Robert Wilson Q&A

Strong, three-dimensional characters assume such powerful proportions in a writer’s imagination that they can begin to dictate how the story will flow. Their thought processes become so real and natural that their actions become irrefutable. They start telling the writer what they will do next rather than the writer imposing his will on the characters. Does that sound scary? It can be, which is why I don’t write serial killer thrillers.

Would you like to see any of your books made into a film? If so, which one would it be? Do you think authors can successfully adapt their own books into screenplays?

Barbara Spackman, Eye, Suffolk

I’d like to see The Blind Man of Seville on the screen and I have an American producer working on that at the moment. I think authors would find it very difficult to write screenplays because there has to be a lot of cutting done and novelists hate to see all their hard work disappearing into the shredder. Film also demands great changes such as new characters and this is a hard thing for the original writer to bear.

What made you decide to become an author and what inspired you to write a book?

Katie Russell, Teignmouth, Devon

When I was 14-years-old I managed to silence a classroom of my peers with a poem about adolescent sexual yearning. It gave me the illusion that I had a facility with words. My first inspiration for writing a book came from travelling in Africa it was both brilliant and ghastly, beautiful and horrific.

You’re novels always have a very strong sense of place. Have you ever wanted to be a travel writer? What do you think of Bill Bryson?

Jane Dowling, Whitstable, Kent

The setting is always the start for me. If I have strong feelings about a place I know I will end up writing about it. I initially thought I would be a travel writer because I’ve done a lot of moving about in my life but fiction gives me the opportunity to tell stories and describe place. I like Bill Bryson’s work. He’s an amusing guy with a finely tuned ear and eye.

What are you writing at the moment?

Keith Barnet, Bournemouth, Dorset

I am writing the third in my Seville series featuring the tormented cop, Javier Falcon. It’s going to be a novel that looks at terror in all its many forms.

What did you do before you were a writer?

Lisa Tugman, London

Before I faced the blank page I was a guide on archaeological tours, a shipbroker, a video producer and an advertising man. What many would call a hopeless career path. After all that the only thing left for me to do was write. I was virtually unemployable.

What advice would you give aspiring novelists?

Hugo Draper, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire

You might think that your genius is the most valuable talent when you start writing but you will eventually find that persistence is the difference between success and failure.

How much of yourself do you put in your characters? Which character from any of your books most resembles you?

David Barker, Manchester

I hope you don’t think I go out there killing and maiming in order to understand some of my more sinister creations. Characters are composites of bits of me, my friends and people I run into. I think I have only ever used a real person as a whole character once. My wife thinks that Bruce Medway from my African novels most resembles me. I hope she only means the nicer bits.

How important is research when you are writing your books?

Sally Cox, Brighton, East Sussex

Research is important in order to give you confidence about the material you intend to write but the real talent of research is to know what to leave out. Readers want to read your story and feel the lifeblood of your characters; they don’t want to see what a wonderful time you’ve had in the library.