Take Five: David Corbett and THE TRUTH AGAINST THE WORLD

We’re thrilled to bring you a Take Five interview with our esteemed contributor, David Corbett. For those who aren’t aware, David is the author of seven novels, which have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar. His short fiction has twice been selected for Best American Mystery Stories, and a collaborative novel for which he contributed a chapter-Culprits-was adapted for TV by the producers of Killing Eve for Disney+ in the U.K. His new thriller, The Truth Against the World, sounds incredibly enticing:

In the near future, as America breaks apart into factional violence, a young artist named Georgina O’Halloran creates an illustrated book of old Celtic tales in the style of the famous Book of Durrow. Titled The Truth Against the World, it’s intended as a gift for her professor-who is also her lover.

Curious to hear more? Let’s talk to David.

Q1: What’s the premise of your new book?

 DC: Who knows? I don’t write from a premise. I start with a couple (usually incompatible) ideas that are bugging me and then ask: How can I build a story out of this mess?

In this case, the ideas were: (1) the possibility of armed civil strife in this country not unlike the Troubles that afflicted Ireland from 1970-1998; (2) the “wondrous and strange” atmospherics of Irish myth, specifically the Fenian Cycle featuring Finn mac Cumhal (Finn McCool) and his hunter-warrior band, the fianna, especially his son, the warrior-poet Oísin; (3) what I’ve written about before here at Writer Unboxed, “the love that dare not say its name,” i.e. genuine Platonic love between a man and a woman. (I was particularly pleased when an early reviewer specifically picked up on that last element of the story and praised my refusal to force a cheap romantic subplot on the characters.)

Q2: What would you like people to know about the story itself?

 DC: Given the mythic undertones, no one should be surprised this is a journey tale—specifically a cross-country trek with the country descending into violent civil war, with our intrepid couple, Shane and Georgie, in search of their personal Grail: a book Georgie wrote as a gift to her professor and lover, who then viciously broke off the affair, sending Georgie into a deep, depressive tailspin. The professor then published the work as his own and it became an international sensation—as well as the inspiration for a video game that has become a watering hole and recruiting venue for militia members and other malcontents performing some of the worst atrocities in the national conflict.

Q3: What do your characters have to overcome in this story? What challenge do you set before them?

 DC: Beyond the external challenge of making it all the way to California from Philadelphia to confront the plagiarist, Georgie struggles with her susceptibility to depression and the lack of self-confidence that goes along with it. She also needs to believe that everything they endure to expose the truth is worth it.

For Shane, there’s an element of his past he must fiercely keep secret, and as aspects of that past surface in the course of their journey, Shane has to face squarely what his real motives are for remaining so devoted to Georgie.

Q4: What unique challenges did this book pose for you, if any?

 DC: This is the first time I ever tried pantsing a novel. Never again. I just got lost so many times, losing the thread of the story in digressions I ultimately cut. The actual core of the story didn’t emerge from the shadows for me until after three complete drafts of the novel, including two that went through developmental edits.

Q5: What has been the most rewarding aspect of having written this book?

DC: I have been very gratified by the genuinely warm and generous responses I’ve received from people who’ve read it. In particular, readers seem to have taken Georgie and Shane into their hearts. Nothing is more rewarding for a guy who’s written two books on character than confirmation he might just know what he’s talking about.

Thank you , David! You can learn more about David and The Truth Against the World on his website, and by following him on Twitter and Facebook. 

Writer Unboxed

Writer Unboxed began as a collaboration between Kathleen Bolton and Therese Walsh in 2006. Since then, the site has grown to include ~50 regular contributors and a variety of guests on rotation throughout a given year.

In 2016, the Writer Unboxed team published a book with Writer’s Digest / Random House. AUTHOR IN PROGRESS: A No-Holds-Barred Guide to What It Really Takes to Get Published is a comprehensive guide focused on helping writers over/around/through hurdles faced at every stage of the novel-writing process. It’s received some ***** reviews; we hope you’ll check it out.

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