Saturday 22 March 2014

Novelists Linda Acaster, Stephen King, Agatha Christie and Barbara Taylor Bradford on writing

Today I’m talking to novelist Linda Acaster through the lens of three very different but very successful novelists. Linda has just published The Bull At The Gate, the second book in her Torc of Moonlight trilogy. The Bull At The Gate opens,

The light behind was fading, the darkness pressing in, pushing the silence so close that he feared he might suffocate in it.



Stephen King is a writer who has forged a stratospheric career from weaving the paranormal into his novels. He says, ‘An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.’ 

Do you agree with King and why did you choose this as the opening for The Bull At The Gate?

It’s all about engagement. In the trilogy, landscape plays a subversive role, and at the opening I needed the reader to engage on an emotional level with the character, only picking up snippets about who he was, and where and when he was, as the scene progressed. A sense of claustrophobia is something that stalls most of us, even if for the reader, who is perfectly safe, the sense is irrational. Sort of.

Stephen King is able to portray the everyday mundane, lulling readers into a false sense of security as they learn about the life of a person just like them. It is difficult to identify in his writing where the normal blends into the paranormal until the reality has fully shifted and there’s no way back. That’s a skill I admire.

How does a novel come into being? The world’s most successful ever crime novelist Agatha Christie hated being asked to talk about her writing process. As she said, ‘You think of an idea and force yourself to write it.’ 

You clearly knew you were writing a trilogy when you wrote the first book, Torc of Moonlight, so presumably you already had the ideas for the next two books. 



Is Christie right? Is it the actual writing that’s the bit you have to force out of yourself? And does this mean your readers are in for a long wait for no 3?

Hopefully not too long a wait – LOL! As it happened, no, I didn’t have the two further books mapped when the first was in embryo. I knew where I wanted to end the story, but as the writing progressed I realised I wasn’t going to get there in under a tome no one would want to publish or hold. My agent at the time was adamant about it being a stand-alone which coloured my thinking for a while, but freed from those shackles it was allowed to take on its own life, which I’ll never regret. The two subplots made it to parallel storylines, and I’ve kept to that symmetry for the trilogy.

As to forcing myself to set words on paper, it often feels like that. I’m juggling a puzzle as any crime-writer does, and nuance plays an important part. I want readers to stop during the reading and think Of course! Why didn’t I see that earlier? Nuance can’t be written in afterwards as one begets another, so there is no ‘fast and dirty draft’. It’s all hacking it from the granite page with a plastic spoon.

Where did it all start? Novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford says, ‘For me it all starts with a memorable character.’ Where did this trilogy start for you? And once the trilogy was off the runway with Torc of Moonlight, did that give you the starting point for The Bull At The Gate and the yet-to-be-named book 3?

I agree there; a memorable character it was. While reading a piece on ancient water lore my experiences walking the landscape jumped into sharp relief. People believed that sacred waters were guarded by female deities. Just because we, with our modern plumbing and sewerage systems, don’t share their world view, who are we to say they were wrong?

I find it interesting that the ‘memorable character’ which has such an influence on all three books, hardly makes an appearance, rather I feel, the way it must have been at the time. It is in exploring the mismatch of belief, non-belief, and demonisation of a pre-Christian deity that has proved such fertile ground for the trilogy. If you are a modern person caught in the middle of this, what do you believe, how does it affect you, and who do you go to for aid?

Thank you, Linda, for some fascinating insights into your writing processes. For anyone who wants to know more, please leave Linda a question or comment below. Linda has offered a giveaway to readers of this blog. She will pick someone from amongst those who comment and send them both books for free. Watch this space! [Draw now closed; thanks to everyone who participated]

The Bull at the Gate is available for all ereaders:

To find more information about Linda, her other novels, her alter-ego Tyler, and her many writing credits visit her website.


40 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Penny, for the invitation to be interviewed among such worthies, and the great review (post below). I shall be in and out all day to answer questions and chat about elements of the books, and my writing, if anyone wants to participate. And yes, you could win both ebooks, so go for it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. A fascinating and thought provoking interview, Penny and Linda. Yes, I agree, Stephen King's horror is so chilling just because his characters are often so ordinary with lives like ours. [Apart from being set in the US which to me is a welcome safety barrier as often as not.] No such safety barrier's with The Bull at the Gate of course; I had actually started reading it this morning and it's suitably chilling already. The other interesting point for me was about Nuance; I think I often do put mine in afterwards which does of course have its own problems as you mention. Granite and plastic spoons abounding but in a different way. So thanks for all this. Very enjoyable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you found the interview thought-provoking, Anne. Thanks for dropping by to say so. Penny has the knack of getting to the kernel of these things. There needed a lot of planning prep with moving three interlinking storylines parallel, but once the basics were down the nuance and reflective darks/lights bloomed during the writing, a chapter at a time.

      Great to know that 'The Bull At The Gate' is by your armchair. Enjoy.

      Delete
    2. You are so right about that safety barrier, Anne, though it doesn't always feel secure late at night with a storm howling outside.Hope you enjoy the Bull at the Gate. I'm sure you will. Don't read it with the lights off (as it were).

      Delete
  4. What I really enjoy with Linda's books is that you read something and think, 'right, got that,' and it's only later that you realise it didn't mean that at all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spot on, April. The books are full of those. 'Aagh! Oh no!' moments.

      Delete
  5. Ah, a writer's sleight-of-hand and fancy footwork. I'm not sure if this comes along due to writing using the 'show' technique rather than the 'tell'. I think layering adds to the reading experience - and certainly The Bull At The Gate is built on ambiguity.

    Thanks for visiting, April, and your plaudit.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Really interesting and thought-provoking, Penny and Linda. I love the ambiguity in these novels.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice to e-see you, Lindsay. Hope you're doing ok. Thanks for coming by to comment.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great post! How self-contained are the books, Linda? (Or shall I wait until all three are out before getting book one and two?). I have just been horribly burned by an author I love (who shall remain nameless) - I discovered a book of hers I couldn't believe I'd never read, and pounced on it. Found the second book and then discovered that the third has never been written. (these books are about 20 years old and it doesn't look like the third will ever be written) Argh!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I've been stung by that one. So frustrating. But I'm already in the trap with this trilogy, having read them both, so now Linda will simply have to write the third or have me (and many others) snapping at her heels forever. And they are self-contained, there is none of that leaving the reader with an unsolved riddle that will be unravelled in the next.

      Delete
    2. Hi Lindsay! Thanks for coming across. It is a thought-provoking method of interviewing, isn't it? Obviously the credit lies with Penny.

      Delete
    3. Susan - I know that the trilogy has had a bit of an extended life, part of which was due to publisher/agent demands for a stand-alone before I wrenched back control of it, but I am being prodded so much by people who have now read Book 2 that an intended Western novella earmarked to brush the cobwebs from my mind has been put on hold (again).

      The thing is, this isn't a series. One book does not jump, breathless, to the next. There are three years between Books 1 and 2, and the same will apply to Book 3 (in keeping with the symmetry of triples which resonates throughout the books). I need to mature Nick, the character who carries the trilogy, not just in years but in outlook, and the same needs to happen to his rationale, Alice, but in a whole different dimensional way. And this takes me 'floating' time along with the research for the three parallel storylines.

      So the short answer is yes, Book 3 will be along, but probably not until this time next year!

      Delete
    4. Okay, so I've just read that *properly* - the three years between books is between one story finishing and the next starting; nothing at all to do with the production of the things. And, yes, they can each be read as stand-alones, but preferably in the right order.

      Delete
    5. No worries - I read it as the three years in the story... Also, if you have Penny snapping at your heels (her expression - I would never suggest she was even able to 'snap at heels') then I shall read the first two without worrying about the third one. I know it will be along, and I'll look forward to it!

      Delete
    6. LoL! Oh I wouldn't dare to suggest it, either, but believe me, Penny can snap at heels. And she's not the only one across here.

      Delete
  9. I love the way your name heads the list, Linda, quite rightly. I enjoyed 'Torc of Moonlight' immensely and look forward to reading 'Bull at the Gate'. Great titles for the Roman aspect, by the way.
    Ann

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for calling in, Anonymoous Ann (so how am I going to find you if your name is pulled from the hat??)

    The Bull At The Gate title came before the novel was started. It's a gem, isn't it? Who was to know that the remains of a Mithras temple lurks beneath the path to a Christian church on Micklegate in York?! There's no signage to bring this to the attention of tourists. It's not the only spot in the city where religious houses top one another as beliefs changed. It was too good to ignore in the fiction. Like Alice, I don't believe in coincidence.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've read the first two, and am looking forward to number three, confident Linda is an author who will never let down her readers. An interesting interview, Penny; an intriguing way of introducing questions. Enjoyed it.
    Linda, I could never write in the way you do; the very idea of working around a puzzle would turn my brain to mush. Fortunately, you do it exceedingly well. And I don't have to do it, as I write in an entirely different way. It certainly works for you. Loved the first two books. Impatient for the third.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for dropping in, Stuart, especially when you're so busy in the run up to your big launch.

      Delete
    2. Oooh, there's belief for you. No pressure for me there, then, eh Stuart? I enjoy the puzzle aspect, as you call it. To stay within SF - yes, I know yours is Fantasy - I remember in my youth watching amazed as people on the Starship Enterprise played 3D chess in a sort of Perspex construction. I always think of writing fiction akin to that, seeing all the layers ghostly one on top of another.

      Thanks for calling by. I appreciate it.

      Delete
  12. I enjoyed your focus on York. The city, with its myriad layers of construction and belief, plays as big a role as the human protagonists. Looking forward to reading the third.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it provides fascinating insights into York, past and present. That's past in lot of different layers!

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Madeleine. The city was meant to. It's one of the elements that transfers book to book, though not all readers twigged in 'Torc of Moonlight'. Perhaps stone & mortar has more of a hold over our (material) senses and we tend to see through vegetation as if it's not there influencing us. Glad you enjoyed the novel.

      Delete
  13. Saw your post on one of the loops and just stopped in to say hello to you, Linda and Penny. My first visit to your website, Penny. Very interesting. Linda, you astound me with your knowledge, skill, and motivation (I'm probably leaving something out) I believe this trilogy will take you to the next level of prominence in your career. I wish you all the best.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, Linda. Thanks for dropping by and commenting. It's good to e-see you, as it were.

      Delete
    2. Yo! LindaS - thanks for taking the time to come across. You'll have visited York while you were living across this side of the Pond, walked the streets that Nick, and even the Roman Vibius, walks. It's written so that readers a tad far away for a day visit can use Google Maps Street View to take a look. Hope you do!

      Delete
  14. 'Bull at the Gate' delivers on every level: supernatural, contemporary, historical. It is also a poignant tale of a love that supersedes all barriers, including the greatest of all. Book 3 is eagerly anticipated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well said, Karen. Thanks for calling in.

      Delete
    2. [Jumps in, stage left, blushing] Not much I can say to that accolade, is there. Thanks very much, Karen.

      And now Susan (earlier) will understand exactly what I mean about 'snapping at heels'. Yes, I will get down to it, honest!

      Delete
  15. Excellent interview and a wonderful insight, thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for coming across to say so, FBP. It's the good format, Penny chose.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for calling in, FBP. And thanks for kind words re blog format, Linda, but it wouldn't have attracted any attention without the answers in there!

      Delete
  16. I always enjoy reading about a reader's process, and I enjoyed your discussion on both yours, as well as Agatha Christie's and Stephen's King's work. Thank you, Linda and Penny.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Beverley, great that you've come across to join us.

      I've always been fascinated learning how other fiction writers go about producing their work: do they hack it out of granite - with or without plastic spoon - or do they dab with a brush, or add balls of damp clay and smooth as they go. How much of the overall picture do they hold in their minds, or is it more of seeing glittering pieces of jigsaw and bringing the picture into sharp focus from those.

      Ah, could do this all day. To work! Again thanks for paying us a visit.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, Beverley. Much appreciated.

      Delete
    3. Hi Linda, Great interview. Like you, I am always interested and curious to what makes writers tick - do they throw words up in the air and see where they land? Read Torc of Moonlight many moons ago and enjoyed it. I am waiting for The Bull at the Gate to come out in paperback. Hope it will not be too long

      Delete
    4. Thanks for calling in to the blog, Sylvia.

      Delete
    5. Hey, Sylvia - thanks for coming across. It's not *quite* throwing words up in the air, though I do try to make it look that simple - LOL! I'm glad you enjoyed 'Torc of Moonlight', and don't fret, even as I type here 'The Bull At The Gate' is being formatted for print and should be available by the end of the month. AND I'm working on Book 3.

      Delete