by Garry Rodgers
I was always the weird kid. While other boys dreamed of growing up to fly fast fighters or fight ferocious fires, I wanted to be a writer. It was like a calling. Is that weird or what?
But, instead of studying fine arts or going to journalism school, when I turned twenty-one I joined Canada’s national police force. I soon ended up on the RCMP Serious Crimes Section. Then, I spent the remainder of my cop career as a detective involved with homicide cases.
I retired from the crime-busting business in my forties to take an appointment as a coroner. Here, I spent a second career doing forensic investigations by detecting the causes of death. Some would think spending decades dealing with the dead is also pretty weird.
I didn’t think so. You know why? Because in both professions, I got to do a lot of writing. As a detective, I wrote stuff like crime reports, prosecution briefs, search warrant applications and wiretap affidavits. In the coroner service, I wrote legal judgments that had lasting ramifications long after my clients were gone.
Pen-Monkeys and Gumshoes
Today, I’m in my sixties and I’ve finally achieved my childhood dream. I’m now a real writer. I have numerous indie books on the market. I’ve written hundreds upon hundreds of published posts and paid web content pages. And, along the writing and detecting roads, I’ve met some terrifically talented pen-monkeys and gumshoes who I like to call friends.
I’m not necessarily saying I’m a good writer—just like I never said I was all that great at being a detective. There’s an old saying that you slide further on BS than you do on gravel, so I made it work for me. However, I’ve learned a few things over the years from my colleagues. One is that successful writers and experienced detectives have a lot in common, and I’d like to share this with you.
Successful Writers and Experienced Detectives are Excellent Communicators
Successful writing is all about effective communication. So is detective work. A writer must clearly communicate their thoughts and deliver their message to readers in order to successfully publish their work. And, a detective must be able to communicate with everyone from witnesses to suspects to juries if they’re going to secure convictions.
Successful communication is more than just written words, though. As a writer, you’re expected to communicate in other media forms. Those include oral communications where you present a talk–whether in person or on a podcast. You’re also expected to communicate via social media platforms using aids like images and graphs.
Detectives have to communicate at many levels. It requires a different approach to interview a witness than it does to interrogate a suspect. Then, it’s an entirely different communication manner when preparing with a prosecutor than presenting to the court.
A writer is a producer of words that communicates ideas. A detective is the pursuer of facts that support a criminal case conclusion. Writers and detectives have communication in common, and they make excellent use of their words to be successful.
Experienced Detectives and Successful Writers are Organized
Every experienced detective is a meticulous and methodical person who knows how important organization is. The same goes for writers who’ve achieved success in their field. Both are detail-oriented and focused on their tasks at hand.
Successful writers understand they have to be organized to produce effective work within efficient time frames. A writer producing commercial work realizes they have deadlines to meet. And only so much time in which to make them. A writer must make the most of their moments, and that comes from being organized.
Experienced detectives face the same challenges. In detective work, the clock is always ticking and the meter is running. The first forty-eight hours in a criminal case are the most crucial, and getting organized is the first thing a detective and their team do.
Being organized is about developing good time and work management habits. Organizing starts with having a definite plan or purpose and sticking to it. It’s called focus, and that really is nothing more than avoiding distractions. Being organized and staying organized is something experienced detectives and successful writers do well.
Successful Writers and Experienced Detectives are Dedicated Professionals
Dictionary.com defines “dedicated” as “Wholly committed to something as an ideal or personal goal”. Searching “professional” brings up this: “Following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain”. Put together, a dedicated professional is someone who commits to their job by providing a top-quality product or service for the people who pay them.
Commercial writers expect to be compensated in exchange for their words. Detectives rely on their bi-weekly paycheck to make ends meet. However, successful writers and experienced detectives do more than just cruise for their coin. They go the extra mile because they’re professional.
Professionalism shows in everything writers and detectives do. It starts with their dedication to craft and career. Dedication continues with everyday production and never ends during their professional service.
Dictionary.com also has something to say about “success” and “experienced”. Success definition is: “The favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one’s goals”. The definition for experienced reads: “Wise or skillful in a particular field through personal encounter or undergoing something”. Successful writers and experienced detectives are dedicated professionals because they are committed to their craft and career.
Experienced Detectives and Successful Writers are Self Disciplined
For a writer, the best definition of disciplined is: “Butt in chair. Fingers on keys.” For a detective, it’s: “Mouth closed. Ears and eyes open”. Discipline for a writer is showing up and getting the work done. Every day—bar none. It’s exactly the same for a detective.
Strong discipline and excellent work ethic are part of the dedicated and professional package. These skills are not elective. They’re mandatory for success and come from experience.
All successful writers, whether commercial scribes or home hobbyists, make time for their writing. They have the self-discipline to sit down and face that blank page. Detectives don’t have much choice other than to self-discipline.
Procrastination is a good way to end up back on patrol.
Detective work and writing work are somewhat solitary occupations. There is no one standing guard and directing events. Self-discipline is a habit that experienced detectives and successful writers develop and don’t let slip.
Successful Writers and Experienced Detectives are Patient
If patience is a virtue, then successful writers and experienced detectives are next to sainthood. Writing takes time and so does investigating a crime. Deadlines do exist for both professions, but sometimes those deadlines are months in the making.
Most writers measure their progress by word count. A productive day for a writer is somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 words. Doing the math, if an average daily word count is 2,500 and an average novel is 80,000 words, then it takes 32 writing days to get a book draft done.
It’s a rare writer who gets a novel done in 32 days. For most—even prolific writers, without naming them—novel work requires a lot more time. Completing a full-length manuscript takes patience. It also takes dedication, discipline and organization.
Detectives often sit on an open file for months. It can be years in some cases because unsolved murder files never close. Patience is something experienced detectives inherently have. Successful writers have it, too.
Experienced Detectives and Successful Writers are Persistent
An old trope about the “Dogged Detective” portrays criminal investigators as persistent pursuers of the facts—as in “Just the facts, Ma’am”. There’s a lot of truth to that saying. There’s also a lot of truth in persistence being a leading quality of successful writers.
Persistence is a dog with a bone. It doesn’t let go until the meat is chewed off and the marrow is sucked out. Persistent writers and persistent detectives keep at their work until one job is finished and another is ready to start.
A persistent writer keeps plodding ahead, word after word until they come to the end. A persistent detective keeps on the trail until the suspect is caught. No matter if the quarry is human or paper, persistence pays off in the end.
Persistence means not quitting. It means not giving up no matter the challenge. Detectives become experienced because they’re persistent just as writers become successful because they simply don’t stop.
Successful Writers and Experienced Detectives are Confident
Experience breeds success and success breeds confidence. That goes for both writers and detectives. Word-by-word, and case-by-case, writers and detectives build their confidence which continues to increase as experience materializes into measured success.
Confidence is full trust in one’s self. It’s a certitude and belief in the ability to produce success whether it be in solving crimes or writing credible work. Self-reliant writers and detectives are confident to their core that they have what it takes.
There’s a big difference between confidence and cockiness. Over-confidence is a sign of immaturity. The cockiness stage passes when a writer or detective gains the experience to know what works and what doesn’t.
Knowing what they don’t know is a sign of confident writers and detectives.
Confidence comes from repeated success. For a writer, confidence comes from payment for publications or acknowledgment from credible sources. For a detective confidence comes through taking cases from an unsolved start to a convicted finish.
Experienced Detectives and Successful Writers are Ethical
Ethics are a key measure of professionalism. Experienced detectives and successful writers are honest people with high integrity. This is an uncompromising quality that both professions share.
Unfortunately, though, there are bad apples in every crate. The detective and writing businesses are no exception. There are liars and cheats in every vocation, and they show up from time to time in publications and on the street.
Fortunately, however, unethical people seldom last as writers and detectives. They’re uncovered and exposed by their peers and the public. The lack of being genuine shows through and their careers are extinguished.
A solid reputation is invaluable in making a writer successful and a detective experienced. A reputation is something that takes years to build and moments to ruin. There is no compromise when it comes to being ethical.
Successful Writers and Experienced Detectives are Knowledgeable
“Scientia potential est” or “Knowledge is power”. This Latin phrase is especially fitting to successful writers and experienced detectives. Both professionals know the value of gaining knowledge about their fields and using it properly.
There’s another saying that goes: “Capable is he who is wise”. Wisdom comes through experience and continued success. It’s not something someone is inherently born with.
There are other sayings about wisdom and knowledge. One is that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
Another defines wisdom as knowing that a tomato is a fruit but being wise enough not to use it in a fruit salad. 🙂
Writers and detectives strive to improve their knowledge. This is part of their professional journey. And, it’s a journey that is never completed.
Experienced Detectives and Successful Writers are Life-Long Learners
Something else that writers have in common with detectives is their worlds are constantly changing. Each day, and each year, there are new ways of doing business in the writing industry and the criminal investigation occupation. Continuous change requires life-long learning.
Successful writers and experienced detectives anticipate change and adapt by committing to life-long learning. They spend hours keeping abreast of evolving events and techniques that alter their activities. Change is a never-ending challenge that successful writers and experienced detectives rise to with open arms.
In the past couple of decades, the writing world has moved from print towards digital. The detective sphere also followed this electronic trend. Detectives today depend on computerization as much as writers now do.
Life-long learning is the hallmark of successful writers and detectives. They know that where they’ll be in the future is directly proportional to what they learn today. It’s not a vicious circle. Rather, life-long learning is a fact of professional life.
Successful Writers and Experienced Detectives are Tech-Savvy
Part of life-long learning for writers and detectives is keeping up with technological advancements. There is no part of the writing or detective business that isn’t affected by technology. To survive and be successful, writers and detectives need to be tech-savvy.
Major case management is run through computerization. Every tidbit of information that detectives collect is entered into databases that mix and match relevant points. Writers store their words on databases, as well. Without computers, both roles would be archaic.
Tech-savvy writers and detectives don’t necessarily know how their technology works. What they do know is how to work it. And because their equipment rapidly evolves, it’s a full commitment to upgrade technical skills.
Detectives have an arsenal of crime-fighting technology. They use tools like electronic surveillance and biological typing. Writers use technology such as search engines and online publishing. To be successful in today’s technological theatre, writers and detectives must be tech-savvy.
Experienced Detectives and Successful Writers are Collaborative
No one works alone as a detective or as a writer. Both vocations are team efforts. There is no place for the proverbial lone wolf.
Although the frontline roles can be solitary, the big picture is all about collaboration. Detectives work within a legal system that exists through multi-layered interaction. Writers, too, interact with their publishing collaborators.
Successful writers work with other professionals like editors, designers and publishers. Experienced detectives are part of a team that involves laboratory technicians, lawyers and judges. Each layer in the writing and justice systems requires continuous and collaborative interactive support.
Writers and detectives also collaborate with each other. Successful writers network with other successful writers just as experienced detectives are linked-in with each other. It’s those who embrace collaboration that ultimately thrive.
Successful Writers and Experienced Detectives are Creative
Creativity, ingenuity and resourcefulness are traits of both successful writers and experienced detectives. Imagination is the workshop of the mind, and the best writers and detectives keep it operating full time. They think outside the box, so to speak.
The act of writing is the art of pure creation. The blank page must be filled, and it’s done only by engaging the creative mind and setting it free. It’s only through brainpower that we create a book or article.
Crime-solving requires detectives to get creative, too. Sometimes, very creative. Experienced detectives know how to psychologically stimulate their suspects. They can get very creative in eliciting confessions.
Successful writers and experienced detectives are analytical and resourceful creatures. They source and use whatever material they can find to complete their tasks. That can require a lot of creativity.
Experienced Detectives and Successful Writers are Realistic
Experienced detectives and successful writers live in the real world. They don’t exist in a protective bubble alive with rainbow-colored unicorns. They know what it’s like to step outside and get dumped on.
All writers and detectives who’ve been around the block develop a thick hide. They’re mentally tough. They don’t sweat the small stuff and shrug off negativity. Bad reviews and harsh criticism go with the territory.
Successful writers and experienced detectives also have a personal life. This twelve-hour per day, twenty-four-seven crap is BS. No one survives and prospers under those conditions—no one.
Detectives and writers know when it’s time to close the laptop. They value off-time and families and friends. In both professions—writing and detecting—life involves a healthy balance.
Successful Writers and Experienced Detectives are Passionate
In all, the biggest thing successful writers and experienced detectives have in common is passion. For them, it’s not just a job. It’s something much, much larger.
It’s a calling. A true and real calling.
That might sound weird.
But, it’s a fact.
by Garry Rogers (@GarryRogers1 ) April 19, 2020
And what about you, scriveners? So have you ever seen the parallels between being a successful writer and an experienced detective? Do you think you’d make a good detective? And do you have any questions for this retired policeman now we have him as a captive audience?
***
Garry Rodgers is a retired homicide detective and forensic coroner. Now, Garry is an investigative crime writer and successful indie author. He’s also the host of a popular blog at DyingWords.net. His newest based-on-true-crime eBook From The Shadows just launched on Amazon and other digital outlets.
Garry Rodgers lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia at Canada’s west coast where he spends his off-time on the water. Connect with Garry on Twitter and Facebook.
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Check out From The Shadows on Amazon and Kobo.
Inspired by a horrific true crime story! Grandparents Ed and Patricia Bartley, parents Gunner and Trisha Jephsen, and their two girls disappeared on a Vancouver Island camping trip. Ella was just eleven. Lily was only nine. This terrible tragedy shocked North America and riveted the Canadian public as Serious Crimes investigators scoured British Columbia’s west coast for any sign of the Jephsen and Bartley families. Where they were, what happened, and who did it captivated all.
Police used massive resources and all available investigation aids to locate the bodies and track down suspects. That included major media cooperation and highly creative techniques.
Also the questionable help of an unsavory for-hire agent.
Then, a break came–leading to a “never saw it coming” conclusion.
What advance readers say about From The Shadows:
From The Shadows is Garry Rodgers’ best book yet!
I thought From The Shadows was an awesome read — very hard to put down.
Really nice job of putting the reader on a skewer and roasting them slowly.
Horrifying true crime story with a wicked twist! Cannot make this stuff up.
OPPORTUNITY ALERTS
CRAFT Short Fiction prize. Up to 5000 words. All genres. 1st prize $2000 plus publication. 2nd and 3rd prizes $500 and $300. $20 Fee. Deadline April 30th.
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest: $20 Fee. 6000 words max. two $3000 first prizes for best fiction and essay. 10 Hon Mentions $200 each. Deadline April 30th.
AAR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize Unpublished short stories: 2,000–5,000 words. 1st prize $6,000, 2nd $4,000, 3rd, $2,500. $15 fee students, $25 others. Deadline May 1st.
The Writers Digest virtual SciFi-Fantasy weekend conference. This looks like a great opportunity for new authors in these genres. You get to pitch to agents specifically looking for your subgenre. Plus there are lots of great courses with personal feedback on your writing.
THE STRINGYBARK TALES WITH A TWIST AWARD $14 ENTRY FEE. 1,500 words. Must have a twist at the end of the tale! 1st prize A$350 2nd prize A$250, 3rd prize A$125 cash. Stringybark will publish the winners. Deadline May 13, 2020.
RAYMOND CARVER SHORT STORY CONTEST$17 ENTRY FEE. Literary fiction up to 10K words. Prizes: $2,000, $500, $250, and two $125. Three literary agents do the judging. Winners announced August 1. Deadline May 15, 2020.
LITERARY TAXIDERMY SHORT STORY COMPETITION$10 ENTRY FEE. Prize $500 as well as publication. Write an original story of up to 2,500 words in any genre. The catch: We provide your opening and closing lines from a classic work of literature. You provide the rest. Deadline June 4, 2020.
12 PUBLISHERS FOR MEMOIRS! You don’t need an agent. From the good folks at Authors Publish
Hey Garry & Anne,
Another fine post, with an analogy that hadn’t previously occurred to me. And I’d like to voice an official “ain’t that the truth” to your point that, “If patience is a virtue, then successful writers and experienced detectives are next to sainthood.” Patience. Oy. We need it in spades.
Thanks, CS! Yeah, both roles require a lot of patience – there’s no immediate gratification that I’ve ever seen.
Thanks so much for hosting me, Anne, and giving me this great opportunity to share some thoughts and experiences. Putting this piece together made me put things in perspective. It was also kinda fun 🙂
Thanks so much for guesting for us, Garry!
Parlaying the knowledge, wisdom, and experience gained from your first two careers into a successful writing career has served you (and others, such as John Grisham) well. Congratulations, and thanks for this insight, Garry.
Wow! Using my name in with John Grisham is an immense compliment. I’ll take it 🙂 Thanks, Tricia!!
What a great offering to make us think Garry! My first blush on the comparison, actually, was a large negative one. Detectives have little choice but to engage and move about (C-19 notwithstanding) whereas the cliched image of a writer is alone in the garret, talking only to the cat and creating from nothing. Clearly the latter must be a bit more of the former.
I tripped over “organized” and fell flat on my face: no way I’ll ever make progress on that one. As I picked myself up I considered how much I’ve always enjoyed whacky, disorganized detectives on TV: Colombo, Monk, Psych. I loved the notion of the offbeat “pantser” genius who managed to figure it all out. Then I realized- those shows came from writers, didn’t they…
You make a really good point about writers developing gumshoe characters, Will. I rarely watch the cop and CSI shows because my general feeling is most aren’t realistic, but how could I know that if I don’t watch many 🙂
There is one program from a few decades ago that I felt got the characters right – Hill Street Blues. I worked with a guy that looked and acted so much like Detective Belker that he got the permanent nickname of “Belker”. Colombo was another excellent character and actually quite realistic. My mentor when I first started on the detective squad was very much a Colombo type. Thanks for commenting – I’ll let you get back to getting organized 🙂
Garry—Thanks for a terrific post with a compelling POV. The louche world of crime, cops and criminals lends itself well to fiction. Here, off the top of my head, are a few examples.
Michael Connolly was a crime reporter for newspapers in Florida before becoming a novelist. Before turning to fiction, George Orwelll worked as a colonial police officer for the British Imperial service. (In India IIRC.) My old friend, the late Ernie Tidyman, who wrote Shaft and won the Oscar for the screenplay of The French Connection, basically grew up in police stations—his dad was a police reporter in the Midwest.
Thank you so much for the encouraging comment, Ruth. I wasn’t sure where this piece was going when I stared at the blank page. I kinda wrote it the way I talk.
I knew Michael Connolly was a beat reporter, but I did not know George Orwell was a cop. That must have been some time prior to 1984 🙂 I had to Google Ernie (Ernest) Tidyman and I see he created Detective John Shaft. Wow, what an acquaintance to have known.
A detective-turned-writer who greatly influenced me is Joseph Wambaugh – creator of true crime and crime fiction like The Onion Field and The Choir Boys. His characterization is so real, you’d think you know the guys. Thanks again for the support, Ruth!
Note the key word in all of that is successful – because the unsuccessful ones never achieve that.
I do my best on the organized part…
In my experience it’s easier to write “organized” than be. Thanks for reading and commenting, Alex 🙂
Organized and self-disciplined…so many of my Crafting a Novel students don’t want to hear this. The want to be ‘creative’! Creative is fun. Writing a novel is work. Good thing so many of us love to do it! Great article, Garry. Waves from Burlington Ont! You may know me. I’m the former ED of Crime Writers of Canada.
Thanks, Melodie. Yes, there’s nothing easy about starting a novel, never mind finishing it. And I certainly do know who you are and where your’re from. I have to join CWC – it’s on the TBD list.
Garry–I’m leaving this comment as a test. I’ve been fighting with the WordPress elves today.
I don’t know what happened with the elves, Anne. I haven’t been able to receive or reply to comments on your site since mid-day yesterday. Sue just sent me an email telling me that there were notices posted and not replied to. I went back to your site for the third or fourth time today – nothing new. Then I hit the refresh button and up they came. Go figger ‘dem elves.
Garry–The elves seem to still be at their little games. They still wouldn’t let me comment just now. I have to go to the “backstage” of the blog and comment in the moderation section. Grrr.
Good thing you have a friend like me. Hahahaha. Kidding!
Sue – I don’t think I’ve ever seen your ears 🙂
I loved this post – a new and refreshing way to look at what I do – write. It’s all so fitting and I enjoyed the comparisons. The takeaway for me is that I feel pretty great about myself! Ha! Never knew I possessed all those qualities! And now I’m going to get a copy of your latest book, Garry. Thank you for this post.
Thank you so much for the nice comment, Patricia. So good to hear that it made you feel great! I wasn’t sure if this post was going to sound “teachy” – I just wanted to put out what I feel is a helpful reflection of what it takes to survive and succeed in both professions.
I really enjoyed this post, Garry, as it brought to mind a writer I knew when working at a PD in Texas, a Sargent (female), who wrote copy for the department press releases. I so admired her ability to produce utterly neutral material. There was never a hint of bias in anything she wrote — and I thought that was amazing. She was a real inspiration, and reading her work was oddly freeing, mentally.
I edit more than write any more, but I believe that fiction writers and detectives rely heavily on analysis. Both must analyze why and how things happen(ed). Both must consider motives and actions that can be completely foreign to their beliefs, values, and perceptions. Both are constructing a story from a big pile of ‘what ifs’.
So, I liked your comparisons – interesting and fun. Bet you’re a blast to share a cuppa with…
Thanks for guesting!
Hi Maria! One of the hardest things in policing, IME, is remaining objective and neutral. We’re humans and we come with an installed bias app. Special ability, indeed, to write neutral press releases.
I’m with you on the analysis angle. A few years back, I took a course on root cause analysis. It was put on by Think Reliability which is a leader in accident investigation and industrial safety. Their analytical process changed my thought pattern. In fact, it ended up with me spending two years researching a historical event and writing a book on an angle never before published.
Hope you’re hanging in well during this unforeseen downtime. Me – it’s business as usual and by this time of the day I’m more fun to have a glassa with than a cuppa 🙂
Garry,
As a former law enforcement officer, I truly enjoyed your blog. As a new author, I am always encouraged to see someone from our former profession transferring those unique report writing skills to something more entertaining and perhaps satisfying. By the way, you are ‘spot on’ about the different kinds of communication that are required for a host of stake holders.
Garry, you’ll recall the temptation law enforcement faces in trying to solve a case. Certainly, I wasn’t immune from it early in my career, but I noticed the tendency for some to “turn over every stone” in order to complete a case. I always thought this was a waste of time and resources. After a while, the good ones develop a kind of instinct for diminishing returns…so they close this one and move on to the next.
Do you think writers might face the same challenge?
Ken
Hi Ken, my brother in blue. Nice to hear from you and that the post rang true. I think every investigator that has some time in the field realizes not every case can be solved regardless of how many resources get thrown at it. That’s just life. Experienced officers give it good hard try in the early stages but know there’s no return in “beating the dead horse”. There’s always another case coming in that deserves what limited attention is available.
I think the same holds true with career writers. The’s a “shipping point” where close enough is good enough and it’s time to get on to the next assignment. That doesn’t mean that the work isn’t as polished by proofing as possible. It’s the content I mean. I got my eyes opened in commercial article writing over the last few years. Each piece has an assigned word count and deadline. There’s a point where you must hit “publish” or you won’t get paid 🙂
Excellent comparisons, Garry! I especially loved this line: Another defines wisdom as knowing that a tomato is a fruit but being wise enough not to use it in a fruit salad. Haha. So true!
BTW, Anne and Ruth’s site suits you well, my friend. 🙂
Hey there, Sue – I wish I could take credit for the saying, but I can’t. I had to Google who’s line that was, and it’s none other than the esteemed British journalist Miles Beresford Kington. I’m sure you’re familiar with his work 😉
Silliness aside, I’m truly honored to have a guest post on Anne and Ruth’s site. It really is a badge of recognition from ladies who are far, far ahead in this profession than I am.
I never realized there were so many similarities between writer and detectives. I enjoyed your post, Gary.
By the way, excellent distinction between confidence and cockiness, “cockiness is a sign of inmaturity “real confidence comes from repeated success”. What two great quotes.
I’m thrilled to know you enjoyed this, Ingmarhek. To be honest, I didn’t think of this many similarities until I sat down to flesh this out. There were a few more points, but I think this kinda sums it up.
Cockiness is something that’s a problem with some young police officers. There’s a point when they leave the academy and get some experience that their confidence tank begins to overflow and they can become quite problematic. Detective departments are pretty much a closed shop and a newbie has to be invited in. We didn’t look for experience so much as maturity.
You can teach officers a lot that gets them experience, but there’s very little can be done to help maturity. That, they have to find on their own. I’m finding it’s much the same in the writing world. Thanks for commenting!
Great analogy! Just the fact that both professions have to do a lot of research is similar. I think it’s also about combining facts/ideas into something (for writers it’s a story, for detectives it’s a story of real life past for the suspects/victim etc).
Detective work would be awesome advantage for crime/thriller writers, kinda weird more aren’t writing books from that profession.