Attended this informative and interactive event at Huddersfield Town Hall last night along with my Mum and Neil, from Cleckheaton Writer's Group, was also there.
Peter Robinson lived in Huddersfield in 1969 and revealed that he has recently taken part in some poetry/song events that he hopes will come to Huddersfield soon. His new Inspector Banks book Children of the Revolution (named after the T-Rex song) is about the death of a University teacher (the same age as Banks) that may be connected to him losing his job after accusations of sexual misconduct four years previously. The age connection leads to Banks thinking about his own mortality and retirement.
Peter admitted that you don't have to retire a character, as Ian Rankin did with Rebus, as a case a month would equal one book (case) a year and the character would age more slowly than the years. Peter then read a section from the book which dealt with Banks pondering retirement and leaving the frontline.
The room was then opened up to questions:
1. Who is he based on?
He took the name from an old school friend and a policeman he knew who started in Manchester police force, who went to Canada and who collected roman coins and first editions such as Dickens, made him realise he wanted his character to have a life like that, i.e. a life outside the job.
2. Are you considering retirement like Banks?
Peter feels that writing one book a year is tough and he has considered slowing down but not retiring. He enjoys one-off books like Before the Poison and may slow down in about ten years time where he could write a book when he wants to, but he enjoys it, so wouldn't want to retire.
3. Is East Vale, Richmond?
Richmond and Ripon were the places where he originally started from when thinking about East Vale, but he gave it some housing estates and made it bigger so that there would be more crime.
4. Do the foreign imprints of his books have trouble with local dialect?
Peter explained that snicket/ginnel would be turned to alley in the U.S. and that in some audio books the words could be mispronounced, such as 'jinnel.'
5. Do you work to a plot timeline?
His plot is a flow. He starts with a place that suggests a body, e.g. a dried-up Thrush Cross Reservoir, which incidentally is near where Banks lives in his TV incarnation, then once he has the place and the body, Banks comes in and questions why someone would want them dead. He generally doesn't know who did it until he is three quarters of the way through the book, so he does have to go back and make some changes once he decides this.
He admitted to getting stuck sometimes and so sometimes wishes he had a plot outline. When teaching, he tells students to always know your ending and that Agatha Christie plotted out, but it doesn't work for him.
6. Do you see Stephen Tompkinson when he writes Banks now?
He sees Banks how he envisioned him and therefore different to Tompkinson, but he had seen Brassed Off and Ballykissangel and had thought he was too tall and not his idea of Banks when he got the role. As a writer, it's what the TV wants for the programme and he has no say, but Stephen did want to get together to talk about Banks. It was freezing in Toronto where Peter was and Peter told him he didn't want to come to Toronto at that time of year, so they came to a compromise that they would meet up for three days in Florida before the first day of filming. Stephen had a lot of ideas for his more serious role and Columbo was one of his heroes and Peter feels that the more he watches, the more he brings out of the character.
TV programmes do influence next books, for example Morse was more witty and complex in the novels before the TV programme than he was in the books following the TV series.
Peter has watched all of the episodes a lot of times as he gets the DVDs of the series early and he hosted wine evenings to watch it, including the one where he featured. He admitted he has to consciously make the effort to keep thoughts of the programme out whilst he is writing, as he sees the East Vale he made up and the Banks he developed.
7. Would you ever write a screenplay for Banks?
He is not involved in the screenplay and the TV companies don't want the writers of a book involved in any way, but Left Bank are very welcoming in that he does get a copy of the script the day before the start of filming and sometimes they will change some of the details if he feels it is out of character for example.
8. What do real police officers think?
Most of Peter's police friends work their way up the ranks in difficult divisions, e.g. NCA English FBI and in Met Anti-terrorist, but they don't really notice procedures, they enjoy the story because there is a bit of wish fulfilment in that Banks can buck the system.
9. How do you come up with the titles?
Peter finds that the names of the books come quite early on and he is happy if it occurs quite quickly in the book. Recently, song titles seem to fit and quotes from Shakespeare or the bible make good ones. He feels the title pulls it all together like a magnet.
10. Do you have input into the covers?
Hodder do some terrific covers but he has no input on covers either.
11. Which other writers do you admire within your peers?
Peter named a lot of writers, Ian Rankin, Mark Billingham, Reginald Hill, Ruth Rendell, Daniel Woodrell and Stuart MacBride to name a few and he admitted he has made a lot of friends.
12. Did libraries play a part in his life?
Yes, absolutely as he grew up in Armley, Leeds which had a had a fantastic library at the bottom corner of Wesley Road. It is beautiful, like the one in Huddersfield and they had a kids library underneath and he visited often as he was in love with Yvonne the librarian! He remembers the excitement of getting an adult library card which meant he could go upstairs. He found out later that Alan Bennett and Barbara Taylor Bradford also went to that library.
His father was into crime novels like Maigret and Raymond Chandler and he remembers the Stringers stall at Wakefield market where you could exchange books.
13. Where did he get 'Mad Hatters' from and have you ever seen Led Zeppelin?
From Alice in Wonderland, but he had mentioned it in a short story and yes, he has seen Led Zeppelin at least twice. He has also seen Pink Floyd at Leeds Town Hall.
14. The killer gets away in Playing with Fire, will you ever bring him back and any interest in graphic novels?
Peter has no interest in graphic novels like Ian Rankin and yes, he will bring him back and make sure he is caught. Other loose ends like the childhood friend who was mentioned in one book, was the subject of a following book.
15. Does he, like other authors, feel the original Swedish authors were an influence?
The Martin Beck and Van Der Valk characters were influential, but he hates it when writers kill off their detectives.
16. Will Banks get a happy ending relationship-wise?
Peter was surprised when Banks' wife left him! He would not rule this out.
17. What about editorial mistakes like Taunton in Devon when it is in Somerset in book seven?
He believes it is the copy editors and editors fault as he has three (US, UK and Canadian) and he relies on them for continuity and factual errors, as ten or so people read his books after he has written them.
18. An audience member thanked him for putting in one of his books the 'exotic location' of Heckmondwike/Cleckheaton.
19. Does the music in his books reflect his taste?
It does, but he can't write whilst listening to music as he finds it too distracting. He picks pop, jazz or classical depending on which moods he wishes to reflect.
20. Why did it take so long for Banks to come to TV and why that brand of whisky?
Peter admitted that the option had been around for a while, but it was picked up by the right people. TV people want a quirky character normally (like a motherless tourette's sufferer who uses his outbursts as an advantage as everyone thinks he is crazy/stupid), not a relatable and likeable detective.
He himself likes Laphroaig and most people don't know how to pronounce it, but he doesn't get any for free. Neither has he been given a Porsche and Banks has driven one of them for years!
The event finished with a book signing, where my Mum and I purchased Children of the Revolution, review to follow once we have read it.
#ChildrenOfTheRevolution #PeterRobinson
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