Guest Post: Lesley Cookman Getting The Act Together

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Guest Post: Lesley Cookman Getting The Act Together

I’m rather chuffed today. My guest is none other than Lesley Cookman, creator of one of my favourite amateur sleuths, Libby Sarjeant.

A mutual friend – Maureen Vincent-Northam if you must know – recommended Libby to me a few years ago and I became an instant fan (even if I am slow to read them). When Lesley asked if she could put a guest post on my blog, I leapt at the chance.

Here, Lesley talks about the crossover between her career as an actress and as a whodunit writer.

***When David announced that he would be taking guest posts on his blog, I actually offered to do one. This is not natural behaviour, as I am probably lazier than he is. However, we share a genre, among other things, and as I am extremely jealous of his ability to write a) quickly and b) more than one series, I felt I had to get in on the act.

Which was one of the things David suggested I write about – acting, and how it affects my books. There are many of us now in the writing profession who used to be in – loosely – the acting profession. Or were, at least, trained for it. In fact, both my main protagonists are former actors – or actresses, as I still prefer to say, and a lot of the action in the books hovers around the Oast Theatre of which my Libby and her partner, Ben, are directors. As in board, not play directors, although Libby also does that. I have a strong connection with my local theatre and was, for years, on the management committee. I wrote, directed and performed in pantomimes for it, pantomimes which went on to be published and are now performed all over the country every year, which pays for my holidays! I was even commissioned to write a book on “How To Write A Pantomime”, which is now in its third edition.

Something else which helps with writing novels is the ability to write dialogue. In a script, the spoken word is all you have to demonstrate emotion of any kind. Unless the line very obviously dictates the way it is said, it’s useless. You can give a bracketed stage direction, eg (ironically, angrily) but the actor is not going to turn to the audience and announce that he is saying this angrily. The author must have written it completely unambiguously. Punctuation is key, here. A misplaced comma can change the whole meaning of a sentence, something which can be a good plot point in a crime novel! This ability makes for faster paced, natural sounding novels.

I don’t know how much acting affects the way I see my novels as they unfold – I suspect most writers see the scenes pictorially as they are rolling out in front of them. I know all my locations intimately, and even when it’s a new one, I can see it in my head, which helps in avoiding mishaps. I will never walk through a table because I’ve forgotten I put it there, because I can see it.

Lastly, I suppose there’s the sense of the dramatic. I’ve acted in everything from Ibsen to Ayckbourn, Dickens to Alan Bennett, and I appreciate timing, not just in comedy, but in drama. I’ve been called upon to go mad on stage – twice – which the children found very uncomfortable to watch, I’ve had to do a partial strip (Yes, really. I frightened the horses.) and I’ve appeared as a magician’s assistant, tights and all. You do all that, and you don’t half appreciate drama…

Now, I write books about it and do the occasional guest appearance to keep my hand in. This year I’m mentoring a new pantomime director, after having played his mother in last year’s panto. I’m a nuturing sort of soul, really.

***Lesley Cookman is a merry widow living on the Kent Coast with her two cats. Her four grown up children have sadly let her down and all become professional musicians, and one is even a writer. Her Libby Sarjeant series, published by Accent Press, has been in Amazon’s bestseller charts both here and in the US. The thirteenth, Murder In A Different Place is available in print, ebook and audio.

You can find Lesley online at: