Hi Claire, lovely to talk to you again.
Hopefully this interview is an interview with a difference and I
have come up with some unusual questions! Even more hopefully you will find it interesting and come up with some brilliant answers!!
If your series 'The Secret Of The Journal' was adapted into a TV show or a film, who would you like to play
the lead role?
For independent and self-contained Emma , Emily
Blunt, Rebecca Hall, or Jessica Chasten embody her look and temperament.
Matthew is more difficult. For looks, the late, lovely Paul Walker was exactly
as I imagined Matthew, but the look is only one aspect of character, isn’t it?
Capturing the essence of a person is so much more complex. British actor, Sam
Claflin, has the range and depth of expression not often seen in young actors,
so I’d choose him.
What made you choose
this genre?
I like multilayered
plots involving different genre, so The Secret of the Journal series is a mix
of romance (nothing sappy), mystery, suspense, and a thread of history that
runs through everything. My current series, however, is unadulterated history
and suspense.
How do you get ideas
for plots and characters?
Everywhere. Life is
one big story. I have a whole load of plots waiting to be written.
If, as a one off,
(and you could guarantee publication!) you could write anything you wanted, is
there another genre you would love to work with and do you already have a
budding plot line in mind?
When I started
writing Mortal Fire I hadn’t planned including quite so much history. It kept
muscling in on the action until I gave in and realised that - whatever I write
- history will be in there somewhere. As a result, the series I am now working
on is delicious history through and through.
Was becoming a
writer a conscious decision or something that you drifted into (or even
something so compelling that it could not be denied?)
I had to write.
Language, imagery, and story have tumbled around in my mind for as long as I
can remember. Unfortunately, being dyslexic meant the process of writing was
never easy; but once I obtained a laptop which helps with organisation, there
was no stopping me.
How old were you
when you first started to write seriously.
Seriously? In my
late forties, but stories had been queuing up to be written long before then.
Marmite? Love it or
hate it?
Meh.
Do you have any
rituals and routines when writing? Your favourite cup for example or ‘that’
piece of music...??
Not really. I’d like
to claim I do a five-mile run every morning before settling down to write, but
that would be pure fiction. However, coffee is a must. As for music, I listen
to certain pieces when writing particular types of scene: pictorial film music
such as Gladiator and The Last Samurai for action scenes, Girl With A Pearl
Earring for atmosphere; and sonorous choral music by Medieval and Renaissance
composers for evoking period.
I promise I won’t
tell them the answer to this, but when you are writing, who is more important,
your family or your characters?
Family. First, last,
always.
Other than writing
full time, what would be your dream job?
I’ve had my dream
job. Right from the moment we met at university, my husband and I wanted to
open a school. We thought it a pipe-dream, but for the last nineteen years,
I’ve run our specialist dyslexia and autism school in Kent. Working with our
young people ( aged 6 to 25 years) has been the greatest inspiration and
privilege I could have hoped for in life.
(Total respect!)
(Total respect!)
Coffee or tea? Red
or white?
Coffee. Champagne.
Water. Anything else gives me a headache.
How much of your
work is planned before you start? Do you have a full draft or let it find its
way?
Inspiration comes in many forms
and I’m never short of a plot. I imagine the whole story first. I have the
beginning, middle and end and all the major scenes along the way worked out
before I start writing. However, all the little twists and turns that give the
story complexity and depth develop as the characters get to know one another. I
work between six and twelve hours a day, use a lap top, and am often kept
company by my huge Norwegian Forest Cat, Esker.
If you had free
choice over the font your book is printed in, what font/fonts would you choose?
I’m not fussed as
long as it is easy on the eye of the reader.
Imagine that you
could get hold of any original source document. What would it be?
I’m going to cheat a
little here. If I had a choice, it’d be all the documents relating to Richard
III’s short reign expunged by Henry VII.
Have any of your
characters ever shocked you and gone off on their own adventure leaving you
scratching your head??? If so how did you cope with that!?
I swear characters
have a life of their own. In The Secret of the Journal series, Sam Weisner was
supposed to be quite a different character to the one he turned out to be. No
matter what I did, he kept bucking the trend. In the end, I went with it, and
it made a much better story. We became friends by the end of the series.
How much research do
you do and do you ever go on research trips?
As a Medieval historian, I relish
research. There’s always more to learn and I often find new avenues to explore
which in turn inspire fresh ideas. I undertake one major and several minor
research trips a year. The Secret of the Journal series took me to Maine, USA
for background details (the dead skunk was a stroke of luck). In contrast, Emma
D’Eresby comes from Stamford - an ancient and very beautiful stone town in
Lincolnshire where my own family originates - so I had generations of
information tucked away ready to be used for the books. My current Wheel of
Fortune series took me to such exotic locations as North Lincolnshire and West
Yorkshire. I really must attempt at least one book set in the Maldives...
Fiction authors have
to contend with real characters invading our stories. Are there any ‘real’
characters you have been tempted to prematurely kill off or ignore because you
just don’t like them or they spoil the plot?
I’d quite happily
eliminate Henry VII, but that would be meddling with history, wouldn’t it?
Tempting, though.
Are you prepared to
go away from the known facts for the sake of the story and if so how do you get
around this?
I get all prickly on
this subject (see my previous answer). I can’t and won’t change what is known.
I have a duty towards the past and the people who populated it. It’s somehow
not respectful to fiddle with the facts, and there is always a way to get
around an immovable object, it just takes imagination.
Do you find that the
lines between fact and fiction sometimes become blurred?
This is where I
license as a novelist.
I used to take my
characters shopping to see how they interacted with the world and each other.
Crazy? Me? Never!
Have you ever
totally hated or fallen in love with one of your characters?
I have a character
in my latest series I should hate, but found I grew to like and respect him
until the point where I mourned his loss.
What do you enjoy
reading for pleasure?
I’ve just managed to
find John Fenn’s Paston Letters - original C18th bindings, great condition.
Inhaling that leather-bound history makes reading a complete pleasure. (Diana turns a jealous shade of green and then swoons!)
What drink would you
recommend drinking whilst reading your latest book?
Coffee. Is there
another drink?
Last but not
least... favourite author?
That’s the cruellest
question of all. How on earth am I supposed to chose a single author from
millennia of writers?
Author bio:
Writing as CF Dunn, Claire Dunn is a novelist writing historical and contemporary suspense fiction. Her debut novel Mortal Fire - published by Lion Fiction - won the gold medal for adult romance in the Book Of The Year Awards, 2012, and was nominated for Best Novel by CRT in the same year.
Alongside her first loves of family, history and writing, CF Dunn is passionate about the education and welfare of children with dyslexia, autism and communication difficulties, and runs a special needs school, which she founded in Kent with her husband.
Book five of The Secret of the Journal series - Fearful Symmetry - has brought the series to a heart-stopping conclusion and is a finalist in this year’s Forward Book of the Year Awards. Claire is currently writing the first book in a Medieval suspense trilogy and drinking too much coffee
Contact/Social Links:
Web site: http://cfdunn.co.uk
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/
Facebook series page: https://www.facebook.com/
Email: cfdunn@rocketmail.com
© Diana Milne
January 2017 © C F Dunne May 2017
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