A Liverpool man left his job to become a full-time crime writer.
Bestselling author David Jackson, originally from Fairfield, made the "nerve-racking" decision to leave his University of Liverpool lecturing job at the end of 2020 when everything he loved about face-to-face teaching went out of the window during the coronavirus pandemic. Frustrated by what he said was the lack of creativity in "very objective, very detached" academic writing, the dad-of-two started writing short stories two decades ago.
The computer science lecturer was "over the moon" when his first novel, in 2011, was highly commended in the Crime Writers' Association's Debut Dagger award category, opening David up to the world of agents and publishers. He said: "Success still wasn't immediate. It was still a long, hard battle after that, but it gave me a boost to go ahead and finish the novel and then get it out to these agents."
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He took his side job more seriously after his 2014 novel, Cry Baby, became a bestseller, and in autumn 2020, he left his lecturing post for good, with none of the fanfare or leaving parties you'd have expected pre-pandemic. David said: "It was a little bit nerve-racking, giving up a very secure job to replace it with something which is notoriously insecure. You never know whether you're going to get the next contract."
Ten thrillers later, and now on a book-a-year contract, David, who lives in Meols on the Wirral, is soon to release his latest book, No Secrets, on July 7. Described by The Times as "horrific, hilarious and often rather moving", the standalone novel set in Liverpool tells the story of Izzy Lambert, a woman with a curse-like gift of being able to feel others' emotions, including "the joy and sadness, the hope and the pain".
When she sees her old school caretaker telling the news he saw a kidnapped girl get into a car, she knows he's lying and "has something to do with the abduction". David, in his 50s, said: "And so begins a cat and mouse game between those two characters."
David finds inspiration in his childhood fascination with New York and stories set in the "iconic city", like Batman and the fictionalised version of New York seen in Gotham City. His first four novels followed a New York police detective, before setting the next four in Liverpool when he changed publisher.
Wishing he'd started writing fiction sooner, David advised other aspiring authors: "Write the story you want to tell. Don't worry about market trends or trying to imitate what other people have done. Find something you're passionate about, it can be anything, and write about that. Try to build that into your characters and into your story, because passion does come across on the page."
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