Karl recently had the privilege of interviewing Patrick Lennon, author of Corn Dolls, Steel Witches and the recently released Cut Out.
Check it out below:
KARL: When planning a novel and its twists and turns, where do you start and how do you find your way to a conclusion?
PATRICK: I have a general idea of the story before I start, especially the surprises (at least, I'm hoping they're surprises) and the way the people fit together in the final scenes. I also keep an eye on the big question which will be facing the main character- 'Should I stay quiet or speak out?' 'Should I be loyal to him or to her?' and so on.
For some reason, I've also usually got an idea of where the final scenes take place (eg in a field, on a cliff, in a hospital) which I think helps me plan towards it. I then do a storyboard of the book with notes for each scene which I can then put up on the wall and follow. Inside that framework, though, a lot still comes out as I write, especially the mannerisms of the people and the smaller pieces of the plot.
KARL: What are the main challenges when piecing together a crime novel?
PATRICK: Aaargh, there are so many. I think maybe the biggest is realism - trying to make the story sufficiently plausible that readers forgive the fact that it's listed under 'fiction.' This applies to the story and the people in it. I tried to achieve this for my last book - Cut Out, which has a lot of scenes set in the British army - by meeting people in the armed forces and asking them to comment on aspects of the story. In other cases, it's going to be virtually impossible to actually meet these guys (eg the Russian mafia or Afghan hill tribes) and there I use a mixture of non-fiction research and - dare I say it - imagination.
Another issue I find is this: giving the story and the people reasonable depth without overcooking the whole thing and making it intricate or convoluted. But the editor usually has a lot to say about that. . .
KARL: What fascinates you about the dark side of human nature?
PATRICK: It's difficult to say what 'dark' means exactly, though we've all got an instinctive idea which probably varies from person to person. Somebody (was it Stephen King?) said that 'a writer writes what other people think but don't say' and that has something to do with it. I think, in that sense, someone like John Updike had some 'dark' elements in his stories .
But I'm interested above all in conspiracies, and the lengths that people will go to in order to conceal what they're doing, even when this leads to total personal corruption. I think that the American crime writer James Lee Burke brings out this kind of 'rubicon' point brilliantly.
KARL: Have you ever gone 'too far ' in earlier drafts of your novels and found scenes deemed too dark?
PATRICK: Don't think so! I try to reduce scenes which are superfluous or aren't earning their keep in the story, and base the decision on that rather than whether anyone might be offended.
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KARL: How do you decide when to leave darker things to the audience's imagination and when to help them along with a little more detail?
PATRICK: That's a difficult one, but don't think I make this a conscious decision, really. As a reader, I like the moments when something happens in a book and I pause for a second and see an image that's more than is presented on the page, so I'm always looking for opportunities to attempt to do this in my writing. Sometimes I'll stop describing something at the point where it feels like 'enough already' and maybe at that point the reader takes over. I hope so.
Thanks to Patrick for this amazing opportunity.
Check out Patrick Lennon's fantastic website here: