Two BritCrime novelists interrogate each other on crime, cats, and chocolate biscuits…
Highsmith or Chandler?
Ooh, evil question... but it has to be Chandler. Aged 11, I had to stand on tiptoe on a chair to reach the hiding place where my Dad kept his ‘grown up’ fiction – and ‘The Big Sleep’ was my most thrilling find.
Best TV crime ever?
‘The Wire’.
Killer twist or killer characters?
Characters. Always.
Favourite twist book ever?
‘Rebecca’, by Daphne du Maurier
Favourite murder weapon – in crime fiction, that is…?
Frozen leg of lamb subsequently roasted and eaten, thus destroying the evidence (courtesy of Roald Dahl)
Male or female protagonist? As a reader, both work for me. But I prefer writing men – I find it easier, perhaps because I can stand back a bit.
Best villain ever?
Count Fosco in ‘The Woman in White’.
Whodunnit or whydunnit?
Really good crime novels are always both.
Write whole draft or revise as you go?
Painstaking revision as I go – I can’t move on until a scene is right. It’s like building a house of cards – unless each level is right, the whole idea becomes precarious.
Favourite font?
Avenir Book.
Mac or PC?
Mac.
Cats or dogs?
We share a house with a Norwegian Forest Cat. (She says it’s the other way round…)
Tea or coffee?
Coffee – but only one, insanely strong, first thing.
Music or silence (while writing)?
Silence. Music gets in the way for me.
But if there’s external noise I want to block out, I’ll put on some birdsong.
Read everything you write out loud.
Hobnobs or chocolate digestives?
I refuse to answer such a divisive question (© A Leadsom)
www.anyalipska.com
@anyalipska
A Devil Under the Skin at Amazon
Next in the hot seat is Fergus McNeill, author of the Bristol-based Detective Harland novels, a contemporary crime series published by Hodder.
That’s deeply unfair, but I’ll have to go with Chandler, if only for the immortal line “she gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket”.
Best TV crime ever?
Another difficult choice, but I can’t think of anything better than series 1 of ‘The Bridge’.
Killer twist or killer characters?
Twists are fun, but they’re fleeting. Compelling characters are with you on every page.
Favourite twist book ever?
‘The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd’ by Agatha Christie.
Favourite fictional murder weapon?
Encouraging someone to hammer on an unexploded WWII bomb (from ‘The Wasp Factory’ by Iain Banks).
Male or female protagonist?
I don’t have any prejudice towards either gender. For me, it’s all about whether I want to spend time with that character.
Whodunnit or whydunnit?
I love a good Golden Age whodunit, but I don’t think stories should be restricted to a particular structure. As long as the resolution is satisfying, I don’t mind what sort of resolution it is.
Best villain ever?
Mr Heming from ‘A Pleasure And A Calling’ by Phil Hogan.
Write whole draft or revise as you go?
I know I shouldn’t, but I keep going back and editing my previous chapters as I write. Maybe it helps me to develop the “tone of voice” for a book… it certainly explains why I take forever to get to the end.
Favourite font?
For writing, Cambria. For reading, Plantin Light.
Mac or PC?
I love my MacBook Air, but I still use Microsoft Word (an older version, from before they “improved” it).
Cats or dogs?
I have a very tubby tabby cat, who adores my wife and profoundly resents my presence in the house. But other cats like me, so I’m a cat person.
Tea or coffee?
Coffee. Unless it’s instant coffee, which really isn’t coffee at all.
Music or silence (while writing)?
I can’t bear silence, so I always play music while writing. Different tracks evoke different moods, and particular pieces can act as “mental bookmarks” – very useful, when returning to a scene after some time away.
Top writing tip?
There’s no such thing as “writer’s block”; there’s only lack of research (or lack of talent). If you find you’re struggling to write something, there’s a good chance you don’t understand it well enough, and you just need to do more research. (Courtesy of Robert McKee, Hollywood script-doctor)
Hobnobs or chocolate digestives?
Chocolate digestives, because they offer a more predictable dunking experience and, crucially, they are sold in larger packets.
www.fergusmcneill.co.uk
@fergusmcneill
Cut Out at Amazon
♠ More BritCrime Festival author interviews
