I wrote in my last post about my interview on NBC House of Mystery. It is streaming now, click on House of Mystery. I didn’t realise how much I sound like Brains from Thunderbirds. Well, I was a little nervous. Maybe I’ll be more confident in the next interview. Sorry about the ads at the beginning, NBC is a commercial channel.
Although I was nervous, I found the interview very interesting, and thought provoking. Alan Warren and Dave North asked some good questions, but they’ve had a lot of practice. I can’t imagine the same range of questions being asked of a painter or composer.
‘Tell me Mr Einaudi, how do you go about researching your next symphony?’
‘Do you hear your subjects speaking in your head, Mr Hockney?’
Writing is something that most of us can do, but as an art form, it’s very complex. We have to create a plot, sub-plots, a story arc, believable characters, authentic dialogue, resonating themes, rising tension, a climax, and satisfying resolution.
Alan appreciated how much research is required when writing historical fiction. I don’t know, I’m not a painter or composer, but I doubt that either art requires anything like as much research. The research phase is the part of writing that I enjoy the most.
Alan asked me how I developed my characters. I explained that I researched them as deeply as I could and stole elements from people I have known with similar experiences. Unfortunately there is little data available concerning the early formative years of most of my characters. That is until now. Elizabeth Marvick has, in her biography, analysed the journals of Jean Héroard, Louis XIII’s personal physician. Nowhere is there a more detailed, daily record of the life of a king from the day of his birth until adulthood. I hope that my next book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures will be my best yet.