“Reading—What authors particularly inspire you? Do you read
them when you are working on a book?”
Oh heck – this is a tough one to answer! Second question
first – I don’t read when I’m writing…I just cannot do it. Not because I’m
afraid I’ll start writing just like Agatha Christie (!!!) or any other author, but
because when I’m working on a book I’m so completely immersed in the world I’m
creating that I barely have room for the real one, let alone the inventions of
other authors. So, not reading novels while I’m writing one is my way of
hanging onto my sanity.
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| Some of my Christie books |
As for reading when I’m not writing – yes, I still do that!
Over the years I have broadened and deepened my list of “authors whose work I
have read”, but I have to admit I am probably still most influenced by those
whose works I read earliest and have therefore re-read for the longest period
of time. Agatha Christie’s works have had a profound effect on me; I own at
least one copy of everything she ever wrote (plays and memoirs included) and
have lost count of the number of times I have read each one. I’ll admit not
every book is “brilliant in every respect”, and some might be said to be a
little “clunky”, BUT Christie at her worst is better than so many other
writers, I’ll step back into the metaphorical “comfy slippers” her works offer
at the drop of the proverbial hat rather than wade through something that
doesn’t hold me, or appeal to me.
I also read a great deal of Patricia Wentworth, Ngaio Marsh,
Dorothy L Sayers and Ellery Queen when I was young – and still read their work
now, so all of that must have influenced
me.
As I write this blog post I am asking myself “In what way/s
have they influenced me?” and this is what I’ve come up with…
Structure, setting, characterization, the laying down of
clues, playing fair with the reader or specifically deciding to not do that –
all these things were laid down in my psyche because of my early reading. Topics? Christie,
Wentworth, Marsh, Queen and more wrote about extra-marital affairs, sex
before/outside marriage, drug dealing and addiction, alcoholism, espionage,
violent theft, serial killers, psychopaths, sociopaths, narcissists and so many
types of characters or situations we often forget they tackled when we think of
their work. They might not have used foul language, or have dwelt on the gory physiological
aspects of a crime, but they certainly examined the psychological damage done,
and did so in a pretty intense way in many cases. So, by starting my
crime-reading life with their books, I gave myself a framework for when I began
to write. Every topic I’ve mentioned above is contained within what I’ve
written in my traditional Cait Morgan Mysteries. So, there’s that…
Nowadays I try hard to read works by authors I have met and
come to know – and I have to admit I am not sure how much that reading
influences me. I suspect it does in that it marks out for me what “their
territory” is…and allows me to see what’s working well in the marketplace and
how good writing sells. I’m always trying to learn, and, while I believe
there’s a lot to be learned from authors who were working many decades ago, I
am also sure there’s a great deal I can learn from those who are writing today.
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| With Sue Grafton - a living inspiration! |
An example here would be the work of Sue Grafton; I think it
was the Kinsey Millhone books that allowed me to understand the different way
that a “Golden Age” book (be it about the sleuth Miss Marple or the PI Poirot) vs
a “modern” book about a professional investigator can and should work. Let’s be
honest, we never get the feeling that Poirot is taking on a case because he
needs the business – I know he has Miss Lemon to organize his correspondence
and immaculate filing system, and that he is commissioned to take cases but,
rather like the Sherlock Holmes tradition, we’re aware of Poirot “picking” his
cases rather than having to do something to allow him to pay the bills (for
Poirot aficionados, yes, I know there are a couple of times where the state of his bank
account means he takes a case he might have allowed to pass him by, but that’s
not his usual motivation). Kinsey Millhone is a true professional, and her “cases”
often build from seemingly innocent/slightly boring or uninspiring beginnings.
That’s how my WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries work – with my four professional
private investigators taking on a case – after the proper signing of contracts,
of course – which leads them somewhere they never expected. Of course, Kinsey's in the USA in the 1980s and my WISE women are in Wales today, but...you know. So there’s that…
This is a bit like peeling an onion…I know I have never, ever, set out to "copy" the style/shape of another author's work, but there must be
innumerable ways in which what I read fifty years ago (Enid Blyton’s “Secret
Seven” books) or fifty days ago (Elly Griffiths’ “The Crossing Places”) has and
will influence me – be that in a turn of phrase, or an entire structure for a
character/tale/series. Maybe I’ll never really know where certain inspirations
come from, and maybe that’s for the best; I’d like to believe I’ve come up with
some of the stuff I write all on my own, you see!
Cathy Ace is the Bony Blithe Award-winning author of The
Cait Morgan Mysteries (#8 The Corpse with the Ruby Lips was released on November
1st) and The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries (#3, The Case of the Curious Cook, was released in hardcover in the UK on
November 30th and in the USA & Canada on March 1st). You can find out more
about Cathy, her work and her characters at her website, where you can also
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