A day off

I sent the first draft of Long Nights of Shadow off to my editor on Monday. (That's a working title. It looks like the Wizards catalog has it listed as The Night of Long Shadows. I prefer my title, but ultimately it's their call.)

I also got my weekly scenes sent off for Backstage last night, so for the first time in months I don't have anything to do today. I thought it would be nice and relaxing but truth to tell I feel totally drained. I don't know if the book was keeping me going or what, but it feels like I haven't slept for two days.

And by 2 in the afternoon I was bored. So I started researching my next book, which is going to be a foray into the British crime thriller, but with a South African twist. I love my British Police Procedurals, (Inspector Frost, Morse, Rebus) as much as I love fantasy, (which was why it was so cool to be able to combine the two genres for Long Nights), and I've long been messing around with the idea of writing one. So I decided to get it into planning stages and see how it goes. Right now I'm reading as many policeman's blogs as I can find, just to get a taste of what's going on. There are a few books I've ordered from Amazon as well that should help.

It's going to be a long process, as I want it all planned out before I start. My first question is whether to start my main character off as a Detective sergeant or a Detective Inspector. My first choice is the DI, starting the book on his first day on the job as a newly minted Inspector, but having him as a DS gives a whole different dynamic in that he will be answerable to an immediate supervisor. (His DI. Essentially his boss). Meh. Still not sure.

And a name. How hard can it be to find a cool name that doesn't sound too gimmicky? I've just finished reading a brilliant new Scottish writer called Stuart Macbride, and he came up with a cool way around it (actually, not really around it. His character is called Logan, which is already pretty cool, but the press also call him Lazarus, as he was technically dead for a while after a stabbing.) So he is called Logan "Lazarus" MaCrae. Nice.

I really like DI Winters, (I've always liked it as a name) but am seriously worried about the similarity to Frost. (Frost-Winters?) Or am I reading too much into it?