PETER JAMES AT WATERSTONES

http://www.peterjames.com/ What a nice man!!

Ok, so I had heard some of his stories about being a writer before..….but when you think about it there can’t be that many anecdotes to tell……..and he did tell each one with that smile…..

He started off by reading the first chapter of: Dead Man’s Footsteps – his 18th novel and his 4th involving Roy Grace: If Ronnie Wilson had known, as he woke up, that in just a couple of hours he would be dead, he would have planned his day somewhat differently.

I did not realize he had been involved in the film industry – some of his early horror films included titles such as ‘I Dismembered Mama’ and ‘The Corpse Grinders’. He mentioned his involvement (Executive Producer) in the Merchant of Venice but said he was more proud of his writing. A series has been commissioned by ITV Granada to put Roy Grace on the screen. Peter said that he would like an unknown actor to get the part and he may actually have some say in this as Peter will be co-producing the series.

He said he likes writing crime as he feels it is ‘the best way to examine and reflect on the society in which we live.’ He is interested (as a lot of crime writers say) in why people do the things we do. He also added he likes writing police procedurals as police see life from the other side of the curtain. As part of his research he spends a day every 10 days with the Sussex Constabulary who cover Brighton and who figure a lot in his novels. He discussed the observational powers of the police – modern day Sherlock Holmes and how a policeman might go into a bar or restaurant and look at every face in the room. He noted that the only other people who look at all the faces are the villains. He forgot to mention crime writers….

Of course I was interested in what he had to say about his technique of writing. He plans the basic story and writes in detail the first 20% of the book and the ending. This is so he can drive the story to its conclusion. However, he did discuss the need to surprise both yourself and your reader, and to not plan too much. He repeated the old mantra Write Every Day!! and emphasized how this leads to continuity within the story. This was something I had not really thought about before. I had always thought people said ‘Write Every Day’ in order to keep the numbers up and to focus on getting the novel finished. Of course, writing every day also keeps the ideas and the story fresh in your head, and focuses you to keep thinking about the story and its twists and turns EVERY DAY!! It also emphasizes your status as a writer……

He said he can usually write a first draft in 7 months and the quickest he wrote a novel was in 7 weeks, but he had been researching it for 2 years. He emphasized that along with character and plot at the top of the list, research was just as important.

He was supposed to be at Lincoln Waterstones on the Thursday but as he had made the shortlist for the Theakston novel of the year he had been asked to attend the festival instead and so came to Lincoln one day early. I had read a number of the entries this year but did actually vote for Peter and Not Dead Enough and told him when I met him. He signed my book ‘Thanks for the Vote’ – what a nice man! Peter lost out to Stef Penney’s debut novel The Tenderness of Wolves (which I have not read) http://www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime/index.html


And what was the book like – as usual, un-put-down-able – one chapter flowing into the next so that your days and nights disappear until you have finished – another reason I have yet to finish MY novel!!