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. ~