Ask the Author: Henry Hemming
Answered Questions (5)
Henry Hemming
Hi Rob, sorry not to get back to you sooner. Really glad you're enjoying Agent M! I think Knight was one of the inspirations for Fleming's 'M', and that Fleming would have heard of the legendary 'M' working in MI5, but I'd argue that the main inspiration in terms of characteristics is John Godfrey, Fleming's boss at NI. Jack Brotherhood is easier to identify as being based on Knight, and if you want to know more about this I'd heartily recommend reading Adam Sisman's excellent biography of John Le Carre, in which he explores this in more depth. Thanks for your questions, H
Henry Hemming
Hi Eric,
As a historian I wouldn't say that I create my characters, but I do choose them, and then I think about which elements of their lives are relevant to the story I'm trying to tell - and that process is not a million miles away from what goes on inside a novelist's mind as they build characters from scratch.
Without making it sound formulaic, I'm usually drawn to men and women who contain within them some kind of conflict, and who end up going on a journey in the story, by the end of which the nature of that conflict has changed.
In Agent M, I was obviously drawn to characters like Olga Gray, as well as Maxwell Knight, for these very reasons.
Hope that helps,
H
As a historian I wouldn't say that I create my characters, but I do choose them, and then I think about which elements of their lives are relevant to the story I'm trying to tell - and that process is not a million miles away from what goes on inside a novelist's mind as they build characters from scratch.
Without making it sound formulaic, I'm usually drawn to men and women who contain within them some kind of conflict, and who end up going on a journey in the story, by the end of which the nature of that conflict has changed.
In Agent M, I was obviously drawn to characters like Olga Gray, as well as Maxwell Knight, for these very reasons.
Hope that helps,
H
Henry Hemming
A mixture of fear and love. Fear of missing a deadline, of leaving a stone unturned in the almost never-ending quest to find out everything there is to know about your subject. There's also the fear of submitting a manuscript that isn't good enough. Each of those gets me going. So does the love of character and the thrill of being a historical detective. Beneath all of that I'm probably most inspired by a love of hammering away at a sentence until it sounds just right.
Henry Hemming
This came out of the research I did for an earlier project. Geoffrey Pyke was a character who came up and about whom I wanted to know more. It was after reading his account of sneaking into - and then escaping from - Germany during the 1st World War that I was hooked.
Henry Hemming
I'm working on a biography of a man roughly the same age as Pyke but one who could not have been any more different in outlook and temperament. Like 'The Ingenious Mr Pyke' it will be a blend of espionage, war and English eccentricity.
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