Writers and Theme: The Secret State

I don't know about other writers but it really took me a while to discover the theme that underlies most of my writings. Both the Lambeth Croak series and the other two series I'm writing, one of which is set near the end of the 19th century, contain elements of what, for want of a better term, might be called the secret state.

We are all given to understand that the state, i.e., the government, the police, and the secret services, are all working for our interests, and while that might be true for a good number, these institutions also have their downside. It is this downside that I am interested in and the ways in which it intersects and sometimes destroys ordinary lives, which leads to a general sense of distrust among the people. This may seem like fantasy, but as fairly recent revelations into the behaviour of undercover officers among green activists shows, these things do happen

The Importance of Theme in Fiction

Theme as I've already stated, is I believe, something that is of central concern to the writer, and which intersects with people's ordinary lives. While too much emphasis on the secret state smacks of Orwell's 1984, it is also true that it can affect us in ways that we are totally unaware of. While Death Gangland Style, is the process of what, at first, seems to be a straightforward investigation into someone's background, it is linked to both corruption in the police force, and the secret state.

The idea that the shadowy figures that form a part of government and the police are not, necessarily, looking out for the public interest, bothers me. I suppose theme is the thing that bothers, or concerns, a writer, whether that is love, jealousy, or the secret state. Theme is the thing that underlies their fiction, and possibly the reason, if not at first recognised, one of the main reasons they write.

Fiction ; A Safe Place

Fiction, I believe, is a safe place for us to examine both our own fears and those fears that might be a concern for others. So there you have it, my take on theme. Feel free to argue against me in the comments, I enjoy a good debate.

Finally, the 2nd Lambeth Croak Book is Live on Amazon

I started this blog just as I was finishing the first book in the Lambeth Croak series. At the time I did that, I never dreamed that it would take me three years before I finally got the second book out there. Well, as they say, pride comes before a fall, but I'm really happy to say that the book is now out there, the book description reads as follows:

When a severed head is delivered to Brixton police station, Bev and Joan have no idea what it has to do with their current case, a model looking for information on her new boyfriend. As the story progresses it becomes clear that they are battling against the higher echelons of law and order, which threatens their agency and their lives. Not only are the two things connected but, both Joan and Bev, and their client are in mortal danger. Will help arrive in time to prevent all out gang warfare along with the death of both Bev and their client.

The book is available here: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Gangland-Style-Lambeth-Croak-ebook/dp/B01NBCLY9L/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1480249605&sr=1-1&keywords=death+gangland+style

It's NanoWrimo Time Again

It's that time of year when many writers start to get themselves ready for the novel in a month madness known as NanoWrimo. I've got a fair bit of work on at the moment but am thinking of writing something with an Irish, Roman Catholic priest as the main character. As most of my writing, other than the occasional poem tends to be a mystery or crime novel, then he would be that character. While I've always enjoyed the Father Brown mysteries, whether they suit a more modern context, I don't know - so I'm faced with the problem of how a modern day priest might become involved in crime solving.

Story Line

I have got a tentative storyline where an adulterous couple kills the woman's husband. Father Joe is suspicious and goes about hindering the police in the execution of their duty, while at the same time working on his own to find the answer - but I'm not yet fully convinced whether this would work, which is why I'm throwing it out there now,. What do you think? I'd really like to know.

Make Your Writing Real

One of the reasons that people become immersed in a story is because the writer has made the character, their actions, and everything else real. Writers achieve reality in their stories when they make good, and continuous use of all the sense. If your character is holding something, a book for instance, how does that object feel in their hands? As a writer you need to know the answer to this question to make it more easily imagined by your reader.

Touch, Taste and Smell

You should make good use of each of these senses when you are writing. The reader wants to taste what your character is eating, feel the caress of their hands on a loved one, and smell the smoke that threatens fire. You, the writer, may know what your character is feeling, and what their food tastes like, but your readers won't unless you take the time to add these extra details in your writing.

If it's a rainy day, don't just say it is raining, let your character reveal how wet they got by taking off a jacket and shaking it, towel drying their hair, the feel of their nose running and the drips on the carpet. Let your readers experience that soaking and you will have them hooked.

Keeping a Novel Notebook as Part of the Writing Process

While I have always written some bits of a novel in a notebook before adding it to the story, it's only recently that I have begun keeping novel notebooks for each of my WIPs. Giving each story its own notebook makes it a lot easier to keep track of where I am with a particular book, than it might if they were all lumped together One of the great things about this is that it allows me not just to chart the progress of a story, but to question why a character has acted in a certain way, how it influrncesand whether I should change that action. A novel notebook is also a great way of exploring a character's personality and motivations, so that I, and, hopefully, the reader will have a greater understanding of what someone is doing, and why.

A Fresh Look

Using a notebook in this way means that I gain a greater understanding, not just of the story, but of my own way of working. If these notebooks continue to be as useful by the end of the book, as they seem to be at the beginning and in the middle, then I might think about publishing them as novel writing handbooks. The notebook means that I take a fresh look at both character and setting, and how even the most mundane aspects of a setting can influence a character's actions, motivations, and feelings.

Setting and Character

It took me a while to understand how much of an influence a setting has on a particular story. For example, in the Victorian novel notebook, I've been researching the music hall and how much that changed people's lives, for both better and worse. While the music halls were cheap entertainment for both the masses and the moneyed classes who felt like slumming it, they also had a nasty underside. The music hall girls often supplemented their income with a bit of prostitution, which was their choice. Some of the younger girls, however, were sometimes picked up and forced to live in a brothel, which meant the end of the career they'd been hoping for.

Setting can influence character in both bad and good ways, even Chandler talked about the mean streets of LA, and how it was home to mean people, and a man who was neither mean, nor influenced by that meanness, other than to alleviate it. Sometimes a setting is as much a part of a character's personality and growth, as the people they meet, and the actions they undertake, and all these things can be explored in the novel notebook. Do you keep a novel notebook, and if so, how do you think it helps the process.