A little
while ago I was delighted to hear from Rob Pateman, who tagged me into the blog
tour on ‘the writing process.’
You can
check out Rob’s answers here.
Rob and I
are lucky enough to be represented by the same literary agency and we have the
very same Editor at Orion in the shape of the brilliant Jemima Forrester. Rob
writes as RS Pateman and his debut novel THE SECOND LIFE OF AMY ARCHER, will
have its paperback release on 24th April. In case you didn’t catch
it in hardback now’s your chance. The book has a fantastic premise and Rob’s
writing has a real emotional resonance that will keep you turning the pages.
Highly
recommended folks.
So my thanks
to Rob for the nod, here we go.
WHAT AM I
WORKING ON?
At the
moment I’m awaiting the copy edits on my first book, THE DEFENCE, and I’m hard
at work on the second book in the Eddie Flynn series. At the time of writing
this piece I’m about a third of the way through the first draft of that book.
There’s not much I can tell you at the moment, as it’s still very much in its
infancy. I’ve been reading a lot of stories and blogs about “that difficult
second book.” If you’ve read Rob’s post above, you’ll know just how difficult
it can be. I did find one piece of advice on the interweb that resonated with
me. It was a comment on Stuart Neville’s old blog when he posted about writing
his second novel and the rather brilliant Declan Burke offered some great
advice. Declan said that there is no such thing as a second book; these days,
in this publishing market, every book
is your first book. Incidentally, Mr Burke’s latest – Crime Always Pays, has
just been released and Stuart Neville’s new book, The Final Silence, will be
released shortly. You should look into both; two great writers at the top of
their game. And while I’m at it, congratulations to Stuart for the recent Barry
nomination for Ratlines.
HOW DOES MY
WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN THE GENRE?
My books are
legal thrillers set in the US. A lot of legal thrillers, and very good ones at
that, begin with a murder and then an investigation with most of the drama
happening around a third of the way into the book when the trial begins.
Typically the hero is a high-flying corporate attorney who is whiter than white
and believes in truth, justice and playing fair. The whole book is a build up
to that ultimate question – guilty or not guilty.
There are
half a dozen great writers that take that basic legal thriller premise and do
amazing things with it. How could I hope to compete with those writers? The
truth is, I can’t; they’re better writers than me.
My answer
was to rip up that basic premise and start again from scratch. While I don’t
want to give too much away, I can tell you that THE DEFENCE will, hopefully, be
unlike any courtroom thriller you’ve ever read. I’m trying to put my own stamp
on the genre by tearing up the usual narrative form. My Dutch Editor says that
THE DEFENCE is like “24” with Jack Bauer as a lawyer. If I’ve accomplished what
I set out to do then the book should read like a breakneck, tension-filled
courtroom thriller that makes you think. There’s a ‘story within a story’
element to the novel, which I’ve not spoken to anyone about yet; it’s very
subltle, but if you look for it, and you follow the white rabbit, you’ll find
it. But you can just read it purely for the thrills and twists. Hopefully, at
certain points, Eddie will make you reconsider what you thought you knew about
the justice system, and maybe even look at things in a different light. In that
way, I’m hoping that THE DEFENCE will stand up to more than one read.
I suppose
the main thing about my writing that will stand out is the main character,
Eddie Flynn. Eddie possesses a truly unique set of skills that hasn’t been seen
before in this genre and I’m really hoping that readers warm to him.
WHY DO I
WRITE WHAT I DO?
One day I
was in the middle of a trial, cross-examining my opponent’s witness. I had a
whole strategy worked out. First I would go in hard and aggressive and get the
witness on the back foot. This part of the cross examination would deal with a
minor, but important point in the case. After fifteen minutes of tough, quick,
aggressive questioning, I relaxed. I paused. Took a drink of water. Flicked
through the case file in front of me. Leaned back in my chair, fixed my gaze on
the ceiling and breathed out heavily as I asked one simple question. It sounded
like a throwaway question, like it was unimportant, like I was conceding
something in the guy’s favour before moving on to more important issues in the
case. The witness grabbed the opportunity to wrestle back control of the
evidence and stated his answer firmly, unequivocally, hammering home his
evidence without any prompting from me. That was the answer that sank the
witness completely; he’d sealed his own fate. As soon as I had my answer I
realised that I’d pretty much conned that guy. Albeit, I conned him into
telling the truth and inadvertently admitting that he’d been lying in his
witness statement. Only I hadn’t really conned him; I’d used a tried and tested
advocacy technique that any first year advocate could perform.
Nonetheless,
it struck me at that moment that a lawyer and a con artist share almost exactly
the same skill set.
And words
are their weapons.
Eddie Flynn
was born in that moment.
My books
explore the question of truth in an adversarial system of justice and whether
it has a place or even a relevance. In reality, judges and juries don’t decide
what is and what isn’t true – they decide whether an evidential test is met by
the prosecution, that’s all. I see Eddie Flynn’s journey through the series as
a quest, but he’s not looking for truth, he’s looking for redemption.
HOW DOES
YOUR WRITING PROCESS WORK?
I’ve been
asking myself that same question. First of all, I’m not entirely sure you can
call it a ‘process’ and secondly whether it works or not largely remains to be
seen. In an attempt to get something written about this, I tried to analyse
what it is that I do in order to get words on a page. The first thing I do is
brew coffee. I start writing around 10pm and I stop when my head hits the
keyboard. Come to think of it, there’s considerably more processing involved in
the brewing of the coffee than the formation of the novel.
I don’t
outline anything.
I get an
idea and I kick it around in my head for a long time. When I begin writing a
book I will redraft and redraft until I have the beginning nearly perfect. I
won’t go past the first 30 pages until I’m relatively happy with them.
Sometimes that feels like you’re spinning your wheels and not really getting
anywhere, but I’m happy to do that.
In my
experience to date there has been no tangible pattern to the writing. For
example, the first paragraph of The Defence is unchanged from my first draft. I
wrote that paragraph in maybe twenty minutes and I haven’t felt the need to
change it even though it was the first creative writing I’d done in 15 years. The
next 30 or so pages took six weeks to get right before I could move on. With my
second novel, I took two weeks to write the first page and a half and a month
to get the next thirty pages right. Now I’m on solid ground I go for it and I
don’t look back until the whole first draft is finished. I think if I have the
beginning almost perfect I’m much more confident to just plough on, knowing
that I have a strong starting point which gives a central spine to the story
and also sends up a beacon for the final scenes in the book.
By the way,
the first page and a half of the next book gave me – 1) a slightly different
voice than the last book 2) a huge additional narrative engine that launches
the reader head first into the story and will keep them turning the pages 3) With
my best estimate, at the moment, working purely from what’s in my head, those 500
words set up three surprise twists and give me multiple possible endings.
So the start
of this book gives me both focus on the story and the characters and yet it
also allows me some freedom with the plot.
I’ve only
ever written one short story, which will appear in the Brooklyn based Akashic
Books latest Anthology – Belfast Noir. That story took maybe two nights. It
just sort of arrived fully formed.
So that’s
it. I’m handing over now to three great writers who will be posting next week
about their writing process.
First up is
a legend in Northern Ireland Crime Fiction – Gerard Brennan. At various points
when I’m reading Gerard’s work I have to put down the book and smile, because
nobody gets close to this guy for dialogue – it’s just so incredibly sharp.
Every time I read him I think ‘Elmore Leonard,’ (and yes, he really is that
good). Why not try out The Point, on Kindle, for free, and see what I’m talking
about. And don’t forget, Gerard also has a short story in the upcoming Belfast
Noir, alongside Lee Child, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Brian McGilloway (*winks
to NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Brian McGilloway*), Glenn Patterson, Claire
McGowan, Lucy Caldwell, some guy that nobody’s heard of called Steve Cavanagh,
and many more…
BIO - ‘Gerard
Brennan's short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, including The
Mammoth Book of Best British Crime. He co-edited Requiems for the Departed, a
collection of crime fiction based on Irish myths. His novella, The Point, was
published by Pulp Press in October 2011 and won the 2012 Spinetingler Award.
His debut novel, WEE ROCKETS, was published by Blasted Heath in 2012. He is
currently working on a creative writing PhD at Queen's University Belfast.’
http://crimesceneni.blogspot.co.uk/
Follow
Gerard on twitter @gerardbrennan
Next up is
Eva Dolan.
Her debut
novel is Long Way Home, a police procedural with a brilliant and unusual
setting. The lead characters are DS Zigic and DS Ferreira of the Peterborough
Hate Crimes Unit and they get more than they bargained for when they begin
investigating the murder of a migrant worker. It’s crime fiction at its best –
two great ‘outsider’ characters and a brilliantly realised setting that provides
for a gripping story whilst exploring contemporary issues. The writing is top
class and it’s no wonder that Eva was previously been shortlisted for the Debut
Dagger at a ridiculously young age. Read
the first chapter and you’ll find yourself immediately at home with her dark,
rich and assured prose, so make sure you check out Long Way Home. You hear
that? That dripping sound? That’s talent - running out of her ears.
BIO - 'Eva
Dolan writes books and plays poker and the rest of her time she just wastes.'
Follow Eva
Dolan on Twitter @eva_dolan
Last up is
Jason Dean.
A few years
ago I read Jason’s debut – The Wrong Man, which introduces series character
James Bishop. Ripping through that book in a couple of days I knew Bishop would
be sticking around for a long time to come. The first chapter of The Wrong Man
is still one of my favourite openings to a thriller in the last 10 years, and
the rest of the book lives up to that fabulous start. The latest James Bishop
short story is free on Kindle at the moment, so there’s no excuse for not
checking it out.
BIO 0 ‘Jason Dean is an
English author of American thrillers, who spent most of his professional life
as a graphic designer before deciding to try his hand at writing. His debut
novel, THE WRONG MAN - the first of a series starring his ex-Marine protagonist
James Bishop - was picked up by Headline and published in 2012. This was
followed in 2013 by BACKTRACK, and the third Bishop novel, THE HUNTER’S OATH,
will be released in June 2014. Jason now resides in the Far East with his wife
and dog and is currently at work on the fourth Bishop novel.’
http://www.jasondeanbooks.com/
Follow Jason on Twitter
at @Jasondeanauthor
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