Owen Mullen takes us to Scotland this week. He promises Scottish humor, dour Scots, and an almost-outsider looking in. Seems like a great read!
How or why is the setting important to who your character is?
The setting is the bedrock of this series. It influences everything. The scenic splendour of Scotland allows us to see the philosophical and romantic aspects of the main character Charlie Cameron. In the west of Scotland particularly, the people share a unique sense of humour. All of the characters but especially Patrick Logue and Jackie Mallon, are great examples here. In contrast, DS Andrew Geddes typifies the dour Scot of legend.
Charlie Cameron is a mongrel – born in Edinburgh to well-to-do parents, and educated in England. He is not a typical Glaswegian but lives in Glasgow because he is drawn to it and it’s people. This gives him the advantage of often being able to be the observer. And from his unique perspective, we see Scotland itself as the character it surely is.
Which location did you enjoy writing the most in your story? Why this one?
I enjoyed writing the Loch Lomond scenes the most. The day before I started on that part of the story, my wife Christine and I were in Luss and everything we saw that day appears; a man was painting his fence; kids were jumping off the edge of the pier, and the loch was at it’s beautiful best. As a result, the writing was easy.
When you visited France, which location did you prefer?
I have been to Paris many times. I love it, everything about it. When we are there we just walk for hours, drink coffee after coffee and just soak it all up.
Christine and I are great foodies so the French has always had great appeal for us, though nowadays the restaurants we really want to visit are too expensive.
Provence is another magical place, when I am there I am back in time – to it’s heyday – and I imagine myself walking under the same sun as the beautiful people. I would gladly live in either of these places…lead me to it!
Which part of the French archetype did you discover to be wrong? Right?
The right archetype for me is the food. Wonderful; although I have had some God awful meals there too. The wrong archetype would be best dressed – for me the Italians are much more stylish.
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