Author Interview; The Crime Warp grills Bloody Scotland 2016 Spotlighter Les Wood

Les Wood was one of the debut authors selected to be spoltlighted at the Bloody Scotland 2016 Crime Writing Festival in Stirling and here he is to take to us about his debut novel, Dark Side Of The Moon.  Give him a warm welcome to The Crime Warp...

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Liz:  Lovely to have you here Les, could you tell us a bit about Dark Side Of The Moon?

Les: Dark Side of the Moon is a crime thriller concerning the exploits of a group of low-level Glasgow criminals who decide to steal the world’s most famous diamond when it is displayed in the city as part of a major exhibition. So, it’s essentially a heist story, with the main difference being that these guys are essentially incompetent – they have no idea what they are doing! Despite this, they somehow manage to get a plan together and make their chaotic attempt to take the diamond.  The story is told entirely from the criminals’ viewpoint, with not a single cop in sight. There’s plenty of dark humour throughout, plus lots of sex, drugs and sausage rolls.

Liz: Where did the inspiration for Dark Side of The Moon

come from?

Les: I love high-concept Hollywood blockbuster films, but sometimes get frustrated that the stories are always set in America – so I wanted to see what it would be like to have a similar kind of story but involving everyday Glasgow punters (albeit violently criminal ones!). What would it be like to see them in these extraordinary circumstances, how would they react, what would be their Glaswegian take

on it? The blurb on the back of the book describes the story as Trainspotting meets Ocean’s Eleven, and that pretty much sums it up!

Liz: If Dark Side Of The Moon  was ever to be televised or made into a film who would you like to play your main character and why?

Les: The book is pretty much an ensemble piece with 6 or 7 main characters, so there are a few people I’d love to see in it. For the leader of the gang it would be great to see Tam Dean Burn – he has just the right face to play someone who can flip from genial bonhomie to violence at the drop of a hat. For the others, since there is a lot of humour in the story, I’d like to see some of the guys

from Scottish comedy shows – Brian Limond (Limmy), Robert Florence, Iain Connell; all great comedians, but pretty good actors too. There is one really strong female character that would be perfect for someone like Laura Fraser.

Liz: Where is your favourite place to write and why?

Les: If I can, I like to take a week or ten days annual leave from work and rent a cottage somewhere remote up North. I

Sconser Isle of Skye

take my laptop, all my notebooks, sketches… and the dog! I then can have the peace and quiet to get properly stuck into the writing with a sustained effort, finally transforming those half-formed notes and ideas into something (hopefully) good. It also means I can take a break by taking the dog for a wee walk amongst some spectacular scenery. Two

Assynt

places that have been good for this is Sconser on the Isle of Skye, and Assynt in the far North-West. At other times (which is most of the time!) it’s with the laptop at the dining table or in my wee ‘study’.

Liz: Do you have a particular writing routine you follow?

Les: I write in my head all the time – formulating ideas, sorting out plot trajectories, refining characters – and a great way for me to do this is when walking the dog over the high

Gleniffer Braes

moors of the Gleniffer Braes near where we live. I can then jot these down into my notebooks when I get home, think about them some more before finally committing words to that first draft. Once the first draft is finished, I’ll print the whole thing off and read it through, refining as I go. And then repeat… and repeat… I suspect this is pretty much how a lot of writers do it, I don’t know.

Liz: If you weren’t a writer what would you like to do?

Les: Apart from my day job (university lecturer in Human Physiology), I would really have liked the chance to be a professional musician. I’m a brass player and I’ve been lucky enough to play in some of Europe’s finest concert halls including the Royal Albert Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall but I would have loved to have tried it as a professional.

Liz: Who are your writing heroes and why?

Iain Banks. I just love his creativity, invention and wit. The

fact that he can do this so well in a number different genres is amazing. His science fiction books (Iain M Banks) are among his very best writing. It’s terrible that he’s gone and we won’t have anything more from him. I’ve actually deliberately not read his last book (The Hydrogen Sonata), so that I have at least one new book  from him that I can look forward to reading one day.

Liz: Could you describe the book you are working on at the moment using only 5 words?

Les: Road-chase, drugs, government, reality television

Liz:  Sounds explosive!  Do you have competing ideas for future projects and have you ever worked on more than one at the same time?

Les: I’ve never worked on more than one at the same time, but I have written stand-alone short stories while working on a novel. I also have lots of ideas for future projects buzzing around my head and I’ll jot down rough idea-sketches in my notebooks for future reference while they’re fresh in my mind, but I tend not to take them much beyond that stage while I’m concentrating on something big at the time.

Thanks so much for visiting us on The Crime Warp Blog, Les.  It's been a real treat.  You can find out more about Les on his website  click here