Controversial Writing in Scotland by Neil McGowan
I’ve been following the news this month with interest. As a writer in Scotland, I’ve been watching the introduction of the new Hate Crime bill and the (predictable) results. If you’ve not seen the detail, basically, if you say or write something that someone perceives to be hateful, then they can report it (and you), with the maximum penalty being 7 years imprisonment. As you can imagine, writers across Scotland have been viewing this with some consternation. I myself write quite dark, gritty psychological crime, and as such, I’ve written characters that run the gamut of the seedier side of life – violent, racist misogynists tend to feature quite a lot in crime fiction. In fact, I’d argue that part of the purpose of crime fiction is to explore the more unsavoury elements of society, and see what makes them tick – is it nature, or nurture, or a combination of both? But writing characters like these doesn’t mean I agree with their views. I’ve written characters before ...