On Wednesday night at Ayr Writer’s Club, we got a chance to meet and talk with crime author Tony Black. The turnout for this evening was the most impressive we’ve had since the Club resumed last month. In addition, the crowd were also receptive to his personal story as well as his journey regarding his career. It was also fascinating to see how his thought process revealed his mindset in his creative endeavours.
His talk covered a wide variety of topics. One such was about the thought process regarding his specialty, the typical structure of a crime novel, and how to break it down. It is clear to see that this had a knock-on effect on the stories inside his novels. Several audience members asked Tony a wide variety of questions, such as, whether he would be interested in seeing his works be adapted into a screenplay, a question that he definitely replied with ‘No.’
Despite having endured setbacks, I was impressed by how Tony managed to persevere and make a successful career for himself. His modesty in the face of this success is something I found rather endearing. To counter this success, it was also interesting to hear about some of the implications that come with writing in a particular way or for a certain genre. Tony explained about a writer becoming locked into a certain genre. His story also highlighted some potential lows that come with writing, citing the amount of time he had to spend away from home publicising his books, when he missed his family.
Another aspect that impressed me was how thorough Tony was at carrying out his research. One example was during his ‘Bob Valentine’ crime novels, and how he would ask doctors how a victim of certain crimes would survive severe physical trauma. Another example was during his career as a journalist and how he was often involved in reporting on various crimes. It was interesting to hear how Tony incorporated his research into his work. Tony also discussed the writing approaches authors use in their endeavours. While he likes to carefully plan events, characters and locations, other authors have a more improvisational approach.
This was a very entertaining and insightful evening that demonstrates some of the many talented writers, artists and creatives that members of Ayr Writer’s Club, and anyone else interested in attending, can learn from.
Gavin Tudhope