Today you find me entering prison for the first time… no, not in reality, inside my head and on my computer. I’m immersing myself in the tales of a notorious prison on America, Sing Sing. Never heard of Sing Sing, well, it was pretty famous back in the days of black and white gangster movies. All the criminals seemed to end up in Sing Sing, or the Big House as it was sometimes referred to. Many of the criminals entered and a few ended up shaking hands with old sparky, the electric chair.

An odd, but fortuitous coincidence, is that at around the time my hero arrives in Sing Sing, in real life a gentleman by the lovely name of Thomas Mott Osborne arrived as a prison administrator and he did a lot to reform the running of the prison. So that’s something I’m incorporating into my book. Research is a wonderful way of adding a touch of reality to any story.

I mention because this is what I’m currently writing for The Brittle Sea. My hero has been found guilty of a high crime and has been incarcerated in prison. I’m not going to give too much away except to say he’s in dire straits and the love of his life has disappeared.

My writing marathon is going well and I’m now passed the 60,000 words mark overall. I’m averaging around 700 words a day, so that’s better than the 600 I expected to achieve. I would have liked to have maintained around 800 or even a 1000, but life tends to get in the way, but at least I’m on track and the words are flowing.

Fingers crossed for keeping at all flowing during the coming week, especially as I’m in prison all this week wondering if Richard Blackmore will end up shaking hands with old sparky.

Watch this space.

Copyright © Tom Kane  2019

You can read the first few chapters of The Brittle Sea on my blog by clicking here.