Snuff: a crime novel and exegesis

This PhD research consists of a crime novel called Snuff and an accompanying exegesis titled Making Snuff: The Creation of a Crime Novel that reflects upon the journey of the writer in the creation of the novel. The novel charts the journey of a young woman in her twenties who becomes an accidental amateur detective when her sister is murdered in suburban Melbourne. To solve the mystery of her sex worker sister’s murder, the protagonist must enter Melbourne’s seedy world of strip clubs, peepshows and adult films. Through the protagonist’s eyes, the novel explores the controversial topic of sex work and why young women are drawn to this burgeoning industry. Using an autoethnographic methodology, the exegesis explains how the novel was created and enters into the feminist debate about sex work. It also investigates the difficulties of writing and researching as an incarcerated student and how the student overcame unique challenges. Finally, it discusses the creative process involved in planning plot devices, enacting dialogue and characterization, and investigates how, and to what degree, scholarly research influenced the creative process that generated the artefact.