When Bill Davidson was thinking about settings for a psychological thriller featuring a potentially dangerous river and proximity to the oil industry, Dundee seemed like the perfect choice.
It was also a city that Bill was familiar with, having been born and brought up here. Therefore, it made sense for him to follow the age-old writing advice to “write what you know”.
In his first novel, The Orangerie, the river Tay looms large as we follow the story of protagonist Rob, a deep sea diver, whose childhood memories may be key to piecing together his mother’s brutal murder.
Bored of gore
“The story goes places you would never expect,” he says. “I don’t really do gore in my writing, rather, I aim to unsettle.
“I’m bored with jump-scare, what I want is for people to feel anxious for the protagonist. If you don’t care about the protagonist then a book can be as frightening as you like, but it won’t matter.
“There are already a fair few books set in Tayside and for me, Dundee is the perfect location. From a personal point of view, it’s easy to set stories here. I’ve lived here and know the city well.
A dangerous river
“I needed the setting for the Orangerie to include a river that can be dangerous and the Tay lends itself perfectly. I also wanted the location to be close to the oil industry, so again, Dundee was perfect.”
Bill’s career has taken quite an unusual turn to get him to where he is today. He spent all his working life in local authorities, starting off at Dundee City Council and ending up as head of Environmental Services in Dorset, where he spent 20 years.
He moved back to Tayside in January and even though by this stage he was retired, he found that he didn’t want to slow down.
A long-held dream
“I found that I just wanted to write all the time,” he explains. “When I was at school I always enjoyed writing. A short story of mine won a competition in the Scotsman.
“I always wanted to write but life took over – I had a family and a job. In Dorset I was managing a whole bunch of services, everything from housing to waste. That was a full-on job and I just didn’t have the headspace to do any serious fiction writing.
“I’ve actually started working again too, at Angus Council as a Covid compliance officer. But I’m making time for writing. I’ve written a large mixture of short stories and published a story collection called New Gods, Old Monsters. The Orangerie is my first novel.
A learning curve
“Writing a novel has been a learning curve, more so than I thought. I started off writing novels and then went back to writing short stories for a bit, because these are an excellent way for a writer to hone their craft. Now when I look back at my earlier work it makes me wince a bit!”
Bill cites Stephen King as his earliest influence, although he also reads a variety of other genres. He’s currently working on a second novel, also set in Dundee, called King of Crows which is due to be published in May.
“If someone tells me I write a little bit like Stephen King, that makes me feel delighted,” Bill laughs. When it comes to picking a genre to write in, it comes down to what plot and character ideas you have. I don’t know if it’s just the way my mind works, but a lot of my ideas lean towards the horror and thriller genre.”
