It gives me great pleasure to welcome Chris Calder onto the website today. Chris has written five novels and has two more in the planning stages.
Alex: Tell me a bit about yourself, Chris.
Chris: Thank you, Alex, for giving me this opportunity to blow the rusty trumpet. I am Chris Callaghan and I write as Chris Calder. Five novels published so far, two more in progress. Born in India during the so-called ‘Raj’ period and now living in England in my cheerful dotage, I’m privileged to have lived a long and interesting life.
How many can say that they have seen tigers in the wild? How many have sailed through the Suez Canal? Or are able to converse, read and even write in a language derived from Sanskrit? Or learned to touch type at sixteen? Who knew how critically important that particular skill would become years later when the Internet arrived?
OK, enough bio. I just know I am a lucky guy.
Alex: Tell me a bit about yourself, Chris.
Chris: Thank you, Alex, for giving me this opportunity to blow the rusty trumpet. I am Chris Callaghan and I write as Chris Calder. Five novels published so far, two more in progress. Born in India during the so-called ‘Raj’ period and now living in England in my cheerful dotage, I’m privileged to have lived a long and interesting life.
How many can say that they have seen tigers in the wild? How many have sailed through the Suez Canal? Or are able to converse, read and even write in a language derived from Sanskrit? Or learned to touch type at sixteen? Who knew how critically important that particular skill would become years later when the Internet arrived?
OK, enough bio. I just know I am a lucky guy.
Alex: How would you describe your writing, and are there particular themes that you like to explore?
Chris: I write stories; plain, straight, stories. I don’t do gratuitous sex, gore, or bad language, though my characters sometimes swear. When it happens, it’s the character speaking, not the author. I was once told off by a reviewer (Netgalley, no less) because one of my characters swore!
Of my five published novels, four are thrillers, the fifth not. My plot ideas come from a variety of sources. I admire authors who do series, using the same characters in a set background, but that’s not for me. With one exception, mine are all ‘stand alones’. Ironic, then, that the exception (called My Brother’s Keeper, about a troubled Catholic priest), is the only one that has won an international award for ‘best in its genre’. That has motivated me to start work on a sequel.
Alex: Are you a writer that plans a detailed synopsis or do you set out with a vague idea and let the story unfold as you write?
Chris: I work to a pre-set storyline, but it is the characters who take over, set the pace and the manner in which the narrative unfolds. It works for me, I think.
Alex: Tell us about your latest novel.
Chris: Memories of my happy childhood helped add authenticity to the narrative that is my latest novel. Called Growing Apart, it is about mixed-race identical twin boys born in India, around the same time that I was; a long time ago!
One, called David, is raised in India, as I was. The other, Edward, is taken by his father to England where he grows up in the comfort of middle-class English society. They meet again, finally, in an explosive scene when the life of one is under imminent threat.
All that said, the work is not in any way autobiographical; it is fiction.
Chris: I write stories; plain, straight, stories. I don’t do gratuitous sex, gore, or bad language, though my characters sometimes swear. When it happens, it’s the character speaking, not the author. I was once told off by a reviewer (Netgalley, no less) because one of my characters swore!
Of my five published novels, four are thrillers, the fifth not. My plot ideas come from a variety of sources. I admire authors who do series, using the same characters in a set background, but that’s not for me. With one exception, mine are all ‘stand alones’. Ironic, then, that the exception (called My Brother’s Keeper, about a troubled Catholic priest), is the only one that has won an international award for ‘best in its genre’. That has motivated me to start work on a sequel.
Alex: Are you a writer that plans a detailed synopsis or do you set out with a vague idea and let the story unfold as you write?
Chris: I work to a pre-set storyline, but it is the characters who take over, set the pace and the manner in which the narrative unfolds. It works for me, I think.
Alex: Tell us about your latest novel.
Chris: Memories of my happy childhood helped add authenticity to the narrative that is my latest novel. Called Growing Apart, it is about mixed-race identical twin boys born in India, around the same time that I was; a long time ago!
One, called David, is raised in India, as I was. The other, Edward, is taken by his father to England where he grows up in the comfort of middle-class English society. They meet again, finally, in an explosive scene when the life of one is under imminent threat.
All that said, the work is not in any way autobiographical; it is fiction.
Alex: What was the first book you read?
Chris: Honestly can’t remember, but I know that as a boy I was hooked on Jules Verne, so it was probably Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
Alex: How much research do you do and what does it usually entail?
Chris: Although I write fiction, I try always to be accurate with details about the location and the time in which the story is set. Ironic, then, that when I was researching 1930s India (for Growing Apart), I bought and read a book set in that time and place, by a well-known, successful author. In it was a scene where an Indian police car arrived, with siren wailing and roof-mounted blue lamp flashing! Er... impossible, at that time in India. Police cars did not use sirens, or flashing blue lamps! The author should have known that.
Alex: Do you ever base your characters on people you have encountered in real life?
Chris: Yes, but I use characteristics from different people, so I hope that they are never recognizable as any one real individual.
Alex: Which was the last book you read that blew you away?
Chris: It is rare for me to read a book more than once, even if I have enjoyed it. One outstanding exception is Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. A masterpiece!
Chris: Honestly can’t remember, but I know that as a boy I was hooked on Jules Verne, so it was probably Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
Alex: How much research do you do and what does it usually entail?
Chris: Although I write fiction, I try always to be accurate with details about the location and the time in which the story is set. Ironic, then, that when I was researching 1930s India (for Growing Apart), I bought and read a book set in that time and place, by a well-known, successful author. In it was a scene where an Indian police car arrived, with siren wailing and roof-mounted blue lamp flashing! Er... impossible, at that time in India. Police cars did not use sirens, or flashing blue lamps! The author should have known that.
Alex: Do you ever base your characters on people you have encountered in real life?
Chris: Yes, but I use characteristics from different people, so I hope that they are never recognizable as any one real individual.
Alex: Which was the last book you read that blew you away?
Chris: It is rare for me to read a book more than once, even if I have enjoyed it. One outstanding exception is Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. A masterpiece!
Alex: How do you market your books?
Chris: They feature on my website www.chriscalder.com, of course. But I confess that is just about all that I do to promote my own work. I am a writer, not a publicist. I suspect that most novelists would say the same.
Alex: What are your interests aside from writing? And what do you do to unwind?
Chris: I try to read as much as I can. The physical limitations that come with age narrow the options, but writing remains from choice, my main occupation. And that will be the case for as long as the bits between my ears still work!
At my age, physical activity is not a high priority. So when I am not writing, I am editing my work. When I am not editing, I am writing. If I am not engaged in either, I am probably asleep.
Alex: Which authors do you particularly admire and why?
Chris: I have always enjoyed the works of Victorian novelists; Dickens, Chesterton, George Eliot and Thomas Hardy. They knew the power of language, and how to use it. I believe that the works of Charles Dickens did much to draw attention to social inequalities of his time, particularly the exploitation of child labour.
Chris: They feature on my website www.chriscalder.com, of course. But I confess that is just about all that I do to promote my own work. I am a writer, not a publicist. I suspect that most novelists would say the same.
Alex: What are your interests aside from writing? And what do you do to unwind?
Chris: I try to read as much as I can. The physical limitations that come with age narrow the options, but writing remains from choice, my main occupation. And that will be the case for as long as the bits between my ears still work!
At my age, physical activity is not a high priority. So when I am not writing, I am editing my work. When I am not editing, I am writing. If I am not engaged in either, I am probably asleep.
Alex: Which authors do you particularly admire and why?
Chris: I have always enjoyed the works of Victorian novelists; Dickens, Chesterton, George Eliot and Thomas Hardy. They knew the power of language, and how to use it. I believe that the works of Charles Dickens did much to draw attention to social inequalities of his time, particularly the exploitation of child labour.
Alex: You were in your seventies when you wrote your first novel. Why did you leave it so late?
Chris: To be perfectly honest, it was not from choice. At the time, my wife and I had only recently retired to live in France. I was diagnosed with a life-threatening cancer that had to be dealt with at once. Following major surgery, I found myself in a recovery room, unable to communicate with those around me. At the time, my French was awful. So I picked up a pen and drafted my first novel. It was called PAYBACK and was based loosely on some of the more bizarre stuff that happened when I was running my own small engineering business.
An example:
A Dutch supplier once asked us to take temporary delivery of a large heat exchanger that would be collected later by one of his UK customers. Of course we agreed. The day it was collected from our small factory unit, we were raided by the Met police drugs squad, and the local Northants police at the same time! Unknown to us, the heat exchanger was full of small bags of happy pills! I write fiction, but I truly could not have made it up!
Alex: I don't suppose there are very many novelists around who don't inject something of their own lives and experiences into their novels, even if it's on a subconscious level. Anyway, it's been a real treat to hear about your background and writing journey. It's heartening, too, to hear that your work is being recognised by awards bodies and that you have another two novels in the pipeline. I wish you the best of luck with these. I shall be looking out for them. Thank you so much for sharing your writing journey with us.
Chris: It's my pleasure, Alex. And thank you for your kindness in inviting me to take part.
Chris: To be perfectly honest, it was not from choice. At the time, my wife and I had only recently retired to live in France. I was diagnosed with a life-threatening cancer that had to be dealt with at once. Following major surgery, I found myself in a recovery room, unable to communicate with those around me. At the time, my French was awful. So I picked up a pen and drafted my first novel. It was called PAYBACK and was based loosely on some of the more bizarre stuff that happened when I was running my own small engineering business.
An example:
A Dutch supplier once asked us to take temporary delivery of a large heat exchanger that would be collected later by one of his UK customers. Of course we agreed. The day it was collected from our small factory unit, we were raided by the Met police drugs squad, and the local Northants police at the same time! Unknown to us, the heat exchanger was full of small bags of happy pills! I write fiction, but I truly could not have made it up!
Alex: I don't suppose there are very many novelists around who don't inject something of their own lives and experiences into their novels, even if it's on a subconscious level. Anyway, it's been a real treat to hear about your background and writing journey. It's heartening, too, to hear that your work is being recognised by awards bodies and that you have another two novels in the pipeline. I wish you the best of luck with these. I shall be looking out for them. Thank you so much for sharing your writing journey with us.
Chris: It's my pleasure, Alex. And thank you for your kindness in inviting me to take part.
