writing
fiction “
facts using all the techniques of novel writing. I realised after a while that the path I firmly wished to take was fiction. I enjoy the freedom of expression that comes with novel writing – I would now find it hard to return to reporting.” Journalists such as Andrew Marr, Stieg Larsson and Robert
Harris have, according to bookseller and author James Whitworth, produced “some of the most engaging, deliciously dark and just downright readable thrillers of the past years”, not least because they seem to “excel at strongly plotted thrillers with the immediacy of a page one headline”. Journalists who have switched to fiction commonly talk of
the huge emotional commitment that writing a novel commands, especially a first novel. Some acknowledge the ‘creative hump’ they have to get over to get a first attempt at fiction into shape – journalists can find the idea that they have a licence to ‘literally make stuff up’ alien to them. Others, says Whitworth, find they are short of the huge reserves of intellectual stamina needed to avoid ‘plot holes’ and make characters convincing. Some find harnessing the imagination to summon up ideas on demand can be difficult. There are practical considerations too. For those reliant on
journalism to pay the bills, a big barrier is finding the time. Journalist and soon to be published novelist Dawn Geddes, who writes fiction aimed at young adults, says it is difficult to convince partners and relatives that novel-writing as an
Charles Dickens was an established reporter covering law and politics and other topics before setting up his own weekly magazine. The most celebrated writer of the Victorian era, he was most prolific between about 1830 and 1850.
”
Sandra Ireland is a former newspaper journalist and one of Scotland’s emerging thriller writers. Her second novel, Bone Deep, published last year, is about the unearthing of secrets. Her third novel is coming out later this year.
PAKO MERA / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO theJournalist | 15
Journalists can find the idea that they have a licence to ‘literally make stuff up’ alien to them
add-on to a day job is serious. She advises: “Don’t expect others to understand how important your creative writing is to you. When you’re writing, whatever it is, you’re working so, if a neighbour comes round demanding coffee, you have to lay it on the line. If you let people interrupt you, they will always do it. You don’t owe it to anyone to justify this time – it’s yours – but you have to protect it.” Geddes says time management is everything for those trying to write creatively in their spare time: “You have to ask yourself painful questions, such as: are you watching Mad Men for too long? If you are writing news or features all day, make the distinction between that and your creative writing by using a laptop for the novel and a PC for the day job. This kind of things really helps.” She also recommends using apps such as Forest to minimise time spent on mobile phones; the Cold Turkey app blocks all social media sightings and noises. Kimberley Young, publisher of commercial women’s’ fiction at HarperCollins, has former documentary maker Dawn O’Porter on her books, as well as Lauren Weisberger who wrote The Devil Wears Prada. “Journalists and novelists are always looking for a story, but they are also reflecting on what is going on in the world – novels are just a longer form of story telling. Journalists, however, bring something unique because they already write to deadline and with discipline. The struggle for many is with plot – they just write and write about their characters, but find they can’t link it all together. Then they bring it off, but they have to realise that they can’t just do it once as if it were a feature – they have to do it all 10 times over for each chapter. They also have to learn that they need to divulge information through dialogue, not narrative. “The most important skill they can bring is that they are better placed than anyone how to tell an awful lot in very few words. Then it’s the old-fashioned stuff they know about – how to write a good opening, maintain through the middle and deliver a good pay-off at the end.”
Val McDermid is a former Manchester Evening News crime reviewer and an award-winning crime writer. She wrote The Mermaids Singing and a host of other hits. Her work was made into TV series Wire In The Blood. She has been writing novels for about 30 years.
Martin Amis is a novelist, essayist, memoirist and screenwriter. His best- known novels are Money (1984) and London Fields (1989). He is also a prolific newspaper and magazine literary critic.
ANNEMARIE SMITH
HI-STORY / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
JEFF MORGAN 07 / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
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