Hello, and welcome to only my second EVER author Q & A,this time with TS Hunter, author of the ‘Soho Noir’ series, courtesy of independent publishers, Red Dog Press
There is also a giveaway, just follow the link below, embedded in the answers, for a chance to win some amazing goodies!
- Tell us a bit about yourself, how did you come to be a writer?
That all sounds very grown up all of a sudden! My father always said I should get a real job. I guess this is as close as I’ll get. Language was always my thing. English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, you name it; I love them all. I realised early on that I had a good ear for languages, a good memory for vocabulary, and an obsessive interest in the origins and meanings of words. But really, I just loved stories.
I read voraciously, often things I really shouldn’t have been reading at that age, but found on my parents’ shelves. I’m not sure I always understood the full meaning of the words at the time, but I enjoyed knowing them. I also had a retentive memory for full verses of poems and therefore, song lyrics, which did my parents no favours when I repeated—at a primary school show-and-tell—that famous Ivor Biggun song they’d been listening to.
I think playing with words has always given me comfort. I spend a large amount of my time talking to people in my head, real and fictional; rehearsing conversations, or repeating them. I’m a bit of a weirdo. But then, maybe you have to be, to be a writer.
- What was the first book you remember reading that transported you to another time and place?
As a kid, it was The Magic Faraway Tree. That was a good one. I’m not sure it’s the first that transported me, but boy did it transport me! The world at the top of that tree—the fact that it could change each time you went up there—well that was just amazing. That would definitely be in my list of influential kids books.
City of Night by John Rechy was eye opening, for all the right reasons. What a tale, what lives, what madness. For years, as a teen, I vowed to live in America, just because of this book.
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin is one of my favourite ever gay fiction books. It’s so beautiful and evocative. I dream of creating atmosphere like that.
- Writing is undoubtedly a lonely occupation. Are you a natural loner?
Yes and no. Is anyone a natural loner? I have to be alone to write. Or, at least, I write better when I am alone. But I love company, I like people, I have even been known to enjoy a party or two.
I often feel I should be more sociable, but as my mother always told me, I’m a bit backward in coming forward. I think I’ve narrowed my reticence to spend too much time out of my bubble down to the fact that I don’t really like strangers. As soon as I know you, I’m perfectly sociable, but until I know you I tend to stand back and watch.
I do think there is a difference between working a lonely profession and being a loner, though. I personally feel that the anxiety of being alone makes me a better writer. I need to get the words done so I can get my fix of a social life again. If I was really happy in my own company, I would probably get far less done.
- Violence is often part and parcel of crime fiction. Where do you feel the line needs to be drawn when describing the violence taking place?
I am not a huge fan of violence on the page, not graphic violence, anyway. I think the Greeks had it right when they said that the violence imagined was more powerful than the violence portrayed. I hope my readers have enough creativity to take the corpse I have described and imagine the horrors that victim suffered in their final moments, without me having to describe it for them.
In this series, I think the more difficult violence to describe, personally, was the emotional violence experienced by the characters. The persecution, the discrimination, the sense of fear and unknowing. These, for me, are more terrifying, and more important, than gore.
- Did you know where this book was going to go right from the start?
Not from the start of plotting, no. No way. But by the time I’d mapped out the scenes and characters, there were very few surprises. With something this short, there is little time to mess around. You have to know what happened and why, if you’re going to stand any chance of covering it up. Also, I’m a control freak, so I can’t set sail writing words with no plan. Ist a psychological thing for me, I need to feel like I am working towards a known end point, and that every word counts.
- Tainted Love is the first in the series. How many more are coming? And do you already know
what’s going to happen in all of them?
There are five more after this one. Next up is ‘Who’s That Girl?’ Which is in final stages of editing. Then ‘Careless Whisper’ which I will finish next week. After that come ‘Crazy For You’, ‘Killer Queen’ and ‘SmallTown Boy’. I know the broad themes of each book, and what kind of victim / death it will be, but as each book in the series gets polished, the characters develop, and the world intensifies, so I am going to come to each one with a dedicated plotting session to make sure all continues just right. The turnaround is quick, but the hard work is already done. I feel like I am on the detail stage already…
- The series is set in Soho in the 1980s. Explain to us a little of the significance of this choice.
I think the 80s was a pivotal time for LGBT people in the UK. We all saw the film Pride, right? There was so much going on in the 80s, and whilst it may have felt like an exciting time of new freedom for the gay community, there were also terrifying things live HIV which re-established divisions between straight and gay.
The backdrop of the 80s is artificially colourful—big, bold, and excessive, and yet there was this stalking terror of HIV and AIDS, and the world, the tabloids, the media were able to use that as a way of vilifying gay men, of provoking fear which led to more division, violence and hatred.
Yet, at the same time, there was an openness about being gay among many, that hadn’t been possible before. This bright, vibrant scene, especially in Soho of celebrities, musicians, designers, executives, hairdressers, all thrown into the same pot, and all united by the place they lived and the fact that they all belonged there somehow. No one was more of a freak than the person next to them.
It felt to me like the perfect background for noirish crime. The bold and bright juxtaposed with the widely reported police discrimination, brutality and fear. Also, the soundtrack I get to write to is fabulous.
- Finally, what do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?
Party tricks are top secret… If I’m not writing, I like long walks or short runs. I enjoy entertaining at home—I love cooking. I read to fall asleep, sometimes it keeps me awake. I watch old crime shows, and new ones. I sing, sometimes in public. A warm fire, either to sit in front of or cook on, depending on the time of year. And good wine. All year round.
And there we have it!
Author
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