Ask the Author: Luke McCallin
Answered Questions (6)
Luke McCallin
I spent six years working in Bosnia, and you can’t live there, or in Sarajevo, for long without it seeping into you. As much as it’s an overused analogy, Bosnia really is a historical and cultural crossroads, and it’s so contested. It defies any simple explanation, just like the finest puzzle or book or question. No matter the need to reduce and simplify it, there’s no one way to read it or play it, and a place and time like that gives you so many options as an author, for drama, action, reflection, for asking big questions and trying out the answers to them.
I was a political advisor to the United Nations mission, mandated to reform the country’s police forces and judiciary. I spent a lot of time with people from all walks of Bosnian life. Not just policemen and judges and lawyers, but mayors and town councilors, with priests and imams, with refugees and people still living in ruins, with war criminals and those who survived them, with those who lived the war and those who fled from it, with women holding families together, and men who had fallen adrift of life. I began to build up a collage in my mind. I kept wondering, asking myself, what would I have done in their place, and I began weaving that human and historical tapestry, which is one of the most complex and fascinating you can imagine, into my books, and into another time, that of the Second World War.
Out of all that, came the idea for The Pale House of how, too often, the guilty escape justice…
I was a political advisor to the United Nations mission, mandated to reform the country’s police forces and judiciary. I spent a lot of time with people from all walks of Bosnian life. Not just policemen and judges and lawyers, but mayors and town councilors, with priests and imams, with refugees and people still living in ruins, with war criminals and those who survived them, with those who lived the war and those who fled from it, with women holding families together, and men who had fallen adrift of life. I began to build up a collage in my mind. I kept wondering, asking myself, what would I have done in their place, and I began weaving that human and historical tapestry, which is one of the most complex and fascinating you can imagine, into my books, and into another time, that of the Second World War.
Out of all that, came the idea for The Pale House of how, too often, the guilty escape justice…
Luke McCallin
I get a lot of inspiration from my work, and from my upbringing. I mentioned before the importance of observation in helping to become a writer. I see and hear a lot, and having spent time in the Caucasus, in the Balkans, and in the Sahel, I’ve seen so much human suffering, but also so much human dignity, that I feel compelled—inspired, if you like—to give voice to those impressions and feelings and observations. That’s not to say my writing’s about those places, although my first two books were set in WWII Sarajevo, but those experiences taught me a lot about how people can act in such situations. There is so much dignity, and so much anguish, in the human situation when confronted with war, or natural disaster. No one really asks to become a war criminal, or to get conscripted, or deny other humans their basic human rights, or to try and raise a family in a refugee camp, but it happens. And at the same time, as we see right now in Ukraine, it does not take much for people to move so far so fast from the paths their lives were taking, for postmen, for bakers, for bank clerks, for miners to become gunmen, to become warlords, for them to turn on their neighbours of decades and believe the worst of them, to expect the worse of them, and so to mete out the worst before it befalls them.
What does it take for a man to turn on his neighbour? What does it take for another man to stand up for another? Trying to understand the human motivations or conditions in all that, that’s what inspires me to write. That, and the sheer pleasure of creation and sharing.
What does it take for a man to turn on his neighbour? What does it take for another man to stand up for another? Trying to understand the human motivations or conditions in all that, that’s what inspires me to write. That, and the sheer pleasure of creation and sharing.
Luke McCallin
I’m currently working on the synopses for the third and fourth Reinhardt novels. My original conception of Reinhardt’s stories had an initial set of three stories, a trilogy, each novel focusing on a particular theme. The Man From Berlin was about redemption. The Pale House was about resistance. The third novel will be about reconciliation, and will be set in post-war Berlin with Reinhardt back on the police force.
That novel will complete the initial Reinhardt trilogy, but there’s plenty more to come from him. The fourth novel will be set in Reinhardt’s past, during the First World War, and will tell the story of an investigation in the trenches. I’ve always wanted to write a WWI novel, and I think Reinhardt will let me say some of the things I've always wanted to say about it.
That novel will complete the initial Reinhardt trilogy, but there’s plenty more to come from him. The fourth novel will be set in Reinhardt’s past, during the First World War, and will tell the story of an investigation in the trenches. I’ve always wanted to write a WWI novel, and I think Reinhardt will let me say some of the things I've always wanted to say about it.
Luke McCallin
There’s a suitably acerbic anecdote from Ernest Hemingway that fits this question. Once asked what the best training for an aspiring writer would be, he replied, “Let’s say that he should go out and hang himself because he finds that writing well is impossibly difficult. Then he should be cut down without mercy and forced by his own self to write as well as he can for the rest of his life. At least he will have the story of the hanging to commence with.”
Luckily for us, I don’t think anyone need go that far to find the inspiration to write! I think writing comes from writing, and it comes from reading, and it comes from observation of the people and the world around you. Read widely, particularly beyond your chosen genre, and read voraciously, because you’ll never know what you might find, and where you’ll find it. Myself, I’ve got books by the bedside, books in the bathrooms, books in the car, books on the kindle, and on my phone!
Secondly, and I think most importantly, don’t be afraid to look for advice and help, even criticism, and don’t wait to show others what you’ve got and what you’re doing. Writing is a lonely business, and it can be scary as hell. It’s important that you as a writer get out and about, and that you show your work to people, as many people as you can, other than your friends and family. Make friends with writers so that you have a community. You want criticism, and you want that exposure of yourself and your work. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. There’s all kinds of resources out there: workshops, writers’ groups, online courses and coaches. I benefitted enormously from an online coach, who taught a great course on plot development.
Last thing is, planning helps, at least for me, although I realize there’s a fine line between planning, and planning as prevarication. I used to just dive in and write, but what I’d end up with were lots of disconnected scenes and ideas. Sometimes I’d be able to join them up, often not. Planning—research, plotting, a synopsis, knowing the ending before you begin—can really help. Find a time to write, or at least to think about what you want to write, and try and stick with it.
Luckily for us, I don’t think anyone need go that far to find the inspiration to write! I think writing comes from writing, and it comes from reading, and it comes from observation of the people and the world around you. Read widely, particularly beyond your chosen genre, and read voraciously, because you’ll never know what you might find, and where you’ll find it. Myself, I’ve got books by the bedside, books in the bathrooms, books in the car, books on the kindle, and on my phone!
Secondly, and I think most importantly, don’t be afraid to look for advice and help, even criticism, and don’t wait to show others what you’ve got and what you’re doing. Writing is a lonely business, and it can be scary as hell. It’s important that you as a writer get out and about, and that you show your work to people, as many people as you can, other than your friends and family. Make friends with writers so that you have a community. You want criticism, and you want that exposure of yourself and your work. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. There’s all kinds of resources out there: workshops, writers’ groups, online courses and coaches. I benefitted enormously from an online coach, who taught a great course on plot development.
Last thing is, planning helps, at least for me, although I realize there’s a fine line between planning, and planning as prevarication. I used to just dive in and write, but what I’d end up with were lots of disconnected scenes and ideas. Sometimes I’d be able to join them up, often not. Planning—research, plotting, a synopsis, knowing the ending before you begin—can really help. Find a time to write, or at least to think about what you want to write, and try and stick with it.
Luke McCallin
It’s when your characters begin to take shape and, eventually, become creations. You start with one or two things—maybe a name, a description, an emotion, an impression, a place, a time—and then bit by bit they come to life. My own character, Captain Gregor Reinhardt, literally walked into my dreams one night, and he sat there, patiently, for a long while thereafter. I knew a couple of things about him. He was a lonely man. He was a good detective. He was a German. But why was he lonely? How did he become a good detective? Why did I imagine him German? You start to answer these questions, and each answer leads to more questions and more answers, until you have a ‘character’.
The freedom to invent, to explore, to imagine. Inviting others into your world, the pleasure you take in their joy of it. All these things, and more, are true.
The freedom to invent, to explore, to imagine. Inviting others into your world, the pleasure you take in their joy of it. All these things, and more, are true.
Luke McCallin
Well, I'd be tempted to say 'I'll let you know when I get it...!'
I think all writers suffer from times when they can’t write. I know I have, although I don’t know I’d describe it as ‘writer’s block’. That sounds way to dramatic! For myself, when I experience a period of not being able to write, what I often do, if the ‘block’ lasts long enough, is walk away and do something else. Play with the kids. Mow the lawn. Experiment in the kitchen. I’ll often go for a run. I find that a great way to unwind, and something will often get shaken loose. The only problem then is running back to the house fast enough and before whatever’s occurred to me gets forgotten! Does wonders for my distance times, though…!
I think all writers suffer from times when they can’t write. I know I have, although I don’t know I’d describe it as ‘writer’s block’. That sounds way to dramatic! For myself, when I experience a period of not being able to write, what I often do, if the ‘block’ lasts long enough, is walk away and do something else. Play with the kids. Mow the lawn. Experiment in the kitchen. I’ll often go for a run. I find that a great way to unwind, and something will often get shaken loose. The only problem then is running back to the house fast enough and before whatever’s occurred to me gets forgotten! Does wonders for my distance times, though…!
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