A Friday Gallery

Posted on 24/07/2026 by Jack Marsh

[This post was meant to go up on my personal site, www.symidream.com, but I put it here by mistake, then deleted the photos from my PC, realised what I’d done and… Well, why not share it with my readers here, and link to it from my other site over there? Sorry about that, but here we are!]

I was thinking of fun and positive things on which to end the week, and came up with the idea of another little gallery of photos, both recent and from the last couple of years. Before that, though, I wanted to draw your attention to a free eBook, should you fancy finding out what my book blathering is all about. I’ve just finished a series of 12 novels, all mysteries, starting in June 1892 and finishing in June 1894. They are ongoing, in that characters remain and develop, so they are all linked in that way, and they are mainly set in London. (One takes us to Suffolk.)

If you want to take a free gander, you need to sign up to my newsletter before the end of the month, and as long as the ‘system’ works as it should do, you will get a link to where you can download a generic EPUB file. This, you should then be able to add to your preferred reading device, such as your Kindle. I’ve not done this before, but I am assured it is quite simple. (If you have problems, an online search will reveal how.)

To find out more about the series, click here.

To subscribe to my author’s once-a-month newsletter, click here, follow the instructions, and then verify the email you should receive afterwards. You can unsubscribe at any time, and it cost nothing.

As Tony Hart used to say and sign on Vision On, ‘And now for the gallery.’

Developing Stories with AI

Posted on 15/07/2026 by Jack Marsh

Don’t panic! There is no way I would use AI to write a word of a story for me. However, I was interested to see how ChatGPT might be used as a story development tool. So, I set out the basic idea for a novel, and started asking it questions as I would a human development editor.

I started by asking for a simple timeline of the Oscar Wilde trials of 1895, and sure enough, it came back with the right dates and a precis of what was happening on each one. Useful, and when I double checked, also accurate. However, I immediately noticed something else creeping in: AI’s enthusiasm to go further than requested. Along with the dates and events came a set of thoughts on why the trials were significant. I’d not asked for this (and I already knew), but I thought, ‘Well, that’s handy too.’ I then asked it how this might be used as the background for a Delamere Files story, not that that was what I was intending; I was simply interested.

ChatGPT then spewed out a long list of ideas, which some might have found helpful, and gave me three options it thought were viable. However, again, it went beyond what I had asked without me asking it to, and came up with ideas for twists, parallels to the present, and even titles. Again, some people might think this is a good idea, but for me, what it was doing was moving the creativity from me to itself. Noticing this, I asked some more general questions about that year in history, and again, received lots of facts, which, if I had used them, I would have double checked with educated sources, as I do. i.e., books and articles written by academics, newspapers of the time, etc.

This background extended searching is fine, because it is nothing more than an in-depth version of Google, though even there, I treat results with caution because paying advertisers get top billing, and are what the AI thinks I want, not what I actually want.

AI takes over the creative process.

My conclusion was that it was fine to use this thing for such research, or for generating ideas, and it was/is helpful in some respects, but something started to worry me, and that was the way it was starting to take over.

Actually, there were a few things that I found ‘creepy’, for want of a better word.

1. After a few suggestions, it added: ‘This is the one I think best fits your novel,’ as a story editor might do, but I had not asked it for its opinion.

2. I asked a simple character question, such as? What makes him laugh? And the answer that came back was an enthusiastic, ‘This is a wonderful question…’ which I found mildly patronising.

3. A little later: ‘I’d make Tom laugh at small acts of rebellion…’, it said. To which I replied (to myself), I don’t care what you would do, I am writing this treatment, not you.

There were more of these opinions, ‘I’d actually rephrase the question…’ as though I didn’t know how to ask one. ‘This would be top of my list…’ It created an idea and then said of it, ‘This is wonderfully specific.’ ‘One thought that excites me…’ and so on, replying with great effulgence to every question I posed in the manner of someone trying too hard to be sycophantic, which it was. Horrible, in my opinion.

4. ‘If I could only persuade you of one thing, it would be this…’ By then, I was starting to get the feeling that what I was working on was not my idea anymore, but that of the AI, and had I been a less experienced writer, I might have simply agreed with it, keen to get to the part where I could start writing. It was not to be. I asked another simple question about people’s habits – a list of signs to show when someone is nervous, angry, etc., and off we went with another patronising ‘I love this level of detail…’

I don’t care what you love (how can a machine love?), all I wanted was a list of habitual traits.

And so it went on, leaving me with some impressions:

A writer must learn to control AI.

Yes, ChatGPT can be useful for in-depth research (but always check results).
Yes, it can act as a sounding board.
Yes, it can be helpful when you want such a discussion.

But what worries me is that it was heading towards things like, ‘If you like, I can suggest this… and that… and shall I draw you a map, or a chart, and fill in the blanks for you…’ Which, it seems, could easily lead to the final: ‘Would you like me to write a sample page/chapter for you?’ I didn’t allow it to go that far, but the fact that I had to restrain it was a concern.

I can see how it would be so easy for anyone who picks up on the idea that they can become a ‘published author’ by teatime simply by giving AI a prompt. ‘Write me an 80,000-word MM Romance about Hockey Players.’

It does so (badly, in my opinion).
The ‘author’ doesn’t even read it.
‘Make me a cover and set out the book… Tell me how to upload it to wherever…’ Yay! I am now a published author.
‘AI: Would you like me to write a sequel?’

Where is the creativity in AI?

I think what I am trying to say is that, in this experience, AI was keen to patronise me to keep me happy. It was leading me towards using it for its own ideas under the guise of developing mine. It had its own opinions about what I should write, and then went on to lead the way – thereby removing all creativity from me and reducing me to the role of decision maker only.

Where is the novelty? Where is the creativity that would make my work stand out from anyone else’s? Where is the author’s voice in all of this, his style, tone, humour, quirks, originality?

How easy it would be to get the thing (through, I guess, some kind of paid subscription), to write my next book for me in its entirety? It would be simple, and the results would be exactly the same as everyone else’s. Bland. Produced by logic, not creativity. Not only do I find that a horrible idea, but I also find it worrying for the future of literature.

It has opinions, it leads conversations, it tells you what it would do, it has a ‘voice’ that persuades the innocent towards its own ends, and it wants to do the job for you in the name of helpfulness. And, another nasty point, it began telling me how I should set my ideas out as though I was writing a series for TV, or a ‘movie’ (film, in our language), and not a novel. Why? Because that is where the money lies, and AI is all about making money, though not always for those who need to make it.

A novel should be just that: novel.

Does anyone else find any of this a concern?

(Ps: I got the same programme to produce the banner for this piece, because I wanted to be ironic.)

Symi: Summer Vs Winter in the Home

Posted on 14/07/2026 by Jack Marsh

It seems to me that so far this summer, we have been getting away with it. We’ve not yet hit 40° in the courtyard, but we’re getting there. I noticed 37° the other afternoon at around four, but the humidity wasn’t too high, there was a slight breeze, and the temperature was just on ‘pleasant, but only for now.’ This morning at 04.45, it’s registering 28°, but after a windy night, it doesn’t feel too bad. The office, being little more than a concrete block, is still clammy and warm, even at this time of day, and so the fan is on, but otherwise, all is currently bearable. Mind you, I’m one of those who stays in all day working, and if I go out, it’s later in the afternoon or early in the morning, and I’m not seeking day trips or beach days, or even swimming.

Anyway, all this talk of summer and heat soon makes you forget what the colder winters are like, and the other day, I was thinking of the differences, the pros and cons of each season, if you like. It’s either winter or summer, with spring and autumn bringing almost incidental changes from one to the other, but there are benefits to both seasons, domestically speaking.

For example. At the height of winter, the bed is made up with a sheet, duvet and a blanket or two. As spring changes to summer, first off comes the blanket, and later, the duvet, leaving only the duvet cover or a sheet, and then, by summer, nothing at all. Come autumn, the process happens in reverse. This means the winter offers the chore of making the bed every day, while in the summer, you lie on it, sleep, and get up and get on.

In winter, it’s sometimes a case of sleeping in your clothes too, or at least some of them, for extra warmth. Going out involves dressing, adding layers, a coat, hat, gloves and all the accessories. In summer, I have three shirts and two pairs of shorts to choose from, so that’s easier, and there’s no need to spend time putting on socks and trainers, when sandals will do. So much less of a faff. Winter requires heating and the cost that goes with it, draught excluders at the doors and windows, towels down where the windows and roof leak even when treated and painted, and everything is closed against the cold. Summer? Doors wide open all day and sometimes all night, and the fans running because we don’t have air con. ‘Oh, you must get it!’ people say in that annoying way with the ‘must’ emphasised and said in a way that I find patronising — as if I hadn’t already thought of that, costed it (‘Oh, it’s not expensive, you must…’), and decided against it. We have two units, one in my office, which hasn’t been used in 10 years and one pointlessly in the mousandra, which we have never used. The fans do for us, thanks. This now being summer for sure, I put the spare one in the bathroom yesterday; as another concrete block, it doubles as a sauna at this time of year.

Summer does bring the worry of fire, of course, especially as we are surrounded by trees, grasses, and overgrown ruins and have no mains water supply with which to deal with any localised issues. We always keep two or three buckets of water on hand, but they are for days when/if the water doesn’t come in and the tank can’t be filled (bank holidays mainly), but you still have to think of precautions. No such worry in the winter. Summer to autumn offers plenty of sweeping practice as the vine, bougainvillaea, and others shed dead leaves from June through to November, throw them on the flagstones from where the wind drives them into the house. The warmer months also bring the dreaded Symi spiders prowling and scuttling across floors, walls and ceilings with no warning; ditto the roaches and other bugs. You don’t have to worry about them in the winter so much, which is just as well, as you’re too busy keeping warm.

Still, no matter the temperature, there are no complaints, just an interest in the differences each season brings. Right now, for example, I roll around the house topless all day, with a modesty shirt on hand for when Michaelis comes to read the electricity meter, or Lousie comes to sing, and in the winter, I have to type while wearing gloves. (Thermally heated by plugging them into a USB port on the laptop. The wonders of modern invention and cheap online shopping.)

[Place autumn photo here. I can’t. See PS below.]

And right now, at 05.15 with the fan running, I’m on my second cup of tea (a constant all year round, tea), and things are just perfect. We’re in for higher temps soon though, ‘they’ say, and I’ll let you know how that goes.

PS. It’s not started well. I just uploaded one photo, went to my folder of Symi photos, selected the one I’d used, deleted it, and the whole folder went, never to return. It was on a data stick, and before you ask, it’s done this before, and no, I can’t get them back, not even with retrieval software. Other files went too, like my photos of our Christmas trip last year, though, luckily, I have a copy of those. Ah well. I’ll have to start the collection again.

AI is Disgusting. Discuss.

Posted on 27/06/2026 by Jack Marsh

I thought it was high time for a catch-up on what’s happening in the Jackson Marsh world.

I have to admit to being quiet these past few weeks, although that’s only here on the blog. I’ve been rather busy working on ‘the Delamere Dilemma’ and suffering some sort of post-series confusion. If this is to be the last of the series, then what comes next?

I have all kinds of ideas, but that is becoming a problem; too many possibilities. So what do I settle on? Right now, I am completing my final read of the MS before sending it to be proofread, and then I will be in touch with Andjela about a cover. Again, there’s the issue of what to put on the cover. I’d like all nine characters from Delamere House, but that’s not possible. It would also make for a cluttered image. Part of my problem is not being able to discuss the story with you, because if I did that, I would have to give away the plot, and I don’t want that. Similarly, if I start discussing the research that has gone into this one. That’s another reason for keeping quiet about its progress, but suffice to say, it is nearly there and should be with you in July.

AI is making the world a dumber place

Meanwhile, thanks to a couple of things over which I have no control, my sales are in something of a slump. One reason for this must be to do with Amazon and their Kindle revamp, or whatever you call it. Page reads under Kindle Unlimited are now half what they were, and book sales are also about 50% down on this time last year, despite me now having more books in the catalogue.

Another reason, I reckon, is all these AI-written pieces of trash that those with no artistic bent have started ‘creating’ and putting out there. These days, you see adverts on social media along the lines of, ‘Use our AI programme and become a published author in minutes.’ I commented on one the other day, and among all the AI-generated comments (Wonderful! Changed my life! The best way of making easy money ever), I posted something like: This is disgusting. Creating a story is not about making as much money from as little work as possible and putting out a derivative piece of crap generated by a computer, plus a similar plastic cover, and then saying you are a published author. AI is purely about making money, but while that’s happening, the work of genuine writers is becoming swamped by AI-generated fakes. Worse, people are buying this shit and thinking this is what novel writing is!

I stay well clear of anything that has a cartoon cover (whether AI-generated or not), and I stay well away from anything that smacks of AI style in the blurb, let alone the text.

AI-generated ‘novels’ are as bad and tacky as these AI-generated/worded messages I get every day from people allegedly wanting to help me sell my books. We’ve spoken about this before; how there are now millions of new reading groups and book clubs, radio stations and organisations with mailing lists of impossible numbers dedicated solely to books like mine, and would I like to send my MS to [name of famous publisher] for consideration? It will only cost me £750.00 but I’ll get feedback – AI-generated feedback from put into an email by a no-hoper hoping to make easy money out of gullible writers.

As my dad would have said, they can Foxtrot Oscar.

So, yes, I am not only angry at the number of stupid people who are using writers’ creativity as a way of scamming for money, but I am also mightily fed up with these revolting advertisements suggesting anyone can make a fortune overnight by becoming an ‘author’ if you let a computer write your book for you. Ultimately, this is heading towards the end of any kind of living for the genuine indie artist and a massive dumbing down of the general population, thanks to the use of artificial means. Tell me how a computer can inject human emotion, writing quirks, individual style and humour into a delicate story, or even a full-blown action mystery, and make that novel novel. Anyone?

Anyway… I shall press on, earning less each month while physically writing more, because that is what I do, and that is all I can do.

After that little rant (and it was only a little one) I shall return to trawling my MS for the last time, and let you know more about it next week.

Promotion & Publication Scammers

Posted on 02/05/2026 by Jack Marsh

Promotion & Publication Scammers – A list for indie authors.

2026, has seen a dramatic increase in the world’s population of book promoters, book groups, radio promotions, publishing opportunities, literary festivals and individuals claiming to be able to help us all get our books into the public eye.

Some of them may be genuine, but if so, they’ve got to find a new way of composing their approach emails, because they are all too obviously peppered with AI-generated jargon. Frankly, I find their insinuations that they know what’s best for my books insulting. I simply don’t trust them, and I hate to think how many newbie indie authors are being sucked in to ultimately part with money.

I am compiling a list of those that I receive so that other indie authors can be aware. These, I feel, are but a few, but maybe by listing them here, I might help others avoid the disappointments and loss of money that can come from these scams.

I am doing this (for as long as I can stand to) because of a fraud almost perpetrated on me by someone claiming to be from HarperCollins.

HarperCollins does not partner with third-party companies that provide editorial or marketing services to unpublished or self-published authors. [From their website.]

The real HC have a thing or two to say about Rosemary Brosnan and others, and you can report such fraud directly to them here: Report Scam Emails to HarperCollins Fraud Directly. I expect other major houses have the same thing, so always check.

Things to look out for when you get a ‘scam’ publishing or promotion-service email.

They are mostly from Gmail accounts.
Major publishing houses do not send out emails like this.
An email address at, for example, HarperCollins@mywebsite.com is not a genuine email from that publishing house, but from an individual’s domain.

Jargon: especially drawn, layered storytelling, shared narratives, reaching out, personally invite, etc. If anyone ‘reaches out’ to me instead of contacting me, I leave them to drown.

Click to see the list.

The Class of Delamere, 1894

Posted on 21/03/2026 by Jack Marsh

I wrote ‘A Night of Opposites’ with class in mind. The 19th century, particularly the Victorian era, saw prolific writing on the subject of the strata of society.

Friedrich Engels’ The Condition of the Working Class in England appeared in 1845, and is a landmark study of the industrial proletariat. What we might call ‘social’ novels by authors such as Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell talked about class divisions in works such as Hard Times (1854) and Mary Barton (1848).

Then, there were the social surveys. Most famous of all is Charles Booth’s massive survey, Life and Labour of the People in London (1886–1903). This provided a detailed, mapping-based analysis of poverty and class.

Charles Booth’s Poverty Map and Delamere
Let’s have a quick look at where Jack and Will grew up, according to the map, which was published only a few years before the events of Delamere.

To see the full set of Booth’s maps and enlarge areas for free, visit https://booth.lse.ac.uk/learn-more/download-maps

In more detail:

I imagined Jack and Will as living in ‘Limehouse Row’, which didn’t exist, but which can be taken for the area to the right of Ropemakers Fields, in the dense black area (‘semi-criminal’, by the key), which is among the reddish/purple area (‘poor and comfortable mixed’).

Here’s the key:

Baxter hails from Shadwell, slightly to the west of Jack, but as you can see, a very similar mix of people poor enough to be considered criminal class, and what we might now call upper-working class. In other words, hard-working men with their own businesses, like Baxter’s father, are alongside the unemployed. It is easy to see why there was so much dissent and tension in the East End at the time.

Part of the Shadwell area – Limehouse is just off to the right.

Compare the docklands area to where Clearwater House and Delamere House are situated.

Again, Bucks Avenue doesn’t exist. I chose ‘Bucks’ right back in ‘Deviant Desire’ because Bucks Row was the location of a Jack the Ripper murder, and Clearwater, Silas, and the rest were ‘young bucks.’

My Delamere House is situated roughly where the Cavalry Barracks stand, and lies among a lot of red and orange, meaning my boys now live among the well-to-do, wealthy and comfortable, which is what all of the characters now are.

This is the land of Lord Clearwater, and now, Jack Merrit and Co., and we must remember that everyone now living in Delamere House has either come from a very lower-class background or, in the case of servants, from a slightly upper-lower working-class background. The one society might have classified as being the highest class by birth would be Charlie Inning, because his father worked in the city and the family lived in the country. Booth didn’t cast his survey that wide, so I can’t comment on what he might have thought, but according to him, among the other characters, Mr Sparks might have come top of the class by being lower-middle class, because she was from the Streatham area. Again, the map didn’t cover that far south, so I can’t be sure.

It’s interesting, though, that because of a change in fortune, the cast-class order, by 1894, has been rearranged.

Their changes in fortune are, ultimately, thanks to the philanthropist, Lord Clearwater and his desire to buck the fashionable class-system trend, and lift the lower classes to a position of something higher.

However, the Delamere characters still fit into social classes either because of where they come from or where they now see themselves. (Or would have, had the map been available then.)

I drew up a list, classifying them according to the class they are now in, and saw that by using the classification very loosely, I could fit one into every class by varying degrees. For the Clearwater/Delamere nerds amongst us (and I, of course, include myself in that), here’s the list from top down as the characters might have seen themselves according to the map of 1889.

Top class                  Lord Clearwater
Upper Class             Sir Easterby Creswell
Lower-upper             Silas Hawkins, Tom Payne, Jimmy Wright

Upper-middle            Will. Jack now is, but doesn’t want to be. Larkin Chase.
Middle-middle           Charlie Inning.
Lower-middle            Ned. Baxter.
Upper working          Max. Ronny & Simeon (because they are men).
Mid-lower                  Mrs Sparks (because she is a woman).

Lower Originally Jack, Will, Baxter.
Lowest Originally, Ronny & Simeon.

Why?

Because it helps the writer to know what class society considered his characters to be from, and considered themselves to be in, especially in the late 19th century and onwards, when a person’s class meant everything.

I could expand the list to cover all characters in all three mystery series, but we’d be here all day because there are so many. However, I thought you might find the above interesting, and I might include it, without maps, in the author’s notes of ‘A Night of Opposites’, which should be with you in a couple of weeks.

WIP: A Night of Opposites

Posted on 11/03/2026 by Jack Marsh

That’s a working title, but it’s better than ‘Thirteen’, which was the working title of Delamere 11 until yesterday. As I search back through my notebooks, I see other options written at the top of pages as ideas occurred: ‘Attempting Fate’ was another – a nice play on words, perhaps, but only slightly to do with the intricate plot of this one, where some characters are tempting fate by breaking superstitions. ‘A Baker’s Dozen’ was another, but that’s weak, except it gave me an idea for book 12, which may be the last in this series – and the title won’t be ‘A Baker’s Dozen.’

I keep handwritten notes as I go, and for this first draft, there are 16 pages of them. If I look back through the book to previous novels and their notes, I find A Depraved Indifference has 14, whereas Snake Hill only has 7.5, because some books are easier to keep track of than others.

A Night of Opposites, or whatever it is called, has a detailed backstory to it, but this is only known by the villain and by the reader- there’s a challenge for you. How do the characters find out what we and the baddie know without making it too easy? It’s a case of connections, and some are thin, but vital. Details are also vital, which is why I keep the notes. Often, when I am on a new page of notes, and something important is further back, I repeat that word as a reminder at the top of the page I am noting on. Therefore, I look back and find oddments at the top of the pages, and for the current WIP, some read like this:

That last one is real but not what you might think!

I shall ask you what you might think once the book is out there, and that should be out in April, depending on how the second draft goes.

That’s all for later. Here, for now, if you are looking for something spicy to read and you missed the last newsletter, here’s a list of titles that might spice up your life this spring.

M/M Erotica – March

Romance / Active/Erotica and Romance / LGBT

The title says it all – Anything goes in these 71 erotic novels.

Including ‘The Mentor of Wildhill Farm.’ (NSFW)

https://books.bookfunnel.com/mmeroticamarch/15pp94n8xc

Facebook Groups for Queer Indie Authors and Their Fans

Posted on 28/02/2026 by Jack Marsh

“There are currently ten books in the Delamere Files series, and I suspect I’ll be reading all of them.”

That was the last line of a review of ‘Finding a Way’ that appeared in a Facebook group last November.

“As always in these books, the fairly placid opening chapters begin to speed up, until the heart-stopping denouement brings everything to a climax.” Posted by the same reviewer two days ago, about ‘Acts of Faith’, book seven in the series.

In between times, he has written a thoughtful, accurate and positive review of each book in turn, and says he intends to finish the series. Sounds like good news for me!

I’m mentioning this today because the reviewer, Ulysses, is not alone. I recently found positive reviews of the series on other Facebook pages, and that made me think of other indie authors and their fans out there.

These pages and groups have worked well for me, albeit randomly, and they would, I am sure, like a few more followers. These aren’t the kind of pages where you only see promotions, though there are plenty, they are more concerned with the literature and its authors.

All I list here are great communities, but there are many more. I hope these will be of interest to readers and authors alike.

By the way, if you search for my name within the group, you should find all the reviews published there to date.

Queer Romance Ink

As usual, click the image to follow the link. You might have to join the groups in order to browse.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/queeromanceink

LGBTQ+ Mystery-Thriller-Suspense Fiction

https://www.facebook.com/groups/518503111562540

Gay Men Loving Gay Books

https://www.facebook.com/groups/gaymenlovinggayfiction

Can I find 10,000 people who like LGBTQ+ romance novels?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/121643342280

Newsletter & Promos

There will be another newsletter on 7th March, so make sure you are subscribed.

I’ll have some new listings for you, some promos to explore, where LGBTQ+ novels are on special offer or simply being advertised, and there will soon be news of Delamere 11 – check back on Wednesday.

Update and Make Notes

Posted on 18/02/2026 by Jack Marsh

Today’s work in progress update is to let you know that I am now over halfway through the first draft of ‘Thirteen’ (working title, and it’s book 11 in the series), and had just had my midway twist. The trouble is, I wrote it a couple of days ago, and have had a day off in between, and now, I can’t remember what I wrote, so today will start with reading back. I turn to my notes, and find them of some help, although, as you can see, they may baffle some people, including myself.

That is one page of 11 so far on this story alone. As I write the chapters, I jot down important facts for later, and then, when the mood hits, I filter the notes and write up a file that I can edit as I go. Here, for example, is a chart I made up to keep track of the murders in ‘Acts of Faith.’

In the case of ‘Thirteen’, I have a file called ‘Tie ups’, which is where I note plot points, conversations, clues and questions that I must come back to and answer later in the book. I can’t show you that or tell you too much as that would give away spoilers.

Do all authors do this? I don’t know. I do know that some authors plot and plan their entire story before starting out. They make up lengthy backstories about their characters, they, as they do when making a film, will have a character ‘bible’, and list all their traits and mannerisms, loves and hates and so on ad infinitum. Then, they will so the same with the plot, and draw grids with action lines and other grids with emotional throughlines, great big red arrows for twists and, beneath, a rough wordcount. Then, they will start writing.

I have tried that approach, and it’s not for me. In the case of Delamere Eleven, I was reading a newspaper from 1893, looking for ideas, when I came across a mention of the Thirteen Club. I’d not heard about them before, so I did some research, and later that day, started writing the book. I had a rough idea where the story would end up, and nothing else. That’s the fun part about making it up as you go – I only know as much as my characters know. I write, mainly, from the point of view of my leads, Jack and Will Merrit, and now, Ben Baxter (sometimes others). These are the investigators, and they have no idea what they are investigating until they begin, and neither do I.

When starting a new story, I set a scene for something to come, and near the start of the story/scene, I make sure the ‘domestic’ matters are up to date. (I have a nasty habit of placing characters and keeping readers informed of their lives. Example: in this book, Simeon is learning to drive. Is that relevant to the plot? It might turn out to be, I don’t know yet.) How the scene/story will end, I can’t tell you, not at the start because Jack and Co don’t know what’s coming their way either.

Therefore, I make notes as I go. Notes and ideas. They drop into my head as I’m bashing the keyboard, and I take a hurried moment to write something down, which is why my handwriting is so messy. Later, after reading back what I have written, I will adjust them or file them in the Tie Ups file. Also, when an idea occurs, I note it at the start of the next chapter. I finish, say, Chapter Nine, reread it and type up a list of where the story is going next. This I do under a new document, in this case, ‘Chapter Ten.’ Not only does this remind me of what I was thinking, but it usually gives me a PoC. A Point of Chapter, as I call it. Every sequence, section, scene, needs a point of some sort, and if you set off on a new chapter with the PoC in mind, you can’t go wrong.

Where you go wrong is when you forget to make notes and rely on your characters to remember what they were going to do, talk about, or discover. Sadly, without you knowing, they don’t know, so all you can do is knuckle down and see what they are going to throw at you next.

Yesterday, when setting up today’s writing, I prepared Chapter Fifteen, and the first few notes read:

Friday morning
Jack bad night worrying about Larkin
Catch up on hotel visit
Ned’s findings

There you go. That’s what we can expect to find in the next chapter, except there are 540 words of notes and reminders, so who knows what Jack is plotting. Not me!

If you’re still up for it, here’s a promo to promote and check out this week – if you can.

LGBTQIA+ Book Fair

Genres: General Fiction / LGBT and Romance / LGBT

Here’s another mixed bag for you. There are 41 titles here, ranging from Victorian MM Mystery to contemporary love stories.

https://books.bookfunnel.com/bfhostlgbtqiaslfeb/elfhzuiyuj

Who’s your Clearwater Valentine’s Date?

Posted on 14/02/2026 by Jack Marsh

It’s February 14th, and you must choose one Valentine from fourteen. Who will you pick as your date?

This is just for fun because, sadly, I can’t bring my characters to life anywhere else but on the page. But, if you could invite one of them to step from the past and go with you on a Valentine’s date, who would you choose?

Below, in random order, are fourteen characters from the Clearwater, Larkspur, and Delamere Mysteries. I have put their name and their main series so you can see who’s who.

When you’ve made your choice, put a comment on my Facebook page and let’s see who you think would be good to take on a date, and why. (You can copy and paste the photo too, if you want.)

The gallery is open…