Graeme Storey

23 February 2009

AN UNUSUAL event took place at the weekend, with Allan Guthrie and Stuart MacBride attending court at the Islesburgh ‘Assizes’ on Saturday, with a four hour hearing on crime writing.

Models of crime write-ists themselves (Stuart’s expression), these officers of fiction were keen to share their other-worldly knowledge with the gathered hordes (well, there were over a dozen anyway), casting aside our preconceptions and erroneous notions of how to write and aspire to the publication of a crime novel.

Allan proceeded with a convincing argument that an agent was not a waste of the planet’s resources, and a drain on the write-ist’s wallet, but was crucial to the process of successful publication. Chief witness Guthrie being an agent himself, the unwashed masses were greedy to acknowledge his testimony, supported as it was by the 7Q’s, and Exhibits A, B and C of Platform and Hook (trust me on this - you had to be there).

A short written exercise was followed by second witness MacBride, whose explanation of mind-mapping left some speechless, some agog, and all enjoying the spontaneity of his discourse on the mind of the write-ist when confronted with a book to construct or a plot to create and flesh-out.

After a victualling break, witness MacBride continued unabated, when all had to engage in a spot of mind-mapping of their own, concerning the aspirants’ most frightening experience, after which another writing exercise was set to throw the mental outpourings down onto paper.

Positive, productive critique by both witnesses was a valuable feature of the afternoon’s testimony, wound up finally with an extended Q&A session which went over time (as all good ones should).

A verdict was reached on the efficacy of the afternoon, with Allan and Stuart being found unanimously guilty of encouraging and helping all present, and it was the wish of the hearing that they would return at some point to share more evidence with us all.