Happy new year!
For the first time ever, Tim and I went away for Christmas and New Year. So no family, no slaving over the oven, no silly party games in front of the fire. It was Tim's idea, and he chose France and the alps, partly because he thought snow would be seasonal (and of course we could have stayed at home for that!), but mostly because there were three particular alpine bird species that he needed to see. Since I met him our holiday choices have been dictated by the gaps in his bird list and we've gone to some strange and unlikely places as a result.
This choice was inspired. 2009 had been a busy year and I was fraught and fractious - not helped by Air France losing both our bags on the trip out. But this has probably been the most relaxing holiday I've ever had - certainly I've never slept so much. In the alps we stayed in the magnificent Château de Picomtal in Crots. I'd found the place on the web and was disappointed when Jacques the owner said they closed the castle to guests in the winter. Then he took pity on us: although he and his wife would be away for Christmas we could stay in the annexe if we agreed to pay a bit extra for the heating. So we had two rooms built into one of the towers and reached through a locked courtyard - a perfect setting for a locked room mystery... And the chateau all to ourselves.
It's people that make places special. Jacques and his wife Sharon were delightful, delaying their own holiday to give us a conducted tour of the chateau before they went, bringing a bottle of wine to share with us on our last night. And they introduced us to other people - Christien from the National Parc des Ecrins, who pointed Tim in the direction of his target species (and had an injured but still scary golden eagle in a crate in his office). And the wonderful owners of Chez Pierrot, the restaurant in the village of Crots, who squeezed us in for Christmas lunch, along with all the local families.
After a week we moved on and took the train to Paris, where we spent new year. Belfond, my french publisher, put me up in the Hotel de l'Abbaye last year and I loved it. It's a small gem of a place, hidden in a narrow street close to the Luxembourg Gardens, within easy walking distance of the Seine. We went shopping (our bags still hadn't turned up) and stared with everyone else at the extraordinary Christmas windows of Printemps and Galleries Lafayette. We did the tourist stuff - the boat trip on the river - and took in the Tiffany exhibition in the Luxembourg. And we saw in the new year with the crowds in the Champs Elysees.
Now we're home. Our cases turned up two days after we did. I'm rested and ready for a busy year, with two new books out in the UK, the radio play of RAVEN BLACK later this month and the ITV film of VERA in the autumn. And a book to write. I can't wait to get started on that... Did Tim see his birds? Only one of them - alpine accentor in the fortified town of Mont du Dauphin. He's not too disappointed though. It means we have an excuse to go back.
I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and I look forward to reading your books and hearing about the books you've enjoyed throughout 2010.
Posted by Ann on Wednesday, January 6th 2010 @ 10:06 AM GMT [link]
Shetland Nights
For a while my attention has been firmly fixed on Vera Stanhope and the Northumberland books. I spent another two days on set during the ITV productions filming of Vera - and had a brief Hitchcock moment on a rainy morning in North Blyth. Though if you blink you'll miss me even if I survive the edit! It was magic to watch my characters come to life in a walk up a street or a conversation over a kitchen table, to see Vera's personality reflected in the items in her office.
And I've been struggling to get the first draft of the new Stanhope book ready to show my agent. But now filming is over - completed exactly on schedule - and CRUEL WOMEN is being read by Sara and her associates. This is a nerve-wracking time for me. I know writers who show scripts to partners or colleagues before submitting them, but Sara is always my first reader and because there's been so much new interest in the Vera books I want this to be right.
So recently my attention has shifted back to Shetland. I'm already looking forward to publication of BLUE LIGHTNING in February. I'm fortunate to have a brilliant publicist in Helen Guthrie and over the past week we've been planning events and pitches to promote the novel. These days it isn't enough just to get books onto shelves - though that's hard enough.
An event that we're definitely keen to repeat is 'Shetland Nights', an evening of music, readings and stories. I first met musician Chris Stout at the launch party for RED BONES, though I'd heard of him before that of course. He was founder member of the band Fiddlers' Bid and is a regular visitor to The Sage, Gateshead. He's a Fair Islander by birth, went to school in Shetland mainland and now lives in Glasgow. He provided the inspiration for Roddy Sinclair, the young musician in WHITE NIGHTS. And it seems my books have provided some inspiration for him because he's written a tune for Roddy and his new album, to be released in the spring, will be called WHITE NIGHTS.
Last week we had our first collaborative gigs in St May's Centre Gateshead and the Civic Hall, Holmfirth. Both were truly enjoyable events. I try to bring the islands alive with my words; Chris's music, the traditional tunes and the contemporary pieces, does the same thing in a more immediate and powerful way. Thanks to Dot Cameron and MaiLin Li and their teams for giving us the opportunity to share our passion for a very special place.
We'll be performing together again on March 23rd as part of the Sunday Times Oxford Literature Festival. Come along and see us there. I'm told Unst beer will be on offer too...
Posted by Ann on Thursday, November 26th 2009 @ 01:23 PM GMT [link]
Vera
Authors have mixed feelings about the adaptation of their books. One famous crime writer hated the TV film of his work so much that he bought back the rights at great expense! So I know how lucky I've been throughout the process. I've been included right from the start. My main contact at ITV productions, Elaine Collins, has been a delight. It helped of course that she was the person to find the book (in an Oxfam shop according to Paul, the scriptwriter!) and pitched the project to the commissioners. I think she was almost as excited as I was when we got the green light.
Then I was fortunate with the scriptwriter. Paul Rutman had worked on Lewis and Marple, but this was his first original script and he's been totally committed to the story and the characters. He spent two days with us in Northumberland to get a feel for the city of Newcastle, the beautiful bits of the coast and the dramatic post-industrial landscape along the Tyne and in the south-east corner of the county. Of course the details of plot have changed but the essence of the characters and my preoccupations with place and family are still there.
In the last few weeks filming has started. I was invited to the read-through in the old Swan Hunter office in Wallsend. My first meeting with Brenda Blethyn who has become Vera. I loved her immediately because she'd read my books and liked them. And because she was so nervous that she was trembling. As the read-through progressed it became clear that she 'got' Vera and even in that impersonal office, sat around a board room table, Brenda Blethyn became Vera in front of me. A kind of magic. Now, writing the dialogue for the new Vera book I hear Brenda's voice in my head.
Yesterday I spent a day on set and for the first I realised the size of the undertaking. A corner of Newcastle's Town Moor has been taken over with trucks and buses as the base unit. Walking past to the catering van I glimpsed the wardrobe truck full of washing machines and dryers, the directors' and producers' offices and the actors' dressing rooms. Then we headed off to the location for the morning's shoot - The Sage.
My daughter Sarah was with me because her husband works as a sound engineer in The Sage (like the character Gary in Hidden Depths) and it's a special place for them both. We were both amazed at the time it takes to set up each scene. Adrian Shergold, the director, patient and relaxed, talked the actor through the moves again and again. The whole process took about three hours for a scene that will last about 10 seconds. But then, watching the final take on the monitor with Elwen the producer, it came together so brilliantly that all the rehearsal and preparation seemed wothwhile.
I'm left with a really weird feeling, almost of embarrassment. It's all happened so quickly. I've been writing for more than twenty years without anyone noticing I'm there. I can hardly believe that this huge undertaking has anything to do with my sitting at a computer three years ago and telling a story. But there's pride too. Not just that it's happening, but that it's happening HERE in the place I think of as home. In a small way I've contributed to providing work - for the dad of one of my granddaughter's classmates, for Neil the actor who's a friend of my daughter, for the young musicians from Folkworks, who provided the background to yesterday's filming. And the security guys and the drivers...
So a huge thank you to the crew and the actors and the people at ITV who put up the money. You've made a writer (on her birthday) very happy.
Posted by Ann on Saturday, October 24th 2009 @ 10:12 AM GMT [link]
Playing in Shetland
Screenplay is the name of the Shetland Film Festival and it runs alongside the Book Festival Wordplay. It's astonishing that a community of just over 20,000 people can attract stars like Mark Kermode, Terence Davies and Louis de Bernieres, but writers and directors are pulled in by the enthusiasm of the organisers and the informality of the events. And of course by the chance to spend time in a very special place. Certainly anything I do in Shetland never feels quite like work.
When I arrived into Shetland at the end of August I was already buzzing. ITV had made the announcement about the television adaptation of HIDDEN DEPTHS, with the wonderful Brenda Blethyn as Vera. We'd been told all along that the news would be made public over the bank holiday weekend to coincide with the Edinburgh Television Festival, but there was a last minute hitch and I was starting to worry that there were doubts not just about the press release, but about the whole project. Really I shouldn't have worried. The locations manager is already scouting the region to find suitable places to film and the award-winning director (Adrian Shergold) has been up to look for himself. I love the script but it'll be truly weird to see the final work. I can't wait to hear who has been cast for the other characters.
News of the adaptation justified my place on a Screenplay panel with Anne Mensah, head of drama for BBC Scotland and Foz Allan, producer of hit dramas like ROBIN HOOD, chaired by Mark Kermode. I was there to announce a competition for young film makers. My sponsorsip of the competition is entirely selfish. I'd like a short film of Shetland for my website - not the tourist stuff which you can find through Visit Shetland, but the sort of personal insight only a local can give. I know I'm going to get something interesting: there was a showcase of young Shetlanders' short films as part of the Festival and there were some riotous, interesting and moving pieces. These young people will go on to be stars in their own right!
Now I'm back home and I have a couple of weeks to concentrate on writing before going north again for the Inverness Book Festival. But writing never feels much like work either, so I suppose now I'm playing in Whitley Bay...
Posted by Ann on Monday, September 14th 2009 @ 10:35 AM GMT [link]
Summertime...
...and the living is anything but easy. Usually from the end of July to the beginning of September things are pretty calm for authors. There's Harrogate of course, and more about that later. But there are fewer library gigs, lots of people are on holiday and it's a good time to catch up with some solid writing. On the continent and in Scandinavia, it often feels as if publishing closes down completely for the summer. Frustrating if you're waiting on a contract or to hear what your editor thinks of the latest novel, but great if you hope for concentrated time to work. This year, for the first fortnight in August my diary looked satisfyingly empty, and I'd hoped to push the book on past the tricky middle stage to have a clear view of the end. (Does sound very like the phases of labour this, a cliche but true all the same).
Of course it didn't quite happen that way. Some of the interruptions were domestic: school holidays, my mother feeling poorly, our decorator friend deciding that he had time to paint the outside of our house. Dave is lovely, and doesn't intrude at all, and the house does definitely need painting, but of course I break off at regular intervals to make coffee and chat. Then the proofs of BLUE LIGHTNING came through for checking and I seemed to spend three days chasing up high resolution photos for People magazine in the US, because they're thinking of doing a review of RED BONES in the September issue. This process made me realise again what a joy it is working with Shetlanders. I could remember doing a session with a photographer there in the spring, but had no other details. People magazine was working to a very tight deadline and I needed the pictures before start of business in the US. I made a phone call to Deborah, press officer to Visit Shetland and ten minutes later the photos were emailed to me from Malcom Younger at Millgaet Media. No charge. 'If it's good for Ann and it's good for Shetland, she's welcome to use them.'
Returning to the new book after reading the BLUE LIGHTNING proofs was a sobering experience. I realised it had become far too complex. BLUE LIGHTNING works because of its pace and its simplicity. The novel in progress needs a major re-write. So don't expect an announcement of a birth any time soon.
Harrogate is always a special festival, but I enjoyed this one more than any of the others. Partly it was because it was my last Harrogate as reader-in-residence. I decided some time ago to resign - with increasing involvement from libraries, the role had become more demanding and I was running out of the time and energy to do it well. Besides, every regular event needs new blood and new ideas to carry it forward.
And then I was there with old friends, who were experiencing the festival for the first time. Joni Langevoort had come all the way from Virginia and Jan Ellis had made it down from Shetland. Their enthusiasm made me see how exhilarating Harrogate can be for the readers, and just how slick and seamless is the organisation by Sharon, Erica and the team.
On Monday I go to St Hilda's in Oxford. I've booked myself in to the college a few days before the annual mystery conference begins. A small quiet room, with no demands and no disruption, seems like heaven at the moment. By the end of the week I hope to have more idea about this troublesome new book.
Posted by Ann on Wednesday, August 12th 2009 @ 09:26 AM GMT [link]
Cruel Women
After a hectic schedule of signings, festivals and events since RED BONES was published in February, it was good in June to have some solid time to write. Whenever I can manage a block of a few days without other commitments, I realise that this is what I enjoy best. It feels like a treat, a holiday, to get up early, sit at the kitchen table still in my pyjamas, and lose myself in the story. Although this is how I earn my living now, it still has the wicked pleasure of an indulgence. I’m working on the first draft of a new Vera novel. The working title is CRUEL WOMEN – one unsympathetic male described this as a tautology, but it’ll do for now. ..
There have still been distractions of course even in this time set apart for the book. We’re in the run up to Harrogate and I’ve been pulling together the script of the Murder Mystery Dinner planned for the Saturday night. I sketched out a plot and asked the suspects to contribute to the text. I think the result is very, very funny. If you’re planning to come to Harrogate and you haven’t booked for the dinner, then you’re missing a treat.
The Readers’ Group has been a feature of the Festival since it started and this year I’ve been a bit more organised than on previous occasions. We wanted to feature new crime writers. I’ve asked publishers to nominate authors and provide me with proofs or finished copies, which I’ve sent out to local book groups. At the session in Harrogate we’ll all come together to discuss them. Five of the six authors will be there too – it’ll give them the chance to meet readers, perhaps for the first time. The number attending the Festival Book Group has grown every year and what started off as an intimate discussion between a dozen people has developed into something rather different. Each time we need a bigger room! But we still intend to keep our original informality and friendliness, so do come along, even if you haven’t read the books. You’ll make friends and you might meet a new star.
Posted by Ann on Monday, July 6th 2009 @ 12:26 PM GMT [link]
Deadly Dialogues
Soon after arriving home from Malice, I caught up with my Murder Squad friends. We’re all busy and don’t get together very often. Since moving north it hasn’t been as easy for me to do events in the rest of the country. We met up in Cath Staincliffe’s house, to celebrate achievements over the past year and plan for the future. It’s scary that Murder Squad will be ten years old next year. Publishing has changed a lot in that time and we’re fortunate still to be involved in the business.
Ten is a big birthday and of course we want to mark it. We’re planning a series of new talks, which we’ve called DEADLY DIALOGUES, conversations between two squaddies, exploring our work, our reading and our take on the way our writing has changed in the past decade. A discussion between two individuals sparks debate within an audience, and the dynamic between the speakers brings a new perspective to the subject. A conversation between Chaz and me, for example, would be quite different from one between me and Cath. So if you’re interested in booking a duo for your library or bookshop, do get in touch!
I took part in another dialogue later in May, at Crime Fest with Swedish crime writer, Hakan Nesser. Crime Fest in Bristol prides itself by celebrating the achievements of translators and authors read here in translation. Hakan had been invited as international guest of honour and I was asked to interview him. He’s a charming man, full of wit and fun, but not so easy to question. He takes his writing very lightly and doesn’t see the need to analyse it: he’s a storyteller. We did learn though about ‘Nesserland’ the fictitious country where he sets his Van Veeteren books and about the other series, featuring a Swedish cop with an Italian background, which hasn’t yet been published here.
It was a delight too, to moderate a panel of translators at Crime Fest. Perhaps because they weren’t so interested in plugging their latest title, there was a fascinating exploration of their work. How do you cope with editors who insist on interfering? How do you manage sex, swearing and slang in a different language?
While May was all about talking about books, I hope in June to settle back to the business of writing them. Then it’ll be July and a break from writing again for Harrogate. We’re already in the build up to that most exciting festival with the announcement yesterday of the Theakston shortlist. A very male list again this year, with only two women out of the fourteen authors chosen. This seems to me interesting because it reflects the retail market of the moment. A decade ago the big names in crime fiction were female and that’s completely changed. Definitely time for a swing back, I’d say!
Posted by Ann on Tuesday, June 2nd 2009 @ 11:04 AM GMT [link]
