Minor characters need to be vivid, says author
one tells you how hard it is to get your second novel published, author Giles Blunt said last week during the opening of the Canadian Authors Series 25th season in Port Colborne.
“You expect your first novel to be hard,” said Blunt during his appearance at Roselawn Centre, adding it was more than 10 years between his first and second novels.
His first was “Cold Eye,” written after meeting Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman.
“I was lucky enough to meet with him and he chatted with me.”
Blunt said he had an idea for a movie, but Goldman advised him to write a novel instead.
“He said people in Hollywood would read a novel, not a script.”
With the idea already in his head, it didn’t take Blunt long to write “Cold Eye” in novel form.
The book — it’s about a struggling New York artist who comes under the sway of someone who offers assistance — was later turned into a movie, shot by a French director in Italy.
Blunt’s second novel, “Forty Words for Sorrow,” was the first in his series of six on detectives John Cardinal and Lise Delorme in the fictional town of Algonquin Bay.
Algonquin Bay is based on North Bay, to where Blunt moved from Amherstburg at age 11.
“I asked my brother-in-law, who is a doctor, about who I should talk to. He pointed me to a detective who was a very good talker, he’d been a police officer for a long time.”
Blunt said that detective gave him a lot of good information that helped in writing the first in the series.
“One of the first questions I asked him was if he ever met any criminals he actually liked. He said there had been a few over the years, ones that weren’t violent … ones that were charmers.”
That talk worked its way into “Forty Words for Sorrow” with the character of Arthur (Woody) Wood, a “charming thief,” Blunt said.
After finishing a passage from that novel, for which the author gave voices to the different characters, Blunt spoke of minor characters.
“Minor characters need to be vivid and you want them to illuminate the main character and you have to do it quickly.”
With his Cardinal series, Blunt said, readers get to know and care for the main characters, Cardinal and Delorme, over time as they go through a series of events on the job and in their lives.
“As a writer, you have to rush it and lay it on thick (for the main characters) …”
Blunt said one aspect of writing that interests him the most is doing research.
“You have to have just enough background to make things plausible. It’s really a lot of fun and you get to meet people that you wouldn’t otherwise meet.”
He said most people like talking about their work, adding it’s only second to famiNo ly in terms of the mental and emotional space it takes up.
“You meet all sorts of colourful characters.”
One of the best and most fruitful trips for research, Blunt said, was to Ontario’s Centre of Forensic Sciences.
“In crime writing, you have to get technical. There are a lot of books on the subject but a lot are out of date and they usually don’t convey the personalities and human nature behind crime investigation.”
During his visit, Blunt said there was a woman, in her early to mid-30s, in a white body bag in a hallway near an elevator. He said the person showing him around was apologetic and added the woman wasn’t supposed to be in that spot.
“It was very striking and very sad,” he said, adding the woman had died from an overdose.
“It really brings home the tragedy of these kinds of things in a way we don’t usually see.”
Up next is author Anosh Irani who will appear on Wednesday, Oct. 17, instead of Oct. 25.
Each authors series night starts at 7 p.m. with a reception and a live band, followed by the author’s presentation at 8 p.m., a question and answer period and a book signing afterwards.
For more information on the series and tickets, visit www.thecanadianauthorsseries.ca or www.facebook.com/ The Canadian Authors Series.
Season tickets are available for $160 and single evening tickets are $30 and can be purchased at Port Colborne Public Library.