In today’s first Draft hot seat I’m pleased to welcome P. D. Viner.
P. D. Viner is an award winning film-maker and audio-book producer, now turned novelist. The Last Winter of Dani Lancing was his first murder but there have been others…
He has two novellas, The Sad Man and The Ugly Man, which are available as FREE downloads from all good ebook stockists and WattPad. His second novel Summer of Ghosts, continues the descent into hell for Dani Lancing’s parents – Patty and Jim. and the man who loved her. He is Detective Superintendent Tom Bevans, The Sad Man.
Phi has studied film and theatre in England and Russia and produced documentaries for Japanese TV. He created the popular ranges of English Literature study guides – The SmartPass audio guides andShakespeare Appreciated. He was a terrible stand-up comedian for a while and now lives in Brighton with his wife and five year old daughter.
When you decide to write something new, what is the first thing you do?
I get a new notebook and write the title (if I know it) on the front page, if I have no title then a brief description of the project. Then I start layering into the notebook any images, scenes or lines of dialogue that immediately present themselves to me. There will always be moments, plot twists or character points that MUST be in the book, and they swirl around in the soup of my imagination and yell out for attention, they need to be captured straight away. I generally don’t know where they will go in the story – but I know they are important. I also might find news clippings or photos or even lines from other sources and I will write those into the notebooks.
It is also true that I usually have two or three future projects simmering in my head. I may not be spending much time on them but the ideas are starting to develop, like tadpoles growing into frogs (and I have a notebook for each project). At the moment I am finishing a TV script that I have written on spec – and that project has two notebooks. I am about to start my third novel and the concluding chapter in my Life and Death of Dani Lancing trilogy (a trilogy of 3 novels, 4 novellas, 2 short stories and a graphic novel) and there are a few notebooks devoted to that (I try and colour code them but that doesn’t always work). I also have the idea for my fourth book in mind and am making notes about that too.
Then this morning I wrote a short story and all day have been thinking it could be the opening chapter of a new book. That might need a separate notebook too. I am hoping that if I mention Moleskine notebooks a lot in articles and in my books that they might send me some (a lifetime supply would be nice). I want to be the face of Moleskine, because I’m worth it.
Do you have a set routine approaching it?
No. Except for the fact that I walk around and mull it over and make notes. Some ideas are just left in books for months. When I come to actually sit down and start to write I should already have a few weeks or even a few months of the ideas forming in my mind, in fact I have a short story I wrote 15 years ago and that will form a key scene in the next book. I have my best ideas just walking around, or cooking dinner for my wife and daughter.
Pen and paper or straight to the keyboard?
Notes and ideas on paper but when the real writing starts it is directly onto my laptop. I tend to write and edit in word and after draft 3-4, print sections to read.
How do you go about researching?
This is one of the biggest changes from being a part-time writer to being published. With my first novel, The Last Winter of Dani Lancing, I did not have much confidence and felt like an amateur. I have no police background (not even been stopped and searched, damn my bad luck), but my sister lives next door to a couple who are both officers and she introduced us. I met my DI (very like DI Jane Thorsen in my novel) for a coffee and I fired off question after question. At one point we were talking about the length of time semen could be tested for DNA profiling and the coffee-shop waitress dropped her tray of drinks as she was listening to us. As I got closer to completing the first draft, I felt a little braver and emailed the coroner in Durham (where Dani goes to University) and he was amazingly helpful in answering my questions. I went to Durham for a three day visit and found all the spots I wanted. I had been there years ago but had a poor recollection. I took about 200 photographs and walked and walked. I also did research on-line and read two police textbooks on both protocols at crime scenes and how a modern investigation works.
After I sold my first novel, I called the Sussex police media relations department and they were fantastic. I was able to spend a night shift in a 999 call unit, listening to the calls that came in and then sitting with dispatchers. I also got to watch CCTV for East Sussex especially Brighton on a Saturday night, and see just what the police could do. During that time a cell search was sanctioned as they searched for a missing person and I got to question the command team on their choices of where to spend resources. We also talked a great deal about armed responses – it was an amazing night. A week later I spent a night in a police first-response car, cruising around and making arrests and responding to calls. I also spent a day in the police station sitting in on briefings and talking to officers and civilian staff. Lastly a half-day with the CID and drugs officers. It was a fantastic grounding in the actuality of police procedure. For my next novel I am going to prison… I am looking forward to that.
How do you store everything; ideas, research, images that catch your eye?
Again it is either in my notebooks or scraps of paper I slide into the books. I also take pictures – for example the 200 pictures I took in Durham and the hundred or so I took in Greenwich. I also film in certain places. I have a murder set in the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and I was lucky enough to be allowed inside the onion domes at the top of the palace, as well as what remains of the secret passageway that runs from the palace to the nearby stables (now a museum). I filmed in these areas so I could remember the way the light changes and the wall’s textures. The stairs to the dome were really interesting, so I recorded that. Then I download them all to my computer and keep them in files. While I am writing those scenes I have them on my phone too.
Tell us how that first draft takes shape?
I am not sure I can, each of the 4 novels/novellas has been different. With The Last Winter of Dani Lancing I began with a 500 word short story I wrote. It was essentially the scene which is now chapter two of the book and had Patty, the mother, abducting the man she believes killed her daughter so she can test his blood for a DNA match. Essentially in that first 500 words I had the first third of the novel. Then I wrote 70,000 words as a first person book before I started again. The first person didn’t work as Patty was too sad and too volatile. But I had a lot of the plot to work with. When I got to the end of the first draft I then seeded back a lot of the backstory and the elements that were from the past. It is a complex book in terms of a fractured narrative and much of that came in draft two – or were notes scribbled on the margin and in books to add later.
With the novellas – I just wrote them from page 1 to the end. However my editor had me re-arrange both of them in terms of chronology.
On Summer of Ghosts, I only had 6 months to write (even though I did have a few months of notes) and I tried to work chronologically. Ironically the police scenes, based upon my real experiences, were overwritten (too much detail) and slowed me down and ended up in the bin (mostly). I discovered you can get carried away with research.
Are there any rituals you have to do or items you must have with you while writing that draft?
No. Except I need strong coffee and I write almost exclusively in coffee shops in Brighton. I drop my daughter at school and then go to a café and sit for 4 hours and write on my laptop. The rest of the time I just make notes.
Does the outside world exist or are you lost to us for a period of time as the magic works?
With a 6 year old around that cannot happen – though I daydream a lot. My wife is an academic and most evenings she works and we often sit in the same room lost in our thoughts.
What does your work space look like?
It is a café in a deconsecrated church mostly. At home I have an office that looks like a bomb has hit it. I don’t do creative work in there, I just build towers of paper and books that fall from time to time.
Edit as you go or just keep getting words out?
Depends. I tend to splurge words if I can but may have whole days where I just craft one scene over and over. I don’t perceive the books as multiple drafts like many writers do. I have one document and organically smooth and hone as I feel. I do believe I have got slightly better at honing a sentence as I write it… but that may just be wishful thinking.
I see many writers counting words in a day. Word counter or other method of keeping track of progression?
I do track words but try not to beat myself up if it is not a good day. On a novel I can have 5,000 word days but not that often. Writing the TV script was really hard as some days would just be 500 – because it is all plot and dialogue, no interior motivation or narrative and barely any description. I am good at seeing the scope of what I need to do and portioning it out, so I hit milestones – or miss them. But at least I know they are there.
So, that first draft is down. Roughly how long did it take? And what shape is it in?
With Summer of Ghosts the first draft took 16 weeks of writing every day and the opening third was very bloated. The last third was pretty lean as I honed my thinking as I progressed with the story. I then spent nine weeks re-arranging sections and rewriting the first half (some tweaks to the end but not too much). The final polishing took 3 weeks.
In what format do you like to read it through, ereader, paper or the computer screen?
On computer screen until the end, then I print sections to read – but only late on. I do find that once it is all done and my editor is happy with the form of the story that reading it printed is really helpful.
What happens now that first draft is done?
I then sent to my editor for comments and with her feedback I took a hatchet to it. I rewrote the first half entirely and did a lot of work on the second half over about 10 weeks. I had concentrated on one character predominantly in the opening quarter (when the first novel was far more of an ensemble work) and I knew it was overbalanced and needed a re-think. My editor felt the same and so I moved scenes and re-ordered the narrative to allow the other two storylines to start earlier. It works really well now and the closing of the book has three dénouements that build on each other.
After we are happy with it the draft goes to a copy editor who may have questions and format issues. During this time other people get to read it in proof form and there is a final chance to make the odd tweak here and there. Then you have to step back and say – that is it, done. That is difficult for me, by nature I like to keep fiddling with things – but there comes a time when you have to move on to the next book.
So I have just started the next one. Wish me luck.
Thanks for digging into the depths of the first draft. It’s been a pleasure having you.
You can find P. D. Viner on his website, Amazon and the Random House page.
Summer of Ghosts.
It begins with a father calling his daughter, but whoever answers is not Pia but his daughter’s killer. He must listen, horrified, to the sounds of his only child being murdered, powerless to intervene as the killer utters two chilling words.
Most men’s thoughts would turn to vengeance but Pia’s father is far more resourceful than most. And he is not the reserved businessman his daughter always believed him to be but Franco, a notorious London drug lord who will call in all his debts to find his daughter’s killer. Including the one owed to him by DI Tom Bevans.
Only Tom is a man haunted by his own grief and every unsolved case weighs heavily against his soul. And Tom has heard the killer’s words before.
Margot Kinberg says
Rebecca – Thanks for introducing us to P.D.
P.D. – Nice to meet another writer who likes strong coffee. And I know what you mean about mulling over ideas before you actually write. I do that too as I plan my writing. I wish you much continued success.
readingwritingandriesling says
The Last Summer of Dani Lancing is one of my favourite reads – I cant wait to read the new book….what a great interview Rebecca. I am envious of your opportunity. 🙂
FictionFan says
Having enjoyed Dani Lancing, it was very interesting to hear a bit about the process behind it. Great interview – thanks both! 🙂
Jacqui Murray says
I was intrigued by the fact that PD writes the title first (if he knows it). Is it a theme, to keep the story focused? I’ve always felt the title comes last, once I know what happens. In fact, it is what I teach my students. I’d love to know your thoughts on writing the title first.
Carol Balawyder says
Summer of Ghosts sounds like such a scary story…I can’t imagine listening to my own child being murdered. It sounds like a really interesting read.
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