Mike Nicol is a prolific author and journalist. His writing career goes back to 1989 and since then he has published 14 novels, 9 non-fiction books, 2 poetry books, 2 YA novels and 1 short story. His latest book, Falls the Shadow is a crime thriller and the start of a new series. After reading it I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions – on his latest work, writing process and what he thinks about AI and how it will impact the literary world.
Falls the Shadow is the start of a new series focused on corruption in the police force – what inspired the book (and series)?
For me it’s always the characters that lead – inspire – the story. I had decided to write a cop novel – but not a police procedural – rather a novel where a good cop cops the bad cops. Our daily news was full of cops doing bad things so it wasn’t difficult to see how this sort of book could work. But I didn’t want to track reality – and in this country you can’t anyhow because it is just so much weirder than fiction – so the main character, Captain Zara Dewane, provided a way of handling a story about corruption but one that focused on fictional characters. And then because it was crime fiction which lends itself to a series, it was a simple jump to decide that she should have a series to herself. Besides, I liked her, so why not?
How much reality goes into a book like Falls the Shadow? Is each character based on someone in real life?
Obviously, there’s lots of reality that goes into fiction. We all start from reality in order to write fiction but, of course, fiction is its own world and as long as there are no coincidences you’re on safe ground. The characters aren’t based on real people but, that said, there are always eccentricities, quirks, manners of speaking, ways of holding themselves that get carried over from real people I know (and don’t know) into the characters. However, in a book from the previous series – Agents of the State – there was a President Zama who had a swimming pool. No guessing who that was modelled on.
Zara and Janet are both characters from previous novels – what makes a character loved enough by you to bring them into new work?
Zara had a minor – really minor – part in my previous novel, Hammerman. When I say minor part, probably a page. Also, her surname was Dewan. But that didn’t look right, so I added an e. After Hammerman I thought it would be challenging to write a cop novel and as I already had her as a cop, I thought why not bring her back? And the more I thought about her, the more I saw how she could be the centre of a new series. So not too much of a leap to bring her into the new work. Janet, on the other hand, was a different decision. With crime fiction I think you need humour and as Janet had provided a lot of that in the Fish and Vicki series it was an easy decision to carry her over. The major problem was how to get her into Zara’s orbit as efficiently as possible. Naturally, a wheelie bin and a gatsby provided the answer. It’s Janet’s irreverence, her crazy lingo, her sheer ability to survive that keeps her on the page.
You’ve written book 2 and 3 in this series, are there any teasers you can share?
I’ve just finished going through the editing on book 2 – Firing Line. At the moment, Pan Macmillan plan to publish in February 2027, as for a teaser, let me just say that Zara really goes up against it in this one. She is in the firing line. As for book 3, it is with my agent, so very early days and as I’m hellish superstitious about jumping the gun, it’s best I don’t say a thing.
How does your background in journalism influence your fiction writing?
The fiction started long before journalism, but journalism opened the world for me – in the sense that it revealed South Africa and showed me how the political and the private “fit” together. And that has influenced my fiction ever since.
Your first novel was published in 1989 – how has your writing evolved since then and which book is your favourite.
It’s changed and it hasn’t changed. I mean the themes, (some might say obsessions), haven’t changed but the style of telling the stories has. In the early magic realist days (from The Powers That Be to The Ibis Tapestry), I used long sentences and not that much dialogue. Now I use short choppy sentences and lots of dialogue. But then the fiction style has changed in that I am now writing in a genre and that genre has conventions and these conventions have to be met – to a degree. Like many things, it is how you break the conventions that count because that is what makes a novel interesting. As for which book is my favourite, the answer to that is the one I’m writing because no one has seen it. It is mine and remains mine until it goes out to my partner – known as the red pen editor – who will do a slash and burn job. But she’s very good at it so I’ll sulk for a few days but mostly I go with her criticisms. The second favourite book is the one that’s just been published – Falls the Shadow – because it is new and one is always worried about how it will be received.
You’ve taught many aspiring writers over the years. What are the most common mistakes you see beginners make, and how can they avoid them?
It’s not so much that new writers make mistakes as that, possibly, they go too fast, and here I’m referring to novelists. Stories are built on scenes and scenes need a setting and characters and the characters need to interact and talk to one another. So there’s a lot going on. And there’s a lot going on because the scene has to make an impression in the reader’s imagination and readers need to “see” the scene as if they are watching a movie. The trick is, take your time, don’t rush things.
With the rise of AI tools – especially within writing – how do you view their role?
As far as AI is concerned it is a useful research tool, provided that you check whatever information it dishes up. We are led to believe AI’s ability will improve but for the moment it needs human oversight of researched information. I can’t see any of those proverbial “real writers” using AI to write their stories as the whole point of writing is self-expression, in other words you do it because you want to write. Or you do it because you have to write. For most writers I don’t think there is a choice. It’s a compulsion.
What elements of storytelling can AI never replace?
I am sure it will eventually be able to replace many of the elements of storytelling, except the one important factor: originality. That can only come from a human brain.
How do you think AI is going to shape upcoming authors and the publishing industry?
It will probably help authors in the editing stage: in other words, correct spelling, maybe question grammatical constructions although many of us deliberately go against grammatical conventions; maybe help with punctuation. I think some publishers are already using it for editing but, again, I can’t see that being for anything other than the mechanical tasks of editing. How you get AI to increase the pacing or restructure a narrative, or add significant detail to a character, I have no idea. That to me seems to be something that will always need a human touch. Likewise style and tone I feel sure will remain human expressions.
Read the review of Falls the Shadow here
