An interview with Liam Rodgers
Author of 'Dogknife'
Like many cities, Nottingham is full of creatives. What's wonderful about this bustling town though is it's underbelly of interest in independent artists of all walks of life, whatever the inventive output. It's a great platform for up-and-coming writers, creators and performers, one of which is my good friend, Liam Rodgers.
On 31st May 2014, Liam independently released his self-penned novel, 'Dogknife', joyfully accompanied with great support and positive responses. It's a local story with strong characters and real-life experiences. Reading it was an intimate experience and thought-provoking. Pick up a copy now at Amazon in Kindle form or Paperback and find out more at www.facebook.com/dogknife.
Currently residing in Sheffield, we conducted it as an email interview. Read further to find out how it went...
Liam, for those not
aware of your book’s plot, can you summarise the premise of Dogknife in a few
sentences for us?
Essentially, it's a tale of
three girls growing up in Radford and when one of them is raped by a bloke
cruising for sex, the other two find him and stab him, which leads to the main
character getting banged up in a young offenders institute. The story is then
told from her point-of-view, how she ended up in jail.
Being from around Nottingham yourself, I understand that the story was
influenced by your own experiences growing up. How much of the book is based on
true facts? Were some of the experiences your own? How much of the story is
influenced by your experiences?
Loads of the prison stuff
is based on reality of my own time in a young offenders centre and all of the
prison slang, some of the violence and other scenes are based on real
events, that happened around me or involved me. The rape-revenge stuff is for
the plot and is based loosely on stories I heard in jail and also when I was
filming a documentary about prostitution in Nottingham
in 2005. The book is very real in that way, even though it is a fiction novel.
Your lead character has
an awesome nickname: ‘Gizmo’. Tell us a little bit about her and why you chose
this name for her.
Well apart from it being,
of course, the name of the main furry fella in the film Gremlins, it was also
the nickname of a girl who hung about with some of the older lads in an area I
grew up in and I always thought it was a cool nickname, although I don't know
who that girl was or where she is now or anything. I wonder if she will ever
know there is a character in a novel named after her? In the book, Gizmo is
given the name because of her fluffy hair, which is a direct nod to the film
which, when I was a lad, was a funny film to watch, highly entertaining, along
with other classics like Back To The Future and The Breakfast Club. When I watch
them now, I can't help cringe at certain points, but for our generation they are
classics and invoke childhood memories and gooey feelings in our stomachs for
everything to be nice and cosy, like it was when we were kids - or something. Haha.
I watch Back To The Future once a year at Xmas, without fail, simply to marvel
at how timeless it is.
Funnily enough, I watch 'Gremlins' every Christmas. Without fail. Best Xmas film ever! Staying with Gizmo, you mentioned about the story being from her perspective. Was it always your intention to write the
story in the first person? And why did you choose this method?
I chose to write from a
girl's point-of-view because I could not get some of the stories I heard, while
making the doc, out of my head; girls being punched out cold on the streets for
simply being a working girl or being dragged into cars and raped. It's all
fucking bad stuff to be doing to women, to anyone, and so I thought I owed it
to those people, to girls everywhere, to try and represent their story. I have
had my own issues on life, from crazy relationships, to now I have a daughter
who is 11, and so women's rights and the glass ceiling and feminism and all
that, is close to my heart. It had to be from a girl's point-of-view, I think, as
well because it was about what happens to a rapist...
In terms of method, I was
on the run in 2006/2007 for my involvement in a silly fight that got out of
hand and decided to write a book so that when I was eventually captured (which
is inevitable, really, for any modern n'er do well), I would have something
positive to show the court on top of all the amazing youth work and charity
work I had been doing. To prepare myself for the book I read dozens and dozens
(and I mean dozens and dozens) of autobiographies and other biographies, mostly
of former convicts and gangsters and also a few other celebs and that really
gave me the feel of that type of voice. I immersed myself in those books, often
laying low in the library for hours at
time, sometimes all day, and then wandering back to my sofa or spare bed
or wherever I was, to get my head down and think about Dogknife as a story.
Gizmo's speech and mannerisms and her ideas came out of that intensely lonely
time of being on the run, when I hardly ever went out socially except to
trusted friends houses, etc. And so, I was not really working, or spending time
doing one job. I had lots of time to kill. Dogknife came out of that. But, I
have to say, I wasn't like Jesse James on the run. I was not a hero. I was a
dick who made mistakes and I did still do some cash in hand work, and once MC'd
a night in front of the lord mayor of Nottingham, which I found ironic...
Now, I'm just picturing you, on the mic, spitting some lines at the Mayor...brilliant! Speaking of our city, this tale is full to the
brim with Nottingham dialect. It must be hard
to keep this up? Did you ever slip out of the local colloquial?
Because I'm a Notts lad
through and through, and not quite gone full hipster just yet, I can never get
rid of that council estate, ruffian side of me that got me in so much trouble as
I grew up, but who saved me when I was writing the book! Haha, you can take me
out of the street, but you cant take the street out of me, I guess! I love the
Notts dialect and had to make the book as real as possible so that other Notts
people, either born and bred or migrants, such as your good Welsh self who have
lived here for years and know the vibe, would understand it is authentic.
Only part-Welsh. I'm still a Herefordian (I'll never shift that will I?! Haha). As a honorary 'Nottinghamite', I really enjoyed its authenticity. Personally, from reading
the book I picked up on two other key strengths: strong characters and it being very
plot driven. This is just my view as the reader, and others may disagree. Would
you say these are two factors of story writing that are important to you? What
are elements are at the forefront of your writing process?
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| Liam Rodgers (right) gives filmbore his Dogknife |
I think they are important
as fuck because I love scenes, and scenes help to drive plot: I love watching
scenes in films and TV and also imagining them in my mind when I read. So
writers, I think, have to give their readers scenes, so that they can really
immerse themselves in it and get those scenes imprinted on their minds. For
example, in Farewell to Arms by Hemmingway, the scene of (spoiler alert) the
bomb hitting the ambulance station and blowing him up is etched on my mind, but
I can't at all recall how he describes the mountains and rivers and stuff. The
scenes drive it for me. I literally have people messaging me, or chatting to me,
and going "That scene where they 'x/y/z" and they pull a face, and I know that
scene is etched in their minds. I have to write like that, because it's what I
like to watch and read. You'll see there is not too much description in
Dogknife, and it's because with writing, I think, it is not necessary to fill
two pages with tree-lined streets and clouds and birds singing, and then have
your scene at the end, the action. I think going "It was sunny, there were kids
playing kerby by the road and a man shouting at his missis nearby, and then the
cops pulled up to me..." is easier to set a scene and you can add description
as the scene unfolds, if you like.
With characters, they have
to be based on real people or amalgamations of real people, even if it's three
or four people coming through one character. For example, Gizmo's name is based
on the girl from my area when I was a kid, her looks are based on another girl
I had a little fling with when I was 16 and her mannerisms and speech is based
on me, and a few others I grew up with. So that's one character made up of
multiple personalities. For me, it's normal to make my characters this way.
However, Crawley is based on one
character though, a guy called Corley, from Lincolnshire who was shot and killed a few
years back. I based Crawley on him out of
respect for the friendship we made in jail. His shooting effected me, as I knew
he was a good guy and the low down pieces of shit that killed him got away with
it as well, so that also hurts.
So characters can be a mix
of others or one strong person. I think by doing that you create characters readers
really relate to.
That's a great method for building characters... blending them, like our minds do with dreams. Methods of creativity is one thing but, for all the budding
writers out there, what advise can you give to keep the writing spirit going?
Read a shit load of books
to get a feel and then don't read anything the entire time while you write, as
it will fuck with your voice. For example, if I listen to Nirvana all day
(which I often have done) and then sit down to write what I think will be an
original song, it will be a Grunge song by default. Or, if I listen to Wu-Tang Clan (which I often have done) and then sit down and write, what I think is
gonna be original Hip-Hop, it wont be...it will sound like the 'Wu'. So, I'd say
read the genre you want to write in, to learn the craft and how those stories
are told, then chuck them all away and get them out of your mind as stories, and
wait a while, like a month or two. Then, get your pad out and start writing your
original story. I didn't read fiction for 5 years during and after I wrote
Dogknife so that my voice would not get screwed up by other work. I finally
broke that by reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath in 2011 when I stayed at a
mates house. I love that book, and I am glad I didn't read it while I was
writing as it would have leaked into the voice, I reckon.
And another thing...don't
write for the publishers and the agents, because they don't know dick! They are
out to make money, not write stories. So write and get it out there yourself,
self-publish and if you do a good enough job, they will come- a-knocking.
Sometimes, only the indie-way will do. One approach which seems
to keep the fire stoking for all "creatives" these days is the
“kick-starter” method. With a multitude of sites available these days, what’s
your view on this new avenue?
Go for it. Gofundme. Indiegogo. Kickstarter. All of those sites are amazing and should be used
absolutely 100% if you wanna raise cash to make a film, or publish a book, or do
whatever. Go for it, but just make sure you have a decent video [see Liam's awesome campaign video here] explaining in a cool way what
it is you're doing and people will figure out the rest. I gave £1 to the
cause to re-master and edit Orson Welles's unfinished film because the video
for the cause was cool and, well, it's fucking Orson Welles, but still, that £1
counts all the same. I rate Indiegogo personally as that's how I funded Dogknife's first print run, but there are others.
It's true, these sites provide an opportunity for so many. Promotion for lesser known is why I started filmbore. The more exposure the better, especially if it's raising funds. Let’s talk about the
future for Liam Rodgers. You’ve mentioned to me previously that you’d like
Dogknife to be considered for a film adaptation...
I would love to raise the
money to make it into a film. A proper, gritty, UK film, punching above its weight,
touring film festivals and film markets, slugging it out with all the other
films trying to get distribution deals, etc, and I will one day for sure. I
will probably do a massive crowd-funding campaign, as previously mentioned, but
not until I have cleared a couple of thousand copies of the book off my own back.
I am at about 600 copies so far, so a little bit more to go, but I'll get there.
When I do, it will be a proper grass-roots film, filmed in Notts, on location,
using local actors and amateurs and local crew and stuff. It will be a blinder,
I'm sure. I sent it to Shane Meadows and his assistant politely emailed saying
he is not reading anything new for a while as he is tied up for a couple of
years. But I will get in front of Shane one day, I hope! But seriously, I can
do the whole low-budget thing if it comes to it, I reckon for a about 50k I
could get it done and edited. When you think Once, the Irish film, was made for
100k Euros and did 7 million in gross....It's doable.
Actually adapting it is
another thing completely, a whole new marathon of writing and editing, lets not
go there for now...hahaha. :)
Sounds like a lot of work. And hey, maybe Mr Meadows will cast his eyes across this interview and take notice. Have you had any
involvement in film before?
As I mentioned, I filmed
the documentary on prostitution in Nottingham
in 2005, and have made a few little things here and there. I have recently
submitted a short film to a competition in Leeds. It's about old people playing
snooker in Sheffield; a mini-doc about 4
minutes long. I shot that on a Canon 600D with a H4N Zoom audio recorder and a
Rode shotgun mic on a boom pole. It's all about indie stuff for me, I love
doing it that way. I had to ask someone else to edit it though, but in my
current job I am using Premiere Pro so I am learning about that now which will
stand me in good stead for my own films. I love films: making them, thinking
about them, watching them, day-dreaming about making them, reading about others
making them. I fucking love film! Probably more than most things actually...
You're in good company here then, Liam! And finally, what can we
see next from you? What new projects are you working on?
I am running a small
publishing project working with vulnerable adults and young people getting
their work into published books, and 'Dogknife Book Two' is
currently at page 30-something. I am also working on a script for a mate who is
producing a Notts-based film which is being [shot] in August. I just had a
script dropped by an indie theatre company after a month or so of development
and I think it's because it was too realistic and not theatre-y enough...like I
said, you can take me out of the streets, but you can't...etc. haha. :)
Or...maybe
I just cant write plays??
'Dogknife' is available on Amazon on Paperbook or as Kindle. Grab a copy now!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dogknife-Liam-Rodgers-ebook/dp/B00KQ7EXZU
If what Liam has said has moved you and you have any comments, please do so below, or tweet me @filmbore
