Plot points

     A very entertaining evening at the Book Festival yesterday in the company of two writers whose books I haven't read (yet) but who were so engaging in their own right that they are way up on the TBR list. Gregory Norminton was new to me. He read the opening passage of his latest novel, Serious Things, and he'd drawn in the audience in moments. I rushed home to look up his back catalogue and found that his range is impressive and intriguing, and I've added Ghost Portrait to my wishlist, too. Sophie Hannah's work I did know by reputation - a fine one - and she read from her most recent novel The Point of Rescue. Her thrillers (many will know Little Face and Hurting Distance already) describe ordinary people in desperate situations, reacting in ways they would never normally contemplate, and as such, plot is key to her books.
     For Gregory Norminton, the character is their fate, though slow revelations drive the book (and he says he gets good ideas while in the bath!), but Sophie Hannah maintains that no matter how interesting a character is, they must be doing something interesting, so plot is all-important. Narrative satisfaction is paramount for Sophie, and she looks to find a mystery which she can solve along with her protagonists, preparing a 50 page dossier with every aspect of the story mapped out before she begins to write the book.
    There was a discussion of literary influences and inspirations, and these ranged from J.G. Ballard's short stories to Enid Blyton's Secret Seven books (a great place to start for the young, aspiring crime writer, apparently) and on to Agatha Christie and more recently Barbara Vine's A Dark-adapted Eye which Sophie says has "perfect shape and clear rhythm", as in a poem.
    The event was very good-humoured, lively and much enjoyed by an appreciative audience who will have come away enthusing  - and surely that's the point!