David Hewson is the bestselling author of 22 books published in
more than twenty languages. His popular Costa crime series is in development for a series of TV
movies in Rome. A regular
speaker at international book events, David is appearing at CrimeFest
2012 where he will be celebrating the launch
of his new novelisation of the BAFTA-winning Danish TV series, The Killing.
Welcome to Crawl Space, David!
Q.
Belated congratulations on being chosen to write the book series of The Killing
– were you at all intimidated by the huge success of the TV series and its avid
fan following?
Not so much intimidated, more terrified. The day after it was announced I got
an email from someone ‘warning’ me that Sarah Lund was her personal heroine and
if I dared mess with her… I’m very aware I have something in my hands that’s
precious to lots of people. I won’t satisfy them all – readers always complain
when one of their favourite books is turned into a movie or TV series and this
is the same in the opposite direction. But I hope I’ve done the original
justice. It was an ambitious and epic piece of TV and I’ve tried to reflect
that in a book that takes on the same sense of scale and narrative drive.
Q.
You’re taking part in a panel session at this year’s CrimeFest
in Bristol. Before I ask about the session, how do you feel about book festivals
in general? Are they fun, or hard work?
They’re
usually fun and hard work too. I’ve been very lucky in going to some great
festivals from Australia to the US and lots of other places in between. There
was the time I was sat next to someone in a green plastic hula skirt and a man
in a kilt on the other side… but that’s a rarity and I’m sure won’t happen in
Bristol. Festivals are growing ever important these days so it’s great to see
how CrimeFest has grown to become what seems to me the biggest and most
broadly-based popular fiction festival we currently have.
Q.
I’m tempted to put on a grass skirt and Tam o’ Shanter and sidle up to you
during CrimeFest..! On Friday 25th, you’re tackling ‘International
Cops: Does Setting Affect How Your Characters Do Their Jobs?’ Your Nic Costa
series showcases Rome in all its battered beauty. I’m guessing Sarah Lund and The Killing felt a bit chilly, by
comparison?
Location
certainly affects character. My Romans are naturally garrulous and largely
optimistic at heart and congenitally emotional. Lund comes from a cold climate
and, like the British, mimics that in her character. It’s interesting that we
seem to be more interested in gloomy, dark chilly characters and locations at
the moment. Perhaps it reflects the state of the world. We’re pessimistic and
look to the north instead of the south. There’s battered beauty in Copenhagen
though. And I did hire a bike and pedal round the wood on the city outskirts
where the dark credit sequence takes place (it’s actually a very nice nature
reserve and not scary at all in real life).
Q.
You’ve been praised – rightly – for your skill at writing strong female
characters. Did that make Sarah Lund easier, or harder to write? And is there
any chance of a crossover, in the future, between Sarah and, say, Teresa Lupo?
People do say that and
it always surprises me a bit. I write characters, men and women, the way I meet
people in real life. And I’ve never encountered one of those dumb, willing
blondes who seem to be the mainstay of some sorts of fiction, so I could never
write one. Lund was a challenge but not because she was a woman. It’s more that
we don’t get to peek behind the façade much on TV and in a book you need a bit
of the internal story too. So I had to imagine that and come up with some kind
of explanation for that rather incongruous jumper for example. Funnily enough I
read an interview with Sofie Gråbøl later
talking about why she picked it for Lund – and we pretty much chose the same
reasons. Which is a compliment to her acting talents, not my skills of
perception. It was pretty obvious it seemed to me. I don’t see Lund and Teresa
Lupo meeting ever. They wouldn’t get on at all for one thing. Lund would drive
Teresa nuts.
Q.
You’re tackling the first novelisation of a TV series and, at the same time,
your Nic Costa books are being serialised for TV. Do you have a strong
preference for one media over the other? What do you consider to be the
particular strengths of each?
I’ve
only ever written novels, though I wouldn’t mind a tilt at TV one day. They are
very different media which is why you need to change things, substantially
sometimes, when you transfer stories between them. Novels work on the
imagination and, if they succeed, take the reader directly into the story. TV
is a passive medium in which the screen is the boss and says ‘Watch now’ until
it’s done. And you have actors in TV – wonderful actors in the case of The
Killing, which means they can get away with unresolved narrative issues which
would never be allowed in a book. TV has a visceral immediacy and the ability
to mix the visual, the auditory and the dramatic in a way that can root you to
the spot. Books are more subtle it seems to me, and ultimately more memorable.
My take on The Killing departs from the TV version in some very significant
ways, especially at the end. But it’s been interesting that some devoted
Killing followers haven’t spotted that. It’s because TV is very much of the
moment, I suspect. You’re a spectator, not a participant as you are in a good
book. That said I’d still like to write TV before long – it’s such an
adventurous and ambitious medium in the right hands.
Q.
I love the idea of the reader as a participant – that’s bang on the money, I
think. You’re famed for your detailed research and spent time in Copenhagen,
and Rome of course. Any particular cities you’re dying to visit/write about
next?
There
is one city in particular. I went there only a couple of weeks ago and I’m
ten thousand words into the first draft now. But I have a strict rule never to talk about
work in progress. It always seems a bit presumptuous and possibly bad luck.
What I can say is I have my eyes on a new story, set in a different European
location (and no, it’s no Scandinavia!) More to follow at a later date I hope…
Intriguing!
Thank you, David, really looking forward to seeing you at CrimeFest.
David Hewson will be at CrimeFest in Bristol on Saturday
26 May, celebrating the launch of The Killing. For full details of the
programme and to buy tickets, please go here.
On June 21, which is the day after National Short Story Day, I'm the Special Guest at the Ragged Stone Open Mic event in Portishead. The venue is the Coco Cafe, which is in the marina, a lovely spot with free parking nearby. It's a 7.30pm kick-off and I've been told to expect an audience of 30-40, which seems to be a huge number, not that I'm nervous (much). I'm doing two 20 min slots during the evening, and there's the opportunity for the audience to take to the mic and read, which is even better.
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