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Interview with Sir David Madden:
What inspired
you to write, or rather finish, The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens?
I have
always been interested in books and literary games such as Ex Libris, where you
write first and last lines for novels. Then, after retirement, I started
writing fiction, but based on existing literary characters or indeed real
people; and realised that I had some abilities at ventriloquism. It was
actually my sister-in-law who suggested I might have a go at Drood. I was
immediately attracted, not least because I love Dickens’ novels, and had
studied “Our Mutual Friend” quite carefully for A Level – admittedly some time
ago!
Did
you have to get special permission?
No.
Dickens is out of copyright, and the text of Edwin Drood is available in the
splendid Project Gutenberg.
Have you finished it
using his methods/notes or have you recreated an entirely different ending to
the story?
Dickens left no notes for the second half of the book. There is some
contemporary testimony from close friends and family, which may or may not be
accurate on the detail: Dickens tended to play his cards close to his chest. So
the main clues are to be found in the finished half of the book. Using these, I
have tried to create something which is true to what can be divined of Dickens’
intentions. As for methods, I have attempted to reflect the structure, style
and fabric of the first part; for example the shifts in tenses between the
chapters.
How hard was that to
stay on course and write in his style?
Using the approach I adopted to completing Drood, it was essential to
try to keep as close as possible to the style in which Dickens wrote the first
part. So that was in my mind all the time as I wrote: how would Dickens have
written a passage, how would he have enlivened descriptions and incidents, what
images or similes would he have employed, what words would he have used? So it
was the starting-point for all I did, and seemed quite natural.
Some would say “who
are you to attempt such a project” what would you say to that?
It’s a fair question. But I am not pretending to be a genius like
Dickens, or even an expert on him: or to claim any unique role. My project was
straight-forward, and to an extent limited: to write the second half of a book
which Dickens died while writing in 1870, and to do so in a manner and style
which seemed true to his intentions. I see it as a tribute to Dickens,
and to the hold he still has over our hearts and imaginations.
Have you, or would
you consider ghost writing as a career?
I spent the main part of my career working as a diplomat, a public
servant. This involved putting across messages on behalf of the governments of
the day. It also involved sending reports back to Whitehall from
Embassies abroad which would allow people at home to understand what was
happening in the country where one was posted. This was not quite
“ghost-writing”, but it certainly required finding the words and arguments
which would resonate abroad, and convince at home.
Have you always
wanted to be a writer?
Yes, because I love books and writing. Being a diplomat satisfied my
wish to use words in a cause which mattered. So it was probably inevitable that
I should try my hand at writing. And, having always had to write officially and
as factually as possible, it was probably also inevitable that it was fiction
which would attract me. But in this first published attempt, I have relied on
Dickens to supply all the characters but three.
Have you attempted to
write anything else?
I have written Iago’s
Diary, which is an attempt to look at the events in Shakespeare’s “Othello”
from Iago’s point of view, and answer some of the puzzles in Shakespeare’s
text. Who was Iago’s confidant as he plotted? How did he work out his plan? How
was he word perfect in the great temptation scene? To whom did he boast as he
wove his web? Who was his accomplice as his villainy deepened? Why was he
addicted to soliloquy? Of course, he kept a secret diary: this is it. And
it is still secret, since it is not yet published.
How many unpublished
books do you have lurking under your bed?
Alongside Iago’s
Diary lurks “Death in Florence”, a novel about the Pazzi Conspiracy and the
attempt to murder Lorenzo de Medici in 1478. The latter at least needs dusting
off and further work.
How did you find Unthank Books?
Advised by all that
the first step was to find an agent, I finally discovered Robin Jones: who
subsequently, with Dan Nyman and others, set up Unthank Books, who decided to
publish my novel.
How do your juggle a
writing schedule?
It helps that I am
retired. I still do quite a lot of work, especially on animal charities as
Trustee and consultant; but much of my work can be done from home, which makes
it easier to combine with other activities.
What's the best/worst
part of being a writer?
So far I only know
the best, which is the writing. Perhaps I am about to discover the worst: who
knows?
What is the most
productive time of the day for you to write?
The morning has
always proved the best and most productive time for writing. When I was working
in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, I valued the early morning coach
journey from Oxford, and even more the walk across St James’ Park, to get papers
read, and my mind working, arriving at the office all ready for the day. I
still find the morning best: now with a CD playing in the background to provide
the right accompaniment, and probably a cat snoozing on a rug.
Do you start your
projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?
I now tend to write
almost entirely on the computer: though occasionally I find that it helps to
set out a basic plan on a piece of paper to assist composition; and, when I am
writing, I am frequently making scribbles in a notebook when away from the
computer.
What/who do you draw
inspiration from?
From other writers:
the classic writers of fiction, but also many others. I read quite widely,
including non-fiction, eg recently rereading Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire”, and rely on reviews eg in The Literary Review, TLS and London
Review to keep me up-to-date, informed about further reading and topped-up with
ideas, images and quotations.
Do you set yourself
goals when you sit down to write such as word count?
No. I do not think
that I am very professional in that respect. Perhaps that is an advantage of
being retired. But, when writing Drood, I found very few occasions when I could
not write what I wished.
Are you a published
or a self-published author and how do you come up with your cover art?
Published. The cover
art on Drood was provided by the excellent Ian Nettleton of Unthank. We all
contributed suggestions, and comments; but his was the essential hand which was
able to transfer these into design.
What are you working
on now that you can talk about?
The priority is to get Drood launched, and make the
most of this opportunity, with Author’s Events and so on. The fact that it is
the bicentary of Dickens’ birth next year may help generate interest. I hope
so. Thereafter, it may not be all that long before I reach under the bed for
Iago’s Diary. But first things first.
How do/did you deal with rejection letter?
I think that Robin
and I were both puzzled by the letters which came back from publishers saying,
broadly speaking, it’s good, but we are not publishing it, with no further
explanation. But I am very lucky: Robin decided to publish it himself, with the
full agreement of the other members of the Unthank team – to whom I am very
grateful.
Sir David Madden was a member of HM Diplomatic Service for
34 years (including early postings in Berlin and Moscow); and retired in 2004 after
serving successively as British High Commissioner in Cyprus and British
Ambassador in Greece. He was then Political Adviser to the EU Peace-Keeping
Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
before returning home to Oxford.
In addition to
writing, he does a little lecturing and much animal welfare: he is a consultant
to the World Society for the Protection of Animals, working on the Universal
Declaration on Animal Welfare; a Trustee both of The Brooke Hospital for
Animals and of Compassion in World Farming; and a patron of the Voice for
Ethical Research in Oxford. Sir David is
married with three grown-up children.
