Inspector Rebus author Ian Rankin has revealed he was a gang member as a teenager but was too afraid to get involved in any fights.
The writer said he acted like a “local thug” in order to fit in with other youths while growing up in the village of Cardenden in Fife.
Rankin said he joined the Young Cardenden gang and hid the fact he was interested in books and poetry.
But when it came to battles with a rival gang from nearby Lochgelly, he admitted that he scurried back to his home.
Speaking on the Blank podcast, he said: “Where I grew up was very much like a tribe. It was a coal mining village. It was all council housing and everybody knew everybody else.
“I basically hid from friends and family the fact I was writing, reading, scribbling poems and song lyrics from a young age. I didn’t want anybody to know I was the weird one.
“So I did a very good impersonation of a local thug. But then if a battle was ever going to take place between us and the next village over, I would scurry back to my bedroom and write about it.”
