Produced By - Unveiling Darkness: The Freelance Life of a True Crime Writer | #40: Megan Marie Grant

Episode Date: January 29, 2024

Megan Marie Grant is a captivating freelance true crime writer, drawn to the darkness and driven to understand the twisted minds behind shocking crimes. Her journey began with a true-crime blog, fueled by travels across America that ignited her passion for the chilling realities hidden in plain sight. A diagnosed ADHD didn't deter her. Megan tackled the murky world of true crime with unwavering dedication, honing her skills as a researcher, writer and storyteller. Now, she's eager to share her insights and send shivers down your spine with this deep dive into the darkest corners of humanity. In this episode, you'll accompany Megan as she unravels the secrets behind horrific tales, reveals the intricacies of her writing process and leaves you both informed and chilled. Buckle up for a gripping ride into the realm of true crime with a passionate guide at the wheel. Elevate your online presence with the help of Trailblazed, your (and our) favourite digital marketing agency. ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://trailblazed.digital/⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you enjoy the show, please, consider supporting it on Patreon or by buying a virtual coffee (or chocolate). ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ProducedByPodcast⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/producedby⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ Boost your creative career by joining our new Skillshare course and feel free to let us know how you liked it. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://skl.sh/3Rh7ZtY⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date, get the latest news and much more. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7092551882589528065⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Megan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-marie-grant-315609231/ https://www.instagram.com/megathachristie  Connect with the host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow the podcast: Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ Web: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/produced_by_podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT5LHnM6YCaeVzIr0WatOsw⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/41BiG5YvGIgITz1N14hF2E ⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/produced-by/id1684669642⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you enjoy listening to the podcast, please, leave a review on your podcast app, subscribe and share it with your friends. You can also send us a message and share any feedback, advice and tips for guests. About Produced By: Produced By unveils captivating stories of courageous people who set out to pursue careers in highly competitive fields, despite often challenging circumstances. Enter the spotlight with our guests and get inspired, whether your interests are in the creative industries, personal growth or you simply want to have fun. Listen to individuals who represent a wide range of professional backgrounds, geographic locations and career stages. So come along to follow their adventures and learn from life's experiences as we kick off on this epic journey. Thanks for listening and see you soon! Connect with Tomas:X: https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠Stan: https://stan.store/TommenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠Unproduced:Newsletter: https://unproduced.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unproducednotesSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Ddo8ibDlLYoaP7FFLIWMore:Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠The Podcast Club: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25420030/Tools & gear that support the show:Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZKRiverside: https://riverside.sjv.io/vDnDodFavikon: https://www.favikon.com?fpr=tommenRa Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19JamX: https://jamx.ai/podcasters-offer?ref_id=e02d48af-ef66-4e76-b804-c2e8d282a8bfSome links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to Produced Buy. Just quickly before we begin, if we enjoy the show, please consider supporting it by joining our Patreon. You can choose from a list of memberships and we'll receive some exciting rewards. Thank you and back to the episode. Hello Megan. Thank you for joining us today and welcome to the show. Thank you for having me.

So Megan, can you please introduce yourself? So I'm Megan. I live from Essex. I live just outside of London. and I am a freelance writer, specifically with true crime genre. Yep, so can you maybe tell us more about your background? Where do you come from? So I've always kind of, my mum is like a massive true crime fan,

so it's always sort of, I've always sort of known about it. I've always known about cases and stuff, but I never really took an interest in it, such and I have ADHD so I wasn't diagnosed until my sort of mid-20s so I couldn't really stick with a hobby or you know I couldn't really maintain a job so it was really I couldn't really find something that interests me and then the long came true prime and I was just like wow you know these are really awful what makes someone do such awful things and from that moment I wanted to start exploring and there's so many cases and there's even cases to

that I've not really read. So it's sort of kept my attention for a good nine years. And, you know, then I sort of progress into uni and now it's a, it's a job. So it's been a long journey, but it's one that, you know, has kept me interested to see why people do what they do, but also, you know, respect the victims and looking to the victims and stuff like that. So, I would have curiously, how old were you when you got interested in such stuff? So I was 24, when I got 20. Just before I started university.

And, you know, it finally started to make sense, you know, why I couldn't keep interests, why, you know, I couldn't really hold a job for too long. So it eventually made things a little bit easier. And then I sort of adapted sort of my life and, you know, kept things that, you know, I did enjoy. You know, I sort of focused on those heavily and tried and see what I could do with that. So obviously with the crime, I knew that's something that I really enjoyed. Wasn't too sure how to make it into a career. But I knew, you know, that you could study sort of similar stuff at university.

So then I decided to go to university. And so I sort of adapted my way of thinking. which really helped me sort of understand the way I am. I didn't want to stress too much because it's not my fault. So I just try and keep things that I enjoy, keep things that I know I'm good at, and sort of focus on those. Yeah.

And what about before? Like before 24, you weren't interested in it, or it didn't really grab her attention? Yeah. I mean, it's not, I guess, just didn't really look at true crime before or something that I'd be interested in. You know, I guess it's quite a niche topic, isn't it? It's not something that, you know, is sort of out there like playing football or films and stuff. So it was very different.

And obviously, way back then, it didn't have the sort of true crime, didn't have the following, as it does today, you know, with all the documentaries and all the books. So, you know, maybe it probably would have grabbed my attention a little bit of, bit earlier if it was more common but I'm kind of happy with how things have gone. Yeah, I was going to say that. As you mentioned, it's a niche topic. But I feel like that lately or recently there's been such a big hype about it. Even if I check some podcasts, there are so many crime-related podcasts, even shows on

Netflix. So it seems like there is a huge interest about this topic. Yeah, there's a huge interest. I mean, there's so many talented. podcasts, like podcast producers, there's so many talented writers and an amazing array of documentaries now covering, not just sort of like violent crimes, but things like con artists and sort of things like that, especially on Netflix at the moment. So, like the Tinder Swindler and things like that. So there's, it's become such a broad thing. And I think it's just because, you know, I think we are interested, not so much, it's not so much that people are interested in the gruesomeness.

it's more of the fact of why someone would do that. You know, why are people like this? You know, because these events are quite rare. So it's like, you know, it's just the why. And I think that's what draws people in. And it's interesting because it's mainly women that do enjoy watching these sort of things. And bizarrely women are more likely, you know, to be the target of some of these people that we see on Netflix

and Discovery Plus and all of that. So it's very interesting, the psychology behind it. Yeah, yeah, I agree. And before we discuss it in more detail, how did you actually studied once you got interested in it? Did you study it at university? I don't really, I mean, I can't remember if it was about good nine years ago. I think I was just reading and I came across a case, a Canadian case, the Ken and Barbie Kiders, it was a shocking, shocking crime. And from that moment on, I was just like, these people were awful. You know, why would these people, do such vile things. And then I started reading into it more. And I realized there's a whole load of information out there, whether it's books or documentaries or, you know, articles. And I just got hooked into reading it all. And then that from there, I just wanted to read more cases.

So I read similar cases. And it sort of expanded sort of female killers and killer couples. And there was just a whole load to read on. And, you know, there's just so much, you know, it's scary to think how many people are killed every sort of day around the world. You know, obviously America has a large amount of murders and stuff. But when you look outside of the States and sort of the countries like the UK where we get a lot of information from, sort of countries like Canada, Australia, you know, parts of Asia, Russia, like there's so much more, like, especially serial killers and things like that.

Yeah, yeah. I agree. And sometimes, I mean, I don't read it as much, but when I read something, it often is completely unbelievable to me. It's something I would never expect and just crazy, you know. No, I was just saying that it's just, when you read, it's like, especially if you're not really, if you're not really aware of true crime, it's not really something that interests you when you just come across a page and you read a case. it's absolutely shocking a lot of the time that just how people can be so evil, so cruel. Yeah.

No, I was just before going to ask you that when you studied a master's, what was it then? I thought it was some related subject to develop yourself in this area or it wasn't? So I did my master's. My master sort of followed on. So I did my undergrad. I went to Canterbury, I did my undergrad in criminology. And I graduated 2021. And then the following year, I did my master's in middle sex.

I did criminology. But this time I did it with forensic psychology, because I always found that the forensic psychology site quite interesting. So when I was in Canterbury, a lot of the modules I'd pick would always be more the psychology-based side of criminology. So I went to study at middle sex. And, you know, it was. was really interesting. I learned a lot more, a lot of additional things that's a shame because your period as a master student is so small. I mean, I was only there from, what, September to April, so you don't have the same length of time as an undergrad. But, you know, it was a brilliant experience. I met some amazing people. Learned a lot. It did help me boost my skills for what I currently do today. So when I did start to find my interest in your time, I would always write a little document.

little documents, word documents about all the cases I've read, I've write up, but my writing wasn't, it wasn't bad, it just, it just, it was new. I didn't really write since I was at school, so there was a big, big period that I wasn't writing, whereas obviously going to university, I developed the writing, the research side as well. So yeah, uni, uni was just an all-round, brilliant experience. And can you maybe introduce a bit more the context, of such a course. Because as someone coming from a course, you know, artist related from film, I have no idea what we're maybe learning there.

I'm very curious. Yeah, so my undergrad and my masters were a little bit different, similar sort of field. So criminology is really the study of crime. So when I was at, when I was in Canterbury, studying the modules were quite varied. you had aspects of policing, you had aspects of psychology, you had aspects of law. There was all different sort of criminology is so broad.

And then when I did my master's, obviously it was mainly focused on forensic psychology. So there was a few elements, you know, sort of learning about the theories of criminology, a few of the sort of basic things you would do. But it's mainly more the psychology sites you were learning about why people do what they do, sort of things like the way it isn't in court so there's what I loved about my course is there was such a broad respect to everything criminology is one of those subjects where I think

I think people get a little bit confused I think people think criminology itself is the study of serial killers it's not criminology there's elements but it's so broad it covers everything if you want to sort of study things like the criminal mind forensic psychology is the one, but terminology gives you a nice boundary so you can sort of see every different aspect.

Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to make sense of it as well because I, as I said, don't know anything about it. And for example, when you say word forensic, can you explain the word more? What does it mean? For example, forensic psychology? So forensic psychologist is the sense of it in court. So forensic psychology is essentially, I'm trying to like how I can work this. So obviously when you study psychology, I believe, I mean, I didn't study psychology myself, but I think it's the study of the brain in general.

So it's a very broad aspect. So you're studying it's not just mental health. You're studying how the brain works, et cetera. But I think with forensic psychology, you're mainly studying it from a criminal perspective. So with my modules, it was mainly. mainly focus. When I, what I was studying at university was mainly from a criminal perspective. So it wasn't so deep as a psychology course itself. I mean, you learn the basic. So you learn about mental illness. You learn about things like that. But yeah, it's mainly in a violent

offender. So I think one of my modules I studied was like mental illness in criminal offending, which was really interesting. So that there are the sort of things that you learn in forensic psychology and it's really interesting. I know a lot of women are interested and I've been talking to an American podcaster at the moment she's a forensic psychologist and she's brilliant at what she does and she's always talking about wanting to get more women into studying forensic psychology because so many women are fascinated by it. So it would be nice to see more women in such a role. Yeah. And why do you? Do you think it's so that it's maybe more for men than women?

Like, why more men sign up? Yeah, there are a lot of women and men that do forensic psychology. But I think, you know, at the moment when you look at, you know, the type of people that are interested in into why people do what they do, it is mainly women. And I think a lot of women, you know, when I was talking to this podcast, though, she was saying she gets a lot of messages about women wanting to know how you get into it, you know, how you become a forensic psychologist. And, you know, it would be, it would just be nice to see more women in sort of, in the sciences. I mean, obviously, we talk about women in sort of the STEM sciences, you know, sort of like your physical ones, but, you know, for the social sciences as well, it'll be nice

to see, you know, more women, you know, because women are so interested in stuff. And I don't know if it's whether maybe, I know a lot of people sort of in the UK, you know, university, you know, people obviously with the fees and things like that and how much time it's, you know, it's, you know, you're at uni three, three, four times a week. So I noticed that a little bit of worry, but it would be nice to sort of, um, sort of explain that more and be like, you know, it's a brilliant thing to study. Yeah. Yeah, I agree.

I, uh, from my knowledge, don't know. anyone who would be studying that so it's probably a good point that there is lack of people interested in studying this course and coming back to to the course what were for example some projects that you did in that course both either undergraduate or postgraduate yeah i did some brilliant for me i sort of my third year was in the covid lockdown period so obviously a lot of I had to do a lot of things online, which was very interested in the approach, especially if you're not used to it. But yeah, I think my favourite projects were my dissertation, because obviously I could pick them. I could pick my topic.

You know, I was always quite lucky. I managed to sort of do essays and things around, like what I was into. You know, a lot of the questions were very similar to things I knew about, but when I was doing my dissertation, I got to pick. So my dissertation as an undergrad was it was about school shooters. And, you know, why? And I looked at the elements of mental illness, bullying and violent media. And, you know, I actually got feedback. And I think I got a second class for it. And feedback I got was, you know, you did so much.

You know, one of those elements in itself could have been a dissertation just looking at mental illness. But I took on three different things. and that was probably my favourite. Yeah, I think I was like, it's that 10,000 worth. So I really enjoyed that project. And the same with my master's. I think obviously it was 15,000 words this time. And I think I had studied serial killers' childhoods

and linking them to different theories and psychology and, you know, trying to explain them that way, which was really interesting, really in depth. I mean, I always had a head start. I always like, I love writing, so I always sort of started my dissertation way before I needed to. But yeah, it was, I think my dissertation is one of my favourite highlight, I think, because I really got to show my interest, because obviously criminology and forensic,

through my experience, were very, they were very essay-based or sort of essay-based type courses. So a lot of the questions were chosen. And they were good questions, I enjoyed them, but they weren't what I could pick. So at least with my dissertation, I got that freedom. Yeah. And also as we spoke before about how many people study these courses. Can you say, for example, how many people were in your class? If it was, just to get an idea how popular it was? Well, my criminology as an undergrad, that was really popular.

I mean, there was times when the halls, the lectures were heaving with people. And they had to sort of get bigger. Really? That wasn't an undergrad. And I think that was because criminology was quite broad, so I'm not too sure. You were talking a fair 100 or so.

It was very busy. With my master's a lot, I didn't expect that. Yeah, the criminology course was huge. That was very big. And then my masters, it was very, it was much smaller. I think just the criminology with

forensic grew. I think, you know, I'm looking at, that maybe maybe about 20 20 to 30 it was a very small class I was just going to say what are some examples that people who go to study such a course what are the positions that they want to work in afterwards would it be if you want to do forensic psychology you'd obviously have to go on and do a PhD to become you know a psychologist doctor but you know if you didn't want to take that route um there is you know you could work you know policing um you can work sort of like social

services you can work in there's just a wide range you know you can there's a hundred hours there's quite a few there's a whole list so anything with criminology base um teaching is you can go and do another thing but yeah there's this it's so broad i mean i was actually surprised when i was looking at more so the criminology side, how many different industries you can work in with the criminology degree? I thought originally it was just mainly that sort of feel, but there was, it was more, it was quite spread out. Because I think it's a lot of the skills that you learn are transferable. So it is very broad, you know, it's not just for people that, you know, you don't have to go if you want to be a doctor. You can sort of study loads of other things.

And it could, you know, you don't even have to necessarily go on and do, you know, a master's in it. You know, you could, it gives you the skills, the research, the writing and the scientific side as well to do anything. You're really quite lucky with a course like criminology. Yeah. And as we discussed before, maybe even like a filmmaker can study that to have knowledge to make these films with the recent boom in this type of.

films and documentaries on Netflix. Yeah, I mean, having, it just gives you that extra sort of knowledge that for as well, like, you know, being able to sort of understand from knowledge in, and understanding sort of people's, from your mindsets or whether you focused on the law aspect or whether you focused on the policing, it just gives you so many different skills that you can really transfer to whatever you want obviously within reason. So did you know what you wanted to do afterwards once you graduate while studying? Yeah, I mean for me, I actually found the sort of transition. If I'm honest,

I found it quite difficult. You know, I did five years at university. So the foundation year and then I did my three years as an undergrad and then my extra years. I had sort of like a structure. I had routine. I had a routine. I had you know, deadlines. And then when I left in 2022 after I graduated for my master's, it was a big change. I didn't have that. And it was, it was quite difficult, especially with someone, someone like me, it was like, what do I do? And I sort of toyed with the idea of doing a PhD. I was thinking, you know, at the beginning of 20203, I wrote a proposal, I reached out to universities. But then I realized, you know, my writing style that I'm comfortable

with and the things that I'm interested in, it was quite difficult for me to sort of get someone on board. So I kind of came to the realization that, you know, my sort of education sort of ends at master's level, which I'm happy with. You know, I've got two good degrees. I had a brilliant, you know, brilliant time at university. So I did find the transition quite difficult. I wasn't too sure, you know, I got a couple of good degrees, but I didn't really know what I could do with them. I had a lot of knowledge about true crime. And I was sort of at a bit of a confusion, but I didn't know what to do, where to, what to reuse.

I think as the months passed, I was doing some regular chores sort of like May, June of last year. And I got a message on my Instagram. You know, I run a little true prime blog. I always talk about different cases. And I got a message saying, hey, you know, we have a really good podcast, that UK based podcasting. and I was like, they went to me, they were like, I've seen your work for a little while,

you know, would you like to write a script for us? And I was like, wow, this is an amazing opportunity. And from that moment, I've written one or two scripts each month for them. And then I was like, okay, this is really interesting. I really like doing this. You know, it gave me a chance to show my skills. You know, I'm writing in a different manner. So obviously I've gone from writing more academically to writing more like a,

not like a story, but more, you know, sort of have to explain everything, sort of in detail, from the start to the end. So I've really enjoyed it. And then I think from then, I sort of was like, okay, let's reach out. You know, my girlfriend's really supportive. So she was like, why don't you reach out to other people? So I sent a few emails out and I emailed a sort of like a broadcasting company that have a website. and they were like, you know, would you like to write an article for us?

That was in the summer last year as well. And I wrote an article and it did well. And again, ever since then I've had maybe one or two articles a month depending. And then I've got, I think the end of last year, I got asked to do a, some bit of research for another UK-based podcaster. So it's sort of kind of built up from there, really. and I think I've got I think I'm doing a podcast, a guest appearance on the podcast tomorrow with an American podcaster about.

Yeah, talking just talking just just just talking. Yeah, just a little casual chat about sort of fines and so yeah, I'm hoping sort of it can sort of keep growing really. So it sounds like when are you going to start your own podcast? Yeah, Joe, I was I happened, I was a few times and you know sort of now there's so many talented podcasters out there doing amazing things

with true crime you know it would I guess I'm not sure how I've how I've died it but you know there's so many talented people I'm happy to

to you know leave the true crime to them like the physical performances and you know talking about it I'm happy to be the writer you know I enjoy right I think I'd be a little bit more confident, I'm a little bit more confident with the writing side and it gives me the chance to do lots of research.

Yeah, yeah. The more confident people can do the podcast. Yeah. And can you name those podcasts or companies you worked with if you can say it publicly? So I've worked for UK True Prime. I've done obviously ever since May, June time I've written the script flow, they're absolutely brilliant. They cover all sorts of crimes and cases that.

are British-based. The articles are written for the crime investigation. So they obviously are there a channel. They broadcast loads of different crime documentary, but they also have a website and they have lots of different articles about crime. So I've written a few varied ones. I've written things about, you know, from serial killers to sort of single murders, to sort of mass, I think some and problems going on in South Korea, some sort of stabbing type crimes. So I've written a different array of different ones. And I've written some research for British murders, just a bit of research for their Patreon exclusive episodes.

I think, yeah, I'm sort of growing from there, really. And can you introduce us a bit more the process, what it works like if they're want to work with you? How do you start researching, writing? So my process for how I approach my work, when I get, you know, I always put forward ideas. So I'm, especially for the UK True Prime podcast, I'm like, you know, here's a few cases that I've read on recently. And then, you know, they would respond back and be like, okay, we like this one. And then what I would do is I would firstly, I would look through all the articles. I would scour articles, see what I can find, you know, it's important to get sort of the background of victim, what they were like,

the same with the killer, the perpetrator as well. So if you did bullet points, so I start off with the childhoods and then go into sort of the backgrounds leading up to the murders, to the crime. So yeah, I would look through sort of Google, do a standard of Google search first, just to get to read more into it. And then I would look through books, so I would go on books. I've got a massive true crime magazine pile in my bedroom. So I would look through all magazines in case there's anything read in there.

I would then check documentaries, watch a few of those if there is any. And I'll just make notes, little bullet points in order. And then when I've got all my bullet points, I want to start to make paragraphs out of them. So I'm quite, because I'm so up like, focus, hyper-focused on writing, I can usually turn around about a 3,000 word piece in about three days. So, yeah, yeah. You're going to say it sounds time consuming. Yeah.

So I didn't expect that. Yeah, it can be. I mean, like, you know, it takes up, you know, most of my mornings, but I love doing it. You know, I love being able to write. So, you know, I could spend all day writing in the script and I'll be really happy, like, doing my research, type in a way. But yeah, you know, I do like to schedule it so, so I don't do it all in one day, so I like to maybe take a couple of mornings to do it. And obviously then I've got the process of rereading it, running it through like a spell check,

Grammally, that sort of thing. And then referencing. My referencing has always been, you know, I've always been one of those people that don't reference properly in the sense of I don't put the reference. So then I have to spend hours trying to find where I found this like, So yeah, so I do my reference in last. So it is a it's a long process, but it's really enjoyable. It's really worth it. And anyone that loves True Prime and loves writing, you know, they would love doing it.

Yeah. Have you got a maybe still favorite podcast or something that you would like to work with? Yeah, I mean, one of my goals is I'd love to be able to spread out more. love to be able to write more people. You know, there's so many good podcasts. And then morbidology is really good. They cover so many different cases. The killer psychologist is just started.

That's a really good podcast, you know, talking about her life as a forensic psychologist. And that's really interesting one. Obviously, UK Prime and British murder is really good. There's so many good ones out there. And they all cover, all cover different things. So you've got ones that are dedicated to British murders and the crimes in the UK, ones that are sort of explaining the life from their perspective for psychologists. And then the American-based crimes, there's so many.

There's so many to research and look into. Yeah. So if someone is listening, make sure to reach out. Yeah, definitely, you know, I hit my Instagram, you know, I can always recommend some amazing documentaries to watch, some really good podcast. talented podcasters to listen to. And you have a quite active presence on Instagram, right? Do you post something every day?

Yeah. Yeah. So when I was doing my master's because I used to get the training, it wasn't a long journey, but I used to commute. And I was like, I want to have a block. You know, write all my knowledge about true crime because masters isn't, you know, it is intense. But compared to life as an undergrad, you know,

I wasn't doing as many days in uni. And obviously it was still sort of post-COVID. So one day was at home as well. So I had the time to sort of run a little blog. And I just sort of grew it from there talking about all different cases, not just sort of murder cases, you know, disappearances as well. So I've been looking forward to sort of growing that. And I think I've got about 800, nearly 900 followers now,

which I'm excited about. You know, that's where I've been, you know, mess with scripts and stuff. So I do love my little Instagram account, you know, sort of kind of promoting my work, but also sort of, especially with the missing cases, to bring sort of attention to those and unsolved murders too. If you want to boost your online presence, check out our digital marketing agency called Trailblazed. You can also enroll in a Skillshare course called the 10 Tips on How to Succeed in Your Creative Career, which was inspired by the podcast.

Lastly, make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter called Creative Spotlight to stay up to date with the show and more. Links are in the show notes. Thanks. And what's the name of your Instagram account? So my name on my Instagram is Megha Christi. It came about because obviously my name is Megan. My name is Megan and it actually started. There was this book.

I can't remember what it was called. A couple of years ago there was this little book. and it was a competition and I think if you won you got about 200 quid and what it was was I can't remember the name I should remember it but you had all these different pages different paragraphs but they weren't in order

and you've got a work out where these paragraphs belong and all these paragraphs are related to different characters so you've got to find these different characters and then find what pages links to characters and then also put it all together as a book where it belong and I tried to do it didn't do it and I used to call myself like Megathopricity because it was kind of like

a detective thing clash with my name and you know what that would be a brilliant name for my I think my my original name was just like true prime like I can't remember what it was called now but it was my it was just something sort of standard like a standard true prime name

but then when I'm sort of doing this book I was like okay this is a brilliant name this is going to have to be my sort of blog name so I've just kept it from that. Yeah. I agree. I like it as well and it helps you to stand out so it's not nothing nothing wrong with it but not like a general crime through crime or something like that you know. Yeah and do you run a blog as well? A blog so that is my actually that's my main sort of blog you know that's the main one

that I have to insert it. I find it easier for me just to have I have it on Facebook too, but I find it easier just to sort of maintain the Instagram side of things. Instagram, I feel, is a bit more popular than maybe other social medias now. So I find that one the most easier to use and sort of navigate as well. So that's why I mainly use that one. And is this working for the podcast or writing articles basically your job now? Is there something else you do or do you write for someone else as well? So writing the sort of articles and the scripts is, you know, is what I do.

You know, I enjoy, you know, going out, asking people, you know, messaging people, whether it's LinkedIn, whether it's Instagram, you know, messaging people, whether they like scriptwriter or, you know, reaching out all over the place. You know, and it's got me some really good results so far. I enjoy it. It means that I can dedicate all my time to writing, put all 100% into my work, which I really enjoy. You know, there's been times, I think, especially in last summer when I was doing,

I had a couple of articles and scripts on the go. And it was like, go, go, go, go, go. Like, it was amazing to be able to have. Because I quite like that. I love that at uni. You know, you had the deadlines and you were writing essentially for someone. I love, obviously, my blog is my whole. hobby, I enjoy that in my personal time, but being able to write for someone else and to have the

deadlines, I love that structure, and especially is it something that I enjoy doing. So, yeah, I love to put all the effort into my work to make it, you know, as good as I can and hopefully attract other people into, you know, wanting me to write for them. And what do you do if that happens when you, you know, lose your creativity or when you don't know how to continue, because it sounds to me like it needs to be hard to keep riding all the time. So what do you do if you encounter such moments? Yeah, I mean, obviously being a freelance writer, you know, there are times where, you know, I could maybe have a couple of weeks without a project to do. And, you know, for me, it's not, it's not about the money. It's about the enjoyment. So if I

have a couple of weeks without any projects. I sort of like, oh, like I've got no writing. I love writing, writing, writing my whole life. So I do sort of, sort of have that little, little, uh, moment. But then I realize, you know, that as a freelancer, you've got to build, and it happens, and it's okay. And I find other things to keep me going. So I keep looking at true prime stuff. I have my little blog. So I keep the writing going, which actually helps having the blog on the side, It helps my creativity because I know I update that every single day. So I know that if there's maybe a week or so, I don't have a script or an article to write, I've got my blog, which I have to keep, I keep doing, I keep updating.

And so it keeps my sort of creativity flowing. It keeps my, you know, obviously my interest is there. So that's how I sort of feel those periods where I might not have an article to write. And talking about the audience or the followers on Instagram, have you checked if it's, you know, what's the demographics? If it's also the more women than men or what are the ages? It was interesting. I think obviously I have the same sort of account on Facebook. And Facebook actually, you can break down and you can see.

And it did actually come up while looking at sort of the demographics and it did actually say a lot more women, which I'm not surprised. are the bigger consumers of true crime content. But it is really interesting. I think obviously I do sort of interact with a lot of my followers on Instagram. You know, it's a lot of those are women talking about sort of, I'm going to remember this case. This case is awful. So obviously I always like to interact.

And, you know, from my followers, I actually get, you know, new cases that I've never heard of before. So I find the interaction, especially in the true crime community. really important to be able to read more into cases I've not heard of before. Yeah. And with such a big interest in this type of content, is there also a lot of people who are actually writing it, such as for you competition of other writers?

Or what is it like from this point of you? It's such a hot topic now. you know, so many, like I said, documentaries and podcasts out there. And there's loads of amazing talented writers. And it might be a little bit, I wouldn't necessarily say it's harder to be seen. I think it might take a little bit longer because there's so many talented people. But I don't really see it as competition. I just see it as, I look at it in the way of like these other people are amazing writers.

I can maybe learn something or I can maybe communicate and reach out and learn more cases maybe that they've covered, you know, listen to them. So I wouldn't see them as competition. I wouldn't see them as, you know, as a negative thing. I just see it as someone that I maybe could look up to. Maybe I could reach out to because, you know, obviously freelance writing is competitive. You know, it's very competitive, not just with people that are interested in the true prime, but then you've got on the other end of it, you've got journalists in general,

with journalist degrees, which I don't know. I just see it as, yeah, I don't see it as competition. and I just see them as, you know, I'm learning something. We're all equally talented. We all have the same interest. We can not work together. Yeah, I think that's the right mindset. And who's your maybe people that inspire you or some, you know,

writers in that area that you like to follow or you like their work? I've read a lot of books. So obviously one of my big inspirations is Aphrodite Jones. She's an American, you know, she's, she does so, she's written so many brilliant true prime books. She does, I watch Aphrodite Jones at prime documentaries, absolutely brilliant the way she covers them. And then I'm also, you know, a really big fan of morbidology. They do absolutely amazing sort of interesting cases. You know, I've been reading some of the cases listen to their podcast, you know, because I'm like, wow, I've never heard of this before.

So there's loads of, loads of different people that I look up to and be that, wow, you know, they're so successful, you know, they're amazing at what they do. You can see their passion, their interests, you know, how they advocate for the victims as well. You know, always making sure the victims are remembered, which is the most important thing in true crime, you know, we see with the documentaries, you know, sometimes these sort of, not much documentaries, but more of the Netflix dramas and things like that. We do see maybe more focus

and the sensationalism of the killer themselves. And little sort of focus on the victims. So, you know, so many podcasts and writers and TV presenters, like, you know, True Crime documentary hosts and stuff, they always make sure that the victim is remembered, which is the most important thing.

Yeah. And this may be, be a silly question, but does that happen or how often does that happen that there is a crime that you didn't know about? Because I'm sure you must know so much. So many times. I'm literally, I'm just writing a little blog entry for, I was looking through cases what I could write for my blog this week. And I found one, sort of like a basketball sort of a murder in high school. And I was like, oh my God, I've never heard this one before. And the amount of times I've looked. And I like to focus on the crimes I haven't heard of before because I like to think that maybe my audience,

my followers also haven't heard of those. So I like to be able to sort of reach out that different aspect as well. So yeah, a lot of the time I'm like, geez, I've not heard of this before, have to read into it, have to write about it, have to put it in a book. But yeah, but I like that. And that's the thing with true climate that so many of these cases that sadly happen in every single day that around the world that there's you know there's always a case that you probably haven't heard of or haven't written about yeah yeah i mean i cannot imagine what it must feel like to have knowledge like you do of all this terrible stuff that has been happening yeah i mean that's where the balance of finding other things so for me you know before true crime writing was

my job. You know, my hobby was to sort of watch documentaries, write my blog, but now obviously it is my job. You know, you're reading a lot of horrific things, you know, awful, awful primes that have happened. And, you know, so what I do now is I dedicate my morning. So if I've got an article or so to write, you know, I would have a true crime documentary on, I'd write my article and I'd do my blog at the same time. So then when that's finished, the true crime TV goes off, the laptop shuts and then I do my other hobby which is Lego so like I I sort of wind down that I do some Lego building Lego it's so nice yeah yeah it's so therapeutic and it's a really it sort of still has like creative edge to it so it's sort of true time free it's sort of a wind down

time and it's sort of something a little bit different but still get creative and still gets your brain going. So it's sort of finding that balance. So it actually helps you to switch off and you are able not to think about it. Oh yeah, that's that's smart. Something I was really curious about. And for example, does it influence you when you go outside in the evening and you are more scared or the opposite that you are not scared or it doesn't influence you at all? Oh, 100%. It definitely makes you a little bit more wary. It definitely makes you, um, obviously, I don't, I don't even fear of these crimes. You know, things that serial kittens are rare. Um, but obviously it does, it does make you think twice about going out. Um, and that's the

crazy thing because obviously, you know, we as women, we, we are quite scared of going out in the dark, but we consume so much true crime content. Um, it's a very, it is very interesting. Um, but yeah it definitely does sort of make you more wary so in some ways the positive side of the true ground content is it does make you more aware um which is a good thing but yeah it definitely does sort of play in your mind a bit like oh okay i'm probably not going to like walk down here or probably gonna you know the thing is as well with with sort of especially when you sort of study serial with these people you know they can blend it you know they're not sort of um scary looking in like you're seeing the horror film.

These people will generally blend in. So it's all about, so you're probably not going to know, but the thing is, yeah, it definitely does make you more aware. And I think that's one of the things

that's like horror films and stuff. They've sort of given, we've sort of gone past this now with our interest in true crime has grown as society, but you know, horror films have always sort of depicted like, sort of serial killers

as sort of, strange looking acting in a certain way but in reality that case you look at for example people like Ted Bundy who was very popular you wouldn't look at him and think you know he's an absolute monster he's a evil man you wouldn't you know he's someone you've passed on the street and you wouldn't even notice um so obviously yeah in a way you know yeah the true crime way it has shown us sort of you know we are even more cautious I don't know if that's a negative thing because as women we are generally, you know, more scared of going out in the dark. So I don't necessarily know if it's made it any sort of harder for us,

but I think it's definitely made us more aware. Yes, yes. Yeah, I was going to say the same, that quite often when I read about something or even watched film or documentary, the person looked completely normal and you would never expect such a person to do something like that. And that's what makes it scary. It's something unexpected. then you find out.

Yeah, that's a totally normal reaction as well. You know, as over decades and stuff, we've become so used to seeing the, especially of things like Friday or third, it'll be sort of horror film, as them to be sort of scary looking and acting in a strange manner. But in reality, that's not the case at all.

And, you know, we've become, you know, sort of, we've kind of grown on from that now, so we're kind of sort of realizing that, you know, we may walk past someone. That is a serial. And we would, I mean, obviously it's very rare, but we wouldn't know who they are. And I think whilst it's really scary to think about, it's sort of, you know, deterred us from looking at maybe more people that look a bit different.

Because that's what sort of horror films and these sensationalise. At the end of the day, obviously, these sort of horror films specifically, you know, they're designed to scare. They're designed for entertainment, to scare you. They're not there as a sort of reflection of reality, like true crime documentaries are. So we have sort of thankfully sort of seen that, you know, people that may look a bit different in society are not, you know, not scary, scary people. So, yeah, I'm so glad we've moved on from that. I actually did a, I think one of my pieces at university was the role of the media and how it sort of negatively looked at, you know, sort of 20 or years ago as the role of, you know, mental illness as people being, you know, angry and violent when in actual fact, people with, you know, you know, you know, mental illness are more likely to be the victims of fright.

So I'm so glad you kind of moved on from that way of thinking. We've still got a long way to go. They're asked, you know, it's still natural, as it's been, you know, in the media for so long. But I'm so glad we're starting to sort of move on from that because the stigmatization and things are not nice, you know, well, for people. So, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Can we now I would like to discuss more about your interest or benefit from your knowledge. So can you tell us maybe what specific areas of true crime interests you and why?

Such as what type of killers, murders or what you like? My main interest is why women kill. that I've been interested in for a long time, you know, women are seen as caregivers. They're seen as, you know, maternal, but yet they can actually be some of the world's most, you know, depraved killers. And I think that for me is really interesting to read how calculated and manipulative some women can be, you know, I've read cases where women, you know, kill their apartments for money, women, you know, horrifically have killed their children, and women have killed their best friends, you know, whether it's from jealousy to money, you know, why women

kill is generally something that fascinates me in a way because, you know, as a society, we just don't expect women to be able to be so brutal, especially, you know, I've looked a lot of, I think at one period in my blog, I sort of wrote about every sort of woman that's on death row, and some the kind of absolutely horrendous. You know, just just absolutely shocking that a woman can be capable of with such sheer like sadistic acts. And can you spot or are there some recurring themes between people or women who do this? Yeah, so in the cases that I've read, there's definitely money, sort of a financial benefit, you know, killing their partners for life insurance, for property, that sort of thing. That's definitely a recurring theme. And also jealousy, jealousy is huge,

whether they're jealous because their partner's got a lot of attention or whether they're jealous because, you know, their partner wants a divorce. I've read a horrific case in the States where, you know, a woman was so, you know, they're, I think, having a partner going through a divorce, she killed her children. Like, absolutely horrendous sort of, okay, there's such a broad sort of why women do kill, but, you know, it's just absolutely shocking. And some of the cases I read of women still sort of shocked me today, really. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I cannot imagine.

Sometimes when I read something similar, I cannot believe it either. I don't know what to say. And are there some specific examples that, you know, surprised you. Maybe not how brutal it was, but for some reason that is worth mentioning, maybe something you know you couldn't believe or something just unique to share? Yeah, I mean, when I'm looking at cases, you know, I've been reading True Crime for nearly a decade now. So, you know, there's still cases that still, you know, shock me today.

You know, you would think someone that's read True Prime, you know, for so long, you know, you don't ever become desensitized to it. You know, there's always a case that's like, this is absolutely horrific. You know, we are still humans. We still, you know, we still have feelings. We still have emotions. I think one of the most shocking cases, I think,

there's so many to choose. I think it would have to be the Ken and Barbie killers for me. You know, she was a woman in Canada with her partner, and they killed three girls, but one of them was Carla, her name Carla Hamalka, and her partner, she was in her kind of barbie killers, they killed her younger sister

and they lured her into a trap. And she died of her, they say she died of her accidental overdose because they did drug her, but you know, so it wasn't, they didn't tech, I guess she'd say they didn't technically murder,

but she, you know, if they didn't drug her, she wouldn't, they didn't get her any help, basically. So she was left and they, you know, they do all sorts of horrible things to her and stuff.

And I'm just like, you know, I think that really got me, you know, obviously all the victims were horrendous, but to do that to your own sister as well. And yeah, and then go on to do it to other sort of teenagers who are age, it just absolutely horrendous the fact that it was a man and a woman. And just the whole overall case in general, like after the murders and the trial and stuff, you know, how she, you know, made a plea bargain before they found the horrific tapes that showed that she was complicit. and she only served 12 years. He's obviously, you know,

in prison for life, the male killer's in prison for life now. But, you know, how she essentially only did such a short time for such a horrific, you know, really horrific crack still back towards me today.

And sorry, what was the reason behind it? Why did they do it? Well, I don't necessarily, I mean, I've read a few books in the case. I don't know if maybe she was jealous

because her husband was attracted to her younger sister. They believe that might be one of the reasons why she maybe lures her. That was one that I've read on. But, yeah, I mean, some of these parts, it's just so hard to sort of be like, what goes through someone's mind to do that to anyone, let alone your relative? You know, it's just really, it's hard to get your head around. Even I've read on this case for like 10 years.

And even today, I'm just like, it's just, it's sickening it. Yeah. And does that happen that you find the case? And maybe you cannot find enough of information or the information you find doesn't satisfy your curiosity. So, you know, you end up being like, oh, how did this end up? What's, how did it, you know, what happened afterwards? Yeah, that's definitely happened in my blog writing and my regular writing. you know, I was writing a podcast for UK true crime about the murder of Eve Hours, Eve Hours.

I believe I can't remember her name, but that was the case I was writing about, and she was killed by her two children, but they believed that the husband sort of manipulated them into doing it. And I couldn't find much on that. I mean, I've got basics of their upbringing, but I couldn't find a lot of detail. So it made the writing a bit like, how do I, you know, I've got to do three years. thousand words, you know, there's loads on the prime, loads on the sentencing, but there's nothing really much on the upbringing. And I sort of have to really do a deep dive. And, you know, for me, what I find is if, you know, there isn't a lot of information, obviously I like the podcast

and I let people that I might have will know, you know, there wasn't a lot, but, you know, I've maybe looked at maybe a theory or something. So a lot of the time I sort of added things like statistics, which relate to the case. I think, for example, I was writing a script about I think one of them I was writing about sort of murder of a partner and I looked at statistics of domestic violence in the UK how, you know, what the percentages are, you know, I sort of make, so I always make it work, I always make my scripts work, I just always find other sort of facts and figures that can sort of make a whole story

because obviously you've got the element of the crime, you've got all of that, But for me personally, I find it interesting in looking at sort of statistics and potential reasons. And could this murder have been, you know, could this, you know, horrific crime been avoided? So, yeah, I always try and find ways to still do, if I find a case that I want, I still want to do, I still want to write about the case. I just find other ways to sort of present it. Yeah. I had this question. It's probably a bit related to what you just said.

It may sound a bit Hollywood-like or I don't know. But for example, if you were researching something or diving into specific case, did it happen that you came up with a theory in your mind or some facts or evidence that could help and try to reach out to someone to say that, oh, maybe you forgot about this or what about this? Did something like that ever happen? Yeah, so like when I research, if I'm researching the case and I'm looking at it, I was like, oh my God, this sounds familiar or this sound like something else I've read before or this sounds like maybe it would match to the statistic.

That actually helps with what you said about, you know, maybe not finding enough information. So I always sort of, I try and link. I do try and link. So there is, for example, with that case that I struggled with the mother being murdered, I try to look at other sort of cases that were similar. It's all trying to link it all together. I mean, obviously, no, not all crimes are the same. So it is very hard to sort of directly link things.

But, you know, if there's some similarities, which I do find in some cases of me research, there are, I do try and refer back or make reference to or, you know, which potentially could lead to another script, another episode, another article. So it keeps like an interest in the case. Yeah. Maybe in the future you will help them to kind of solve the case, you know. Yeah, yeah. If something I resolved, thanks to your information and knowledge, that would be interesting. Yeah, I mean, obviously with unsolved murders, you know, there's so many unsolved murders.

murders and I like to be able to sort of maybe want a couple of times a week, you know, show those or missing people, you know, it's a shame because there's so many missing people around. It's a shame it's not like newspapers and articles cover so much true prime now. You know, maybe some of these big sort of paper should maybe dedicate a page or something a week to missing cases or unsolved unsold murders and stuff, you know, because there are so many and a lot of people don't know about, you know, there's a lot of, you know, answer whether I didn't know about. And, you know, they all deserve justice. Their family deserve justice as well. So I know we have a big interest in true crime, especially the media, but it would be nice for them to do even more about those that are missing and haven't been solved yet. Yeah, yeah. And as we discussed before, a bit of statistics. Are there, can you share some more either like recurring themes or statistics, for example, if there are certain places where crimes happen when it comes to, I don't know, countries or something, or, you know, these interesting things.

Yeah, so obviously when I was doing my undergrad dissertation, I did it on school shootings and, you know, horrific crimes. And they have happened. Germany have had a lot of school shootings, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, you know, they've happened around the world, but it's very prominent in the United States. And what I found really interesting was why is it such a big thing? I mean, obviously, you know, there's the topic of gun control, which obviously is the big one, you know, there's guns are more easily accessible than to other countries. but what I found interesting was looking at other issues of sort of like mental illness, you know, when I was looking. And a lot of the boys predominantly young men were our school shooters in the States and seeing that some of them actually had sort of like they had some sort of underlying, whether it was undiagnosed or not mental illness seemed to be quite a common theme. And, you know, when I was looking, you know, one of the articles I was reading

at that in the United States, you know, it's so expensive to see a psychiatrist. It's very expensive. There was maybe not enough psychiatrists sort of like people at school to talk to. So it was really interested. And then reading about were they influenced by video games, where they influenced, you know, how were they victims of doing like so much. And it was interesting to see, I mean, the statistics, you know, there was a, when I was looking at whether bullying,

and they said, as statistics, well over 70% of students in the United States have been bullied, but the percentage for school shooters is minimal in comparison. So obviously that is not a direct factor at all. You know, maybe some of the shooters were bullied at some point, but there is no direct link at all. You know, there's no direct link between violent video games. Yes, again, like some of these shooters play games,

buy in a video games, but there was no direct link at all. Yeah, what I found interest when I was doing that study is they found that nowadays a lot of women play video games, quite a, not around just under half women now play video games, but women school shooters are extremely rare. So reading these statistics, whilst they give you some answers, they also raise more questions. Yeah. And Can you see that over time it's perhaps getting better or worse or it's still kind of the same? I mean, obviously it's very difficult because we don't, obviously in the UK we don't get as much news from the States over here.

So a lot of times we sort of don't hear about. So we only sort of hear about when school students are horrific, you know, many victims. we hear about those, we don't hear about the other ones that, you know, maybe a guy walked into a school and there were no victims, there were, there were injuries, but no victims. So, in the sense of anyone had died. So, I mean, it's hard to sort of see from maybe my perspective, but there definitely seems to be, it doesn't seem to be getting any better. It potentially looks like it is. I mean, maybe not so much schoolshoulders in general, so sort of, whether it's the workplace. But yeah, I mean, it is, they are just horrific crimes that, you know, I mean, we've had a few shootings here, you know, the one in Plymouth a couple of years ago.

Well, Jake, is it Jake Davidson? Jake Davidson, I can't remember, it's his surname, but he, you know, went on the spring and he killed a few people before taking his own life. That was horrific, absolutely horrendous. But over here, they are extremely rare. So, you know, what got me is these crimes, whether they are. you know, in the States or abroad, they still affect the community, they still affect everyone, they still have a horrifying effect that will impact people in the area more wider for decades to come. And it will make people, you know, even more so, especially when they do take their own lives,

is why did they do this, you know, looking at reasons why, you know, trying to make these horrific events not happen again? Yeah, it's actually very unfortunate coincidence, but where I'm from, Czech Republic, we had a shoot in December. Yes, I saw it. It's pretty much a month ago. The university was that, see? It was terrible. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because you would never expect that would happen in such a safe country and safe city. I would say that it happens mostly just in the US, and then this happened.

I was terrible. I don't even know what to say about it. Yeah, it's absolutely. I mean, I remember. Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, we don't, like you said, we don't expect them. We don't expect them in Europe anywhere near the extent that, you know, these people suffer in the United States. But, you know, they do happen. I think that's the thing because they are so rare here.

When they do happen, you know, it's like, oh my God. like and whereas whereas you see when you see in the news in the States, there's another horrific school shooting or a mass shooting happens it always brings up the arguments of you know guns whereas in the UK it's like

you know because we don't have them at anywhere near the same rate the reaction is very different to what it is in the States you know obviously they're shocked and of course devastated but there's so many questions and you know people want an answer whereas here about

gun control whereas here it's like you know this is horrendous and we have strict gun laws you know there is gun control but yet these incidents you know it's like we're lost for words because we just don't expect them yeah i i cannot agree and was there or did you ever uh find some kind of crime or incident that happened near to your place uh yeah so actually where my mom lived uh in in Essex, we had a teenager, a 15-year-old boy, James Fairweather, his name was, he killed two people. And this is what makes this case very odd because he didn't have a specific modus operandi. He didn't have a specific MO. You know, his first victim he killed in a popular park in the evening.

And this man was stabbed hundreds of times, horrendous man. And they couldn't find the killer because it was such a frenzied attack. They couldn't find him. And the killer didn't strike again. I think it ended about a year or so later or a while or later. And then a woman walking to university was killed, ambushed in a horrific sort of manner, you know, multiple stab wounds. And again, they didn't know who the killer was.

And the victims were so very different. They, I don't, I can't know if they linked them first straight away, but they couldn't work out, you know, these two horrendous crimes. And then I believe he was eventually caught because, a woman was walking her dog and she saw someone sort of lurking in the bushes. And it turned out to be the killer. He was lurking in the bushes. He was arrested.

And the scariest thing was he was actually interviewed, I believe, after the first murder because they were interviewing loads of people with sort of previous sort of convictions of charges. And, you know, that was really scary because I remember on the news there was articles like, is there a serial killer like? And, you know, he killed two victims now. they were all very different but the only common denominator

whereas I think the guy that he killed he had a disability I believe and the second was a woman much smaller so the only sort of common denominator is that they were essentially a lot weaker to the killer you know and

that was the only sort of common variable between the boat but it was very scary because you didn't know who was going to go for next whereas down the Road in Ipswich that many years ago they had the Suffolk Strangler and he was targeting sex workers that were working in the Red Light District in Portman Road and you know the police knew that they were looking for someone who was targeting solely sex workers and it was a

horrible time for the women over there and whereas the police sort of incultuous over it you know they didn't know who they were looking for because they were targeting anyone yeah I was just, I'm sorry, trying to imagine it sounds terrible, especially when it happens so close to where you are from or the people you know are from. Yeah, it was, I mean, it was quite, it was definitely quite a scary one. I mean, for people that maybe went out and sort of people are like the woman that found sort of, looking at, walking their dogs, more quieter areas. Because we didn't really know who he looked like. We knew it was a male. But we didn't know that, I mean, he was about 15. He was only a teenager. So we didn't know really that he was young, that young. No one really

knew as a male. We didn't really know what he looked like. So that was, that was what was scary. And so did maybe you said it, but did they find out in the end what was this motive? Why did he do that? I'm not quite sure I mean I know he got sort of I'm pretty sure he got a live sentence but they found that he was very obsessed he read lots of serial killer books

he was sort of very obsessed with murder I know they found a load of books at his home but yeah it was I think I'm presuming if I remember rightly that that was his aim To be a serial killer, I believe if I remember rightly. But yeah, that was that was quite scary. They found a whole load of sort of like true crime,

things like that and in his room. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And something I'm also curious about, can we discuss films and documentaries a bit? What are maybe your favourite ones and why? in films in general or true crime related ones or anything when it comes to crime related ones oh okay I think

when it comes to TV shows documentaries I'm a massive fan of anything on Discovery Plus I find Discovery Plus is quite underrated when it comes to other streaming networks but they have the best range of documentaries you've got serial killers, you've got women that kill, you've got all different types of crimes of populace. There's so many, I think I've watched a couple, the case of Jodi Arias, who killed her ex-boyfriend. I've watched that one several times on Discovery Plus. Really interesting the way they do them very sensitively as well.

So, literally, I can't pick a favourite because there's so many on Discovery Plus that I enjoy. when it comes to films, I think one of the ones that I remember the most is probably true crime-related, probably Monster with Charlie Steron, playing Eileen Warnoff. Oh yeah, didn't she win Oscar for that? Yes, you are. I saw that. Oh, my God. Yes, that was, I think. I saw the transformation what she looked like there versus real.

Oh my gosh, it's unbelievable. Yeah, I mean, I've read the book. I've watched the film. I've read a few things on Island Oneness. To me, I thought it was, I thought it was really well done. You know, it is, obviously, it's quite difficult to get exact details. I mean, the name, obviously, Pristina Ritchie's name, the character she played wasn't the real name of her girlfriend. So they changed the name, little things like that.

But, yeah. Oh, wow. I didn't know. It was, I'm not, I can't remember why I'm not, I can't remember why they did that, I'm not too sure, but I know they changed names, things like that, but I think it was, I think it was very well done. I mean, I've been to Los Angeles a few times and I did actually remember seeing, in sort of the Hollywood and Highland Mall, they've actually got carved into the walls, like, different winners, and I remember seeing Charlie's Dron and Monster being up there. Yeah. Yeah, I can recommend the film as well. It was a good one. And what do you think about those either TV series or documentaries on Netflix?

Do you find them generally well done or it really depends? I mean, yeah, it does really depend. I think some are good. Some are very sensationalized. I think I do like them. I do watch them. But I think Netflix, you know, it does get so. much attention and rightly so,

the other documentaries are good, but I feel like other places like Discovery Plus have been doing crime documentaries for so long. They don't get the same sort of attention, I think. I don't think it's because maybe many people don't know about it. But I, yeah, I mean,

yeah, they're good. I've seen a fair few good ones on Netflix. I'm watching, I watched I think recently the I'm a stalker one on Netflix. Different cases. of people that have been convicted of stuff. That's quite chilling, actually, quite scary.

I've watched a couple of those. That's a newer one. But I do watch them, and I do sometimes enjoy them, but I always like to stick to Discovery Plus. I think when it comes to crime for me, it's such a range, diverse range. Yeah, I feel like there is almost always something new. It might be hard to keep up with all the content.

that they keep releasing. Every channel, whether it's ITVX, channel 5, channel 4, and then all Sky, Sky now have a Sky Crime channel. So there's so much content out there now and so many different ways of watching it as well. YouTube, TikTok,

play the podcast as well. So there's so many ways to sort of listen or watch true crime content now than there was I know like maybe five six years ago yeah yeah and to discuss something a bit more positive what are your favorite films or TV series

outside of crime I'm quite like sort of the old sort of geeky classics but I love Terminator I love Star Wars I love alien all sorts of films like that TV series oh I like lost Big Bang Theory.

I mean, Big Bang Theory usually is my background. Sometimes I'm working on like a really horrible fly, like something really nice to have something sort of light to finish with or to watch after us. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I

love all sorts of those sort of old school sort of sci-fi type things. Yeah, sounds good. We have 10 minutes left. So is there something that I should have asked you and did not or something that you would like to share? No, I think you covered everything, loads of different aspects. I think for me, the thing that I'd love to share is obviously the thing with writing is that, you know,

I would always say when people ask me about my university experience, it was amazing, absolutely loved it. And if people say, you know, would they recommend going to university? I would always say if you want to go for it, you know, for my experience, it was amazing. But I also have want to point out that, you know, university isn't everything, you know, especially for things like writing, writing is a skill that, you know, with time and consistency, it will get better. You know, and if you don't want to go down the university, but that's perfectly fine. I mean, I was approached to do scripts from my blog. So, you know, it's up to you whether you want to take that path. But for me, it would be, you know, if you love doing it, especially the right

writing and you're passionate about writing, keep it going. You know, whether it remains a hobby or it's something, you know, you can make a job in a career out of. I think you should still do it regardless because your writing will only get better when you practice it more and you write more. So yeah, that would be one thing that I would say is, you know, when it comes to writing, you should never give up because writing does only get better with the practice that you put in.

And I think, you know, I think one of my biggest things. goals now is to expand my clients as such. You know, I want to be able to write for more scripts, write to write more articles. Maybe, you know, I've seen in the papers online, you know, they sort of randomly, whether it's the daily mirror or the sun, they normally sort of cover random true prime cases that I wouldn't really expect them to cover. So I'd love to be able to maybe do some input for them, maybe sort of encourage more true primarity. And I think one of my other biggest goals I would say is, I mentioned I've been to Los Angeles a few times.

And this was before I was interested in true crime, which is for like holidays and stuff. And California in itself, such a true crime history from the Manson murders, Spadalia, like so many different cases, serial killers, all different types of crimes. And I'd love to be able to sort of go back, like a kind of writer's retreat, you know,

research, I think that would be my biggest goal and be able to come back with lots of information, enhance my blog a bit, maybe give some ideas. So, yeah, I think that would be my, those would be my biggest goal. I think my words for anyone, especially someone that is neurodivergent, is that, you know, we can do anything. We can do anything anyone else can. And if we're good at something, you know, we should put all our, all our best efforts into doing it because, you know, we are creative people. You know, very creative.

And, yeah, you know, we shouldn't give up or have, you know, worry about, you know, whether this will affect my career. It won't, you know, keep being yourself. That's the most important message. Yeah, yeah. And would you be also interested in writing scripts for these TV series or films even? Oh, definitely. You know, I definitely, I mean, I would love to be able to do some research for documentaries. I love to be brought on because obviously when they do these, obviously, you know,

you've got the camera crew and all the interviewers and stuff. They're doing their thing. They obviously need someone to gather the research, you know, reach out to maybe some of the relative and I'd love to be able to do that, to get involved in that, you know. I love working on podcasts as well and it would also be nice to work on an actual like series. Because it would be, I can imagine it's very different to the way research is doing a podcast. So it'd be nice to sort of have that experience as well. Because it's all experience at the end of the day.

Yeah. Yeah, and it's definitely good to try something new because you may find out that there is something new that interests you or you may get new experience, meet new people, you'll never know. Definitely. And are there any... I just say it's a way to sort of branch out. So for me, for example, I do podcast writing, I do, you know, article writing. It'll be then nice to add sort of research for TV into my CV as well.

Yeah, I was just going to ask you if there are any upcoming projects, whether, I don't know, books, articles, films that you are excited about. Yeah, I mean, I've just finished a script for a murder in Manchester at the moment. So that should hopefully be on the podcast soon. Like I said, I've got a, I'm going to be a guest in an American podcast tomorrow. I'm talking about, you know, having a chat about UK prime and things like that. And then, so yeah, I've got a few things line up that I'm looking forward to. So yeah, I think that's it.

And hopefully, you know, February is a new month coming soon. So hopefully there'll be a lot more projects, more scripts that I can write. Yeah, fingers crossed. So can you summarize, I know we just talked about it, but can you summarize where people can follow you and other projects that you worked on and people can check out. Okay, so yeah, I, um, so you can follow me on Instagram. My true prime blog is mega frisci.

That's where that's my means or, you know, place you see in my work or my cases I've sort of read about uncovered. You know, I'm always welcome to people to message me to ask for, you know, what, what sort of prime documentaries are good to watch, podcasts to listen to, etc. So obviously I didn't, obviously I don't perform the podcast. write them. So I've written a few for UK True Prime. So I'm happy to, sort of if people want to know, I'm happy to sort of send them the links. So I've done a few cases for them. So I'm always happy to send the links because I've done quite a few. But yeah, I'm easily approachable to talk about,

you know, I love to talk about True Prime. So my inbox is always open for whether it's opportunities, whether it's chats about True Prime. Yeah, that is awesome. I will get the links and add them to the show notes so that people can have a look. Awesome. Thank you. I think we can finish up then. I want to thank you. Thank you very much. It was awesome. I really enjoyed this discussion. And it's just a very interesting topic. So I'm glad that you could join us so that we can explore this and hopefully educate you. listeners more in this area.

Awesome. Thank you very much for having me. Yeah, it's definitely different topics to discuss, but it's been interesting to talk about the first podcast as well, so I was really nervous about it. I didn't really know what to say. I read to this joke that I was like but yeah, no, it was really enjoyable.

Again, thank you for having me. Thank you for listening. If we enjoy the show, please leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast app, get in touch to provide your feedback, or share any ideas for future guests. Thank you and see you soon.