As the dust settles – part 3

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!

Saturday 4 May, Part 1

9.30am – What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Lilja Sigurdardottir, Steph Broadribb, Will Carver and Doug Johnstone

However late you’d stayed up on Friday night, it was always going to be worth getting up for this first panel of Saturday, featuring four Orenda authors at the top of their game – and who better to chair than their publisher, Karen Sullivan, who knows all these books inside out?

Doug Johnstone writes about different kinds of love in new novel Breakers, and with it different motivations. There is the tentative beginning of romance between his central character, 17-year-old Tyler, and private schoolgirl Flick, but also the protective sibling love between Tyler and his young sister, Bethany, known as Bean. Their mother – who underneath it all does love them – is an addict and lives a chaotic life, and the pair have no other parental figures in their lives. It falls to Tyler to look after Bean, and one of his priorities in life is protecting her. Doug mentioned that the UK has a huge number of young carers looking after a parent or siblings for various reasons, and it is important to think about how they cope. 

Will Carver’s Good Samaritans has the burgeoning love of a suicidal woman alongside the search for love in a marriage that has gone stale until murder comes along to liven things up… Will said the story is about connection and disconnection in relationships, and that dysfunctional love is always more interesting to examine. Here, it’s about how far do things have to go before a long-term relationship is reignited.

Protective love is at the heart of Steph Broadribb’s Lori Anderson series, in which Lori is prepared to do anything for her daughter, Dakota. A single mother, Lori wants to provide for her child while holding on to her independence – she tries to give Dakota the good life that she didn’t have herself. Lori might be a bounty hunter, but her grappling with these issues makes her hugely relatable to readers. Meanwhile, romantic love is a difficult prospect for her because she has been independent for so long.
In Lilja Sigurdardottir’s Trap, we see parental love, and an illicit relationship – again, Lilja said dysfunctional love is more interesting to write about. The older couple are at the end of their relationship, which gives the chance to show what happens when love goes well. The two women are at the beginning of a relationship, with the complication of dealing with their sexuality. Lilja said everyone can relate to love as a motivation, and it is so strong because it is not in tune with logic. Steph added that you don’t always know where you are with love, as it can change. And Will pointed out that in real life, in a murder case it’s almost always someone the victim knows.

Asked for their favourite love stories, unsurprisingly none chose straightforward romances. Doug went for James Sallis’ novel Drive, which was made into a film with Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. Lilja picked Wuthering Heights, a dysfunctional love story where you can root for the characters to get together and then watch everything go wrong. Steph went for the film True Romance, a love story with guns and screaming and everything you could need. And while Will joked about liking to curl up on the couch with some tissues and The Notebook, in reality he is moved by the relationships at the heart of The Great Gatsby.

Karen put them on the spot by asking what was the most beautiful or embarrassing thing they had ever done for love. Doug has written songs for his wife, and Steph based a character in her books on someone she loves. Meanwhile, Will recreated a scene from Woody Allen’s film Manhattan to propose, and Lilja got the biggest laugh by saying she wanted to have a relationship with someone who was reluctant due to the age gap so badly that she essentially stalked them! But it turned out well as they are still together.

From the audience, someone asked what apart from love would trigger a plot. Lilja said it would be money or love, as the “Viking mentality” was all about gathering money and relationships. Steph agreed that money or possibly drugs might kick off the plot, but that relationships and choices made under pressure are the most interesting parts to write about. And Doug said that in his novels the driving force was usually a split-second wrong decision – a classic noir trop – and the fatalistic aftermath of that.

10.30am – Rough Justice
Craig Robertson, Noelle Holten, Sarah Stovell and Michael J Malone

There was a lovely moment before this panel began as Sharon Bairden was revealed as its chair, to the surprise and delight of her “book twin”, Noelle Holten, blogger turned debut author. What could be better at your first festival as an author than by having your best pal asking the questions?
Sharon started by asking whether delivering justice outside the law was satisfying to the authors, with the consensus being a resounding yes. Michael J Malone said writer and reader alike love the build-up to the moment of truth, and Noelle Holten added that she felt her characters deserved it and she had enjoyed choosing what to do with them. Craig Robertson said that as well as serving justice on a specific character, you could also serve justice on a whole group of people, such as the social media trolls everyone hates. And Sarah Stovell added that writing showed people you could take justice into your own hands in some ways.

On whether a strong social issues element was deliberate in their work, Craig said it has to be – that writers have the ability to tackle issues and a responsibility to do so. Noelle, a former probation officer, said that in Dead Inside she tried to show the perspective of men who perpetrate domestic abuse, her aim being to show all aspects of the issue. Sarah had worked in a children’s home and felt there were stories that needed to be told, which will come out in her next book, after the current Exquisite. And Michael pointed out that there is a strong tradition in Scottish crime fiction of tackling social issues; that it offers a way of dealing with strong emotional responses.

On protagonists, Craig said that it was very difficult as a male writer to get the topic of rape right, which is at the heart of The Photographer, but he had read, and learned from other people and took advice. Michael, whose most recent novel, After He Died, centres on a widow, said of writing the opposite sex simply “women are people too”. He said writing is an exercise in empathy and getting under the character’s skin, and done with respect it can have a huge impact. Noelle said she hated her protagonist, Patrick, and didn’t even feel sorry for him when writing the parts where he showed remorse, because of everything else he had done. And Sarah said she didn’t like clear-cut good or bad characters as things are always more complicated than that. She also stressed the importance of a protagonist’s background story.

Asked by Sharon if there were any issues they wouldn’t touch as writers, Craig said firmly no – that the more painful things are, the more use you get from them; the more real feeling you have, the more real the book is. Michael said it was unavoidable that feelings are going to come out, adding: “Every book, there’s a point where I’m in floods of tears.” Which he said was “cheaper than a therapist”! But equally all four said that lighter moments were important, whether that be in-jokes for friends or dialogue that underpins the character relationships. Craig said that Glasgow-set books demand jokes, and generally “you need to puncture [the darkness], give the readers a break”.

On whether they feel there is a moral imperative to make the rule of law uppermost at the end of their novels, Craig pointed out that readers expect justice, but in real life it doesn’t always happen. Michael said the reader’s expectation needs to satisfied, but he tries to do it in a way they don’t expect.

Finally, on what crimes other than murder they would write about, Sarah said it was hard not to have a murder because stories needed to have high stakes. She did wonder about writing about climate change as a social issue in need of examination – “crimes against the planet”. Michael said he often writes about the ramifications of crime, rather than the actual crime. And Craig – a former journalist who spent a lot of time interviewing those affected by crime – said he believed there are crimes worse than murder. The Photographer has no deaths in it because it would lessen the impact of the rapes that happen. 

11.30am – Favourite Worst Nightmare – Yorkshire Noir
AA Dhand, Nick Quantrill, June Taylor and Danny Marshall

While Newcastle Noir makes a point of bringing great names from across the world to audiences in the north-east of England, it doesn’t neglect crime fiction written closer to home. Chaired by Newcastle author Daniel James, this panel delved deep into the importance of place. 

Danny Marshall said everything else he’d written had been set within a few miles of his home in Yorkshire, but his debut published novel was set on a Scottish island instead! However, he said place was crucial to the story, as the novel uses the history of Gruinard, which is also known as “Anthrax Island” after the biological weapon was tested there during the Second World War. He said the sequel is back to being set within five miles of his house!

AA (Amit) Dhand said he was at the launch of a previous book of his in the Waterstones bookshop in Bradford – which is housed in the town’s former wool exchange, a Victorian Gothic building – looked up at the ceiling and thought “wouldn’t it be funny if there was a body”. He said he thought about it for the rest of the evening, and the girl started speaking to him, so he felt compelled to ruin the beautiful bookshop by using it for City Of Sinners. In his Harry Virdee series, he set out to explore social and political aspects of Bradford and its communities and said fusing fact, such as places, with fiction makes his books more real. He added he always intended to write a series to explore the British-Asian community in the city, hoping to close the gaps between people while exploring the various identities they hold.

June Taylor said she was determined to write a book with Leeds as a backdrop as it has played a part in her thinking since she grew up in the era of the Yorkshire Ripper. As she writes mostly psychological thrillers, most recently Keep Your Friends Close, she uses the city as a backdrop rather than a character itself while she explores why people do awful things. Nick Quantrill said his aim when he started to out was simply to write about Hull, as when he began no-one was else was setting novels there, and he thought there was no reason not to. He also wanted to document the city and the changes happening at the time – though he said he would never “punch down” when describing places – he wouldn’t name a council estate for the sake of it, though people familiar with the city might recognise it. 

Talking about protagonists, Amit said simply that “if Harry wins, we all win”, in terms of how the character negotiates life. Nick’s main character is a PI, but he said he has updated the template from the Raymond Chandler era and twisted it to suit his own city. Danny said he didn’t want his central character to be a cop as that would have meant researching the procedure! Instead he wanted someone who could go around the country with a gun, and who had no back-up – “what James Bond would have been if he’d grown up in a back-to-back terrace and gone to Africa to become a mercenary”.

June said she wanted to explore trust, betrayal and how we interact; what and how we reveal ourselves to others. Friendship dynamics in her books are very important, and writing from different points of view gave her latest novel more layers and subtext. Nick has had a gap between his first Joe Geraghty novels and his newest one, but said that it was easy to slip back into the character – “it was a pleasure to get back into his shoes“. He added that The Crooked Beat was always going to be more personal for Geraghty, and the PI’s closeness to the crime would offer a different way of exploring it.

One audience member asked if there was anything that made the panel wince as they wrote. Amit said Harry carries no weapons, but you use whatever you can to stop someone – as evidenced by “the car tyre scene” – and said he loves pushing boundaries . However, he said: “I’ll go 70 and make you feel the final 30; you‘ll scare yourselves more than I can scare you.” June said she was drawn to dark places but a writer needs a level of responsibility, and shouldn’t be gratuitous. Danny said the intersection of crime and horror fascinates him, that there always has to be a reason for violence etc. Amit added that he has to be truthful, even if at times it is uncomfortable – in his next book, he explores terrorism, and said: “If I lie to you, I lose credibility; if I tell the truth, I win your trust.”

2.30pm – LGBTQ – I Am What I Am – La Vie En Noir
Jonina Leosdottir, Derek Farrell and Paul Burston

Christened the “cupcakes” panel by chair Jacky Collins (simply as it faster to say), this was one of my favourite events of the weekend, with light-hearted and intense moments, discussing the importance of marginalised voices and widening crime fiction’s horizons. And Paul Burston showed off the sharpest suit of the weekend!

Jacky began by asking the writers about their journey to publishing crime fiction. Paul Burston said he started off writing black comedies that got steadily darker, but was dropped by his publisher. He began a new story, but realised half-way through it was a crime novel. Now he’s with Orenda, with thriller The Closer I Get imminent. He describes crime fiction authors as “the most supportive community of writers I’ve ever met”. Derek Farrell said there was no way he was going to be anything else than a crime writer – his dad was a huge fan of crime fiction, and believed in “read what makes you happy”, so young Derek started with the Hardy Boys and never looked back. But it wasn’t until he was given a writing class as a birthday gift that he really got going. Told to create a character then destroy their life, he came up with Danny Bird, who began to nag at him to have his story told, Finally he created the series set in a pub which Derek describes as “Cabot Cove with IPA on tap”! (That’s a Murder, She Wrote, reference, for anyone who is wondering)

Icelander Jonina Leosdottir was first published three decades ago, but only started writing crime recently. She was a journalist, then moved into non-fiction, turning to fiction to have full control over what she wrote. She started with what she described as Joanna Trollope-style books, then she would put a crime in, and now considers herself a crime writer – but said she has always written mostly about relationships.

Then we got on to the meat of the panel – how important is it to write voices that are not necessarily heard in mainstream fiction? Paul said he was an Aids activist earlier in life, and turned to journalism in frustration at the lack of representation of such activism. He wrote non-fiction, then began his first novel in a period when everything was “chicklit and Bridget Jones” with stereotypical gay best friends, and decided to turn that on its head in his own novel. He also started the Polari literary salon to give a platform to voices that are sidelined. It encouraged more writers, which led to a prize for debut fiction that explores the LGBT+ experience (Mari Hannah is a previous winner), and now a second one for non-debut writers. He said he felt a responsibility to reflect his own life in his writing, which includes both gay and straight people, but he likes to start by creating a character and then coming up with a situation to test them.

Derek said Danny Bird was gay because he was, but he’s a younger, smarter version – though he’s not totally confident because he is aware of how the world is. Since beginning the series, Derek has thought more of his responsibility to other voices, such as having a trans character, but while he is aware of the importance of getting that voice right, the character first has to fit in the story. He also said it’s not necessary to make every gay person a good guy – you make them less “other” by making them varied.

Jonina’s life is reflected in her writing. She wrote a trilogy for young adults in which a girl starts with a boyfriend and ends up with a girlfriend, and has also written a memoir about keeping a relationship secret for 15 years because her partner was a politician. Finally they came out – and her wife, Johanna Sigurdardottir, became Iceland’s prime minister (the firstly openly lesbian head of state in modern history), during which time they made state visits as a same-sex couple. As well as writing gay characters, she has a series with a retired older woman at the centre, another voice too often ignored – “don’t write people off because they have wrinkles,” she said.
If we don’t write these stories, then no-one will, Derek said, adding that it is still very difficult to get stories with gay characters at the centre published – it’s so tough that why would you bother unless you were very determined to have that voice heard, as writing a straight character is a much easier route to publication. But he said it’s a Catch-22 situation: publishers say such books won’t sell, so they don’t get published, so they can’t sell – yet publishers don’t know what is going to be a hit until it is a hit.

In the audience questions, author Yrsa Sigurdardottir said she felt ashamed about the lack of gay characters in her books, which she felt added to the importance of gay authors writing their stories. Derek said we all instinctively write about our own milieu, so an absence is understandable – it would be worse if it was a conscious decision to deliberately exclude gay characters.

Meanwhile, asked about the problems of cultural appropriation, Paul said it was “ridiculous”, because turned around it meant he could not write about anything other than white gay men from Wales! He said it is important that all writers try to reflect the world as it is as broadly as possible – the job is to tell all people’s stories.