? A book about a pathologist? Oh my!
These were my initial thoughts when I saw our first Guest Speaker of the year was a writer of historical crime fiction.
How wrong could I be? I should have realised that since joining Ayr Writers’ Club I have been introduced to the most wonderful writers I previously wouldn’t have dreamed of having an interest in. This is one of the joys of our club. Wednesday night was no exception.
Ayr had been where Allan Gaw started his medical career as a house surgeon and now he was back to give us a fascinating talk. Retired from his pathologist role, he now devotes his time to full-time writing. I think we all quickly realised how lucky we were to be welcoming Allan to the club.
We were treated to a wide-ranging talk which covered the tough publishing world, inspiration for character building and writing in general (don’t cross your writing out but keep it and read it again later), advise on research, and how to treat the old familiar imposter syndrome – there were eighty rejections before Allan’s award-winning debut, The Silent House of Sleep was accepted by a publisher. Prior to being traditionally published, Allan had chosen to take the self-publishing route because he had so enjoyed writing this novel and wanted to share it.
During the creation of Dr Jack Cuthbert Allan knew it was important this was someone he liked and admired. This much is evident with his intriguing character of Cuthbert. Allan has three books already published, one more coming out in January and a further three in the pipeline.
Allan shared that while it does make sense to write what we know we especially should write what we care about. He told us that while he writes, sometimes his characters speak to him, guiding his writing along the way.
He led us in a useful exercise on character writing, and we all listened while some read out their amazing pieces.
So, yet again, a guest speaker at Ayr Writers’ Club has set me on a path of reading a genre I have long avoided. I came away with not one but two signed books. The first and second of Allan’s Dr Jack Cuthbert Series. I can’t wait to dive in!
Thanks to Maggie for contributing to The Last Word in such an entertaining fashion.
Lizzie Gowans