the Underside

My characters, it seems, aren't too keen on me jumping into Book Three just yet. First, Gordon asked me to help him with his memoirs (Enharmonic Intervals) and now Noel decided it was time for "the in-depth interview". You must understand that these people come to me, not the other way around, and I suspect it'll go on like this for some time, despite the fact that I have other books I want to write that have nothing to do with these guys. They're rock stars though, so I should have been prepared.

My mother instructed me years ago that when embroidering something, make sure the underside is as neat as the top, and that has stayed with me in nearly everything I do. It especially hounds me in my writing. It's the underside of a character's story that makes him or her seem real--and these two are about as real as characters can be.

Although I can't let you read Gordon's memoirs because I plan to publish them later this year, Noel's interview is posted here. Feel free to read it if you're interested. It's being written in segments; I'm currently writing part two and hope to post that over the weekend. If you're not familiar with him, Noel Saunders is the surly, Liverpudlian bassist in Gordon's Sixties blues rock band, Tuppence.

The thing with these supplements is that they sort of prime me to work on the book itself. Going into first person helps me connect with the characters. I actually think Gordon's Enharmonic Intervals is going to be a better book than the trilogy, and even if you don't read his story, you'll still get a lot out of his memoirs.

Sometimes I think I'm as mad as a March Hare, but then I go to authors forums and read about even nuttier things that writers do. There must be a personality type that is drawn to this kind of inner life--whatever, I love it.

"There's character and there's plot. For me, a story starts with character.

I have to get under the skin of the character for the story to come to life.

It's the inner life that makes a character jump off the page."

Harry Mazer