OK, so short form abbreviations of names aren’t going to work on this one. Thus, henceforth, the much favoured author shall be known as Mr B and Marcel Berlins, the crime fiction critic of The Times shall be known as MB.
Location and setting: a big white tent in Hay, plenty of showers raining down occasionally. (Was that thunder I just heard? No, it’s a car going around the perimeter track, right outside our tent. Well good to know the weather isn’t getting any worse.)
As an intro, MB asked Mr B how it came to pass that a stand up comic got into crime fiction writing. Mr B first assured us it was easier to be reviewed than heckled. Then he set a challenge to the audience to heckle if they felt like it, he promised to be great competition, having cut his teeth in some severe circumstances before.
Then more seriously Mr B said crime fiction was what he liked to read himself and that he wanted to get free books so he started interviewing crime writers, e.g. Ian Rankin and Michael Connelly. They are now “mates” and help him prop up the bars at festivals such as this one apparently. When he started writing he did not set out to be scary, but was paid a compliment once at one of his readings when someone fainted. (The book was his first, Sleepyhead, and it surprised him as it had no “gore”. However, when people say to him that he has a lot of gore in his books, he asks where, and they trail off with no response.)
MB asked if Tom Thorne (TT) is the author himself? He replied that they share certain things like age and taste in music (he admitted country & western was not entirely popular at the moment). But, unlike the author who is happy, happily married with two young children, TT is not a happy bunny. In the course of his research Mr B has discovered that most cops are happy, but that doesn’t make interesting reading. They need some problems like Holmes and Rebus, to be interesting. He knows that his books are read by those working in the police forces as he receives emails form them and recognises certain email addresses, e.g. the Met in London.
MB probed further into the landscape that is TT’s drinking and emotional problems, a tormented man?
Mr B said he is not happy but then neither is he depressed. TT’s state of mind is similar to that of those investigating murders, including the black humour they have.
So, why country music, asked MB?
Well because Mr B likes country music and it therefore requires no specific research. TT listens to what Mr B has in his own CD player. Mr B has come in for some stick (and more, a.k.a. “hate mail”) because TT doesn’t like Sting or Phil Collins. Mr B visited the forum on the Phil Collins website and found a thread dedicated to his books, where the hate campaign started; after a lot of rage a lone voice of sense came in with something along the lines of “but it’s fiction and a fictional character guys” which made Mr B laugh.
MB explored the fact that some authors have used music as a theme, e.g. John Harvey and Resnick’s jazz. Mr B believes this is “mainly a boy thing” in crime fiction books and noted that Michael Connelly had recently gone as far as issuing a CD with one of his books, all to enhance mood. He acknowledged that it was the fashion until a couple of years ago to add a couple of eccentricities to the fictional character, as if a couple of quirks were necessary. Where the author tries too hard on this, Mr B believes it is possible to see them. (“Standing out like a sore thumb” was implied but not uttered.)
Mr B was asked “Why TT?” He acknowledged that the character is still forming with him. Where some writers have complicated biographies running to pages, including what school the character attended, he does not. Sometimes he needs to go back and look at a previous book himself to re-familiarise. He thinks it is easy for the character to get stale, e.g. visiting the US to solve a crime.
The discussion then went on to the truth “universally acknowledged” – no not that one – the one that a character, a protagonist, doesn’t have to be likeable to be a hero. (MB had already admitted earlier that Mr B makes it very hard for him to like TT, albeit he sympathises with the character.) Mr B said that Thorne, hence the name, is a prickly character. In personal relationships he cannot work out when he is wanted or unwanted, and he makes big mistakes as a copper. The reality of today’s world is that “coppering” is changing quickly. People of TT’s grade are in the office doing paperwork and not on the street, interviewing. To get him there, TT had to be rebellious in nature and defy authority.
MB explained that there are three murders in Sleepyhead and a fourth case where the victim did not die but is in “locked in syndrome”. The obvious thought is that the fourth is a mistake, but the twist, which comes early, is that the first three were the mistakes and the fourth is what the antagonist wanted to achieve. Mr B then elaborated that he had read a lot of crime fiction and other fiction. He had just read “The Diving Bell and The Butterfly” where the author had found himself in just that state, conscious but unable to communicate. Eventually he was able to blink and he dictated the book by blinking. At the time, Mrs B was a director on the BBC TV programme, Casualty, which had a neurologist as a consultant to the programme. Mr B met the neurologist and asked him if it was possible to set out to put someone in that state. The reply? “What a fantastically sick idea.” The neurologist went away and read up and got back to Mr B and told him, yes it was possible but that it may lead to errors first. That was the seed of the plot for the first book. Also, the pathologist in the books, Hendricks, is based on this neurologist advisor to Casualty, earring and all, apparently.
Mr B went on to explain how he came to be published. He submitted at 30,000 words, but added a tag line at the very end, “This is a killer who doesn’t want his victims dead, and he doesn’t want them alive; he wants them somewhere in between.” He did this based on his experience in the world of television – making a pitch in two sentences – and was pleased to see the exact same tag line on the posters when the book was eventually published.
All books have now been optioned for TV, but Mr B knows from his own background that this doesn’t mean it will make it to screen. The script for the first book has been written. Mr B is not involved but has script and casting “approval”. When probed by MB this means “approval” but not “veto”. Mr B would like to see David Morrissey in the leading role (recently the lead in Blackpool) and all the books are being thrown at the actor at the moment.
In relation to the production of writing and the “next” book, Mr B has just delivered a manuscript on time with publication of the most recent release – a discipline he likes to adhere to. When the publicity and launch activities start, this means he doesn’t have to worry about the next novel-in-progress. Work on the next book will commence in October but he doesn’t have a clue yet what that one will be about. This doesn’t bother him too much as all the others started that way too. He’s simply waiting for an idea, which can come from anything.
MB and Mr B then explored the suggestion that his books always seem to have a running theme; that of the past, unresolved, haunting the present time. Mr B acknowledged that his wife had read his fourth manuscript and noted that he “has the past coming back to bit you in the arse”. This appeared to be a supposition he had not really dwelt on before, but he did acknowledge it. More later on that one, perhaps, when he’s thought about it more...
Our host, MB went on to introduce the books as if no one had read a Mr B before. He recommended starting at the beginning as TT is “in trouble” by the time you read “Lifeless”. Mr B then read a section from “Lifeless”, one from the point of view of the murderer, who is seeking out another homeless person to kick to death.
Before the reading Mr B pointed out that he will not cheat the reader. His murderer will not suddenly appear in the last chapter, he will be present throughout the book, to allow the reader to have a chance at working out who the murderer is. (Good writing skills – he must have learned from the best.)
Mr B went on to say that he had researched the homeless community in London through an oganisation called St Martin’s. (Possibly this one: http://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/jserv/homelessness/index.jsp ?) His enthusiasm in continuing clearly indicated that his own eyes had been opened in pursuing this level of detail for his books. He found that a “community” exists within the environment of those who are homeless. Within London, the homeless have a football league, an opera and theatre company for example. The “boozers hate the junkies” and vice versa. Both sets hate illegal immigrants. Mr B was acquainted with a set of rules before he was taken out into that community. The fact they are “junkies and alkies” is not the reason they are there. They may become that in order to survive in that circumstance, as a way of coping with their lives. Some are there to avoid hostels and institutions, some have fled from domestic violence. He asserted that there is no such thing as the “typical” homeless person and he wanted to realistically portray their lives in his book, “Lifeless”.
We were then treated to a little bit of “heckling” when a gentleman left the tent early. “Off you go”, announced Mr B, “cystitis is a bad thing. It’s the rain on the roof here.”
Mr B said that he had considered writing a stand alone but that TT kept coming back into his mind. He noted that Ian Rankin increases the level of quality with every book. MB observed that he seems to be making more of character of Siobhan these days but doesn’t seem to succeed, with Rebus always coming back into the fore. Mr B said that there is a limited lifespan on a character. Look what happened to Morse when he died, people were wearing black armbands.
It then went into questions from the floor:
How does stand up influence your crime writing?
It’s the same approach. Mr B needs to hook the reader straight away, keep them entertained and build to a big finish. He has no patience with books where someone says “well if you get passed the first 50 pages it picks up…” He doesn’t read as much anymore but notes that the crime fiction world is a small one and everyone meets up regularly. He finds it odd to read a sex scene written by someone he met in the bar the night before, knowing it came out of their mind. As for Mr B, he doesn’t do sex scenes, he prefers to write about what he knows (the old maxim).
How does he get the names of characters?
Mr B admitted that he uses the names of friends, typically from the comedy world. He has had to change the odd couple due to possible libel risk.
The books are character or plot driven?
Books are character driven, Mr B doesn’t plot. Deaver writes long detailed plots before he writes the book. Minette Walters writes most of the book without knowing who did it. Michael Connelly once said “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but you can’t see what’s in the tunnel”.
Do you get free meals in the Bengal Lancer in Kentish Town?
Yes.
Why aren’t the books set in Solihull?
Partly the accent, even good news sounds like bad news in a Brummie accent. But Mr B doesn’t live there anymore and he writes where based.
How does he find opportunity to be gregarious?
Stand up is gregarious all of the time apart from the life or death minutes when on stage. It’s very competitive. Mr B still does stand up form time to time. Plus, when he does a reading in bookshops he starts with jokes.
Crime writers are a very friendly bunch. Some big names gave comments on his books and he is happy to repeat the honour for others now, but needs to be careful not to become a “blurb whore”.
Discipline in writing?
Mr B does not write every day, he only writes when he has something to write, although he will thinking about his writing all the time. He finds writing after the children have gone to bed best, after it’s gone dark. He’s easily distracted. However, he makes it a rule and fulfils it, that when one book is published he delivers the MS of the next on the publishing date.
Character of TT?
TT sometimes does things Mr B wishes he could do. He remembers his assault in a hotel room in Manchester when he was told to get down on the floor and he did just that. He wishes he was more like Thorne and had ducked the punch and picked up a fire extinguisher. He knows “fear” well from that experience.
What about the comparisons with Mo Hayder?
Mr B rates Tokyo, her most recent novel, very highly. Comparisons were drawn on their first books which came out about the same time. Mo Hayder’s books are far more graphic. Mr B believes the writers who tend towards the more graphic are women. Had Hayder been a man, she’d have been accused of being extremely misogynistic.
Might he change from crime to romance? (What was this person on?)
No, he will always write crime fiction. Proceedings were then closed and presentations made (all speakers and interviewers are presented with a single, long stemmed white rose). A book signing then took place in the book shop tent, by which time the weather had perked up somewhat!
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