Interview with Ro Hancock-Child, writer
“Cosy crime with a literary soul, and a dark edge.”
There are currently 7 short books in the series "Burge at Large", all about Detective Superintendent Buzzer Burge who's been early-retired from the Police. But his mind is still sharp and he refuses to stop detecting, and he's tackling cases from the safety of his London sofa, with interesting results.
MICHAEL FOREMAN talks to RO HANCOCK-CHILD about her appealing creation, a humour-loving, slightly grumpy, vulnerable detective we can all identify with in one way or another.
What inspired you to write the first book in the series, A Super Girl?
Ro says: A Super Girl, the first in the series. First of all, I didn't intend to write a series, I wrote a standalone book. Then I saw that there was potential to allow this unexpectedly companionable detective to carry on, and so I allowed him to live. I wrote the first book because I was cross: I saw a news item showing the British Police ignorantly wasting millions of pounds on something that would surely fail. They were failing to solve a puzzle because they were dashing down the wrong road, wasting precious public funds as they went. So I thought I would supply the truth, and why not?
What was the hardest part about writing this specific story?
Ro says: With A Super Girl I needed to invent, from scratch, a parallel story, and invent characters to inhabit the story. Which is how I discovered Burge, Braganza, Jilly and Josh. What happened to these invented characters was in some ways different from what happened in the real-life account [unsolved cold case], permitting me as writer to explore the issue from a different, contrasting angle, shedding even more light on the complexity of human behaviour. It wasn't simply a one-track tale of what happened to one woman who went forever missing; it was set against an alternative tale in which the missing person, also a young woman, came back.
Is there a particular scene or passage in the book you are most proud of?
Ro says: I'm proud of the whole thing. I'm proud of my courage in setting it down in print, I'm proud of the fact that I willingly listened to some well-meant but highly critical feedback of my understandably raw writing style, and made significant improvements as I went along. I'm a life-long learner and we are allowed to make mistakes and improve what we do. Practice makes perfect.
The Writing Process
Did you use a detailed outline for your book, or was it a chaotic process?
Ro says: Nothing I do is chaotic, that's a recipe for disaster. I do a great deal of work in my mind before I write a word [or, with composing music, a single note.] I begin with a solid idea of the central message of a new book, which is usually a matter of morality or justice where there are no black and white rules; the thing is blurred and open to interpretation. I work in generally a straight line from start to finish, using musical concepts like tempo, pauses/rests, motifs, and a recognisable format or framework, including a Coda where characters discuss and reflect upon what has happened. I always leave a door open so another book is possible, carrying on.
What is one thing you know now that you wish you’d known when you started writing?
Ro says: That I would enjoy it so much I would never want to stop. Housework gets in the way, of course! I cook up plots in my head while I'm scrubbing the sink.
How do you handle writer's block?
Ro says: I don't suffer from writer's block, never. Being a highly creative individual I am full of ideas, always. I have so many ideas I am confident I could write at least 20 books of Burge, probably more.
Do you listen to music or need silence when writing?
Ro says: Music is fine but I can't write words when I am surrounded by words, they interfere. So no radio, no TV. Nature's music is the best – birds are lovely.