Author returns to the scene of the sessions
Crime author David Hewson – known for his Costa series – returns to Books by the Beach for the Blockbuster to Book session. David has been to the festival on several occasions. He and psychological thriller writer Erin Kelly will be talking about writing novels based on small screen series.
David took on the task of writing three novels linked to The Killing.
Now the former journalist, who worked on The Scarborough Evening News and the Bridlington Free Press, has l aunched a new series set in Amsterdam featuring houseboat-living former cop Pieter Vos. Here’s what he had to say about writing, books and adaptations. Please give me a taster of the subject you will be covering: the pluses and the downside, how the Killing novels came about People are always fascinated by how The Killing books came about — and I’m sure they feel the same about the Broadchurch book that Erin Kelly, who’s with me at the event, will be talking about. From what I can gather they’re both very different so I’ll be intrigued to find out what Erin’s experience was.
The great thing about the Killing books for me was the freedom I was allowed. Because they we re in a different language — and the TV studio was heavily involved in making the third series at the time — I could delete and change the stories as much as I wanted.
So all three books e nd differently to the TV, sometimes with different killers, sometimes with people who perish on screen surviving and vice versa . I spent a f air bit of ti me i n Copenhagen researching the locations and talking to people at Danish TV. It was clear that drama and books are related but different — so changes had to happen. This is why I think of them as adaptations, not simple novelisations that just try to photocopy what was on the screen and turn it into a book.
The same process happened with a couple of Shakespeare adaptations I coauthored for audiobooks. The last one, Hamlet, was narrated by Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobbit) and is now up for two Audies, the US audiobook equivalent of the Oscars.
Great and very educational. I can’t think of any downsides — the books have been incredibly popular around the world. But my main focus will always be my own books. Please give a taster of your latest series featuring Pieter Vos. After The Killing I wanted to start a new series something in the north of Europe, but not quite as cold as Copenhagen. My books have always sold well in t he Netherlands so I ’ve spent a f air bit of ti me there. I t al ways s tr uck me that Amsterdam would make a great location for a series so I decided to give it a go.
The first book has been bought for Dutch TV and i s in development for a series there.
The second will be l aunched at Scarborough, though copies won’ t be generally available elsewhere until May 8. It’s called The Wrong Girl and takes place j ust before Christmas, on a unique day when Sinterklaas, St Nicholas , arrives on a golden barge in the city to greet children. What is it about houseboats? First Timothy Spall and then Timothy West. There was a TV series years ago with Dennis Waterman whose character lived on a barge. When I was thinking about the Amsterdam series I happened across a lovely area of Amsterdam called the Jordaan. While I was having a coffee by the Prinsengracht ca na l there I saw a very rundown houseboat.
Then a rather rundown chap cycled past with a little terrier in the basket of his bike. I just put the two together at the time and thought … there’s the start of a book.
That must have been 10 years before I actually started writing. So it was j ust luck really.
Perhaps, but Vos hasn’t been very lucky with romance — he’s very much a loner now, a pretty cheerful one though with his dog and his local friends. What make s th e Scar - borough festival special for you?
It’s always a pleasure to come back to Scarborough after all these years. After all it’s the first place anyone ever paid me for my writing, even if it was typing out the result of flower shows a lot of the time.
It ’s much changed , of course, but it’s still a handsome place to visit and there’s nothing like a Scarborough crab sandwich out on the front anywhere else.
Heather French an d Pete r Guttridge did an amazing job of rescuing that from the ashes when the funding was pulled. The lineup they’ve got this year really puts Scarbor - ough on the map in terms of UK book festivals —i t’s an amazing achievement.
Books by the Beach runs f rom Thursday April 1 6 t o Sunday April 19. Blockbuster to Book is on at Scarborough Library Concert Hall on the Sunday at 3pm. Tickets for all events are available from the Stephen Joseph Theatre.