Locked Out! Part Two

- An author’s plight to spend a night -

Having sent a letter to my local police station asking to spend the night in the cells, I was pleased to when an envelope marked 'Metropolitan Police’ came through my letterbox. Tearing open the envelope in the hopes of receiving a positive reply, I was saddened to discover that my request had been denied.

Although the letter was a rejection in essence, I still had the feeling it had been written with a slightly personal touch, as the letter stated that ‘not many people often request to spend the night in a cell!’

They explained that for health and safety and media reasons, it would not be appropriate for a member of the general public to walk around the cells unsupervised. They wished me all the best with my writing and hoped that I would not be dissuaded from continuing to work on my novel. I assure you I have no desire to stop writing – I will most likely write until the day my heart stops beating.

I have now decided to move onto the next option; use my limited connections and influence to see if that gets me any further. I have also decided that waiting for something that will, most likely, never happen will only hold me back and have decided to write about David’s night in the police cell using the faculty of imagination. Should I be granted a night in the cells,I shall adjust David’s experiences to better match my own.

As I said in the last ‘Locked Out!’ Entry, I will endeavour to keep you posted

Locked Out! Part One

- An author’s plight to spend a night -

I’ll be honest, as a writer, I believe the best work comes from an event that has actually been experienced first hand by the writer him/herself. However, this provides the main basis of my problem; in my latest book (I avoid saying the word ‘novel’ as it comes across slightly supercilious) my character spends the night in a police holding cell after being arrested on suspicion of killing his girlfriend.

Of course, I have never spent any time in police custody and have absolutely no idea of the booking procedure and the interior of a holding cell. As a fist time writer I am terrified of making a mistake regarding my credibility. So, I began a journey to achieve my latest minor aspiration; to spend the night in police custody.

OK, so when I say ‘a night’ I’m obviously stretching my expectations to breaking point. I know I’ll be lucky to get even an hour inside a holding cell, but I’m sure that even an hour will drastically help with my description of the room and the atmosphere it creates. Now that I know what I want to do, I need to know how I am to achieve this goal. After much deliberation, I have drawn several methods of which I can do this;

1. I attempt to use my connections and/or influence in order to persuade the police to help me.
2. I address my local police station and try to see if they’ll help me alone.
3. Get arrested/picked up to ‘sober up’ and risk gaining a criminal record.

So, I’ll consider the third option a last resort – I might even give up before I risk a criminal record, but I will try number 2 before I drag any others into my situation. Hopefully I can glean some results on my own..

~ I will keep you all posted on any progress I might have. ~