Notebooks

In Tom Hiney’s biography of Raymond Chandler he writes that Chandler would write lines in a notebook because they could often come in useful at some point in the future; Elspeth is also keen to stress this point. And so I have decided to make a real effort of writing down any half decent sentence I play with in my head; as sometimes I’ll return home only to realise I’ve forgotten it or that I am no longer able to get the wording quite right. I will stop immediately, or at the first suitable moment, now to record any half decent ideas.

Chandler was very devoted to this note taking;

‘He bought a small pocket address book in which he started to collect (alphabetically) character names that occurred to him… In the same methodical vein, Chandler began to make detailed notes of clothes that he had either seen people wearing or had read about. He also started collecting slang expressions he had heard…’ (Raymond Chandler; A Biography - Page 73)

And he went on to shape a genre of his own using some wonderful descriptions, lines and characters. That is why every writer should carry a notebook; I have carried one for as long as I can remember. Sometimes I can go days without using it but yesterday I wrote a series of lines that I liked and that were relevant to the surroundings of the Don Findy story (I was walking around Ipswich).

Here are some of my sentences from yesterday and their variations;

She had all the charm of an Anne Summers mannequin. / She looked pretty in those clothes, but so would an Anne Summers mannequin.

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I walked along the chewing gum roads. The roads that people have spat out. / I walked along the chewing gum road; the streets that have been spat out of people.

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The dirt on the windows made it look as though it was going to rain. If it did, at least the windows might get a clean.

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The sky was a bloody colour. I don’t mean it was a shade of red, I was drunk and couldn’t remember the name of the colour.

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There was a stream of young mothers using their prams to push along tomorrows dole queue.

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‘Is that clear?’
‘As a foggy night.’

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Below is an example of the above, really stretched and killed. Of course, the above line is better as it fits with the traditional 'wisecrack' style that is suited to the private detective novels.

‘Is that clear?’
‘As clear as a foggy and cloudy night.’

‘Is that clear?’
‘As clear as a foggy and cloudy night after having my glasses stolen.’

‘Is that clear?’
‘As clear as a foggy and cloudy night after having my glasses stolen and my eyes poked out.’


The art of observation was something that Chandler mastered and is something I’m continually trying to improve on. Such descriptions as the one of young mothers and chewing gum streets allow me to create the atmosphere of the town as I see it.

As George mentioned, this year the focus will be on the quality of the prose I produce rather than the plot or story and, as Hinney states,‘The only exception to his [Chandler's] careful planning was plot; the best way to stop the reader guessing the end of a story, he decided, was not to know how it ended yourself.’(73) and ‘Chandler wanted to create strong, melodramatic characters at the expense of ingenious plots.’ (Raymond Chandler; A Biography - Page 81)

‘...he considered them [plots] superfluous to the new writing, because ‘to get the surprise murderer you fake character…’

And whilst I don’t completely agree, (a strong plot can surely only enhance a novel that is pumped full of atmosphere etc) Chandler’s words are certainly worth listening to. Characters and dialogue are so important and often understated or clichéd. Chandler managed to avoid this whilst being interesting, funny and original.