[Interview] Rod Duncan

In 2003, Rod Duncan’s crime thriller, Backlash was shortlisted for the John Creasey Award for the best debut crime novel of the year. Backlash was followed by Breakbeat (2004) and Burnout (2005).

The novels trace three very different stories which happen on the same day in Leicester, the most ethnically diverse city in the United Kingdom.

Duncan has a degree in Mining Geology and has worked as a scientific researcher in Aberystwyth and Leicester. He has been writing full-time since 1993.

In a recent interview, Rod Duncan spoke about his writing and his concerns as a writer.

Your most recent novel, Burnout is the third in a trilogy, that includes Backlash and Breakbeat. What unifies the three novels?

The three novels take place at the same place and at the same time -- in and around a fictional riot in Leicester. They are interlinked stories, following the paths of different people through a traumatic event.

I was interested in exploring the nature of narrative and the way events can seem different from different points of view. For example, a 'goodie' in one story can be a 'baddie' in another -- the same person, in the same event but viewed from a different point of view. Of course, there is no such thing as a 'goodie' or a 'baddie' and this was a way of exploring that from within the confines of traditional narrative.

After the first two novels, was Burnout easier or more difficult to write?

The most difficult thing in writing Burnout was that I was already tied down from the previous novels.

I knew what the weather was like on every day of the two weeks of fictional time that make up the core of the stories. I knew what all the major events were. I knew where all the key characters were, sometimes on an hour-by-hour basis. There could be no murders discovered, for example, during that two weeks, or they would have been mentioned in the previous books.

In short, I was hemmed in by my own previous writing.

How did you deal with this challenge?

Just as a blank page with infinite possibilities can sometimes block a writer up, limitations often produce great creativity. (I believe this is the reason that many creative writing exercises put a series of artificial limitations on what a person is allowed to write).

Burnout was a challenge, but ultimately I was extremely pleased with the result.

How did I overcome these difficulties? Lateral and logical processes.

The subconscious provided the lateral part. The conscious mind used lots of huge sheets of paper with complex charts scrawled all over them, establishing where all the characters were day by day through the two weeks, and all the key events.

How have the novels been received?

I'll talk about how the first novel, Backlash was received.

It was a story that jumped out onto the page for me. I could feel the pressure of the story wanting to be written. At the same time, I was very nervous about it because it is a first person narrative from the point of view of a mixed race woman, who works as a community relations police officer. It touches on issues of racism and differing attitudes to multiculturalism.

I worried, all the way through the writing process, that this material could be misinterpreted. Only when I finished did the anxiety go away. When I wrote the last sentence I knew it was complete and I stopped worrying what other people would think.

What caused this anxiety?

As we have seen recently, different people mean different things when they speak of multiculturalism. Almost any simple statement made on the issue can be misinterpreted. But in a novel, there is enough room speak about it.

So how was it received? I am glad to say that it was received very warmly by people from many different races and backgrounds.

I was particularly pleased with a glowing review in India Weekly. The reviewer got to the heart of the book. He really understood it.

Only one person complained about the way the book talked about racism. She stopped me in the street and asked why I'd written all those things bad things about Leicester. This shook me up, because I love this city in all its beautiful diversity.

But then I asked her exactly what it was in Backlash that she didn't like. It turned out the only part she'd read was the cover. I decided I could live with that.

Why do you think Backlash has been this successful?

I think Backlash was received well because, at heart, it is a good yarn. The multi-cultural city is it's background. But the story is about a woman, confronted with a crime which threatens her life and an event that will change it forever - one way or another. I think that's why it was shortlisted for the John Creasey award for the best debut crime novel of 2003.

What would you say are your main concerns as a writer?

My main concerns as a writer ... Narrative touches everybody. It is fundamental to the human condition.

Children learn to cope with their fears through stories of wolves and pigs and evil and good and death and love. We tell stories about things that have happened to us, to codify the changes of our lives. We try to find out the stories of our ancestors to help us understand where we came from. It is through stories that we understand religion and history. Writers and storytellers aren't simply making a living or entertaining people. They are engaged in something elemental. There is magic here. The alchemy of storytelling.

I don't believe a novelist could write a book and be unchanged by the process.

How has your own writing changed you?

Each of the books I have written has taken me on a journey. Particularly Breakbeat. That is the story of a dyslexic man, coping with a crime and coming to terms with who he is.

I found myself writing the words of another character talking to him, telling him why he acted as he did, explaining his psychology. But really the character was telling ME why I do the things I do, why I am as I am. I hadn't known it before.

What concerns me about writing? Is it to have a chance to entertain the reader? Yes, certainly. Is it to explore complex issues? Yes. But underlying all that is something more profound, something that exists mostly in the subconscious. It is to immerse myself in narrative. In short, it is to be human.

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Interview _ Siobhan Logan

Poetry, Football and the Spirits in the Sky

For centuries, people in the northern hemisphere have been so entranced by aurora borealis, the eerie display of lights that invade the winter skies, that they have woven myths and legends around these lights.

Colour Catchers, an all-star cast poetry performance that will be hosted on December 12, 2006, by Leicestershire poet, Siobhan Logan will be exploring some of these myths and legends.

The performance will revolve around a sequence of 13 poems which range from intimate personal accounts to epic narratives of unearthly journeys.

Siobhan Logan says:

Some of them focus on the science of what we know about the Aurora Borealis. But for most, I've raided this fantastic story-hoard from countries across the Arctic Circle. "Naming the Lights", for instance, is based on the various names used for the lights by people from the Native Americans of Alaska, to the Inuits of Greenland, the Scots, Laplanders, Russians, etc.

She came up with the idea for the sequence of poems after a collaboration with digital artist and writer, Jackie Stanley.

Originally, I was invited to work with the digital artist/writer Jackie Stanley on an exhibition to be shown in the Physics Department of Leicester University. They have scientists studying the Aurora Borealis there. She produced a short film based on one of my poems, "Auroral Football", and it was shown last May at Frog Island Mills.

Eventually the Physics Department's reception area proved unsuitable for a sound installation, but by then, the poems had grown into a major project for Siobhan Logan.

Over the last year, I've developed a sequence of 15 poems — the material was just so rich and diverse, stretching across many countries and cultures.

She was also drawn to the subject because she has always been fascinated by the idea of the North and with how the legends that have evolved around the northern lights seem to connect diverse cultures.

For me, as a child born in Northern Ireland and growing up in Bolton, Northern England, the idea of the North has always had a pull. We all have our own compass, our own poles, but these legends cross our globe and connect it. Perhaps at a time when ice-caps are crumbling, we should re-acquaint ourselves with a North that may be fast disappearing.

She adds that nothing would cheer her more than to wake up to a good hard frost on the morning of the performance.

She observes that although each culture has its own way of reading the shifting colours in the night sky, there are recurring themes.

I was struck by one story that the lights appear when the spirits are playing football! Both Inuits and Native Americans spoke of this.

Another theme she noticed was that, often, the 'sky-land' is seen as a place where ancestors reside and that this believe is still very present in our lives today.

These myths explore life and death, crossing over the boundaries, how we relate to our dead. But they also are about communities transmitting stories orally.

In her own poems, Siobhan Logan found recurring father-son relationships and stories about how generations connect.

So there's a lot about rootedness and home as well as the mystery of nature.

She chose to stage the performance on December 12 because this seemed to be the perfect time for the performance.

Tucked in between the great festivals of Diwali, Eid and Christmas, between the bonfires and fireworks, these myths are about the lights punching through winter's darkness. Even in Leicester, far from the Arctic Circle, people have heard of the Aurora Borealis, seen glimpses in nature programmes. This performance will bring the lights, and the myths surrounding them, home to us.

For the December 12 performance, Siobhan Logan will be acting as the event's host and will be introducing projected images of the lights and knitting it all together with the poetry.

I will be joined by some friends from Leicester Writers' Club, a community of local writers. Rod Duncan, Chris d'Lacey and Maxine Linnell will help me to dramatise the poems, taking different roles and stories. There will be lights and darkness and voices — and in between, we'll share out some cake.

She found researching the myths and legends that are associated with the northern lights to be a rewarding experience.

Personally, the research and writing of the poems has been an inspiring journey, taking my writing in different directions. I feel privileged to have a chance to share these wonderful stories. Hopefully, the performance will be something of a communal affair itself — hence the cake!

Related article:

Interview _ Siobhan Logan, Conversations with Writers, April 11, 2007