Author Interview - Simon Kernick

R: I’m delighted that we’ve managed to secure an interview with Simon Kernick, bestselling author, who’s latest book Ultimatum has just been published.  Simon, welcome.  It looks like you’ve written a book every year for twelve years– how do you keep up the pace?
 
SK: With great difficulty! I’ve got to say writing never gets any easier and it is tough to keep sustaining the ideas and the pace of the stories, but so far, thank God, I’m managing it. I’ve just started the new book (number 13) and it’s going really well.

R: Ultimatum:  your new book follows on from your previous novel Siege.  The plots have moved away from crime to a more thriller type plot.  Was this a conscious change on your part?
 
SK: I like to think I’ve always written thrillers but yes, I suppose I have moved to more high concept ideas, though I think that was more of a natural move rather than a conscious decision. I’m always keen to avoid telling the same story more than once.

R: Some of your central characters, particularly Tina Boyd are very vocal about the way that the Police are restricted and are less effective than they should be because of legalistic rules and the human rights agenda.  Is this a reflection of your views or what you know serving officers think?
 
SK: A bit of both. Most police officers I know, from all ranks, bemoan the Human Rights Act and the difficulties it places on the police in terms of how officers on the ground do their jobs. From a personal point of view, I do think the Human Rights Act is restrictive, and I believe strongly that it’s been exploited by certain lawyers and special interest groups to either enrich themselves or bolster their own positions at the expense of the majority of the public. Whichever way you look at it, I don’t think it works in the way it was supposed to do.

R: Why did you start writing crime and thrillers?  What attracted you to this genre?
 
SK: Because I’ve always been a great fan of crime and thriller fiction, it felt natural to try to write a book in that genre, although when I first started writing, I wrote sci fi stories.

R: I wanted to ask whether you had ever experimented with other genres besides crime and thriller type books.
 
SK:   I used to write sci fi and fantasy stories when I was a kid, and in fact right up until I was in my early twenties, but since then it’s been all crime thrillers.

R: Can we talk about some of your shorter books? I picked up your short story, The Debt, free on Kindle and it was a good read.  Tell us more about how this came about.
 
SK: I was one of four authors who got asked to write a short story for BMW way back in 2005, to be featured in their monthly magazine. It could be on any subject but had to be centred round a BMW.  I was intrigued and in between books, so I agreed, and ended up being pretty pleased with the result. I wanted to put out a free short story for my readers this Christmas and decided it was time for The Debt to see the light of day again.  If you’d like to take a look it’s available at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Debt-ebook/dp/B00AML42B0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359824040&sr=8-1

R: You’ve also done a “quick read”, Wrong time, wrong place – why did you decide to do a short story like this?
 
SK:  I got asked to write a Quick Read story as part of the UK-wide drive to encourage literacy and an appreciation of books amongst those who tended to avoid them. The Quick Read people wanted a story that was short, fast-paced and not too complicated, and I had an idea that I thought would work perfectly. I’ll let the readers be the judges of whether or not I was right!

R: What did you find were the challenges in writing a short story, compared to a full length novel?
 
SK: I think if you’ve got the right idea, it’s actually quite a lot easier. You don’t have to worry about multi-stranded plots, and the storytelling itself is far more linear. I really enjoyed doing Wrong Time Wrong Place., and did it far faster than I was expecting.

R: You did so many things before your breakthrough as a writer including labouring in a road building gang, barman; stockroom assistant and a Christmas tree uprooter!  What made you want to be a writer? 
 
SK: Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve wanted to write. I started producing simple little stories when I was about six, and I haven’t stopped since (although I’m hoping they’ve got slightly better!). I always hoped that one day I could earn my living from writing, but I’m never sure I genuinely expected it to happen, and so I’ve been extremely fortunate to have managed to do so. 

R: Your first two books were rejected by publishers, what was different about your first published novel, The Business of Dying?  Was getting a successful novel just trial and error?   

SK: Put simply, it was a hell of a lot better. Sometimes I think you’ve just got to practice by writing a couple of full length books, in order to pick up the necessary skills. 

R: How did you keep motivated to write for six years, doing a job that I suspect you didn’t enjoy whilst trying to write and sell a successful novel?  It sound like something which would make most of us turn to crime!
 
SK: The fact is, there’s no alternative. If you really want to succeed as a writer you’ve got to be prepared to be in for the long haul, because nobody in my experience gets published overnight. You’ve got to spend a lot of time motivating yourself before someone finally recognizes that you might, just might, have a talent. I always believed in myself but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that at times I felt like giving up.

R: Well, we’re all glad that you didn’t give up and it’s good to hear that there’s another book in the pipeline that’s going well.  Thanks for agreeing to talk to us on The Crime Warp and I look forward to seeing Ultimatum climbing the book charts.