“If you woke up one day not wanting to write another crime
novel, what would you write instead?”
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| Out in Canada 18 October, USA November 1 |
My initial reaction to this question is “I haven’t a clue!”
Pardon the crime-related pun, but, to me, it’s unavoidable…crime fiction is one
of the few constants in my life, and I would find it difficult to step away
from. One thing I do believe is that whatever one chooses to write, it
should be something one reads…with breadth and depth of reading allowing one an
insight into the field.
So…what do I read? Other than crime fiction (and non-fiction),
I read biographies, auto-biographies (lots of “researchy” books when I need to)
and I have shelves and shelves full of books about movies and the history of
the movie industry, art and the history of art, architecture and the history of
architecture, music and….you get the idea. I like human-created stuff. Oh, and
I have a lot of books about food and gardening too. I also have half a room
full of what people refer to as “The Classics” – though why they do that I
don’t know because it makes them sound crusty and distant, and a well-written
tale about human truths is as fresh the first time you read it – no matter the
year – as the day it was written.
I enjoy
reading poetry. I also love it when I have the chance to settle down with
Shakespeare and speak aloud his magical words to my attentive dogs, because
that – for me – is by far the best way to read Shakespeare…out loud, and with
emotion,
feeling the rhythm of his words
in your mouth. I’ve even read the entire Bible and the Nag Hammadi scriptures.
Twice.
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| Paperback out in Canada & USA November 1st |
But as for writing something other than crime fiction? I
have no idea what that would be. You see, even if I were tempted into historic
or mythological territory, there’d still have to be a crime at the heart of the
story for me to find it satisfying to write. The crime might not be murder –
indeed, several of my books do not feature a murder at all – but there are so
many other types of crimes to choose from it seems a pity to not do so. The
basic storytelling backbone of good vs evil (and "playing" with those essentials) implies
“evil” must be present, and usually that shows itself in the manner society
would view as “a crime”. So…all that being said, I’m at a loss!
Cathy
Ace writes the Cait Morgan Mysteries (book #8 THE CORPSE WITH THE RUBY LIPS
was published in paperback on October 18th in Canada, and will be available on November 1st in the
USA...order NOW!!!) and the WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries (book
#2 THE CASE OF THE MISSING MORRIS DANCER was published in trade
paperback on August 31st in the UK, and will be available on November 1st in
the US/Canada). Please excuse the highly promotional nature of this post...but with two books being available to readers within such a small window, I owe it to myself and my publishers to do the best I can for the books by presenting them to readers whenever I can :-)
Find out more about Cathy and
her
work, and sign up for her newsletter at http://cathyace.com/
9 comments:
Not at a loss at all, Cathy. You know what you want to write and you're doing it. Crime fiction. Good for you.
I'm echoing RJ here--while you may be at a loss to find something else to write, you hardly seem at a loss about your reasoning here, what subjects draw you in, and where you want to go. Good post!
Agreed, crime has to be at the heart of it, even if it's the theft of a petty-change box, as many of the plots in Heartbeat, a once-watched TV series. Doesn't have to be grisly at all. Great post, and I'm impressed by the range of your reading
Reading Shakespeare out loud is a wonderful idea and I think I could bribe my cats to simulate attentive listening ...you're right that Shakespeare begs for reading aloud.And of course, his plays are full of crime, so I could say it's research.
Hi Robin...yes, I'll stick to my core love...crime :-)
Hi Art...it's funny, sometimes serendipity touches a person, and I've been giving this particular topic a lot of thought recently. Sticking to crime is certainly one thing I've decided upon :-)
Hi Rachel...I enjoy weaving as many things that interest me as possible into my plots and settings, so all those books come in very handy ;-)
Hi Susan...I love "living" Shakespeare aloud, and particularly relish the words he created. One of the ones I'm particularly fond of is "incarnadine" so fantastically descriptive....and it makes me think of the shower scene in "Psycho" whenever I read the Macbeth scene it's from :-)
I can absolutely understand your point of view regarding the need for a 'mystery' or 'unknown quantity' in every novel, whether or not it's a crime. And of course the beauty of the genre is its flexibility - past, present or future settings, endless possibilities regarding who your main character can be, huge variation in tone (dark or funny) - the list goes on! But I wonder if you find, as certain writer friends of mine have done, that immersion in one genre for a long time makes it extremely difficult to shake off if you do need to change?
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