#8 Paul Chapman 1 on 1 with Mark Atley
An Author Interview
Hello folks, I’m changing the titles of these from Author Interviews to 1 on 1 with me to clean up the look of your inbox when you receive these. I want to highlight who I am interviewing first and foremost.
Who am I? I am an author known for writing crime fiction and I am particularly interested in complex characters, engaging dialogue, and narratives centered around crime themes, which means I love listening to people and letting them talk.
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On to the interview!
Paul Chapman
Who are you and can you tell me a little about your work? What drives you? What do you hope to accomplish?
I suppose what ‘drives’ me is my enjoyment of writing. It’s as much an exploration of my inner self as it is mastery of the art of words. I like to tell a story. In the text, there will be many points, but I don’t like to be preachy or pedantic about them. I’ve never thought in terms of accomplishment – sometimes, finishing a book and doing a good job is accomplishment enough.
How do you see your relationship with the reader?
I never really though of having a ‘relationship’ with the reader, but both as a writer and artist, I’ve recognised all along that the reader is part of the story, the viewer is part of the painting. Part of my composition technique is to write out a backstory for the main character, get to know each, and pair each with a living model – perhaps someone I know personally, or an actor I can envision playing the role of a particular character. Then I consider how the reader will be seeing this ‘play’, and adjust my writing accordingly.
How do you view your characters? What has changed over time, and what has stayed the same? How do you develop complex characters?
I don’t understand the first question in this section. I never think in these terms. I usually don’t carry characters from one story to the next (although I have done once or twice). I have to pay attention to how they sound in my head, how I want the reader to understand them, and I have to be careful not to give too much away and spoil the surprise. It is different if I’m writing a short story instead of a novel – not as much can be included.
What is your version of success? Has it changed during your writing journey? How so? What’s different now versus when you started?
I also don’t think about success – that tends to complicate matters. My focus is the story, the impact, and the message (if there is one).
What type of reader are you? How do you view books you read, and how do they affect you and your writing?
I’m fairly eclectic as a reader. I like fiction/mystery, medical books, medical history, Russian Imperial history, etc. I also enjoy reading poetry, and I think it’s vital to include poetry as part of your ‘training’ to be a creative writer. Poetry teaches and reminds you of the subtlety and nuance of words, how they can be used when carefully chosen, to paint a word picture.
How do you find readers? What works and hasn’t worked for you? What resonates with you when readers share thoughts about your work? And where do you see yourself in the writing community and publishing world?
When it comes to marketing myself and finding readers, I am an utter lemon. I post about my books on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. It took me years to find a few reliable beta readers (and the ‘crew’ I have now is the BEST). I would be happy if I could get my family to read my books, but they pointedly refuse – they don’t have time for fiction. I have had a few comments from readers since I started publishing in 2014. I used to publish a weekly blog, and there were a couple of people who were proud that they read the first two paragraphs before disliking the piece, and there was a woman who didn’t pay attention to the stories; she tried to work out the backstories (not that there was a backstory at that stage of my writing). As a content writer, I’ve found the biggest obstacle to giving a client what they ask for is the client himself. ‘Here’s all this information about me, but don’t use any of it.’
Having said that, in terms of my position in the writing community, I’ve been around for a long time and I think people are open to my observations and suggestions. Some of them even respect them. The input I get from my beta readers is usually positive, and if it is critical, it’s presented to me in a helpful, constructive way. I don’t think of myself as a ‘great writer’, but I do think of myself as a reliable guide.
—Please provide a brief blurb about yourself, and feel free to promote your recent book or work.
After thirty years working in social service, in the field of Disability and Independent Living, I took up writing as a profession in 2014. I have always been a writer, but it was never something I saw myself doing as my JOB. I’ve been able to use the people I’ve served as guidelines to characters I create – not only clients, but social workers, contractors, government officials, etc. I’ve drawn heavily on my own experiences and disabilities, and the process of creating a story has given me insight into myself as well.
You’ll find all my books listed on my Amazon Author’s page, but there are a couple I would highlight. The Inn of Souls was an example I used when writing about creativity; I rewrote it as The Souls of Grace Cove because I thought I could do better (and did). Both of these books have been sources when I’ve written about/talked about creativity, the creative process, how to write a book, what preparations you have to make to write a book, etc.
Another book I’m quite proud of is The Sydfield Spy, about a secret agent who develops PTSD after a murderous attack. His cover is blown by a journalist and he has to reintegrate himself into the public community. One of my reasons for writing this book is that I have Complex PTSD, and I’m appalled by all the misinformation and misconceptions there are around this condition. Many of the trauma episodes in the book were taken from my own experience.
—Tell me something interesting about yourself that these questions stimulated thought about. And tell me something you want others to know.
When I was three years old, I told my mother to shut up.
Can you describe your character creation process some more? You mentioned backstory, how much do you use? What informs you the most? What type of information gets cut? You stated, you pair the character to a model (totally understand what you mean) and do this to provide a visual template, can you describe this process some more and what the benefits are? What are negatives? How did you discover this process?
My process has evolved over time. I'm not a plotter, but a pantser, and in the beginning, I developed my characters as I wrote them. Later on, I wrote a biography of the main characters, for my use only, so that I knew each character. It helped me represent each person more fully, even though I was the only one who knew the whole story. As an example, I'm currently writing a book involving private schools, and I'm drawing on my own experience as private school student in the 1960s. I've written whatever I can remember about the masters and Headmaster, even though some of what I've written would probably get me sued if I were to reveal the actual fact. In other instances, with a character I've made up and am not basing on someone from my earlier life, if I can develop the person in private, I can write him/her for the public.
As to pairing characters to an actual model, the idea is that if I can picture someone, for example Timothy Hutton, saying or doing a particular thing and doing /saying it naturally, then I am better able to write those lines and actions for the characters. The model hasn't always been a celebrity. There was a woman I met in Illinois who was the perfect model for a character in my eighth (?) novel - she was an intelligent, strong and beautiful older woman who would probably have said and done all the things I wrote. She was an agile thinking, and very altruistic.
If there are negatives, I haven't found them yet. I don't mention it. I don't want the reader thinking, 'Oh, this is Nathaniel Parker' , whom I could imagine saying and doing a lot of the things I wrote, based on his performances on the screen. I don't mention what I don't want known. Of course, I have no control over what the reader surmises.
Social services is a vast and important field, what skills have you brought from that career to your writing career? I know report writing is what makes the world go around (at least in the government) how did you sharpen your skills? Did anyone ever mentor you and help you write better?
Social services has been useful in character development, and character problems. Social services never deals with happy, well situated people. As to the documentation bits, that really hasn't entered into the picture for me. I wrote reams on a weekly basis. I had to make individual notes, keep a facility log, pen letters to a variety of population groups, occasionally do technical or legal writing, and there were those foul reports that had to be made to my funders, HUD. I think any skills I developed during that 30 year period developed naturally rather than intentionally. The greatest challenge, of course, was eliminating unnecessary four-letter words.
I think this is an important lesson and I’m so happy you brought this up. What does poetry bring to the creative writing process?
Brother, don't get me started. Poetry exposes the reader to a broader than usual vocabulary, the nuances and subtleties of phrases and individual words, and helps condense long-winded ideas into a sentence or two. Japanese Haiku is an excellent example. In 17 syllables, the poet creates an entire, fully-fleshed image:
Rainy Afternoon
Rainy afternoon…
Little daughter you will never
Teach that cat to dance.
Issa
Poetry helps a writer paint lavish pictures with words instead of lines of paint. It helps delicately hone expression, and engages the reader's imagination. I think it's invaluable in making the reader part of the story. If I say 'street', the image I have will differ vastly from the mental image you contrive. Poetry helps the writer choose words and expressions that engage this quality.
Also, I am also a student of various histories. How does studying the past help inform the stories of today?
I believe different authors will use history differently. For me, it's a matter of factual reference. I'm a huge fan of Nicholas II, the Last Tsar of Russia. Knowing the events in and around his life, gives me a framework for reference in my writing. Being able to discern the difference between Nicholas the Man from Nicholas the Tsar is invaluable. If he'd run in the last US election, I would have voted for him based on his very human qualities, although based on his political acumen, I probably wouldn't have. At the same time, know Nicholas, and his devotion to his wife and family, I might successfull make a reference to 'Nicholas and Alexandra' that at least some readers would appreciate.
Told mom to shut up, how did that go for you?
I think she was 22 at the time. Now she's 90, and I think she's still working on the same sentence.
Would you be willing to share a favorite memory from your childhood before you turned ten?
I'm afraid I can't. I have Complex PTSD and our memories tend to be dark at whatever age. At various times in my life, I have been documented as saying I have no happy memories. Sorry to say, that's actually true, because the few happy memories I can access ultimately turned out to be based on lies.
Where were, what were you doing, and has a variation of this memory ever made it into a book?
My book, The Sydfield Spy, was in part based on actual or adapted memories and experiences I've had over 70 years. In another book, 'Behind These Red Doors', during the writing, I had a terrifying nightmare about a fire (which I'd recently been through), which made it into one chapter of the book with little adaptation. Some of my PTSD responses post-fire also went into the book with little or no adaptation.
After working in social service for almost thirty years, Paul Chapman indulged his creativity by exploring various forms of it. He has found writing novels (and eventually a collection of short stories) very satisfying. He has always written, but never thought he would share his work with the world. After some surprising encouragement, he has several books on Amazon (Kindle and paperback), and is always working on something new.
Paul is able to draw his characters' personalities, points of view, and habits from people that he has worked with. He learnt a lot from my clients, and a great deal about how not to be from his colleagues.
Paul is interested in making a point - usually several points - about life in my books. He likes to surprise and entertain people, stimulate their emotions and imaginations.
He hopes you enjoy my books, and will let him know. And please, DO clamour for more!
Mark Atley is known for writing crime fiction, with his works often characterized by complex characters, engaging dialogue, and narratives that build tension towards explosive climaxes.
Atley's approach to writing often involves creating intricate plots where characters' histories and motives are deeply interwoven, providing readers with both entertainment and a commentary on crime and morality. His work has been featured on platforms like Audible for audiobooks, indicating a broad reach in the crime fiction genre.
Mark Atley also engages with his audience through social media, where he can be followed for updates on new releases and insights into his writing process
Enjoyed this on a lot. I was curious if the author when using an actor as a character model ises the actor in a particular role or in general.