As Far As I Recall

[Carl J Tengstrom]

Hi All,

Being a criminal defense lawyer for nearly forty years in Sweden, I have met many peculiar and wonderful types during my active life. Now I am retired and trying to recall the most significant cases during my career and put them in a book.

The question I would like to answer is the following:

Should I tell about several different cases in their own chapter or  should I just take a few cases and try to get them together with the help of lawyers, journalists and judges?

I would be most grateful for suggestions.

Yours, Carl

[John Baird Rogers]

Depends on what sort of book you're writing.  If it's non-fiction, a recollection of your experience, you might organize the chapters by event (trial 1, trial 2 ...) or maybe more interestingly, by theme (you know, and your readers don't, the common themes in criminal trials ... the innocent that want to be guilty, etc.).

If it's fiction, you will have to deal with one of my challenges as a fiction writer:  the tendency of a person who has profound knowledge to presume every last detail will be fascinating to readers.  (It won't.) (Even if you think it should.)  For fiction, you might write about very few cases or just one, using your experience and fascinating details you've seen over your career to make the story real and interesting.