Ask the Author: Fergus Currie
Answered Questions (6)
Fergus Currie
The Grangemouth Conspiracy was initially inspired by events from my childhood. It is odd that your question comes up in the book itself. Mike Norton is asked the same question quite late on, in Part Six I believe.
Cheers
Fergus
Cheers
Fergus
Fergus Currie
Inspiration is a strange beast. If you go hunting for it, you'll only get a glimpse of it in the bushes somewhere in the distance. If, on the other hand, you frequent where it lives then it will come and devour you! This the the best way. Of course I mean I read a lot of books and magazines about strange historical events or human interest stories and then follow up the ones that grab my attention with research either in other books or on the internet. I never look for inspiration to write; it comes to me when I least expect it and then, as I say, it devours me.
Fergus Currie
My main project at the moment is the next volume of the Inspector Berg series. The working title is 'The Lanark Conspiracy'. In the Grangemouth Conspiracy Berg is nearing retirement in 2006. The Lanark Conspiracy sees him in his early days in 1987 solving a case of a mass child murderer in the Scottish town of Lanark fifteen miles from the high security mental Hospital Carstairs. An examination of the Stroessner dictatorship in Paraguay and prejudices against disabled people drive the plot forward. Enough said for now...
Fergus Currie
Two bits of advice.
1. Write explosively - don't check your spelling and syntax when you're churning out plot driven material. Do your spell check and grammar correction at the end of each chapter.
2. Rewrite everything at least twice. Take out non essentials and tighten up dialogues. Double check continuity and clue dropping. Burn words like 'that', 'now' and 'just'. Do this after your first draft.
I hope that's useful.
1. Write explosively - don't check your spelling and syntax when you're churning out plot driven material. Do your spell check and grammar correction at the end of each chapter.
2. Rewrite everything at least twice. Take out non essentials and tighten up dialogues. Double check continuity and clue dropping. Burn words like 'that', 'now' and 'just'. Do this after your first draft.
I hope that's useful.
Fergus Currie
I'm still waiting to find out. Until now, it's been the ability to bring to life complex characters and place them in crazy situations. Not that you play God, of course, but you can decide to kill off a character and then go back a week later and bring him back to life because you need him for the scenario.
Fergus Currie
There are several ways that I deal with the situation where suddenly nothing seems to 'come out', and these are related to the cause of the problem. The most common cause for me is not having clarified the dramatic elements in the story I'm writing. What I do is plan the section using a 'plot goals' list.
X meets Y, look like a simple paragraph to 'flesh out', but if you actually sit down and try to write 1500 words based on it from scratch you can soon see what WB feels like. So I itemize.
a) X is in his car.
b) He's late for work.
c) He's had no breakfast.
d) He takes a shortcut which he doesn't know too well.
e) Y is a single mother.
f) She's wheeling her kid's pram across a pedestrian crossing.
g) Some lunatic tries to run her down.
h) She smacks his windscreen with her handbag.
i) The car stops.
j) X can't believe his eyes.
k) He tries to make amends.
And so on.
No I can write confidently knowing that I have plot goals to achieve in each paragraph. The details tend to flow and the language is guided by the action much more easily than if I were to write 'from scratch'.
X meets Y, look like a simple paragraph to 'flesh out', but if you actually sit down and try to write 1500 words based on it from scratch you can soon see what WB feels like. So I itemize.
a) X is in his car.
b) He's late for work.
c) He's had no breakfast.
d) He takes a shortcut which he doesn't know too well.
e) Y is a single mother.
f) She's wheeling her kid's pram across a pedestrian crossing.
g) Some lunatic tries to run her down.
h) She smacks his windscreen with her handbag.
i) The car stops.
j) X can't believe his eyes.
k) He tries to make amends.
And so on.
No I can write confidently knowing that I have plot goals to achieve in each paragraph. The details tend to flow and the language is guided by the action much more easily than if I were to write 'from scratch'.
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