Legends

 I found another great crime series on Netflix and I wanted to share it/plug it here: Legends. It's both a crime drama and a true crime documentary, as it is based on true events: the heroin trade of the early nineties in the UK and the combat against it by a team formed by border officers. A ragtag bunch of misfits as the trope is called. I love ragtags bunch of misfits, especially in crime fiction, even more when they had an origin in real life. I might blog about the trope one day, but I digress. You have two fairly rarely seen (at least in fiction) mob groups as the antagonists, one from Liverpool, the other from Turkey. Anyway, I cannot stress how solid the series is and I cannot recommend it enough.

True Crime Archives (Allô Police)

As you know, I love crime fiction, but I also love true crime history, especially the crime history of Québec. So my parents bought me this book from Christmas. An account of the history of crime in Québec, based on the archives of its most (in)famous tabloids, Allô Police. Sensationalist, sleazy, yellow, Allô Police was labeled a lot of things, maybe not without reasons. All the same, it remains to this day a reference in crime journalism. I have a lot on my TBR list, but I started reading it. There is a writing workshop coming and I intend to produce a crime fiction short story, so will use this book for inspiration.

Narco-Sub

I do like to read a bit of crime news from time to time, and one caught my attention a week ago and I wanted to blog about it: there is a narco-sub that has been intercepted by Portuguese authorities in the middle of the Atlantic. By narco-sub, you must understand it as a submarine carrying 1.7 tonnes fo cocaine. A submarine. Carrying drugs. It's not the first time a submarine carries drugs, but it's rare enough to catch my attention. I am not saying it is cool, but busting certainly is impressive. And this could be the basis for some really neat crime thriller. A bit like an helicopter heist. I would read a novel about it for  is #Noirvember, if there was one.

Cambriolage au Louvre

Je laisse mes chroniques habituelles le temps d'un billet afin de bloguer sur une nouvelle criminelle qui me fascine un peu: je parle bien entendu du vol de bijoux au Louvre. Au moment où j'écris ces lignes, l'enquête suit encore son cours et personne n'a été appréhendé. Quand même, c'est le genre de crime que l'on croit bon pour les polars. Je crois que ce sera la source d'inspiration pour nombre d'entre eux. Enfin bref, je sais que c'est pas drôle ce qui arrive, que c'est même catastrophique, mais ça ne m'empêche pas d'être fasciné par la nouvelle.

Crime Routes

 The articles I read on my news feed. So I recently found this BBC article about the routes of cocaine smugggling from Ecuador into Europe. Smuggling which is growing, by the way. Oh and the Albanian mafia is heavily involved. I have a macabre fascination for these kinds of stories and find them interesting for many reasons. First, it shows that organised crime is not merely an Italian thing. Second, because it gives insight to how the drug trade works at an international level. As you probably have guessed, when I read this, I think there's a couple of crime fiction stories to write from such source material. I will check if something has been written about it already, otherwise I just might have to write something myself.

Take the Cannoli

 "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."

You know where this quote comes from. Recently, WOlfie was asked in a homework to try Italian food. Could be anything: pasta, goat cheese, figs, olives, artichokes, etc. There was a list of suggestions, but I decided to be original and I bought two packs of cannoli. Because why the heck not. After all, it was an educational project. I had cannoli in the past, very rarely. Funny how the dessert is now associated with a classic movie.

The Godfather, the Game

 Oh the things one finds in the local toy shop. As many people into crime fiction, whether they are books or films, I am a fan of The Godfather. Well, it turns out that there is a board game (at least I think it can count as a board game, I mean it was in the board games section) called The Godfather: Last Family Standing. I own already too many board games, we have too little time to play them, we don't really invite enough people often enough to have party games anyway, but I must confess, I am curious. Anyone played this game? Is it worth 20 quid?

Les Ides de mars hier à Montréal

Je pensais hier aux Ides de mars, me demandant si je ne devrais pas bloguer sur le sujet. Puis je me suis dit que non, que j'avais fait le tour de l'assassinat de Jules César, en tout cas pour le moment. Je pensais que je trouverais une nouvelle approche pour en parler une autre année, quand j'ai vu que Leonardo Rizzuto a été victime d'une tentative de meurtre. Un 15 mars. Il semble être hors de danger, mais quand même, ça fait drôle (je n'oserai pas dire "approprié"). Des fois, il y a des coïncidences qui ne s'inventent pas.

Montreal's Irish "Mafia"

I blogged about this book before, but I'm plugging it again today because tomorrow is Saint Paddy's Day. Okay, so it may not seem like the best way to celebrate everything Irish, but if like me you like to know the darker side of a culture and love true crime history, this is one you cannot miss: Montreal's Irish Mafia. It's like reading an epic crime novel, except you know it's not fiction. But talking of fiction, it really is a great source of inspiration for crime fiction. We often forget that organised crime is not always Italian. Every year on Saint Patrick's Day, I take it out and I read a few pages.

Scouser thug and Stilton cheese

Here is something that can happen only in Liverpool, but it is so bizarre that I first found out about it reading Montreal online newsparers: a drug dealer was arrested by the police because of a photo of a piece of Stilton cheese he took and posted on social media. Usually, I'd think that sort of news would make for a great crime fiction story. But it's just too weird. That said, I lived about a year in Liverpool and it does not surprise me in the slightest.

Interpol and me(!)

Sometimes people have memories of the strangest andmost trivial things. A friend of mine (well, not a very close friend, just an acquaintance really from back when I was a teenager) commented on one of my Facebook posts yesterday, where I was plugging this real crime book that Interpol had not caught him yet. He then asked if I remembered. I said vaguely and he told me that back in the days, I joked that Interpol was on his case. Apparently, he still finds it funny. I do remember saying this, but I don't remember much if any of the context. So a few random observations: 1)I must have been drunk, 2)my obsession with police and crime news is not new, 3)it shows how socially inept I have always been. I mean come on, a joke about Interpol! 4) Be thatas it may, I should have taken notes then, because I'm sure there's agood story to invent with Interpol involved somehow.

Mafia Inc. for #Noirvember

The month is almost over and thus #Noirvember will also soon be over, but I will carry on enjoying crime fiction for the coming months, in film and book form. And I wanted tonight to plug both a film and a movie for every crime fiction and crime history buffs among you. Although I must quickly give a disclaimer: I have not watched the film yet. I have nevertheless heard good things about it. You may remember some years ago that I blogged about Mafia Inc, non fiction book about the Sicilian mafia and organised crime in Montreal. They made last year a fictionalised movie adaptation of the book, with the same title. You can see the trailer below, with subtitles in English, and it seems quite solid. In any case, it looks like a perfect watch for #Noirvember. I know it is a perfect read.

 

Local crime news

As you know, I love crime fiction and because of my love of crime fiction I have also developed a keen interest in crime news, particularly things that involved organised crime. In our quiet little English town, hardly anything happens. Or so I thought, until yesterday, when I read on social that an important police operation had been conducted in the area. Including our quiet little town, where a home was raided. The police has targeted a drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracy. The home they raided here was in the town centre, near the building I used to work. I think there is a story to be told in there. I mean a crime fiction story.

Mafia Inc.

J'ai appris l'année dernière que e livre Mafia Inc d'André Cédilot et d'André Noël faisait l'objet d'une adaptation libre en film. Je dis adaptation libre, parce que c'est bien entendu une fiction, pas un documentaire. Ce qui pour moi fait sens: l'histoire du crime organisé fait toujours de l'excellente matière première pour de la fiction policière, que ce soit dans les romans ou au cinéma. Le livre se lisait d'ailleurs comme une saga criminelle québécoise. Mais enfin bref, le film est sorti en salle. Et j'aimerais vraiment, mais vraiment le voir. Dans tous les cas, pour ceux qui peuvent, voici la dernière bande-annonce:

Marlow or Medellin?

There are news headlines sometimes that make you jump, because the title seem so absurd. Here is one I saw last night from a local newspaper: a cottage the quiet little town of Marlow has been part of an international £17m cocaine smuggling operation. A cottage. In quaint Marlow. Sometimes I wonder if it has been twinned with Medellin. In any case, this headline is potentially great source of inspiration for crime fiction.

Working on crime fic

Yesterday, I went to the crime fiction workshop again. Unlike the one I had three months or so ago, this one went really well. I showed them the second part of a draft novella I had already finished. It had all the ingredients of the synopsis of novel I wanted to write: set in Montreal, local organized crime, local colour, private eyes, etc. But obviously, as I already worked extensively on it (instead of a few lines written on a table corner), it is far better constructed. So I received a lot of good advises, but also a few praises: my characters are well rounded and the dialogues are sharp. Better still, the woman who criticized me for writing a chauvinistic dinosaur as a main character said that she found him well rounded, however masculine and macho he may be. Even better: another woman even noticed a certain sexual tension between two characters, something that is meant to show up later in the story (albeit not in the way that she'd expected), but that I had not forecast at all when I was writing that scene. So I must have done something right. I will work on polishing the novella for the next workshop, where I intend to show them two different scenes of 1,000 words each, at the same time working on the novel, which right now is being written at a snail's pace.

Crime writing

This coming Saturday, it will be my third creative writing workshop. And I am actually dreading it. I will explain why and this post will be a sort of catharsis I had been wanting to write it for a while. After the first one, I was enthusiastic. The second one left me deflated and feeling a bit cheated. The reasons are the following: we had been asked to write no more than 2,000 words to share, due to time constraint. I had been requested to write a synopsis of the novel I was inspired to work on during the first workshop, so I did write one. Since 2,000 words was the limit, I thought about writing a detailed one, not only describing the plot but the main characters, the setting (Montreal and its crime world). It ended up being more like detailed note than a brief synopsis, but it was within the limit. As I still had plenty of words left, I also decided to write a bit of prose to flex my muscles. I wrote them too late, too fast, it was not very good, but I decided to share them anyway.

So come the day of the workshop. The synopsis, which had been the bulk of the work I had done, was barely glanced at. They went into the draft, not even a chapter, about 800 words all in all, the one I had spent less than a week on and which was to be honest not very good... And they pretty much ripped it apart. One of the writers said that one of my female characters, described as a tomboy in the synopsis, did not have a tomboy's name, in fact her first name was too posh and ladylike. I was tempted to tell him to ask her parents why they decided to give her that name. I simply said that I disagree. Then one of the women there said that my male character, a former police officer in his 30s, was sexist and a dinosaur and should not be written like this. I said that is how he came to be, that I imagined him like this, that I did not care about him being nice as long as he was believable. Then they said he was anachronistic, that "a man in his thirties does not think like that nowadays" (surely it depends of the man!) and they went on a tangent about Life on Mars where then such character made sense and I was simply speechless. Absolutely stunned, in fact. I remained polite, but left the workshop feeling short changed. When I got home, I was fuming. I wrote a long email to the hostess telling her that I had been sorely disappointed after the ordeal and why. She replied back to me politely, but that any criticism was meant to be helpful and not to take anything personal, etc. I replied back that while I was always open to criticism, however harsh it can be and that I had been indeed used to it both in creative courses at uni and acting classes, what I received was anything but helpful or constructive.

So yes, that's that. I might be too sensitive, I don't know, but I thought the whole thing was absurd. Since then I have written jack of the novel. I am officially suffering (aspiring) writer's block. Which is really sad, given that I was so on fire after the first workshop. I will show them an abstract of something I wrote a few years ago. If they like it, fine. If they don't well, then screw it, I won't waste anyone's time or kid myself. Maybe I overestimated my skills as a (wannabe) writer, maybe I just can't take criticism, but I did feel cheated. Okay, rant over.

2,000 words

My next creative writing workshop is this Saturday and I thought I would quickly blog about some updates regarding it. I was asked as homework to produce a synopsis of the novel I have been asked to work on (what did I get myself into). This is mostly done: the plot is set in its broad lines, the characters are all there, the setting is still Montreal, organized crime will play a large part in the story, etc. Now I was told in a recent email from the writer organizing it that people are expected to bring about 2,000 words of work. Thankfully, this is counting the synopsis, if one is working on a story, which is my case. 2,000 words of prose, within a week, it is feasible, back at uni I used to write that much within an evening sometimes, but as a father with a day job and family obligations, this is not so easy. Thankfully, the synopsis itself is a little more than 1,000 words (1,200 words) and the 2,000 is the absolute maximum. I have already more than enough to share on Saturday. But I will try to write a bit of prose to go with it, to flex my muscles so to speak.

Crime (writing) in progress

I wanted to give a bit of an update about the creative writing workshop I attend. I now know when will be our next meeting: in the first half of April. Until then, I need to have a synopsis prepared. It is going fairly well. I have my MacGuffin and pretty much everyone's motivation. I have most of my character's names, except the one from my pickpocket. As for the plot, it is mostly finished, at least in its broad lines. What else do I know? The story will be set in Montreal (well of course), members of organsied crime will be involved in the story, including but not exclusively the mafia, and on the opposite side there will be some private eyes. Oh, and Krav Maga will be used in some capacity as a plot point. I still have a lot to go through, but at least I have my creativity working.

True (Organized) Crimes

I have on my bookshelves a book on organized crime by Paul Lunde, which I received a few years ago for Christmas. It is aptly titled Organized Crime: An Inside Guide to the World's Most Successful Industry. It is merely a coffee table book, but it is a fun read and I want to get back to it again as inspiration and source of information for the synopsis for the crime fiction story I am working on for my writing workshop. Because I know criminal organizations will play a central role in the plot and I always believed that crime fiction was at least fueled bu true crime stories. This book may not be the most up to date resource, but it can be a starting point and if nothing else, it has some striking pictures that will put me in the right creative mindset.