Welcome to Cooper is the much-anticipated crime fiction debut from Tariq Ashkanani. Nasim Rebecca Asl spoke to him about his writing journey so far. Also, in an exclusive with BooksfromScotland, he and his publishers have allowed us to give the novel its official cover reveal!

Welcome to Cooper
By Tariq Ashkanani
Published by Thomas & Mercer

Tariq Ashkanani is no stranger to the literary world. He’s co-host of The Page One Podcast, which features interviews with over 60 writers, including Joe Abercrombie, Nick Hornby and Claire Askew. He’s spent hours questioning literary greats about their processes, their careers and their lives – but when I chat to Tariq, it’s the first time he’s been on the receiving end of the questions.

His debut novel, Welcome to Cooper, will be published by Thomas & Mercer in October. When it’s released, Tariq will join an impressive roster of Scottish crime writers, though he has strayed away from the cobbles of his native Edinburgh and looked across the Atlantic, to Nebraska.

‘I wanted to do a story that wasn’t about your normal L.A. or New York cop, so I’ve made up a small town, Cooper. A cop gets transferred there after messing up on a previous job, he wants to escape and lose himself a little bit. Then, he stumbles on a larger web of conspiracy.’

From the classic Twin Peaks, to teen drama Riverdale and Marvel’s Westview, America is scattered with countless fictional towns. ‘Inventing a place means the layout is what you want it to be,’ Tariq explains, ‘you’re not restrained by reality in any way.’ Although Tariq hasn’t visited the Midwest himself, the location seemed perfect: ‘it’s set in America because everything I watch is American, all the crime I watch and read is set in America. I wanted to pick somewhere that was remote enough to be easy to get to, but somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It’s a purgatory-type place.’

Tariq has drawn from a wide range of references – as we chat, he mentions Mindhunter, Elmore Leonard, Quentin Tarantino, Twin Peaks, Luther – but notable among his influences is the drama series True Detective. ‘They’re in the middle of this nightmarish world, it’s almost unreal. I don’t think you get that in British cop dramas, it feels a lot more grounded.’ Documentaries like The Night Stalker explore this nightmarish world turned flesh and have millions hooked – including myself and Tariq. When you consider a seemingly endless list of serial killers who have populated the States, it’s no wonder the landscape lends itself so well to crime writing. ‘There’s something about the size of America. A serial killer can hit one place, then quickly and easily get to a hundred miles away. They’re a needle in the haystack.’

While Tariq’s research trip to the Midwest will have to wait (‘I would like to do it at some point. And it’s a nice excuse to travel!’ he laughs), Welcome to Cooper has drawn upon experiences a bit closer to home – Tariq’s work as a solicitor.

‘I don’t have any background in criminal law,’ he muses, ‘but I love interviewing and taking statements from people. You learn how people respond to things, how exactly they get angry. That’s good to draw on in characters.’

This first-hand knowledge has also helped with the practical aspect of writing dialogue. ‘There’s definitely a way people speak in those situations. Dialogue is what I struggle with most. It’s the hardest part, it’s quasi-realistic. Everything has to move [the] plot forwards or develop character, you can’t ramble on. It’s a real art.’

It’s an art that’s taken years to get right. Welcome to Cooper was born from a short story Tariq wrote nearly ten years ago for a writing group he was part of. ‘One week we were doing a detective one. I wrote it and thought it would make a good opening chapter for a proper novel.’ Within four years, Tariq had the bones of his book. ‘The first few drafts were vomit on a page,’ he laughs. ‘I drafted and drafted and drafted. I’ve learned this from experience, and from my podcast, but every author struggles with the first draft. So many have self-doubt, it’s a natural thing to have. Realising I wasn’t the only person who struggled with this, and knowing I wasn’t alone in it, was really helpful.’ He’d write both mornings and evenings while commuting from Edinburgh to Glasgow, spend more years redrafting, recruit friends to offer feedback, and eventually find an agent.

‘It took 18 months to find representation. I was getting knocked back and knocked back the whole time, then when it was I was on number 50-odd of agent submissions, I made it.’ Together, they worked on the book – ‘We added a subplot, added 15,000 words, made it ten times better’ – and submitted it to publishers. Then, it only took six weeks before Welcome to Cooper was picked up, and when it was, Tariq signed a two-book deal. His second novel is due out October 2022, and progress is well under way.

‘It’s still in draft form,’ he tells me, ‘but it was amazing to sign for both. It was great to know they liked me enough to want more from me but it’s come with horrible pressure – what if I can’t write another the same? I had unlimited time with the first one, then I was suddenly given eight months to write the second!”. Although he’s still continuing with his day job, the last year of almost continuous Stay at Home edicts have given Tariq a bit more time to write: ‘I’m lucky, my job’s not really been affected by lockdown. I’m working from home and it’s helped my routine.’ Here, he segues to give other writers crucial advice – ‘You need to find time in your day where you can write. Get up in the morning and write for an hour, or do it last thing at night. No video games, no crap TV – reward yourself with that after you’ve got a draft!’

As we speak, Tariq is just seven months away from holding his published novel in his hands. It’ll be the realisation of not just a decade of drafting, but a lifelong dream. ‘I wanted to be a writer as a kid,’ he says, ‘I loved writing. I got, what I think is possibly the saddest Scouts badge, the writing badge. Most kids were getting adventure badges, for climbing or abseiling, but I turned up with a notebook of short stories I’d written.’ Now, Tariq’s seeing the product of that first foray into literature. ‘It was amazing seeing the options of the Welcome to Cooper’s cover and seeing my name on the front. That was a dream come true moment.’

Inspired by his own journey, Tariq helped launch a planning system for aspiring novelists, The Writer’s Notebook, and The Page One Podcast, where established writers discuss their processes and share their wisdom. What advice then, I ask, would Tariq give to people who want to write a book? He ponders, staring off-camera as he reflects on everything he’s learned. ‘You have to ignore the self-doubt. Don’t worry about whether or not you can recreate what’s in your head on paper, just get it down on the page. Everything important happens in the redrafts. It’s all about the editing and the rewriting, but you can’t get it down on paper unless you put that self-doubt to one side.’

And here’s the evocative cover – catch it on bookshelves in bookshops near you in October!

NASIM REBECCA ASL is a poet and journalist based in Glasgow. She has a master’s in Television Journalism and took part in the BBC’s Journalism Trainee Scheme. She has worked for programmes including The Andrew Marr Show, The Nine and Question Time, and in 2018 Nasim was nominated for the RTS Scotland Young Journalist of the Year award. Her poetry has featured in Gutter Magazine, Middleground Magazine and Modern Poetry in Translation, and she has performed her work across Scotland. In 2021 Nasim was a recipient of a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award for poetry.

TARIQ ASHKANANI is a solicitor based in Edinburgh, where he also runs WriteGear, a company that sells high-quality notebooks for writers, and WriteGear’s podcast Page One. He had no formal writing training or consultation prior to writing Welcome to Cooper. He is currently working on a follow-up thriller.

Welcome to Cooper by Tariq Ash Kanani is published by Thomas & Mercer, October 2021, priced £8.99.

The Scottish BPOC Writers Network (SBWN) provides advocacy, literary events and professional development opportunities for BPOC writers based in or from Scotland. SBWN aims to connect Scottish BPOC writers with the wider literary sector in Scotland. The network seeks to partner with literary organisations to facilitate necessary conversations around inclusive programming in an effort to address and overcome systemic barriers. SBWN prioritises BPOC-led opportunities and is keen to bring focus to diverse literary voices while remaining as accessible as possible to marginalised groups.

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