We had a fascinating round table with some Thai writers just before I left Bangkok. It was interesting to see how so many of the craft skills we use in the west are identical to those adopted by Asian writers trying to tell popular fiction.

But there was a great question too. One author said that he was sick of writing books that had detectives in them. To him detectives were a cliche. Too many of them inside too many books.

In a way I agree. This is one reason why I tried to make Nic Costa a different kind of cop -- young, idealistic, a bit naive, and occasionally very fallible. The stereotypical figure -- middle-aged, melancholic, alcoholic, deeply cynical, scruffy, yet strangely attractive to women too -- doesn't grab me much either. But I'd rather improvise within the boundaries. Here's why.

<!--more-->If you write a series you are going to find yourself facing six or nine or twelve books or more. Each story will have to have some kind of dramatic event at the beginning that poses a problem for your protagonist. Conversely, your protagonist needs to be in a position where he or she will meet those problems.

Cops, private eyes and investigators in general fit that bill perfectly, which is why, often unconsciously, we pick them. But imagine, for sake of example, your first book involves a protagonist who's a chartered accountant. Somehow he becomes involved in some life or death story. He survives, solves the problem, turns out to be a hero. Great.

And for book two? Well maybe he's an unlucky accountant. But by book four? Does he have any clients left? Aren't they all asking themselves, 'Why pay this guy -- people around him keep winding up dead?'

Beginning writers are often vaguely aware of this issue. I know I was but I still instinctively stuck with the cop model. Trying to differentiate your protagonist in artificial ways -- making him/her telepathic, a vampire, a Gulf War vet with a chip on his shoulder, a part-time magician -- may work for one book. But I doubt it will easily for a series (though there's bound to be someone out there to prove me wrong).

Instead I tried to differentiate my archetypal protagonist through the simple means of character. I tried to make him different from most everyone else around. I like simple. It often works.