Ask the Author: Geoffrey Gates
Answered Questions (2)
Geoffrey Gates
I'm just at the beginning stages of a historical novel (or the research around one) which will be a departure. But I think the sense of mystery and the role of the writer and artist will feature. I can't go into more details yet - I think that's normal at this point - something like a primitive fear that talking about an idea will dry it up!
Geoffrey Gates
Strangely enough, I think the idea of writing a crime novel (to begin with) came from me teaching "crime fiction" as a module to my senior students. This was some years back. We were exploring a range of writers, not all of whom would really be considered conventional crime writers (like Marquez, Ondaatje, Auster) as well as the differences between American and English traditions. The idea to set the story in France came, I think, from my travels there and the figure of the fairly naïve young Australian abroad. I actually started writing with a fairly Auster idea - like 'Oracle Night' - by writing in two notebooks. One was a crime story, the other a travel story. That idea did come through in the first draft and something of it remains in the story structure.
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