J.M. Hall, author of 'A Clock Stopped Dead' - Cosy Crime writer discusses working in long-hand, retirement changing things, and how working as a teacher helps tell stories
Sep 5, 2024
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J.M. Hall is a former primary school teacher and playwright turned cozy crime novelist, known for his recent work, 'A Clock Stopped Dead.' In this engaging conversation, he shares how retirement reshaped his writing routine and reveals his preference for the tactile process of writing long-hand. Hall discusses how his teaching background enriched his storytelling skills and the emotional journey behind his latest novels featuring retired teachers turned sleuths. He reflects on using personal experiences to fuel his creativity and the journey from playwriting to novel writing.
J.M. Hall's writing routine emphasizes the importance of longhand writing, which he finds enhances his creativity and story development.
His experience as a primary school teacher has enriched his storytelling skills, allowing him to engage readers effectively through narrative pacing.
Retirement has led Hall to adopt a flexible writing schedule that fosters creativity while maintaining consistency in his writing practice.
Deep dives
The Importance of Balance in Caregiving
Balancing the responsibilities of caring for children, elderly loved ones, and oneself can be quite challenging. Many families find it helpful to seek assistance, as evidenced by the large number who utilize services like care.com. This platform allows users to find background-checked caregivers, including sitters and nannies, who can assist with various tasks, from after-school care for children to meal preparation for seniors. By leveraging such resources, families can alleviate some of the stress associated with caregiving and create a healthier balance in their daily lives.
The Writing Process of J.M. Hall
J.M. Hall emphasizes the significance of his writing process, which begins with longhand writing, a method he finds deeply fulfilling. This approach allows him to engage intimately with his ideas as he works through his thoughts on paper, facilitating a journey from nebulous ideas to coherent stories. He believes that the tactile nature of writing longhand enhances his creativity, allowing for time to reflect on and develop his narratives. For Hall, this method is central to crafting engaging stories, particularly in the cozy crime genre he has embraced.
Influence of Teaching on Storytelling
Hall discusses how his experience as a primary school teacher has enriched his storytelling abilities. While engaging with students through narratives, he learned to read the room and adjust his stories based on their engagement, a skill he carries into his writing. He reflects on how the storytelling techniques honed in the classroom help him maintain pacing and narrative interest in his novels. This blending of teaching and writing has allowed him to create stories that resonate with readers while reflecting the wisdom and humor of everyday life.
Adapting to Retirement and Writing Freedom
Retirement has prompted Hall to reassess his writing routine, shifting from a structured schedule dictated by teaching to a more flexible writing lifestyle. He recognizes that writing is most productive when it is bounded by other day-to-day activities, as this structure fosters creativity. Even with newfound free time, Hall remains committed to a dedicated writing routine, underlining that consistency is key to his progress. This transition illustrates how he has adapted his approach to fit his changing life circumstances while still prioritizing his passion for writing.
Finding Inspiration and Developing Stories
Hall explains how personal experiences, including family challenges, inspire his cozy crime narratives. Following his father's struggles with memory loss and a subsequent banking fraud incident, he crafted narratives that explore these injustices through the lens of fiction. He weaves real-life concerns into his novels, making them relatable to readers and providing a reflective commentary on society. This process of transforming personal challenges into engaging crime stories showcases Hall's dedication to meaningful storytelling that resonates with a broader audience.
This week's guest is J.M. Hall, who has worked as a playwright, a primary school teacher, and is now a published novelist.
Through lockdown he wrote 'A Spoonful of Murder', as a way to deal with a traumatic family situation, that was published in 2021. He's gone on to publish, 'A Brush with Death', and his most recent book 'A Clock Stopped Dead'. They tell the story of Pat, Liz and Thelma, retired teachers who turn to sleuthing.
We talk about how, after recently retiring, Jonathan's routine has changed, also what he needed to have when designing his ideal writing space, and why he insists on writing long-hand... and is frankly bemused by people who don't.
You can hear how working as a primary school teacher helped him refine storytelling, whether writing without a view of publication affected the process, and what authors your kids should be reading.
This episode is sponsored by Faber Academy. Their flagship, 'Writing a Novel' course is taking applicants for its new course starting in october. Find out more at faberacademy.com/writing-a-novel