Ask the Author: L. D. Cunningham
Answered Questions (4)
L. D. Cunningham
There had been so much news in Cork and more widely in Ireland about crimes committed, particularly organized crime, assets being seized by the authorities, big drug busts (e.g. large bales of cocaine being lost at sea). There was also the issue of Garda (Irish police) corruption, whisteblowers in the police, and how they were treated by their fellow rank and file and superiors (something that has recently blown up into something that makes the fiction in my book look mild by comparison). Then throw in the paramilitary action of the eighties and nineties, how they were dealt with by the likes of the Special Branch ... and you've got the melting pot of ideas for my book. I wanted my novel to feature an outsider that was once an insider. I liked the idea of a once-effective Garda detective, disgraced and thrown out of the force. How would he manage in life after that? How would he interact now with his past connections (fixers, bagmen, gang bosses, dealers, corrupt Gardaí, etc.)?
L. D. Cunningham
There are two ways to answer this question. I can write about the satisfaction of the writing process, but I can also write about the identity side of being a writer. Writing fiction is a creative process, one of the arts. To be a fiction writer is to be an artist. You write a novel and it is a work of art, open to criticism or admiration like any painting (just see the ratings system on this site). Being a writer is to take on the identity of the artist, to join a community of people that lay themselves bare, sometimes exposing the innermost workings of their souls (and forgive me if that sounds a little over the top). There is also a certain esteem that writers are held in by those that could never imagine writing a novel. Writing a novel is not easy. It's a bit like when I tell people that can't run a mile that I've run a few marathons - it just seems like something so unachievable, though of course it shouldn't be. To put it another way, being a writer is a way to stand out from the crowd; if you work in a job where there are many just like you, you can separate yourself from the crowd by identifying yourself as a writer / author / novelist (whether they like what you write or not). But having said all that, nothing trumps the pure joy of just writing, creating characters and putting them in strange situations.
L. D. Cunningham
I'm working on a prequel to The Murk Beneath called The Heavens Above. In TMB, the main character, Mickey Bosco, is expelled from the Irish police force in the prologue. The prequel will be a novella rather than a novel and it will explore the formation of Bosco as a detective and how he never did quite fit in. I also wanted to explore the reasons for his cynicism with regards to the Catholic church - there is a history with a school-time friend that was abused and subsequently committed suicide that I want to tease out. I also want it to be balanced in the sense that there are good sides to the Catholic church as well as the scandals. I plan to make the novella available for free to build my readership and hopefully impress them enough to buy The Murk Beneath and future novels.
L. D. Cunningham
Don't make excuses about the time not being right, being tired, not in a creative mood; just get down and write. Don't be afraid to write rubbish and don't get discouraged when you do. All great writers have their off days, but they keep writing and they know they can return to their worst writing and rewrite or cut it without regretting the initial effort. Writing can be a bit like a Spring clean - you dump a lot of crap, but every so often you uncover a little gem that's a keeper. But it rarely starts as a gem - you need to polish that lump of coal until it becomes a diamond, in other words write and rewrite and cut mercilessly. Writing is a craft to be honed and it takes a lot of practice; the more you write, the better you get. And finally, be patient ... most overnight successes are actually 5 or 10 year journeys, even longer.
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