You can meet Carmarthenshire author Graham Watkins with his splendid books on Saturday Dec 9th in the Shire Hall, Llandeilo. Here is an Interview with him:
What do you love most about the writing process?
One of the things about writing I particularly enjoy
is doing the research. It's an excuse to have some fun. For example, before
writing my historical novel A
White Man's War, which is about the siege of Mafeking
during the Boer War, I took my wife and myself off to South Africa. My wife and
I negotiated a deal. She agreed to accompany me exploring the battlefields of
the Zulu and Boer Wars in return for a visit to Kruger Game Reserve to see the
big five, a tasting tour of the Southern Cape vineyards, a trip up Table
Mountain, Oh! and a day shopping in Cape Town. It was a good arrangement. I got
plenty of material for the book and we both had a great time.
What
book that you have read has most influenced your life?
That's a difficult question. It's tempting to answer
Dale Carnegie's 'How to Win Friends and Influence People.' I first read his
book when I began my business career in the 1970s and it helped me a lot. More
recently I discovered two books by David Howarth 'Waterloo' and 'Trafalgar.'
Howarth is a superb writer and a great narrator.
Are
your characters based on real people or did they all come entirely from your
imagination?
Creating key characters is one of the first thing I
do when planning a book. I write out a profile. Name, age, sex, physical
appearance, mannerisms, hates and passions and so on. Some, like Nye Vaughn in The Iron Masters,
are a composite of different real historical people, others pure invention.
Writing historical fiction also enables me to include real people. Again, in The Iron Masters
there are cameo appearances by Admiral Lord Nelson, Thomas Telford and others.
Have
you always wanted to be an author?
I came to writing late in life, when I retired in
2003. My first book Exit
Strategy was a business self help tome written to explain
how to sell a company; an experience I had just gone through. These days I
write mainly for my own enjoyment rather than the money and I still regard
myself as a journeyman, an apprentice wordsmith, learning the craft. I don't
think we ever stop learning.
What
do you think makes a good story?
What makes a good story? A strong beginning,
characters that readers can believe in, a problem and a solution reached after
overcoming a series of obstacles. I detest ending where everything is left in
the air and the reader abandoned like a ghost ship swinging on its moorings.
What
genre do you consider your books? Have you considered writing in another genre?
Yes I have. I write in a variety of genres including
historical fiction, nonfiction and short stories. More recently I've started
writing thrillers. My first attempt was The
Sicilian Defence a novel about a young American heiress
lured to Sicily to be defrauded. Right now, I'm working on a novel with the
working title Protocol 5 set in Britain involving murder, adoption, terrorism
and corrupt politicians.
Could
you tell us a bit about your most recent book and why it is a must-read?
An impoverished Italian Count, an American beauty,
mafia money lenders, treachery and Sicilian guile all are in The Sicilian Defence;
a story of good intentions and evil plans where the past and the present
collide.
What
was the inspiration behind The Sicilian Defence?
In the same way that a trip to South Africa inspired
A White Man's War,
it was a holiday in Sicily which gave me the idea of The Sicilian Defence.
The title of the book is a chess strategy but the idea for the plot came from
reading about a real American woman lured to Italy and swindled out of her
fortune by a fake count. Touring the island; seeing the squalid slums of
Palermo, the breathtaking beauty of Mount Etna, the sad mass of African
refugees at Catania and the romance of Taormina was a story in itself. The
rest, as they say, is history.
How
long did it take you to write The Iron Masters?
My historical novel The Iron Masters
is the biggest project I've undertaken so far. It's a fifty year family saga
set in the cannon foundries of the South Wales during the Napoleonic Wars.
Researching the history, crafting the plot, writing and editing took two years.
Do
your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you have the reins
of the story?
That's a good question and the answer is yes. While
reading a draft of The
Iron Masters to my wife she observed that villain's
wife was a bit dull. As a result I did some rewriting and the character, Delyth
was her name, sprang to life. Murder, adultery and much more. She was great fun
and totally unexpected. In fact I had trouble keeping up with her antics.
If
you could spend time with a character from your book who would it be? And what
would you do during that day?
It certainly would not be Delyth. She's the sort of
woman who entrances, seduces, uses and devours. I think I would spend time with
Themba Jabulani from A
White Man's War. He's a Baralong warrior at Mafeking,
armed by Baden Powell - that name might ring a bell. Themba's back story about
what really happened during those 217 days when the town was besieged would be
fascinating. Themba is, of course, my creation but to meet and talk with a man
like him from that time would great.
Do
you have any hidden or uncommon talents?
I'm told I like the sound of my own voice which must
be true because I'm sometimes invited to give talks to different audiences. How
good I am is debatable and I confess I once put a listener to sleep at a black
tie Rotary event where I was the after dinner speaker. The poor chap almost
fell off his chair. It might have been what I was saying but I suspect his wine
consumption was the real culprit.
What
would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I'm a butterfly and flit from one idea to another.
It's a bad habit and I have to concentrate so I don't lose track of what I'm
writing.
What
do you like to do when you're not writing?
We have an old farmhouse high in the Brecon Beacons
with six acres which I call as our green gymnasium. There is always something
that needs doing. Aside from looking after the house and garden, I like walking
and have a wood turning lathe in the barn.
What
is the most amusing thing that has ever happened to you? Not particularly to do
with your writing.
Newly married, my wife and I went camping to
Coniston. We pitched our tent in a nice grassy spot beside a pretty little stream
and walked into the village for a couple of drinks. It was late when we came back to the campsite
and had started to rain. The rain got heavier; stair rods would be a good
description. We woke in the early hours in total darkness and soaking wet. The
stream had burst its banks and overflowed. Our airbed had submerged under six
inches of water and the tent had collapsed around us. Everything - shoes,
clothes, torch was underwater. We spent the rest of the night shivering in the
car. It didn't seem funny at the time.
Give
us a random fact about yourself.
After leaving school I trained to be a marine
engineer.
https://www.facebook.com/graham.watkins.311?ref=br_rs
https://twitter.com/GrahamWriter
Buying Links:
The Iron Masters; Amazon.co.uk: http://getbook.at/iron_masters
A White Man’s WarAmazon.co.uk: http://viewbook.at/AWMW
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