RoguesAngels: Rogue's Angels Present: Deadly Shot - Dan's Diary by Patricia Murphy

Please welcome Patricia Murphy author of Deadly Shot - Dan's Diary.

Patricia Murphy will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Deadly Shot - Dan's Diary

by Patricia Murphy

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GENRE: children's historical fiction/Middle Grade

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INTERVIEW:

1. What or who inspired you to start writing?

I found an audience at an early age. I’m the eldest of six children, and I used to tell my brothers and sisters stories every night. I probably kept them awake! Then writing became a natural extension of the oral storytelling. My parents were also great. They just thought all their kids were wonderful, and we could achieve whatever we wanted. There’s an Irish saying – “Praise a child and she will blossom”. I think that’s good advice. I’m trying to remember to cherish my daughter without giving her a swelled head.

I always had lots of encouragement from teachers. My favorite teacher was my English and History teacher, Miss Cronin and she always believed in me. She was that totally inspiring teacher you see in movies – generous and passionate about her subjects.

Another major inspiration was my grandparents, Bridie, and Dan, who feature in Deadly Shot. My grandfather is the model for the character of Dan. He was a talented footballer in his youth and played soccer for Ireland. He was also in the Fianna military boy scouts and ran messages, and acted as a lookout for the rebels during Ireland’s War of Independence when he was a boy in the early 1920’s. My grandmother Bridie too was a great storyteller. She had a prodigious memory and would weave the most incredible tales. She worked in a shop in this little fishing village called Ringsend, close to Dublin’s city center. Her aunt used to tell fortunes at the back of the shop, and people flocked to her. But my theory is that my granny used to gossip with everyone at the counter, and it all lodged in her brain. Then she’d pass it on to her aunt. And hey presto! Out came the great insights. I’ve set some of Deadly Shot in that little huxter shop.

There’s also something about being Irish that makes storytelling a natural activity. It’s really valued – “wait until I tell you. “ is the start of many a tale!

2. What elements are necessary components for this genre?

Historical fiction for children has to operate within the expectations of normal fiction - strong characters, and a compelling story. But it also has to re-create the historical period and remain faithful to the facts of historical events. So research is an important element in creating a believable world. It is something I particularly enjoy. I love digging away in the archives. Unearthing an authentic detail roots the fiction in reality. So for example, what kind of football would Dan have had? Some of the older footballs were made of pig’s bladders with a leather casing. Kids in the street often played with a bundle of rags around a stone or even an old tennis ball. When Cork was set on fire on the night of the 11th December in1920 by the hated Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries, some people at first thought the glow in the sky was the Northern Lights. Unusually, the Aurora Borealis had been in the night sky a few nights before. It’s these vivid details that bring that era to life.

I think the plot is very important in this genre. Luckily for me, this period of Irish history was astonishingly well-documented but also incredibly dramatic and tense. Ireland was on a knife-edge. Dublin was full of spies and double agents. Hit-men on both sides struck unexpectedly. But children also played a part, as victims, witnesses and participants. Seeing history from a child’s eye view, particularly in the form of a diary is a way of writing back in this overlooked perspective and one I’ve written about for the Irish Times - http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/dear-diary-patricia-murphy-on-hooking-kids-into-history-with-a-fictional-diary-1.2391758

4. What expertise did you bring to your writing?

I have a degree in English and History from Trinity College Dublin, and I’ve previously written a Celtic fantasy trilogy – The Chingles. But I’ve also had a parallel career as a television Producer/Director of documentaries for British television. I’ve made some history programs for television, including Worst Jobs in History for Channel 4. I think it is this background in journalistic research has helped me hone the forensic skills and patience to trawl through primary sources. There you find the nuggets that will help to wield an imaginary plot together without distorting the actual history. Also because I’ve made television programs, I’m very keen on keeping hold of the reader, keeping the beats of the story going. But I’m also just really curious about people and especially children. What makes them tick.

5. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

I was a television reporter briefly before I made TV documentaries and I’ve interviewed many celebrities from Jane Fonda to Tom Jones, Shirley Temple, and Jude Law. It was interesting at the time. But it left me with a profound suspicion of celebrity. It’s not that famous people aren’t hugely talented and fascinating etc. They are. But they are also human, and a lot of their image is crafted by P.R. agents Some are nice some are rude. Just like everyone else.

I chose to go behind the camera and became really fascinated by ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. For me, the real heroes in life are ordinary people who rise to terrible blows and challenges such as being born with a disability or raising a child who you know will die before he is fifteen. I’ve had the privilege of witnessing the lives of these extraordinary people in documentaries such as Born to Be Different for Channel 4 and Children of Helen House for BBC 2.

6. As far as your writing goes, what are your plans?

I’m currently working on a follow-up novel that continues the story into Ireland’s civil war. It will be told through the perspective of a contemporary Irish-American girl who returns to Dublin after her parent’s messy divorce. She finds a cache of letters and the sliver of a diamond and is plunged into a historical mystery that takes her into Ireland’s bitter civil war in 1922, the Russian revolution and lost millions in an American bank account.

7. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why? I think it would be Molly who is nearly seventeen and a medical student in Deadly Shot. This is my second book with Molly. I wrote about the Easter Rebellion from her perspective in The Easter Rising 1916 – Molly’s Diary. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Easter-Rising-1916-Mollys/dp/1781999740

While she’s an imaginary character, I feel I know her pretty well by now. She’s feisty principled and brave but also sharp-tongued and thinks for herself. She’s a medical student in Deadly Shot, which while unusual wasn’t unknown in early twentieth century, Dublin. There were several distinguished women doctors in that period in Ireland. Fascinating women who founded hospitals, went on to cure T.B., revolutionized health care. The character of Molly is my small homage to them. It must have been astonishing to live in those times at the sharp end of so much historical change.

8. Can you give us a sneak peak into this book?

“Raid in West Cork. Seventeen Auxiliaries Dead.”

Seventeen! A fear gripped my stomach. The balance sheet of war. That could only mean there would be more reprisals on ordinary people. I pedaled furiously up Haddington Road. But some unease like a hum in the air made me pull up after I started down Bath Avenue. Our house in Margaret Place was just off the avenue – in a dead end.

I propped the bike against a building and crept cautiously towards the corner of our road where I hid behind a low half-built wall that skirted the corner building.

Brilliant white flares from Verey lights lit into the darkness. There was a sleek black car pulled up in the road. A dozen Tans poured out of the back of a Crossley Tender. Their shouts and catcalls echoed down the street.

They banged on our door first.

Soldiers shouted commands.

“Don’t move!”

“Open up, missus!”

The back door of the car opened and, caught by a flare, there was the glint of a gold-tipped swagger stick. Then the gleaming boots and long legs of Captain Lees.

They were about to raid our house.”

9. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

I am blessed to have excellent critics within my family(they got demanding from an early age!). My brother Neil is a scriptwriter and film producer, and he has a very sharp eye for character and plot. He usually reads the first draft. My niece and nephews also often read extracts. They help me check the tone and the suitability of the language for the age group.

Otherwise, I’m slightly wary of critique groups. I went to Film school where there were a lot of group critiques. I used to think it was a bit like Junior Doctors evaluating each other’s work. At best not always well informed, at worst downright dangerous! People’s criticisms could be snarky and personal. There was also a certain amount of filching of ideas. Some of it was unconscious and pure osmosis. But my experiences left me with a cautious attitude. That said - I know other writers who find them great, particularly for encouragement through the inevitable peaks and troughs of writing. But all I would say is choose your group with care as you would your friends or partners.

10. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

About ten years ago I wrote up this story for my niece who was then nine years old about a magical island off the west coast of Kerry in Ireland where she lives. She loved it and one day my sister Audrey saw an item on RTE the Irish state broadcaster for a writing competition for children. She urged me to send it in, so to shut her up, I did. I then went off to the United States for a long tour of California after having worked on a particularly difficult documentary. I won! The prize was a book deal with publishers Poolbeg, who are renowned as talent spotters. They first published Maeve Binchy, Patricia Scanlan, and Marian Keyes among others. I vividly remember when I read the e- mail. I was in La Jolla in California and had just come back from watching the seals on the beach. My husband was buying these crazy shoes called Z-coils, which were trainers with a spring on the heel. Insane! I nearly fainted when I heard the voice message. That was my first book, The Chingles from the East. I went on to write a trilogy, which is just re-issued as E-books. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Chingles-East-Patricia-Murphy/dp/1842232169

Do you outline your books or just start writing?

A mixture of the two. I usually get a vivid image of a character; then they start telling me a story. I write a bit to get the feel of their voice. Then I start to block out the plot. I like plotting, erecting the scaffolding of the story. I take a very nuts and bolts approach to working out the arc of the story.

13. How do you maintain your creativity?

Creativity is a muscle. You have to keep exercising it. The artist Paul Klee talked about drawing as “”taking a line for a walk”. And it’s a bit like that with coming up with a story. It all begins with “what if?” then you throw another idea at it, like throwing another log on the fire. If it doesn’t catch flame, you try something else. It helps also to give your ideas and little flares of inspiration a home. So I always have a notebook to hand. I also use the notebook on my iPhone. I was at the Society of Author’s Conference recently, and Phillip Pullman gave some marvelous advice. He said that you had to show up at your desk for inspiration to work. The muse has to know where to find you. So keeping standing at your post, like a good soldier, plays a large part in catching those bursts of creativity when they arrive.

14. Who is your favorite character in the book? Can you tell us why? In Deadly Shot, it’s Dan, the main character, mainly because he’s based on my grandfather. Or what I thought my grandfather might have been like at the age of twelve! My grandfather was so talented a footballer that he played for Ireland’s youth team and was asked to sign up with several top teams in the U.K. He must have been a real livewire then. But I always felt he was marked by his experiences of being in the militarist boy scouts the Fianna, in the 1920’s guerilla war. He used to tell me dramatic stories but he was a very gentle man, and he always emphasized that violence was not the answer, that war and conflict were difficult for children. When I got older, I often wondered what traumatic events in the guerilla war might have affected him. Deadly Shot is my highly imaginative version of the war through the eyes of a child. I was a very high-spirited child, probably a bit wild and he always defended me. When I told tall tales he used to say, “Ah leave her be. She just has an over-active imagination.” I hope he would forgive my artistic license!

16. Anything else you might want to add?

You can check out further information and trailers of my books on my website www.patriciamurphyonline.com

There are also online resources for teachers. Molly’s Diary is currently being taught in several schools in Ireland in the run-up to the centenary of the Easter Rising in 2016. You can download a complete lesson plan and further suggestions for exploring this fascinating period.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PatriciaMurphy

Deadly Shot Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Deadly-Shot-Dans-War-of-Independence-1920-22/852536338133795

Molly's Diary Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mollys-Diary-The-1916-Rising/277254289106782

Publisher Website: http://poolbeg.com

BLURB:

Football mad, twelve- year- old Dan is a trusted messenger for Ireland’s rebel leader, Michael Collins. He promises his cousin Molly to never fire a gun, but after the dramatic events of “Bloody Sunday” in Croke Park, he is pulled deeper into the struggle. Hunted by a vengeful Intelligence Officer, Molly and Dan are forced to flee Dublin. But unknown to Dan, he holds the key to a deadly plot. And his enemy will stop at nothing to track him down. On the run, they meet Flying Columns and narrowly escape death But as Cork burns can Dan continue to outrun his enemy?

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EXCERPT:

The mean-faced Tan moved forward and cocked a gun in my direction. “You with the ball! Stop, you little Fenian brat, or I’ll shoot!”

He advanced towards me, his eyes flaming down the barrel of the gun. I thought I was going to wet myself with fear.

On impulse, I skied the ball straight up to heaven. It soared higher than the rooftops. Everyone tilted their heads. From the corner of my eye I glimpsed the young rebel making a run for it towards Saint Andrew’s church on the opposite side of the road.

“POW!” a shot rang out.

I prayed it wasn’t the rebel. But the lifeless thud of my ball was almost as bad. The Tan had shot my dearest possession. But they hadn’t even seen the gunman!

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Patricia Murphy is an award-winning children’s author and Producer/Director of documentaries. Her most recent novel is Deadly Shot – Dan’s Diary - the War of Independence 1920-22. Previous works include the critically acclaimed Easter Week 1916 – Molly’s Diary, described as “brilliantly imagined”, “beautifully written and compelling” and “ fantastic at bringing history alive for children”. She is also the author of The Chingles Celtic Fantasy trilogy. She was the winner of the Poolbeg “Write a Bestseller for Children” Competition 2004.

She is also an award-winning Producer/Director of primetime documentaries for BBC and Channel 4. These include Children of Helen House on the Oxford children’s hospice for BBC. She created and filmed the launch programmes of Born to Be Different the Channel 4 flagship series following six children with disabilities through the 21st century. Other films include Behind the Crime about criminals and Raised by the State on growing up in care. She has also made Worst Jobs in History with Tony Robinson for Channel 4.

http://www.patriciamurphyonline.com

https://twitter.com/_PatriciaMurphy

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Deadly-Shot-Dans-War-of-Independence-1920-22/852536338133795

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mollys-Diary-The-1916-Rising/277254289106782

Book Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n6mmxFyaWc

https://vimeo.com/139031328

PUBLISHER

Poolbeg

http://poolbeg.com

Links to buy Deadly Shot – Dan’s Diary

http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Shot-Dans-Independence-1920-22/dp/1781999376