Imran Mahmood, though employed as a barrister, is also hailed by critics since his 2017 debut novel You Don’t Know Me that went on to became a popular four-part BBC mini-series.
Ahead of his appearance at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate this July, Entertainment Now speaks to Imran about his writing career, the BBC adaptation and any upcoming novels…
What motivated you to begin writing?
I was writing a jury speech one day in a serious case and started to ask myself what the speech would sound like if the defendant had to give it instead of me. And that gave birth to the idea for my debut novel You Don’t Know Me which is a jury speech given by a defendant who has sacked his barrister and has to do his own speech in defence of himself.
Your day job is a barrister, how do both these professions overlap?
They overlap in the sense that I can use the criminal procedure I know about intimately to give the novels a realism that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to give. The day job also helps with things like character and plot. There are things that happen in real criminal cases that are crazier even than fiction but it’s the people I meet from so many different walks of life that have the most impact on me and my writing. Every person can teach you something new and interesting.
Can you tell us about your personal process of going about writing a novel.
I tend to come up with an idea that I can sum up in a line or two. I let the idea sit and percolate and then re-visit it after a month to see whether it’s improved over that time or gone sour. If it’s lasted well enough then I usually just pile straight in. I’m not a meticulous planner. For me it takes the magic out of the story and imprisons the characters so that they end up behaving in ways to suit the plot rather than behaving more naturally. Other writers plan beautifully and can carry it off with aplomb. Not me! I am what other writers call a ‘pantster’.
Your first novel You Don’t Know Me was made into a BBC television series. How did this come about? Was it a surprise?
My agent is also a TV and Film agent and sent the novel around to a few producers before it was out in the shops. Snowed-In (the producers) really loved the premise and asked to meet me just a day after they had been sent the book. They told me straight off that they wanted it and were trying to pitch themselves to me and the whole time I sat wondering why they were doing that! I was delighted. I didn’t need any selling to!
Did you have much input in the production process?
The screenwriter Tom Edge is a master and there is nothing that I could teach him. That said, he was very generous and did from time to time ask my opinion on certain scenes (such as court room scenes). I also became close to the director Sam Masud. He was also a very generous person and invited me onto the set to watch it being made. On the whole however I like to let go as much as I can. The book is not the TV and I feel like I had to let the TV people do the thing they knew how to do best.
You’re on the Words! Camera! Action! panel at Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in July. What can we expect from this?
Harrogate is always a hoot and the best writers from around the nation (and many from abroad) are lured onto panels to delight audiences. My panel has some great and talented people on it. You can expect them to deliver a fascinating hour of insights and laughs and a look behind the curtain at what the TV and Film industry is really like from the author’s perspective.
Congratulations for also being longlisted for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year for your most recent novel All I Said Was True. Do you expect this novel or your previous novel, I Know What I Saw, to be adapted for screen as well?
Thank you! I was delighted and surprised to be nominated and longlisted. As for TV – my previous novel I Know What I Saw has just been optioned by a great production company. I met the screenwriter recently and had the chance to look at his brilliant ideas for development of the book. I’d be very surprised having seen the amazing outline he has put together if it doesn’t persuade someone somewhere to adapt it. (Fingers crossed!)
Are there any plans for another novel in the works?
The next book Finding Sophie is my 4th novel but my first to have an American publisher (RANDOM HOUSE) as well as a UK publisher (Bloomsbury – RAVEN). We are just putting the final touches to it and hope to see it on the shelves in the Spring of next year.
Imran Mahmood will be appearing at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate between 20-23 July. I Know What I Saw by Imran Mahmood is published by Raven Books and is available now.
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