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RITING a James Pattersonbranded Bookshots thriller was an incredible experience, made extra challenging by the short format. A normal length novel is 75 000 to 100 000 words — a Bookshots novel is only 25 000 — but there has to be just as much action in the Bookshots.

To start with, I had to submit a synopsis good enough to persuade Patterson to consider the full manuscript. This meant I had to throw my hero, Joey Montague, right into the thick of things, and make sure trouble kept on coming.

There can be no unluckier person, I discovered, than the star of a Bookshots thriller. I thought I’d made Joey’s life as bad as it could be, with a side order of life-threatening disaster for Isobel, the female lead — but the message came back from Patterson: We like it, but more action in the first half, please.

Back to the drawing board I went, and erased the only moment of peace and quiet that Joey had. Instead, he became the victim of an attempted mugging during a violent thunderstorm.

I wanted the book to have a topical theme. Since it was set in Joburg, I decided to tackle the subject of illegal gold mining. I was fascinated to learn how prevalent it is and how much crime occurs as a result. It’s a high-risk activity undertaken by desperate people. Toiling in the dark, they risk suffocation, injury, being trapped under the surface, or being murdered by rival gangs.

Originally, I called the book 26 Degrees South, after the co-ordinates of the mine Joey helps Isobel reach when she suspects foul play. However, when Patterson read the full manuscript, he thought it would work as part of his famous Private series. Instead of being an independent PI, Joey could head up the SA branch of Private, the international investigation firm.

I went ahead with the changes. Luckily, the book’s short format made this easier. Changes like this might sound small and simple, but they have a knock-on effect and can mean many hours of rewriting, and rethinking.

The new title was originally Private Johannesburg, but given the subject matter, the team decided Private Gold would work even better. I loved it — short, catchy and descriptive.

Having written in collaboration with James Patterson, I can also say, confidentially, that midway through the edits, as we were sitting side by side at his big mahogany desk, he leaned towards me and whispered that I must please call him Jim.

That’s not true, actually. But then, I am a fiction writer.

is published by Penguin Random House, R60.