This post was originally published over at the wonderful Author Allsorts blog, and is reproduced word-for-word here...
I’m attempting to transform myself into a proper novelist
one podcast at a time.
The particular downloads I’m talking about here are episodes
of Radio 4’s Book Club which has free archives readily available. It’s
basically James Naughtie and guest scribbler exploring the writing process,
characterisation, themes, influences and inspirations for the chosen novel,
followed by some reader observations and questions. It’s always a great listen
particularly, for some reason, when the guest in question is a crime or
espionage thriller writer. PD James was wise and insightful, Ruth Rendell was
fascinating, Elmore Leonard was frank and funny.
Then I listened to John Le Carre discussing his famous
Smiley trilogy. Before I go on, I’ll level with you here, folks – I’ve never
read of word of Le Carre. Radio adaptations and movies, yes – prose; not a damn
syllable. Castigate me now, I fully deserve your scorn, etcetera.
The man was brilliant. Perhaps it was partly because his
audience were drawn from students from the Falmouth School of Creative Writing
as well as fans and regular readers, but Le Carre was in calm, clear and
quietly inspirational advice-giving form, and as he talked I realised he was
demonstrating without any fuss or fanfare the qualities that make great writers.
Here, in distilled form, was what struck me:
Determination
“Those first three books” says le Carre breezily, “were
written while still in harness.” Aside from being a lovely phrase, this was arresting
for other reasons. Three novels planned
and written whilst holding down a hugely stressful job as a member of the
secret service? Wow. That dwarfs my struggles just a tad – yours too, I’ll
bet. Guess I need to man up a bit.
Courage
Describing the trilogy Le Carre says, “It grew out of a
great sense of failure I had. After writing a book which was widely regarded as
awful, called ‘The Naïve and Sentimental
Lover’, I lost a lot of confidence and felt very hurt.” Then here’s the
killer line. The Le Carre response to setback: “I threw my lance into the
middle of the enemy and thought I would fight it out. I’d plan a trilogy.”
Superb, eh? I hope I have half his courage when Poison Boy bombs.
Fortitude
“I flailed around writing material for a full year,” Le
Carre admits of one novel. “Then one day I took it up to The Beacon and set
fire to the whole damn lot.” The crowd laugh appreciatively as he says this.
But under that admission sits a strength of character that’s pretty awesome.
Duly noted.
Clarity
When asked how he plans books, Le Carre speaks with the kind
of clarity of purpose only an expert can. “It’s childhood images to begin
with,” he starts. “Then I want one character who can take the reader by the
hand – one the reader can trust. Then I want terrain. Locations become
characters. Then I want conflict. What do they want of this man? What demands
are going to be made of him? These things are important for setting up a
story.”
It was a masterclass of calm and good-humoured
understatement, and it’s just sitting there waiting to be downloaded for free.
That’s the thing with this great technological renaissance we’re living through:
at its best, it’s about the democratisation of education – about universities
in the UK and the states putting their lectures online for free; about John Le
Carre and hundreds of others sharing the secrets of their creative processes
for nothing but the cost of an internet connection.
So thanks, John.
All I need now is a copy of ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’
to add to my teetering TBR pile, and sufficient grit and gumption to be more
like the man himself. The bar’s been set pretty high, I think you’ll agree…
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