An interview with Alan Dance

Those that know me know that I am a member of a writers group, a smashing group of people at NewwritersUK. Last year at Newwriters I met a fellow historical novelist, Alan Dance. I thought it would be interesting to do an on-line interview with him to see how he approaches his own writing.

Here it is - see what you think.

Q1. Historical fiction - why did you choose this genre and not some other?

I chose historical fiction primarily because I have always had an interest in history, particularly the history of Nottingham, where I live. I believe that one should stick to writing what one knows about. I could not, for example, write horror or fantasy, although I wouldn’t mind trying crime at some stage. My first book was actually a non-fiction local history book, published in 1998. Following the success of this, I thought I would like to try my hand at writing fiction, and there is just so much of Nottingham’s past that is crying out to be used as the basis for a novel that I decided to give it a go. Both Narrow Marsh and Leen Times, whilst having totally fictitious plots, also include many real events of the time woven into the story.

Q2. What period in history do you prefer? Are there any others you would like to move on to?

Roughly the period of the industrial revolution; about 1750 – 1850. This period saw the massive transformation of Britain from an agricultural to an industrial nation, when there were so many changes taking place, especially in the early 19th century, which affected the lives of everybody. This must have been a fascinating time to have been alive, but not a particularly pleasant one if you were poor, as most of the population was. There are other periods of history that also interest me (the English Civil War period, for example) but for now I shall stick to the late 18th / early 19th centuries.

Q3. Research. Where do you do this? What sources do you use?

I already had quite a reasonable knowledge of the events that form a background to my books, but I am always careful to check things out where necessary. I use a combination of the traditional sources (books and historical documents), along with the internet. However, don’t believe everything you read, especially on the internet!

Q4. Do you map out all the story line before you start and stick to it?

My first novel was Narrow Marsh. I knew I wanted to write about life in Nottingham in the early 19th century, centered on the framework knitters. I knew exactly how the first chapter would pan out, but beyond that really had no idea of exactly how the plot would develop, other than that the story had to reflect the struggle for survival amongst the poor of Nottingham, amid the massive social changes then taking place. But once I started writing, the ideas began to flow and the plot soon took shape.

However, with Leen Times, the sequel to Narrow Marsh, it was different. After Narrow Marsh was finished, but before it had been published, I had already formulated the plot in some detail, to be used if Narrow Marsh was a success. It actually came to me one day and took no more than about 15 minutes to jot down. Once I started to write Leen Times, I stuck to the basic plot, but did adapt it a little as I wrote, adding to it and, I hope, improving it.

Q5. What do find the most difficult the most challenging part of writing?

Getting going! That is, actually starting the book, and then, on a daily basis whilst writing it. I think one has to be in the mood to write, and it is no good wasting time if one is not. I find that provided I feel keen to write, far more gets done than trying, for example, to set a target of so many words each day and sticking rigidly to that target. Other writers, of course, might work totally differently.

Q6. What are you working on at the moment?

I am currently writing another historical novel, not a sequel to the first two. This one is set in both Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire during the mid-nineteenth century, and is loosely based (with suitable embellishments, of course) on some real events in my own family history. It’s quite an intriguing story, related to me by older relatives. Surprisingly, much of what I was told has turned out to be true, unlike so many family legends one hears.

How do I write?

People have asked me - How do I write? Well I’m sure that every writer has his own way of writing and I am no different.  For those who are interested here is my two-pennyworth.

Momentum is the important thing for me – it is the key. Sometimes this is just not there and every word seems to need extracting like some precious ore chiselled from the ground. When the momentum is there however I do everything I can to keep it going. This is where the asterisk (*) comes in. Anything that I write that needs verification or more research gets an asterisk (*). I then have to return to these (*) at a later date. For me it is about – keep writing. Rewriting and editing come later.

I use a word document that remains open every time I sit at my laptop. This contains the current chapter that I am working on. At the same time however I have a number of other word documents open – this keeps everything I need to hand to maintain that momentum.

• A document entitled – Research/name of the novel.  This contains my original conceptual notes for the novel. Added to this is any further research that I have undertaken, and this is often very extensive. These research notes are added to as the book develops; a story line or back-story may open up to me and require further research.
• A document entitled General Notes. This contains writing style prompts, built up over the years and under subheadings; e.g.

1.      1.      Descriptions: e.g. a hard wicked face, blue-jowlled, craggy, long chiselled cheeks, inexorable eyes. Wore his hair long. Silver-tongued, an anaemic look, pale blue eyes took your full attention so that you gaze never dwelt on anything but them.

2. Conversation i.e. the ways people talk. e.g. Sniffed, grunted, grumbled, groaned, mumbled, griped, murmured, rumbled, screeched, squealed, cried, screamed, enquired.

3. Word sounds. E.g. Ah, Argh, Mmm, Err, Erm, Huh, Ugh, Oy.

4. Phrases. e.g. His eyes gave a flash of anger. He felt himself shiver, but his eyes told a different story, He felt that he was being torn apart, He darted a look.

• A document entitled Authors Notes – these will eventually be printed t the end of the story as part of the published book. This starts out as a blank document for each novel but I enter anything that the reader may want to know that I deemed unnecessary to include in the narrative or would stand as ‘authors voice,’ if my character would not say them. E.g. Up to 1837, a marriage ceremony was required to be performed in a consecrated building. Julia and David would not have been allowed to have been married in the gaol therefore. This inaccuracy has been allowed for dramatic affect.

• A document entitled Punctuation.  This contains a brief of common punctuation uses, apostrophes, commas, colons and semi colons, hyphens, brackets etc

• Finally I have a prompt at all times, immediately below the line I am typing the story on. This is constantly in my eye-line so that I don’t deviate from what I am trying to do. It says the following:

        THINK – HEAR - SMELL – TOUCH – SEE – TASTE

        Open with big question or hook/INTRIGUE.
       Then you have the problems your hero is up against/ CONFLICT.
       That builds to the CLIMAX.
       Followed by the RESOLUTION

Garrow's Law

In writing the novel A Canopy of Stars, I wanted to write something that I had not seen done before. It was to be the second novel in a Georgian trilogy and as part of the research I visited the Old Bailey site (www.oldbaileyonline.org/. - see blog of 17/11/2010). I used the facts and the proceedings taken from the Old Bailey record of the trial of Peter Shalley, Ref: t17900113-17 that took place in 1790. But it was much more than that: that case opened up much of the plot line for me – this man was terribly wronged, terribly let down by the judicial system. The thought occurred to me that this man had a life, and a story to tell; the real life story would never be known of course, never be told, but it could be a novel, a drama.

And so the hard part began, two years of writing the book, then rewriting, polishing the diamond, proof reading, copy editing until the final version was ready. A front story -  the Georgian courtroom drama, the back story -  the story of the past life of the lead character. The novel was published in October 2010.

And then what do I discover. The BBC have launched a series called, Garrow’s Law:  A Georgian courtroom drama. Well so much for writing something totally original.

After saying that I absolutely love the programme. This is not documentary it is drama.  Like me the writer has taken transcripts of real Old Bailey cases as the inspiration for his stories. There is a real flavour of the period and for the cruel, to our eyes, sentences. The death penalty commonly handed down for the most minor of offences - hanging for men, burning for women. Transportation, where a husband and father could be sent to the other side of the world, never to see his wife and children again, who were then left to starve in his absence. Bewildered children who themselves were transported never to see their parents again.

For those who are interested in reading more about Garrow’s Law I recommend the blog by the Guardian’s Mark Pallis at http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/nov/12/garrows-law-court-dramas

A Canopy of Stars by Stephen Taylor, published by DSC Publications. Available from Amazon and all good bookshops or direct from the publisher.

  

The most famous man in England

The most famous man in England.

Does the name Daniel Mendoza mean anything to you – No! What if I was to tell you that he was the most famous man in England – still no? What if I was to tell you that he was a national hero – still no?

Well you haven’t heard of him because he was the most famous man in England around the year 1800. Well, you say; that’s why I have never heard of him, it was such a long time ago. That was in the Georgian period. But have you ever stopped to consider why somebody who was so famous is now totally forgotten. Lord Byron was a Georgian celebrity probably our first celebrity superstar, the rock singer of his day– but we haven’t forgotten about him. His exploits (he was a bit of a lad was old Byron) as well as his poetry are remembered today. So what did this guy Mendoza do then?


Well he was a pugilist, a boxer: the champion boxer of all England. Oh that’s all right then, you say. I’m not interested in that sort of thing. But this guy Mendoza was much more than that; he was a published author, a poet. When the Bank of England first issued paper money it was not for the populous – with an average income of less that £20 a years the ordinary people never saw them and small traders wouldn’t take them for fear it was counterfeit – that could represent the major part of a trader’s yearly profit. Mendoza issued his own money, notes for one penny, 3 pence and six pence (in old money there were 240 pence to the pound) with his own facsimile on it and used his fame and wealth to guarantee them. This was a man of intellect and commerce as well as fighting.


So why was he so famous: to our modern eyes these bare-knuckle fights were savage and bloodthirsty, but this was a time of cockfights, bear-bating and the stocks? Families enjoyed a holiday at public hangings, taking their children along to enjoy the spectacle; the condemned man’s writhing as the rope slowly strangled him did not distress such a crowd. There was clearly a bloodlust at these pugilistic encounters yet it was still considered a sport and the noblest of all sports at that. Pugilists were men who reflected what it was to be English: men who would stand up for what they believed was right and who followed a noble pastime. They mirrored what their contemporaries believed was a sort of honour: a man’s right to stand and fight for what was his, or what he believed to be right. All classes, although on the edge of the law, followed pugilism, from the king downwards. It had its own magazines, the most famous being Boxiana, and its own journalists such as Pierce Egan – they were widely read.


It had its own unofficial championship contested by Britain toughest men. These boxing stars took on enormous status – all young boys read about them and knew their statistics their height their weight their reach. They took on names such as the gravedigger – the jawbreaker – they were heroes that fought for honour and big money. To the authorities these rowdy gatherings spelt trouble but the pull of a prize-fight was hard to control.

So what made Mendoza different? He was a Jew in London at time when being Jewish was enough to be accosted in the street with little protection from the Law. In fact ‘Jew Bating’ verged on a national sport. So in reality he was not an obvious candidate for superstardom. The answer probably lay in his stature. He stood only 5 feet 7 inches and weighed approximately eleven and half stone; he was the epitome of the small man standing up to the big man to fight for what was right. In doing so he had to introduce a totally new style of boxing, to use his athleticism rather than stand toe to toe in the traditional manner. He is now regarded as the father of modern boxing.

His fame was enormous; he was presented to King George III, and had the Prince of Wales, later George IV as a patron. His achievements had a considerable effect outside the ring, raising the respectability of boxing and the social status of Jews. This was a remarkable man and there was obviously a fantastic story to be told.
My novel, No Quarter Asked No Quarter Given, is loosely based on the events in his life. Mendoza himself was such a complex character, so in developing the story, I have split his character into two separate people, one the honourable pugilist Samuel Medina, and the other the roguish Captain John Campbell-John, who has the personality of a charming con artist.


Daniel Mendoza (1764 – 1836).


If the reader is interested in learning more about Mendoza then I can recommend his autobiography – The Memoirs of Daniel Mendoza. He was a man of letters as well as fists.


No Quarter Asked No Quarter Given by Stephen Taylor, published by DSC Publications. Available from Amazon and all good bookshops or direct from the publisher. Short listed for the 2010 Britwriters Award