Content area
Full Text
THE idea for Sarah Bailey's first novel, The Dark Lake, appeared out of "thin air", although writing a novel had always been an ambition. Bailey had a goal of being a published author before turning 35 -- the book was published on May 24, a day after she turned 35.
"So it has worked out," Bailey says.
The mother of two children, aged 7 and 4, says, in some ways, having small children has been good for her writing.
"They go to bed quite early, and you obviously can't go out and leave them, so I would have time from 8pm to 10pm where I had forced home time," Bailey says. "I made the decision that I really wanted to write a book, and I really wanted to finish this one.
"I was motivated by how clear the idea was in my mind. So I made really good use of that time.
"I'd been thinking about writing a book for 10 years ... and the only person who is going to make it happen is me." The Dark Lake is the story of the murder of a young teacher in a country town being investigated by Det-Sgt Gemma Woodstock, who grew up in the town and carries the baggage of someone not quite at peace with herself.
"I don't live in a small country town and I don't have a police background, so it wasn't from real life," Bailey says. "It started as a bit of a 'what if' premise, so I had this idea rolling around in my head." One problem for Woodstock is that she cannot reveal what she knows about the victim, a woman she went to school with.
"This casts doubt for the reader. For about a month and a half I was thinking about what that could dredge up. I think at that time I was watching a whole lot of quaint TV shows." She cites Broadchurch as a script she admires because it is driven by character, rather than plot.
"The main character, Gemma, absolutely came before the (rest of the) story. I felt like she was fully formed," she says. "I really liked the idea of setting it in a school because I feel that in a small...