WRITING doesn’t come from inspiration, inspiration comes from writing, says Canberra author Chris Hammer.

And he should know, the former journalist has just published his seventh book, the crime thriller “The Tilt”.

Hammer is a leading writer of “Australian noir” and says the secret to a successful writing career is “you have to love doing it, and you have to want to get better”.

“I wrote two non-fiction books some years ago, ‘The River’ published in 2010 and ‘The Coast’ in 2012. It was actually a good stepping stone for me in retrospect, from journalism into fiction,” he told “CityNews”.

“The River” won him the ACT Book of the Year Award. 

For many years he was a roving foreign correspondent for SBS TV’s current affairs program “Dateline”. He has reported from more than 30 countries on six continents. 

In Canberra, his roles included chief political correspondent for “The Bulletin” magazine and current affairs correspondent for SBS TV. 

He says that “The Tilt”, his fifth crime fiction book emphasised the difference in journalistic writing.

“I think what stood out to me most in comparison of both styles, narrative writing is a sustained effort over a long period of time,” says Hammer.

“Making things up, of course, is totally different from journalism. Journalistic writing is often very shorthand and quite cliched. It’s almost like you have to totally relearn the way you use language in a narrative book, but there are advantages in having been a journalist.”

He says journalism demystifies writing, and that has led him to discover and believe that inspiration comes from writing.

“Often you’re writing away and it’s only been half an hour, and inspiration comes,” he says.

“The other thing that I think journalism helps with is you get used to being edited and you don’t get too proud about it. You understand that what the editor is trying to do is turn your piece into a better book.”

Hammer’s debut crime-fiction novel “Scrublands” was published in 2018, then “Silver” in 2019, “Trust” in 2020 and “Treasure & Dirt” in 2021.

“I’ve been writing full-time now since before ‘Scrublands’ came out. I actually lost my job around that time,” he says.

“I was working for the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ and ‘The Age’, and I was working on video, but they decided there was no future in video so they essentially canned most of the video team.

“I was very lucky; around that time I got a fantastic book contract which took me totally by surprise. After the non-fiction books I just didn’t think you could make enough money writing books in Australia, but now I’m one of the few exceptions.”

Hammer says he doesn’t miss journalism, but he also doesn’t have any regrets about his career.

“People ask if I regret not starting to write books 20 years earlier, but no, I really enjoyed being a journo and I don’t know if I could’ve done it 20 years ago. I don’t know if I had the skills or the patience,” he says.

“The highlight for me are the times when a story just crystallises while I’m writing it, when an idea comes together and the words are just flowing.”

Hammer says he gets a coffee, and that’s all he needs to begin writing.

“I do have a place at home where I can write, but I actually like writing away from home,” he says.

“I write a lot when I’m travelling – planes, airports, trains – whenever I go to Sydney I catch the train rather than drive, and I find that to be really productive. I think it goes back to my years as a travelling journalist.

“I find it quite stimulating actually having a bit of activity around. Newsrooms can be very noisy places. The person at the desk next to you might have filed and be yelling and mucking around, but you’re on a deadline and have to concentrate.”

Hammer says he signed off on the last edits of “The Tilt” at the start of July.

“There’s a three-month gap between finishing the editing work and the book coming out, so I’ve got to make the most of that time and I’ve started working away on the next book; hopefully it comes out around the same time next year,” he says.

“It’s another crime fiction book, I think again featuring Mel and Ivan,” the principal characters of “Treasure & Dirt” and “The Tilt”.