Happy Publication Day. Dead Line by Chris Ewan.

So a very happy publication day to Mr Ewan for the terrific thriller “Dead Line”. I tracked Chris down and asked him a few questions – see what he had to say, followed by a review and some linky links.

Dead Line is a terrific thriller. Was it fun to write?

Dead Line involved a real change of approach for me, and doing something new and challenging is always fun (even if it sometimes didn’t feel that way when I was figuring out how to write the book). The biggest change is that Dead Line is the first novel I’ve narrated almost entirely in third-person. Most of my writing before now has been driven by first-person narration, but I enjoyed the third-person sections I wrote for Safe House, so I thought I’d experiment with writing more of a novel in this way. Dead Line is a very dark book, set in the sunshine of Marseilles, and playing with that contrast (as well as visiting Marseilles for research) was a real blast. On top of that, learning more about the somewhat murky kidnap and ransom industry, and some of the individuals who make their living as negotiators, was fascinating.

Which of the Dead Line characters is your favourite.?

Much of the novel is told from the perspective of Daniel Trent, a hostage negotiator who is trying to find his missing fiancee. He’s a tough, uncompromising character, who is willing to go to extremes to get what he wants – pushing far beyond what normal people might do. And writing about a character like that can’t fail to be interesting. But I also really liked writing about Stephanie Moreau, a beautiful ballet dancer who happens to be married to the crook Trent suspects of abducting his fiancee. Stephanie came out much darker, and more damaged, than I’d anticipated.

Do you have any particular writing habits?

I have a bunch of writing habits that I try to stick to as much as I can, which is not as easy as it used to be now that we have a baby daughter to shake things up! What I aim for is to be at my desk by 9am, to write five pages (double-spaced) straight to my computer, then to come back the next day and do exactly the same thing until a first draft is complete. Usually I work seven days a week, although just recently I’ve been taking a day off on a weekend. If all goes to plan, I’ll have a first draft of a novel after something like four months, and from then on I just work as many hours as I can for the next five months, rewriting the manuscript and getting the book into shape. I do a lot of rewrites and revisions before I show the book to anyone. When it’s close to ready, my wife reads it. After that, I usually do a final polish before sending it to my agent. It usually takes me a year from first coming up with an idea to completing  a book. Fingers-crossed the same will be true for the book I’m currently working on!

Breakfast: Greasy or Healthy?

Boringly healthy, on the whole. Unless I’m in the States, and then all bets are off — usually meaning pancakes and strong coffee (and then repeat!).

What are you reading at the moment?