Halfway through 2026

Shadows & Ink 2026-07-05

Hey…

I keep meaning to update this, but then I realise I have to spend a lot more time on writing than I otherwise would’ve done in previous years, plus my gym training regime is taking up a lot of time.

#Shadows&Ink

Anyway. Hello. This is Shadows & Ink, Ed James’s substack. I should be posting regular updates about what I’ve been working on, but I keep not doing so. The other mailing list I’ve got is a commercial thing, letting people know WHAT is available (and WHEN and WHERE too, I suppose). So this one should be about HOW a book is created and WHY a book exists, plus a bit of the WHO of me.

It’s been a busy year for me, so halfway is a good time to take stock and see where I am with my work.

#SamWinter1&2

The start of the year was all about getting the first two Winter books knocked into shape, having spent a lot of time on them last year. Many, many drafts indeed – there was an early one of book 1 where McKillop was Marshall and Hugo was Shunty, but I decided to move away from that approach, and it forced me to create those two characters, who I bloody love. Especially Hugo, the daft bugger.

Now book 1 is out, it’s been getting some pretty good reviews and some pretty great sales, so I’m happy with where it’s got to. In a couple of short weeks, book 2 will be out and that’ll be the proof in the pudding with that series.

#SpreadsheetFun

I spent a few weeks this year reworking my various spreadsheets I use for monitoring the business side of things. Very boring, yes, but it’s saved me a lot of time and also helps me see the data in different ways than before, or lets me pivot into revealing new insights.

#Marshall10

The next big chunk of work, in April and May, was writing Marshall 10, HIS WILD BLOOD. All done now and ready to be narrated. It was such a nice world to go back to that team and to the Borders – hopefully I’ve captured Jedburgh well in this one. It was kind of a return to the mine I’d been going down in book 8, where it’s a lot more Columbo than a whodunnit, but that’s no bad thing. As always, its worth is in the reception, based on reviews and sales.

#SamWinter3

June was spent on bashing the third Max Carter book, BEFORE SHE WAKES, into the third Sam Winter book, NO NEED TO FEAR. This involved taking an existing novel and converting it into a screenplay, then relocating it to Edinburgh from Seattle, renaming characters and getting a handle on that the story was. And then a further draft of going through and making it into the story it should be, followed by another draft of making sure it was that. A few wee stray threads there, but it’s mostly in a good place now.

The weird thing about taking these old books is it’s not a find and replace process, it’s something else entirely. It’d be much easier probably to start again from scratch rather than try to mangle what’s there into place. All three of them have kept the broad setup, but I’ve cut out so much extraneous material and honed in on a more emotional story rather than an intellectual thriller plot. That’s the intention, anyway.

#SamWinter4

As part of the creation of these books, plus the editing of Police Scotland 2-5 last year, I’ve ended up with three subplots of about 10-20 chapters each in separate files and I could see a way to make them marry together to give the skeleton of a new story. So, while I intend to take as much of July off as possible, one of the tasks I want to do is to get that skeleton formed. The beauty of it being three subplots is there’s no real resolution, so I’m not having to unpick that aspect. A lot of it is embellishing what’s there in terms of Sam’s investigation with what should be there, plus threading through part of a failed resolution to another as a B-story, then the B-story of another book in a resolution. If that makes any sense whatsoever – fortunately it does to me. A lot of the joy I got from the third book is, having spent a lot of time last year defining the supporting cast of characters, I can let them all breathe now, particularly Hugo. And there’s a longer personal arc for Sam than Marshall would get and I’m trying to decide how far away from Carter it should be – probably a million miles.

It’s important to stress that the material that’s there is mostly inspiration, which I can challenge and make sure it’s necessary for it to be included. I suspect not much of the material will rename unchanged by the time I’ve got to a final book. But I do love tackling the chaos and harnessing it, structuring it, then making the voices in my head of the unused stories weesht forever...

Anyway, if the story doesn’t work or I can’t make it work, then it’s something I’ve at least tried and can put to rest.

Weirdly, I was reading an article about the recording of the new Rolling Stones album, their 25th, and how they’ll go in with 8-12 songs, but they’ll mine their old sessions. Their new single, In the Stars, was a jam that was the first thing they recorded with their producer Andrew Watt, but then didn’t go back to it until he sifted through it (and it’s the best thing they’ve done since Start Me Up, if not earlier). I think Start Me Up from 1981 started out in the mid 70s as a reggae tune, which they couldn’t get to work, but then did in a later session.

What I’m saying is there’s a timing to ideas and also you learn even more craft as you produce more material – what 2019’s me thought was good writing is actually quite different to 2026’s me. I could try to execute on something that was actually beyond me back then, but is now much more in my grasp. And also, the focus on generating ideas for Marshall has been transformative.

#Marshall11-16

Speaking of which, I spent a couple of days last month going through the idea bank I’ve got logged on my laptop. Suffice it to say, I’ve got Marshall 11-16 loosely mapped out. I’ll spend a bit more time on refining these ideas as some are more developed than others, e.g. Book 11 will be Dead on the Vine, set in Clovenfords primarily and Gala, and is almost read to get stuck into, but the 13th one set in Selkirk still needs a lot of refinement, while book 14 is again ready to get stuck into. But the 15th and 16th are just loose stubs. Anyway, suffice to say there’s a lot more Marshall and co on the way, plus I know what Winter 5 and 6 are.

I hope that was interesting. Let me know if there’s anything else on those you want to know?

Cheers,
Ed