Interview with Val McDermid by: Kylie Fox
For anyone who needs an introduction, Val McDermid is one of the world’s most highly acclaimed and prolific crime writers. She has written twenty-seven crime novels, many of which are across three series: the Lindsay Gordon Series, the Kate Brannigan Series and the Tony Hill & Carol Jordan series which spawned the hit television show, “Wire In The Blood”.
Her latest novel, “Trick of the Dark”, released in November 2010, is a stand- alone novel set at Oxford, where Val McDermid herself studied. (Keep an eye out for my review in the coming days.)
Val McDermid has won many awards, including the coveted Crime Writer’s Association’s, Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for outstanding achievement in crime writing. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and has a great relationship with the Melbourne chapter having spoken at various events including attending the 2010 Davitt Awards as guest presenter. McDermid divides her time between living in Northumberland and Manchester with her partner, her son and three cats. Here, she has agreed to answer a few questions about her past, present and future in writing.
KF: You studied at Oxford, went on to journalism then to being a performed playwright, and of course an acclaimed novelist. Your latest book, ‘Trick of the Dark’, is set at Oxford – does it feel a little like coming full circle for you?
VM: In a way! It took me a long time to feel comfortable about setting a book in Oxford. A lot of writing about Oxford university life is romanticised and quite sentimental and I absolutely didn’t want to indulge in that so I thought it best to wait till I felt enough distance from my own student days. And to be honest, while Colin Dexter was still writing the Morse novels, I was wary of treading the same ground, I didn’t want to be accused of jumping on a successful bandwagon! Luckily, I have Colin’s blessing for taking over the city from him.
KF: Your Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series have obviously been hugely successful. Do you have plans to send them out on more cases or did the books finish along with “Fever of the Bone” and the announcement that the
sixth season of “Wire in the Blood” would be the final series for TV?
VM: Not at all. The books have an entirely separate existence from the TV. I am actually writing the seventh Tony & Carol novel right now, with a working title of UNREDEEMABLE. And it features the return of one of their earlier antagonists. For anyone who thought the ending of FEVER OF THE BONE was happy, let me tell you, Tony and Carol are not having a good time now…
KF: How did your time working as a journalist impact on the crimes that you write? Do you find yourself thinking about, or even
alluding to, true crimes in your writing?
VM: I try to avoid any parallels between my fiction and true crime. As a journalist, I saw too much grief at first hand to want to touch on anything that might inadvertently cause pain to someone affected by a real case. The main lesson I learned from journalism was not to be precious about writing. When you’re covering the news, you can’t wait for the muse to strike — you just have to hammer out your word count whatever is going on in your own life. Sure, it might not be great, but you can always go back and make it better. For me, writing is my job and when the time of year comes when I have to sit down and write, that’s exactly what I do, whether I feel like it or not. The main gift journalism gave me was access to a vast range of people, places and situations I would never otherwise have encountered, and that’s been one of the key parts of the database of potential book characters in my head. Even though it’s twenty years since I quit newspapers, I still go back to those experiences all the time.
KF: I’ve read that for you, an idea for a story usually presents itself before the characters, settings etc. Do you ever have to try to “fit” the story with characters from one of your existing series or is it immediately evident whose story it is going to be?
VM: Generally I know pretty early on whose story it’s going to be. There’s no point in trying to shoehorn existing characters into an idea that doesn’t fit them. That’s how Tony and Carol were first born — I had this great idea for a serial killer thriller and I knew it wouldn’t work with either Lindsay Gordon or Kate Brannigan because journalists and private eyes can’t work cases like that with any degree of credibility. But there are always lots of ideas kicking around in the back of my head — it can take years from the first pricking of an idea to being ready to write it.
KF: Your novels delve into the darkest crevices of human nature and, at times, are quite horrifying – if not
terrifying. Is there anywhere you won’t take your characters; anything you won’t write about?
VM: I don’t find it useful to set myself limits in advance of writing. There have been points in various books where I’ve pulled back from something because it wasn’t necessary in terms of telling the story effectively — usually elements of a crime where professional advisors have suggested that in reality, a certain kind of killer would have indulged in particular behaviour that I find so disgusting I just don’t want it in my head. I think there’s nothing that should be off limits in terms of subject matter — what you choose as your material is an individual choice for each particular writer.
KF: Along with “Wire in the Blood”, “A Place of Execution” also made it to our TV screens – are we likely to see any others go into production?
VM: THE DISTANT ECHO is currently in development for TV, and KILLING THE SHADOWS is in development for a film. Who knows whether they’ll get made…
KF: Finally, what’s next for Val McDermid?
VM: As I said, a new Tony & Carol. I’m also writing a 5-part radio drama for the BBC, and I have a children’s book called MY GRANNY WAS A PIRATE in production. Never a dull moment
here…
You can find out more about Val McDermid at her website.
Trick of the Dark – Val McDermid
