C. K. McDonnell is an Irish writer and comedian living in Manchester. This Charming Man is the second novel in The Stranger Times series, an urban comic fantasy detailing the investigations of a team of journalists into the weirder side of Mancunian life. C. K. took some time out to sit down with us to discuss where his inspiration comes from, his process, and writing about fashion.

STARBURST: Reading your books, and reading about you, you get a sense that there are bits of your personality in your characters, although we’re not sure that’s a compliment.

C. K. McDonnell: [laughs] Yeah, I think there probably is. You sort of have to, as you’re in a room on your own. If you’re not using yourself then what are you using? I use bits and pieces from people I know as well, and its generally people I like. Villains are easier to write in some ways as they’re more fun. For the people in the office, you have to be more rounded but for a villain, you can just go ‘crazy batshit’ and it works. The best thing in my writing is dialogue and character comes from dialogue for me. So, there will always be a bit from your speech patterns in there. I also think my books are warm which you need for a series. Put it this way, in crime books there’s always a ‘twisty twisty’ ending you’ll never see coming. That’s always the tag line. For me, reading, you want to find out what happens to the people and so you need to care about them, otherwise it’s an exercise in futility. Until you have the people you don’t have anything.

I’m an enormous Terry Pratchett fan. But I defy you to point out the Discworld book that had the shocking ending you never saw coming. Because that’s not what he did.

How do you structure your books, then, if the ending itself is almost secondary?

The story structure is very important. I have on the wall beside me, the third book in the series all mapped out on cards. This Charming Man has two distinct stories that intersect in places. It’s not so much the ending but you have to keep things going and there is a lot of plate spinning. I literally have them all colour coded. So, I can see if there’s not enough green, or if I need to balance the story there. But I agree – if anyone is waiting for the shock ending it’s not really what I do. I think there’s a danger you could just end up using cheap tricks and so on.

Would you say you’re like Max Brooks say, who plans more than he writes or more organic like Ian Rankin who often simply runs with an idea?

Ian Rankin is amazing. I remember a video of him talking about the process. And he says he gets to a point in the book where he thinks he has to stop, and it isn’t working. So, he goes and talks to his wife and tells her he’s going to bin it. And she’s ‘you’re 60,000 words in, and this happens every time’. It’s amazing when you see an all-time great like that.

I’m sort of like an honest planner and pantser, which is a phrase writer’s use. I think when you’re getting into a series with multiple characters you kind of have to plan it out a bit more just because there are a lot of plates to spin and make sure you have enough story for everyone. With the next book, I’ve probably planned more than I ever have before. Not really sure why. I sort of always have the corners, and I need to know where I’m going for the first four or five chapters. And then I might stick up a couple more cards, so I know I need to come back to that. I’m sort of a weird mix where I’m maybe planning a few chapters ahead all the time. As long as when I go to bed at night, I know what I’m writing the next morning, I’m fine. As long as I don’t run out of track, I’m okay, but I’m maybe laying track in front of the train all the time.

Does that become more difficult as with each book you’re adding more to the mythology, as there are elements in This Charming Man that remain unresolved?

And to be honest, I keep picking things up like that. Without giving too much away there were things in the writing of This Charming Man which I thought were interesting, and I wasn’t planning to keep, but are now another plate to spin. Stella, for example. I knew early doors there was something in her history and I was working it through in the process of writing, so now I have a much firmer idea where things are going. I think you end up opening certain loops, and you have to be fair to the reader so when you open something you have to close some too.

I have rough ideas for things, but the plan can change. No plan for a book has ever survived the actual writing. I have a podcast series where I’ve written loads of short stories that happen in The Stranger Times world and it’s really just me figuring out the world. I’m still discovering things. The great thing with fantasy is you can keep building out, there’s so much mythology you can use. And my books exist in a world where all films and books exist, such as vampires and zombies, so that’s fun to play with.

Reading your books you sense similarities with a writer like Neil Gaiman perhaps, of another world within our world. Is it important for you to ground your novels in reality, providing some familiarity?

I think it is, because when something is amazing it’s amazing in the context you see it. If you go to a fireworks display and they’re all going off, then it’s nice and everything. But if you wake up at night and one goes off over your head that’s much more amazing. If you’re in the real-world things become more magical. It’s ordinary people reacting to amazing things, it gives great context and adds a fun element.

Because a lot of humour comes from your characters and their interactions. Do you find dialogue easy to write?

Dialogue is always the easiest thing to write for me. It’s the most fun. If you want to tell the reader something, then have two people have an argument about it. What I’m bad at, and I probably shouldn’t point this out in interviews, is describing architecture. When I do, it’s just like someone trying to describe a building. My wife’s my first reader, and something she pointed out was that I hardly ever point out what someone is wearing. And it’s because, frankly, I don’t care about that. I only ever wear shorts and T-shirts. I went out the other day and I had to dig out a pair of jeans just so I looked like a grown-up. So, because of that, I don’t put it in my writing. And instead of trying to fix the things I’m not good at I stick to things that I am.

Have you always been a fan of fantasy, as we recall a magazine called The Fortean Times…?

(Holds up a pile of magazines) The idea for The Stranger Times comes from The Fortean Times. Oddly, the original idea was a sitcom, about a decade ago. I liked the idea of a small, local newspaper reporting weird news. And I’ve looked and couldn’t find the script. Then one day, I woke up thinking about it. And as I walked to my office in Manchester I was still thinking and by the time I got there, I was running to find a pad and pen as I had all these ideas.

I’ve always been a fan in the sense of reading books and watching television. But the newspaper element was always appealing. And then if you start thinking about some of that stuff being real. Newspaper first, then this is the world we’re off into.

This Charming Man is out now. You can read our review here.