Ask the Author: John Brooke
Answered Questions (8)
John Brooke
So far, I have 2 books set aside for peaceful summer reading:
1. Linda, As in the Linda Murder (that's really the title), a police mystery by mordantly funny Swedish author Leif G. W. Persson, whose voice I love.
2. The Lost Diaries of Susanna Moodie, historical fiction by Canadian author Cecily Ross (who also happens to be a neighbor in the small southern Ontario village community where I will pass the summer). FYI: Susanna Moodie was one of 2 upper class English sisters who came with their families to settle in eastern Ontario in the 1830's, just as Canada was being formed. Her ordeals "in the bush" have turned her into a female (and feminist) icon of sorts, the subject of poetry, much historical investigation, as well as her own actual diaries, Roughing it in the Bush. This book is Cecily's fictional take on Mrs Moodie.
1. Linda, As in the Linda Murder (that's really the title), a police mystery by mordantly funny Swedish author Leif G. W. Persson, whose voice I love.
2. The Lost Diaries of Susanna Moodie, historical fiction by Canadian author Cecily Ross (who also happens to be a neighbor in the small southern Ontario village community where I will pass the summer). FYI: Susanna Moodie was one of 2 upper class English sisters who came with their families to settle in eastern Ontario in the 1830's, just as Canada was being formed. Her ordeals "in the bush" have turned her into a female (and feminist) icon of sorts, the subject of poetry, much historical investigation, as well as her own actual diaries, Roughing it in the Bush. This book is Cecily's fictional take on Mrs Moodie.
John Brooke
What mystery in my own life could be a plot for a book?
Who left the copy La Presse (which I could barely read at the time) in the empty Montreal apartment I had just rented? – a copy which had a short report about a female cop in France who tracked and arrested Jacques Mesrine, France’s celebrated Public Enemy No 1 – a small bit of news which inspired me to create my Inspector Aliette Nouvelle mystery series, now 7 books and counting.
Was it my new landlord? the former tenant? or another apartment hunter who’d been there before me but said no thanks? Or was it someone more spiritually tuned-in to Me? Who saw where I was headed, got there first and laid a literary trap? ... I never did find out. So this could be a “prequel”, a literary mystery in advance of a literary mystery series, a search for a vital source who brought me to my new life. Voila... and merci!
Who left the copy La Presse (which I could barely read at the time) in the empty Montreal apartment I had just rented? – a copy which had a short report about a female cop in France who tracked and arrested Jacques Mesrine, France’s celebrated Public Enemy No 1 – a small bit of news which inspired me to create my Inspector Aliette Nouvelle mystery series, now 7 books and counting.
Was it my new landlord? the former tenant? or another apartment hunter who’d been there before me but said no thanks? Or was it someone more spiritually tuned-in to Me? Who saw where I was headed, got there first and laid a literary trap? ... I never did find out. So this could be a “prequel”, a literary mystery in advance of a literary mystery series, a search for a vital source who brought me to my new life. Voila... and merci!
John Brooke
I got the idea for Tropeano's Gun from the tragedy at Newtown, CT. That was the moment when so-called "gun culture" overwhelmed me. I had to try to transfer the feelings associated with that into a story about a cop who does not feel the need to carry her gun... Of course my story is not an American story. It is transposed to a French culture which not American culture, but which is definitely susceptible to the same modern pressures.
John Brooke
Inspiration is a myth. I try to be attentive: to my life, to the world. Ideas come every day, whether in the news, or playing with the cat, or walking to the corner to buy some beer. My character, Aliette, is always with me - I suppose "inspiration" is when what's happening in my world, or my life, suddenly connects to her (as opposed to John, the regular guy who lives a fairly normal life). My job is to notice those moments and make a note... then explore it in the writing of a story. But it's not really "inspiration" in the sense of a vision; it is more like paying attention. I can get excited when that happens. But I still have to sit down and do the work. No inspiration there - just discipline, a willingness to sit through the grind of writing a book for a couple of years, and a bit of faith than I can do it.
John Brooke
I am working on Aliette # 7.
John Brooke
Learn to love writing for its own sake.
John Brooke
Finishing a book. Making it beautiful. The story is there - it feels solid. Now I can focus on getting rid of repeated words and phrases. Hone the dialogue. Make those last Epilogue paragraphs poetic...
John Brooke
Suffer through it. Push myself. Be disciplined!...Sit down and get working. Perhaps the best way is to go back to the beginning, to what is already there, and go through it, fixing it, till I get to the place where I am blocked. I hope the momentum will keep me going... even if I only do one paragraph over the course of a week. It can be agony. But eventually I usually see the next glimmer of direction, and I continue on.
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