Introducing David Kessler...

Wednesday 23rd December 2009 - 11:00:00

David Kessler is unlike any other author and has a unique story to tell, at the age of 52 David struggled for 25 years to become a published author and fought hard to become where is today.

Kessler didn’t have an ordinary background and family issues paired with the fact he played truant from school often which meant falling behind on his favourite subjects seeing him drop out of school at the age of 15.

Reflecting on that time in his life David says: "I fell behind in the very subject I liked so I began to feel inadequate thinking I wasn’t so good as I thought it was and of course the more I played truant the more I fell behind the more inadequate I felt so it turned into a vicious cycle and in the end I dropped out."

This led David being self educated and drawing upon many different sources and events that have happened in his life to get where he is today.

It wasn’t until his late thirties that he secured a publishing deal with Hodder Headline.

From there he went to publish his first book A Fool For A Client that was well received by the press with  reviewer Susanna Yager  writing in the Sunday Telegraph, : "The author has thought up the most ingenious method of committing murder that I have come across in a long time."

He then went on to publish The Other Victim, Tarnished Heroes and Reckless Justice.

A slump in publishing saw David dropped from Hodder and in time away from a publishing house David  caused controversy by co-writing a book about the murder of Rachel Nickell called Who Really Killed Rachel?.

Co wrote with Colin Stagg the man who had been falsely accused of the murder and who at the time was still perceived by some to have been a guilty man.

Looking back David think that justice was found in the end and the right decision was reached in the end he comments : "Strictly speaking one could say the fact he got off with manslaughter instead of murder was a judicial compromise to save resources but he is unlikely to be let out because of his know mental condition."

At times he thought he wouldn’t ever make it as a writer and  admits:  "There were times when I felt I should disappear, I didn’t have anything to fall back on any occupation profession qualification"

Many people would give up and think they should try their hand at something new but David likens writing to being a gambler and saying: "This is the one that will break through you know it is like doing the lottery or the gambler who thinks one more bet and I will win the jackpot, so you could say I am like that gambler instead of gambling but with creative writing."

However 2009 saw the comeback of Kessler when he signed a three book deal with the Avon division of HarperCollins UK.

His new book Mercy looks at a person on death row and being a lawyer that only has 15 hours to save him.

The way David draws up ideas for a book he is something original and one of a kind.  He would say there are three or four main ways he draws upon for book idea.

One way is things like overhearing a conservation that someone is having and him trying to imagine the rest of that conversation in my head.

The second way is reading  a story in the paper about a real event and ask himself what would happen if he or she had done that occasionally a get a story from another story.

He is clear to add that he is not copying a story but taking something that was really badly written and come up with a completely different story.

Being a published thriller writer isn’t all its cracked up to be as he reveals why he doesn’t watch much crime/thriller on TV:"I often can predict it but very often I predict it wrong and think how I would have written it."

Adding:"TV produce so much that the sheer volume of material means it inevitable that there is going to be some recycling like old wine in a new bottle its very hard to come up with something that is daring and original "

It seems today that his career has hit a new high, with two more novels set to follow Mercy. His sheer determination and willpower has got him where he is today.

His one piece of advice to aspiring authors: "It’s a hard slog, be prepared for a lot of disappointments, keep learning, keep improving"

Female First Natalie Broxton