As the dust settles – final part

And just like that #NN19 was over! But if you weren’t able to make it or you want to re-live those criminally fabulous memories again, here’s Louise Fairbairn’s roundup of the week-end that was #NN2019!  […]

Sunday 5 May, Part 2

2.30pm – Fog On The Tyne – North East Noir
Mick Herron, MW Craven, Howard Linskey and Richard Rippon

The last of the panels focussing on northern voices was chaired by NATB organiser Vic Watson – and greeted with a packed room in the library to boot!

Vic started by asking how much the north has influenced the authors’ books. Mick Herron said he was more influenced by what he has read, as he has only set one book in the north-east, and that was told from an outsider perspective as he had moved away from the region in the 1980s and it has changed so much since then. MW (Mike) Craven said the north was a general influence; that the books have a certain spirit as how people think here is different to elsewhere.

His novel The Puppet Show is being turned into a TV series, and the southern screenwriter, trying to show the protagonist is northern, opened with a scene of him in a tin bath…! There have been rewrites since. Richard Rippon said the region has definitely shaped his writing; he lives on the coast near Whitley Bay, which is beautiful but can be bleak and unsettling. He said his surroundings add a certain flavour, and there are synergies with the characters.

Howard said when he grew up he thought books were written by “posh southerners”, he didn’t realise you could be from the north and be a writer. His first book was set in Newcastle because it seemed the right thing to do. He said he likes to write about places he goes to as he likes to read about places he goes to, and the north has so much diversity with creepy villages, the coast and so on. Sometimes he’ll change the name of a place or use a fictional pub if the subject is problematic (such as meeting a drug dealer, or the site of a shooting), but generally uses reality.

Mike agreed with this last point, saying that he uses real places, including in Cumbria, and doesn’t have to make much up, other than such as inventing a deprived estate as naming a real one would be unfair on the residents. He said there is a need for some artistic licence, but if a place is interesting, then why not use it?

From place, the discussion moved to the northern sense of humour. Mike said that during his time in the army and later as a probation officer, the humour was dark and used as relief. Richard said that sarcasm and dark humour are hallmarks of the region – you take the p*** out of someone, but there is often warmth behind it. Howard added that this was a way to test people, to see if they can take it and thus are ready for northern friendship.

The audience asked when the panel decided to write, and what influenced them. Mick said he felt it was what he was meant to do, as he’s “not fit for anything else”! He has been influenced by anything he read in his teens in particular, which has been drawn on in later life. He said that bad writing was as important as good writing when you are reading and figuring out how to write yourself, as you could still learn from it.

Mike said that in the army they read books during downtime on operations, sharing them around and discussing them. He submitted 3,000 words for the CWA debut dagger award – and then had to hastily write it when an agent asked to see it! Richard said, like Howard, he thought it fanciful that someone from Whitley Bay could be a writer. However, he entered and won the New Writing North prize, which he said was a huge boost in realising that you could do this. Howard said John Wyndham, John le Carre and his father’s WW2 books were all an influence on him – the latter certainly fed into his latest book, Ungentlemanly Warfare, which is centred on the Special Operations Executive.

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4.30pm – Dirty Paws – Iceland Noir
Oskar Gudmundsson, Solveig Palsdottir and Quentin Bates

Well, we know how much Newcastle Noir director Jacky Collins loves her Icelandic fiction, so there was no chance anyone else was going to be chairing this panel! According to Quentin, “you can’t throw a brick in Reykjavik these days without hitting a crime writer”, so it’s great to see some of them venturing across to Newcastle to spread the word.

Jacky started by asking the writers about their journey into crime fiction. Solveig Palsdottir has been an actress and a teacher and worked in radio. She missed being creative so at 50 she started to write, and it was awful! She started writing crime, got the tension to “get the blood running faster” and feel the passion, and succeeded. Oskar Gudmundsson also started at 50 – it was a “now or never” moment, having long wanted to get published after writing for his own pleasure for many years. He read lots of crime novels, including by Friday night’s showcase author, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, and wanted to experience “how authors could control the beating of the heart”, which the audience thought a wonderful phrase to describe the tension and emotion of a novel. Quentin Bates, who also works as a translator of Icelandic crime fiction, said the thought of writing a novel had been at the back of his mind for many years including while he was working as a journalist and writing non-fiction. He took a part-time college course in creative writing and this was the springboard.

Asked about their protagonists, Oskar said he had scrapped a novel with a male central character that didn’t work, created a female character (Hilma) and promptly fell in love with writing her. Solveig said an author has to have passion for the writing and for the characters, and Quentin added that strong feelings are needed from the author, whether good or bad, or the readers won’t have any feelings for the characters.

Jacky then asked about the importance of the landscape to their work. Solveig said she tries to combine myths and folklore from Iceland and Sri Lanka in her current book, as she has a character from the latter in the novel. It’s set in an isolated small town near a glacier, in real places. Oskar said Iceland is a small country and you have often been to many places, so you can use those. He said he also likes to visit new areas to research and take photographs. It’s difficult to make up names and places, he said, but Icelanders love crime fiction and want to read about real settings.

Among the audience questions, someone asked what distinguishes Icelandic fiction from “Nordic Noir”. Oskar said it is more isolated – and the country is essentially closed if there is a murder in real life. Solveig said if there is a crime it affects so many people, and that crimes tended to be more everyday in Icelandic fiction. Quentin added that there is a frontier feeling and mentality to the country, as well as an attitude of resilience and self-reliance – and everyone knows everyone, so you can’t be anonymous, saying it was “like an island-sized locked room mystery”.

6.30pm – Step Back In Time – Historical Noir
Lesley Thomson, Nicola Ford, Fiona Veitch Smith and Oscar de Muriel

Historical fiction covers so many eras that you’re sure to find something that appeals, and in this panel chair Ann Landmann drew out some of the strands that run through the genre no matter when a book is set.

She started by asking the panel why they chose a historical rather than a contemporary setting. Oscar de Muriel said “the past is awesome!” and he’s always loved history, old buildings and so on. He also said he feared getting something wrong if he used a contemporary setting rather than his Victorian one. Fiona Veitch Smith said her first degree was in history, and that historical settings often have an intersection with the world today – “look how far we haven’t come”.

She chose the 1920s for her Poppy Denby series as she loves the fashion and music of the period. Lesley Thomson, whose main character is a crime scene cleaner-cum-cold case investigator, so switches between time periods, said she is mostly interested in what happened next – the repercussions of the event and how we live with it.

Nicola Ford – whose day job is the National Trust archaeologist for the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage site – said that setting a book in the 1970s felt like a really modern period when she spends her days focussed on 6,000 years ago! She said she’d be worried about setting a book further back in time because she might get stuck in the details, rather than the story. She added that museum archives of early 20th century archaeological digs were fascinating, with photos that reveal the people working on them as well as the artefacts found. She loves reading crime fiction, so it seemed natural to write it and bring the dead back to life.

Asked about research, Lesley said some things are invented but still with accuracy – for example, she moved a water tower to a better position for a story, but it was still in a logical place. For her research she likes to talk to people, including a London Tube train driver who took her in the cab and showed her abandoned stations, including slowing down for a photo!

Nicola said she uses her own knowledge and experience, but uses other people to check details – though she cuts out the boring bits of waiting for something to be tested etc. She said the 1970s could be tricky as people remember films, TV shows and so on. Fiona said the stuff you assume you know and don’t ask someone about can be what trips you up. She said she “could get lost in research but you have to stop yourself” – sift through for what gives your characters and setting authenticity, but don’t bog down the story with too much information. Oscar said he writes so far back no-one can say “it wasn’t like that” – he enjoys the research so much he has to restrain himself.

On what other time period they would write about if they had to, Nicola said the 1930s, as it was “on the brink of being modern” and “it feels like you can almost reach and touch it, but it’s just beyond your grasp”. Fiona said she is currently mulling a story set in 1946 – the war is over and the world is relieved, now we can rebuild; she’s looking at the hopes and dreams of people, and what has been salvaged from the past, even as world leaders are plotting the next move. Oscar said he has just written a book (in Spanish) set in 17th century Mexico, where society was based rigidly on race, with the Aztec/Mayan rituals still being practised in secret. Lesley chose the 19th century, as she is a fan of Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens.

From the audience came a good question about getting the dialogue right in a historical novel. Fiona said to read books written or set in the period to get the voices, then use that to flavour the dialogue – but use modern syntax as it flows better, it can get too slow otherwise. Lesley suggested starting by concentrating on the story and characters, then the dialogue will come – and it can be tweaked later, once the story is down on paper.

Another asked whether the time period or the crime comes first. Nicola said you need to find that first moment that will drive the story. And Oscar added that the period gave the crimes that were committed, as well as the background flavour.

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7.30pm – Festival closer
Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves: Elly Griffiths and Mari Hannah

The final panel of Newcastle Noir 2019 was less a formal discussion and more like a chat between friends the audience was overhearing – there was much laughter and warm words, which underlined both the nature of the festival that chair Jacky Collins has created, and the welcome crime fiction extends to fledgling writers, as well as readers long-standing or new.
Jacky began by asking about their moves into fresh series. Mari Hannah said her publisher had asked for a duo in her new series to make it different from her original books centred on DCI Kate Daniels, though these will continue too. She said it can take a while to get into the rhythm of a new series, but the voices of Stone and Oliver came to her quite quickly. Elly Griffiths, who writes the Stephens & Mephisto historical novels as well as the Dr Ruth Galloway books, said it was fun to write a series with a relationship, adding that it is “a privilege of the genre to be able to write a series with the same characters”.

Speaking about her start in writing, Mari said she submitted her debut manuscript to the Northern Writers Award and got some great feedback. When she wrote her second book, her partner persuaded her to enter again – and she won. Mari said this gave her the momentum to get an agent and find a publisher. She also won the Polari Prize – set up by Saturday afternoon panellist Paul Burston – which she was thrilled by as it is open to all genres, and it’s unusual for a crime novel to win it. It is awarded to a novel that best explains the LGBT+ experience, which Mari said was meaningful as Kate Daniels is not openly gay, but the book spoke to many people about their experience – she said she had letters from readers saying “this is my life”.

Elly’s journey into crime writing was not an overnight thing – she began writing women’s fiction under her real name, Domenica de Rosa, then wrote a crime novel and needed a “crime name” (it’s her grandmother’s name). Her book wasn’t a breakaway success, but libraries picked it up and encouraged their readers to try it. It then won the Mary Higgins Clark Award for best crime novel at the US Edgars, the awards given by the Mystery Writers of America group, which was a huge boost.

Both have been awarded the UK Crime Writers Association Dagger in the Library, a prize for a body of work which is chosen by librarians, to which Mari said “it doesn’t matter if people buy or borrow, it’s nice to know you’re being read”. The perfect sentiment for an event being held in a library! And both have been involved with the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival – Elly chaired the programming committee in 2017, and Mari is chairing it this year (18-21 July in Harrogate). Elly said you are the face and the host of the event, and should enjoy it after all the work that goes into the planning. Mari said she was so honoured when she was asked – but then wondered if they had asked the right person… She had been at an event where someone stood up and asked a question about writing Hercule Poirot, apparently mistaking her for Sophie Hannah!

Part of the reason Mari was chosen for the role, Elly said, was due to her work with the Big Read and being a readers’ champion. The Big Read is an outreach programme, where a novel that had a significant impact on crime fiction is chosen and then Mari tours libraries doing events, with the aim of encouraging reluctant readers into libraries. Publishers donate copies of the books and events are free, the idea being to facilitate discussions about books. Elly is touring schools in an effort to encourage and sustain reading, and said the kids ask really different and difficult questions – one favourite being “do you have any other talents?” – but that it’s good for kids to see that writers are ordinary people.

From the audience, someone asked why do the panel think crime fiction readers are mostly women? Mari said women “have a completely different experience when they read crime”, as we’ve all been frightened in real life – reading a crime novel can help us make sense of the world. Elly added that it’s a way to live or relive what it’s like to be frightened and to overcome it. And Mari said that not everything is resolved with crime in real life, and there isn’t always a motive, but it can be resolved and given motive in a book.

And on a lighter note, dealing with adaptations of their novels, Elly said part of her wants to see them on TV but also you don’t want to see it if you don’t want to know what they look like. She said the best route is be hugely involved or not involved and let the TV people get on with it. Mari said she isn’t writing the screenplay for the Kate Daniels series currently in development (with Stephen Fry‘s company Sprout Pictures), but at all stages there has been a close relationship with the TV people. She is happy to see it on the screen, but knows they will change things as a screenwriter looks at things differently for the different medium.

That wraps up my reports on Newcastle Noir 2019 – I hope you’ve enjoyed “revisiting” events you attended, or getting a flavour of ones you missed. I’m sorry I couldn’t cover every event, but hopefully it’ll give you an incentive to join us in Newcastle again next time for a weekend of noir treats! Many thanks to all the authors who came and spoke and didn‘t object to me scribbling away in the front row (I hope I spelled your name right and got your book titles right..), to the Noir Stars volunteers for making things run smoothly, to Ariane for making sure we could hear everyone, and to Newcastle City Library for hosting this expanded festival. And of course huge congratulations to Jacky “Dr Noir” Collins for masterminding a fabulous weekend!

Louise