'I was thinking... should I kill John Rebus?'

John Rebus is Crime novelist Ian Rankin's most famous creation. in this interview, rankin talks about killing him off, bringing him back and, what's next

Scottish crime novelist Ian Rankin who was in the city this week, insists he wasn't truly on holiday; he was working every single minuteu2026 observing people, eavesdropping on conversations and reading, all for ideas. The author of the famous Inspector Rebus series was here for the LitSutra programme, organised by the British Council of India, which sees the introduction of contemporary English literature in the classroom.

The 49-year-old believes that a book "comes alive" within the first 100 pages and thereon, dictates its author. He's killed off principal characters without knowing how he'll solve the mysteries behind their deaths, he's written alternate endings for some books and his first work still stands unpublished. Ian Rankin gets down to the gritty details of writing over chai.



How has your Mumbai experience been?

Someone described Mumbai as chaotic when I got here but in a good way. I was told it would be a sensory overload too. I called up my wife and said, 'I think there are 12 million people living here and I think I saw every single one of them today'.

I was at Leopold's and a waiter told me that the locals frequent it only post 5 pm... rest of the time, it's the tourists that come in. I've been reading the papers and there are a shocking number of suicides among the youngsters. You could write terrific crime novels hereu2026 just from reading the newspapers!

Speaking of crime novels, John Rebus seems to have found a successor in Malcolm Fox since the first of The Complaints series, released last year.

I found him to be a very interesting character and I like the idea of his department, (where they investigate other cops) they're almost like spies on their colleagues. But I'm not done with John Rebus yet, he might just come back. There's a possibility that The Complaints could end up investigating Rebus for some past misdemeanor.

You've been quoted as saying that you didn't fancy the name John Rebus, whose last name comes from a picture puzzleu2026

I was a student when I thought up John Rebus and I thought it was very clever. After years, people said they didn't understand the name. It's not a Scottish name, it's not a British name, where does it come from? And I'd have to explain the story to them. But then a few years ago I found a Joe Rebus in the telephone book. And he lived in Rankin Drive. Bizarre coincidence.

You've said that once the book comes alive, you do as it says... could you explain that?

When I start a book, I don't know how it's going to end. My books usually begin with a murder and during the first draft, I'm playing detective. I'm exploring different avenues, interviewing different characters and then the story begins to say well that's an interesting character and that's a character we don't need, so get rid of them.

One of the fun things about being a writer is you get to play God. You control your characters' destiny which is incredibly therapeutic because in real life we don't always find answers to our questions and we don't always have control over the way our lives go.

Have you ever been influenced by fan feedback or criticism?

Yeah, sure! Very recently, a fan emailed me saying she had just finished reading The Hanging Garden and three-quarters into the book, Rebus' friend dies, and she said that that made her cry. That reinforced in me the thought that these books can have quite a powerful effect on readers and you mustn't treat your characters lightly. You must be aware that if something bad's going to happen to your character, real people will feel that pain.

Did you change anything for John Rebus last minute?

When I was writing the final Rebus book, I was thinking, do I kill him at the end or do I not because I wanted it to be final. But I thought I've put this guy through so much, that it would be incredibly cruel to kill him and plus fans would have hated me for it.

Do reviews make you want to change stuff too? Your recent John Constantine graphic novel Dark Entries got some not-so-flattering reviews.

What I do is I don't read the bad reviews, I just read the good ones over and over. (Laughs) Novelists are usually incredibly lazy. We make the reader do all the work. I don't need to describe characters in great detail, I don't need to describe everything, how they look like, facially.

But for graphic novels, I have to tell the artist what they look like, what they're wearing, it's a lot of work. I enjoyed writing Dark Entries. But if there was anything I wanted to change, I'd make it colour. Nothing else.

Have you ever changed anything about a book that you've regretted?

There was one called Westwind. The editor asked me to change it and change it again and again and eventually when it was published, I no longer liked the book. It was very comedic but the editor wanted it to be darker. I never allowed them to print it again.

How about as a reader? Has there ever been a plot you thought could have been different?

Yeah, I read the first of the Stieg Larsson books, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and you could just tear out the first 100 pages because nothing happens. I found that frustrating. In the second book, there are several coincidences and I can't believe it gets away with it.

The thing with fiction is, it's supposed to be realistic. In real life it's okay to have coincidences but in fiction, it's difficult. It gets annoying.

What's next in line?

I don't know, this is supposed to be my off year, I'm not supposed to be doing any writing this year. Just before Christmas, I finished work on my first film script and it needs more work, so I'll get back to it.
I've also just sold a couple of books to TV production companies and they want me to work with the scriptwriters. And I don't know if I can take a year off. I've been writing one book a year since 1984, it's like a drug. I promised my wife I'd try though.