Michael Jecks's Blog, page 12

Writing Lessons 2

This follows on from the post yesterday, so if you haven’t read that, it could be a good idea to take a quick look.

Right. Now, hopefully you will have a sheet of paper with a fair description of someone you know, someone you have met, or someone you have made up.

The first thing to say is, that this person is not going to have every aspect of his or her life put down on paper. When you read a book, you don’t want an entire character’s life set out in the first page. You want to be teased, with snippets of information that fill out the person spread out over some time, some chapters. My own rule of thumb is to give an outline of looks, of face, of clothing, of any tics that they have, and perhaps a few indicators of what sort of person the man or woman has. There is an example below.  Then I will add to this over the pages of the book, sometimes giving aspects of the character’s motives within the story, sometimes some little hints as to trauma in the past, and backstory. The main thing for me is, that I am learning about my characters as my story develops. I don’t need a lengthy, detailed character at the outset. I want someone I’ve just been introduced to, and whom I will be learning about as the story develops, much I would learn about a new friend as I get to know him or her over time.

What I will say up front is, that no matter how detailed you have been in the planning of your character, as soon as you start to write, you will learn things you don’t know. It doesn’t matter whether it’s something to do with a mundane aspect of life, such as which school did the guy go to, what was his/her first job, what their favourite colour is – there is always something that you want to think up, and it’s always soon after you begin typing. I have no idea why.

But if you are new to writing, probably the more characterisation you can think up before beginning to write, the better.

You will have, as I say, hopefully a pretty long paragraph with details about a character.

My own characterisations tend to run to something along these lines:

“Ben Smart, a low-level thief. Never been terribly successful. Has thin, almost emaciated look about him. Bit of a rat-like face, with pinched cheeks, sparse stubble about his chin and cheeks. His hair is mousy-brown, eyes greenish with red-raw whites of the eyes. A nose like a knife, teeth that would look good on an ancient crone, with plenty of gaps. Eyes set close together, rarely meeting anyone else’s, but instead darting about distrustfully. He wears jeans with slashes at knees and hips where they’ve worn through. Not because of fashion, because he is tatty. His shirt is a stained T which you know will smell of sweat even from a glimpse of him half a mile away. He went to a good school, but he was the one caught trying to set fire to the new physics block, and was kicked out. He still claims it was ‘Not fair’. Life to Ben is never fair. It’s always knocking him back for no reason. He tried to set up a legitimate business once, but he couldn’t face the early mornings and the paperwork. Unskilled, he was trying to work at garden maintenance. But it was hard  work, and it was easier to see which houses were empty. Easier to slip in and have a look around, see if there was anything lying around that the owner wouldn’t miss. But being Ben, he didn’t think about the mud on his shoes. He was never that clever. Walks like a whine. When he smokes, you know he’ll shield the cigarette from sight behind his cupped hand.”

That is the sort of rough outline I’ll have when I begin to write a new story (and yes, this guy will appear in a book). It took me about four minutes to write all that down. No, I didn’t plan any of his story. It all just evolved as I was writing. That’s a skill that has to be learned, I guess, but that’s why I asked you to think of your own character and start depicting him or her on the page. It’s one of the skills that develops with practice.

Although it has led to me getting odd looks, I often write down characters on the train, in a restaurant or just while I’m sitting on a bench in Exeter’s Cathedral Close watching people walk by. I will pick on one (poor fellow) and start to make notes about them. I will detail their clothing, their dress, their comportment – everything. It’s a good thing to do regularly, because it means that before long you will have a file of many characters you can pick and choose from.

The next exercise is to start thinking about what you are going to do to your characters.

I was running a workshop at Evesham some years ago, when I had a whiteboard and an audience, and it was fascinating how we could develop a story from entirely random ideas. One thing I have done in the past is, use a whiteboard or large flipchart to begin stories. I will have a dead body in the middle, and say, X is dead. Why is X dead? How did X die? Why did X die? A, B, C, D and E all had motives. What were each of their motives? By just asking these questions, I was quickly able to build a synopsis from which a story developed.

My own stories tend to be crime-based. They are easier, I believe, because there is a simple narrative flow to crime. There is a murder, and there will be 5-6 suspects. The investigator must question each and analyse their potential motives.

So, now you have your own character: what are you going to do to him/her? Think up a simple plot. Are you going to send him/her to a coffee shop, to a supermarket, to work? Are you going to have a chance meeting with someone? Are you going to have them drawn into a dangerous event? Have them kidnapped? Think up your own story.

And here’s the kicker: when you have thought it up, either put your thoughts down here in the comments section below, or get in touch on Twitter. I am there as @MichaelJecks, and I’ll respond either way as soon as I can – although it likely won’t be instant – when I am working, I tend to avoid all distractions. That means Twitter, Facebook, email, TV and radio and, yes, telephone, all get turned off. And if you want to learn how to write, you should do that too. You can’t learn to write without concentration!

Best of luck!

 

Mike

Writing Lessons 1

I get a fairly regular number of emails and tweets from people who really want to write, but just cannot quite work out what to write.

Only this morning I had a rather desperate-sounding message from a guy who has all the tools, but as he said in his note, ‘I have tried and struggled with this for several weeks now … I just haven’t been able to make this work.’

It’s a real cry for help. So, for the next few weeks I will try to set out how a non-writer can move from that side of the fence to the ‘happily writing’ side in a few easy lessons. Or at least, the easiest I can work out!

So, here it begins.

First things first: you need to be quite sure that you want to write. You have to analyse why you are setting out on what is going to be a very lengthy process involving a great deal of hard work. 

Nowadays there is a cult of fame with a lot of youngsters. When asked what they want to do with their lives, where once people would have responded with ‘Engine driver’, or ‘airline pilot’, now it is quite common to hear, ‘to be famous.’ 

Fame is a wonderful thing, I imagine, but it has its costs. First is the risk that the fame will be all too fleeting. Second is the risk that the person focuses so hard on being famous that they forget the need to be famous for something. If someone goes through school planning to be famous as a footballer, that’s fine. But if they are not picked by the time they’re 14, they will not achieve their ambition. 

For many, to be a writer has a similar connotation. It sounds an easy life: as Terry Pratchett used to say, it was ‘indoor work with no heavy lifting’. However, it is not easy. Especially when you are starting out.

Remember, when you embark on writing a book, it will take many, many man-hours of effort. You are hoping to commit over 100,000 words to paper in an interesting, thrilling, cannot-put-this-book-down-it’s-so-gripping sort of way. That is not something that just happens. It’s something that takes a lot of energy, a lot of thought, a lot of planning, a lot of graft. And then it takes a lot of discarding and rewriting. Writing is Rewriting is a famous quotation, and it is true. 

There is another saying, which many people like to quote: ‘Everyone has a book inside them.’ However, someone once added the rider, ‘And most of them should leave it there.’

This is not to say that writing is not a wonderful, creative, exciting experience. It is only to say, make sure that you want to write a book because you love to write. Don’t take up your pen or keyboard to write just because you like the idea of being exceedingly wealthy, or because you want to be famous. There are infinitely easier ways of doing those, if that is what you want.

While both aspirations are fine, getting to riches or fame is as easy through writing as it is through playing football, cricket, becoming a lawyer or computer programmer. By which I mean, it takes the same drive and ambition, and the same amount of luck. 

So my first bit of advice is, bear in mind that writing does not suit everyone. It may not suit you. 

Okay, that is the negative reality-check out of the way. My next post will be considerably more positive, I promise. 

And now, to start to prepare for the next one, try sitting down with a blank sheet of paper or screen. Turn off the radio and television. Put your phone onto silent. And now describe someone you know really well. A whole paragraph all about that one person. Describe his/her face, their build, their clothing, their ambitions, their employment, their car, their goals, their likes and dislikes, their children, their wife. 

All I want is a description of a person, their story and history. Because until you have a person, you don’t have a story to tell.

Best of luck!

Review: The Sons

Review: THE SONS, by Anton Svensson, published by Sphere, Hardback £18.99

ISBN:978 0 7515 57777 0

This is a book by authors I had not heard of. Anton Svensson is a writing partnership between Stefan Thunberg, a celebrated screenwriter, and Anders Roslund, an investigative journalist.Their first book, “Father”, achieved rave reviews, and I was keen to see why.

The story is one of a family torn apart, and the impact on the children of a violent father who was guilty of a vicious attack on their mother. It starts with the immediate aftermath of the attack, and explains how the brothers decide to look after themselves.

Initially, their issue is money. Their father has been taken to prison, their mother is in hospital, and although there are concerns for the trio, a neighbour agrees to help, and it’s felt that the boys are safe enough in their own home.

What the social workers don’t realise is that the older boy, Leo Duvnjac (don’t ask me how to pronounce that name), has already thought through a means of making money. It involves a robbery.

The brothers are launched on a career as bank robbers, and with Leo successfully planning, the three become the country’s most wanted men.

Their career could not continue. They were caught, and jailed, with Leo being imprisoned for six years. While inside, he met Sam Larsen (which I can pronounce), and this was the beginning of the book’s story. Because Sam had murdered his brother, and his brother was the man who had arrested Leo.

And now both are out of prison, and both want revenge.

This is a powerful story, with a strong cast of characters, and a rather grim, bleak storyline. Does that make it Scandi-Noir? Possibly. If so, it’s the fourth of that genre I’ve read. I absorbed the Millennium series with enthusiasm, but those are the only Scandinavian books I’ve read, from memory.

Okay, what did I like about the story?

It was, as I say, a strong storyline, with a series of events and plotlines that keep the reader bowling along. It was also a book that had an interesting back story and depiction of a culture that was entirely new to me.

However, I did not find it as gripping as I had expected. I am not sure why – perhaps because of one aspect that I did find unconvincing, and that was the depiction of women in the story.

I was thinking about this for some time after reading the book, and before I put my fingers to the keyboard to write this review.

There are two main women in the story. One is the key victim early on, the mother of the three boys. But I never really felt that I was truly involved in her life. Her part in the story was, to me, little more than a filler to allow the brothers to have a motivation to turn to crime. Although she does appear later in the book, she never felt fully rounded to me.

The second woman is a police officer, a senior detective, who appears almost with fanfare, but who then almost disappears. Her role in the story seems very tangential.

Now, as always, I will add my usual rider that just because I didn’t enjoy the story as much as, say, the latest Harlan Coben, doesn’t mean others won’t. The plot was good, the characterisation strong – for the men. You may well find that you love the book.

Would I give it a five star rating? Probably not. I liked it, it was entertaining for a while, but not the best book of its type. Perhaps a four star.

Happy reading!

The Whole Thing Just Gelled!

Today, I finally realised that this latest story has finally gelled.

Gelled? I’ve been working on this book for months. I’ve been writing it for the last few weeks. How on earth can it have taken so long for the story to have formed itself in my mind?

It’s a curious thing, writing. Some books materialise and are ready, almost fully formed. They flow superbly as soon as the author puts fingers to keys or pen to paper. It’s like going for a walk on a nice gentle slope, no effort needed.

Others take longer. They need a bit more effort, and just will not form sentences on the page as you write. It’s like going for a walk dragging a ball and chain that keep snagging on rocks. Every second sentence needs careful thinking, adding little tweaks to a character’s back story, adding something about his/her personality, motivation, or something else. There’s always just a tiny piece of research that is needed to flesh things out that I haven’t quite got … 

With this, the 45th or 46th novel I have written, it has been harder. Why? Nothing dramatic, it’s just the fact that the book is a the first in a new diversion for me. It’s a different period, a different location, and a whole new cast of characters, and these all present issues for an author. Especially the characters. They all need consideration.

Characters are what drives a story. It’s the reader’s engagement with the characters that sets the scene, that gives the reader the incentive to invest time in a plot. But it’s not just the reader: if a writer doesn’t feel engaged, the story will come across as wooden and dull. The writer has to portray each person involved with precision and sympathy. If they aren’t believable, their motives and drivers coherent and understandable, the book will fail. That is why my plots aren’t worked out in detail before writing: if an author has the plot worked out to the nth degree, all too often he or she will twist a character to fit the plot. Better by far to write and see how characters respond to problems by allowing them to experience the issues, and then allow them to react in keeping with their natures. 

But the characters do get in the way of a new book, believe it or not. Some of the new folks are sitting back like actors at a first reading, while others are clamouring for attention at the most inopportune moments.

So the writer, like me, who is sitting there to try to forge a working manuscript, is like a ringmaster, sternly telling some to go away and wait a minute, while telling others to “get a grip, the spot lights are on you now.”

But these are all problems up until the moment when the story gells.

Because even the harder books to begin, like this one, suddenly reach a moment when everything snaps together. It is that dramatic. There’s a click, and suddenly the overall atmosphere of the book, the people inhabiting it, and the main plotline, all come together at last. From that moment my typing increases rapidly from some 2,500 words a day to 5-7,000. Writing at that stage is a breeze. 

In my mind the characters have resolved into leading characters, those who will sit more in the background, those who will drive the story’s different themes, those who will give out snippets and clues, those who will suffer in some way. And no, I don’t know who will suffer each of these. The detail will come as I’m writing. I have characters who want to find resolution, and my job is to keep it from them and make them suffer.

I’m enjoying this!

So, if you’re trying to write something and you just cannot, don’t panic. Delve a little deeper into your characters. Try to figure out what the main characters want, and then deprive them. It doesn’t matter whether it’s love and affection, money, sex, power, or any of the other main drivers for human beings. Just find out what your characters want, and take it away. You’ll soon find out what your book is when they begin to react.

Review: Origin by Dan Brown, published by Bantam

Review: Origin by Dan Brown, published by Bantam

Hardback edition: £20, ISBN 978-0-5930-7875-4

I have had a firm policy for many years not to be rude about other writers’ work. In part it is a principle based on the fact that although I may not like a specific book, other people may well enjoy it. For example, I do not get on with the books by James Patterson. I dislike the short chapters intensely. However my personal feelings have not affected his position as probably the most successful thriller author writing today. So my feeling has always been, that if I don’t like a book, I’m better off ignoring it and cracking on with the next.

However, rules are there to be broken.

I confess, I have not read any other books by Dan Brown. I’ve never felt the need. I know enough about the Knights Templar after some twenty five years of studying them to be incapable of the necessary suspension of disbelief to be able to enjoy Dan Brown’s previous stories.

So it was with a degree of trepidation that I agreed to read ORIGIN. It was very possible that I would get hooked.

So what is the story? Robert Langdon, who is the Harvard Professor of “Symbology”, receives an invitation from his friend and former student, Edmond Kirsch. Kirsch has become the world’s leading inventor and predictor of technology and society, and as a result has amassed a large fortune based on his different businesses.

But Kirsch has spent a lot of time recently considering bigger issues. In the days leading up to a large presentation, he has visited senior figures in the Catholic Church, Judaism and the Muslim faith. He has, he told them, considered some basic questions, and the answers will lead to earth-shattering revelations that will affect all of the three leading religions and others besides.

Langdon accepts the invitation, and travels to teh Guggenheim museum in Bilbao to see Kirsch’s presentation. But Kirsch is suddenly shot dead by a gun made on a 3D printer. Langdon and the beautiful fiancee of the Crown Prince of Spain, who herself is obviously fabulously clever as well as drop-dead gorgeous, must run and uncover the massive secret.

I am an enthusiastic reader of Private Eye. In the Literary Review pages has, I think, hit the nail squarely on the head when he suggests that “Langdon sprints learnedly from one renowned Spanish Tourist destination to another…” and goes on to suggest that Brown might have over-used Google in searching for “Renowned Spanish Tourist Destination” for every “|what happened next” moment. I was forced to snigger at the page before the Prologue, which declared with Trumpian confidence that “FACT: All art, architecture, locations, science, and religious organizations in this novel are real.”

Really.

However, I have not finished the book, I’m afraid. I did manage to get to Chapter 28, which was rather an effort. It wasn’t the plot (although I have to say that, again, suspending disbelief was a real challenge). I like thrillers, and have written a few of my own. It wasn’t the characterisation – which was written with pretty much the “Fool’s Guide to stereotypes” sitting well-thumbed at his side.

No, it was more the writing style: a sort of breathless overwriting that begs for an editor’s red pen.

A train climbing a “dizzying incline”, jagged mountaintop”, “sheer cliff”, “massive stone monastery” – all taken from the first paragraph of the book – may give you a feel. I get the impression that Brown writes with a thesaurus open on the screen. He appears to dislike using any noun without its own adjective.

I reached page forty-nine to read, “Why am I doing this?” but sadly it was another hundred pages before I was forced to conclude that I personally had no sensible answer to that question.

I do hope Professor Langdon discovers whatever it is he feels he needs to. Sadly, I won’t be following him on his journey.

Shots E-Zine

Over the last twenty-odd years I have contributed to a number of excellent magazines and e-zines. I have been fortunate to have been given many books to review and comment on, and most of the time I have taken the very sensible approach of only commenting on the books I’ve really enjoyed. After all, there are writers whose works I have disliked on occasion, and later, when I have returned to them, I’ve found them interesting or, in the case of Harlan Coben, for example, impossible to put down.

Some books have been hugely enjoyable. Others have been dire, in the extreme. And it seems to me sad that the reviews all disappeared into the maw that is the internet, and many won’t be seen again. So I’ve taken the decision that maybe I should put up a select few here on Writerly Witterings. After all, I am determined to get the blog going once more, and this is a good way to achieve that!

So, I hope you enjoy some of the reviews going up in the next few weeks, and do please go to Shots E-zine and read my other reviews – and the reviews of many, many other people who also write for them.

Happy reading!

Crediton Literary Festival

Last week I wrote about a great little festival in the Gladstone’s Library in Flintshire. And now here’s another one. 

Last weekend I had the pleasure of joining with the Exeter Writers’ Association at the second Crediton Festival. Last year it was a small affair, with a number of the Exeter Writers standing and giving short talks or readings to an audience in the Crediton Library. This year it has grown, with several excellent writers joining forces, and giving chats on the sofa to a very enthusiastic audience of readers and aspiring writers. Next year it will grow again. The first two years have proved that there is interest, and next year a full day of literary talks and readings with workshops for those who want to learn from professional writers. 

Was it huge? No. I have been to US festivals such as Bouchercon, which are vast, with many thousands of speakers and authors – but they grow impersonal very quickly. Writers and fans do get together, but with so many invited writers, it’s hard for readers to get to speak with the people they want to meet. For writers and readers alike, I think that festivals like Crediton are fun, with more involvement. The authors have time to spend with readers, the readers  get to talk to the writers they want to. Everyone wins!

This year’s speakers included Karen Maitland and me at first, charring on the sofa. For those who don’t know Karen, she is another member of Medieval Murderers, the performance group of medievalists who write crime stories. Karen has been a good friend for rather more years than she or I would like to remember! After us there was the brilliant duo of Mark and Tracey Norman talking about witchcraft and folklore, followed by Richard Dee and PJ Reed on exploring fantasy worlds. Finally, JC Hall spoke about his trilogy of thriller stories, and then we had Richard Lappas talking about his career as a top level professional news photographer. 

All in all, a brilliant and entertaining day. I’m already looking forward to next year’s. Many thanks to the Exeter Authors’ Association, Crediton Library, and the Friends of Crediton Library for providing such an enjoyable event.

An Argument of Blood and A Black Matter for the King, by Matthew Willis & JA Ironside

There is little which is quite so exciting for me as discovering a fresh, new talent in historical writing. In Willis and Ironside I feel I’ve found two writers who can carry me back to the past and can show me a time when, amid the brutality and irrationality of politics, there were still great characters, men of vision and daring, and women of intelligence and foresight.

I have to admit, I was not keen to review these two books. They were, I was told, a two-book series about the Norman invasion, and how the invasion affected the lives of Normans and Saxons alike. I immediately thought that sounded wrong. Perhaps one book, and if there’s enough of a story, maybe a trilogy – a simple pair of books didn’t seem right to me. And at the time I was on a tight deadline (again), and I needed a pair of books to review like a hole in the head. However, Matthew Willis was persistent and persuasive, and I do like to support other writers, so I thought I should at least glance at the books. Give them a casual once-over. It need not take long, I thought. I could skim them, probably. 

I was wrong.

Matthew cost me several days of work. Thank you so very much. 

Not only did I find it impossible to put these books down, I found myself being dragged deeper and deeper into the horrible times leading up to the Norman invasion of 1066, and although I was at the time trying to write a story based on much more recent history, these two forced me to keep harking back to the Saxons, to Harold, to Edith Swan-neck, to William and his mercenaries … It’s often said that writers cannot read fiction while writing their own work, because they involuntarily take on the narrative style of the work they are reading – which is partly why I had to give up reading PG Wodehouse while writing my own stories!

In fact these stories are a lot more than a short war series. They are a rich, extraordinarily well-researched, and meticulously told history of love, jealousy, honour, betrayal, deceit and death. It gives one version – convincingly told – of the curious oath sworn by Harold to William, but it is also the story of different nations, different cultures, and the clash when two warlords desire the same thing.

The two books are told largely from two perspectives: that of William of Normandy, and Ælfgifa, the sister of Harold.

Choosing these two is a marvellous device, because it allows the authors to delve into the mindsets of the leading protagonists. William, of course, needs little introduction, the bastard son of the Duke of Normandy, a man who was almost caught and killed when he was only recently come to the throne, but who managed to cling on to his throne and, eventually, brought a force of mercenaries from all over Europe to invade England, suppressing the Saxon population with the most appalling repressive and brutal methods ever seen in Britain: the widespread slaughter and depopulation of vast swathes of land, while his men spread salt to prevent people being able to return to their homes and work again. 

However, while William was still laying claim to his Dukedom, over the Channel Ælfgifa was born. She was to suffer from several disadvantages. To be born with a hare lip, disfiguring birthmarks and a very small figure, meant that she was looked on with disfavour. In a superstitious age, many reviled her. Although her father was besotted with his little “Blackbird”, her mother detested the very sight of her. An unmotherly trait, but that was how things were. Although Ælfgifa was the daughter of a powerful Jarl, she would not be considered for marriage by any other families. Who would marry a woman such as she?

But then in Winchester she met an ancient abbess, who treated her as an equal, and who made Ælfgifa begin to think again about her position in the world. She had a good mind, and her disfigurement meant that she was able to make use of her mental powers without the usual distractions. 

I won’t go further. It would involve giving away some of the superb plot. All I really need to say is, if you like your battles bloody, but set in context, with stories about real people told with intelligence and sympathy, you have to try these books. Buy An Argument of Blood and immerse yourself in the politics of France, Normandy and Saxon England at the time of probably the greatest change the country has seen. A Black Matter for the King will be published in September.

In case I hadn’t made it obvious, I loved these books. Sweeping history, battles galore, treachery, a cast of glorious, well-depicted characters – all in all, a fabulous story told brilliantly.

A highly recommended pair of books.

Alibis in the Archives at Gladstone’s Library

There are times when writing seems a doddle, and other times when all you want to do is sit down and write, but these other things get in the way …

I was very grateful to be invited to the annual Alibis in the Archive event, part of Gladfest at the Gladstone Library. For one thing, I had an increasing workload, and getting away from the desk for a weekend was appealing, but also because I had heard so much about the Gladstone Library, and this was an opportunity to have a look at it.

The journey up was rather more eventful than I would have liked. I checked with Google, and discovered that the trip would take at least four and a half hours. Hmm. Well, I thought I had better leave no later than noon, in that case. I took the dogs for a good six mile walk, packed a bag, and left at half past eleven. Plenty of time. And all should have been well. Except for other drivers, naturally.

The first incident was a little shunt somewhere near Taunton. Not too bad. We queued for about fifteen minutes, and set off again. The Sat Nav didn’t seem overly bothered. As I watched it, the arrival time moved from about four to four thirty. And then it slipped to four forty five. Then five. 

Hold on! An extra hour? The Sat Nav happily informed me of a serious incident not far away. Would I like an alternative route?

You bet. That diversion added over an hour and a half. Then there was another queue, and … well, I reached the Library at gone six. Just time for a bite to eat, and I was into the first event, a splendid period crime puzzle written by Ann Cleeves, with a cast of four foul players! After that, with the festival well and truly open, everyone repaired to the sitting room and bar, and participants, speakers and readers alike, chatted about crime, writing, and Gladstone.

Next morning I was up at a sensible hour and into the main library where we had a series of fascinating speakers (and me).

First up was Simon Brett, with a play called A Crime in Rhyme. Always entertaining, Simon took on all the parts – and everyone enjoyed his simulation of croquet balls being struck. Oh, and yes, the whole thing was in rhyme. Since I find it impossible to construct two lines of poetry, my awe for Simon increased no end. 

After Simon we had Andrew Taylor, who spoke about the three legal cases that inspired much of his writing in a witty and amusing talk. Then there was Martin Edwards speaking about collecting crime books, before Sarah Ward who gave a great talk about Derbyshire and the crime writers who have made use of the county. After her there was Ruth Dudley Edwards on her irreverent attitude towards most popular opinions, before I spoke up in favour of historical crime stories. After me there was an excellent history of forensic science by James HK Grieve, Emeritus Professor in Forensic Medicine at the University of Aberdeen. 

Finally we had a panel discussion with all seven participants that day, and then a meal, closely followed by a visit to the bar again. 

[image error]

Sunday, unfortunately, I couldn’t stay. The length of the journey, added to a couple of family issues, meant I had to leave after breakfast – which was made considerably more delightful by the company of The Puzzle Doctor, whom I have wanted to meet for some time. I have to thank him for two particularly unkind questions during the panel event, as well as the photo.

It was deeply irritating, though. I had to miss Jessica Mann talking about the Female of the Species. Martin was also speaking about the British Crime Writing Archives. All the documents owned by the CWA and Detection Club are now stored securely at Gladstone’s Library, and he was giving some plans for their future.  Finally, Peter Lovesey, the winner of so many prizes, was speaking about his own career.

If you get a chance to visit the Library, I can recommend it. It not only hosts many events, it has rooms on site, and the food was excellent. Alibis is a popular and growing festival under the direction of Martin Edwards, the current Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association and President of the Detection Club, and the wonderful Louisa Yates, who has more energy than seems entirely fair! I was really delighted to meet old friends, and make some new ones too – Leo McNeir, Sarah Ward and The Puzzle Doctor all spring to mind. Because that is the delight of Alibis in the Archive. It’s about crime writing, but it’s a festival where the speakers are mingling all the time. We get to meet readers, rather than being closeted away in a green room somewhere. 

And now, there is one little comment to make. 

So often, when I mention that I have been speaking, people ask, “Was it recorded?” Lots of people are interested in events like this. But sadly, not too many can attend. The Library is not enormous, and it is not too easy for visitors from America or Australia to find their way there for a weekend.

But, as I mentioned, Louisa Yates is a person of boundless energy, and her colleague, Amy Sumner, is a wizard – I won’t say witch – with a microphone and recording system. That means you can hear the speakers from the weekend. All you have to do is click  here for the whole lot!

Many thanks to Louisa, Amy, Gary and all the others at the Gladstone Library who helped make this such a memorable weekend.

Pinkerton’s Great Detective – The Amazing Life and Times of James McParland, by Beau Riffenburgh, published by Penguin Group.

 

I found this book while researching the early 20th Century. It was not the book I was expecting.

In the 1800s, there was a furious series of battles, more or less, between Miners in different coal and steel areas, and the companies that owned the mines, the railways, and smelting works. It was a series of Labour struggles for fair pay, improved safety, and less hardship. A gang of Miners calling themselves the Molly Maguires, who were suspected as being associated with the Ancient Order of Hibernians, began to use violence to promote their own cases.

But the Molly Maguires and AOH did not stick to threatening or striking. They took up guns, and began to murder mine managers and owners, or merely settle debts.

The story of the Molly Maguires was the story[image error] of the development of America and the development of labour laws, as well as the growth of Police forces – both those funded by the community, and those which were directly paid for by companies with motives that could be highly dubious.

For a fictional slant on the story, a good introduction is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story, The Valley of Fear.

I can remember reading that story long, long ago, and being enthralled by the reach of such a violent group of men. This book is the story of the undercover agent who was  responsible for the court cases against the Molly Maguires and AOH members.

And it is a compelling story.

James McParland was an Irish-born American, who early on managed to get a job at the young Pinkerton’s Detective Agency. In fact, I don’t think it would be too strong to say that it was McParland who established the Agency. It was McParland’s efforts in the coal region that tore apart the violent gang at the heart of it. Afterwards he was to sit in several trials as a leading witness against the men who had participated in murders all over the area.

But this book is not merely about that case. McParland remained in post for many decades, and as manager of the western district, he was the driving force behind capturing or killing or driving off a host of famous outlaws: Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, and many others. After that, he was active in the investigation into the murder by bomb attack of former Idaho governor, Frank Steunenberg. This I found a fabulously rich part of the book, with much of the testimony from the court cases.

Of course, anyone expects that a non-fiction book may well have a weakness at its heart: the writing.

I cannot count the number of biographies I’ve had to struggle through because the authors are keen to demonstrate their detailed research and academic vocabulary. This is not that kind of torture. In fact, I read most of it at one sitting because the writing is sharp, clear, and direct. It is rather like an Ian Mortimer biography, in that it reads like a thriller. Riffenburgh manages to put the reader into the mining communities, with their poverty, violence and dangers, and balances the motivations of the magnates of the coal region with those of the murderers of the Molly Maguires, or the Western Federation of Miners. He has a light touch, a logical, coherent approach to setting out the key elements of his story, that makes reading his book a simple joy.

This is a book I’d recommend to those interested in history, in American history, in the history of mining in the US, or in Sherlock Holmes.

A brilliant book. Highly recommended.