Post by Gambit on Jul 26, 2010 14:03:39 GMT -5
I lost the link for this but anyway...
Last week I received an invitation to an "exclusive Project X" event. I knew it was something to do with the new James Bond novel, which Jeffery Deaver is in the process of writing, but the organisers wouldn't tell me any more. Intrigued – I work from home, I don't get out much – I headed off to a crypt under a central London church on Wednesday. And there in the darkness, surrounded by candles, was Deaver himself, ready to reveal (a little bit) about the 007 project with which he's got himself involved.
Deaver wouldn't talk about the novel's plot or locations (fans are desperate to get their hands on any of these details, I'm told, and so far nothing's being given away). What we did discuss, however, was his decision to make Bond a contemporary character, unlike his predecessor Sebastian Faulks, whose stab at continuing Fleming's oeuvre, Devil May Care, saw him writing "as" Fleming and setting the book in 1967.
"I didn't want to write a period piece. I wanted a contemporary novel. Bond has always been very important to me. I grew up reading the books and they had real immediacy for me, reading cold war books during the cold war," Deaver told me. "My response to the Bond books was not looking back into a window of history, but very immediate, in terms of a real presence of danger which Bond was protecting me against."
He also felt that his own books – from The Bone Collector to his most recent title, The Burning Wire – "are about the very immediate threat of a crime". "The hero has to stop a crime, usually every two to three chapters – that's my theory of writing. I want people to engage emotionally with every single page of a book. So to go back and write a period piece set in the 1960s, as Sebastian Faulks did – successfully – would not be what my readers would like. I thought I had it in me – perhaps this is hubris – to make Bond interesting for readers who aren't familiar with him." So, he's sticking with Fleming's "dark, edgy" Bond, and transporting him "into a Deaver novel, which takes place over two to three days in exotic locations".
It'll be the same cast of characters, but everyone will be updated for the modern world. Bond will be around 30, and everyone else – M, the new modern "Ms" Moneypenny – will be of commensurate ages. And Deaver's creating his own villain, partly because he loves his bad guys, partly because "if I were to bring back Blofeld he'd be a bit doddery".
It seems 007's more xenophobic and sexist attitudes will also get something of a makeover, Deaver said. "Some of what might be considered his more traditional – or backward – attitudes, mannerisms or expressions will be updated," he admitted. "It's very, very important to me to walk a fine line; to keep the legions of fans of Bond happy while at the same time making him appealing to present-day fans."
He's already written a 160-page outline including all the story details, all the clues, "all the secrets and twists and lady interests", and is now starting to write the novel itself. He hasn't quite decided on the car Bond will be driving – but promises fans "won't be disappointed" – and says his Bond woman (not girl) has a name a "little less flamboyant" than Pussy Galore.
Now, I've read Fleming and Faulks and I've seen the Bond films, but the world of 007 isn't an area in which I can claim fangirl obsession. I think Deaver's plan to modernise James sounds fun and I'll be interested to read the novel next May, but I'd love to know what any proper fans out there think. Is it sacrilege? Akin to giving Tarzan's Jane an iPod or updating Blyton? Or are you just keen to get your hands on a new outing for the secret agent? Let me know – and if you've any ideas about where the book should go then please pass them on; after all, Deaver's only just started writing and there's a chance he could be reading this ...
Last week I received an invitation to an "exclusive Project X" event. I knew it was something to do with the new James Bond novel, which Jeffery Deaver is in the process of writing, but the organisers wouldn't tell me any more. Intrigued – I work from home, I don't get out much – I headed off to a crypt under a central London church on Wednesday. And there in the darkness, surrounded by candles, was Deaver himself, ready to reveal (a little bit) about the 007 project with which he's got himself involved.
Deaver wouldn't talk about the novel's plot or locations (fans are desperate to get their hands on any of these details, I'm told, and so far nothing's being given away). What we did discuss, however, was his decision to make Bond a contemporary character, unlike his predecessor Sebastian Faulks, whose stab at continuing Fleming's oeuvre, Devil May Care, saw him writing "as" Fleming and setting the book in 1967.
"I didn't want to write a period piece. I wanted a contemporary novel. Bond has always been very important to me. I grew up reading the books and they had real immediacy for me, reading cold war books during the cold war," Deaver told me. "My response to the Bond books was not looking back into a window of history, but very immediate, in terms of a real presence of danger which Bond was protecting me against."
He also felt that his own books – from The Bone Collector to his most recent title, The Burning Wire – "are about the very immediate threat of a crime". "The hero has to stop a crime, usually every two to three chapters – that's my theory of writing. I want people to engage emotionally with every single page of a book. So to go back and write a period piece set in the 1960s, as Sebastian Faulks did – successfully – would not be what my readers would like. I thought I had it in me – perhaps this is hubris – to make Bond interesting for readers who aren't familiar with him." So, he's sticking with Fleming's "dark, edgy" Bond, and transporting him "into a Deaver novel, which takes place over two to three days in exotic locations".
It'll be the same cast of characters, but everyone will be updated for the modern world. Bond will be around 30, and everyone else – M, the new modern "Ms" Moneypenny – will be of commensurate ages. And Deaver's creating his own villain, partly because he loves his bad guys, partly because "if I were to bring back Blofeld he'd be a bit doddery".
It seems 007's more xenophobic and sexist attitudes will also get something of a makeover, Deaver said. "Some of what might be considered his more traditional – or backward – attitudes, mannerisms or expressions will be updated," he admitted. "It's very, very important to me to walk a fine line; to keep the legions of fans of Bond happy while at the same time making him appealing to present-day fans."
He's already written a 160-page outline including all the story details, all the clues, "all the secrets and twists and lady interests", and is now starting to write the novel itself. He hasn't quite decided on the car Bond will be driving – but promises fans "won't be disappointed" – and says his Bond woman (not girl) has a name a "little less flamboyant" than Pussy Galore.
Now, I've read Fleming and Faulks and I've seen the Bond films, but the world of 007 isn't an area in which I can claim fangirl obsession. I think Deaver's plan to modernise James sounds fun and I'll be interested to read the novel next May, but I'd love to know what any proper fans out there think. Is it sacrilege? Akin to giving Tarzan's Jane an iPod or updating Blyton? Or are you just keen to get your hands on a new outing for the secret agent? Let me know – and if you've any ideas about where the book should go then please pass them on; after all, Deaver's only just started writing and there's a chance he could be reading this ...