Faulks Follows Fleming's 'How To Write A Thriller' Guidelines

New James Bond website The Literary 007 reports that a recent interview with Sebastian Faulks, author of the upcoming Ian Fleming centenary novel Devil May Care, has been posted online at NPR.

After speaking about his recently released novel Engleby, Faulks also discussed the eagerly anticipated James Bond novel and how he came to land the job.

‘This came up about a year or so ago,’ Faulks says. ‘I was summoned by Ian Fleming’s family, who pointed out it was Fleming’s centenary next year and how would I like to write a special novel commissioned by them to mark that centenary.’

‘So I went away and read the Ian Fleming books and I enjoyed them much more than I thought I would. I then read an article that Fleming wrote in about 1960 called How To Write A Thriller. Well, I didn’t have the first idea how to write a thriller; I don’t particularly like them. But this told you how to do it: write 2,000 words a day, go snorkeling, have a few martinis, have some beautiful women over for dinner…’

‘I figured out that if I wrote 2,000 words a day, I could write the whole story in six weeks. So I followed [Fleming’s] prescription and I wrote it in six weeks and it was great, great fun to do. So that’s coming out next May.’

When asked if he’d reconciled with the fact that fans will soon be singing the James Bond theme where ever he went, Faulks mentioned: ‘It [already] happened to me in a restaurant in London. I was going over to a table and holding a glass of wine and the literary editior of The Observer (a Sunday newspaper in the UK) looked at my glass and said ‘shaken, not stirred, I presume?’

To listen to the entire interview online, click here to visit the NPR website.

Devil May Care is due for release in May 2008 and will be published by Penguin in the UK and Doubleday in the US.

• Pre-order the US hardback edition of Devil May Care from Amazon.com
• Pre-order the US audiobook edition of Devil May Care from Amazon.com
• Pre-order the US large print edition of Devil May Care from Amazon.com

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