"How to Get Out of Prison"

Redrafting my book is meaning re-writing my book in places to make sure it has a satisfactory, middle-grade conclusion.

One significant thing I have changed is that, instead of getting out of a prison using simple brute force, my characters have to use their cunning. This is simply to teach middle grade readers that violence is not the answer and they should use their intelligence instead.

(I hasten to add that the characters are locked up through no fault of their own!)

But how do you get out of prison? Aside from the classic "dig a hole with your spoon", I did not have a clue how they could manage it. So this is when Google comes into play...

Initially searching "how to get out of a dungeon" all this came up with was several computer game forums where people wanted to know how to get to the next level.

Ok. Try again.

"How to get out of prison" included some funny, some serious articles about how to actually escape from Her Majesty's institutions, and included some accounts of real 'villains' that have succeeded before.

So now I'm on some kind of list. No doubt, if there is a prison break now, I'll be one of the suspected accomplices.

Writers must be on all kinds of lists on the government data. Let's face it, we search for some pretty weird stuff. Whether it's for research or just to get inspiration (I opted for none of the Google suggestions of how to break out of prison, but I did get another idea when I was scrolling through) Google is the first port-of-call and a great resource for many writers.

I remember a story my sister told me some time ago:

An author was writing a story about a kidnapping but, not being a kidnapper himself, he didn't know how the police would tackle a case like it. Most people would probably ask advice from a friend who was on the Force, or look it up online for advice, but this man decided to go into his local police station and ask them: What would you do if there had been a kidnapping?

The police took him into a Interview Room and started asking him questions - where was he yesterday? - you know the usual queries.

The author thought this was great - they were really taking his enquiry seriously. Imagine his horror when he realised there had actually been a kidnapping the day before, and now he was the prime suspect!

The things we do for our writing!