The Food Detective - 1
If any of you have got an idea for a novel and simply can't make headway with it, perhaps The Food Detective will spur you on. I struggled for months before I got the right angle for this.
I wanted to write a novel set in Devon, though not the cosy seaside Devon of the picture postcards. It would feature the work of a Food Standards Agency inspector, Nick Thomas, an ex-policeman suffering post-traumatic stress disorder caused by a terrible incident in his days with the West Midlands Police.
Nick was so damaged that his marriage broke down, he failed to fulfil the promise of his earlier career and he was subject to crippling flashbacks. I got to about chapter 18 when I realised that not only was the novel attracting no publisher, but it was also boring me - and I was the writer, remember!
